25 FEB 2008 _______________________________________ *Pilots safe after stealth bomber crashes in Guam *Military panel to probe B-2 crash *Venezuela starts probing air crash that killed 46 *Investigators Recover Flight Data Recorders Of Crashed Venezuelan Airplane *Jumbo jet pilot sacked for ‘fly-by’ at 28 feet Ben Quinn *Indonesia weighs adopting global air safety standard *Airplane swerves in Manila landing, no one injured *U.S. airplane makes safe emergency landing *Virgin flies biofueled jet from London *Seeking "Airport Design Expert/Engineer" **************************************** Pilots safe after stealth bomber crashes in Guam Air Force says 2 pilots in good condition after ejecting from plane (CNN) -- A B-2 stealth bomber crashed early Saturday morning local time in Guam, according to the Air Force. A B-2 stealth bomber taxis at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in a 2005 photo. Two pilots who were aboard during the crash, at Andersen Air Force Base, ejected from the bomber and were in good condition afterward, according to an Air Force statement. The pilots were from the 509th Bomb Wing. The military didn't release their names. Emergency responders were on the scene of the crash. A board of officers will investigate its cause. The crash is the second in three days of an Air Force craft. An Air Force fighter pilot was killed Wednesday after two F-15C jets collided during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico. The planes were from the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat-flying unit out of Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, Florida. E-mail to a friend **************** Military panel to probe B-2 crash HAGATNA, Guam — A board of military officers will investigate Saturday's crash of a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which forced two pilots to eject to safety before the aricraft fell from the sky shortly after takeoff at Guam's Andersen Air Force Base. The crash occurred about 10:30 a.m. local time, the Air Force said. One of the pilots remained hospitalized in stable condition as of Saturday evening, according to Pacific Air Command public affairs in Hawaii. There were no munitions on board at the time and there was no damage to nearby buildings, the Air Force said. Yesterday's crash was the first for the B-2 bomber since it was unveiled in 1988, according to the military. Yigo resident Albert Saboy, a heavy equipment operator who sometimes works on Andersen, was at his home near the base when he heard an explosion of the bomber crash. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Missouri | Louisiana | Hawaii | Government Accountability Office | Barksdale Air Force Base | B-52s | Bomb Wing | Andersen Air Force Base "I heard a loud bang, saw some smoke and a co-worker called me and told me what happened," he said. "My co-worker was driving the water truck with the air-con on and windows up, he could still feel the burst." According to Saboy, his co-worker said the bomber exploded a second time about 30 minutes after it crashed. Other residents also reported hearing two explosions. Jeanne Ward, another witness, was on base visiting her husband for lunch when the bomber crashed. Ward said she didn't see the aircraft hit the ground because she was inside a building, but immediately noticed a rising plume of thick black smoke behind the base's air control tower. Ward said crowds began to gather as emergency vehicles arrived on the scene. "Everybody was on their cellphones and the first thing everyone wanted to know was did the pilots make it out in time," she said. As smoke from fire billowed upwards over northern Guam after the crash, Marianne Blas of Yigo said a smell "like burning tires" wafted over her ranch just outside of Andersen. Blas said the stink was so strong it chased her and her husband out of the ranch, where planes fly overhead daily. "We left and I felt like I needed to shower," she said. Yesterday's accident was the second time an aircraft from Andersen has crashed in the last two weeks. On Feb. 12, a Navy EA-6B Prowler crashed into the water about 20 miles northeast of Ritidian Point; the three crewmembers survived. The Air Force has 21 B-2 bombers. Missouri's Whiteman Air Force Base is their long-term home. The four B-2s currently deployed in Guam, were scheduled to return to Missouri now that six B-52s from the 96th Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., have arrived to replace them. B-2s have been rotating through Guam since 2004, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers. An Air Force fact sheet lists the price of a B-2 at $1.2 billion, but a report from the Government Accountability Office estimates that each plane can cost up to $2.2 billion. ***************** Venezuela starts probing air crash that killed 46 MERIDA, Venezuela (AP) — Investigators worked in freezing temperatures at a charred, high-mountain crash site to recover victims' remains and find clues Saturday in the crash of a plane that slammed into a mountain with 46 people aboard. Sixteen specialists, including crash investigators and forensic experts, were dropped off by helicopter near the crash site on the steep, foggy slope at an altitude of 13,500 feet, said Gen. Ramon Vinas, head of the civil aviation authority. The twin-engine Santa Barbara Airlines plane shattered on impact and burst into flames Thursday, leaving only its tail largely intact and a swath of blackened ground amid scrub brush. Searchers spotted the crash site by helicopter on Friday in the Sierra La Culata National Park. "We've run into many difficulties due to the steepness of the terrain," Vinas said. High winds forced the helicopter to leave the team more than a mile from the site, requiring them to hike in thin air and subfreezing temperatures to reach it. Venezuelan officials said the recovery and identification of bodies would be difficult because victims were ripped apart upon impact. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Miami | France | Caracas | Toulouse | Andean | Venezuelans | Colombians | Merida | Gen. Antonio Rivero "We're going to recover everything we can," emergency management chief Gen. Antonio Rivero told The Associated Press. President Hugo Chavez on Friday declared that "Venezuela is in mourning" and called for a full investigation. The French-made ATR 42-300, bound for Caracas, was carrying 43 passengers and three crewmembers when it crashed shortly after takeoff from the Andean city of Merida, a tourist destination wedged between soaring mountain peaks. Officials said the victims, mostly Venezuelans, also included five Colombians and a U.S. citizen, Vivian Guarch, 53, who worked for a Miami branch of Stanford Bank. "There wasn't even bad weather and they tell me the pilot was among the pilots who know that route the best," Chavez said during a televised speech in Caracas. He said the pilot didn't report any problems to air traffic controllers. Aircraft manufacturer ATR, based in Toulouse, France, said specialists from the company and the French Accident Bureau were sent to assist in the investigation. ***** Accident description Status: Preliminary Date: 21 FEB 2008 Time: ca 17:00 Type: ATR-42-300 Operator: Santa Bárbara Airlines Registration: YV1449 C/n / msn: 028 First flight: 1986 Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120 Crew: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 43 / Occupants: 43 Total: Fatalities: 46 / Occupants: 46 Airplane damage: Written off Location: ca 10 km NW of Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD) (Venezuela) Phase: En route Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Mérida-A Carnevalli Airport (MRD/SVMD), Venezuela Destination airport: Caracas-Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS/SVMI), Venezuela Flightnumber: 518 Narrative: Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 departed Mérida (MRD) at 16:59 on a domestic flight to Caracas. Shortly after take-off the airplane flew into the side of a mountain. Weather reported about the time of takeoff (21:30 UTC) was: SVMD 212100Z 29008KT 9999 SCT013 BKN100 XX/XX Q1018= SVMD 212200Z 25005KT 9999 BKN013 OVC100 20/12 Q1021= ***************** Investigators Recover Flight Data Recorders Of Crashed Venezuelan Airplane 2/23/2008 8:05:32 PM Investigators have located the two flight data recorders from a Venezuelan passenger plane that crashed in the remote Andez mountains on Thursday and killed 46 people on board. Investigators hope to establish why the plane crashed and why the pilot made no distress call. Wreckage from the aircraft was located early on Friday. The twin-engine ATR-42 plane, which crashed shortly after take-off, was flying to the Venezuelan capital Caracas from the city of Merida. The victims include three Colombians and one U.S. citizen. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, said that Venezuela was in mourning and called for a full investigation into the incident. http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=02/23/2008&item=22&vid=0 ***************** Wings from United Arlines Planes Collide at Washington, D.C. Airport Sunday, February 24, 2008 E-Mail Print Share: DiggFacebookStumbleUpon CHANTILLY, Virginia — Two United Airlines planes are being inspected after their wings touched at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Officials say there are no reports of injuries. Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, says a Boeing 737 and a smaller Embraer aircraft were preparing for departure Sunday evening when their wings touched. They were on the taxiway. Emergency crews are checking for damage. Yingling says it is not clear whether passengers will have to evacuate either plane. The incident comes a week after a similar incident at Reagan National Airport forced 63 passengers to be evacuated from two U.S. Airways planes. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332188,00.html **************** Jumbo jet pilot sacked for ‘fly-by’ at 28 feet Ben Quinn A British pilot has been dismissed for “buzzing” a control tower in a Top Gun-style stunt during the maiden flight of a Boeing jumbo jet. Captain Ian Wilkinson astonished passengers by taking the 230-tonne Cathay Pacific jet to within 28ft (8.5m) of the ground shortly after take-off from Boeing’s US manufacturing plant. The 322mph fly-by was cheered by onlookers, and the pilot, who is said to be one of the most senior aviators with the airline, later toasted the flight with champagne. Footage of the stunt on January 30 was leaked on to the internet, however, and Mr Wilkinson was suspended. Cathay Pacific executives took a dim view of his actions, which were carried out without authorisation, and he was dismissed after a disciplinary meeting last week. Ray Middleton, his British co-pilot, who had been unaware that the fly-by was performed without official permission, was suspended from training duties for six months. Chris Pratt, the chairman of Cathay Pacific, is said to have been among the VIP passengers who were on board the £100 million plane, a 777-300ER that had taken off from the plant in Everett, Washington, en route for Hong Kong, where the airline is based. Mr Wilkinson, who is in his mid-fifties and has lived in Hong Kong for more than 15 years, earned more than £250,000 a year. Cathay