Better late than never seems to be the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) reaction to new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules regarding pilot training.

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman commended the FAA for finalizing the long-awaited rule, “which addresses recommendations stemming from accidents dating back more than two decades.”

Among the recommendations addressed in the rule is the oldest open aviation recommendation issued by the NTSB, a 1993 recommendation that asks for simulator training for pilots in using TCAS.

Other recommendations covered by the rule include:

• training in adverse attitudes, which stemmed from an accident in Colorado Springs in 1991 and was reiterated in numerous accident investigations thereafter
• remedial training for pilots with performance problems, first issued in 2005 from a cargo aircraft accident in Memphis, and problems with recognizing and recovering from aerodynamic stalls, identified in the Colgan crash and many other accidents.
• the issue of teaching and practicing pilot monitoring skills, which was addressed in 2007 after a crash in Pueblo, Colo., and remains the active subject of recent accident investigations

“We recognize that this rule is the result of years of effort by many groups: the employees of the FAA, the aviation industry and the families that have worked to see change come from tragic accidents,” said Hersman, who added that her agency would closely evaluate the FAA’s proposal to determine whether the specific proposed actions merit closing many open NTSB recommendations.