Law Enforcement's Response to Small Aircraft Accidents

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, Feb, 2000 by Matthew L. Lease, Tod W. Burke

CONCLUSION

Within the next decade, the number of annual U.S. aircraft passengers may rise to one billion. Federal government agencies have initiated steps to cope with the "inevitable prospect" of additional aircraft accidents. [16] Local and state law enforcement agencies must initiate steps to prepare for the rising rate of air travel provided by commercial airlines and the increase of the number of commuter aircraft flights.

Because responding to even small aircraft accidents can quickly evolve into large operations involving many resources and jurisdictions and an unlimited number of contingencies, law enforcement administrators must plan ahead for such disasters. By analyzing trends and developing response procedures and training initiatives based on those results, administrators will help prepare their departments to better handle aircraft accidents.

Mr. Lease served as a military police officer and is currently a student-researcher at Redford University in Radford, Virginia.

Dr. Burke, is an associate professor with the department of criminal justice at Radford University, in Redford, Virginia.

Endnotes

(1.) Associated Press, The Washington Post, January 18, 1999, A1.

(2.) Associated Press, The Washington Post, January 21, 1999, A1.

(3.) For purposes of this article, the term "small aircraft" incorporates both airplane and helicopter designs weighing under 41,000 pounds that fall under the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) investigative authority.

(4.) NTSB, 1998 Aviation Accidents; available from http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/989l.htm; accessed June 18, 1999.

(5.) According to the Federal Aviation Administration's Statistical Handbook of Aviation, Chapter 9, 9.1: "An aircraft accident is an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers a fatal injury or serious injury as a result of being in or upon the aircraft or by direct contact with the aircraft or anything attached to the aircraft, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage"; and "A fatal injury is any injury which results in death within 30 days of the accident."

(6.) NTSB, "We Are All Safer," July 1998, 18.

(7.) P. Warren, "Bodies of 2 Plane Crash Victims Recovered," Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1999, Al, 2.

(8.) Data compiled from NTSB aircraft accident reports.

(9.) A. Garber, "Mutual-Aid Agreements Facilitate Emergency Response for Smaller Agencies," The Police Chief, March 22, 1997, 33.

(10.) Supra note 4.

(11.) "B. Hersche and O. Weaker, "First Aid Station FAS," The Internet Journal of Disaster Medicine; available from http://www.ispub.com journals/IJDM/VollNl/fas.htm; accessed June 18, 1999.

(12.) S. Cullen, "Prevention of Injury in Vehicular Accidents," Pathology of Violent Injury, NCJ-55688, 1978.

(13.) Supra note 6, 3.

(14.) Burke and J. Reynolds, "The Changing Role of Police Chaplains," The Police Chief January 1995, 45-47.