19 MAR 2009 _______________________________________ *FAA to block public access to raw bird strike data *Boeing 787 Too Heavy, Client Says *FAA closes Southwest cases unrelated to inspections *FAA Investigates Bearing Problems On 2,800 Bell Helos *Co-founders of charter jet company implicated in 2005 Teterboro crash plead not guilty *No mechanical problems found in deadly plane crash on the Big Island *************************************** FAA to block public access to raw bird strike data FAA tomorrow will issue a "proposed order" to block the public from gaining access to voluntarily reported wildlife strike reports, including bird strikes. At issue is the continued flow of incident information from airlines, pilots and airports, the agency explains. The submissions are the heart of the agency's wildlife hazard database, a tool in place for nearly two decades and already populated with more than 100,000 records of strikes, each record having more than 100 separate data fields. "As a result of these collection efforts, the FAA has a wildlife strike database that is unparalleled," writes acting associate administrator for airports, Catherine Lang. Concern on the topic reached a crescendo in January when US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson River after striking one or more Canada geese on departure from LaGuardia Airport. No one was killed in the accident. The FAA says the number of strikes reported annually since the database was created has increased 336%, from 1,759 in 1990 to 7,666 in 2007. Along with an increased awareness of the issue, FAA explains the numbers have likely climbed due to an increase in both the number of aircraft operations and number of "hazardous wildlife species". In addition to analysing trends including seasonal strike fluctuations, geographical distribution of strikes and damage caused, the agency uses the data to develop better wildlife management strategies for individual airports and to create aircraft certification standards "that take into account the unique hazard posed by wildlife threats". Generic strike information is compiled by the FAA and other federal agencies and distributed once per year. The FAA says requests for data from the public "have typically been for specific data fields, individual airports or detailed portions of the database" and that responses from the agency "have addressed each request individually and adequately". However, the agency cautions public analysis of bits and pieces of the data could lead to inaccurate portrayals of airports and airlines, which could have a negative impact on their participation in reporting bird strikes. "The agency is concerned that there is a serious potential that information related to bird strikes will not be submitted because of fear that disclosure of raw data could unfairly cast unfounded aspersions on the submitter," Lang writes. The proposed order, slated for release in tomorrow's Federal Register, appears to be a largely a formality given the statutory authority the FAA already has to shelter safety or security-related information from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. For example, both the agency's flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) and aviation safety action program (ASAP) databases are protected from FOIA requests by regulation, though the information can be subpoenaed. The agency however says it will consider public comments submitted over the next 30 days or possibly more, and may "change the proposal in light of the comments we receive". Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************ Boeing 787 Too Heavy, Client Says The first version of the Boeing(BA Quote - Cramer on BA - Stock Picks) 787 needs to slim down, says the chief of International Lease Finance Corp., the airplane's biggest customer. More on BA What an Axsys Sale Could Mean for GSIAnalysts' Upgrades, Downgrades: BoeingUnited Technologies Stock Rises on Job CutsAgainst the Grain: United Technology!Delta: We'll Be Profitable in '09Boeing: Order-Financing OK for NowBoeing Feels Pinch of Air Traffic DropBoeing Reports Sharply Lower Orders for Feb.Cramer's Take on Top-Searched StocksThe Price of War Market Activity The Boeing Company| BA DOWN"Rest assured that the first batch of 787s will be overweight," ILFC chief Steven Udvar-Hazy said Tuesday at a conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to Air Transport Intelligence. "In the long run, this will be an excellent aircraft," Udvar-Hazy said. "But I pity the airlines that get the first ones. Obviously those aircraft will not be the same standard as those 787s later on." Last year, Udvar-Hazy told The Seattle Post-Intelligencer that weight gains by the 787 would limit its range. Boeing subsequently acknowledged that it had cut its range forecast for the first Dreamliners. A spokeswoman recently told the Post-Intelligencer that the first six airplanes are overweight, but all six will be used for flight tests. "The first airplane that will provide us with a meaningful weight is airplane No. 7 and we won't weigh that for some time," she said. http://www.thestreet.com/story/10473963/1/boeing-787-too-heavy-client-says.h tml?cm_ven=GOOGLEFI **************** FAA closes Southwest cases unrelated to inspections WASHINGTON - When federal aviation regulators settled a $7.5 million civil penalty against Southwest Airlines this month, the agency praised the airline's decision to agree to safety improvements that "exceed FAA regulations." Left unsaid: The agreement allowed the airline