08 AUG 2008 _______________________________________ *Helicopter in Fatal Crash May Have Struck a Tree *DGCA row: CAT quashes babu's appointment (India) *Cable fracture caused Air Moorea Twin Otter crash: BEA *White House press corps plane detained in China *Positions Available *************************************** Helicopter in Fatal Crash May Have Struck a Tree JUNCTION CITY, Calif. - Federal investigators said Thursday that they would look into reports that a helicopter ferrying firefighters over a Northern California blaze struck a tree moments before crashing and exploding in flames, killing nine people in one of the nation's deadliest wildfire-related accidents. Accounts from two of four survivors suggested that the helicopter might have clipped trees before plummeting to the ground about 150 yards from its liftoff point. Kitty Higgins, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, confirmed that investigators had heard those accounts, though she cautioned that officials were just beginning their investigation. "That's the kind of report they'll be tracking down," Ms. Higgins said. "But at this point our investigators haven't interviewed any of the survivors." On Thursday afternoon, investigators were still making their way to the accident site - a remote clearing called Helispot 44 - where eight firefighters and a pilot died. The accident happened just before dark Tuesday night as 11 fire personnel and two pilots tried to lift off in a Sikorsky S-61N, a powerful helicopter common in firefighting. The helicopter had just made two short trips and refueled. The authorities would not identify the dead, but late Thursday, Grayback Forestry, a private firefighting company in Merlin, Ore., identified six of its private firefighters it believed to be dead, in addition to three injured. Bob Madden, a spokesman for Carson Helicopters, confirmed the name of one of the helicopter's pilots, Roark Schwanenberg, 54. "We were blessed to have him as long as we did," said the pilot's wife, Christine Schwanenberg of Lostine, Ore., in a telephone interview. "He did die in the way he would have wanted to enter Heaven." William Coultas, the other pilot, underwent skin-graft surgery for extensive burns and was in critical condition at University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Investigators were also expected to try to find a cockpit voice recorder that might hold the voices of Mr. Schwanenberg and Mr. Coultas, though one senior investigator on the scene, James F. Struhsaker, said it was questionable whether it survived because of the fire damage. Mr. Struhsaker said he believed the helicopter had a data recorder. He said that although the Sikorsky S-61N was known for its lifting power, helicopters were not designed for heavily forested areas. "Propeller blades are not designed to go through trees," he said. A woman who said she was an aunt of Jonathan Frohreich, 18, a firefighter injured in the crash, said he had told relatives that the helicopter had just taken off when it hit a tree and plummeted. "He went to the back looking for a window and couldn't find one, and then he found one, knocked it out and just ran," the aunt said by telephone from Medford, Ore., speaking on the condition of anonymity because the man's parents had asked relatives not to speak to the news media. The Los Angeles Times also quoted a firefighter, Richard Schroeder, 42, as saying that he believed the helicopter had hit a tree. The crash was witnessed by 30 people, including other firefighters and helicopter support personnel, who will be interviewed, said Ms. Higgins, who added that the investigation would also look at weather, mechanical issues and the history of the pilots. Four people survived. Twelve of the 13 passengers were employed by private firefighting and helicopter companies that regularly work on fires on federal and state lands. One Forest Service employee was also aboard. Martha Alcott, a spokesman at University of California-Davis Medical Center, said Mr. Frohreich was in good condition on Thursday afternoon with a fracture in his lower back and burns to his face. Another survivor, Michael Brown, who suffered second-degree burns to his face and facial fractures, was also in good condition. Mr. Schroeder is in fair condition at Mercy Medical Center in Redding, about 35 miles southeast of the crash site. Mike Wheelock, Grayback's president, said he had visited all three of the company's injured on Thursday. He also spoke with a group of his firefighters who had left the mountain on a helicopter just before the ill-fated flight. "They're pretty aggrieved," Mr. Wheelock said. "They're all brothers, you know?" The accident was the second fatal incident in less than two weeks at the fire group based out of Shasta-Trinity National Forest, a sprawling wilderness that has been repeatedly raked by flame over the last decade. On July 25, an 18-year-old firefighter, Andrew J. Palmer, died when a tree fell on him, and a memorial for Mr. Palmer still adorns a fence outside the fire headquarters. At an early-morning briefing at the fire's base camp in Junction City, a small river town less than 200 miles north of Sacramento, supervisors tried to keep firefighters focused on the job at hand, an 87,500-acre blaze known as the Iron Complex, burning since late June. All aircraft had been grounded on Wednesday, but planes and helicopters were back in the air Thursday. Jeff Currier, an air support supervisor, said the fire's air corps felt as if it was "kicked in the head" when word of the accident was radioed in on Tuesday night. On Thursday, however, the mood was different. "These people," he said, "are ready to go." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/08crash.html?ref=us *************** DGCA row: CAT quashes babu's appointment (India) NEW DELHI: The top aviation safety office of India - Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) - is in the midst of unprecedented uncertainty. Days before the current DG bows out of office and a successor takes over, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has quashed the aviation ministry's selection process that led to the appointment of an IAS officer as the next head of this office. Moving on a petition filed by joint DG A K Chopra, who was overlooked for the top post, CAT issued an order on Wednesday that also asked the ministry to consider him for selection to the DG's office. A senior aviation ministry official said the government is seeking legal opinion on this order. ''There are options like appealing against this order or beginning the selection process anew by considering DGCA joint DGs for the post. A final decision will be taken shortly,'' he said. This major setback to the government has come at a time when the extended term of current DG Kanu Gohain, who retired last June, is ending this month-end. The ministry had selected an IAS officer, Naseem Zaidi, for this highly technical post by relaxing the rule that a generalist must have 12 years' experience in aviation for being appointed as DG. The advertisement inviting applications to this post had specifically asked DGCA officers not to apply for the same. The DGCA has joint DGs - A K Chopra and R P Sahi - who have spent decades handling aviation issues in the directorate. Chopra moved CAT against his being overlooked and now has got a ruling in his favour. His basic contention was that if the minimum requirement could be relaxed by some years for appointing an IAS to the top post, why could his few month's gap in minimum term that one has to serve as joint DG before becoming eligible to be DG be relaxed too? The country's highest aviation safety office is a house bitterly divided on the issue of next DG. DGCA senior officials are questioning why their decades of experience in aviation are being overlooked for generalists? They are demanding that a joint DG, Chopra or Sahi, be promoted to the DG's post. ''They are going to fulfil the eligibility criteria in a few months. Even if the government does not want to relax eligibility for DGCA officers while it has no problem doing that for others, either current DG may be given an extension or some senior ministry official be given additional charge till such time a joint DG can take over,'' said a senior official. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/DGCA_row_CAT_quashes_babus_appointm ent/articleshow/3339449.cms ***************** Cable fracture caused Air Moorea Twin Otter crash: BEA French air accident investigators have established that a fractured elevator cable was the direct cause of last August's fatal Air Moorea de Havilland Canada Twin Otter crash in French Polynesia, confirming earlier indications. On 9 August 2007 the Air Moorea aircraft suffered a sudden and rapid loss of control, causing it to crash into the sea just 11s later claiming the lives of all on board - the pilot and 19 passengers. Last December investigators from France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA) said they were focussing their attention on a fractured elevator cable which was discovered in the wreckage of the Twin Otter. In its preliminary findings BEA said that recovery personnel had retrieved the entire pitch-down cable from the sunken wreckage. But an 8.8m (29ft) section of the pitch-up cable, between its forward and rear fracture points, was missing. At the time BEA had only concluded the initial stage of its probe and it had not formally linked the damage to the accident. In today's update, the BEA says: "A preliminary report, published on 6 December 2007, established that the elevator control cables showed significant worn areas. "Ongoing studies have confirmed that the failure of the elevator pitch-up cable, at the moment when the flaps were retracted, was the direct cause of the accident. Tests and research have made it possible to reconstruct the complex process which led to the failure of the cable." It adds that the full report will be published before year-end. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** White House press corps plane detained in China BEIJING - A charter airplane carrying the White House press corps was detained for nearly three hours Friday at Beijing's international airport not long after President Bush arrived to attend the Olympic Games. The flight crew of the Northwest Airlines 747 had been expecting to park at a VIP terminal, but after landing was instead directed by the control tower to a normal international gate. White House officials would say only there were "logistical problems" getting clearance to unload the aircraft. The flight crew was told the Chinese were insisting that all luggage be inspected. Typically, the White House press charter receives the "custom of the port," meaning reporters, photographers and camera crews are able to get off the plane right after landing, board buses and head to their hotels and work areas while U.S. State Department officials process immigration and customs details. Delays on landing have happened before, but no one on the plane was able to recall one this long. The plane landed at 2:10 a.m. local time. Passengers finally were able to get off the plane shortly after 5 a.m. However, they were made to pass through Chinese immigration control individually, and baggage was still being screened. Many of those on the plane - roughly 40 journalists - were due to cover the president's first appearance of the day: the opening of the new Beijing U.S. Embassy complex. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_press_corps_plane *************** Positions Available 1) EMBRAER PHENOM SIMULATOR INSTRUCTORS (UK - EU Passport Holders - no flying) 2) A320 LICENSED MAINTENANCE ENGINEERS (Mediterranean - Any Passport, ICAO, A320 4 x Airframe & Engine and 2 x Avionics) Anyone who would like more details should email us on Candidates@BettsRecruitment.com ****************