26 DEC 2008 _______________________________________ *Global airline accidents snapshot for 2008 to 23 December *Jackson Hole Airport proceeds with safety audit *B/E secures STC for A300-600 conversions *Most of TSA Leadership Staying On *Viewpoint: NextGen Must Be Part Of An Interoperable Global Air Traffic Management System **************************************** Global airline accidents snapshot for 2008 to 23 December An assessment of global airline crashes for 2008 at 23 December shows a considerable rise in the number of fatal accidents, but a fall in the number of resulting deaths. This squares with the International Air Transport Association's snapshot of the year to 1 December, in which it revealed that airline safety has stopped improving, although IATA's figures are based on jet hull-loss accidents, and not all of these involve fatalities. Flightglobal's safety snapshot for the year to 23 December shows 33 fatal airline accidents, whereas the whole of 2007 produced only 25, which was an all time low. But this year to 23 December has seen only 589 fatalities worldwide compared with the 744 recorded by the end of 2007. A lot can happen in eight days, however. Flightglobal will review global airline safety for the entire year 2008 during the last week of January 2009, together with an analysis of trends, lessons learned, and industry concerns. In this year to 23 December there were six fatal accidents involving scheduled jet airliners in which a total of 349 people died. There were three fatal crashes involving chartered aircraft, killing a total of 49 (none of these was a holiday charter and none involved jets). The commuter and regional airlines worldwide suffered 8 fatal accidents killing 129 people, but the commercial air transport category in which most fatal accidents occurred was non-passenger operations. The latter includes cargo flights, but also positioning flights and test flights after maintenance. In 2008 to 23 December there were 16 accidents in this category, killing 62 people. The year's worst single accident so far was the 20 August Spanair Boeing MD-82 crash during take-off at Madrid Barajas airport Spain, which followed failure of the crew to set the flaps to the take-off setting combined with the failure of the onboard alerting system that is supposed to warn them the aircraft was not correctly configured for take-off. All six crew died in the accident, and 154 of the 166 passengers. There have been some serious accidents that, fortunately, were survived by all on board. Among these were the 17 January British Airways Boeing 777 crash-landing short of the runway at London Heathrow airport, the November Ryanair 737-800 which was badly damaged by a heavy landing at Rome Ciampino airport after hitting a huge flock of starlings on final approach, and the Continental Airlines 737-500 that ran off the runway at Denver airport, USA on 20 December during the pilots' attempt to abort the take-off. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/12/23/320483/global-airline-accide nts-snapshot-for-2008-to-23-december.html ************** Jackson Hole Airport proceeds with safety audit JACKSON (AP) -- Jackson Hole Airport is moving forward with a safety audit in response to 10 incidents of airplanes running or sliding off the runway in the past year. The most serious of the incidents, called excursions, at the airport over the last year involved a United Airlines flight with 115 passengers and six crew members that slid off the runway. That caused an engine fire and one minor injury. Airport officials recently decided to go forward with the safety audit despite concerns about its preliminary price tag of more than $700,000. The airport had budgeted $500,000 for the audit. Ray Bishop, airport director, said contractor Mead and Hunt, Inc. first quoted a $1.2 million price for the safety audit. He said the airport worked with the contractor to eliminate some portions of the audit such as environmental work and forecasting to reduce its price. "It's higher than we would have hoped for, but it's something that is worthwhile," Bishop said of the audit. He said he hopes to begin the audit in January or February. Airport managers and officials with Grand Teton National Park picked Mead and Hunt through a Federal Aviation Administration bidding process. The process requires officials to pick the contractor first, then negotiate the price. "We put that out to public bid, then we pick who we think is the most qualified," Bishop said. Board member Jack Larimer voted against the proposal and several members expressed concern about the price. Board member Andrea Riniker said she thought the price was excessive but said the airport needs to get the audit completed. "When we've had the number of runway excursions that we've had, it would feel irresponsible to me not to be actively searching for (a solution)," Riniker said. "We are going to do everything we can to make it safer, short of some of the more controversial issues." Conservation groups oppose lengthening the runway at the airport because it's inside Grand Teton National Park. Bishop said other options for improving safety include the installation of center line lights on the runway. Jeff Brown, president of Jackson Hole Aviation, said he supports moving forward with the audit. "We've gotten a wake-up call with the frequency of excursions," he said. "I think we owe it to the flying public. We don't need a disaster here." http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/12/25/news/wyoming/1576e34b edbc583187257527007c73e6.txt *************** B/E secures STC for A300-600 conversions US-based B/E Aerospace has secured a supplemental type certificate (STC) from the US FAA allowing it to convert Airbus A300-600 passenger aircraft to freighters. B/E says in a statement that the STC was awarded to its Flight Structures (FSI) unit. It says "the A300-600 STC marks a significant milestone in our passenger-to-freighter conversion business". The company announced early in 2006 that its FSI unit had been selected by China Southern Airlines to convert its six A300-600s to freighters. The programme puts it into direct competition with EADS' freighter conversion unit EFW, which has already been performing such work on A300-600s for some time. B/E says in its statement today that it expects the six-aircraft conversion programme for China Southern to have a value of around $45 million. It says China Southern's maintenance, repair and overhaul subsidiary, Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, will carry out the touch labour and kit installation work. But it remains unclear what China Southern will do with the aircraft. In July the airline put its A300-600s up for sale and said that as a result they would no longer be used as freighters as earlier planned. A China Southern spokesman told ATI at the time that it had decided to sell the aircraft as it had opted against using them for regional freighter operations. A planning and development department executive says from Guangzhou today that the aircraft are still being offered for sale but he declined to comment on the conversion deal with B/E. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Most of TSA Leadership Staying On The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will keep most of its leaders in place when the Obama administration takes over Jan. 20. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley and three top advisers - senior adviser Rebekah Williams, spokesperson Ellen Howe and legislative affairs assistant Jason Conley - are political appointees. But the heads of several key units like John Sammon, assistant administrator for Transportation Sector Network Management, are professional staff and will be staying on. http://www.aviationweek.com **************** Viewpoint: NextGen Must Be Part Of An Interoperable Global Air Traffic Management System Dear Mr. President-Elect: Make NextGen a High Priority In your inspirational victory speech on Nov. 4, you proclaimed that "change has come to America." Without a doubt, our nation will experience unprecedented and far-reaching change as we work together through the current economic crisis, and a litany of other challenges. Yet times of great change also bring great opportunities. There are few industries in the world today that have experienced the same rapid pace and magnitude of change as U.S. aerospace and aviation. Since the Wright brothers' first flight over Kitty Hawk 105 years ago this month, the accomplishments of the human race in aerospace have been nothing short of miraculous. The U.S. aerospace and aviation industry has become a crucial element of the global infrastructure. It is an industry that moves people and goods quickly-and virtually anywhere in the world. It represents approximately 10% of the U.S. gross domestic product, and is a major employer. But aerospace and aviation is an industry at risk. While we enjoy the fruits of a vibrant aerospace sector, we face the serious challenge of modernizing an air transportation system that has not kept pace with rapid growth or applied advances in technology. While there may be a temporary pause given the current economy, the steady increase in air traffic will continue, increasing pressure on aircraft operations. Despite some improvements in efficiency, the air transportation system is still not managed as effectively as possible, resulting in delays that cascade throughout the network. A safe, secure and efficient air system is vital to U.S. prosperity and competitiveness in the global economy. Replacement of our 1960s-era system with the 21st century Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is essential. NextGen will lead to advances in technology and more closely integrate aircraft into the system of the future. It represents an all-encompassing transformation of the entire national air transportation system to meet future demands, avoid gridlock in the sky and at airports, and reduce aviation's environmental footprint. Substantial improvements in efficiency will mean engines will burn less fuel, feature quieter operation and generate fewer emissions. It is estimated that NextGen will create system-wide fuel efficiencies of 10-15%. Coupled with fuel-saving initiatives in place or contemplated by aircraft manufacturers and operators, we could achieve carbon neutral growth in aviation for years to come. But implementation is not on schedule. The Joint Planning and Development Office was established in 2003 to define and develop a plan for the implementation of NextGen. After initial delays, their work is almost complete and awaits funding and management. Consistency in investment is required to continue the research and development needed to implement these changes, and yet FAA restructuring and lack of new funding legislation for the agency has further delayed progress. Structured funding today will allow us to avoid the severe economic drag of a future system in gridlock. Finally, NextGen must be part of a seamlessly interoperable global air traffic management system so governments, businesses and people can move across the globe as efficiently as possible. Meeting this challenge will require NextGen to be compatible with Single European Sky initiatives. On Nov. 18, President George W. Bush signed an executive order to make modernizing our national airspace system a leading priority for federal agencies, paving the way for the implementation of NextGen. But continued leadership is needed to: .Ensure that the requirement for NextGen is fully understood and becomes a national priority. .Provide funding for the FAA, NASA and other NextGen partner organizations that are substantially higher than today's levels to adequately and fully implement the new system. .Ensure that agencies work together to meet their obligations in support of NextGen. Ultimately, your support is needed to ensure our country realizes the economic and environmental benefits that will flow from the transformation of this critical element of transportation infrastructure. Sincerely, Clayton M. Jones Chairman, President and CEO Rockwell Collins Inc. **************