21 OCT 2008 _______________________________________ *UK police arrest United pilot in suspected alcohol case *Qantas puts its first A380 into service *Russia names Kurzenkov as new head of CAA *NTSB Reverses FAA Revocation Order Issued Against Air Trek *NTSB Issues Life Raft Recommendations For Helo Operators *Aviation Safety Leaders Converge on Dallas to Discuss Issues and Strengthen Safety Culture *Indonesian President to meet President of EU for flight ban lifting *U.S. plane crashes in Afghanistan *************************************** UK police arrest United pilot in suspected alcohol case A United Airlines pilot was arrested at London Heathrow Airport yesterday on suspicion of being over the alcohol limit for performing an aviation function. Heathrow Airport police says they attended an aircraft at Terminal 1 at 09:00 on 19 October and arrested a 44 year old man. "He was arrested on suspicion of being aviation staff performing an aviation function whilst exceeding the proscribed alcohol limit," the police say in a statement. He is bailed to return to the police station on 16 January next year pending further enquiries. The airline in a short statement says: "United's alcohol policy is among the strictest in the industry and we have absolutely no tolerance for abuse or violation of this well-established policy. "Safety is out number one priority and the pilot has been removed from service while we are co-operating with authorities and conducting a full investigation." While no details were released on the flight involved, it is believed to have been a United Boeing 777-operated flight to San Francisco. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Qantas puts its first A380 into service Australia's Qantas Airways has put its first Airbus A380 into commercial service, becoming the third operator of the ultra-large type. The Oneworld alliance carrier says its first commercial A380 flight departed Melbourne at 11:15 today and the aircraft is scheduled to land in Los Angeles at 07:30 where it will be met by dignitaries and celebrities. Qantas took delivery of its first A380 last month and had been using it since then for staff training. Following the inauguration of Melbourne-Los Angeles services today, it will from 24 October operate the aircraft on some of its Sydney-Los Angeles services and from January will use it for some of its services to London via Singapore. The carrier has another 19 A380s on firm order for delivery through the end of 2013. It is due to take delivery of two more by the end of 2008 and should have eight in service by the end of next year. Qantas is now the third operator of the A380, after Singapore Airlines and Emirates. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Russia names Kurzenkov as new head of CAA Russia's Government has appointed Gennady Kurzenkov as a new director of the country's civil aviation agency Rosaviatsiya. Since January 2007 Kurzenkov has been a head of the federal transport supervisory body Rostransnadzor. He is a military pilot by training with a 30-year track record in the airforce. His appointment is preceded by the dismissal of Rosaviatsiya chief Yevgeny Bachurin, who is believed to have become a casualty of the current turmoil in Russian airline industry. General managers of Aeroflot and Rossiya Airlines - Valery Okulov and Sergei Mikhalchenko respectively - were reportedly offered to succeed Bachurin but both turned down the proposal. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** NTSB Reverses FAA Revocation Order Issued Against Air Trek 30-year Air Ambulance Operator Wins Against FAA An NTSB Administrative Law Judge, William Pope, has issued an oral initial decision reversing an Emergency Order issued by the FAA on June 10, 2008. The Emergency Order revoked the Air Carrier Certificate held by Air Trek, Inc., an air ambulance operator based in Punta Gorda, FL. The nine (9) day hearing took place during three separate sessions over a five week period. According to Legal Counsel for Air Trek, Inc., the case initially began five months ago on May 23, 2008, when the FAA first issued an Emergency Order indefinitely suspending Air Trek's Air Carrier Certificate pending compliance with the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). Prior to the suspension, Air Trek had been in operation for 30 years with no violation history. On May 24, 2008, Air Trek retained counsel and immediately appealed the suspension order. On June 5, 2008, less than two weeks following the emergency suspension, and while litigation was in progress, FAA attorney Brendan Kelly, Esq., ordered a surprise inspection of Air Trek's Punta Gorda facility for the stated purpose of obtaining additional evidence to "push the case from suspension to revocation." When two FAA inspectors arrived at Air Trek's facility unannounced, the company had already ceased operation and surrendered its Air Carrier Certificate pursuant to the emergency order. Accordingly, the FAA inspectors stated that they were going to inspect aircraft and records pursuant to 14 C.F.R. Part 91 only. Since the company had already retained counsel concerning the suspension, Air Trek's Director of Operations, Dana Carr, suggested that the FAA inspectors wait at a nearby airport diner while he contacted his attorney. However, before Air Trek's attorney could coordinate an inspection, the inspectors reported to Mr. Carr that they had been instructed by the Special Emphasis Inspection Team (SEIT) leader to abort the inspection and return to home base. Although the inspection never took place, the FAA withdrew its suspension order and issued an Emergency Order of Revocation instead. The law judge found that since Mr. Carr had initially suggested that the FAA inspectors leave Air Trek's facility while he attempted to contact his attorney, a technical violation of 14 C.F.R. section 119.59 had occurred (i.e., refusal to allow an inspection). However, he stated that any apparent violation was "de minimus" (i.e., "of minimum importance" or "trifling") and did not warrant revocation. By the fourth day of the hearing, the FAA had withdrawn 6 of the 10 Counts in the revocation order and dismissed 9 of the 14 regulatory violations. At the termination of the hearing, the remaining two findings of violation by the law judge related only to flight operations that occurred at Air Trek's Winchester, Virginia (OKV) base of operations, which had been closed since January 2007 (more than 1 1/2 years prior to issuance of the revocation order). Specifically, the law judge found that the Winchester pilots did not follow the company's Operations Specifications and General Operations Manual concerning the reporting of mechanical irregularities and calculation of weight and balance. As a result, the law judge found a violation of 14 C.F.R. sections 119.5(g) (i.e., violation of operations specifications), and a residual violation of 91.13(a). These findings were limited to the Winchester pilot operations only. Throughout his decision, the law judge credited testimony from Wayne Carr, Air Trek's President and Chief Pilot, finding that regulatory violations by the Winchester pilots were not "directed, caused, or permitted" by management. As a result, the FAA did not present evidence to support a finding that Air Trek "lacks the qualifications necessary to hold an Air Carrier Certificate", as alleged in the revocation order. By contrast, the law judge found the testimony of former Winchester pilots, Garrett Lunde and John Roberts, to be unreliable. He found that both pilots were obviously biased against Air Trek's management, and therefore, were not credible. The current practices of Air Trek pilots to report mechanical irregularities either verbally or by placing a hand written note in a vice located in the maintenance shop, as well as the use of an Excel computer program to calculate weight and balance, were found to be in accordance with the company's Operations Specifications, General Operations Manual, and the Federal Aviation Regulations. The judge held that the FAA failed to present any evidence that aircraft were actually operated in an unairworthy condition, as alleged throughout the revocation order. Nevertheless, he ordered that Air Trek's certificate be suspended until the company provides adequate safeguards to ensure ongoing future compliance with the Federal Aviation Regulations. Air Trek was represented by Gregory S. Winton, Esq. of Aviation Law Experts, LLC, along with co-counsel, Darol H.M. Carr, Esq. of the Farr Law Firm located in Punta Gorda, FL. According to Mr. Winton, "this case is just another example of an inadequate FAA investigation leading to protracted litigation without substantial justification. In fact, during the hearing the law judge described certain allegations as 'absurd'." As a result, Air Trek will apply for reimbursement of attorney fees and expenses pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov, www.AviationLawExperts.com aero-news.net *************** NTSB Issues Life Raft Recommendations For Helo Operators Cites Failure To Deploy Raft As Causal To December 2007 Fatality The National Transportation Safety Board issued two new recommendations Monday, aimed at improving passenger awareness of how to properly deploy the emergency life rafts commonly seen on the exteriors of turbine-powered helicopters operating offshore. The Board cites the December 29, 2007 downing of an Air Logistics Bell 206L1 helicopter. The helicopter impacted water while approaching South Pass Block 38 (SP38), an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico, with a commercial pilot and three passengers aboard. All four occupants survived the crash, but one passenger died while awaiting rescue... a condition the NTSB attributes to the pilot's failure to properly instruct the passengers on how to deploy the life raft. "During a postaccident interview, the accident pilot provided no indication why he did not deploy the external life raft using the internal T-handle when the helicopter entered the water, even though he had received training on external liferaft deployments," the Board writes. "The pilot stated that, after evacuating the helicopter, he climbed onto its belly and asked the passengers to pull the 'red handle' (that is, one of the external T-handles) for the life raft but that the passengers could not locate either T-handle. "One of the surviving passengers stated that he thought the pilot was referring to the red inflation tabs on their PFDs. Both surviving passengers stated that they did not know that the helicopter was equipped with external life raft with external activation handles," the NTSB adds. The NTSB has recommended that the FAA: Require operators of turbine-powered helicopters with externally mounted life raft to install a placard for each external T-handle that clearly identifies the location of and provides activation instructions for the handle. (A-08-83) Require all operators of turbine-powered helicopters to include, in pilot preflight safety briefings to passengers before each takeoff, information about the location and activation of all flotation equipment, including internal or external life raft (depending on which system has been installed on the helicopter). (A-08-84) "The Safety Board concludes that external placards for the two external liferaft T-handles, similar to the placard for the T-handle in the cockpit, would assist passengers in finding and activating the external T-handles, especially if