02 NOV 2007 _______________________________________ *Report: Pilots Slept on Overnight Flight *1490 foreign pilots receive clearance to operate in India *2 pilots survive plane crash (T-45) *European air safety regulator to consider grounding Bombardier turboprops *Beijing to choose site for second int'l airport *End blame game on safety: Indonesian aviation chief *Lost Boarding Pass Leads To JFK Lockdown *SCSI AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT PREVENTION AND INVESTIGATION (AAPI) Course *Dieter Reisinger Receives Inaugural European Flight Test Safety Award *GWU SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM COURSE **************************************** Report: Pilots Slept on Overnight Flight DENVER (AP) — Two commercial pilots allegedly fell asleep on a flight between Baltimore and Denver, with one pilot waking up to "frantic" calls from air traffic controllers warning them they were approaching the airport at twice the speed allowed. The March 2004 event, which was discussed during a Congressional hearing Wednesday, was reported by the captain on the flight on NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System, which allows crew members to anonymously document incidents. Details of the "red eye," or late night/early morning flight, including the airline, flight number, or number of passengers aboard are not included in the reporting system. It did note the type of airplane, an Airbus A319, which are flown by Frontier Airlines and United Airlines. United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy told the Rocky Mountain News, which first reported the incident, that United did not fly a "red eye" between the two cities at the time and it had no reports of that incident. Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas told the newspaper the airline had a "red eye" flight on the schedule at the time but could not find a report of the incident. Federal Aviation Administration officials did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press after business hours. "Last 45 mins of flt (flight) I fell asleep and so did the FO (first officer)," according to the narrative in the report. The captain noted they were approaching a point where they were to begin their descent into Denver International Airport about 60 miles southeast of there at 35,000 feet, much higher than required, and at Mach .82, or 608 mph, instead of a required slower speed. "I woke up, why I don't know, and heard frantic calls from ATC ... I answered ATC and abided by all instructions to get down. Woke FO (first officer) up." He spiraled the jet down to a lower altitude as ordered, then landed "with no further incidents." The pilot had been switched to three nights in a row of flying the overnight, eight-hour round trip. While unable to find a report on the incident, Hodas said the airline has received similar reports in the past and have addressed them, noting that pilot fatigue is a bigger issue in the industry than the public realizes. "We take safety very seriously and watch crew fatigue very closely," he said. The company has a number of programs in place to prevent crew fatigue, including no-fault fatigue reporting in which a pilot who feels fatigued and is scheduled to fly can call and be relieved from flying. ************** 1490 foreign pilots receive clearance to operate in India New Delhi: The government has cleared a total of 1,490 foreign pilots to work for the Indian civil aviation sector in an effort to ease the acute shortage faced by the booming industry. However, according to director general of civil aviation, Kanu Gohain, this was just a short-term measure. "Right now, foreign pilots are on contract for one year, extendable up to three years," he said at an international conference on aviation. Gohain also mentioned that there was a proposal to extend the term of foreign pilots to four years in order to provide time for Indians pilots to gain the required experience. He also mentioned that eight air force pilots had also been inducted into flying service after making a transition to civilian aircraft. The number of flights in the country is set to multiply by three times over ten years, and passenger load is expected to increase to 300 million by 2020, from the current 55-60 million, according to Ashok Chawla, secretary, ministry of civil aviation. http://www.domain-b.com/industry/aviation/20071101_foreign.htm *************** 2 pilots survive plane crash Training jet was returning to Kingsville A training jet from Naval Air Station Kingsville crashed in Louisiana Thursday evening while returning from a training mission off the Florida Coast, base officials said. An instructor pilot and training pilot safely ejected and were not seriously hurt in the incident, said Lt. Sean Robertson. The T-45 Goshawk jet crashed about 6:52 p.m. shortly after taking off from Acadiana Regional Airport near New Iberia, La. Thursday's crash is the third involving a plane from Naval Air Station Kingsville in less than five weeks. "We're not going to speculate on the cause of the crash at this time," Robertson said late Thursday. Robertson said it was too early to tell if Thursday's crash is similar to either of the previous two incidents. The plane was assigned to Training Air Wing Two, Training Squadron 22. The pilots were stopped at the Louisiana airport to get fuel and eat on the way back to Kingsville. The student pilot had been training to land on an aircraft carrier. A T-45 Goshawk crashed on Sept. 27 because of a mechanical malfunction, causing the plane to go down about 13 miles west of Naval Air Station Kingsville, Mark D. Guadagnini, chief of Naval Air Training who assumed command Aug. 15, has said. The pilot, a student, ejected safely. On Oct. 1, an instructor pilot and student aviator were descending to land a T-45 Goshawk when a