14 NOV 2007 _______________________________________ *Jet Makes Emergency Landing in Ecuador *EU suggests Indonesian airliners boost supervision on safety *Smoking Backpack Found in Ariz. Airport *FAA Probes Jet Operator Over Outsourced Services *FAA proposes fix for737’s errant cabin entertainment wires *************************************** Jet Makes Emergency Landing in Ecuador QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — An American Airlines jetliner flying from Miami to Peru with 252 passengers aboard made an emergency landing in Ecuador on Tuesday after the pilot smelled smoke in the cockpit, an official said. Duncan Patterson, American Airlines' sales manager in Ecuador told The Associated Press that it was a false alarm. No injuries were reported. The plane was en route from Miami to Lima, Peru, when it landed in the port city of Guayaquil. "Even though there are costs and complications for the passengers, something we will never argue about is the issue of security," Patterson said. "We will always respect the pilots' decisions." Patterson called it a "minor" incident. ************* EU suggests Indonesian airliners boost supervision on safety JAKARTA, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Experts from the European Union suggested that Indonesian airliners boost supervision on security standard, and asked regulators to raise the capability and quantity of their staffs, director of the air transportation of Transport Ministry Budhi Mulyawan Suyitno said here Wednesday. The director said that the statement was part of recommendation submitted by the experts after their visit to verify the Indonesian aviation from Nov. 5 to 9. The experts suggested that airliners establish their own internal auditors to strengthen surveillance, said Mulyawan. "Regulator also asked to increase the number and capability of their personnel in order to be able to maximally conduct the supervision," he said. Director of Operation of Garuda Indonesia airliner Arie Supari hailed the suggestion, saying that his company had long had the internal auditor. "The internal auditor for safety fulfillment should be already set up (in all airliners) before the suggestion," he said. Garuda audit relied on international safety regulation standard (ICAO), Supari was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. A group of EU' experts have visited Indonesia and checked the safety standard of the country's airlines ahead of a review of an EU ban on Indonesia's carriers. The European Union has prepared a report about the safety of the Indonesian airliners that would be delivered to the European Commission and used as a basis for deciding whether to lift the ban on Indonesian airlines imposed in June after a string of air accidents this year. Indonesia would have an opportunity to present its measures to improve aviation safety to the European Commission, which plans to review the ban at its next meeting. The EU has banned 51 Indonesian airlines, including national airline Garuda. The huge archipelago country has suffered from a series of airline accidents for the last 10 years, claiming thousands of lives. At the beginning of this year, an Adam Air carrier plane with more than 100 people on board lost contact and disappeared in the waters of central Indonesia, and in March a Garuda Indonesia plane-200 with 140 people on board overshot the runway in Yogyakarta province and burst into flames, killing 21 people. ************** Smoking Backpack Found in Ariz. Airport PHOENIX (AP) — A backpack caught fire Tuesday in the cargo area at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, leading to an evacuation, but authorities said the flames were likely caused by heat from a conveyor belt. The bag contained no explosives or other banned items, just leaking toiletries. Phoenix police Lt. Rick Gehlbach said the backpack likely began to smoke after it got jammed between two larger pieces of luggage on a conveyor belt. The impact probably caused toiletries containing alcohol to leak, and a combination of heat from the conveyor belt and its track rubbing against the backpack caused it to catch fire, Gehlbach said. The fire was extinguished quickly, Gehlbach said. About 10 a.m., a baggage handler loading bags on the US Airways plane noticed that the backpack was hot and set it aside. The fire department was called when the bag began to smoke, and they in turn called in a hazardous materials team as a precaution. "When the bomb squad arrived, everything was melted in the bag," said Victor Rangel, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department. Rangel said the backpack contained hairspray and other toiletries. The gate area was evacuated as a precaution. The plane, bound for San Antonio, was taken to another gate, and passengers were allowed to board Flight 200 after about an hour's delay. The bag's owner was questioned by police and allowed back on the