Pacific is conducting an internal investigation and will submit a report to aviation authorities. A spokesman said: “The pilot in command of the flight was dismissed as he had neither sought nor obtained the necessary company approval to undertake such a fly-by.” The airline had a well-established approval process for such manoeuvres and had conducted them in the past at air shows but only “with proper approval in place”. A Cathay Pacific pilot has claimed that Mr Wilkinson’s job was put in jeopardy only after footage of the incident appeared on the internet. He said: “Wilkinson was very much one of the elite in Cathay Pacific and would have been very chummy with the airline executives he was flying that day. If no one else had found out about it the incident would probably have gone no further, but once it began circulating on the internet and Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Authority got hold of it, that was the end of him.” Mr Wilkinson is thought to be considering an appeal against his dismissal. The swoop has become a hot topic on internet forums for pilots, with some praising the stunt but others criticising it as dangerous. Cathay Pacific has issued a notice to all crew reminding them of the company’s policy. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3427696.ece *************** Indonesia weighs adopting global air safety standard-IATA JAKARTA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Friday that the Indonesian government is considering adopting its operational safety audit for all its airline operators in a bid to improve standards. Indonesia's airline industry has grown rapidly in the past decade following liberalisation, with the launch of several new players and a wider choice of routes across the sprawling archipelago. However, the world's fourth-most populous country has suffered a string of airline disasters in recent years, raising concerns about safety standards and prompting the European Union to ban all Indonesian airlines from its airspace. The Indonesian government has said it is addressing these safety issues and wants the EU to lift the ban. Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA, said at a media briefing that Indonesia's transportation minister had told him the government intends to adopt the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). "I am very pleased after the conversation with the minister yesterday (Thursday), he told me that he was considering to implement all Indonesian carriers to go through IOSA," Bisignani said. IATA has suggested the government make IOSA mandatory, he said, adding the international community would welcome such commitment by the government. "My suggestion is to speed this up, the international community is still waiting for clear actions and this is a very good signal that the government is moving in the right direction," he added. A year ago, a commercial flight operated by the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia [GI.UL] crashed in Yogyakarta, killing more than 20 people, including five Australians. "If an airline goes through IOSA and it is in the registry, it will present itself very, very well and it is very, very possible that the EU will consider this as a relevant aspect to take them away from the blacklist," Bisignani said. ****************** Airplane swerves in Manila landing, no one injured MANILA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Faulty brakes forced an airplane carrying 32 passengers to swerve on landing at Manila's domestic airport on Sunday, triggering an emergency evacuation of passengers but injuring no one, officials said. The jet propeller plane belonging to domestic low-cost carrier SEAIR, arriving from Caticlan in the central Philippines, lost control as it landed and swerved towards a grassy layby beside the runway at around 1755 (0955 GMT). "We looked through binoculars and saw one of the doors swing open and people scrambling out of the airplane. There was smoke coming from it," said air traffic controller Ildefonso Torres. The police said faulty brakes on the Dornier 328 aircraft caused the swerve. ******************* U.S. airplane makes safe emergency landing WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. airplane carrying 138 people made a safe emergency landing in Miami, Florida on Friday due to a technical failure. The American Airlines flight 862 was diverted to the Miami International Airport in the afternoon on its way from West Palm Beach to Chicago after a reported problem with its nose gear. The airlines spokeswoman Martha Pantin said the MD80 plane with133 passengers and five crew members on board circled first above the airport to exhaust fuel before landing. According to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen, the problem was either with the nose gear or its door. She also said "crews are well trained to handle these situations." ***************** Virgin flies biofueled jet from London LONDON - The world's first commercial flight powered by biofuel has taken off from Heathrow Airport. The goal of Sunday's Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet test flight from London to the Netherlands is to show that biofuels can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels. Before it took off, Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic's president, said the breakthrough would help Virgin Atlantic to fly planes using clean fuel sooner than expected. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080224/ap_on_re_eu/britain_biofuel_flight ***************** Seeking "Airport Design Expert/Engineer" Send CV to: curt@curt-lewis.com *****************