flock of birds got in the flight path, Guadagnini said. At least one bird entered the intake, causing the engine to fail about two miles north of the base. Both pilots ejected safely. Both T-45s were from Training Air Wing Two at the Kingsville base and were returned to the base to continue the investigations. http://www.caller.com/news/2007/nov/02/2-pilots-survive-plane-crash/ **************** European air safety regulator to consider grounding Bombardier turboprops PARIS: Europe's air safety regulator expressed deep concern Monday following the latest crash landing of a Scandinavian Airlines turboprop plane - the third in less than two months involving the same type of commuter aircraft. "We are very concerned about this most recent Dash-8 Q400 accident and the possible relation with other accidents involving the same plane," said Daniel Höltgen, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, referring to the twin-engined plane made by Bombardier Aerospace of Canada. Höltgen said that the agency, based in Cologne, had requested an emergency meeting with Bombardier and Canadian transportation safety officials to discuss the possibility of a new grounding order. The board of Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, announced Sunday that the carrier would permanently discontinue use of its 27 Q400 planes, after a flight from Bergen, Norway, with 44 people on board, crash landed in Copenhagen on Saturday. Its main landing gear had failed to extend. No one was seriously injured in the accident, which followed two in September where the airline's Q400s skidded off runways in Denmark and Lithuania because of a landing gear failure. The European agency said it had offered to assist the Danish authorities. "What is important is for us to get the details fast," Höltgen said. But he stressed that any European decision affecting the plane's authorization would be made in close coordination with Transport Canada, the regulator that certifies all Bombardier aircraft for safety. "We do not want to do anything unilaterally," Höltgen said. Spokesmen for Transport Canada and Bombardier said they would seek to organize a meeting as soon as possible. Separate investigations last month by the Danish and Lithuanian authorities concluded that the two earlier Q400 accidents, on Sept. 9 and Sept. 12, had been the result of corrosion of a specific landing gear component. Hans Ollongren, a spokesman for SAS, said that the incident Saturday did not appear to be related to the previous two. "In the first two cases, the reason for the collapse was the corrosion in a component that was not subject to inspection according to the manufacturer's maintenance manual," he said. "In Copenhagen, it was the case that the main landing gear did not extend properly." Bombardier has said it is "disappointed" that SAS has chosen to discontinue operating the Q400 before the Danish authorities had concluded their inquiry. Lucy Vignola, a Transport Canada spokeswoman, said Monday that the regulator was awaiting further information from the Danish investigation before issuing any advisory to operators of the plane. Following the two SAS crash landings in September, Transport Canada ordered the grounding of more than one-third of the 160 Q400s in operation worldwide pending a detailed visual inspection of the main landing gear as well the mechanism used to extend and retract it. Air safety experts said it was unusual for aircraft landing gear assemblies to break or to fail to extend fully. "It is not a common incident," said Fred Mirgle, the chairman of the aviation maintenance science program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. "If you have a landing gear that fails, the potential can be disastrous." Mirgle said that incidents involving landing gear generally involve problems like tire failures that typically do not cause forced landings or damage to aircraft. SAS - the joint flag carrier of Sweden, Denmark and Norway - said its decision to stop flying the Q400 had led to the cancellation of more than 200 flights since Sunday. Ollongren said the carrier planned to replace the affected planes with others from its 300-plane fleet as well as leased aircraft. The process would take several months to complete, he said. The airline estimated that discontinuing Q400 services could cost it as much as 400 million Swedish kronor, or $63 million, through the end of 2007. Twenty-six airlines operate the 78-seat Q400, which entered commercial service in 2000. The SAS Q400 fleet is the second-largest in Europe after the British low-cost carrier Flybe, which operates 29. A spokeswoman for Flybe could not be reached for comment about the carrier's plans for its Q400 fleet. Austrian Airlines, which operates 10 of the planes, said its trust in the plane remained "unbroken," while Augsburg Airways, a unit of Lufthansa with a fleet of six Q400s said that it, too, would continue to fly its turboprop fleet. The U.S. regional carrier Horizon Air has 33 of the planes. Dan Russo, a spokesman for the airline, based in Seattle, said it planned to continue flying its turboprop fleet unless advised against it by Bombardier or air safety regulators. