05 NOV 2007 _______________________________________ *Appeals Court Rules Lycoming Committed Fraud In Crankshaft Case *Men With Knives Bound For India Arrested At ATL *Second 737-200 Incident Grounds Mandala Air Boeing Fleet *Business Jet Crashes in Sao Paulo, Killing 8 People *Missing wing tip causes passenger revolt **************************************** Appeals Court Rules Lycoming Committed Fraud In Crankshaft Case Court Set Aside Previous $96 Million Damage Award The Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, TX handed down a decision this week in an aviation fraud case involving Lycoming engines division, upholding key components of the jury's verdict while setting aside the damages award because the damages were not recoverable by Texas law. In 2005, a jury in Grimes County, TX found the Lycoming engines division of Providence, RI-based Textron liable for fraud, and ordered the company to pay approximately $96 million to Navasota, TX-based Interstate Southwest Ltd., according to the company. Later Lycoming launched a countersuit in its home state of Pennsylvania, asking indemnity of $173 million. In its decision, the court upheld the jury's finding the crankshaft failures were caused solely by a defect in Lycoming's design, and also held that the contract provision under which Lycoming sought indemnity was unenforceable. "The important thing to remember is that we defeated Lycoming's $173 million claim, and that's still true," says Marty Rose of Rose Walker, L.L.P., lead counsel for Interstate Southwest. "And it's still true that the jury found Lycoming committed fraud." Between 2000 and 2002, there were 24 failures and 12 deaths in Cessnas, Pipers and other airplanes equipped with Lycoming engines. Interstate Southwest supplied Lycoming with the crankshaft forgings for those engines. Lycoming blamed Interstate for the failures, but testing by Interstate's legal team showed the trouble was a defect in Lycoming's own design for the crankshafts. The 2005 jury also found Lycoming committed fraud on Interstate, and awarded Interstate nearly $10 million in actual damages and another $86 million in exemplary damages. The trial court later entered judgment for the full $96 million which the recent decision ruled un-recoverable. The courtroom victory by the appellate court effectively nullified Lycoming's $173 million counterclaim. FMI: www.interstatesw.com, www.lycoming.textron.com/ aero-news.net ************** Men With Knives Bound For India Arrested At ATL FBI Says Incident Not Terror-Related A man with a box cutter in his luggage who had boarded a flight after successfully passing through airport security triggered the arrest of both he, and his travel companion on state weapons charges at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently. According to the Associated Press, authorities said Chhaganbhai Patel, 60, was stopped at the airport October 25 after he was found with a number of knives, including a martial arts-style knife. Shakarabhai Patel, 64, who was traveling with him, had already made it through security and onto the Delta Air Lines jet, which was bound for New York and then to India, authorities said. The plane was brought back to the gate, and police said a box cutter and $5,000 cash were found in the second man's bag. Both have been charged with state violations of carrying concealed weapons, according to an Atlanta police report. Federal agents interviewed the two men through an interpreter and determined the incident was not terrorism-related. No federal charges were brought, FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said November 1. No explanation was given for why the men had the knives. Atlanta police Lt. Jim Corlino told Atlanta television station WAGA-5 the way the knives were packed "was an intentional concealment." "The (martial arts) knife was a large, Chinese-style fighting knife," Corlino said. Authorities said they also found 20 small knives wrapped in tin foil and razor blades hidden in the battery compartment of a toy car. The police report said the man indicated he wrapped the knives to keep them from cutting his clothes. Jon Allen, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the arrests illustrate the agency's practice of having multiple layers of security. "One of those layers is professionally trained officers who through their questioning identified the travel companion," Allen said. "The travel companion was removed from the flight and rescreened and that's when that box cutter was identified." Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said the airline cooperated fully with authorities. FMI: www.atlanta-airport.com, www.tsa.gov, www.fbi.gov aero-news.net *************** Second 737-200 Incident Grounds Mandala Air Boeing Fleet Officials Cite Safety Reasons; Carrier Has New Airbus Planes On Order Mandala Airlines has grounded its four Boeing 737-200 aircraft after one of them skidded off a runway upon landing, a company official told the Jakarta Post on November 2. "We decided to ground all our four Boeing 737-200s for safety reasons following the incident,” said Mandala's chief executive officer Warwick Brady. All 97 passengers and crew members were unharmed and the plane "suffered only minor damage," he said. Brady said that the airline's engineering staff was investigating why the plane skidded about 650 feet off the runway upon landing in Malang, East Java, on November 1. "We are looking forward to the results soon," Brady added. Mandala announced plans to shift its fleet from Boeing to Airbus, and has six Airbus 319 jets in use, according to airline officials. Mandala made international headlines in September 2004 when one of its Boeing 737-200s crashed after taking off from Medan airport, killing 150 people. The carrier was originally owned by Army-linked foundations, but was sold to an Indonesian company in April last year for $33 million dollars. US firm Indigo Partners LLC who owns 49 percent. Mandala, which currently operates 13 aircraft, has announced plans to fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in an effort to become a regional airline. The airline recently secured a category-one safety accreditation from the Transportation Ministry, and is making efforts to obtain International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Operation Safety Audit (IOSA) certification. The airline’s category-one accreditation puts Mandala on the same level as Garuda Indonesia, and the airline will have priority for clearance when the European Union lifts its ban on Indonesian airlines flying to the region.Mandala Airlines has entered into these programs in an effort to improve Indonesian airline safety after it came under the spotlight of the international aviation community due to a series of recent accidents. In July, the European Commission banned all Indonesian airlines from entering the 27-nation bloc. FMI: www.mandalaair.com aero-news.net *************** Business Jet Crashes in Sao Paulo, Killing 8 People Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A business jet crashed in Sao Paulo a few minutes after take off today, killing eight people, Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported. The aircraft crashed into a house, killing six people inside, including a baby, shortly after taking off from Campo de Martre, an airport in northern Sao Paulo, Folha reported, citing Brazil's Air Force. Both the pilot and co-pilot of the plane, a Learjet 35A operated by air taxi company Reali Taxi Aereo, also died, Folha reported. The plane wasn't carrying passengers. ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 04 NOV 2007 Time: 14:10 Type: Learjet 35A Operator: Reali Táxi Aéreo Registration: PT-OVC C/n / msn: 35A-399 First flight: Crew: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: Airplane damage: Destroyed Location: 0,8 km (0.5 mls) N of São Paulo-Campo de Marte Airport, SP (Brazil) Phase: Initial climb Nature: Unknown Departure airport: São Paulo-Campo de Marte Airport, SP (SBMT), Brazil Destination airport: Rio de Janeiro (unknown airport), RJ, Brazil Narrative: The Learjet 25A departed Campo de Marte Airport runway 30 and banked right. It struck three houses, destroying one of them on the Rua Bernardino de Sena, 104. Seven people are reported dead. It is not known how many passengers were on board and/or how many people died inside the house. (Aviation-safety.net) *************** Missing wing tip causes passenger revolt LONDON, Nov. 4 Several passengers on board a plane at London's Heathrow Airport revolted against the crew after they learned the aircraft was missing a wing tip. The Daily Mail said Saturday that seven SriLankan Airlines customers demanded they be allowed to exit the aircraft while it was at the British airport after they learned it was missing a 5-foot wing tip. Passenger Ian McKie said that he and his fellow passengers had witnessed the damage occur when their SriLankan Airlines flight hit another aircraft at Heathrow two weeks ago. The 54-year-old said that airline officials informed the passengers they would continue their voyage on another plane after a delay, but ultimately found themselves on the damaged plane. At that point, seven passengers insisted they be allowed to leave the flight despite the crew's assurances of a safe flight. The Daily Mail said that the airline later supported its employees, stating a missing wing tip would not pose a safety risk and is only used to minimize fuel costs. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/136200.html ******************* Curt Lewis, PE, CSP WEB: www.fsinfo.org