18 FEB 2008 _______________________________________ *Airlines, Pilots Say Safety Plan in Jeopardy *Two Jets' Wings Clip on Runway *Hundreds of passengers evacuated at LA Int'l Airport *WestJet flight skids off runway, passengers unharmed *FAA investigating runway mishap in Boston *FAA investigates runway incident *************************************** Airlines, Pilots Say Safety Plan in Jeopardy By Del Quentin Wilber Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 16, 2008; Page D01 Airlines and pilot groups say they may be forced to curtail a critical federal safety program after a federal judge's order requiring a regional carrier to disclose pilot incident reports to families suing the airline over a fatal 2006 crash. Pilots and other workers, including flight attendants and mechanics, voluntarily file incident reports as part of a federal program to encourage disclosure in exchange for confidentiality. The workers are almost never punished for revealing their errors if they quickly report them and if their statements are the only source of information about the incident. Workers have filed tens of thousands of such reports in the past decade, which regulators and the airlines analyze to find potential hazards. Safety experts worry that the judge's decision may lead some airlines to leave the program or deter employees from participating. "It is a dangerous precedent," said Kenneth P. Quinn, general counsel for the Flight Safety Foundation. "There will be a chilling effect on employees desiring to voluntarily cooperate in the programs." Dozens of airlines participate in the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Safety Action Program, which started in the mid-1990s. Airlines may also stop participating in a program that allows them to cull data retrieved from planes that help pinpoint problems that might go unnoticed or unreported by pilots, airlines and safety experts said. More than two dozen families are suing Comair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, over the fatal crash of one of its regional jets on Aug. 27, 2006, in Lexington, Ky. The pilots tried to take off from the wrong runway, which was too short for their plane. The jet hit a berm and exploded, killing 49 people on board. Only the co-pilot survived. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the pilots were mostly to blame for the crash. Lawyers representing the families requested the airline's pilot reports detailing other runway incidents because they think the documents might show that Comair did not take action after learning of similar previous problems. "The reports . . . directly relate to whether Comair appropriately evaluated and/or considered the safety information its own pilots were reporting," the families' lawyers argued in court papers. Comair, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at the airline, and trade groups filed briefs seeking to block the request. They argued that Congress and the FAA intended the reports to remain confidential. They also worried that carriers would abandon the reporting program because the information could be used against them in lawsuits. They noted that the program has helped regulators and airlines reduce a variety of threats. But Magistrate Judge James B. Todd ruled that the reports must be turned over to the families because Congress did not bar the release of such documents in such circumstances. He also wrote that he did not believe that disclosure of the documents would hamper the safety program. "There are many incentives for reporting to continue, not least of which is the future personal safety of the crew and passengers," Todd wrote, adding that such programs reduce safety threats that could lead to lawsuits. Representatives of Comair, which is seeking to reverse the ruling, declined to comment. Lawyers for the families did not respond to voice-mail messages. In legal filings, the FAA said it would prefer that the incident reports not be "subject to broad use in litigation." Its lawyers wrote that regulators thought that employees would be less likely to provide information if the reports were not kept confidential. A spokeswoman for the FAA declined to comment about the case. The Air Transport Association, a District-based trade group that represents many major airlines, and Southwest Airlines became so concerned about the ruling's potential impact that they filed motions last week urging the judge to reconsider. "Quite simply, if airline industry personnel know that filing an ASAP report has the potential to embroil them in civil litigation, they will be much less likely to report potential safety problems," Southwest's lawyers wrote. Southwest said its pilots filed 2,973 reports in 2006. Nearly all -- 2,920 -- were "sole-source" statements, meaning that regulators and the carrier learned about the incidents only from the pilots, the carrier's attorneys said. The loss of such reports "could deprive the airline industry of key safety information," its lawyers argued. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021503 192.html?referrer=emailarticle ************** Two Jets' Wings Clip on Runway Two US Airways planes were evacuated yesterday morning at Reagan National Airport after their wings clipped, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said. Courtney Prebich, an airports authority spokeswoman, said the two planes -- a US Airways Airbus A319 headed to LaGuardia Airport in New York City and a smaller US Airways Express regional jet on its way to Rochester, N.Y. -- were at the north side of the airport waiting for their turns at the runway when the collision occurred. The smaller jet, carrying 21 passengers, was taxiing toward the runway when its wing clipped the wing of the larger aircraft and became lodged there, according to a US Airways spokeswoman. Emergency response vehicles evacuated 63 passengers from the planes onto buses that took them to the terminal, where they were booked onto later flights, officials said. There were no serious injuries, and damage to the planes was slight, officials said. One passenger complained of back pain and was taken to a hospital, Prebich said. The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into the cause of the collision. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/17/AR2008021702 188.html *************** Hundreds of passengers evacuated at LA Int'l Airport LOS ANGELES, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of passengers were evacuated Sunday at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)after a passenger made a suspicious comment, airport authorities said. The evacuation caused the delay of two U.S. Airways flights and 20 Southwest Airlines flights, holding up 1,850 passengers, according to airport officials. Airport police ordered the evacuation after receiving a report that a male passenger made a suspicious comment about a bomb threat, said Nancy Castles of the Los Angeles World Airports. The Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad searched the passenger, his carry-on items and his checked luggage, but no explosives were found, Castles said. The passenger was taken into custody after he deplaned and passengers were able to re-enter the terminal at 4 p.m., she said. ************** WestJet flight skids off runway, passengers unharmed A WestJet flight en route from Calgary skidded off the runway in Ottawa last night, but the 94 passengers and crew walked away unharmed. Flight 846 slid into a field beyond the end of a runway when it arrived in Ottawa shortly before 11 p.m. last night, said WestJet spokesman Richard Bartrem. "It's certainly very rare," he said about the incident. No injuries were reported among the passengers on board, said Bartrem. "All of the guests disembarked safely -- they're all fine," he said. Officials wouldn't say what caused the incident, but reports suggested the area surrounding the aircraft was extremely icy. http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2008/02/18/4856136-sun.html *************** FAA investigating runway mishap in Boston (AP) The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a runway mishap that forced a JetBlue [JBLU] flight to abort a takeoff this week from Logan Airport. An FAA spokeswoman says the incident happened Thursday. The Airbus 320 was headed to Long Beach, Calif. It aborted its takeoff because a Cessna business jet crossed the runway in front of it. After a preliminary investigation, the FAA says the Cessna pilot crossed the runway without permission from air traffic control. **************** FAA investigates runway incident GREENSBORO -- A UPS cargo plane headed for Kentucky ran off a runway at PTI late Thursday night, according to the FAA. Officials say at the DC8 cargo plane was taking off, it ran off the side of Runway 5 and into the mud. Four people were onboard the plane, but no one was injured. The FAA is investigating. http://news14.com/content/top_stories/592937/faa-investigates-runway-inciden t/Default.aspx *************