NTSB investigators said the helicopter, which crashed into a hillside, also lacked a terrain avoidance warning system, something the transportation safety agency also has long recommended be standard. The pilot missed clearing the hill by 20 to 30 feet, investigators said Tuesday.
In 2017, the FAA told the NTSB it was seeking to perform a cost-benefit analysis. But the agency said it was required to demonstrate to the White House budget office that the safety benefits of new regulations outweigh their costs and that it was unable “to justify a recorder mandate because the benefits of recorders are difficult to identify and quantify because the absence of a recorder will never cause an accident.” Last year, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined the NTSB’s call after a helicopter crashed into a New York skyscraper, telling the Associated Press the FAA’s failure to act was a “serious concern.”