09 MAR 2009 _______________________________________ *FAA confirms Gilligan in top safety post *B-1B Makes Emergency Landing At Melbourne Airport *Marines to overhaul repair, air-safety rules *Transmitter ruled out of Qantas emergency probe *Police Arrest Burien Resident For Airplane Laser Incidents *FAA seeks analysis document from Burbank airport *Duck strikes medical helicopter *ADS-B in Operation Over Hudson Bay Region *Former ECAC Chief to Lead ICAO *Economic Crisis has Several Carriers on the Ropes *US Homeland Security department makes stimulus grants to airports *Virgin Atlantic names new chief operating officer ***************************************** FAA confirms Gilligan in top safety post Pegg Gilligan has officially been named by FAA as associate administrator for aviation safety, a post formerly held by Nicholas Sabatini. She was named to that post on 1 November when Sabatini, a 30-year veteran of the agency, announced his 3 January retirement in October 2008. Gilligan has served as deputy assistant administrator for aviation safety since July 1995. Previously, she was chief of staff for four FAA administrators, served in the chief counsel's office. Gilligan's promotion led to a number of other personnel actions at the FAA, says Lynne Osmus, the acting administrator. John Hickey, director of FAA's Aircraft Certification Service since 2000, will replace Gilligan as deputy assistant administrator for aviation safety. Dorenda Baker, deputy director of the Aircraft Certification Service, replaces Hickey as director of that unit. Separately, John Allen moves from deputy director to director of the Flight Standards Service and Tina Amereihn has been named director of the Office of Quality, Integration and Executive Services after serving as deputy director. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** B-1B Makes Emergency Landing At Melbourne Airport Was Heading To Australian Int'l Airshow When Crew Reported Gear Problems The US Air Force is investigating why the crew of a B-1B Lancer bomber had to divert from their planned destination over Australia, and instead make an emergency landing at the Melbourne Airport. Local media reports state the bomber was on its way to Avalon to participate in the Australian International Airshow, when the crew reported problems with the aircraft's landing gear. The plane landed uneventfully on Melbourne's 11,998-foot runway 16/34 -- 2,000 feet longer than the strip at Avalon -- around 9:30 pm AEDT Saturday evening, and remained on the runway for about an hour as emergency crews sized up the situation before it moved to the ramp under its own power. Commercial flights from Melbourne were reported on normal schedule Sunday morning. Airport spokeswoman Emma Stenhouse told The Age US authorities were waiting for the Lancer's special towbar to be delivered from Avalon, so the bomber could be moved to a secure holding area for crews to take a closer look at the undercarriage. So far, no possible cause of the incident has been reported. FMI: www.af.mil, www.airshow.net.au/avalon2009/index.html aero-news.net *************** Marines to overhaul repair, air-safety rules Lance Cpl. Brendan Inglesby and Lance Cpl. Tan Phan worked on a service door latch yesterday on an F/A-18 fighter jet based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. (John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune) - Online: To read past stories about the jet crash, hear a recording between the pilot and an air traffic controller, view a photo gallery and see video of Tuesday's Marine Corps news conference, go to uniontrib.com/more/marinecrash Blaming preventable errors and oversights for a fatal jet crash in December in San Diego, Marine officials are promising changes that extend from the operations room to the flight line. The fixes include greater focus on trouble-shooting relatively minor problems before they become severe. In July, for example, mechanics had found a fuel system glitch in the F/A-18D Hornet that eventually plunged into a University City neighborhood on Dec. 8. The Marine Corps did not ground the plane to make the needed repairs, instead allowing it to be used for 166 more flight hours before it crashed. Marine officials have since scrapped the "ambiguous" maintenance rules that enabled the aircraft to keep flying, said Col. John Rupp, operations officer for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. He and other senior commanders also want to provide more realistic emergency training for pilots and those on the ground trying to help them. That includes using simulators to present pilots with multiple problems simultaneously. Most details of the safety improvements have not been made public. The Marine Corps will likely introduce the overhaul in phases. The University City