08 NOV 2008 _______________________________________ *Mexico rules out bomb, failed engine in jet crash *Air freight gets tighter screening *Jet terminates services of at least 25 expat pilots (India) *Air tanker pilot's job fighting California fires has been good to the last drop *Alaska Air Group Names Thomas Nunn Vice President of Safety *Northwest grounds 27 of its 757s for three hours after an audit *Israeli security team ends LAX review *************************************** Mexico rules out bomb, failed engine in jet crash MEXICO CITY: (AP) Mexican experts say they have ruled out a bomb or engine failure as the cause of a plane crash that killed Mexico's interior secretary. The probe into the cause of Tuesday's crash continues, but officials of Mexico's Transportation Department said the findings reinforced their initial opinion that no foul play was involved. "This reinforced the hypothesis that the crash was an accident," said Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez. Tellez told a news conference on Friday that all parts of the plane necessary for flight had been found at the crash scene, proving that none had been lost in flight. Investigators from the federal Attorney General's Office also said chemical tests revealed no trace of explosives. Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed in Tuesday's crash, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos. The 37-year-old Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon's closest confidants, was Mexico's equivalent of vice president and domestic security chief. Santiago Vasconcelos had been the target of at least one previous assassination plot. The crash occurred in clear weather, and in their last recorded radio conversation, the plane's flight crew calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed with controllers. The tape went silent just as radar lost the plane's altitude reading. Two flight recorders from the Learjet 45 have been sent to the U.S. for examination. Tellez has said experts would need at least a week to analyze the plane's voice and data recorders for clues to what went wrong. Experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Britain's Civil Aviation Authority are in Mexico helping with the investigation. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/07/news/LT-Mexico-Plane-Crash.php **************** Air freight gets tighter screening WASHINGTON - For the first time, business cargo carried on most passenger planes is being checked for explosives, according to airlines and the Transportation Security Administration. Airlines began checking air freight on single-aisle airplanes such as 737s and 757s as of Oct. 1, the TSA said. Air freight often includes products sent from manufacturing plants to stores and is carried on planes along with passenger luggage. Cargo carried on wide-body planes such as 747s is still not checked for bombs but will be by early 2010, the TSA said. "This is a very significant step for security," TSA spokesman Christopher White said. Single-aisle planes account for more than 90% of domestic flights, he said, though they hold only 25% of the cargo carried by passenger planes. The TSA has been under pressure for several years to do a better job ensuring that there are no bombs hidden in the 250 million freight packages that passenger planes carry each year. Freight includes anything from flowers and fish to computers and auto parts that require quick delivery. Most air freight is carried on cargo-only planes, but passenger planes also carry it. On some passenger flights, such cargo fills half the luggage hold. Cargo groups hailed the progress made in screening. "The American flying public should be happy and secure in the knowledge that every package that goes on narrow-body flights is screened," said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, a trade group of companies that help transport cargo. Airlines are doing most of the screening at the 80 large and midsized airports using machines that detect residue from explosives, said David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association, an airline trade group. At more than 370 small airports, the checks are done by TSA screeners who run cargo packages through the same bomb-detection machines that scan luggage, White said. Cargo transported on single-aisle planes is easy to screen because it comes in small packages that fit through bomb-detection machines, said Steve Alterman, president of the Cargo Airline Association. Cargo on wide-body jets is harder to screen because it is packed in 5-foot-by-5-foot metal containers. The TSA has until February 2010 to fully screen that cargo and meet a congressional deadline. The TSA plans to have some screening done by manufacturers as they pack shipments such as computers or air conditioners into boxes for air shipment. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-11-06-cargo_N.htm ************** Jet terminates services of at least 25 expat pilots (India) Mumbai, November 8: Plagued by mounting losses, private air-carrier Jet Airways has sacked at least 25 expatriate pilots, including captains of Boeing 737 aircraft, a Jet spokesperson said. The expatriates get between USD 15,000 to 18,000 salary per month besides perquisites such as five-star hotel accommodation and business class conveyance to their home country. Earlier, around Diwali time, Jet had sacked around 400 support staff but later rescinded its move by taking back all the employees. Another private air-carrier, the Vijay Mallya-run Kingfisher Airlines, had last month, announced a cut in the salaries of its trainee pilots as a part of its cost-cutting measures. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Jet-Airways-terminates-services-of-a t-least-25-expat-pilots/383098/ ************** Air tanker pilot's job fighting California fires has been good to the last drop The chief pilot of the Super Scoopers that dump water on L.A.-area fires will retire to Quebec after a ceremony thanking him for his service. Ared flag alert was on, making it a perfect time for one final water drop for the Super Scooper pilot who for 13 years has led Canadian firefighters' assault on Los Angeles-area brush fires. Chief water bomber pilot Jean-Pierre Guay is retiring from a 32-year career flying the unique plane that skims over lakes and the ocean to load water and then sprays it over flaming hillsides. He returns to snowy Quebec on Wednesday after a ceremony at which county supervisors will thank him for his service. Guay, 62, said he will miss L.A.'s sunny and warm autumns. But he won't miss darting in and out of narrow, heavily populated canyons as Santa Ana winds shake and rattle the sturdily built Canadair Bombardier CL-415. Los Angeles County leases two $35-million Super Scoopers from the province of Quebec during each fall's windy fire season. The $3-million lease can be extended if the fire danger lingers beyond Christmas. Eight pilots and three mechanics come with the planes. They stay in a Burbank Holiday Inn. The sight of the two tankers, which are painted a bright yellow and red and feature distinctive pontoons on their wings, invariably draw cheers from those whose homes are in the path of brush fires. But the erratic winds that make L.A. fires so dangerous make flying a heavily loaded, fixed-wing plane difficult. "Sometimes the aircraft is going like this," Guay said, moving the palms of his hands up and down. "The controls are pretty stiff -- they don't want us to make any abrupt maneuvers. In the wind, the pilots are going like this," he said, moving his fists up and down. "You have to be pretty strong to control it." Super Scooper pilots scope out the terrain before lining up in tandem to make their water drops. High-tension power lines and ridge-top trees have to be avoided. So do direct water hits on structures or people. "Southern California is very different from Quebec," Guay said. "Up there, we fight fires in forests a long way away from homes. Here, we're dropping water in urban areas -- sometimes in the courtyards of houses." "In a Laurel Canyon fire, we were flying below some houses. We looked up on the hill and people were waving to us. They were happy to see us. We were close enough we could tell whether they were men or women." Some of the 12 approved pickup points that the planes scoop water from are also a challenge. "Lake Sherwood is surrounded by houses," he said of the small Santa Monica Mountains lake near Thousand Oaks. "Some reservoirs, like the Santa Fe Reservoir, aren't very long and there's not much room to come in. We have to be careful. We have to use all the performance of the aircraft." Ocean scoops are handy for Malibu fires. But Guay debunked one often-told tale: the Super Scooper that accidentally swept up a shark and deposited it on a hillside. "Look, the scoops are only about four inches by six inches wide. It's impossible to pick up a shark," he said, pulling open one of the intake ports that fill the plane's 1,620-gallon tank in about 12 seconds. Flying at about 200 mph, the planes sometimes reach brush fires nearly as quickly as the first firetruck. They are automatically dispatched to every wildfire that the Los Angeles County Fire Department responds to. They are used only during daylight hours, however. Last year, the two Van Nuys-based planes responded to 74 calls and made 525 drops, using 807,750 gallons of water, said Fire Capt. Scott Graham, a commander of the county's airport tanker base. Anthony Marrone, chief of air operations for the county Fire Department, acknowledged that some veteran firefighters had to be won over to the idea of using fixed-wing tankers -- piloted by foreigners. "In the beginning, it wasn't a Cinderella story," Marrone said. "These were guys from Canada who didn't know our airspace," not county-trained careerists steeped in local tradition and flying the county's nine helicopters. But the fliers from Quebec's Service Aerien Gouvernmental spoke fluent English and were comfortable working the three rapid-fire radio frequencies used in aerial firefighting. They were quick to pick up on local firefighting procedures and flying protocols. "These are great guys and their planes are incredible," Marrone said. "They came to protect the people of our county and they ended up protecting us on the fire line too. "Jean-Pierre has been the hood ornament. He's always gone out of his way to make sure they're doing what we need them to do. They've been here for us every year. I don't know if I could go to Quebec every year and miss Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's." As the two Super Scoopers sat parked next to the Van Nuys runway, connected by hose to a fire hydrant and ready for a three-minute water fill, Guay's last water drop came from a bucket splash by crew mate Rene Lemay, not from the belly of a CL-415. Before he leaves for the last time, Guay plans to stock up on local souvenirs. "I'm taking back a lot of L.A. County Fire Department T-shirts to give to my friends," he said. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-scoop8-2008nov08,0 ,2796436.story *************** Alaska Air Group Names Thomas Nunn Vice President of Safety SEATTLE, Nov 07, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Alaska Air Group today announced the election of Thomas Nunn as vice president of safety. An industry veteran with nearly 30 years of experience in strategic planning, operational development and safety, Nunn will oversee all aspects of the safety programs at Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. "Tom is a seasoned leader with a strong track record in safety and security," said Bill Ayer, chairman and chief executive officer of Alaska Air Group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. "We feel fortunate to welcome someone with such tremendous talent and depth of experience to our team." Nunn, who starts his new position Nov. 24, will report to Ayer, as well as to the safety committee of the Alaska Air Group board of directors. This committee oversees the carriers' safety initiatives, which include a wide range of training programs, internal evaluations, biannual external audits and other processes. "Alaska and Horizon have tremendous safety cultures, immense entrepreneurial cultures and great employee cultures," Nunn said. "They are innovators when it comes to building safety initiatives and best operating practices for the industry. All of those factors made me want to come to Air Group." Nunn replaces Chris Glaeser, who left Alaska in August. Nunn joins the company from Lynx Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontier Airlines Holdings, where he served as president and chief operating officer since September 2006. He built the regional airline from the ground up and hired a senior leadership team that provides ongoing direction for the organization. Nunn also served as vice president and director of Frontier Airlines' aviation safety and security program from 2001 to 2006, managing all aspects of airline safety, security and regulatory compliance. In this role, he developed a safety program to support the airline's rapid growth and need for heightened security following Sept. 11. Before joining Frontier, Nunn worked at Northwest Airlines for 18 years, serving as director of operations analysis and emergency management. He developed an emergency response program and provided direction on corporate policy and strategy for all areas of crisis management. Nunn also served as manager of flight dispatch, directing 135 flight dispatchers, reviewing incidents and taking corrective action. Nunn began his career as a Marine providing security detail to the United States Capitol and White House during President Jimmy Carter's administration. Nunn eventually joined Western Airlines, where he worked in maintenance line service. He is also a private pilot with more than 3,000 hours of flight time. Nunn holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and computer science with a minor in aviation management from Minnesota State University. He attended the Aviation Training Institute in Minneapolis as well as the University of Southern California Aviation Safety Program in Los Angeles. Alaska Airlines and sister carrier Horizon Air together serve more than 90 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. For reservations, visit alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at alaskaair.com/newsroom. SOURCE Alaska Air Group ************* Northwest grounds 27 of its 757s for three hours after an audit Northwest Airlines temporarily grounded 27 of its Boeing 757 airplanes on Friday night as a result of an internal audit. About 2,600 passengers were affected by the move. The planes were cleared to resume flying within about three hours. The airline made other flight arrangements or provided hotel accommodations for customers whose flights were cancelled. "We learned that we were technically noncompliant with one minor aspect of an FAA air worthiness directive on a 757 main landing gear component," Tammy Lee Stanoch, a Northwest vice president, said in a statement. By 10:40 p.m. Friday, Stanoch said that the Federal Aviation Administration had "cleared the 757s to return to service." That was as a result of Northwest's satisfying an alternative means of compliance, she said. "At no point was the safety of our passengers compromised," Stanoch said. "Safety remains the top priority at Northwest and our parent company, Delta." Stanoch said that Northwest had taken the initiative to contact the FAA about the issue. The number of planes grounded represented less than 10 percent of the airline's fleet. http://www.startribune.com/business/34130429.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4 O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsr ************** Israeli security team ends LAX review A team of Israeli airport security experts on Friday wrapped up a weeklong review of Los Angeles International Airport, providing a level of insight and expertise that city officials hope to build on. The three experts analyzed LAX's day-to-day safety measures and offered advice on how to respond to threats of terrorism at the world's fifth-busiest airport. The visitors oversee security at Ben-Gurion International Airport, a longtime terrorist target that's also considered to be one of the world's most secure airports. "Terrorism has no boundaries and no limits," Israeli Consul General Jacob Dayan said during a news conference at LAX. "In the fight against terrorism, we have to cooperate and we gladly share what Israel has accumulated with a lot of blood, tears and sweat." The same three airport security experts visited LAX two years ago to examine the airport's perimeter, tarmacs, terminals and parking structures. They later submitted a series of recommendations that were not released to the public, but noted that LAX has made "significant progress" since 2006. The latest visit was arranged as part of a deal struck last June during Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's trip to Israel. The Israeli experts will be paid $1,000 a day and reimbursed for their airfare, hotel and out-of-pocket expenses during their stay in Los Angeles, under the terms of an agreement between LAX and Ben-Gurion airport officials. "We're getting the best advice from the best of the best," City Councilman Jack Weiss said. "They've seen significant progress in what LAX is doing and what LAX is planning to do, so this is a relationship that has shown results and will continue to show results in years to come." A series of reports released in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had cited possible vulnerabilities in the perimeter fencing and crowds gathering outside airport terminals at LAX. Over the past two years, airport officials have strengthened LAX's perimeter fence, installed giant concrete flower pots in front of several terminals and placed a series of barricades at "strategic locations." Additionally, airport police officers have bulked up their presence and increased the frequency of vehicle searches. "We want tourists to come to LAX, and we know that we have to have the image that we have a very safe and secure airport, or people will find another place to go," said City Councilwoman Janice Hahn. The visit came the same day that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's inspector general released a 58-page report that uncovered a series of security lapses at LAX. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard operations at LAX did not fully comply with security policies outlined by the Department of Homeland Security, according to the audit. Details were vague because several portions were redacted from the report. "The information technology security controls implemented at this site have deficiencies that, if exploited, could result in the loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability of their information technology systems," the report stated. Airport officials did not return a phone call seeking comment. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_10932306 **************