After the Accident: Operator Go-Teams
You may have heard of the term “go-team” with regards to accident investigations and this is the group of investigators with specific expertise that may contribute to the on-scene activities…they “go” to the scene. As an operator, you should have your own “go-team” identified and trained well in advance of your next accident. Waiting to figure out who this is after an accident sets you up for unnecessary stress and confusion. We would not operate an aircraft without a plan or training and this is no different.
Who should be a part of your go-team and who should request party status? First and foremost, anyone that participates in the investigation process must have organizational experience and be able to contribute something useful.
The operator’s go-team is everyone that will travel to the accident area but not everyone on this team will request party status or access the scene. Most team members are there in a supporting role.
For a larger operator with available staff, it is beneficial to have representation from operations, maintenance, engineering and labor organizations if they exist. From our experience, a single member of this team representing flight operations will request party status and they can turn to the others for input on specific issues outside their expertise within the limits of the party agreement. Carefully choose your party member with consideration given to their normal daily workload and how it can be redistributed if necessary. A Director of Operations, Director of Maintenance, or Chief Pilot may not be the best choice if other alternatives exist.
Remember that continued operations must have sufficient leadership attention to remain safe and effective. Party status is critical and time-consuming work but so is management of the day-to-day.
Others in your organization depend on leadership to continue safely.
Photo Credit: Neil Mark Thomas via Unsplash
In addition to organizational experience, party members must have access to relevant data. Through the course of the investigation, other party members and the NTSB will be requesting data and the party members must have the knowledge of where to find it and the authority to release it. This data may include pilot flight and duty logs, weight and balance, performance planning, maintenance records, training records, communication center recordings, video of helipad, photos of the aircraft prior to the accident, etc. In a well prepared organization, the supporting members of the go-team will proactively gather this data and provide it to their party member unprompted so they can focus on other tasks on-scene.
Strong organizational skills and the ability to handle pressure well are two additional characteristics of a good party member. The nature of on-scene and follow-up investigation requests can be overwhelming for many. There will be multiple requests, possibly limited information, and being able to provide clear, organized and accurate responses will serve to increase confidence in all parties.
Disjointed, delayed, and partial responses to requests may lead to a perception that an operator is incompetent, disorganized and at worst trying to hide facts. After an accident, it is in the operator’s best interest to have good representation by a well-organized and professional party member.
When you are building your go-team how do you decide who will make a good investigator beyond the items discussed above? In most cases, this person will already be top of mind as one of your “rock stars” on your certificate management team. They must be open-minded, fair, and have a deep knowledge of the type of operations you perform. Ideally, they understand how the other disciplines in the organization function and have strong network connections throughout your operation and the industry.
Once you have identified your team, how can you prepare them for their first accident investigation?
There are many offerings for accident investigation training that we mentioned in earlier blog posts. If these courses are not an option or if you need to get them training sooner they can start with becoming familiar with the regulations around investigation procedures or reach out directly to someone like us for training, one-on-one coaching and mentoring. In addition to this, we can also help your organization develop or improve emergency response plans (ERP) and accident / incident plans (PAIP, AIP) so you can be prepared in the event of tragedy.
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At VyClimb, part of our mission is to lead the aviation industry and the companies it serves to an elevated level of operational excellence to create greater stakeholder confidence. For more information or to discuss ways we may be able to help you please contact info@vyclimb.com.
