09 SEP 2008 _______________________________________ *EU lifts Bulgarian air safety restrictions *Aviation group works to promote safety reporting *JSC "Sibir" (S7 Airlines) to Completely Renew Fleet *Kyrgyzstan: Capitan of Crashed Airplane Faces Criminal Charges *FAA moves to improve safety oversight *Venezuela: U.S. Won't Vouch for Safety of Flights **************************************** EU lifts Bulgarian air safety restrictions The FINANCIAL -- According to EUbusiness, the European Commission on September 8 lifted restrictions on Bulgarian airlines imposed last December for safety concerns, Bulgaria's European Affairs Minister Gergana Grancharova said on September 8. "I am very encouraged by the lifting of EU restrictions to Bulgarian airlines," Grancharova said. "Bulgaria's air carriers are now full-fledged equals to their European colleagues," she added, noting that all Bulgarian airlines can now operate flights between EU airports. Safety and staff problems with Bulgaria's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) prompted Brussels to bar Bulgarian airlines from full access to all European routes. Air carriers could enter the bloc's airspace but did not have access to internal routes within the European Union. In addition, air worthiness and maintenance certificates issued by the CAA have not been automatically recognised by other EU states. But the EU proposed a lifting of restrictions in late June as Bulgaria grounded some 160 outdated Russian-built planes and helicopters, deprived four cargo carriers of air certificates and banned another from flying to the EU in a move to boost safety. The regulation will enter into force following its official publication in the journal of the European Union on Tuesday, Grancharova added. http://finchannel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19451&Itemid =4 *************** Aviation group works to promote safety reporting Surveys reveal most employees fear punishment BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - The Delta Air Lines Boeing 767 was cleared for takeoff and started rolling when the pilots spotted a 747 jumbo jet being towed across their runway. They hit the brakes and turned onto an adjacent taxiway. The incident in 1998 at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport caused only a brief departure delay for the Delta jet. Controllers reported the aborted takeoff - later determined to have resulted from poor visibility and a misunderstanding of the position of the towing truck by a trainee controller - and measures were taken to prevent any repeat. But two years later, Dutch prosecutors brought criminal negligence charges against three controllers. Lengthy legal proceedings led to their eventual conviction, although no sentence was imposed and the controllers later returned to their jobs. "The immediate result of that prosecution was that voluntary reporting of safety incidents in the Netherlands broke down overnight, and the number of reports dropped by 50 percent," said Fiona McFadden, a spokeswoman for the European Cockpit Association. Identifying errors quickly Analysts say that the prompt identification of errors or hazards and potential or actual incidents are a fundamental element of air safety management. But recent surveys have revealed that in Europe and elsewhere such incidents are increasingly going unreported because aviation professionals fear prosecution or punishment by management for their supposed mistakes. Currently, automatic prosecution is standard practice in many parts of the world. This practice recently was highlighted in France, where two Americans and three French citizens were charged in connection with the 2000 Concorde crash. In contrast, the United States already has in place a relatively successful Aviation Safety Reporting System. Established in 1975 by NASA, the system collects, analyzes and responds to voluntarily submitted but confidential aviation incident reports to reduce accidents and improve safety. The reporting rate is huge - about 500,000 reports in 30 years - because NASA databases have until now been protected against prying by legal authorities and employers. But experts say the American model cannot be easily replicated in Europe or other countries with different judicial systems. They also point out that civil lawsuits following an accident are far more common in the U.S. than in Europe because of differing legal systems. Protecting workers In response, aviation groups - including Eurocontrol, the continent's Brussels-based air navigation agency, and the European Cockpit Association - have launched efforts to protect pilots, controllers, engineers and other operators. The European Commission - the European Union's head office - also is in the process of revising its directives on accident investigation to ensure that voluntary reporting of problems does not become tantamount to self-incrimination. "The problem is determining the line between behavior that's not prosecutable - like the controllers in Amsterdam where there was clearly no negligence - and truly egregious behavior," said Sydney Drekker, a professor at Sweden's Lund Aviation University. The International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.N. agency overseeing civil aviation, is now considering enforcing its recommending that prosecutions and punishments be restricted in order to encourage more open reporting. The group will tackle the issue at a key conference in Montreal in October. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5986493.html#Intro **************** JSC "Sibir" (S7 Airlines) to Completely Renew Fleet VIENNA, Austria, Sep 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- S7 Airlines held a Directors meeting on September 8, 2008 approving a program of fleet renewal. Within the framework program S7 Airlines will withdraw Soviet made aircraft - Tupolev-154 and Ilyushin-86 from operations by 11/1/2008. Removal of these technologically obsolete planes from S7 service is driven by poor operational and environmental performance. To maintain its flagship status of largest domestic carrier, S7 Airlines will modernize its entire fleet. The world's top aircraft manufacturers will deliver more than 70 new airplanes by 2014 to S7. In 2008 S7 Airlines received four new Airbus A320 airliners two more will follow by end of year. Three Boeing 737-800NG began operation in August, a further five will be operational before year-end. In the same period seven more Boeings: two Boeing 737-400 and five long-range Boeing 767-300ER will be delivered. In 2009 the S7 fleet will be expanded with four Airbus A320, two Boeing 737-800NG and two Boeing 767-300ER --airplanes. 25 new A320 will start being delivered in 2009 according to a contract announced by S7 Airlines and Airbus at Le-Bourget. S7 Airlines concluded contracts for delivery of ten Boeings 737-800NG starting 2010, and delivery of fifteen Boeing 787 Dreamliner -- starting 2014. S7 Airlines will become the first Russian operator of Boeing Dreamliners. "Taking into account current deliveries of aircrafts and the fact that the removal from operations of Soviet airplanes will be executed in a period of seasonal fall of passenger traffic, S7 Airlines does not expect a decrease in the volume of operations. We are currently in negotiations with leasing companies on additional deliveries of airplanes", - said S7 CEO Vladislav Filev. S7 Airlines ( www.s7.ru) is the leading Russian domestic carrier and is among the TOP-50 world air carriers. In 2007 the company was included in the IOSA register (IATA Operational Safety Audit) by IATA becoming the second air carrier in Russia to successfully pass a full international audit procedure for compliance with standards of operating safety. S7 Airlines is a leading and stable airline, operating to the latest standards of global passenger service. S7 Airlines won the National Award "People's Brand /Brand No.1 in Russia" in 2007. SOURCE: S7 Airlines ************** Kyrgyzstan: Capitan of Crashed Airplane Faces Criminal Charges Capitan of the Boeing-737, Yuri Goncharov, who survived a deadly crash near capital Bishkek, has been detained, local news agencies report. He is charged with violation of airplane safety standards and faces up to fifteen years of imprisonment under the criminal code. Itek Air Boeing-737 with 90 passengers on board crashed shortly after take off at the Manas International Airport in capital Bishkek on August 24, killing 65. Twenty five people survived, including all seven crew members. According to reports, the plane, which was headed to Iran, crashed as it was returning to the airport after technical problems had been detected 10 minutes after the take off. 24 of the passengers were Kyrgyz nationals, 52 Iranians, three Kazakhs, two Canadians, one Turkish national and one Chinese. As it has been reported earlier, airplane black boxes are badly damaged and could not shed light onto what exactly caused technical problems on the airplane. http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=59329 *************** FAA moves to improve safety oversight The Federal Aviation Administration said it has made progress in systems and processes that would improve safety oversight after gaps in compliance were revealed in April. Robert Sturgell, FAA acting administrator, reported on efforts to fix the problems in a release dated Sept. 5. The Transportation Department's inspector general said in April that the FAA had developed too close a relationship with Southwest Airlines, which led to a breakdown in safety oversight. The FAA has depended on airlines to report problems under a program that encourages voluntary reporting of airworthiness problems. The closeness of the relationship produced weaknesses in FAA's national program for risk-based oversight, said Calvin Scovel III, Transportation's inspector general. Southwest continued to fly aircraft that had not been safety-inspected and which later were found to have fuselage cracks, according to the IG's findings. When the airline notified FAA's principal maintenance inspector, he did not ground the affected planes. Later, Southwest formally admitted the safety violation through a voluntary self-disclosure program and was fined, Scovel said. The IG also said the FAA failed to protect from retaliation the employees who reported safety issues and to ensure that the airlines completed corrective actions. The first action that agency took was to develop and make operational on April 30 the Safety Issues Reporting System, which is designed to give aviation safety organization employees another way to raise safety concerns if they feel they are not receiving the necessary airing or response from supervisory and management personnel, Sturgell said. In other steps, FAA plans to propose rules for public comment in fiscal 2009 to address ethics policies for two-year restrictions on the interaction former inspectors can have with the FAA after they leave the agency's employment. The proposal would bring the FAA in line with existing restrictions for other federal employees, Sturgell said. FAA also is expanding its Aviation Safety Information and Analysis Sharing program to blend in oversight data from the Air Transportation and Oversight System (ATOS), which has 117 air carriers participating, for a better view of nationwide trends, he said. The FAA is developing processes to analyze ATOS data, which FAA has now integrated with its Aviation Safety Information and Analysis Sharing program. "FAA is determining the appropriate metrics to monitor national trends," Sturgell said. Senior airline officials must submit any changes to the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program, which is designed to report compliance discrepancies, to make sure officials at the highest level of the FAA are aware that corrective actions were taken, he noted. Other system and process changes that are underway for improved safety oversight are a review of the Airworthiness Directive, an independent review by outside experts of the FAA's procedures, Airworthiness Directive compliance audits and changes to the Air Carrier Evaluation Program, the agency said. http://www.fcw.com/online/news/153714-1.html *************** Venezuela: U.S. Won't Vouch for Safety of Flights (AP) People taking nonstop flights between Venezuela and the United States will receive advisories stating that the United States cannot vouch for the security of the flights, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday. Venezuela has refused to allow American officials to assess security measures at the country's four international airports - a requirement all other countries have complied with since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. ***************