crash, which killed four members of a Korean-American family, sparked wide debate about why Lt. Dan Neubauer turned down suggestions from at least two people to land at the coastal North Island Naval Air Station. Neubauer, a pilot new to the F/A-18D, traveled over heavily populated areas on his way to Miramar. He shut off one of his jet's two engines after noticing low oil pressure minutes after leaving the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln at 11:11 a.m. Neubauer and other pilots were practicing takeoffs and landings from the ship, which was about 60 miles southwest of San Diego. His emergency grew worse when aircraft instruments indicated the jet was low on fuel because of the fuel-transfer problem. The Hornet ultimately went down about two miles from the runway at Miramar. A months-long investigation determined that Neubauer and top members of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 uniformly failed to follow basic safety procedures and exhibited poor judgment in not having the jet land at North Island, the closest airfield. Four of the squadron's leaders were relieved of duty, and nine other service members were disciplined. Neubauer's future as a Marine pilot is up to a safety board, which is reviewing his conduct. Marine officials discussed what contributed to the crash during a news conference Tuesday at Miramar. They concluded by saying the Marine Corps is making a series of improvements in hopes of preventing a repeat of the accident. Some of these changes are playing out at Miramar, home to several dozen Hornets. Lt. Col. Douglas Pasnik, commander of the Miramar-based fighter squadron VMFA-225, said he sees the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing placing renewed importance on following procedures. That includes remembering to review safety checklists and not omitting any instructions in those documents, which is what happened during the Dec. 8 emergency. Anytime there is an accident, the emphasis in a safety investigation is to prevent a future accident, Pasnik said. "It's kind of like getting pulled over for speeding. You go to traffic school and you learn things you didn't remember," he said. The quality assurance specialist for VMFA-225 said the crash has shaken things up in the air wing. "It's made us pay more attention to detail," said Staff Sgt. William Dougherty. "The emphasis is, 'Let's fix it now and not let it slide and fix it later.' " Some longtime military aviators expressed amazement yesterday at the lax training and aircraft-maintenance standards in Neubauer's squadron. "When I was a wing commander, I gave students planes with zero problems," said retired Navy Capt. Charles Nesby, a part-time Mira Mesa resident and a former aircraft-wing commander at Miramar. Ron Belanger, a former naval flight safety officer who lives five houses from the crash site, said pilots and maintenance experts will take lessons from the Dec. 8 tragedy and apply them to the entire F/A-18 fleet. "This isn't just any squadron, this is the (training) squadron," Belanger said. "They should be the example for everyone else." Pete Field, a retired Marine colonel who spent three tours in Maryland as a jet-crash investigator, said he is encouraged by the pledges of change. "We've had a serious accident, and we've had a good, honest accident investigation that has looked at what happened and what we can do about it," said Field, also a former director of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Military aviation safety has improved exponentially since the 1950s and '60s, when fighter pilots rolled the dice each time they climbed into a cockpit, said Ernie Christensen of Annapolis, Md., a retired rear admiral who once directed the Navy's Top Gun fighter-pilot program. But years of accident-free operations can breed a sense of complacency, said Christensen, who also served a tour with the Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team. "There have been hundreds of thousands of safe flights at Miramar over the past 50 years," he said. "Anybody giving advice would tend to say, 'We've done this thousands of times before. Let's bring it on in.' " It's hard to second-guess a fellow pilot's actions in an emergency, said former Navy fighter pilot Steve Diamond, who witnessed the Dec. 8 crash from a few blocks away and spoke with Neubauer after he ejected from the Hornet and parachuted to safety. Clearly, Diamond said, Neubauer was confused about the severity of his plane's problems. On Tuesday, Marine officials indicated that Neubauer was receiving conflicting advice from people on the ground. That's all the more reason he should have landed as quickly as possible at North Island, Diamond said. "It's not a gray area. It's pretty basic," he said. "If there's any doubt, there's no