Safety
NTSB Probes Top Safety Concerns in Part 135
Safety board pushes for certified dispatcher in Part 135
NTSB boarding government aircraft
One of the NTSB’s longstanding recommendations for Part 135 charter operators is to implement flight data monitoring programs.

The NTSB highlighted several safety issues with Part 135 in a recently published aviation special investigation report (AIR-24-03). The report revealed the findings of a study of 116 fatal and 460 non-fatal accidents over 12 years (2010 to 2022). As a result of those findings, there is now a fresh set of safety recommendations that could lead to significant changes for Part 135 operators.

Safety issues identified in the July report included operational control and flight locating deficiencies, weight and balance concerns for single-engine aircraft, the importance of implementing organizational risk management strategies such as scalable safety management systems (SMS), and the use of flight data monitoring (FDM) programs. In addition, the report identified a need for improvements in the collection of flight activity data for Part 135 certificate holders.