03 NOV 2008 _______________________________________ *Lawmakers Infuriated By NTSB Prelim On Maryland Medevac Crash *US Airways constrained by aircraft range in growing certain international markets *New runway at O'Hare opens this month *Emirates attributes first A380's grounding to 'foreign object' *FAA Proposes Enhanced Boeing 737 Inspections *Judge Says Frontier Can Outsource Aircraft Maintenance Only As 'Last Resort' **************************************** Lawmakers Infuriated By NTSB Prelim On Maryland Medevac Crash ADW Controller Not Current And Qualified To Provide ASR Approach Thursday's release by the National Transportation Safety Board of the preliminary crash report of a medevac flight on September 27 has drawn the ire of some lawmakers, promising to address the issue in Congressional hearings. As ANN reported, the Aerospatiale AS365 medevac helicopter designated Trooper Two went down on the foggy night about two miles short of the runway at Andrews Air Force Base, impacting trees and terrain and fatally injuring four of the five persons on board, including pilot Stephen Bunker. Detailing the circumstances of the flight, the NTSB report described the pilot's request for an Airport Surveillance Radar approach into Andrews, which was denied because the controller on duty was "not current and qualified to provide that service." The ASR approach was requested by Bunker after having problems receiving the glide slope while on the ILS approach to runway 19R, the NTSB report said. US and foreign dignitaries routinely fly to and from of Washington DC via ADW. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger said, "That surprises me as a member of Congress who comes in and out of Andrews when I go to Iraq, Afghanistan, whatever, that any helicopter, any plane in distress cannot be helped in a fog situation. "I'm not going to make a comment one way or another because I don't know enough about the integral facts, but when there's a life on the line, we do certain things," Ruppersberger said. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley said, "It was my understanding that the air traffic controllers there, that none of them is able to vector the pilot in the manner in which he was requesting. Whatever contributed to this tragedy will be fully investigated." In a published report, an FAA spokeswoman says it is not a requirement that controllers are trained to conduct the type of landing Bunker asked for, CBS reported, because controllers at a regional facility in Warrenton, Virginia can do so. The flight, on the return leg to Prince George's County Hospital after picking up two persons injured in an automobile crash, diverted to AWD due to bad weather at the Hospital's helipad. "The P.G. Hospital is completely fogged in. We're unable to land there. We're going to be returning to Andrews. I'll give you an E.T.A. in a second. We're going to have to have at least one or two ground units from P.G. County meet us there," Bunker radioed to dispatch personnel. The question has also arisen as to whether the chopper (similar to type shown above) should even have been flying that night with weather in the area quickly deteriorating. The most recent weather report for ADW at the time of the crash showed ceiling 1,800 feet broken, visibility 10 statute miles, temperature 21 degrees C, and dew point 19 degrees C. The NTSB continues to investigate, and an official and fully detailed report is expected. FMI: www.ntsb.gov aero-news.net **************** US Airways constrained by aircraft range in growing certain international markets US Airways is evaluating new international routes but admits it is restricted by the range of its current fleet. In the Star Alliance member's latest employee newsletter, management says it intends to grow the carrier's international network in 2009 versus 2008 including the recently-announced service from Philadelphia to Birmingham, UK Oslo, Norway and Tel Aviv as well as between Charlotte and Paris. "As new aircraft arrive, we'll be able to grow more in 2010 and 2011. International Planning is evaluating many new routes with the goal of profitably maximizing the international network," says US Airways, adding, however that "the only factor limiting our consideration list is the range of the [Airbus] A330-200". US Airways has a large batch of A330-200s on firm order with Airbus. It will take delivery of its first Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered A330 in 2009. However, the carrier lacks the type of long-range aircraft that could reasonably support new service to Asia, for example. US Airways previously tried to source Airbus A340s on the market but pulled back on that effort when fuel prices spiked this year. The Airbus A350, of which US Airways has placed firm orders for 22 of the type, will not start arriving until 2015. This week the carrier announced a deal that pushes aircraft deliveries back one year from the original 2014 delivery date. Asked by an employee if US Airways has any plans to launch European service out of Phoenix, the carrier says: "We don't currently have an aircraft in our fleet to make it to Europe from Phoenix and the revenue and demand environment for the business traveller (which heavily contributes to the viability of international flying) is less from our Phoenix hub than Philadelphia or even Charlotte." It adds: "Still, we've said that PHX trans-Atlantic flying is on the docket for early next decade." Separately, US Airways reveals it plans to place more Airbus A321s on the Philadelphia-Phoenix route as these aircraft are delivered. "The new A321s have more powerful engines and will allow us to fly this route without weight restrictions as sometimes occurred in the past," says the carrier. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** New runway at O'Hare opens this month Chicago's O'Hare International airport has set a formal opening date of 20 November for its first new runway since 1971, but new Runway 9L/27R comes as FAA-imposed flight caps at the Midwest's major airport expire. FAA caps, limiting arrivals to 88 an hour, were set in 2004 to address major congestion problems when more than 100 flights landed each hour during peak times. The caps expire at midnight tonight. Delays at O'Hare are still serious, with less than 65% of flights arriving on time in the first eight months of 2008. The two major carriers at O'Hare, United and American, plan schedule reductions there for this winter. Although the 7,500ft runway is not expected to boost O'Hare capacity significantly, the new runway is the most visible sign of progress by the airport's $6.6-billion Modernization Project. Formally dubbed OMP, the programme will add two more runways when it is completed sometime in the next decade, and OMP director Rosemary Andolino predicts delays could fall as much as 30% over pre-cap levels. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Emirates attributes first A380's grounding to 'foreign object' Emirates is attributing the mysterious electrical glitch that grounded its first Airbus A380 in September to a "foreign object" and has praised Airbus for its efforts in rectifying the problem quickly. The Middle Eastern carrier says the aircraft is demonstrating "high despatch reliability" in service. Emirates was forced to withdraw its first - and, at the time, only - A380 from service for around a week in early September after an "electrical issue" was noticed at the end of a training mission. The 489-seat jet had been operating the airline's prime Dubai-New York route twice-weekly for several weeks, and the grounding disrupted the airline's schedule. The problem is understood to have arisen in the aircraft's avionics bay, which is located near the two on-board shower cubicles, leading to speculation that the issue might be related to Emirates' unique cabin configuration. But Emirates Airline president Tim Clark says the problem had nothing to do with the showers, adding: "Almost certainly, a foreign object caused an electrical problem. Once [the cause was] identified, remedial action was taken by Airbus." Clark does not elaborate on the source of the foreign object, but describes Airbus's efforts to rectify the problem as "outstanding, with no expense or resource being spared to get the job done". He adds that the A380 "continues to have high despatch reliability". The airline took delivery of its second A380 on 24 October. This aircraft has joined the first on the Dubai-New York route, enabling A380 frequencies to be increased to daily. Clark says the opening of Emirates' huge new Terminal 3 at its Dubai base on 14 October has been "smooth and glitch-free after many months of testing". Industrial action at Boeing, however, has held up deliveries of 777 aircraft to the airline. Emirates senior vice-president, commercial operations, for the Americas Nigel Page says it has had to scale back plans for daily services between Dubai and Los Angeles to three a week as a result of the hold-up. Delivery delays have also forced the airline to delay the launch of San Francisco flights and limit frequencies. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** FAA Proposes Enhanced Boeing 737 Inspections LOS ANGELES -- Federal air-safety regulators have proposed enhanced inspections on roughly 500 Boeing 737 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines, a move aimed at detecting potential manufacturing slipups that in extreme cases could result in engines separating from wings. No crashes are believed to have been caused by such slipups. But the Federal Aviation Administration's move is unusual because it seeks to uncover potential manufacturing problems stretching back years, and focuses on the airline industry's most popular family of planes. Foreign safety regulators eventually are likely to require the same inspections for hundreds of additional aircraft. That could mean that more than 1,270 Boeing 737s could be affected world-wide. The safety mandate proposed by the Federal Aviation Administration piggybacks on earlier safety directives issued by the agency as well as plane-maker Boeing Co. But after receiving at least two reports in recent months of improperly installed engines, the agency proposed enhanced inspections of engine mounts on the four most recent versions of the workhorse twin-jet 737 planes. If portions