18 MAR 2009 _______________________________________ *Jet tires catch fire during aborted takeoff (Wyoming) *Report: Emirates not happy with super jet *EDITORIAL: Guns on a plane *Austin airport shines in international airport survey *NYC ferry service may sue US Airways over Flight 1549 rescue *Boeing sticks to 787 flight test timeline *European pilot association urges common identity scheme *FAA Technical Employees Say FAA Attempting To Eliminate Certification *************************************** Jet tires catch fire during aborted takeoff (Wyoming) The landing gear of a small jet caught fire after its tires blew out during takeoff Tuesday at Casper/Natrona County International Airport. The crew aborted the takeoff and all four people on board made it out of the Lear 55 jet safely, said Capt. Tim McIntire of the airport's fire department. Firefighters responded quickly and put out the burning landing gear. "When you have an aircraft incident, you want it to turn out good," McIntire said. "This turned out good. I think there is going to be minimal damage to the jet, no one [was] hurt, and I think our crew here at the airport did what we had to do." The jet was operated by Sunwest Aviation, which bills itself on its Web site as western Canada's largest aircraft operator. The plane had flown to Casper from Calgary, Alberta and continuing to Lafayette, La. Two crew and two passengers were on board, McIntire said. The jet took off from Runway 3 at about 3:25 p.m. It blew its tires about 4,000 feet down the runway. After aborting the takeoff, it came to a stop on the northeastern side of the airport, where it was met by emergency responders. "It took all of our 10,000-foot runway to stop the plane so they could exit," McIntire said. Authorities planned to leave the jet on the taxiway for the time being to prevent any further damage to it. The National Transportation Safety Board also needed to give local officials the OK to move the plane. The incident did not shut down the airport. Planes used the airport's other runway to take off and land as crews removed tire debris from Runway 3. http://www.trib.com/articles/2009/03/17/news/casper/e16391727a34d7848725757d 00074b19.txt *************** Report: Emirates not happy with super jet PARIS, March 17 (UPI) -- Emirates Airlines is not happy with defects it has found in the new Airbus A380 super-jumbo jets it has ordered from its French manufacturer, sources say. Warning of a possible "loss of confidence" in the giant aircraft, Emirates, which has ordered 58 of them, last month presented the manufacturer with a list of what it views as serious problems, inducing a mood of panic among Airbus employees, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported Tuesday. "We take our customer Emirates' criticism very seriously and are doing everything in our power to correct any reports of deficiencies as quickly as possible," an Airbus spokesman told the magazine, also confirming a "number of individual incidents that have impaired the operation, but not the safety, of the aircraft." Before delivering 12 of the jumbo jets last year, the A380 had been plagued by production problems and labor disputes, necessitating vast amounts of additional work and resulting in significant losses for Airbus in the past few years, the magazine said. Airbus expects to build another 18 this year. Analysts say Airbus also faces a potential threat with its A400M military transport plane, which has been delayed four years. ************** EDITORIAL: Guns on a plane Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings. Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology. The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots. This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs. Fewer than one percent of the officers have any administrative actions brought against them and, we are told, virtually all of those cases "are trumped up." Take a case against one flight officer who had visited the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles within the last few weeks. While there, the pilot noticed that federal law enforcement officers can, with the approval of a superior, obtain a license plate that cannot be traced, a key safety feature for law enforcement personnel. So the pilot asked if, as a member of the federal program, he was eligible. The DMV staffer checked and said "no." The next day administrative actions were brought against the pilot for "misrepresenting himself." These are the kinds of cases that President Obama wants to investigate. Since Mr. Obama's election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers - the pilots who have been approved to carry guns - indicate that the approval process has stalled out. Pilots cannot openly speak about the changing policies for fear of retaliation from the Transportation Security Administration. Pilots who act in any way that causes a "loss of confidence" in the armed pilot program risk criminal prosecution as well as their removal from the program. Despite these threats, pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officers program have raised real concerns in multiple interviews. Arming pilots after Sept. 11 was nothing new. Until the early 1960s, American commercial passenger pilots on any flight carrying U.S. mail were required to carry handguns. Indeed, U.S. pilots were still allowed to carry guns until as recently as 1987. There are no records that any of these pilots (either military or commercial) ever causing any significant problems. Screening of airplane passengers is hardly perfect. While armed marshals are helpful, the program covers less than 3 percent of the flights out of Washington D.C.'s three airports and even fewer across the country. Sky marshals are costly and quit more often than other law-enforcement officers. Armed pilots are a cost-effective backup layer of security. Terrorists can only enter the cockpit through one narrow entrance, and armed pilots have some time to prepare themselves as hijackers penetrate the strengthened cockpit doors. With pilots, we have people who are willing to take on the burden of protecting the planes for free. About 70 percent of the pilots at major American carriers have military backgrounds. Frankly, as a matter of pure politics, we cannot understand what the administration is thinking. Nearly 40 House Democrats are in districts were the NRA is more popular than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. We can't find any independent poll in which the public is demanding that pilots disarm. Why does this move make sense? Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots. So why is the Obama administration catering to this tiny lobby at the expense of public safety? http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/17/guns-on-a-plane-obama-secret ly-ends-program-that-l/ *************** Austin airport shines in international airport survey Houston Hobby, DFW also fare well. Austin's airport was ranked third worldwide among airports its size in an international survey of airports and third in North America. Airports Council International conducts the survey on an ongoing basis each year. In the category of airports with 5 million to 15 million passengers a year, the top five airports were Central Japan (Nagoya); Tel Aviv; Austin-Bergstrom International; Houston Hobby and Jacksonville, Fla. The top five airports in North America included the Halifax and Ottawa airports, in Canada; Austin, Houston and Jacksonville. DFW ranked second worldwide among airports with more than 40 million passengers a year, behind Hong Kong. Austin has done well in past council surveys, and was ranked best domestic airport in 2007. But it had not previously cracked the top-five international lists for airports its size. The airport scored low in a 2007 survey by J.D. Power and Associates, but that was based on a very small number of surveys. The Airports Council surveys include in-person interviews with at least 1,400 travelers at each airport. The council interviews passengers on 30 aspects of service as they depart from their flights. In 2008, the surveys included 200,000 people at 108 airports. http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/03/18/0318a bia.html *************** NYC ferry service may sue US Airways over Flight 1549 rescue NY Waterway, the company that operates commuter ferry service between New Jersey and Manhattan, is on the verge of bankruptcy. What does that have to do with the airline industry? Crain's New York Business reports that NY Waterway is in "dire need of a rescue," saying the "situation is so precarious that the company is preparing a lawsuit against US Airways to recoup the expenses it incurred during the rescue effort" after the January Splash landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. "We are embattled," says NY Waterway CEO Arthur Imperatore Sr. "The question is whether we can survive." As for US Airways, Crain's says that following the splash landing of Flight 1549, "NY Waterway was unable to operate some of its routes for nearly 48 hours. In addition, it paid employees overtime and incurred other expenses that it's still assessing as it prepares its claim against the carrier." And, beyond the financial aspect of the situation, Crain's writes Imperatore "is miffed that (US Airways')senior officials have yet to acknowledge his company's role." US Airways, however, says that's not the case. Spokeswoman Valerie Wunder tells NorthJersey.com that since the January incident, airline officials always has been sure to point out that "the first responders did a great job, and we'll always be extremely grateful toward them." http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=64250109.blog **************** Boeing sticks to 787 flight test timeline Boeing remains focused on beginning flight testing of its 787 in June. "We are working toward first flight at the end of the second quarter," said Boeing commercial director of marketing Drew McGill today at the ISTAT conference in Phoenix. Boeing currently holds 878 orders for the twinjet with 56 customers. First delivery is targeted for early first quarter next year, says McGill. Some attendees at the ISTAT conference believe Boeing is likely to meet its latest target for beginning flight tests of the 787. But there is also a lot of skepticism that the airframer will be not able to skirt further programme delays. Noting that there is a 787 Lego set now on the market, noted industry analyst Adam Pilarski yesterday quipped: "Even a ten year old can do it (put the Lego set together) so please get your stuff together." Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** European pilot association urges common identity scheme European pilot representatives are calling for the establishment of a common crew identity card with biometrics, based on ICAO standards. The European Cockpit Association (ECA) says the availability of high-quality printing equipment negates the authenticity of non-secure company identity cards, while a pan-European lack of common standards makes security officials' recognition work more difficult. An ECA statement notes that some European crew have to carry as many as five separate identity cards as different airports and European Union member states operate a plethora of separate requirements. "Airports and member states' new investment in biometrics represent a unique opportunity to achieve common interoperable systems all over Europe," says the ECA. "However, this will only be possible if the new EU security legislation sets common standards as a matter of urgency. The technology is available. ICAO has set the standards that could be recognised not only at EU level, but in a global perspective." UK flight crew union British Air Line Pilots' Association has been battling Government proposals for airside workers to carry identity cards, claiming they would add complexity without increasing security. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** FAA Technical Employees Say FAA Attempting To Eliminate Certification House Lawmakers Echo Concerns to Inspector General The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS) said Tuesday the union is "extremely concerned over the FAA's attempts to make radical changes to its certification policy in order to advance its Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and modernization efforts." PASS represents over 11,000 employees at the Federal Aviation Administration, including technicians who install, maintain, repair and certify the radar, navigation and communication systems making up the National Airspace System (NAS). For decades, FAA technicians have routinely evaluated and tested the systems and equipment in the NAS, regardless of their ownership, to ensure their safe operation. The union calls that "a successful practice that has been vital in maintaining a safe and efficient air transportation system"... but the FAA recently threw a change-up pitch, in order to allow systems and services that are not owned by the FAA to be deployed without certification. The first system to be impacted by this change is one of the cornerstones of NextGen, the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) system. "In essence, the FAA is attempting to eliminate inherently governmental functions in order to justify handing over the NAS to private contractors who are focused primarily on maximizing profits and meeting the absolute minimum of safety standards," said PASS President Tom Brantley. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair James Oberstar (D-MN) and Aviation Subcommittee Chair Jerry Costello (D-IL) echoed PASS's concerns in a letter sent this week to the Office of the Inspector General (IG). The two chairmen express concern over the changes to the certification policy and the potential reduction of FAA oversight of key systems. Oberstar and Costello are requesting that the IG assess recent changes to the FAA's certification program and determine the implications of allowing private contractors overall responsibility for the safe and efficient operation of aviation systems. "We commend Chairs Oberstar and Costello for their recognition of and swift action on this critical issue and intend to work with the IG to ensure a thorough investigation," said Brantley. PASS will also testify before the House Subcommittee on Aviation Wednesday, to express concerns over the FAA's certification policy. In addition, PASS will caution that as the FAA moves forward into new territory, it is ignoring several key issues that have the potential to impact the successful implementation of NextGen, including involvement of stakeholders in modernization efforts and the staffing and training of the FAA technical workforce. FMI: www.passnational.org aero-news.net **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC