27 AUG 2008 _______________________________________ *NTSB TO OPEN PUBLIC DOCKET ON 2007 MIDAIR CRASH INVOLVING TWO NEWS HELICOPTERS IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA *Meltdown: Communications Failure Leads To Ground Delays Nationwide *Hijacked Sudanese Airliner Lands In Libya *Hijacked plane passengers released *Investigators Look At Flap Settings In Spanair Accident *NTSB Issues 'Safety Alert' To Pilots On Flying Near Thunderstorms *Black boxes of airplane, which crashed in Spain analyzed *JetBlue plane returns to JFK after smoke report *************************************** NTSB TO OPEN PUBLIC DOCKET ON 2007 MIDAIR CRASH INVOLVING TWO NEWS HELICOPTERS IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA Washington, DC -- As part of the ongoing investigation of a midair collision involving two news helicopters in Phoenix, Arizona, the National Transportation Safety Board will open a public docket containing factual reports for this investigation on Thursday, August 28, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. On July 27, 2007 two news helicopters collided in midair while covering a police pursuit in Phoenix, Arizona. The commercial pilots of both helicopters and one photojournalist in each helicopter sustained fatal injuries. The information being released is factual in nature and does not provide any analysis. It will include investigative group factual reports and other documents. Additional material will be added to the docket as it becomes available. Analysis of the accident, along with conclusions and a determination of probable cause, will come at a later date when the final report on the investigation is completed. The docket material will be available on the NTSB website at www.ntsb.gov in the FIOA electronic reading room. This will be a document release only. No interviews will be conducted. Media Contact: Terry N. Williams, 202-314-6100 williat@ntsb.gov ************* Meltdown: Communications Failure Leads To Ground Delays Nationwide FAA Facility In Atlanta Unable To Receive Flight Plans Computer problems at a flight control center near Atlanta, GA have snagged flights nationwide, leading to widespread delays throughout the air traffic control network. The center, located in the Atlanta suburb of Hampton, had a communication link failure in the network about 1:30 pm EDT, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. The center handles instrument flight plans filed for aircraft departing from airports in the eastern portion of the United States. "As a result, all the flight plans for any instrument flights nationwide are having to be processed through a similar facility in Salt Lake City," Bergen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "So that's slowing things down." Initially, the problem impacted transcontinental routes -- those flights requiring coordination between both centers. However, the ripple effect has since spread nationwide, affecting all flights. Bergan stressed the problems are not affecting safety of planes already in the air, or on approach to land. However, the time lag in releasing IFR flights has led to delays as long as 90 minutes on the ground in Atlanta, as well as already-congested airports around New York City, and in Chicago. Storms in the vicinity of several large commercial airports, including ATL, are also compounding the problems. It's possible those 90-minute delays could stretch out for hours, and likely result in cancelled flights. FMI: www.fly.faa.gov aero-news.net ************** Hijacked Sudanese Airliner Lands In Libya Captors' Motives Unknown At This Time Very little hard information isknown at this moment... but CNN reports a Sudanese airliner was hijacked shortly after taking off from Nyala in the country's war-torn Darfur region Tuesday. The airliner has since landed in Kifra, Libya, according to media reports. At this point, it's not known how many passengers are onboard the plane, or what the hijacker-or-hijackers' intentions may be. Such hijackings are not uncommon. In 2007, two Sudanese flights were hijacked. One later landed safely in Khartoum, the plane's original destination; the second diverted to Chad, where it also made a safe landing. In both cases, the hijackers were taken into custody and no passengers were harmed. In at least one of those cases, the hijackers said they wanted to bring international attention to the situation in Darfur, where a violent ethnic and tribal war has raged for over five years between Sudanese officials, and a number of rebel groups. FMI: www.caaofsudan.org/ENGLISH/tender_r.htm aero-news.net *************** Hijacked plane passengers released Sudanese rebels release 87 passengers on a Libyan airstrip, but the crew remain on-board Hijackers have released 87 passengers from a Boeing 737 seized on Tuesday shortly after taking off from the Darfur region, but are still holding the eight crew members hostage, the Libyan aviation authority