to settle dozens of enforcement actions that had nothing to do with the carrier missing crucial maintenance inspections, which prompted the penalty. Under the agreement, announced March 2, the FAA closed out any enforcement investigations that began "on or before Dec. 31, 2008." That covered 41 cases, including 29 in the Southwest region headquartered in Dallas, according to federal officials. In one case, the FAA was looking at the carrier not having an FAA-approved low-visibility landing procedure, said one official, who requested anonymity because being identified could place his job at risk. Alison Duquette, an FAA spokeswoman, said many of the enforcement cases "may have ended up" without the carrier paying a fine. She said the majority of the cases were related to maintenance. "The improvements made by Southwest addressed the root causes of the majority of those 40 EIRs [enforcement investigative reports], so we decided that it was in the best interest of public safety and made sense to include those cases in the agreement," Duquette said in an e-mail Wednesday. However, the FAA moved away from "global settlements" several years ago, after lawmakers criticized them as a tool of administrative convenience. FAA inspectors chafed at the catch-all settlements, saying the airline typically ended up paying a much reduced penalty for safety violations. In its agreement, the FAA didn't spell out which cases the settlement closed. Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's chief operating officer, said this week that he was unaware of the low-visibility landing case or any other outstanding issues with the FAA. 'Focus on safety' When the settlement was announced, the carrier said the settlement "will allow us to focus on safety going forward, rather than on issues that are behind us and that have since been addressed." Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., a lawmaker who held a high-profile hearing about Southwest's maintenance issues and the FAA's failure last year, said Tuesday that his staff was looking at the details of the settlement. "We need to see what is in the fine print," said Oberstar, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. One airline attorney said omitting mention of which cases were closed was highly unusual for the FAA. He said it may have stemmed from Southwest's reluctance to settle the enforcement action, which was proposed as $10.2 million in March 2008. Southwest challenged the fine in August. "Southwest has not settled many of these cases," said the attorney, who requested anonymity to speak about a competitor without the approval of bosses. "One of the reasons they may have done so is to clean the slate." 'Change' in approach A union official said the settlement represented a "huge change" to the way the FAA approaches enforcement cases, because Southwest agreed to make 13 changes to its safety programs. These included a rewrite of all of the airline's FAA-approved manuals and the addition of a "management head of quality assurance." The FAA "felt there were some real changes in [Southwest's] understanding about what they needed to do to enhance their safety culture - and not just the culture but what they are going to be doing differently," said Linda Goodrich, regional vice president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. The union represents 11,000 FAA and Department of Defense employees. "If they were willing to do these extra things, then the FAA could acknowledge, shall we say, a return on investment and they would lower the penalty." The penalty stemmed from Southwest's decision to continue flying 46 Boeing 737 airplanes that were overdue for mandatory inspections for cracks in their fuselage. The congressional investigation found that a maintenance supervisor in the FAA's Dallas office permitted the carrier to self-disclose the violation, yet continue flying the planes. The supervisor later retired from the FAA. The self-disclosure wiped out an investigation being performed by an FAA inspector, who blew the whistle on the deal to Congress. That inspector testified before the House transportation committee with several other FAA whistle-blowers in April. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/031909dnm etfaa.3df722a.html ************** FAA Investigates Bearing Problems On 2,800 Bell Helos Model 206, 407 And 427 Helis Subject To AD A problem that first crept up during a customer delivery flight last week led the FAA Wednesday to ground approximately 2,800 Canadian-built Bell helicopters until operators can search for improperly installed bearings on the co-pilot cyclic controls, and replace the suspect parts if necessary. Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2009-7-51, issued Wednesday, calls for immediate inspections of cyclics installed in Bell Model 206A series, 206B series, and 206L series helicopers with a lever assembly, part number (P/N) 206-001-401-111, 206-001-400-115, or 206-001-400-111, installed; and Model 407 and 427 helicopters with a lever assembly, P/N 407-001-320-105 or 407-001-320-109, installed, certificated in any category. Bell spokesman Greg Hubbard said the company discovered the problem during a delivery flight last week. Hubbard did not specify where that delivery took place, though the FAA cites a Transport Canada directive as basis for its AD. The Canadian mandate was issued March 12, and applies to helicopters produced in Canada. "Transport Canada, the airworthiness authority for Canada, notified the FAA that an unsafe condition may