12 FEB 2008 _______________________________________ *Lightning strikes passenger jet *Amazon collision pilots questioned over deactivated transponder *Qantas jet written off after NT landing *Colorado airplane manufacturer suspends operations *United, American Plan Safety Push After Icing Linked to British Crash *************************************** Lightning strikes passenger jet The airline said planes were occasionally stuck by lightening Lightning tore a gash in the nosecone of a passenger jet, which was forced to abandon its flight from New York to London. The incident happened on Saturday night after the Continental Airlines Boeing 757 took off from Newark Liberty International Airport near New York. One passenger said people started screaming after a loud bang was followed by a flash of white light. The Gatwick-bound plane returned to Newark where it landed safely. Alarming The 122 passengers switched to another aircraft and reached Gatwick almost three hours late. A Continental Airlines spokesman said: "After the lightning strike the pilot immediately returned to Newark. There was damage to the nosecone. "This was the kind of lightning strike that does happen occasionally but it must have been alarming for the customers on board." The incident comes just weeks after the crash-landing at Heathrow Airport after a British Airways' Boeing 777 lost power on approach to the airport. All 152 passengers and crew were evacuated safely. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7238809.stm ************** Amazon collision pilots questioned over deactivated transponder Brazilian investigators of the Amazon mid-air collision between a Gol Boeing 737 and an Embraer Legacy business jet have directly interviewed the Legacy's pilots for the first time, but have still to determine why the jet's transponder deactivated with the loss of the collision-warning system. Both Legacy pilots have denied deliberately carrying out any action which would have switched off the transponder and do not recall doing anything which might have accidentally caused it to stop operating. Last year the US FAA warned that Legacy pilots could accidentally nudge the radio management unit - which also controls the transponder - while using the cockpit footrest. But Brazilian accident investigation agency CENIPA has not publicly linked this possible mechanism to the collision, and has even appeared to detract from the possibility by highlighting contrary evidence. All 154 occupants of the Gol 737-800 were killed in the 29 September 2006 collision; the Legacy escaped with less damage and all those on board survived. Both Legacy pilots involved in the accident listened to the jet's cockpit-voice recording and were interviewed separately over 29-31 January this year, in the presence of lawyers, at the headquarters of the US National Transportation Safety Board. Until then, says CENIPA, the two pilots had responded to questionnaires via the NTSB. "The pilots affirmed that they did not conduct any intentional action to interrupt the functioning of the transponder, and consequently the aircraft's anti-collision system, and do not perceive or remember having done anything that could have caused the accidental interruption of this equipment," says CENIPA, adding that the pilots were interviewed voluntarily and that three NTSB members participated. Cockpit-voice recorder data shows the transponder deactivation occurred during a period of silence in the cockpit lasting 1min 43s. During this period the pilots were performing planning calculations for the next stage of the flight. The pilot in the right-hand seat was using a laptop computer. But CENIPA says that studies to re-enact the flight show there is "no way" that the laptop could have struck the radio management unit's control button in such a way as to put the transponder into 'standby' mode. It says the button would need to have been touched twice in 20s. Last year the FAA distributed an advisory to Embraer Legacy operators warning that pilots could accidentally deactivate the transponder by placing their feet on the footrests below the instrument panel, and inadvertently nudging the radio management unit tuning control. CENIPA, citing ergonomic considerations, subsequently stated that the footrest could not be used during flight if the pilot's seat was in its normal position, and that the CVR would have picked up the movement of the seat. It said there was "no record of [seat] movement" on the CVR during the period in which the transponder stopped operating. But it added that the CVR record did contain a comment from the left-hand pilot recommending that feet should not be put up in the cockpit during flight. CENIPA said the Legacy footrest has a protective shield which prevents the pilots' shoes from encroaching directly on the instrument panel. Even if the pilot on the left side flexed his right foot, it said, he could only reach the buttons that change radio frequencies, and not the button to change the transponder mode. But CENIPA did not, however, discuss the potential for interference from the pilot in the right-hand seat. The investigators state that the information supplied by the pilots will be cross-referenced with other information to construct possible scenarios which could have led the transponder to stop functioning. CENIPA says the investigation is in its final phase. But it adds that the air traffic controllers involved at the time of the accident, on the advice of defence lawyers, are "persisting in the position of not participating in any interview", because of concerns that the information will be used in a criminal trial. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/12/221474/amazon-collision-pilo ts-questioned-over-deactivated-transponder.html *************** Qantas jet written off after NT landing A $35MILLION Qantas jet is believed tohave been written off after a "heavy landing" in Darwin. The Boeing 717 jet bumped down at Darwin airport on February 7 after flying from Cairns via Nhulunbuy. None of the 84 passengers were hurt and they were able to "disembark normally" from the plane, the airline said yesterday. A report said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had listed the incident on its air safety database and had described damage to the plane as "substantial". It said the Bureau reported the plane entered an area of "high sink", forcing it to land heavily, "wrinkling" the aircraft's fuselage. But spokesman Geoge Nadal denied the information had come from the Bureau. He confirmed that the heavy landing had been reported and was under investigation. An air safety expert is due to arrive in Darwin soon. Mr Nadal said the outcome of the investigation would depend on the "complexity" ofthe incident. Qantas said