said today. The plane, which had been en route to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, was taken over by suspected Darfur rebels and diverted to a second world war airstrip in Kufra, a remote town in the Libyan Sahara desert. Sudan's foreign ministry called the hijacking an "irresponsible terrorist act" and said they wanted the hijackers to be extradited. The Kufra airport director, Khaled Sasiya, said he spoke to one of the hijackers, who identified himself as Yassin and said they were from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur. But a spokesman for the movement denied any involvement. Yahia Bolad said the group had "no relation to this act". Libyan officials said the passengers were released yesterday. There have been reports the hijackers demanded fuel and maps to fly to Paris. Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, told Europe-1 radio that the SLM leader, who lives in Paris, denied he was in contact with the hijackers. "He says he doesn't know these people and that he absolutely refuses to use such methods," Kouchner said. "It's not his way. He's rather a peaceful man." The hijacked airliner belonged to a private company, Sun Air, the Sudanese civil aviation authority said in a statement carried by the Sudan Media Centre, which has close links to the government. The Kufra airport director said the hijacker he spoke to told him that the poor air-conditioning system on the plane was creating breathing problems and that some passengers had fainted. An airpot security official said among the passengers were former rebels who have become members of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority, an interim government body. The authority is responsible for implementing a peace agreement reached in 2006 between the government and one of the rebel factions. There was conflicting information about the hijackers' identities and how many there were. A Libyan official at the Kufra airport said on Tuesday that there were 10 hijackers belonging to a Darfur rebel group. The official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, reported Wednesday that Sun Air put the number of the hijackers at four. Sudan's consul in Kufra, Mohammed al-Bila Othman, told Suna there were about 500 security and police personnel at the airport as well as ambulances and firefighting vehicles. The chief of police of the southern Darfur province, Major General Fathul-Rahamn Othman, told Suna that the hijacking aimed to "destabilise security". Darfur's ethnic African rebels have been fighting the Arab-led Khartoum government since 2003 in a conflict the UN says has killed up to 300,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/sudan?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews ***** Date: 26 AUG 2008 Type: Boeing 737-200 Operator: Sun Air Registration: C/n / msn: First flight: Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 95 Airplane damage: None Location: Tripoli (Libya) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Nyala Airport (UYL/HSNL), Sudan Destination airport: Khartoum-Civil Airport (KRT/HSSS), Sudan Narrative: The Sudanese airliner was hijacked after takeoff from Nyala (UYL). The aircraft diverted to Tripoli, Libya after authorities in Egypt refused permission for it to land in Cairo. (aviation-safety.net) ************** Investigators Look At Flap Settings In Spanair Accident Findings Dispute Initial Reports Of Engine Fire In the aftermath of last week's devastating takeoff crash in Madrid, investigators immediately focused on witness reports of a fire coming from the left engine nacelle of the Spanair MD-82... but it now appears those reports may have been inaccurate. According to the Wall Street Journal, officials are taking a closer look at the flap settings at the time of takeoff, after determining both turbofans were making power as the jet sped down the runway at Madrid Barajas International Airport on August 20. People close to the investigation told the WSJ that based on components recovered in the wreckage, along with airport video footage that shows the plane taking off, there's little evidence to support earlier claims the airliner's engine was aflame before the aircraft departed the runway at MAD. 153 people were killed in the accident, out of 172 people onboard. Authorities warn it's still too early to lay blame on any one factor. Data from the airliner's cockpit voice and flight data recorders is still being analyzed, and investigators' jobs are made more difficult by the severe fire damage to the wreckage. Given what's known of the accident situation, however -- a heavily-laden jet that failed to climb out of ground effect, on what should have been a routine takeoff from a 10,000-foot runway -- investigators say if there wasn't a power problem, one of the few remaining possibilities is an issue with the configuration of the plane's flaps and wing slats. They add it's possible the plane's flight crew was distracted during their preflight, and neglected to set takeoff flaps... or, they may have received a faulty indication in the cockpit. Another possibility -- and one supported by reports the plane swerved off the runway -- is that the flaps deployed asymmetrically, resulting in each wing producing different levels of lift. Improper flap settings would have also been especially problematic if, in fact, the airliner did suffer an engine problem on takeoff. Again, investigators stress it's too soon to say for certain if there was a flap problem on Spanair Flight 5022. In fact, at this stage they are fairly certain of only one thing. An earlier defect with one of the plane's outside temperature sensors, that led the flight crew to abort their first takeoff attempt and return to the gate for repairs, doesn't appear to have been a direct factor in the subsequent crash. FMI: www.spanair.com, www.ntsb.gov, www.boeing.com aero-news.net *************** NTSB Issues 'Safety Alert' To Pilots On Flying Near Thunderstorms Remember: ATC Is NOT Required To Advise You Of Wx Citing a recent spate of investigations identifying several accidents that appear to at least partly attributable to in-flight encounters with severe weather, the National Transportation Safety Board has posted a "Safety Alert" telling pilots to be extra cautious about their surroundings, especially when they see towering cumulus. In the alert, the NTSB cites four examples of recent accidents in which aircraft on IFR flight plans entered areas of severe weather, with no advance warning from air traffic controllers. One of the accidents cited -- though not by name -- is the April 2006 loss near Ludville, GA of a Cessna 210A flown by legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield. "These accidents have all involved aircraft operating under instrument flight rules and in contact with air traffic controllers," notes the NTSB in bullet points. "Investigations show that pilots were either not advised about areas of severe weather ahead or were given incomplete information... Each pilot had readily available alternatives that, if utilized, would have likely prevented the accident." The NTSB notes ATC is not required to provide weather information to pilots operating under instrument flight rules. Furthermore, the weather information available to enroute controllers is limited to radar depictions of areas of severe precipitation. While those echoes are often an indicator of intense thunderstorm activity, they're not foolproof. That said, the Board notes a better effort should be made to advise pilots when they're flying close to areas of severe weather... though the NTSB falls short of suggesting controllers should be held responsible for not warning pilots of severe weather. "Severe weather avoidance is primarily your responsibility," the Board writes. "The primary job of ATC is to keep IFR aircraft separated. When their workload permits, controllers are also required to provide additional services such as weather advisories, and, upon pilot request, suggested headings to avoid radar-displayed precipitation." The complete SA includes information about the classification of thunderstorms, and how to interpret ATC weather advisories. It behooves anyone who regularly flies IFR -- make that ANY pilot, VFR or IFR, and especially if you fly at night -- to review the NTSB's SA. It's available at the top of the NTSB home page, as well as at the FMI link below. FMI: http://ntsb.gov/alerts/SA_011.pdf aero-news.net **************** Black boxes of airplane, which crashed in Spain analyzed Madrid. The information, recorded in the two black boxes of the airplane, which crashed in Spain was partially analyzed by British experts, CNN reports. Experts said they managed to obtain the cockpit voice recorder data, but the exact words were very difficult to understand, because the recorder was heavily damaged. The reasons for the crash are not announced. According to the Chairman of the commission investigating the crash Javier Soto, the plane had only just taken off the ground when the accident happened. http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n150691 **************** JetBlue plane returns to JFK after smoke report -- JetBlue says one of its flights has returned to John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly after takeoff because the pilot reported smelling smoke in the cockpit. JetBlue Airways Corp. spokeswoman Alison Eshelman says Flight 1191 was carrying about 30 passengers when it took off Tuesday morning for Nantucket, Mass. She says the Embraer 190 returned to the Queens airport 20 minutes later. The aircraft has been taken out of service and is being examined to determine the source of the odor. The passengers were placed on another flight that departed soon after. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/26/jetblue_plane_returns_ to_jfk_after_smoke_report/ **************