13 NOV 2007 _______________________________________ *Swiss Court Orders Man Who Killed Skyguide Controller Released From Prison *A340 Accident (Quito, Ecuador) *Bombardier Global 5000 Accident (Canada) *Antonov 12 Accident ( Sudan) *Saudi Prince Buying 'Flying Palace' Jet *Air Charter Operators Should Expect More Random FAA Audits *************************************** Swiss Court Orders Man Who Killed Skyguide Controller Released From Prison Vitaly Kaloyev Released Monday Night A Swiss court ordered the release last week of a Russian imprisoned for killing an air traffic controller he blamed for his family's death in a 2002 midair collision. The tribunal, Switzerland’s highest court, rejected an appeal by Zurich prosecutors and ordered Vitaly Kaloyev released because he served more than two-thirds of his sentence with good behavior. The Associated Press reports two of the court's five judges dissented from the majority, saying the change -- from eight years down to five and half -- reduced the sentence too much. As ANN reported, Kaloyev was convicted in October 2005 of premeditated homicide in the killing of Danish-born Peter Nielsen, an air traffic controller with Swiss company Skyguide. Nielsen was the only person on duty when a Bashkirian Airlines plane and a DHL cargo jet collided on July 1, 2002 killing 71 people, mostly schoolchildren on a holiday trip to Spain. The sentence against Kaloyev was reduced by a regional court in July, which ruled he acted with diminished responsibility because of the deaths of his wife and two children. Zurich prosecutors appealed the decision. With no more legal obstacles Kaloyev release was scheduled to take place on August 24. Kaloyev said he could not remember the slaying, but has acknowledged that he must have killed Nielsen in February 2004. He was released from prison Monday night. "I want to express my great thanks to all the citizens of Russia, to the Russian president for the strong support they extended to me," Kaloyev said upon his arrival at Domodedovo Airport outside Moscow. "While in prison, I did not feel I was away from my motherland." Four Skyguide employees were found guilty of negligent homicide in September. Four other officials were acquitted of wrongdoing in a separate proceeding that investigated the actions that led to the crash. Three midlevel managers were given one-year suspended prison sentences, while another employee -- a project manager -- received a suspended fine of $11,200. FMI: www.skyguide.ch/en/ aero-news.net *************** A340 Accident (Quito, Ecuador) Status: Preliminary Date: 09 NOV 2007 Time: 17:06 Type: Airbus A340-642 Operator: Iberia Registration: EC-JOH C/n / msn: 731 First flight: 2006 Engines: 4 Rolls Royce 556 Trent Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 14 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 335 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 349 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Quito-Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO) (Ecuador) Phase: Landing Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD/LEMD), Spain Destination airport: Quito-Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO/SEQU), Ecuador Flightnumber: 6463 Narrative: The A340 suffered one or more tyre bursts on landing at Quito (UIO). The aircraft overran the runway and came to rest tilting to the left with nr.1 and 2 engines touching the ground. (aviation-safety.net) ************** Bombardier Global 5000 Accident (Canada) Status: Preliminary Date: 11 NOV 2007 Time: ca 14:30 Type: Bombardier BD-700-1A11 Global 5000 Operator: Jetport Inc. Registration: C-GXPR C/n / msn: 9211 First flight: 2006 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 10 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Fox Harbour Airport, NF (YFX) (Canada) Phase: Landing Nature: Executive Departure airport: Hamilton Airport, ON (YHM/CYHM), Canada Destination airport: Fox Harbour Airport, NS, Canada Narrative: Global 5000 C-GXPR departed Hamilton (YHM) at 11:53 EST on a flight to the Fox Harbour private airstrip. Upon landing the left wing is said to have contacted the runway. The airplane spun and suffered a gear collapse. (aviation-safety.net) ************** Antonov 12 Accident ( Sudan) Status: Preliminary Date: 08 NOV 2007 Time: ca 08:00 Type: Antonov 12 Operator: Juba Air Cargo Registration: C/n / msn: First flight: Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 Ground casualties: Fatalities: 2 Airplane damage: Written off Location: Khartoum-Civil Airport (KRT) (Sudan) Phase: Landing Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Khartoum-Civil Airport (KRT/HSSS), Sudan Destination airport: Juba Airport (JUB/HSSJ), Sudan Narrative: The An-12 cargo plane took off from Khartoum (KRT) around 08:00 in the morning, carrying 11 tons of cargo. One engine failed shortly after takeoff, according to the president of Juba Air Cargo due to bird strike. The airplane returned to land but crash-landed on the military part of the airport. Two soldiers were killed on the ground. The airplane caught fire but the four crew memers, three Russians and one Sudanese, escaped. (aviation-safety.net) ************* Saudi Prince Buying 'Flying Palace' Jet DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - In the annals of excess, it could be a new high: a more than $300 million dollar, super-sized luxury airplane, bought and outfitted solely for the private comfort of a Saudi Arabian billionaire. Once done, the Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, will be a "flying palace" for Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the manufacturer announced Monday. Airbus SAS would not give a specific price tag for the VIP double- decker jet, with its football field-length wings, saying only that it would cost more than the aircraft's list price of $320 million. That doesn't even include the money the prince will spend to custom fit the nearly 6,000-square foot plane to include whatever he wants. The options include private bedrooms, a movie theater or even a gym with a jacuzzi. He'll also need a flight crew of about 15 to operate the luxury liner. "Prince Alwaleed is the first, and so far the only customer of this aircraft," said David Velupillai, the spokesman of the Airbus, which announced the luxury order at the Dubai International Airshow. It's all just spending cash for bin Talal—Citigroup Inc.'s biggest individual shareholder and the world's 13th richest person with assets around $20 billion. As a member of the Saudi royal family, he benefits from the country's vast oil wealth. But much of bin Talal's huge fortune comes from his investment firm, the $25-billion Kingdom Holding Co., which has stakes in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Fairmont Raffles Hotels International Inc., Time Warner Inc., Apple Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Walt Disney Co. to name a few major corporations. The prince, who is in his early 50s, appears to have a taste for super-sized jumbo jets. He already is the only private owner of a Boeing 747-400, Airbus said. "It's like buying a new car or a new TV," Velupillai told The Associated Press. "One wants something bigger and better." Airbus would not release many details about bin Talal's VIP A380, which dwarfs the 747—formerly the world's most spacious plane. Staff who answered the phone at bin Talal's office on Monday in Saudi Arabia said he was unavailable to comment. The commercial A380, which made its maiden voyage with Singapore Airlines last month, is as tall as a seven-story building with each wing big enough to hold 70 cars. It is capable of carrying 853 passengers in an all-economy class configuration. Take out the seats, and the plane can be transformed into a flying mansion. Germany's Lufthansa Technik, which declined to comment Monday on bin Talal's purchase, has created a general rendering of what a VIP A380 jumbo could include: spacious bedrooms on the plane's upper deck, separated by a reception area and a bar next to central stairway. The master bedroom could include an office, private dinning room, a gym featuring a steam bath and exercise machines. The lower decks could feature a lounge-type quarters equipped with a conference area and dining room. A third level, normally used for cargo, could be transformed into another passenger space or cinema. This type of custom design does not come cheap. Experts say it could rack the price up by another $50 million to $150 million. Purchases of private airliners has mushroomed in recent years, but most orders are in the category of a Learjet or Gulfstream—small and cheap at $2 million to $5 million in comparison to the A380, said David Bain, editor of a British-based online wealth analysis service, wealth-bulletin.com. "It seems the Saudis really like these huge planes, and they have the money to do it," said Bain, who believes about a dozen other individuals own commercial jets. "Very few people buy commercial planes. It's a bit over the top." But he and Airbus expect that number to grow. The airline company said it expects at least six other A380 VIP jets to be sold to clients in the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. "The amount of billionaires has sky rocketed in recent years, and the really rich ones are looking to buy a commercial airline rather than a Learjet," Bain said. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SSA62G0&show_article=1 ************** Air Charter Operators Should Expect More Random FAA Audits There are nearly 2,800 FAR Part 135 air charter carriers in the U.S. that provide on-demand travel to the general public. The Federal Aviation Administration expects all operators to abide by its laws, to ensure that minimum air safety regulations are followed and implemented. Most operators practice this no-brainer, rudimentary safety component to establish air safety. However, after a serious February 2005 charter accident occurred in Teterboro, N.J., the FAA realized that illegal charter flights were taking place. That revelation led to the FAA's reestablishment of safety 101: operators must maintain operational control over all flights--overseeing entire operations, to include authority over the initiation, continuation, conduct and termination of a flight. The Department of Transportation and its aviation arm, the FAA, immediately developed special teams tasked with the assignment of investigating operators. The FAA's A008 Operational Control Specifications were sent out earlier this year, which saw a few revisions and caused confusion for some operators. However, it's always been clear that an operator cannot delegate its responsibility of maintaining operational control over its air transportation/commercial services to outside entities, to include aircraft owners or aircraft management companies. Some operators have been found guilty of renting out the use of their air carrier certificate to third parties, which is illegal. Op Spec A001, a document issued by