BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday it could not respond directly yet to charges that it sat on information that could have helped prevent the January 1997 crash of Comair Flight 3272.
But the agency said it had issued a directive to Comair and other commuter airlines in May 1996 on how to instruct pilots to deal with icing conditions.
Icing is suspected as a major contributor to the Jan. 9, 1997, crash of the Comair flight, which involved a turboprop Embraer EMB-120 as it was approaching Detroit Metro Airport on a flight from Cincinnati.
The accident killed three crew members and 26 passengers.
The Air Line Pilots Association charged Thursday
that the FAA sat on information about potential problems with the EMB-120 -- available a year before the crash -- that should have been relayed to pilots.
In particular, it said, the agency knew about problems with the plane's de-icing, autopilot and stall-warning systems.
The pilots' group made its charge as it submitted a report on the accident to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is expected to wrap up its own investigation soon.
FAA officials refused to respond directly the pilots' union charges because the NTSB probe is pending.
"We don't do anything to get out in front of the board," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.
However, Mr. Dorr said the FAA issued a directive to commuter airlines in May 1996 that referred to the potential for icing problems in 29 types of commuter airliners, including the Embraer 120.
The directive told the airlines what to put in their flight manuals for various aircraft to instruct pilots how to spot icing buildup and respond to it.
The section dealing with the Embraer 120 detailed various visual cues that pilots should use to spot icing problems, and said airlines using the plane should tell their crew members:
"If one or more of these visual cues exists, immediately request priority handling from Air Traffic Control to facilitate a route or an altitude change to exit the icing conditions."
Comair spokeswoman Meghan Glynn said the Erlanger, Ky.-based airline followed the May 1996 directive.
The pilots union, in its report, contends the FAA needs to develop a better system for ensuring that critical information about aircraft performance is relayed to pilots.