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/29/business/jet.php **************** Beijing to choose site for second int'l airport BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's civil aviation authorities consider to choose southern suburbs in Beijing as site for a second international airport for the Chinese capital, which is faced with gobbling air transport demand in both passengers and cargos in the coming decade. An official with the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said, the most palpable site for the new international airport would be south to the city on either south or north bank of the Yongding River, which divides Beijing and bordering Hebei Province, the oversea-edition People's Daily reported Thursday. The official, whose name was not released by the newspaper, said the CAAC has already submitted the site selection proposals to the State Council, which mandates the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to review the CAAC proposals. The CAAC official said before making the proposals, the administration researched and analyzed air traffic, geographic conditions and ground transport layouts in areas which are chosen as candidates, the newspaper said. "If we put the new jumbo airport in the southern suburbs," the officials was quoted as saying, "it will construct a tripod of air transport hubs together with the existing Beijing Capital International Airport and the big airport in Tianjin." Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA), the busiest one in China, just opened its third runway Monday. The new runway, 3,800 meters long and 60 meters wide, was built for meeting rapidly increasing air demands for the coming Olympics in 2008. It is part of an expansion project that includes a new terminal building, 100 new aprons, a cargo zone and auxiliary facilities. "The airport handles 1,100 arrival and departure flights every day. That will probably rise to 1,500 to 1,600 and peak at 1,900 during the Olympics next year, so the third runway is much needed," said a BCIA spokesperson. BCIA, a Hong Kong-listed company, saw 376,600 arrivals and departures as well as transported 48.65 million global passengers in 2006, ranked among the busiest 10 airports in the world. Although the transport capacity of BCIA, 27 kilometers northeast to Beijing, would be enhance remarkably to 60 million passengers and 1.8 million tons of cargo each year, Beijing still needs a new international airport, which is expect to alleviate overheated ground traffic to BCIA and further accommodate more and more transcontinental flights to China, an NDRC official said. According to the NDRC urban planning towards 2010, construction for the new international airport will begin by 2010. The proposed new site would be most likely under jurisdiction of Daxing District. "We expect the new airport would dynamically boost local economy in Daxing and adjacent Langfang, Zhuozhou and other cities in Hebei," Shen Baochang, head official in Daxing said. Other previous proposals included candidate locations such as Zhuozhou, a satellite city to Beijing, and even somewhere near Tianjin, a metropolis about 90 kilometers southeast to Beijing. Wu Liangyong, a Qinghua University professor who is a recognized architect, suggested a place near Tianjin be the site for Beijing's second international airport. The new airport, in Wu's mind, might be expanded to a modern city and connected to both Beijing and Tianjin by expressways. Besides BCIA, Beijing now has two airports for civilian use, with the much smaller one, Nanyuan airport, being located on the southern edge of the city. The transport capacity of Nanyuan airport, operated by the Air Force-turned civilian carrier of China United Airlines (CUA), is insignificant with only about 15 passenger flight routes and a few cargo routes. **************** End blame game on safety: Indonesian aviation chief Indonesia's Civil Aviation chief says a culture of blame must be eliminated if the country's aviation record is to improve. One-hundred-and-two people died earlier this year in an Adam Air crash and 21 people, including five Australians, died in a Garuda crash in March. Indonesia's Civil Aviation director general Budhi Suyitno, says officials have been overwhelmed by offers of international help. But he has told a conference in Canberra that not all the offers have been sensitive to Indonesian needs. "Government to government assistance is appreciated but needs to be considered in the broader sense," he said. "Many stakeholders want instant results. Time to plan is needed or else we remain in a reactive mode." http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/02/2080499.htm?section=justin *************** Lost Boarding Pass Leads To JFK Lockdown Passenger Able To Bypass Security, Board Flight Sometimes, ya just gotta have a smoke. But it pays to make sure you still have your boarding pass. Twenty year-old William Contreras Ramos did not heed that advice when he stepped outside John F. Kennedy International Airport Tuesday night to have a quick drag. When he realized he was running late for his flight, he scrambled to the security line -- and realized he didn't have his boarding pass. Thinking quickly, Ramos walked through an exit line at Terminal 2 -- and right past a private security guard, reports The Associated Press. "He was going through the exit lane. That's going the wrong way," TSA spokesman Norm Brewer said. "As I understand it, he was challenged and stopped. And then what happened, I do not know." The guard wasn't able to track down the Puerto Rican citizen -- who made it to his gate, and onto his flight to Albany -- forcing an evacuation of Terminals 2 and 3 just before 1900 local time. Chaos apparently reigned after that. As passengers were forced to exit the terminals to be re-screened, JFK operator Port Authority of New York and New Jersey called Albany County Sheriff James Campbell to alert them to watch for Ramos. Deputies met his flight, and took Ramos into custody. The man had no weapons on him, though a straight razor was found in his carry-on luggage. He was detained Wednesday, until FBI officers could pick him up. Reassuringly, the TSA states "there is no known nexus to terrorism at this time." Calls made by the AP to JFK security operator Aviation Safeguards, who employed the inattentive guard, were not returned. FMI: www.tsa.gov aero-news.net ************** SCSI AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT PREVENTION AND INVESTIGATION (AAPI) Course Presented by SCSI in Cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Transport DATES: 14-25 April 2008 LOCATION: Czech Airlines Training Center, Prague, Czech Republic WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE: Designed specifically for a wide range of international attendees who have begun or who plan to begin a career in aviation safety. This is an ICAO-based course providing basic but cutting edge content with world class expert instructors in accident prevention and investigation. It provides a strong basic understanding and reinforcement of safety prevention and investigation fundamentals, practices and tools and techniques upon which a strong career as an aviation safety professional can be built COURSE TOPICS INCLUDE: · Essentials of Safety Management Systems · Human Factors including HFACS · Risk Management · Accident Investigation Management Tools · Hazard Identification Systems · Organizing and Planning for Major Investigations · Human Error Problems in Investigation · Group Organization and Field Investigation · Off-scene follow-up · Case Studies and much more COURSE INSTRUCTORS: Caj Frostell, Peter Gardiner, Mike Doiron, Dan Akerman, Rick Anglemyer, John Kennedy and Ladislav Mika REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT: Registration and payment can be made on-line by visiting www.scsi-inc.com or for more information e-mail Ed Treto, Registrar at registrar@scsi-inc.com Tel: 310 517-8844 x 1 or 800 545-3766 x 1 (Canada and US) FAX: 310 540-0532 COURSE TUITION: Early Sign up Discount by 31 December 2007 EUR 2,725 after 31 December EUR 2,925 Discounts available for multiple registrations of 3 or more. ***************** Dieter Reisinger Receives Inaugural European Flight Test Safety Award The Flight Test Safety Committee, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Society of Flight test Engineers, and Royal Aeronautical Society joined forces to launch Europe’s first flight test safety workshop where delegates discussed sensitive & important issues in a non-public atmosphere. Presenters covered lesson learned, success stories, program updates, and new ideas. In conjunction was the European Flight Test Safety Award inaugural presentation recognizing related contributions. Austrian Airlines’ Dr Dieter Reisinger earned the award for demonstrating value in transferring existing eye-tracking technology to observe a pilot’s scan. Video images show the pilot’s primary & inner peripheral vision zones, thus illustrating when & where his eyes (and attention) are focused. Workshop judges saw potential not only to enhance basic pilot training but also towards monitoring test pilot saturation and reserve workload capacity. The award is named in the spirit of test pilot Gérard Guillaumaud, lost in an aircraft accident on November, 2006. ****************** GWU SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM COURSE George Washington University DEADLINE IS FOR EARLY REGISTRATION DISCOUNT. REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED BEYOND NOVEMBER 2. Fall 2007 Aviation Safety and Security Certificate Program 3-13 December 2007 Early Registration Deadline, NOVEMBER 2, 2007 The Program Learn from top industry and academic experts. Determine how to develop and administer an effective safety and security program. Consider regulations, security and risk management, safety management system, airline operations and more. Expand your network of key people in aviation. WHO SHOULD ATTEND: * Safety and Security Executives and Managers * Airport Managers and Executives * Government and Industry Aviation Program Managers * Airline And Airport Personnel Preparing to Advance in Their Jobs * Military Personnel Wishing to Move to Civil Aviation * Graduate Students in Aviation and Related Technical Field For the Fall session, our course offering will include 3 electives. You may take any individual courses for professional development, however, to obtain the Certificate, the two core and three elective courses must be completed and you must register and start your independent case study upon completion of the courses. _______________________________________________________________ Core Courses: The following two courses in addition to the Independent Case Study research must be completed to obtain the Certificate Introduction to Aviation Safety and Security (Dec. 3-4) Capt. Edmond Soliday, Former VP Corporate Safety and Quality Assurance, United Airlines and David Huntzinger, Ph.D., VP Safety, Security & Compliance, Korean Airline Safety Data Management and Analysis (Dec. 5-6) Sherry Chappell, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, SA Technologies, Inc. with a lecture on Risk Analysis by Prof. John Harrald, Ph.D., Director, GW Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management Electives: Three electives must be completed to obtain a Certificate Human Factors (Dec. 7-8) Sherry Chappell, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, SA Technologies, Inc. Introduction to Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) (Dec.10-11) Roger Richardson, Subject Matter Expert, GW Aviation Institute Airport Security Design (Dec.12-13) Leo Boivin, Subject Matter Expert, GW Aviation Institute COST Full Certificate Program $ 5100.00 Individual Courses $850.00 Per course x No. of courses Case Study $2150.00 Early Registration Discount (10% of Balance): Registration and payment must be received by November, 2007 to qualify for the 10% discount. For more information, contact GW Aviation Institute aviation@gwu.edu, (703)726-8334 **** Vahid Motevalli, Ph.D., P.E. Director, Aviation Institute Advancing Global Aviation Safety and Security The George Washington University 20101 Academic Way Ashburn, VA 20147-2604 http://www.gwu.edu/~aviation/ ******************* Curt Lewis, PE, CSP WEB: www.fsinfo.org