Page:Report of the Board of Inquiry into the Helderberg air disaster.djvu/270

 85 APPENDIX "J"

National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, D.C. 20594

March 9, 1990

Mr. J. N. J. Van Rensburg Rooth & Nessels P. 0. Box 208 Pretoria, 001 REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Dear Mr. Van Rensburg:

On behalf of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), thank you for the opportunity to review the report of the investigation of the accident involving the Helderberg. I also appreciate the opportunity the Board of Inquiry has provided to the advisors to the NTSB to review and comment on the draft report. The comments of the Boeing Company and the Federal Aviation Administration, which represent the views of those organizations and not of the NTSB, are enclosed for your review.

The efforts of the investigative team of the Republic of South Africa to gather evidence to enable the Board of Inquiry to determine the probable cause of this accident have made a real contribution to accident investigation and to aviation safety. I believe that the team, under the firm direction of Mr. R. W. Van Zyl, consistently placed the needs of the investigation above its own personal needs despite considerable personal sacrifice. I am honored to have been able to assist the team to a small extent.

The draft report is an excellent compendium of the facts of the investigation. The NTSB agrees with all conclusions, recommendations and the probable cause, with the exception of Recommendation No. 6.1 which states:

The Combi type of configuration, with passengers and cargo on the same deck and provision for fire fighting on the cargo deck based on, inter alia, crew access to the seat of the fire and hand fire extinguishers to fight the fire, should be prohibited as creating an unacceptable risk to life and property.

The Safety Board has issued Safety Recommendations A-88-61 through 63 to address what it considered to be deficiencies in the fire detection and suppression methods used in class B cargo compartments, the type found on the main deck of the Boeing 747 Combi. In response to these recommendations and as a result of its own review into the safety of class 8 compartments, the FAA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in advance of its