the FAA, will identify the operator's legal name and any doing business as names. The FAA must approve all dba names listed on an operator's certificate. However, be forewarned: listing too many dba names may trigger an unexpected visit from the FAA. The FAA has been conducting random, unannounced charter audits for more than 19 months. The general aviation industry has been fully aware of the FAA's intentions, and despite best efforts made by all trade associations to educate operators on compliance issues, some operators remain dumbfounded. When the FAA shows up at your door, be prepared to provide any and all documentation requested. Because of transparency issues, more operators are posting their air carrier certificate number on websites, which makes it easier for consumers to find out if they're dealing with direct carriers. Make no mistake, the FAA checks websites as well. Top personnel in Washington, D.C. read posts on the National Business Aviation Association's Air Mail. In other words, operators, stop making posts asking whether anyone is interested in "purchasing your air carrier certificate" or equally alarming comments. Unfortunately, it's the minority of charter operators out there that have given the FAA cause to probe the entire industry. Overall, the air charter industry is very safe. Several charter operators have said that the NBAA's quick links section, which contains a recently developed operational control audit checklist, is a great resource for sorting out operational control issues. This site also provides operators with a PowerPoint presentation on the topic that the FAA has prepared for inspectors. Surviving The FAA's Charter Quest Team Eric Wells, vice president and chief pilot of Private Jets Inc. knows firsthand what it's like to have an unannounced FAA knock on the door. "It was February 2006, before the FAA published Op Spec A008, and there they were--‘the charter quest team,'" he said. "Some of the auditors were from Washington; it didn't take long to figure out this wasn't a visit from the local FSDO (flight standards district office.)" Wells, who sits on the NBAA's 135 committee, said in terms of his company's charter fleet, which was 13 aircraft at the time of the audit, is a fair representation of what most charter companies are like in the U.S. PJ is based at Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) in Oklahoma. "It was a humbling experience, he recalls. "They scrutinized relationships with pilots, subpoenaed owners' aircraft and they really looked at our dba names; we had several of them. I believe for us it was a red flag for the FAA. I wouldn't wish this audit on anyone, but I can tell you that today we're a better company for having it. We want to be compliant in all areas. "Although we had ‘operational control,' we soon realized that we didn't have economical control. Some of the dba names listed on our A001 Op Spec were in the name of management companies; this was approved through our local FSDO. Naturally, as the FDSO is an arm of FAA, we thought we were compliant with the FAA. Not so." He said that management companies, essentially brokers, were cutting the checks. With a sigh of relief in his voice, Wells says, "We fixed that right away; we have operational control and control over every aspect of our charter business. Today, we don't have dba names. We learned that you couldn't trust your FSDO to ensure compliance; it's solely each operator's responsibility to ensure compliance. The FAA is there to enforce the law, but it's not the agency's job to make sure you know how to do your job." He said he hopes that other operators are paying attention, as there are several charter operators out there now doing the same thing. "If you're not paying attention, it could cost you your business," he said. "The FAA's A008 is very clear on the subject of dba names. I think one of reasons the FAA is tough in this area, as well they should be, is because some charter operators have added a lot of dba names; some operators have rented them out for a fee. So I can understand the FAA's viewpoint on this subject. One operator, which I can't recall the company's name, had nearly 30 dba names on its A001; that operator is no longer in business." Wells said the FAA investigated PJ for 12 months, and in January 2007, auditors returned for a follow-up visit. "Thankfully it was a scheduled visit," he said. "It took us eight months to be able to add aircraft to our charter fleet through our local FSDO. The FAA is very serious about its audits; they are in-depth. For instance, documentation will be asked for regarding each flight; you have to prove that you have operational control before the flight and following the flight. "The FAA can ask for documentation about any issue--crew duty rest, aircraft weight and balance, money transactions, etc. Expect them to do ramp checks. If the FAA asks a pilot whom he or she works for, the right answer should be the Part 135. All of our pilots are on our payroll. Having operational control means you must take responsibility for everything." Wells said he never received any written correspondence from the FAA before, during or since his company's audit. Relationships between owners, pilots, air charter brokers and the air carrier will be looked at under a microscope. Charter operators now we have the full attention of the FAA's legal department. http://www.charterx.com/resources/article.aspx?id=3040 ******************* Curt Lewis, PE, CSP WEB: www.fsinfo.org