doubt. You should get the airplane down. Now." If the Marines glaringly failed to prevent the crash, they're at least getting credit from some quarters for owning up to the catastrophe - and trying to take steps that may help to avert another. "That's probably as open and frank a discussion of an accident as I've ever seen," said retired Maj. Gen. Bob Butcher, chairman of the Flying Leatherneck Society of former Marine aviators. "It was a lot more candid than many people expected." http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/05/1n5safety00472-marines-ov erhaul-repair-air-safety-/?zIndex=62267 ************* Transmitter ruled out of Qantas emergency probe CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Air safety investigators on Friday ruled out interference from a U.S. naval transmitter as the cause of a Qantas jetliner nose-diving twice off the Australian coast last year. Authorities, however, failed to pinpoint what led the plane's computer to malfunction. The ongoing Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation into the Oct. 7, 2008, flight from Singapore to Perth - in which 12 passengers and crew were seriously injured - had examined whether the computer malfunction on the Airbus A330 was triggered by electromagnetic interference from a low-frequency U.S.-Australian naval submarine communications transmitter on Australia's northwest coast. The A330 had been 100 miles (170 kilometers) from the transmitting station when it nose-dived 650 feet (200 meters) in 20 seconds before the crew brought it back to the original cruising altitude of 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). The sharp drop was quickly followed by a second drop of about 400 feet (120 meters) in 16 seconds. The aircrew detoured to an air strip near the station. In all, 44 passengers and crew were injured. Qantas welcomed the report as supporting its own conclusions that the airline had not been at fault. In a statement, airline chief executive Alan Joyce called the emergency "extremely rare" and "beyond Qantas' control." The Naval Communications Station, Harold E. Holt, was built by the U.S. Navy in the 1960s. It provides low frequency radio transmissions to the U.S. and Australian navies across the western Pacific and eastern Indian oceans. Pilots have previously voiced suspicions that the transmissions interfered with aircraft instruments. The report released Friday said the computer unit that caused the airliner to dive had been exposed under test conditions to an electromagnetic field 1,700 times stronger than it had experienced from the naval transmitter when it malfunctioned. "None of the testing ... has produced any faults that were related to pitch-down events," the report said. In December, the same type of unit - which feeds data about the plane's flying angle to the main flight computers - malfunctioned on another A330 flying from Perth to Singapore. The air crew followed new procedures developed after the Oct. 7 emergency and returned to Perth without mishap. That fault remains under investigation. **************** Police Arrest Burien Resident For Airplane Laser Incidents Port of Seattle Police confirmed the arrest of a 24-year old Burien resident for suspicion of Unlawful Discharge of a Laser - 1st Degree, a Class "C" felony. The arrest occurred Friday, March 6th at about 4pm, and the identity of the suspect has not yet been released. This arrest is related to the recent "lasering" incidents of aircraft at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. A laser was seized from the suspect, who was booked into the King County jail. Port of Seattle Police Detectives are continuing their investigation, and anyone who has information relating to these aircraft lasering incidents is encouraged to contact Port of Seattle Police Detectives at 206-433-4621. http://www.b-townblog.com/2009/03/08/police-arrest-burien-resident-for-airpl ane-laser-incidents/ **************** FAA seeks analysis document from Burbank airport BURBANK, Calif.(AP) -The Federal Aviation Administration says the Bob Hope Airport needs to submit an environmental analysis before the agency can consider its proposal to ban late-night flights in Burbank. The FAA sent a letter Thursday informing the airport that the analysis document was needed to complete its application. The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which voted last month to seek the ban, has 30 days to submit the final document. The airport has said a ban on most late-night flights would reduce noise in surrounding Burbank neighborhoods. Airlines observe a voluntary ban from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Other airports in the region-including nearby Van Nuys Airport-have complained that the move would just shift the noise burden to them. ************** Duck