NTSB Calls for Scheduled 135 Night Flights to Be IFR

The National Transportation Safety Board wants FAA to require Part 135 scheduled passenger flights (those conducted in aircraft with fewer than 10 passenger seats) to file an IFR when operating at night. Such a restriction is required for Part 121 operations. The Safety Board based the recommendation, in part, on its investigation of a "black hole" accident involving a Cessna 402 that crashed into the Caribbean Sea southwest of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on February 8, 1997. The NTSB believes that expanded ATC monitoring of aircraft position and altitude required for IFR operations might have prevented the accident.