of engine mounts are installed backward, according to the FAA, the result can be increased structural loads on some parts and in extreme cases, "separation of the engine from the airplane." A Boeing spokesman said Friday that the company has taken steps to prevent slipups at the factory and also has instructed operators to step up inspections of certain planes already in service. The spokesman said, "We don't believe this to be a safety of flight issue." Similar safety directives issued years ago applied only to those planes on which mechanics had removed an engine after delivery from the factory. In effect, the previous FAA mandates were aimed at catching mistakes by airline mechanics -- or third-party maintenance providers-- who installed engines on certain 737 models. By contrast, the FAA's latest proposal is intended to identify and correct the same engine-mounting mistakes that originated on Boeing's assembly line. The agency often issues its own safety mandate following service bulletins issued by Boeing, because the manufacturer's safety warnings aren't mandatory for airlines to follow. The proposed inspections, slated to be completed within 90 days after release of the final directive, aren't expected to disrupt airline schedules. If problems are found, the FAA proposal gives Boeing and airline maintenance officials flexibility in how to conduct repairs. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122549968968489759.html?mod=googlenews_wsj ************* Judge Says Frontier Can Outsource Aircraft Maintenance Only As 'Last Resort' WASHINGTON, Nov 03, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Bankruptcy Judge Rules Airline to Reject Contract With Teamsters U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Drain on Friday granted Frontier Airlines' motion to reject its contracts with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters covering mechanics and material specialists. The Teamsters, which represent Frontier's mechanics, have been struggling to stop Denver-based Frontier (Nasdaq: FRNT) from permanently outsourcing all of its maintenance work to El Salvador-based Aeroman. Though Frontier and the Teamsters earlier reached an agreement regarding wage cuts, their negotiations broke down after Frontier insisted on the unlimited right to permanently outsource its heavy-check aircraft maintenance. The Teamsters refused to agree to Frontier's outsourcing demand and Frontier sought to reject the Teamster contracts. The judge was then required by existing law to either reject the parties' collective bargaining agreement allowing Frontier to make changes as described in the decision or to deny Frontier's motion, leaving the Teamster agreements in place. In the end he sided with Frontier. Despite his ruling, however, the judge made clear in his decision that Frontier may outsource its aircraft maintenance only as a last resort - after it has exhausted all other options to perform the heavy check work at its Denver repair station. "While the Teamsters do not agree with Judge Drain's ruling, the ruling does at least anticipate that our mechanics will continue to work on heavy maintenance in Denver," said Matthew Fazakas, president of Teamsters Local 961, which represents Frontier's mechanics in Denver. "The company also has to continue the full staffing of the heavy maintenance department," Fazakas said. "The economic concessions must be modeled after the Teamster concession proposals, and there must be a fair and transparent process to ensure the company works in good faith in its hiring practices so that it uses its outsourcing only as an absolute last resort." Teamsters Airline Division Director David Bourne commended Judge Drain for trying to get Frontier to negotiate in good faith. "However, we are bitterly disappointed with his ruling and anticipate appealing it," Bourne said. "The Teamsters are adamantly opposed to all aircraft maintenance outsourcing because it is unsafe, jeopardizes the flying public, costs more than in-house maintenance, and, especially in today's economy, further destabilizes the industry. This is no way to run a U.S. airline." Fazakas noted that Frontier is a low-cost carrier that has among the lowest labor costs in the industry. "Labor costs had nothing to do with Frontier filing for bankruptcy protection," Fazakas said. "But once it filed for bankruptcy, Frontier's top management and its high-priced lawyers decided to take advantage of the built-in flaws of the bankruptcy laws to slash our members' wages and to export 129 of our members' Denver-based jobs to El Salvador." "Why on earth does Congress allow laws to encourage the foreign outsourcing of good, skilled, middle-class and critically important jobs to foreign countries?" Fazakas said. "Frontier's use of the bankruptcy laws to export our jobs and cut our surviving members' wages is nothing short of a national scandal." "The bankruptcy laws are skewed in favor or debtors and against working people," Bourne said. The case was heard in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Judge-Says-Frontier-Can-Outsource/stor y.aspx?guid=%7B1A41C73A-D7F0-48C1-A3BC-14D6EDC242EC%7D ***************