flight. US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said no other flights were affected. *************** FAA Probes Jet Operator Over Outsourced Services Federal investigators are looking into whether a company that manages jets for the founders of Google Inc. and a pair of major-league sports teams violated safety rules by contracting out certain operational functions, according to people familiar with the matter. The civil investigation is part of increased Federal Aviation Administration scrutiny into who manages and maintains chartered business aircraft. Federal rules require charter operators to maintain direct control over maintenance, crew scheduling, dispatching and other safety aspects. Closely held Elan Express Inc., which people familiar with the matter said is the company under investigation, operates jets bigger than traditional business-jet charters. It manages and has an FAA certificate to operate a Boeing 767 for Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the billionaire founders of Google, as well as an older Boeing 727 that has been chartered by the Chicago Bulls basketball team and the Colorado Rockies baseball team, these people said. Elan couldn't be reached for comment. Elan contracted out work to U.S. affiliates of Switzerland's Tag Aviation Holding SA, according to people familiar with the matter. Last week Tag agreed to pay $10 million, the largest civil penalty ever imposed by the FAA, to settle allegations that it secretly controlled certain business jets while they were flown on charter trips by an affiliated company, AMI Jet Charter Inc. of Burlingame, Calif. Last week's agreement, under which Tag didn't admit any wrongdoing, said the FAA's settlement "does not extend to Elan Express Inc." The agreement also mentions Tag's "relationship with, or alleged control over" Elan Express. Spokesmen for Tag's U.S. affiliate and AMI declined to comment. A spokesman for Tag in Switzerland couldn't be reached. An FAA spokeswoman and a Google spokesman declined to comment. An official of the company that controls aircraft used by the Google founders didn't return calls. A spokesman for the Rockies confirmed that the team used the Boeing 727 during the past season. He said the team was aware of the investigation and "was monitoring the situation" before deciding whether to sign a new contract with Elan Express. Bulls officials couldn't be reached. The FAA, which has collected documents from Elan, is looking into whether Tag's U.S. unit supplied services to Elan that were similar to those it supplied to AMI, including pilot scheduling. People familiar with the matter said Tag previously had a minority stake in Elan Express and at one point handled crew scheduling, maintained crew training records and provided it with backroom support such as accounting. AMI also had been affiliated with Elan Express. The Rockies spokesman said the team didn't maintain contact with Tag "on a direct daily basis." Officials of Tag and AMI have declined to elaborate. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119501364725992480.html?mod=googlenews_wsj *************** FAA proposes fix for 737’s errant cabin entertainment wires The US Federal Aviation Administration wants Boeing 737 operators based in the USA to install new circuit breakers, relays, wiring and switches in the cabin to give flightcrews the ability to remove electrical power from errant in-flight entertainment systems. The proposed airworthiness directive is based on an FAA analysis of 180 IFE systems on various aircraft, efforts originally spawned by the September 1998 crash of Swissair Flight 111, a Boeing MD-11, off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada. Canadian safety officials determined that the crash was instigated by electrical arcing from an IFE system. "The review results indicated that unsafe conditions exist on some IFE systems installed on various transport category aircraft," the FAA says, pointing specifically to IFE systems it found that cannot be de-energised without removing power from systems needed for flight and landing, those that require the crew to pull circuit breakers to remove power, or crew procedures that have "not been properly revised" after installation of an IFE. In particular, the FAA found that "certain" 737 models must be modified to include a switch in the flight compartment that will allow flightcrews to turn off power to IFE systems and other non-essential electrical systems "in the event of smoke or fumes". Boeing issued service bulletins in 2004 and 2007 aimed at addressing the problems. The agency says 1,176 aircraft on the US registry could be affected by the rule, with proposed upgrades costing about $15 million. Comments on the proposed rule are due by 24 December . http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/11/13/219276/faa-proposes-fix-for7 37s-errant-cabin-entertainment.html ******************* Curt Lewis, PE, CSP WEB: www.fsinfo.org