it could not comment on whether the plane had been written off but said the aircraft was out of action. Qantaslink general manager of regional airlines Narendra Kumar said the flight - operating as QF1944 from Cairns - was being investigated in consultation with Boeing and National Jets Systems, which operated the aircraft on behalf of Qantaslink. He said the incident had been reported to air safety authorities. The QantasLink jet is one of 11 in the Territory's fleet of 717s, operated by NationalJet Systems. http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2008/02/12/3333_ntnews.html *************** Colorado airplane manufacturer suspends operations The inability to raise $100 million to stay afloat has forced very light jet manufacturer Adam Aircraft to suspend operations at its Colorado facilities, the company announced late Monday. The company employed 500 in Colorado. Last month, the company announced that it had to raise $100 million by Jan. 31 in order to stay in business. "The funding was not available. At this time, all operations are suspended," said Shelly Simi, Adam Aircraft spokeswoman. "They're working to see what options are available." The announcement comes a month after the Centennial Airport-based Adam Aircraft suspended operations at its Ogden, Utah, facility and laid off 300 employees due to lack of financing, which forced the company to seek additional capital to continue producing its carbon composite airplanes. Adam Aircraft had facilities in Ogden, Pueblo and Centennial. Prior to the layoffs, Adam Aircraft employed 800. In August 2006, Adam Aircraft raised $93 million, led by Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm DMC. Also, Meisrow Financial, W Capital Partners, D.E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios LLC and Acadia Woods Partners helped raise that money. Goldman Sachs and Hunt Growth Capital -- previous investors in Adam Aircraft -- participated in that funding. Simi said none of the Adam Aircraft investors have halted financing. Adam Aircraft produces two carbon composite airplanes -- the $1.2 million A500 turboprop airplane and the $2.5 million A700 very light jet. The A500 has been certified by Federal Aviation Administration. Adam Aircraft has produced 17 A500s and delivered seven to customers. The A700 is still going through the FAA certification process. The company has roughly $1 billion of planes on order, according to Simi. Last summer, Adam Aircraft started a new assembly-line program called "Make Production Fly" to speed plane production. Laser placement machines that make exact measurements were installed at the company's facilities. Before, those measurements were done by hand. The technology enabled the company to cut down the time it took to make a plane to 12 weeks from 14 months. http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/02/11/daily15.html **************** United, American Plan Safety Push After Icing Linked to British Crash Prompted by suspected ice accumulation in the fuel system of a British Airways PLC jumbo jet that crash landed near London last month, two major U.S. carriers are stepping up safety initiatives to prevent such problems, according to people familiar with the matter. A British Airways plane made an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport last month. The moves come amid growing indications that a buildup of ice crystals or slush simultaneously restricted fuel flow and reduced the thrust of both engines of the Boeing 777 jet moments before the Jan. 17 accident at Heathrow International Airport, these officials said. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines are taking precautionary steps to ensure fuel quality and re-evaluate fuel characteristics before investigators release preliminary findings. While it is common for airlines to ramp up safety efforts in the wake of a high-profile crash, they typically wait until the release of such findings or early safety recommendations by regulators or manufacturers. United is reassessing certain quality-control systems it uses for accepting and testing fuel at airports, according to these people, and is reviewing procedures its mechanics use to drain water from jetliner fuel tanks. American has launched an effort to determine if a different type of jet fuel could better withstand temperature extremes on the longest and coldest polar routes, other officials said. The moves come as U.S. and British investigators are focusing on whether ice crystals may have clogged the plane's dual oil-cooler systems, according to people familiar with the details. The radiator-like devices use fuel flow from each of the wing tanks to cool engine oil, and fuel then flows from there to the nearby engine during flight. Investigators also want to determine how mechanics who worked on the aircraft before a pair of earlier flights may have reacted to warnings of potential ice buildup in the fuel. An internal Federal Aviation Administration memo last month said "a maintenance message indicating excessive water in the center tank was set during taxi on the two previous flight legs, although it cleared itself both times." Water can be drained from Boeing 777 fuel tanks only on the ground, so part of the puzzle is what mechanics did to ensure the fuel system wasn't contaminated. United's routine procedures call for removing excess water after every several hundred flight hours. United, American and Rolls-Royce Group PLC, which made the engines on the plane that crashed, have declined to comment on the investigation. Boeing Co., which said its 777 aircraft flew for 12 years and about 3.6 million hours world-wide without a major accident, said "it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage." The crash didn't result in fatalities. The analysis and safety-oversight efforts by the airlines haven't uncovered any significant new icing-related hazards or resulted in operational changes. British regulators are expected to issue an update on the probe within a few days, though they don't appear ready to release new safety mandates or recommendations. The latest moves highlight how closely large segments of the global aviation industry are following the investigation, believed to be the first time ice contamination in fuel brought down a large, state-of-the-art jetliner with no apparent mechanical or computer malfunctions. The FAA recently asked U.S. carriers that fly Boeing 777 aircraft to comb through their historical safety data to identify instances when engines were slow to rev up in response to pilot commands, or may have reduced thrust on their own, according to one person familiar with the investigation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277026942260315.html?mod=googlenews_wsj ****************