strikes medical helicopter GAINESVILLE: Four people were aboard an emergency medical helicopter when a duck shattered the windshield and landed in the cockpit. Pilot Don Irving's eye was injured in the collision, but he managed to land safely. Thursday night, the helicopter was returning to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida carrying an unidentified trauma patient, a flight nurse and a flight paramedic. The copter was flying at an altitude of 700 feet and just a few minutes from the hospital, preparing to land on the rooftop helipad, when the bird flew into the windshield. The bird clipped off several switches on the overhead instrument panel before landing on the foot of one of the medical crew. Irving remained calm and landed on the hospital's helipad. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29570965/ ************** ADS-B in Operation Over Hudson Bay Region Nav Canada, which operates Canada's civil air navigation service, says the use of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology has helped to close a 382,187-sq.-mi. gap in Canadian radar coverage in the Hudson Bay region. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, Nav Canada reports that implementation of ADS-B has resulted in more efficient use of airspace for about 35,000 flights annually by reducing time, costs and emissions. The system was first used above the bay in mid-January, allowing air traffic controllers to track an Air New Zealand flight enroute from London to Los Angeles. http://www.aviationweek.com ************* Former ECAC Chief to Lead ICAO The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has turned to a European with strong security and policy credentials to serve as Secretary General for a three-year term. Raymond Benjamin, the former executive secretary of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), had been proposed for the post by the French delegation to ICAO. He was elected by a secret ballot to replace Taieb Cherif of Algeria, who is completing his second term in August. There is a two-term limit for the secretary general's position. Benjamin began his career in 1976 as a bilateral negotiator with the French Civil Aviation Administration and served as an air transport officer for ECAC starting in 1982. In 1989 he became chief of ICAO's Aviation Security Branch and served as a secretary of the ICAO Aviation Security Panel and the ICAO Group of Experts for the Detection of Plastic Explosives. In addition, he served as ECAC executive secretary from 1994-2007. http://www.aviationweek.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/publication/awst/lo ggedin/AvnowStoryDisplay.do?fromChannel=awst&pubKey=awst&channel=awst&issueD ate=2009-03-09§ion=Airline+Outlook&headline=Commercial+aviation+intellig ence ************** Economic Crisis has Several Carriers on the Ropes Financial storm moving in on Russian carriers as bottom falls out of airline market After several consecutive years of rapid growth, Russian airlines are facing falling traffic and revenues and the specter of multiple failures, as the effects of the global economic downturn on the economy and credit institutions begin to be felt. Though no carriers have collapsed yet, some are close to bankruptcy and casting about for a financial lifeline from the government. In 2008, airline traffic increased 11% year-on-year, to 50.1 million passengers. Freight carriage expanded 5.8% to 775,000 tons. However, the final months of the year showed a definite downward trend that has accelerated in the first weeks of 2009. November passenger traffic decreased 6.5% over the figure from a year earlier. Although traffic recovered slightly in December, with a lesser 3.5% drop, it plunged 19.6% in January-equivalent to almost 600,000 passengers-according to a preliminary reported issued by the Russian aviation authority. Overall seat load factor slipped to 66.6%, from 67.3% in January 2008. Air cargo plummeted 36.1%, to 35,352 metric tons. The January results shocked the industry, which had forecast a January 2009 month-on-month traffic drop of no more than 8-10%. Airline managers and analysts predict the fall will continue. Optimists believe the airline industry will carry 15-17% fewer passengers this year than it did in 2008; the most pessimistic forecasts see a 40% drop. S7 Airlines (formerly Siberia Airlines) ceased operation of obsolete Ilyushin Il-86s (shown) and Tupolev Tu-154s last year in an attempt to increase efficiency.Credit: LEONID FAERBERG/SKY & MEDIA The concomitant decline in revenues, combined with a sharp rise in interest rates-as much as 25-30% in private banks-is making the financial position of some carriers quite tenuous. Although the finances of Russian carriers are notoriously opaque, several of the smaller airlines have already been forced to reorganize: . Private Sky Express, the only Russian carrier which is attempting to follow a low-cost business model, reportedly changed shareholders after having accumulated a heavy debt for fuel, handling services and landing charges at Vnukovo Moscow Airport, where it is based. Industry experts believe Vnukovo's private shareholders now control almost 75% of the carrier, which carried 1 million passengers in 2008. The airline says it is optimizing operations and in January even managed a traffic increase. .KD Avia, a private Kaliningrad-based airline that is creating a hub to connect Russian cities to European destinations, had to transfer its shares to a St. Petersburg bank after it failed to meet its debt obligations. The bank is now in effect running the airline, which operates 17 Boeing 737-300s and carried 1.4 million passengers in 2008. Even industry leaders are feeling the pressure. State-owned GTK Rossiya, the fourth-largest Russian carrier in passenger terms, had reportedly accumulated more than 3 billion rubles ($84 million) in debt by the beginning of February, forcing Russian aviation authorities, the ministry of transportation and the mayor of St. Petersburg to convene an emergency meeting to see what could be done to keep the airline afloat. Also feeling the impact of the economic crisis is the number two Russian carrier, S7 Airlines (formerly Siberia Airlines), which embarked last year on a full renovation of its fleet, with the intention of phasing out all remaining Il-86 widebodies and Tupolev Tu-154s narrow-body aircraft and replacing them with Boeing 767s and Airbus A320s. At the end of January, S7, strapped for cash, was obliged to cancel an order for 15 Boeing 787s placed in May 2007 and due for delivery in 2014. In late February, the privately owned airline defaulted on 2.2 billion rubles worth of bonds, which forced it to turn to the government for a credit guarantee, pledging its assets as security. The airline urgently needs 4.5 billion rubles in new funds. S7, which operates a fleet of seven Airbus A310-200/300s, four A320s, 19 A319s and two Boeing 767-300ERs, finished 2008 with a 3.4% rise in traffic, to 5,892,548 passengers. Seat load factor declined 1.8% to 79.1%. Nevertheless, it predicts business will rebound in 2009, with expected revenues of 42.4 billion rubles. To help shore up the industry, the government late last year promised financial support for airlines considered critical to the country's economic viability, drawing on a 30-billion ruble stimulus package. The list includes six carriers-Aeroflot, S7, Transaero, UTair, Ural Airlines and a new Russian mega-carrier, Rosavia, currently being put together by government-owned Russian Technologies and the city of Moscow from a number of smaller carriers, including Rossiya (AW&ST Oct. 27, 2008, p. 47). However, as of yet none of the airlines on the list have received any state support, industry sources say. http://www.aviationweek.com ************* US Homeland Security department makes stimulus grants to airports US airports are set to receive their first funds from the federal stimulus package in series of grants from the Homeland Security Department. DHS has $1 billion to spend under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as the stimulus is formally called, divided between explosive-detection systems for checked bags, at $700, and $300 million allocated toexplosive-detection technologies for airport security checkpoints, at $300 million. The agency told 17 airports that they will get funds, pending their submission of updated project information, for the checked-bag technology. DHS has not yet decided where it will grant funds for additional X-ray units, body imaging units and bottled-liquid scanners for checkpoints. DHS has also released the airports receiving the funding: Anchorage, Atlanta, Columbus and Dayton (Ohio), Honolulu, Huntsville (Alabama) and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Maui, New Orleans, Orange County (California), Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland (Maine), Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose (California) and Tallahassee, Florida. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Virgin Atlantic names new chief operating officer Virgin Atlantic Airways has named engineering director Steve Griffiths as its new chief operating officer. Griffiths' post will cover operations, engineering, airports, cabin crew, freight and product at the UK carrier. He joined the airline in 1995 and has held several management positions within the technical division. Griffiths takes up the new role from 16 March. He succeeds Lyell Strambi who has taken up a position with Australia's Qantas. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC