Insurance costs not high enough? If this TSB investigator gets his way here's a new operating cost. Seems like overkill to me, but I haven't spent much time on the H2O.
Ottawa urged to upgrade float plane standards
By DARCY HENTON
Monday, June 20, 2005
Updated at 7:01 PM EDT
Canadian Press
EDMONTON -- A Transportation Safety Board investigator is blasting Transport Canada for its claim that it has no authority to make float planes safer.
Bill Kemp says the federal department could require float planes flying in Canada to be equipped with escape hatches -- either doors that can be jettisoned or pop-out windows -- if it wanted.
"I just don't buy that at all," said the Edmonton-based investigator.
"They can set whatever regulations they deem necessary. They are passing the buck as far as I am concerned."
At least 37 people have drowned in float planes in Canada over the past two decades because they couldn't escape from submerged cabins.
Last week, a Transport Canada spokeswoman said the department has no authority to order modifications to Cessna or de Havilland Beaver float planes because they are not made in Canada.
The department noted it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to make the changes or the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, which received a copy of the TSB letter on the issue.
But an FAA spokesman said the U.S. regulator will not act without a formal request from Canada and it has not received one.
The TSB has pointed out repeatedly that the doors on the aircraft are difficult to open. Often the wings fold over them on impact.
One survivor, Frank Holman, of Red Deer, Alta., is meeting with Transportation Minister Jean Lapierre in Ottawa tomorrow to press for changes to make the aircraft safer.
Mr. Holman escaped from the cabin of a Cessna 185F after it flipped on landing on the Talston River in the Northwest Territories a year ago.
He and the pilot squeezed through a broken side window after the plane turned upside down in the water, but two other passengers, including his son, Bruce Holman, of Calgary, drowned.
The grieving father said he doesn't understand why Transport Canada can't ensure that float planes are safe.
"To think that you can't do anything is ridiculous," he said. "That's what I want to discuss with Transport Canada. Why can't they build in some other safety features if we feel people are dying unnecessarily?"
Transport Canada spokeswoman Lucie Vignola said the department continues to address the problem through awareness and education.
She said modifying the design of an aircraft is not a simple exercise.
"There have been suggestions to make the windows bigger to be able to get out of them more easily," she said. "Making them bigger could have some other impact on the aircraft."
There's also a concern that pop-out windows might pose a safety concern if they inadvertently popped out in flight, she added.
Ms. Vignola couldn't point to any planning the department has done on the issue despite concerns expressed by the TSB over nearly two decades.
"It's never very quick," she said. "That's unfortunately the system that we're in."
Cessna has said the company is always working to make aircraft safer, but a spokeswoman couldn't say if anything is being done to modify doors or windows for more rapid egress.
The company did not respond to telephone and e-mail queries.
Mr. Kemp noted that Beech 18 aircraft were fitted with escape hatches when they were put on floats more than five decades ago.
He suspects Transport Canada doesn't want to order modifications because of the costs.
But he said modifications could be phased in over five years and be aimed at only aircraft that carry paying passengers.
Mr. Holman said Transport Canada should embark on the necessary changes before more Canadians die needlessly.
"I think they are death traps," he said. "Look at the people that are drowning in almost every one of these accidents."
Oh yeah, the government has this gun control issue 
