Page 13 - Index

due to an aircraft accident, or their traumatic experiences
those who survived, has been would eventually be published
a need for as long as accidents via family letters, testimony,
have existed. The requirement and in the final report of the
to do so, however, is just now Task Force on Assistance to
approaching its 25th anni- Families of Aviation Disas-
versary. While there was no ters, cochaired by the then
shortage of tragic accidents secretary of Transportation
throughout the 20th centu- and the chair of the National
ry, the 1990s were without Transportation Safety Board
a doubt the decade during (NTSB).
which the glaring need for for-
malization of family assistance
became apparent. Legislation and Guidance
In the United States, this pe- Following several years of ad-
riod saw several significant ac- vocacy and collaboration with
cidents that exposed the raw members of the U.S. Congress
truth that the families of those and the NTSB, the Aviation
who died were not receiving Disaster Family Assistance Act
appropriate and consistent was introduced and passed
care in the worst moment of in September 1996, codifying
their lives. While not solely re- requirements through the
sponsible, accidents like USAir Department of Transporta-
Flight 427 in Aliquippa, Pa., on tion for airlines to establish
Sept. 8, 1994; American Eagle plans to care for the families
Flight 4184 in Roselawn, Ind., of those impacted by an
on Oct. 31, 1994; ValuJet Flight accident, followed by similar
592 on May 11, 1996, near legislation for foreign airlines
Miami, Fla., and Trans World flying into the United States.
Airlines Flight 800 on July 17, It also established the NTSB
1996, in East Moriches, N.Y., as the agency responsible for
resulted in similar struggles overseeing family assistance
for the families of those who through the Transportation
died. Family groups struggled Disaster Assistance Division
to get information on the and for developing guidance Priorities of Family Members has not yet been fully recon-
status of their loved ones from documentation for airlines to In the years that followed, ciled, airlines must share that
the airline and responding ensure that the requirements the NTSB found consistent information. Airlines must
agencies, saw news media of the legislation were met. priorities that families would have dedicated toll-free phone
outlets reporting informa- The International Civil Avia- need addressed following an numbers that are staffed
tion they had not yet been tion Organization (ICAO) also accident. These priorities pro- by trained employees or a
told, and were not provided established consistent practic- vide the framework for airlines qualified vendor and widely
resources to begin the next es airlines should use. In 1998, and all other organizations publicize this number with the
chapter of their lives following the ICAO Assembly acknowl- involved in family assistance news media. Families crave in-
the loss. edged that “the policy of ICAO to build their response plans formation, and it is required of
should be to ensure that the and ensure that their moral and incumbent on the airline
to provide factual information
Call to Action mental, physical, and spiritual and legal obligations are met. as it is available.
Some family groups, seeing well-being of victims involved
the repeated challenges and in civil aviation accidents and Notification of Involvement
suffering, formed a bond and their families are considered Families need to be contact- Access to Information
a cause to do everything in and accommodated by ICAO ed as soon as information is Airlines must continue to
their power to create change and its contracting states.” available on their loved one, inform family members of the
so that others would not ICAO Circular 285, Guid- even if the information is not next steps once their loved
experience what they did, ance on Assistance to Aircraft fully confirmed. For example, one has been verified on the
even as accidents continued Accident Victims and Their if a family member asks if their accident flight, including what
to occur. These groups called Families, was issued in 2001 loved one’s name appears on information will be available
upon the U.S. government (later reissued as Doc. 9973 in an initial list of reservations to them, where and how it will
to examine the failures and 2013) and included in Annex 9 for the accident flight, even be shared, and who will be
find a better way. Accounts of in 2005. if the passenger manifest sharing it with them.

January-March 2022 ISASI Forum • 13