The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is continuing its call for increased standards in Part 135, highlighting the issue during a hearing Wednesday before the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee.

Noting that Part 135 safety is on the Safety Board’s latest "Most Wanted" list, NTSB Office of Aviation Safety acting director Dana Schulze told lawmakers, “Regardless of the purpose of the flight or the type of aircraft, all passenger-carrying flights should be safe. However, currently, air medical service, air taxi, charter, and on-demand operators are not required to meet some of the same safety requirements that have proven effective at enhancing the safety of commercial airline operations.”

She pointed to recommendations for flight-data monitoring and safety management systems in Part 135 that the Safety Board made as a result of its investigation of the May 15, 2017, crash in Teterboro, New Jersey. These recommendations were not new, she added, saying they had been made in conjunction with accidents in 2015 (in Akron, Ohio) and 2016 (in Togiak, Alaska).

“Since completing the investigation in Teterboro…and issuing safety recommendations, the NTSB has initiated another 13 investigations into Part 135 accidents and incidents,” Schulze added. Five of these were fatal.

She also expressed concerns over recent crashes of flights that involved paying passengers but were not conducted under Part 135. She pointed to the June 21 crash of a skydiving flight in Hawaii that killed all 10 passengers and a March 11 sightseeing flight in New York City.