28 AUG 2008 _______________________________________ *Mushrooms cause second mid-air emergency for Ryanair jet *Spanish crash pilots reported no problem to control tower *After flight delays, FAA may add backup system *Southwest won't pay $10.2 mln fine by FAA deadline *United Tech says tests world's fastest helicopter *Thai DCA extends One-Two-Go grounding *Spanair MD-82 struck terrain tail-first: investigators *NTSB urges FAA action on runway safety *Air France 747 slides off Montreal runway; no injuries **************************************** Mushrooms cause second mid-air emergency for Ryanair jet A Ryanair holiday jet was forced to make an emergency landing after a jar of mushroom soup leaked from an overhead locker onto a passenger causing a freak allergic reaction. The incident, on a flight from Budapest to Dublin, came as staff from the airline were dealing with an emergency on another flight which was forced to land in France after a sudden loss of cabin pressure at 37,000ft. It emerged on Wednesday that staff at the budget carrier, which has never had an accident, had to activate emergency procedures almost simultaneously in the two mid-air dramas. The twin incidents came as British holidaymakers were caught up in a series of other mid-air alerts at a time of nervousness for flyers, less than a week after a Spanair aircraft crashed in Madrid killing 153 people. The latest Ryanair incident happened as a Boeing 737-800 jet was passing over German airspace on its way from the Hungarian capital to Dublin on Monday night. A man was said to have complained of a swollen neck after the liquid dripped onto him from luggage above. The pilot and crew took the decision to divert immediately to Frankfurt-Hahn airport where emergency services were on stand-by to treat him. Describing the liquid as a "vegetable oil/mushroom soup-type-substance", a spokeswoman for the carrier said: "There was no 'burning substance' or burns involved. "The passenger remained in Hahn for medical attention and the aircraft continued onward to Dublin after a two hour delay in Frankfurt-Hahn." She added: "It is procedure when a passenger requires medical attention to divert to the nearest airport, the cabin crew and pilot take that decision." The unscheduled stop came as the airline dealt with a major emergency in French airspace. Almost 170 passengers were on board a flight from Bristol to Barcelona which was forced to make a sudden descent to Limoges in France when cabin pressure systems failed. Passengers said they feared they were going to die as the aircraft, also a Boeing 737-800, dropped to almost 30,000ft within minutes without explanation and cabin oxygen masks dropped down. Some, including the polar adventurer Pen Hadow who was on board with his family, criticised the airline afterwards for the lack of announcements to reassure passengers and claimed that many of the masks did not appear to be working. But Ryanair vehemently denied the claim, saying that their engineers has confirmed the masks were working properly. Chief executive Michael O'Leary defended the pilot saying he had been unable to make an announcement until the aircraft was below 8,000ft where he could safely take off his mask to do so. British holidaymakers have been caught up in a series of mid-air dramas this week. A Thomas Cook Boeing 757 aircraft with 196 holidaymakers on board made a "precautionary" landing in southern Portugal on Wednesday after encountering engine trouble en-route to the Canary Islands from Gatwick. A spokesman for the airline said that the pilot decided to land the plane as a precaution after a gauge reported a drop in engine oil pressure. He added that the plane was landed at Faro airpor, "without problem" and the passengers disembarked, while a maintenance team carried out an inspection. Earlier a Thomsonfly holiday jet was forced to turn back seven minutes into a flight from Pula in Croatia bound for Gatwick after a fire broke out in a galley oven. Passengers had to wait eight hours while a second plane was flown out from Manchester to pick them up after the jet was taken out of service. A spokeswoman said: "Customer safety is of paramount importance to Thomsonfly." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/2633202/Mushrooms-cause-second- mid-air-emergency-for-Ryanair-jet.html *************** Spanish crash pilots reported no problem to control tower MADRID (Thomson Financial) - The two pilots of the Spanair MD-82 jet that crashed shortly after takeoff last week in Madrid, killing 154 people, made no mention of any problem to the control tower, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The last communication between the airplane and the control tower was the request for permission to takeoff, the daily ABC said, citing testimony given by the 10 occupants of the tower at the time of the accident to investigators. The two flight data recorders from the airliner have been sent to Britain for further analysis, a top official of the Spanish investigative commission into the accident, Francisco Javier Soto, said Tuesday. One of the recorders contains the pilots' conversations and the other has flight data, but the investigative commission has not yet compiled a transcript of the final conversation between the pilots, he told a Madrid news conference. British investigators have been able to extract from the recorders the pilots' final conversations but they are trying to improve the quality of the data for better analysis, he said. The packed plane was heading for Spain's Canary Islands, a popular holiday destination located off the coast of Morocco, when it crashed just seconds after taking off from Madrid on August 20. Several of the 18 survivors have said that the plane appeared to lack speed on takeoff. Soto said the plane managed to rise only slightly from Madrid's airport before it slammed into the ground tail-first to the right of the runway, causing the back of the aircraft to break off. The remaining part of the fuselage then bounced three times as it skidded about 1,200 metres (3,960 feet) on the ground before exploding and coming to rest in a gulley, he added. The government has promised a full investigation into the cause of the crash. Spanair is owned by the Scandinavian airline SAS AB. *************** After flight delays, FAA may add backup system In the wake of a computer failure that caused delays for 646 U.S. flights on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration plans to upgrade its decades-old technology for flight-plan processing and potentially add a third backup system. The FAA's central system in Atlanta for handling all U.S. flight plans went down Tuesday because of a corrupted file, according to a FAA representative. Then, when the administration's secondary and lone backup system in Salt Lake City got bogged down with repeated re-entries of flight plans from the airlines, the malfunction caused major delays at airports in Atlanta, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. By Tuesday evening, the flight delays were under control, but the computer system in Atlanta wasn't functional until about 1:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday, officials said. Now, FAA representatives said that by September, it plans to add more computer memory to its data communications network known as National Data Interchange Network (NADIN). And by early next year, the FAA plans to completely upgrade the decades-old data communication network with new hardware and software. "The big difference is that (the new system) has a lot more memory, so what happened yesterday could never happen again," said FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere. Laura Brown, another FAA spokeswoman, also said that the administration is considering adding a third backup system for NADIN at its New Jersey research and training facility. At the heart of the problem--and a potential source of other trouble--was old technology at the FAA, officials said. One representative referred to NADIN as "'70s-era technology" that was bought from a third party and then maintained in-house at the FAA. (Another representative said the data communications network was put into operation about 15 years ago.) Despite its age, the failure--sourced to an IPX9000 packet switch--was caused by a human error that "resulted in the wrong configuration data being loaded onto the switch," officials said. The cause for the flight delays came from the backup system in Salt Lake City that should have been able to take over operations for the Atlanta system smoothly. But it slowed to a crawl under the weight of airlines re-entering their flight plans repeatedly once they got an error message from the first system. The FAA had to call the airlines to tell them to stop hitting re-enter; the system didn't have enough memory. The FAA is also upgrading host computers in 20 "En Route Centers" throughout the country. Those centers process flight plans sent from NADIN for planes that are flying in high-altitude air space over their area. "Those computers were very old and running a language that only a few people left alive knew about," Brown said. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10027667-92.html *************** Southwest won't pay $10.2 mln fine by FAA deadline NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co said on Wednesday it will not comply with a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration deadline of Aug. 29 to pay a record $10.2 million fine for alleged safety violations. The FAA said earlier this year that Southwest continued to fly uninspected aircraft even after the carrier notified the agency that it had missed a mandatory deadline to complete the work. The agency has said it would turn the matter over to the Justice Department if the fine were not paid by August 29. "We just let them know that we would not be paying a fine by the 29th and that we wanted to have additional discussions," said a Southwest spokeswoman. "It's just another step in this process and we certainly hope to continue those discussions to come up with a fair and reasonable conclusion," the Southwest spokeswoman added. It is common for airlines to appeal fines, and in many cases the penalty is reduced. Asked if the FAA still plans to turn the matter over to the Justice Department, an FAA spokesman said: "I really can't speculate on whether that's the course of action we would take." The FAA spokesman added: "All I can say is that we are continuing to discuss the issue with Southwest this week but really I can't speculate on what the resolution might be." Southwest met in April with FAA officials as part of an informal review of the fine proposed in March for the alleged maintenance shortcomings. Southwest has said it did not compromise flight safety, and the FAA said there were no safety incidents related to the missed inspections. The case was triggered by whistle-blower complaints to Congress, which put pressure on the FAA to step up safety oversight of the industry. ***************** United Tech says tests world's fastest helicopter BOSTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Diversified U.S. manufacturer United Technologies Corp, the world's second-largest helicopter maker, conducted the first test flight on Wednesday of what it called the world's fastest helicopter. The prototype X2 aircraft has an estimated cruising speed of 250 knots, or 288 miles per hour (464 kmph), and has been in development since June 2005, United Tech's Sikorsky unit said. The fastest helicopters on the market today top out at about 180 knots, or 207 miles per hour (333 kmph), according to Sikorsky officials. Textron Inc's V-22 Osprey tilt- rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an airplane, cruises at about 275 knots, or 316 miles per hour (509 kmph). In its first 30-minute test flight in Horseheads, New York, about 200 miles (320 km) northwest of New York City, the pilot did not attempt to bring the aircraft to its top speed, keeping it to 20 knots, or 23 miles per hour (37 kmph). It is common industry practice to test new aircraft at slower speeds first, said Jim Kagdis, the program manager over the X2 at Sikorsky. He said the company planned to test the aircraft's top speed by next year. Kagdis estimated it could be another five to eight years before the aircraft is commercially available. The X2 helicopter features two main rotors atop the cabin, which spin in opposite directions. That both neutralizes the spinning force applied to a traditional single-main-rotor helicopter and provides a speed boost. Using the two opposing rotors also eliminates the need for the sideways tail rotor used to stabilize traditional helicopters. Instead of that sideways tail rotor, Sikorsky has added a third, backwards-facing tail rotor that provides additional speed. The world's largest helicopter maker is Eurocopter, a unit of EADS NV. Other helicopter makers include Italy's AgustaWestland, a unit of defense company Finmeccanica SpA, Boeing Co and Textron's Bell unit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7756815 **************** Thai DCA extends One-Two-Go grounding Changes grounding date in second sentence Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has extended the grounding of One-Two-Go because some of the Thai low-cost carrier's Boeing MD-80 pilots have yet to complete re-training as required by the regulator. The DCA initially grounded the carrier for 30 days with effect from 22 July but it has now issued another 30-day grounding order which means the airline will stay grounded until 20 September, DCA director of flight standards Sumpun Pongthai says from Bangkok. "They are not ready to fly again" because the carrier's MD-80 pilots have yet to complete their retraining which includes simulator training, he says. The DCA issued the first grounding order because in the wake of September 2007's fatal crash of a One-Two-Go MD-82 at Phuket island airport it allegedly found deficiencies in the airline's pilot checking and training. The latest extension to the grounding order means One-Two-Go is unable to resume operations on 15 September this year as earlier planned. One-Two-Go's boss Udom Tantiprasongchai says, in an emailed response to a query from ATI, that One-Two-Go actually applied "to get an extension as it is not be possible to retain all crews within the short period due to limited availability of simulator slots [needed] to complete the training for all crews". "We expect that all the training will be completed" by 30 September, he adds. Prior to the grounding, One-Two-Go had a fleet of 11 Boeing MD-80 series aircraft and these were mostly ex-Japan Airlines aircraft that One-Two-Go had acquired on finance leases. But there was one MD-80 series aircraft on operating lease from AWAS. Udom says: "We returned the MD-80 leased aircraft to AWAS a few months earlier, with good faith, since the lease agreement was going to end at the end of September anyway." He declines to say how many MD-80 series aircraft it plans to operate in future. It "depends on ...the future marketing plan whether we shall utilize all or only a minimum [number of aircraft] to meet our actual requirement". He also says One-Two-Go is speaking to Airbus and Boeing about newer aircraft types that will eventually "replace the fuel thirsty [MD-80] aircraft". Even though the DCA has grounded One-Two-Go , its sister carrier Orient Thai Airlines, which operates Boeing 747-100/200/300s, has been permitted to continue operating. Udom told ATI last December that Orient Thai planned to order eight Boeing 787-9s and 12 737-900s. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Spanair MD-82 struck terrain tail-first: investigators Spanish investigators have disclosed that the Spanair Boeing MD-82 which crashed on departure from Madrid Barajas last week descended and struck the ground tail-first while struggling to climb away. The aircraft travelled for 1.2km, hitting terrain three times before coming to rest. Spain's Comision de Investigacion de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviacion Civil (CIAIAC) revealed the information in the first update on the inquiry's progress since the 20 August accident which killed 154 of the 172 on board the jet. It says that no marks or debris from the aircraft were found on the runway. Initial impact marks have been discovered to the right of the runway, indicating that the aircraft struck tail-first and that a section of the tail - possibly the tail-cone, which can detach to aid evacuation - came away. The investigation agency has not confirmed the angle of attack of the aircraft at the point of impact. CIAIAC's Francisco Javier Soto states: "[The MD-82's] movement along the ground lasted approximately 1,200m." There is no firm indication of the height the aircraft achieved before it descended. Specialists in the UK are extracting information from the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders retrieved from the aircraft. The aircraft's Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217 engines, thrust-reversers and auxiliary power unit have been recovered and stored for examination, along with some of the MD-82's avionics. No conclusions have yet been reached over the status of the aircraft's engines or other systems at the time of the accident. The investigators are still collating data from several sources, including video surveillance, airport radar, air traffic control and maintenance personnel. CIAIAC says that it is required to produce an initial factual report on the accident within a month. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** NTSB urges FAA action on runway safety FAA has received a notice from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the agency has not responded acceptably to runway safety recommendations issued after the August 27, 2006 fatal crash of a Comair Bombardier CRJ at Lexington, Kentucky. The crash occurred when pilots took off from the wrong runway, which was too short to allow the aircraft to develop adequate speed for takeoff. NTSB now says that the FAA has taken too long to issue regulations requiring "all crewmembers on the fight deck to positively confirm and cross-check the airplane's location at the assigned departure runway before crossing the hold-short line for takeoff." It adds that an FAA directive issued in July 2007 requiring air-traffic controllers to state the takeoff runway, but not prohibiting controllers from issuing takeoff clearance before intervening runways have been crossed is not adequate. The NTSB states, "The point of this recommendation is to delay issuing any takeoff clearance until the airplane has crossed all intervening runways. Simply restating the runway, as the notice directs, is therefore not responsive." The safety board notes FAA convened a runway safety summit in August 2007, and later performed surveys on airline safety practices, but has not informed NTSB of its results. NTSB also says it is time for FAA to mandate that moving map technology be installed in cockpits, despite the FAA's concern that the technological infrastructure is not yet in place. The board also said it is waiting for the agency to convene a working group to review its recommendations on air-traffic controller workloads and procedures. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Air France 747 slides off Montreal runway; no injuries An Air France jumbo jet carrying more than 500 passengers and crew slid off a Montreal runway while landing Tuesday night, but there were no injuries, an airport spokeswoman said. The Boeing 747 arriving at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport from Paris at about 6 p.m. ET came to a stop with its nose wheel in the grass by the tarmac, Stephanie Lepage said. "It slid off the runway, but it's a minor situation and the crew members reported that there were no injured passengers," Lepage told CBC News. "We transported all the passengers through the terminal with the passenger transporter vehicle." There was no apparent damage to the aircraft, most of which sat on its landing gear on the runway. Only the nose landing wheels were off the runway. Air France released a statement Tuesday night saying it had opened an investigation and is co-operating with local authorities to determine the cause of the incident. Federal Transportation Safety Board spokesman Julie Leroux said an investigation is underway, but she gave no other details. An Air France plane skidded off a runway at Toronto's Pearson airport in 2005 and burst into flames. All 297 passengers and 12 crew members survived, suffering only minor injuries after the plane skidded into a ravine. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/08/27/air-france.html ****************