The NTSB’s 2016 “Most Wanted” safety improvements announced yesterday “are in step with the safety focus areas of NBAA’s Safety Committee, and that alignment between government and industry efforts to address these issues best contributes to improved flight safety,” NBAA said. Aviation safety focus areas on this year’s list include fatigue, distraction and loss of control in flight (LOC-I).

“Preventing loss of control in flight continues as the NTSB’s primary general aviation safety improvement area in 2016, and this issue is also among the 2015 NBAA Top Safety Focus Areas,” said NBAA senior manager for safety and flight operations Mark Larsen. The NTSB links this issue with 47 percent of the fatal fixed-wing GA aircraft accidents in the U.S. between 2008 and 2014.

NBAA’s Top Safety Focus Areas list also includes distraction and technology management, which reiterates the need to focus on the primary task at hand rather than non-mission-critical information. The NBAA list also recommends training on and proficiency with mission-related technology, so that managing it while performing safety-sensitive tasks does not become a distraction.

Reducing fatigue-related accidents also parallels the fitness for duty foundation for safety specified in the NBAA Top Safety Focus Areas. Operators must address fatigue, sleep apnea, improper use of medications and many other physical and psychological aeromedical issues, NBAA said.

New to the NTSB list this year is expanding the use of recorders to enhance transportation safety. With the growing use of data as part of aviation safety programs, recorders play a critical role in helping operators to validate processes and identify trends before problems occur, NBAA noted.

“A proactive safety culture that seeks input from all facets of the operation is key to improved business aviation safety,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “NBAA remains dedicated to our collaborative working relationship with the NTSB to help improve business aviation safety.”

NBAA’s Safety Committee is also asking business aviation professionals to provide input via an online survey for its annual risk assessment review that will be done later this month.