05 NOV 2008 _______________________________________ *Two Mexican Officials Among Victims In Lear Downing *Pilot allowed to fly despite positive test for explosive *Cyprus to Prosecute Five People Over Airplane Crash in 2005 *Passenger jailed in flight disturbance *Accident reports should include mechanics' details: IFA *************************************** Two Mexican Officials Among Victims In Lear Downing Plane Impacts Crowded Mexico City Neighborhood During Rush Hour The rush hour downing of a Lear business jet into a crowded Mexico City neighborhood Tuesday claimed the lives of all onboard, including two prominent officials in the Mexican government. The Houston Chronicle reports Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and former Assistant Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos died in the crash, along with six others onboard the small jet. The plane departed the northern city of San Luis Potosi, and was on approach to land at Mexico City International Airport. Conflicting local media reports identify the accident type as either a Lear 24/25 series (shown below), or a larger Learjet 45. At least 40 persons on the ground were injured as the plane crashed in the affluent Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, and officials said the death toll could rise due to scores of people still missing. Mourino and Santiago Vasconcelos were both top aides to Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The former was the president's top advisor in dealing with Mexico's tortured internal political structure. "With his death Mexico loses a great Mexican, intelligent, loyal, committed to his ideals and to the country," said Calderon following the accident. "With Juan Camilo Mourino I shared for many years a fight for the ideal of a new country, the ideal of a new and better Mexico." Santiago Vasconcelos was a top anti-narcotics official in former President Vicente Fox's administration, and retained a prominent role combating illegal drug cartels when he moved to the Attorney General's office in December 2006. Officials say there is no reason to suspect foul play in the crash. There is presently no explanation for the cause of the accident. FMI: www.presidencia.gob.mx/en/ aero-news.net ***** Date: 04-NOV-2008 Time: ± 18:50 Type: Learjet 45 Operator: Mexican Government Registration: XC-VMC C/n / msn: 45-028 Fatalities: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 Other fatalities: 1 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico City - Mexico Phase: Approach Nature: Executive Departure airport: MMSP (San Luis Potosi) Destination airport: MMMX (Mexico City) Narrative: Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and two other top government officials were among eight people killed, when their small plane crashed in central Mexico. Also killed were former Deputy Attorney General José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos and Miguel Monterubio Cubas, the director of social communication. Forty people on the ground were injured, said Marcelo Ebrard, Head of Government of Mexico City. All eight fatalities were passengers and crew from the plane, the spokesman said. Mexican radio reported an air traffic controller as saying that the government Learjet was coming in to land at Mexico City airport when it hit the ground between tall buildings in a busy business district. "When it was at approximately [4.8 kilometers from the airport] they reported an emergency, they didn't say what kind of emergency, and we lost all contact with them," Angel Iturbe, the controller, said. The force of the crash set two dozen cars ablaze and pieces of wreckage were strewn across a wide area. (aviation-safety.net) *************** Pilot allowed to fly despite positive test for explosive A VIRGIN Blue pilot who tested positive for traces of explosives and then avoided security guards was allowed to continue unchecked and fly a passenger aircraft. The security breach at Sydney's domestic airport in August was sparked when the pilot, who has not been identified, was selected for the random explosives testing but left the security screening area while guards were waiting for the results of the sample. Instead of calling in the Australian Federal Police and grounding all the outbound Virgin Blue flights until the pilot was found, the guards covered up the security breach. An investigation by The Australian into the incident has exposed a widespread problem with the testing of pilots that could be exploited by terrorists. Security sources say pilots are often not selected for the explosives testing because of their aggressive attitude towards it. It is understood that there have been several incidents in Australian airports in which pilots have refused the random explosives test, leading to reprimands from the airlines. Aviation security experts warned of the risks involved in pilots refusing to undergo the tests. Nick O'Brien, an associate professor in counter terrorism at Charles Sturt University, said: "If it became known that pilots were immune to screening it would be tempting to train as a pilot and get a job or target them and steal their passes." The explosive trace scanners can give false-positive readings, which are triggered by high-nitrogen content fertilisers, some perfumes or shoe polish. Positive readings can also be given by people who have come into contact with fireworks or who have been to a fireworks display. Last year, two Qantas pilots, one a captain, refused to remove their shoes for screening after setting off security alarms. A spokesman for the Department of Infrastructure said yesterday it was aware of the incident in August at Sydney airport. He said the actions of the Virgin Blue pilot were unacceptable and a breach of the security procedures. "Aviation security regulations require that airports and airlines ensure that all persons entering a sterile area of an airport (including air crew) be screened," the spokesman said. "Explosive trace detection sampling is one layer of the screening process. Undertaken on a random and continuous basis, it may result in flight crew being selected for sampling." SNP Security, the company that employed the guards, said it had sacked three staff involved in the security breach and cover-up. "A thorough SNP Security investigation took place following the incident, and upon completion of the investigation appropriate disciplinary action was taken," a company spokeswoman said. A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said the company was investigating the allegations. The revelations about the security breach come as it was revealed that British security services had discovered up to 100 potential terrorists posing as postgraduate students. It is believed the suspects tried to gain access to laboratories to obtain the materials and expertise needed to create chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24604386-23349,0 0.html *************** Cyprus to Prosecute Five People Over Airplane Crash in 2005 Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) - Cyprus will prosecute five people in connection with a plane crash in 2005 that killed all 121 passengers and crew, said Petros Clerides, the island's attorney general. ``We came to the conclusion that, from the evidence gathered, a criminal prosecution is justified against several people whom we consider accountable for the plane crash,'' he told a press conference in Nicosia. He didn't name the people to be prosecuted or indicate their positions. A Boeing 737-300 operated by Helios Airways, a Cypriot low- cost carrier, crashed in Greece on Aug. 14, 2005, while it was en route to the Czech Republic from Cyprus. The Greek transport ministry in 2006 said the pilots failed to spot that the cabin pressurization system was not functioning and collapsed due to hypoxia. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ajU_6afSQZ4E&refer=europ e **************** Passenger jailed in flight disturbance Woman charged with interfering with the crew and resisting arrest. A New York woman has been jailed in Charlotte, charged after she allegedly slapped a crew member on the buttocks, pulled the hair of a blind passenger and caused other problems Saturday on a flight from Puerto Rico to Chicago. Maria Esther Castillo, 45, of Oswego, N.Y., was arrested by federal authorities and charged with interfering with the operations of a flight crew. Authorities say the flight crew was forced to use duct tape on Castillo to keep her restrained until the jet landed. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police then charged her with resisting arrest after airport police boarded the plane. Castillo made an initial court appearance Monday and faces a detention hearing Thursday. According to affidavits filed in federal court in Charlotte, passengers and the crew said Castillo's behavior became loud and disruptive about 90 minutes into the flight. According to FBI agent Peter Carricato, Castillo began using profanity at others on the plane and was “invading the personal space of other passengers by touching and jabbing them.” A passenger sitting across from Castillo told police that the suspect hit her in the arm, despite her efforts to ignore the woman. Authorities also said that at one point in the flight, Castillo fell forward, over a blind passenger in front of her and began pulling the woman's hair. She also is accused with slapping the flight attendant on the rear end and throwing a wet cloth across the plane. “This behavior continued intermittently, with short periods of calm, followed by loud outbursts,” Carricato said. Finally, Carricato said, the flight crew used duct tape to keep Castillo restrained in her seat. Carricato said the suspect became quiet when the pilot announced that the flight would be landing in Charlotte to get rid of a disruptive passenger. But, he said, Castillo grew angry again when airport police boarded the plane. One passenger told authorities that Castillo had been drinking at the airport bar in San Juan, Puerto Rico, before the flight took off. She also had one drink on the flight, authorities said, but the crew refused her request for additional alcohol drinks. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/299834.html ************** Accident reports should include mechanics' details: IFA Airlines' abilities to learn from accidents involving maintenance errors is being severely compromised by investigators' failure to include in their reports the salient details of the engineers or mechanics who made the mistakes, claims an International Federation of Airworthiness representative. IFA technical committee member and engineer Philip Hosey notes the prolific information provided about pilots in accident reports. This information includes their licences, ages, medical records, flying hours - both total and on type - flight and rest records, and other facts. Speaking at the International Aviation Safety Seminar in Honolulu at the end of October, Hosey contrasted this with the lack of equivalent detail about the engineers involved or the circumstances associated with their work and the specific job on which the mistake was made. He says that all the data pertaining to pilots was faithfully recorded even when they played no part in the accident cause or outcome, whereas detail about the engineer's training, health, experience, background and working hours was almost always omitted in reports, even when maintenance error was involved. Hosey quotes only one recent report he was aware of in which all the appropriate detail about the engineer and task was provided. He says it is remarkable that this difference in attention to the detail provided about two different professional groups in relation to accidents should exist, and it may be one of the reasons why managing the risk of error during maintenance receives less detailed attention than managing the risk of pilot error. Recording engineer working hours and patterns, including shift times and rest periods, is at least as important as for pilots, Hosey argues, because the pilot's task can, at high-risk periods, generate adrenaline that can help overcome the affects of fatigue. An engineer's task does not benefit from an adrenaline burst toward the end of a long night shift, Hosey claims. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ****************