exist on certain helicopters with less than 50 flight hours or with a cyclic lever assembly installed within the last 50 flight hours," reads the AD. "Transport Canada advises that 'it is possible that an incorrectly installed bearing could be found in any helicopter with a cyclic control lever assembly recently installed.' Failure of the cyclic control lever assembly could lead to loss of control of the helicopter. Transport Canada classified the ASBs as mandatory and issued AD No. CF-2009-10, dated March 12, 2009, to ensure the continued airworthiness of these helicopters in Canada. "This unsafe condition is likely to exist or develop on other helicopters of the same type designs," the FAA added, explaining the wide net cast by the agency in the initial AD. Hubbard told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the company expects the FAA to narrow the field considerably in coming days, down to less than 110 newer helicopters affected by the AD. FMI: www.faa.gov, www.bellhelicopter.com aero-news.net *************** Co-founders of charter jet company implicated in 2005 Teterboro crash plead not guilty Two co-founders of a luxury charter jet company pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of violating federal aviation rules and indirectly causing a 2005 plane crash at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport. NEWARK, N.J. - Two co-founders of a luxury charter jet company pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of violating federal aviation rules and indirectly causing a 2005 plane crash at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport. Brothers Michael and Paul Brassington ran the former Platinum Jet Management, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company that operated private commercial flights for high-end clients who paid as much as $90,000 per charter, according to a federal indictment. The indictment charges Michael Brassington with making false statements to investigators, endangering the safety of an aircraft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The endangerment count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the other counts carry five-year maximums. Paul Brassington faces one conspiracy count. The Brassingtons, who hail from British Guyana but live in Florida, had their attorneys enter their pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. Francis Vieira, a Florida-based pilot for Platinum who faces a conspiracy count and 16 counts of making false statements, also pleaded not guilty. Three other Platinum officials, including co-founder Andre Budhan of North Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded not guilty earlier this month. Attorneys for the Brassingtons and Vieira did not comment after Wednesday's arraignment. The 23-count indictment unsealed in February accuses Platinum of operating without the proper certifications, using unqualified pilots, lying to federal investigators and underreporting the weights of planes in order to load them up with cheap fuel without exceeding prescribed weight limits. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the Feb. 2, 2005 crash of a Platinum-operated jet was due to over-fueling that moved the plane's center of gravity too far forward. Michael Brassington is accused of falsely reporting the plane's weight at 1,000 pounds below its actual weight. The Bombardier Challenger CL-600, scheduled as a private charter to Chicago Midway Airport, failed to lift off and instead crashed through a fence and clipped two cars on a busy road. It then smashed into a warehouse, causing a fire. No one was killed, but all 11 people on the plane and several others on the ground suffered injuries. The investigation revealed that Platinum was not certified to fly commercial charters but had "piggybacked" off an Alabama-based company's certificate - a practice allowable under Federal Aviation Administration regulations as long as the certified company controls the flight and provides the flight crew, according to an FAA spokesman. According to the indictment, Platinum used pilots who were not certified to fly commercial charter flights, in violation of FAA regulations. A trial date has been set for May 12, though the defendants' attorneys told Greenaway Wednesday that they expected to ask for that date to be pushed back. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008880759_apteterborocras h.html *************** No mechanical problems found in deadly plane crash on the Big Island A National Transportation Safety Board investigation has failed to find a mechanical cause for a fatal tour plane crash last year on the Big Island. HILO, Hawaii - A National Transportation Safety Board investigation has failed to find a mechanical cause for a fatal tour plane crash last year on the Big Island. An NTSB factual report says "no evidence of any mechanical discrepancies was found" in the wake of June 17 crash on Mauna Loa. NTSB senior air safety investigator Jim Struhsaker says a final determination of probable cause is expected to be released in two to six weeks. The crash of the single-engine Cessna operated by Island Hoppers claimed the lives of pilot Katsuhiro Takahashi and a couple from Japan. The aircraft crashed after taking off from Kona International Airport for a three-hour tour. It took searchers five days to locate the wreckage in a heavily forested area of Mauna Loa. ___ Information from: Hawaii Tribune-Herald, http://www.hilohawaiitribune.com *************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC