12 JAN 2009 _______________________________________ *Airlines record safest 2 years *Flight returns to Sea-Tac after engine goes out *FAA proposes sweeping update to pilot, flight attendant and dispatch training rules *LASP Opponents Give TSA An Earful *Xian MA60 Turboprop Aircraft Accident (Philippines) *Boeing 737-300 REjected Takeoff/Engine Fire (Pakistan) *Boeing 757-200 Engine Failure (Malta) *Airbus A340-313x Division/Galley Smoke (Ireland) *AirTran recalls, hires crew members *Mayo air-ambulance directors call for better safety measures *Flight Safety Foundation to research helicopter emergency services safety *Virgin Nigeria suspends flights to UK, S.Africa *Officials: 7 killed in Siberian helicopter crash *US carrriers invited to compete for new Brazil flights *ASA to furlough 80 pilots *Source runway friction data from aircraft: UK investigators *************************************** Airlines record safest 2 years By Alan Levin, USA TODAY For the first time since the dawn of the jet age, two consecutive years have passed without a single airline passenger death on a U.S. carrier. No passengers died in crashes in 2007 and 2008, a period in which 1.5 billion people took scheduled airline flights, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal and industry data. One major accident occurred during that time, last month's crash of a Continental Airlines jet in Denver. Going without a crash fatality for a full year has been rare. Only four years since 1958 have passed without a passenger fatality, the analysis found. That makes the two-year string even more impressive, aviation safety experts say. "It's a new record," says Arnold Barnett, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who has written extensively about airline fatality risks. "While it doesn't mean risk is now non-existent," Barnett says, "it certainly means they have done a fantastic job at keeping all these threats at bay." Barnett calculates that it's more likely for a young child to be elected president than to die on a single jet flight in the USA or in similar industrial nations in Europe, Canada or Japan. "It's just more evidence of what has been the improving safety record that we've seen over the past several years," says Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes aviation safety around the world. Overall risks of death on an airline flight have dropped dramatically. Fatality risk fell to 68 per billion fliers this decade, less than half the risk in the 1990s, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data. Since 2002, the risks of dying on a flight plunged to 19 per billion, an 86% drop from the 1990s. The fiery Continental Airlines crash Dec. 20 in Denver shows it can still be hazardous to fly. Flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500 headed for Houston, turned off a runway while attempting to take off, breaking apart and bursting into flames. All 115 people aboard escaped as jet fuel burned through the right side of the jet. The crash injured 38 people, five seriously, the NTSB said. The crash helps illustrate why death rates have fallen, Voss says. Government requirements during the past two decades have made planes safer in violent impacts and fires, reducing the likelihood of deaths, he says. Technology improvements, more reliable aircraft and better training also have helped reduce accidents, Voss says. The lack of fatal crashes creates new challenges for federal regulators and the airline industry. Further safety improvements must come from studying the minor anomalies of everyday flight. "What we're looking at now is the risks before they manifest themselves into accidents," says Basil Barimo, with the Air Transport Association. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-01-11-airlinesafety_N.htm ************** Flight returns to Sea-Tac after engine goes out SEATTLE (AP) -- A Delta Airlines jetliner returned and landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Saturday morning after one of its two engines went out. Airport spokesman Perry Cooper told The Associated Press the Boeing 737 en route from Seattle to Orlando, Fla., left at 8:15 a.m. and returned to Sea-Tac at 8:47 a.m. Cooper said the plane was ascending when an indicator light went on, showing an engine was out. Cooper did not know how many passengers were on the plane. He said 737s can carry between 115 to 170 passengers. ************** FAA proposes sweeping update to pilot, flight attendant and dispatch training rules US regulators on Monday will publish a 689-page proposed rule that would require airlines to supply "safety-critical" training to pilots, flight attendants and dispatchers, an action the agency says will make "a significant contribution" to its accident reduction goal. Included in FAA's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) are "special hazard" flight simulator training requirements for pilots that include loss-of-control (LOC) and controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) scenarios. Also included is a requirement to perform line-oriented flight training (LOFT) in full-flight simulators as well as to demonstrate runway safety techniques such as ensuring the correct runway is selected for takeoff. For flight attendants, the new rules include completing "hands on" performance drills using emergency equipment annually and qualifying for various aircraft types based on operating experience. The rule would require dispatchers to be re-qualified and dispatcher instructors to complete standardized training. FAA plans to allow airlines five years from the date the rule becomes final, after a planned public comment phase for the preliminary rule, to put the new training programmes in place. "This rulemaking is part of the FAA's efforts to reduce fatal accidents in which human error was a major contributing cause," the regulator writes. The agency cites NTSB statistics showing human error was a major contributing factor in "a large percentage" of the fatal accidents at US air carriers from 1987 through 1996. Further, FAA says in that timeframe NTSB found that inadequate training was the probable cause of 169 airline industry accidents resulting in 988 fatalities, 250 serious injuries and "significant damage" or complete hull loss of the aircraft involved. "We believe that many of these accidents could have been prevented if the proposed training initiatives were in place during that 20 year period," FAA states. The NPRM was developed in part with input from a government-industry aviation rulemaking committee established in 2004. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** LASP Opponents Give TSA An Earful Emotions Run High At First Stop Of TSA's Road Show The first of five public meetings to be held by the Transportation Security Administration to listen to feedback on the proposed Large Aircraft Security Program was held last week in Atlanta. A conference room at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel was packed to standing room only with pilots, executives, and others from the aviation community, unanimous in their strong feelings against the extension of commercial airline security procedures and regulations to general aviation. Notable attendees included Craig Dotlo, the Northeast Regional Representative of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), and Ed Bolen, President of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). TSA spokesman Jon Allen said such hearings will play an important role in making a decision regarding the proposed rules. "It's feedback that we value, and it will be considered as the rule-making process continues," Allen told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. And feedback he got - plenty of it. "AOPA is concerned with the weight threshold that is used for the basis of the regulations and provisions in the rule that outsource security oversight to a third-party auditor," Dotlo said. "AOPA does not support the NPRM as currently drafted and requests that TSA reconsider the proposed rules, focusing particularly on whether there are less costly and less intrusive ways of enhancing general aviation security." In addition to echoing Dotlo's misgivings, Bolen suggested the creation of a rulemaking committee would provide mutual benefits. "We believe that by working together, we can harden business aviation against attack without destroying it in the process. We deserve a dialog about how best to do this," Bolen said. Ray Boyd, who owns a jet-leasing company in Athens, said, "Does (the Transportation Security Administration) have their head in the sand? The whole program needs to be scrapped. It's obvious TSA does not understand general aviation." His sentiments were obviously shared by many in attendance and earned him a standing ovation. "The imposition of this proposed regulation will, in fact, result in the terrorists' objective of crippling our free society and profoundly altering our democratic way of life," pilot Clif Port said, adding that the new regulations would cost his company $100,000 a year. Pat Epps, president of Epps Aviation at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, pointed out that having to check passenger names against a list of terrorists was unnecessary, and said, "We know who our passengers are. We're not letting strangers on our airplanes." Epps also called TSA's 260-page proposal "a huge waste of time and effort. Your time could be better spent somewhere else." FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.aopa.org, www.nbaa.org aero-news.net *************** Xian MA60 Turboprop Aircraft Accident (Philippines) Status: Preliminary Date: 11 JAN 2009 Time: 06:58 Type: Xian MA60 Operator: Zest Airways Registration: RP-C8893 C/n / msn: 704 First flight: Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 22 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 25 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Caticlan-Malay Airport (MPH) (Philippines) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Manila-Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL/RPLL), Philippines Destination airport: Caticlan-Malay Airport (MPH/RPVE), Philippines Flightnumber: 867 Narrative: The plane left Manila around 06:10 on a domestic flight to Caticlan (MPH). The airplane undershot runway 06 when it landed. The plane swerved sharply to the left when it touched the runway after the initial impact and hit a concrete barrier seriously damaging its nose. The plane's landing gears and propellers also suffered major damage. Three airport personnel weere injured because they were hit by debris when the plane crashed against the concrete perimeter fence. The Caticlan Airport has a single runway (06/24) measuring 810 m (2657 ft) in length. Sources: > Plane undershoots Aklan runway, 26 hurt (Inquirer, 11-1-2009) (aviation-safety.net) **************** Boeing 737-300 REjected Takeoff/Engine Fire (Pakistan) Date: 10-JAN-2009 Time: abt 11:35 am Type: Boeing 737-300 Operator: Pakistan International Airlines Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 154 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Sukkur - Pakistan Phase: Take off Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: SKZ Destination airport: LHE Narrative: The flight PK-390 rejected takeoff after an engine caught fire at reportedly high speed. The airplane came to a safe stop on the runway. (aviation-safety.net) ***************** Boeing 757-200 Engine Failure (Malta) Date: 11-JAN-2009 Time: abt 6:00 am Type: Boeing 757-200 Operator: Ethiopian Airlines Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: / Occupants: 184 Airplane damage: Minor Location: La Valletta (MLA) - Malta Phase: En route Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: ADD Destination airport: FCO Narrative: The flight ET-710 declared emergency reporting an engine failure and diverted to La Valletta (Malta) for a safe landing. Sources: http://avherald.com/h?article=41332889&opt=0 (aviation-safety.net) **************** Airbus A340-313x Division/Galley Smoke (Ireland) Date: 11-JAN-2009 Time: 12:10 Z Type: Airbus A340-313X Operator: Virgin Atlantic Airways Registration: G-VELD C/n / msn: 214 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 156 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Shannon (SNN) - Ireland Phase: En route Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: London LHR Destination airport: Chicago ORD Narrative: The flight VS-39 diverted to Shannon (Ireland) after a small amount of smoke was seen coming from one of the galleys. The emergency landing was safe, the airplane vacated the runway and was checked out on the taxiway. Emergency services established there was no fire. The smoke emanated from some faulty wiring in the galley. At the time of the emergency Shannon issued a significant meteorological phenomena report (SIGMET) reporting forecast severe turbulence below 6000 feet. Sources: http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0111/shannon.html http://avherald.com/h?article=41331dda&opt=0 (aviation-safety.net) *************** AirTran recalls, hires crew members Preparation for summer season: 60 pilots to return from furlough; 120 new flight attendants hired. AirTran Airways is calling another 60 pilots back to work from furlough and hiring more flight attendants, even though the airline is not growing. Orlando-based AirTran, which has its main hub in Atlanta, announced last summer amid record oil prices it would cut flight attendants, pilots and other employees from its work force. The cuts through voluntary exits, leaves and furloughs were aimed at trimming about $16 million from annual costs. AirTran said in August it was furloughing about 170 of its pilots as it shrank its flight schedule in the last four months of the year. This year, AirTran plans to cut flight capacity about 3 to 7 percent. But as the airline prepares for the summer season, it is making its second round of pilot recalls. The airline called about 35 pilots back to work in December as it prepared to fly its planes for longer hours in 2009. The latest round of recalled pilots will return to work Feb. 1. All of AirTran's pilots are based in Atlanta. Mike Best, president of the National Pilots Association at AirTran, said "we're very hopeful" that the remaining pilots on furlough will be recalled this year. AirTran is also calling back to work flight attendants who took leave and has hired about 120 new flight attendants due to attrition. The flight attendants who return from leave will be back at work effective March 1. "In the event that we don't have enough come back from leave, we will have to go out and hire more flight attendants," said AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson. The airline is also hiring about a dozen mechanics, Hutcheson said. http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2009/01/10/airtran.html **************** Mayo air-ambulance directors call for better safety measures A rash of fatal crashes of medical helicopters nationwide has prompted Mayo Clinic air-ambulance directors to take a public stand and call for better medical-helicopter safety. "We'd like to see the bar raised for everybody," said Glenn Lyden, corporate communications manager with Mayo Medical Transport. "We like to think that we set the bar." Technology plays a major role. Mayo has added terrain-awareness warning systems to alert pilots who get too near the ground, night-vision goggles, terrain collision avoidance and global positioning beacons that help pilots hone in on oft-visited hospitals. Lyden says Mayo's newest acquisition, the American Eurocopter EC145, is the "most technologically advanced medical aircraft in the world" because it uses such high-tech gear to prevent crashes. At least nine U.S. medical helicopters crashed between mid-December 2007, and mid-December 2008, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. At least 31 people died -- five patients, 17 medical staff and nine pilots. "We need to get the industry safer," said Neil Wienk, aviation site manager for Omniflight Helicopters Inc., a private company supplying Mayo's contract pilots and mechanics. Yet crashes continue, sometimes nearby. In May, a doctor, nurse and pilot on a University of Wisconsin Med Flight died after delivering a patient to Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse. "It makes you think. When I heard it, all of a sudden it becomes pretty close to home. We've flown that same flight path ourselves. We have before then, and since then," said Lyden, who knew one of the deceased. Wienk believes the people aboard that helicopter "would still be alive today" if they had a terrain-awareness warning system. "What keeps us awake at night is other helicopters are out there flying without technology that exists," he said. "I think we owe it to our patients, it behooves us to use technology." http://news.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a =379302 *************** Flight Safety Foundation to research helicopter emergency services safety The accident rate among US helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) operators has been so consistently bad for so many years that the Flight Safety Foundation is planning a research programme to discover its underlying causes. FSF president and chief executive Bill Voss says the research will be the first project enabled by a gift recently made to the foundation that has enabled it to set up a research chair. Manuel Maciel, owner of fixed-base operator Manny's Somoma Aviation, has presented the FSF with $1 million. Voss says part will be used for HEMS safety research, but most will enable the FSF to endow a chair for aviation safety research in Maciel's name. Voss says Maciel specifically asked for the money to be used for research, and explains why HEMS safety is going to be studied first: "We were aware of the serious problems associated with HEMS in the USA and were already looking for ways to take some of the safety approaches that other aviation segments had used, and apply them to this problem. "It was clear that there was a serious lack of data available to understand HEMS accidents, and nothing out there to predict accidents or incidents. Many manufacturers recognised this weakness and were rushing to provide some sort of flight operations quality assurance capability. We saw this as an opportunity to do some very focused research work that would help us establish the precursor events and exceedences that would apply to HEMS operations." http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/01/09/320786/flight-safety-foundat ion-to-research-helicopter-emergency-services.html *************** Virgin Nigeria suspends flights to UK, S.Africa LAGOS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Nigerian flag carrier Virgin Nigeria said on Saturday it was suspending its loss-making long haul flights to Britain and South Africa in order to focus on its domestic and regional operations within West Africa. Industry sources said one of the airline's main financial backers, United Bank for Africa (UBA) (UBA.LG), had been pushing for it to restructure and reduce losses on the competitive Lagos-London and Lagos-Johannesburg routes. "The decision to suspend both services is to enable us to review our entire long haul operations," the company said in a statement. "In the mean time, our focus is on consolidating and continuing to expand our profitable domestic and regional flight operations," it said. The suspension will take effect from Jan. 27 and passengers booked on flights after that date would be transferred to other carriers. Virgin Nigeria, in which British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic [VA.UL] has a 49 percent stake, was launched to great fanfare in 2005, bringing a credible national carrier to a country with an appalling air safety record. Its routes to destinations within Africa's most populous nation and to neighbouring countries in West Africa remain profitable, and it has purchased several new Embraer (EMBR3.SA) aircraft to expand those services. But it has struggled on the highly competitive London-Lagos route, using smaller aircraft than well-established rivals British Airways (BAY.L) and Virgin Atlantic, and more recently facing competition from newcomer Arik Air's brand new fleet. Industry experts expect growth in business travel, which accounts for a significant proportion of passengers on routes to and from Nigeria, to slow down significantly this year as the global economic downturn forces companies to tighten budgets. Virgin Atlantic, which said last year it was in talks to divest some of its holding in the Nigerian carrier, said it was watching developments closely. "We support Virgin Nigeria's decision to focus on its profitable domestic and regional operations and believe it can be even more successful as a result," Virgin Atlantic's communications director Paul Charles said. "We remain in talks with interested parties about the divestment of a 42 percent stake," he said. **************** Officials: 7 killed in Siberian helicopter crash MOSCOW (AP) - A helicopter carrying a group of Russian officials on a hunting trip has crashed in South Siberia's mountains, killing seven people, officials said Sunday. The victims included Alexander Kosopkin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's representative in the lower house of Russian parliament, and several other federal and local officials. Medvedev sent his condolences to Kosopkin's family, the Kremlin said. The Mi-171 helicopter was carrying 11 people when it went missing Friday in the Altai region near the border with Mongolia. Rescuers located the wreckage Sunday after an extensive search. Four people survived the crash, government emergency agency spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said. None were believed to have life-threatening injuries. The helicopter was owned by Gazpromavia, an airline which belongs to Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom. The RIA-Novosti news agency said a pilot who survived the crash walked up to 25 miles (40 kilometers) across the rugged snowy mountains to a border checkpoint where he reported the location of the crashed helicopter. Andrianova confirmed that border guards found one of the crew members, but she couldn't confirm he walked such a long distance. Yelena Kobzeva, a spokeswoman for the Altai regional administration, said the helicopter apparently had crashed because of an engine failure. The twin-engine Mi-171 is an upgraded version of the Mi-8, a mainstay of Russian military and civilian aviation. *************** US carrriers invited to compete for new Brazil flights US carriers are vying to serve Brazil through new routes becoming available in June and October. An agreement between the USA and Brazil inked in June 2008 made the routes possible, although they have limitations. The seven weekly flights available in June are limited to points in the north, northeastern, or midwest regions of Brazil, or to Belo Horizonte or to Rio de Janeiro, according to DOT. Carriers seeking the seven additional weekly flights available in October are prohibited from operating to Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International airport until infrastructure constraints at the facility are removed. Continental Airlines and Spirit Airlines have already applied for the new routes, with Spirit seeking the October rights for seven new Airbus A319 flights between its Fort Lauderdale hub and Manaus. Continental is targeting the June service for daily flights on a New Orleans-Houton-Rio de Janeiro routing using Boeing 767 aircraft. DOT, however, has invited any US carrier with the appropriate aircraft to apply. The agency says it will consider the Continental and the Spirit applications in the same proceeding. No carriers will be selected for backup awards, with DOT insisting it would seize and reallocate any frequencies not used by carriers for a 90 day time period. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** ASA to furlough 80 pilots At the same time it prepares to start new flying for partner Delta Air Lines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) plans to lay off or furlough 80 pilots effective 9 February. The furloughs occur as ASA starts adding the first of 10 CRJ900s scheduled for Delta operations next month. Owned by Skywest Inc., ASA currently employees 1,700 pilots. A carrier spokeswoman explains the furloughs "are directly a result of the economic downturn." She notes the Atlanta-based carrier has offered voluntary retirements, early retirements and voluntary leaves to reduce its workforce. "We've just gotten the news and we're still reeling," says Air Line Pilots Association MEC spokesman Rick Bernskoetter. Bernskoetter says, "We believe this is the first layoff in our history. We think management did what they could to avoid these furloughs, and the new flying that they just won may have softened the blow," he says. The 76-seat CRJ-900s will replace 20 of the 50 seat CRJ-200s that ASA now flies for Delta. The ALPA contract with ASA allows for recall of any furloughed pilots for four years from the date of furlough. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Source runway friction data from aircraft: UK investigators UK investigators are proposing that on-board aircraft data be exploited as a source of runway friction information, following an inquiry into a series of wet-weather landing incidents at Bristol Airport. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is recommending that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) research the feasibility of measuring aircraft braking friction with respect to runway position. EASA should also develop methods, it adds, for sharing the information on a timely basis. Three aircraft landing at Bristol on 29 December 2006 experienced poor braking or lateral control problems. Two of them - an Aurigny Air Services ATR 72 and a British Airways CitiExpress Embraer ERJ-145 - were unable to stay on the runway during their roll-out. The ATR suffered propeller damage. Resurfacing work at Bristol meant some of the manoeuvring areas, including a 295m (968ft) central section of the runway, had temporary surfaces of ungrooved asphalt. Various friction problems had been reported from 14 November, six weeks before the serious incidents that prompted the inquiry, but the surface friction of the ungrooved section was not properly assessed. The AAIB says it had "significantly less friction" than the grooved areas, and was probably below minimum friction levels. Braking reports based on continuous friction measuring equipment, it adds, gave flight crews "false confidence" of braking action available on the wet runway. The third aircraft involved in the 29 December incidents, an XL Airways Boeing 737-800, also experienced poor stopping performance at Bristol five days later. Bristol Airport's operator subsequently closed the runway and grooved the temporary surface. After the runway re-opened, on 8 January 2007, no further braking difficulties were reported. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************