Washington — The National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to establish “realistic” training to prepare airline pilots and flight crews for incidents involving smoke in the cockpit.
NTSB examines the issue in an investigation report that details a December 2023 incident in which a bird strike occurred during the takeoff of a commercial airliner. Smoke filled the cockpit within seconds, the report says, leaving pilots scrambling to locate flight instruments amid limited visibility.
Although the pilots followed emergency protocol and safely returned the aircraft to the airport with no injuries on board, NTSB cites interviews with crew members saying that previous annual training “was not representative of the challenges associated with smoke filling the cockpit.”
The agency adds that “lack of preparation for such an event can impede the continued safe operation of the airplane.”
NTSB points out that FAA doesn’t require passenger airlines to conduct simulated training for smoke in the cockpit. Although instructors may recreate scenarios at their discretion during annual refresher training, they would “simply state that the cockpit is now filling with smoke and the flight crew would react accordingly,” the report says.
Additionally, the agency recommends that Airlines for America and the Regional Airline Association share the report findings with members and encourage them to develop scenario-based training for cockpit smoke simulation.