the pilot were unable to do so," the NTSB concludes. "Therefore, the Safety Board believes that the FAA should require operators of turbine-powered helicopters with externally mounted life raft to install a placard for each external T-handle that clearly identifies the location of and provides activation instructions for the handle." aero-news.net *************** Aviation Safety Leaders Converge on Dallas to Discuss Issues and Strengthen Safety Culture DALLAS, Oct 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Discussing pilot fatigue and hearing NASA presentations The Coalition for Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA), consisting of pilots from Airborne Express, AirTran, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and UPS, is hosting their annual safety conference in Dallas Oct. 21-22, 2008. Held at the Renaissance Hotel, this year's conference theme is "One Level of Safety," focusing namely on pilot fatigue and safety communications. CAPA is expecting 70 participants from the airlines in attendance. "This Safety Conference represents an outstanding opportunity to discuss safety issues of importance to the 23,000 pilots of CAPA," said CAPA President, Capt. Paul Onorato. "Fatigue is an issue in today's environment of increased productivity and extended duty days. This conference provides CAPA pilots the opportunity to share information and experiences unique to their operation with the intent to improve safety throughout our industry." Guest speaker will be Astronaut Hall of Fame inductee Robert L. ("Hoot") Gibson. "Hoot" commanded four of the five missions he flew including the first shuttle docking with the MIR Space Station. Having served on the Challenger investigation and contributed to the re-design of the solid rocket boosters, Capt. Gibson will be speaking on the safety lessons learned from that experience. "The conference will bring together some of the world's leading experts in aviation safety from the FAA, NTSB, NASA, and Academia," said CAPA Director of Safety, Capt. John Gadzinski. "This safety council brings together key personnel responsible for investigations and safety management to further professional skills, share knowledge, and promote best practices in fatigue, investigations, and risk management. This event is an important milestone in our safety council's work as we continue to promote one level of safety for all commercial pilots." CAPA is committed to promoting modern safety practices. We are currently working to address fatigue and runway safety issues, and promote vital safety programs such as ASAP. CAPA is a trade association comprised of over 23,000 professional pilots. CAPA's purpose is to address safety, security, legislative and regulatory issues affecting the professional flight deck crew member on matters of common interest to the individual member unions. More information is available at www.capapilots.org. SOURCE Southwest Airlines Pilots? Association **************** Indonesian President to meet President of EU for flight ban lifting JAKARTA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would meet with President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Baroso on the sideline of the 7th ASEM meeting in Beijing to ask for the lifting of flight ban, Indonesian state spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said here Tuesday. The 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit will be held in Beijing on Oct. 24-25. Indonesia has been struggling to exit from the European Union (EU) travel ban by improving its air safety standard after the group imposed the restriction for 51 Indonesian airliners to enter the EU member countries' territory on July 6 last year following the rampant air accident that claimed hundreds of lives. "There is a plan (for president Susilo) to meet with President of the European Commission Manuel Baroso in an effort to end the European Union flight ban," Dino told a press briefing at the State Palace. However, the spokesman said that it had not been determined yet the date of the meeting. Earlier, President Susilo has told Baroso that the ban was not fair for Indonesia which rely much on air transport. The EU extended the ban for Indonesia on its meeting on Nov. 28last year after revoking its air travel restriction on the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and on the Blue Wing Airlines of Surinam. Despite the archipelago country has attempted to boost air safety, some minor violation on air safety standard still occurred recently. The country's transport authorities have suspended and grounded a number of local carrier for lack of safety standard. On Monday, two small accidents occurred in Surabaya and South Sulawesi. Local carriers of Merpati suffered flat tire in Hasanuddin airport in South Sulawesi and Wing Air tire was broken when landing in airport in East Java. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/21/content_10229457.htm **************** U.S. plane crashes in Afghanistan KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. navy patrol plane was destroyed Tuesday when it overshot the runway while landing at a base north of the Afghan capital, but none of the crew was seriously hurt, the U.S. military said. "A Navy P-3 Orion airplane overshot the runway surface while landing at Bagram Air Field. The airplane sustained serious structural and fire damage," a military statement said. One crew member suffered a broken ankle. The incident was under investigation, it said. Bagram is the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, located just north of Kabul. The P-3 Orion is a patrol aircraft used primarily for maritime patrol, reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare. ******************