02 APR 2009 _______________________________________ *Delta Regional Carrier Grounds 60 Jets *At Least Eight Lost In North Sea Helo Downing *ANSV Italy: judicial authorities share FDR, CVR data of fatal Citation crash *United jet with engine trouble lands in Maine *FAA Names More Aviation Safety Execs *Safety Group Attacks Prosecutorial Overreach *************************************** Delta Regional Carrier Grounds 60 Jets Inspections Should Be Done By Friday, Carrier Says Anyone else getting a bad sense of deja vu? One year -- almost to the day -- after over 3,000 flights were cancelled due to FAA-mandated safety checks on aircraft operated by American Airlines, a regional operator for Delta Air Lines said Wednesday it grounded several dozen 50-seat regional jets to check for compliance with proper maintenance procedures. The Associated Press reports Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a unit of SkyWest, grounded 60 of its 112 Bombardier CRJ200s after internal audits raised questions about whether federally-mandated safety inspections to the aircrafts' General Electric CF34 turbofans had been performed. ASA spokeswoman Kate Modelo said the airline notified the FAA, and voluntarily pulled the aircraft out of service. That was little comfort to passengers whose flights were cancelled Wednesday as a result of those groundings... but Modelo said the situation couldn't be helped. "Safety is our number one priority, and we apologize for the inconvenience this has been causing the passengers," Modolo told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adding passengers "are being re-accommodated on next available flights." Modelo added ASA began the inspections Tuesday night at maintenance centers around the country. Those checks should be completed and all affected aircraft back in service by Thursday night. ASA was absorbed into SkyWest in August 2005, and is one of nine regional operators operating connecting service for mega-carrier Delta. ASA flies exclusively for the Atlanta-based airline. Wednesday morning, Delta spokeswoman Betsy Dalton said she wasn't sure what the impact on Delta's operations would be from the ASA groundings. As ANN reported, nearly 3,000 American Airlines domestic flights were cancelled in April 2008 after the FAA ordered that carrier's 300-plane fleet of MD-82 and MD-83 airliners to undergo immediate checks of wiring harnesses. Similar groundings and cancellations affected other MD-80-series operators as well, including Delta. In the matter that started the FAA's renewed focus on inspection procedures, Southwest Airlines was forced to briefly ground its oldest 737s in March 2008 to verify compliance with a number of airworthiness directives related to fuselage fatigue issues. Earlier this year, the carrier settled up with the agency on the matter, agreeing to pay a $7.5 million fine. FMI: www.flyasa.com, www.faa.gov aero-news.net *************** At Least Eight Lost In North Sea Helo Downing Super Puma Ditched Off Coast Of Scotland At least eight bodies have been recovered following the Wednesday afternoon ditching of a Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma off the northeast coast of Scotland. Search crews are working to find the other eight persons reported onboard the helicopter. The Associated Press reports the Bond-operated helicopter was returning 14 workers to Britain when it crashed. The helicopter was flying for the oil company BP, and had been due to arrive in Aberdeen at 1415 local time. Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency dispatched two Royal Air Force helicopters and a Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft to join several search boats at the scene of the accident. All people onboard the helo were in survival suits; crews found two overturned life rafts in the water near where the bodies were found. The accident comes less than six weeks after another Bond-operated Super Puma was forced to ditch in the North Sea. In that crash, all 16 persons onboard were rescued. As ANN reported three weeks ago, all but one person onboard a Sikorsky S-92 were killed when that offshore transport ditched off the coast of Newfoundland. Investigators believe that helo, operated by Cougar Helicopters, suffered broken titanium studs in the aircraft's gearbox oil bowl, leading to failure of the aircraft's transmission system. FMI: www.bondoffshorehelicopters.com/ aero-news.net ***** Date: 01-APR-2009 Time: 14:00 BST Type: Eurocopter AS332L2 Super Puma Operator: Bond Offshore Helicopters Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 16 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: North Sea approx. 35 miles E off Crimond, Scotland - United Kingdom Phase: En route Nature: Passenger Departure airport: Miller oil field Destination airport: Aberdeen Narrative: Helicopter transporting 16 persons ditched for unknown reasons while returning from oil platform. BBC reports at least eight fatalities. Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/7977095.stm (aviation-safety.net) *************** ANSV Italy: judicial authorities share FDR, CVR data of fatal Citation crash The Italian aircraft accident investigation board ANSV (Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo) reports that they have now received the CVR and FDR transcripts of a Cessna 650 Citation III that crashed near Rome on February 7, 2009. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) were seized for a juducial inquiry, severely obstructing a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident. The judicial authorities have now sent ANSV a copy of both transcripts. (ANSV) (aviation-safety.net) **************** United jet with engine trouble lands in Maine A United Airlines Boeing 767, carrying 178 passengers and 11 crew, made an emergency landing at Bangor International Airport, the Associated Press reports. Airport spokeswoman Risteen Masters says the pilots reported smoke in the cockpit and failure in one of the plane's two engines. Flight 923 landed without incident, Masters said, and passengers prepared to continue their flight from London to Dulles International Airport in Virginia. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/04/united-jet-with-engine-trouble- lands-in-maine.html **************** FAA Names More Aviation Safety Execs Continuing a shuffle of executive positions in the agency's aviation safety organization, which began with the retirement of Nick Sabatini and others, acting FAA Administrator Lynne Osmus officially named Peggy Gilligan associate administrator for aviation safety, succeeding Sabatini. Sabatini had been associate administrator for aviation safety since June 2001, and before that he served as assistant manager and manager of the Eastern Region's Flight Standards Division. Gilligan had 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 and was an attorney for the FAA's Eastern Region in New York. Gilligan has been the government co-chair for the Commercial Aviation Safety Team since July 2001 and has played a vital role in working to reduce the commercial accident rate to a historic low. She also provided support to the DOT Rapid Response Team on aircraft safety following 9/11. Recommendations from that group led to rules that hardened cockpit doors, as well as operational changes to enhance aviation security. John Hickey, director of the FAA's Aircraft Certification Service, replaces Gilligan as deputy assistant administrator for aviation safety. Succeeding Hickey as aircraft certification director is Dorenda Baker. The agency is making additional changes. Kalene Yanamura, deputy regional administrator for the FAA's Northwest Mountain Region, takes over as the deputy director for the Aircraft Certification Service; John Allen moves from deputy director to director of the Flight Standards Service; John McGraw, manager of the flight technologies and procedures division, becomes the new deputy director for flight standards policy; Doug Dalbey, flight standards division manager for the Western Pacific region, becomes deputy director for field operations for the Flight Standards Service; Tina Amereihn has been named director of the Office of Quality, Integration and Executive Services after serving as deputy director; Hooper Harris, manager of accident investigation, is serving temporarily as acting director of the Office of Accident Investigation. The FAA's Aviation Safety Organization promotes aviation safety and oversees compliance with federal regulations as applied to airmen, manufacturers, repair and maintenance facilities, aviation schools, operators, aviation agencies, individuals and organizations. http://www.ainonline.com/news/single-news-page/article/faa-names-more-aviati on-safety-execs/ *************** Safety Group Attacks Prosecutorial Overreach The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) has sharply criticized the interference of prosecutors in ongoing accident investigations in Italy and France, warning that such interference hampers efforts to improve aviation safety and prevent similar accidents in the future. Reports of prosecutorial interference in the investigations in Italy and France are troubling, said William Voss, president and CEO of the FSF. "We simply cannot allow these obstacles to keep us from learning and acting quickly after a crash," he added. The safety investigations of a Cessna Citation accident in Rome on February 7 and the crash of an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 off the coast of France on Nov. 27, 2008, were delayed because law enforcement authorities seized vital evidence before safety investigators could examine it. Laws in both countries allow the judicial investigation to take the lead, and vital safety evidence, such as the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, historically has been withheld from safety investigators. Voss said he understands how the public's shock and grief leads to calls for justice and accountability in the wake of an aircraft accident, but he added, "We cannot allow the safety of the aviation system to be jeopardized by prosecutorial overreach." He reiterated the foundation's support for legislation in Europe and elsewhere that would ensure the primacy of the safety investigation. "Unless there is evidence of sabotage, law enforcement and judicial authorities need to step aside, allow accident investigators immediate access to the wreckage and to surviving crew and passengers, and let safety professionals do their job," he said. "To prevent another tragedy, it's far more important that we learn what happened, and why, than to build a criminal case," he explained. The Flight Safety Foundation is one of the leading voices in opposing criminalization of aviation accident investigations. http://www.ainonline.com/news/single-news-page/article/safety-group-attacks- prosecutorial-overreach/ **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC