13 FEB 2009 _______________________________________ *Commuter jet crashes into home near Buffalo *Commuter Plane With 48 Aboard Crashes in Buffalo *NY-bound plane returns to Vegas when engine flames *NTSB: Geese Cooked Engines On US Airways 1549 *ANSV Italy investigates serious runway incursion incident at Rome-Fiumicino *Australia's aviation watchdog gets greater powers *Families of firefighters who died in helicopter crash file suits *Embry-Riddle raises $65M *************************************** Commuter jet crashes into home near Buffalo BUFFALO, New York - New York state police said a 50-passenger commuter plane has crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo. State Trooper John Manthey said the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. EST Thursday. The house is engulfed in flames. He says they don't know whether there were any passengers on the plane. They also don't know if there were any injuries in the home. Manthey says the plane may have been headed to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. He says authorities have called the Federal Aviation Administration. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29173163/ ************** Commuter Plane With 48 Aboard Crashes in Buffalo By MATTHEW L. WALD A Continental Express flight from Newark to Buffalo crashed into a house about 4 miles from the Buffalo airport on Thursday night, according to a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. The plane carried 48 passengers and crew, said the spokesman, Ted Lopatkiewicz. He said he did not know if there had been any survivors, or any casualties on the ground. The plane went down in light snow, he said. The Buffalo News, citing a source at the airport there, reported that 49 people - 44 passengers, 4 crew members and 1 on the ground - were killed. Trooper John Manthey with the New York State Police in Clarence said the plane went down about 10:10 p.m., into a house in the hamlet of Clarence Center, striking a house. The plane was a Dash 8, a two-engined turboprop, operated by Colgan Airways, as a feeder airline for Continental. A Safety Board team of investigators will arrive in Buffalo on Friday morning, Mr. Lopatkiewicz said. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/nyregion/13crash.html **************** NY-bound plane returns to Vegas when engine flames LAS VEGAS (AP) - Officials say a Southwest jetliner returned to Las Vegas after flames were spotted coming from one of its engines. Paul Flaningan, a Southwest Airlines Inc. spokesman, says the pilot of the Boeing 737 turned off the engine and landed Thursday at McCarran International Airport. Flight 273 was bound for MacArthur Airport in New York's Long Island. McCarran spokesman Chris Jones says the plane taxied to a terminal under its own power. He says the plane was airborne for about 20 minutes. Flaningan says none of the 116 passengers was injured. A Southwest flight last week landed safely in Las Vegas after passengers smelled an odor created by an electrical problem. **************** NTSB: Geese Cooked Engines On US Airways 1549 Adult Birds Often Exceed Engine Ingestion Weight Standard The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed Thursday the bird remains found in both engines of US Airways flight 1549 have been identified by the Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory as Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). The lab made the identification for the NTSB through DNA analysis as well as through morphological comparisons in which feather fragments were compared with Canada Goose specimens in the museum's collections; the microscopic feather samples were compared with reference microslide collections. A total of 25 samples of bird remains have been examined as of Thursday. Additional analysis will be conducted on samples received from the NTSB to attempt to determine if the Canada Geese were resident or migratory. While no determination has been made about how many birds the aircraft struck or how many were ingested into the engines, an adult Canada Goose typically ranges in size from 5.8 to 10.7 pounds, though larger individual resident birds can exceed published records. The accident aircraft was powered by two CFM56-5B/P turbofan engines. The bird ingestion standard in effect when this engine type was certified in 1996 included the requirement that the engine must withstand the ingestion of a four-pound bird without catching fire, without releasing hazardous fragments through the engine case, without generating loads high enough to potentially compromise aircraft structural components, or without losing the capability of being shut down. The certification standard does not require that the engine be able to continue to generate thrust after ingesting a bird four pounds or larger. NTSB investigators worked closely with wildlife biologists from the United States Department of Agriculture, both at the scene of the accident in New York City and during the engine teardowns at the manufacturer's facility in Cincinnati, to extract all of the organic material that was identified. FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.usairways.com aero-news.net *************** ANSV Italy investigates serious runway incursion incident at Rome-Fiumicino The Italian Air Safety Board (ANSV) reported that they opened the investigation into a serious runway incursion incident that happened on January 9, 2009 at Rome Fiumicino Airport. Thai Airways International Boeing 747-400 HS-TGZ (Flight TG945 to Bangkok) was taxiing to runway 16R for departure. It crossed runway 07 threshold just as an Airbus A319 was taking off runway 25. The A319 crew aborted tha takeoff. (aviation-safety.net) **************** Australia's aviation watchdog gets greater powers Australia's aviation watchdog, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), will get greater powers to check the safety of foreign airlines. Transport Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament on Thursday an amendment to civil aviation law would give better oversight of foreign airline flying into Australia. "It enables CASA to take greater account of both the conduct of air operators in their home and other jurisdictions, as well as the level of safety oversight provided by civil aviation authorities in other countries," Mr Albanese said. "These amendments are consistent with actions taken by the European Union and in North America." The bill also changes CASA's structure by creating a five-member expert board to provide the authority with strategic direction. Mr Albanese introduced a separate bill to make the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which investigates aviation, marine and rail accidents, a statutory authority. "Investigations that are independent of transport regulators, government policymakers and the parties involved in an accident are better positioned to avoid conflicts of interest and external interference," he said. Debate on the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill 2009 and the Transport Safety Investigation Amendment Bill 2009 was adjourned. AAP http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/australias-aviation-watchdog-gets-g reater-powers-20090213-86kn.html **************** Families of firefighters who died in helicopter crash file suits The remains of one of the firefighers who died in the Iron 44 crash last summer are loaded into a van after being returned from the crash site. The families of two of the dead firefighters filed suit in connection with the incident on Thursday. The families of two firefighters killed in a fiery helicopter crash last August filed wrongful death, negligence and product liability lawsuits Thursday against an Oregon-based helicopter company and three other firms. The suits seek $10 million for each of the victims, plus funeral costs. The Aug. 5 crash is considered the deadliest air tragedy of working firefighters in U.S. history, killing nine men, including seven contract firefighters with Grayback Forestry of Merlin. In addition to Carson Helicopters Inc. of Grants Pass, the suit names Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., the maker of the S-61 helicopter and its parent company, United Technologies Corp.; the engine's manufacturer, General Electric; and Aurora, Ore.-based Columbia Helicopters, which performed maintenance on the aircraft . The suits were filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court by the estates of Matthew Hammer, 23, of Grants Pass and Bryan Rich, 29, of Medford. Matt and Monica Hammer were married five weeks before the crash, and just weeks after he graduated from Corban College with a degree in business. "Monica is still dealing with this and is not comfortable speaking at this time," said Robert Hopkins, the Portland attorney representing both families. Friends of Bryan Rich said he had taken up work as a firefighter because the slumping construction industry made it hard to find work framing houses. The lawsuits claim the crash was caused by the "negligence of the defendants in piloting, operating, designing, manufacturing, selling, overhauling and/or repairing the helicopter and/or it's component parts..." The suits are the second and third filed in the deadly crash. Last September, the family of Scott Charlson, 25, of Phoenix, Ore., filed a wrongful death lawsuit in California Superior Court in Shasta County against Carson Helicopters, Sikorsky, General Electric and United Technologies Corp. The helicopter went down on a smoky California mountainside shortly before sundown, moments after lifting off a hillside in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board determined the helicopter lost power to its main rotor as it took off. The group from Grayback Forestry Inc. had spent 12 hours digging fire lines and dousing hot spots in Northern California's Iron Alps Complex wildfire and were on their way to a fire camp. Also killed were: veteran pilot Roark Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine; U.S. Forest Service helicopter inspector pilot Jim Ramage, 63, of Redding, Calif.; and Grayback firefighters Shawn Blazer; Edrik Gomez, 19, of Ashland; Steven "Caleb" Renno, 21, of Cave Junction; and David Steele, 19, of Ashland. Four men survived: Rick Schroeder, 42, and Frohreich, both of Medford; Brown, of Rogue River; and William Coultas, 44, of Cave Junction. In an interview with The Oregonian a month after the crash, Michael Brown said that as the helicopter lifted off, it felt "sluggish" Then, he heard a sickening thump and watched as the helicopter's main rotor smashed into tree limbs and splintered. Officials with the NTSB said witnesses "consistently reported that the helicopter lifted off slower than they would have expected before striking trees and crashing more than 100 yards from the lift-off point." Sikorsky S-61s have gone down four other times in the past 15 years under similar circumstances to last August's crash, leading some safety officials in the United States and Canada to raise questions about a part in the aircraft's clutch system. When the piece -- known as the input freewheel unit -- fails, power to the helicopter's main rotor can go out entirely, according to the NTSB, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and lawyers who have sued the manufacturer on behalf of crash victims. Sikorsky -- and defendants that included either the engine maker or transmission maker -- settled at least five lawsuits out of court related to crashes allegedly caused by failures of the freewheel units, but never admitted fault. Andy Mills, director of helicopter operations for Carson Helicopters said the company had not seen a copy of the lawsuits and therefore could not comment. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/families_of_firefighters_wh o_d.html **************** Embry-Riddle raises $65M Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University raised $65.3 million in gifts and pledges in a 2008 fundraising campaign. More than $30 million in donations was pledged toward new facilities, an additional $28.8 million was directed to new scholarships and fellowships and $6.5 million was pledged towards other programs, according to the university. Campus facilities funded through the campaign include: the Willie Miller Instructional Center and its Gale Lemerand Auditorium, the ICI Center and the Ambassador E. William Crotty Tennis Complex, all located on the Daytona Beach campus; and the Christina and Steven Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center, Fred and Fay Haas Memorial Interfaith Chapel and S. Harry Robertson Safety Center, all on the Prescott, Ariz., campus. Projects underway include James Hagedorn Aviation Complex and the Emil Buehler Aviation Maintenance Science Building on the Daytona Beach campus and phase two of the S. Harry Robertson Safety Center on the Prescott campus. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of arts and sciences, aviation, business and engineering. More than 34,000 students are enrolled annually in the university's undergraduate and graduate programs. http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/02/09/daily47.html **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC