A new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) internal study shows that the overall accident rate for “glass cockpits” in small general aviation aircraft was lower than that of conventionally equipped aircraft, but the rate of accidents with fatal outcomes was higher.

The NTSB met Mar. 9 in its Washington conference center to explore the safety ramifications of glass cockpits in light airplanes. The report further showed that pilots of aircraft equipped with electronic Primary Flight Displays involved in accidents were older, had more flying hours, were more likely to hold Instrument ratings and be flying in IMC, and at the time of the accident, likely were flying a longer-range mission than accident pilots flying airplanes with round dial instruments.

For those with long memories, the study nearly perfectly reflects the results of previous comparisons of single- and multiengine aircraft accidents, with the more capable multiengine aircraft having a lower accident rate but a higher rate of accidents with a fatal outcome.

The release of the study was followed by the usual NTSB dialog, raising issues of training, standardization of display formats, failure modes, etc.

When it came time to pass its recommendations, the session foundered on one that could be interpreted as requiring FAA to endorse or certify pilots for not only aircraft category, class and type, but also for aircraft model, electronic Primary Flight Display model (if so equipped) and the software version. Vice Chairman Christopher A. Hart objected to the implication, which was hastily reworded by the staff to eliminate recommending equipment-specific initial and recurrent training for glass cockpits.

Photo credit: Beechcraft