18 DEC 2008 _______________________________________ *Milwaukee-bound Delta flight encounters bad weather, leaves taxiway in Indianapolis *Missing Plane’s Pilot Not Cleared to Fly *Rules stopped pilot's fog landing *FedEx May Park More Planes As Economy Struggles *Tanzania CAA suspends Air Tanzania´s AOC over safety issues *A320 starts flight tests with Aviation Partners winglets *Thailand yet to complete One-Two-Go crash report *Continental, FAA to partner in testing of new navigation technology news *Indonesia passes new aviation safety bill **************************************** Milwaukee-bound Delta flight encounters bad weather,leaves taxiway in Indianapolis Bad weather diverted Delta flight 1274 from a Milwaukee landing to Indianapolis early this morning, but bad weather there caused further problems when the plane slid off the runway, onto a taxiway and eventually a grassy area, a Delta spokesperson said this morning. None of the crew or 118 passengers was injured, according to spokeswoman Susan Elliott. A maintenance crew was sent to the Indianapolis airport aboard a charter flight that will also be returning the passengers to Milwaukee this morning, Elliott said. The crew, in the meantime, will be checking out the original plane for any damage or problems as a result of last night's trip off of the taxiway. Elliott said the flight left Atlanta about 7 p.m.. It was first diverted to Chicago for fuel after encountering inclement weather. The pilot attempted to land in Milwaukee but bad weather forced the flight back to Indianapolis, where there was more bad weather. "The weather conditions caused it to come to a stop off the taxiway," Elliott said. "It didn't hit anything." Elliott said Delta offered passengers overnight hotel accommodations. http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/36293484.html ************** Missing Plane’s Pilot Not Cleared to Fly SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The pilot of a plane that disappeared Monday with 11 passengers aboard had only an American student-pilot license and should have never been allowed to fly, Dominican authorities said Wednesday. The pilot, Adriano Jiménez, loaded 11 passengers into a twin-engine plane in Santiago, Dominican Republic, on Monday and filed a flight plan to land in the Bahamas, but the plane never arrived, said the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute. The pilot sent an emergency signal about 35 minutes after takeoff, and then the plane disappeared from the radar. He was flying in low visibility, said the United States Coast Guard. Mr. Jiménez was stripped of his Dominican pilot’s license two years ago because he had been caught flying multiengine planes when he was authorized to fly only helicopters, said Pedro Domínguez, president of the Dominican Pilots Association. The Coast Guard suspended its search Wednesday without turning up any sign of the plane or its passengers, a spokesman said. *************** Rules stopped pilot's fog landing Flybe said the pilot had experience of flying a number of different passenger planes A pilot with 30 years' experience told passengers on a flight to Paris that he was returning to the UK because he was not qualified to land in foggy weather. Flybe flight BE1431 from Cardiff was approaching Charles De Gaulle airport on Tuesday when the captain made the announcement over the tannoy. A Flybe spokeswoman said there had been dense fog in Paris and the company stood by the pilot's decision "100%". The 62 passengers were put on the next flight to Paris or offered a refund. The Flybe pilot concerned has 30 years' commercial aviation experience flying a number of different passenger aircraft types, said the Flybe spokeswoman. "He has relatively recently transferred his 'type-rating' from a Bombardier Q300 to a Bombardier Q400 and has not yet completed the requisite low-visibility training to complete a landing in conditions such as the dense fog experienced in Paris Charles de Gaulle," she said. Everyone was totally shocked when he said he couldn't land in the fog, it caused a bit of a panic Ronan Boyle, passenger "The captain therefore quite correctly turned the aircraft around and returned to Cardiff, a decision which the company stands by 100%. "Aviation is the most highly regulated form of public transport in the United Kingdom. As a result, technical situations like these arise where a pilot with 30 years experience correctly abides by regulatory rules. "At no point was passenger safety compromised." Flybe added that when the pilot took off from Cardiff, the weather at Paris Charles De Gaulle was clear. Ronan Boyle, from Ballycastle in Northern Ireland, said he was a passenger on the flight, heading for a conference on rural retailing. He said: "Everyone was totally shocked when he said he couldn't land in the fog, it caused a bit of a panic as we never knew what was going on and thought it was a little unusual. A lot of people feared for the worst." The Civil Aviation Authority described the incident as "quite unusual but probably not unheard of". 'Climactic conditions' "I guess he thought when he initially took off that conditions would be suitable for him to land," said a spokesman. "There are different classifications of aircraft and when an aircraft is updated, pilots who have flown an older version have to completely retrain. "There can be significant differences in terms of how an aircraft is operated. "Different climatic conditions like fog require a certain level of skill and he probably didn't have the level of training required for this particular aircraft." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7787496.stm ************** FedEx May Park More Planes As Economy Struggles Analyst Believes Shipping Giant Will "Suffer A Lot" You know things are bad when FedEx talks about drastic cutbacks to its operation. Last week, the shipping conglomerate took a hatchet to its own profit forecast, scaring investors off and sending its stock price plummeting to depths not seen since 1987. More bad news may be in store Thursday. Bloomberg reports FedEx is expected to announce its US express and freight numbers are off by as much as 10 percent over the same period in 2007... and that may be just the beginning. "Even in a best-case scenario, they’re still going to suffer a lot," said Dan Ortwerth, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co. "FedEx is a premium services company and a transportation company, and both of those sectors get hit badly in an economy like this." In addition to some 1,100 job cuts already announced and closing its less-profitable FedEx Office (nee Kinkos) printing shops, FedEx may also park more its 80 Boeing 727 Freighters. FedEx had planned to ground five of the fuel-thirsty tri-jets in 2009, and 40 more over the next three years. Those numbers are probably conservative. The company operates the world's largest fleet of aircraft, with 672 planes of varying stripes. The B727s are among the oldest in its fleet, averaging 29 years old. FMI: www.fedex.com aero-news.net ************** Tanzania CAA suspends Air Tanzania´s AOC over safety issues Tanzanian Civic Aviation Authority (TCAA) suspended Air Tanzania´s AOC after an IATA IOSA audit revealed more than 500 operational gaps. It was a "precautionary but very necessary action to avoid the possibility of the airline compromising flight safety," according to the TCAA (News24, TCAA) (aviation-safety.net) *************** A320 starts flight tests with Aviation Partners winglets Airbus's A320 flying test-bed has today started another round of winglet flight-trials from Toulouse, equipped this time with a blended winglet designed by Aviation Partners (API). Airbus says the objective of the tests and subsequent evaluation is to identify both the performance and economic benefits that these devices could offer. "In conjunction with follow-up analyses, they will provide data on the overall viability of the devices and help to determine whether API's technology could be considered for an integrated Airbus programme," says Airbus. In 2006, Airbus undertook back-to-back flight testing of two other winglet designs, one developed in-house and the other by Winglet Technology of the USA. These tests had the target of finding "a couple of percent" performance gain. However, at the time Airbus could not find sufficient improvement to offset the weight increase caused by the strengthening required. It says that it "continues its work on evaluating wing-tip designs for the A320 family and assessment of innovative ways of reducing the impact of the higher structural loads, without incurring major structural weight increases". Regarding the latest trial, Airbus executive vice-president engineering Patrick Gavin says: "We continue to work on further improving the eco-efficiency of all our aircraft. These early evaluation tests are a milestone that need to be achieved long before implementation." Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************* Thailand yet to complete One-Two-Go crash report Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has yet to complete the final report into the fatal crash of a One-Two-Go passenger aircraft in Phuket even though it has been more than a year since the crash occurred. On 16 September 2007 a Boeing MD-82 operated by privately owned Thai carrier One-Two-Go crashed at Phuket airport, killing 90 of the 123 people on board. The DCA's director of flight standards, Sumpun Pongthai, tells ATI that the sub-committee responsible for writing the report has yet to complete it and the earliest it will be released will be in March or April. He says the report is being written in Thai and the sub-committee has to meet again to agree on the wording and phrasing. DCA deputy director Wuthichai Singhamanee heads the sub-committee which also has representatives from Thailand's Air Force, Meteorological Department and Ministry of Transport, says Sumpun, adding that it has been difficult finding a time when all parties can meet, particularly the air force personnel. Once the sub-committee agrees on the wording of the report it then has to be translated into English and be sent to the main committee headed by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport, says Sumpun. It then has to be sent to the USA's National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) which has 60 days to reply, he says, adding that after the 60 days the report can be released to the public. Sumpun says the NTSB is unlikely to have any objections because the Thai DCA has been keeping the bureau informed about what will be in the report. So far there have been no disagreements, he adds. In September Wuthichai said he was aiming to release the report in October of this year. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Continental, FAA to partner in testing of new navigation technology news Continental Airlines will contribute $1.1 million towards helping test new satellite navigation technology aimed at reducing flight delays. The tests will take place at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Newark Liberty, a hub for Houston-based Continental, will become the nation's first major airport to test what is called the Ground Based Augmentation System technology. The technology is intended to help reduce air-traffic control congestion through improved navigational precision, which will allow planes to fly closer together, charting their routes more efficiently than possible through traditional radar systems. The airport is managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Continental will outfit 15 planes with equipment and train pilots to use the system. It will be partnered by the Federal Aviation Administration, which will commit as much as $2.5 million towards assessing and expanding the programme. Honeywell will be the FAA-certified provider of equipment, its purchase, installation and maintenance. http://www.domain-b.com/aero/airports/20081218_navigation_technology.html *************** Indonesia passes new aviation safety bill Indonesia's parliament passed a new aviation law to improve air safety, meeting some of the demands of the European Commission which banned Indonesian carriers from its airspace following a string of accidents. Under the new law, Indonesia must set up an independent national commission that will report to the President and carry out investigations into aviation accidents. Indonesia has suffered a string of deadly air accidents in recent years. The European Commission introduced a ban on Indonesian flights in 2007, urging the authorities to increase inspections of all aircraft. The European Commission welcomed the new law in a statement, calling it a "significant development for the improvement of air safety in Indonesia". None of Indonesia's airlines fly to Europe, but state carrier Garuda Indonesia has said it wants to start flying to Amsterdam again. The ban affects Indonesia's tourist industry because European travel agents are obliged to warn customers about the risk of flying on Indonesia's domestic flights. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had identified 121 problems in Indonesia's safety system, including the lack of aircraft surveillance and inability of inspectors to have a plane grounded, and made several recommendations aimed at improving air safety standards. "At least 18 of the ICOA's findings have been answered in this bill," Indonesian Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal told reporters, adding this should pave the way for the European Commission to lift the ban. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/18/2449577.htm?section=business *************