07 MAY 2009 _______________________________________ *Montana PC-12 Crash Investigation: Family States 'No Drugs/Alcohol' Found *Hearings on Crash May Focus on Pilot Conduct *Dassault Falcon Jet to Equip Demonstration Aircraft with EVAS *Charter plane for soldiers blows tire landing at BWI *FAA's Air-Traffic Networks Breached by Hackers *JAL axing 130 foreign pilot jobs based in Hawaii *American moves ahead with 757 modifications for transatlantic routes *************************************** Montana PC-12 Crash Investigation: Family States 'No Drugs/Alcohol' Found Crash Got Intensive Media Attention Due To Number of People, Kids On Board The wife of a pilot who died in a tragic accident on March 22nd, has reportedly been cleared of any influence from drugs or alcohol -- according to a report that she claims to have seen, but has yet to be released to the public. The Butte, MT, killed 14 people, while on the way to a ski vacation, in a single-engine turboprop PC-12 being flown by Ellison "Buddy" Summerfield (65). Statements made by Janet Summerfield indicate that the report, prepared by the Butte-Silver Bow coroner, indicate the a copy of the report has been made available to her and that the results 'do not show that her husband had drugs in his system or that he suffered from a medical condition before the wreck.' Summerfield added that her husband, "habitually piloted his aircraft with an exceptional degree of skill, competence and responsibility." The Summerfield's lawyer also claimed that the pilot did not have a heart attack and that his liver was clear of any medications. The NTSB prelim stated that, "on March 22, 2009, at 1430 mountain daylight time, a Pilatus PC-12/45, N128CM, descended to ground impact near the approach end of runway 33 at the Bert Mooney Airport, Butte, Montana. The airplane was owned and operated by Eagle Capital Leasing, of Enterprise, Oregon, as a personal transportation flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airplane was destroyed in the collision sequence and post crash fire. All 14 persons onboard the airplane were killed in the accident and there were no reported ground injuries. The flight departed Oroville, California, at 1210 Pacific daylight time on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan and clearance destined for Gallatin Field, Bozeman, Montana. The airplane was diverting to Butte at the time of the accident. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at both the Bozeman and Butte airports." The airplane impacted the Holy Cross cemetery west of runway 33 at Bert Mooney Airport, Butte, Montana. The wreckage was confined to the impact area and consumed by impact and fire. Portions of all major structural components were identified. Interviews with family members indicated that seven adults and seven children were traveling to Bozeman, Montana, to meet other family members and friends for a ski vacation. The owner of the airplane drove from California with his wife and other family members. The airplane originally departed Redlands, California, flew to Nut Tree Airport, Vacaville, California, where passengers were picked up. The pilot then flew to Oroville, California, where additional passengers were picked up. According to a preliminary briefing from the FAA regarding air traffic control, the pilot filed an instrument flight rules flight plan from Oroville, California (KOVE) to Bozeman, Montana (KBZN) with Butte, Montana (KBTM) as the alternate. The airplane departed at 1210 local. At 1359 the crew contacted the Salt Lake City Center. At 1403, the airplane was at FL 250 and the pilot requested to change his destination to Butte and gave no reason for the diversion. He was cleared at pilot's discretion to descend to 14,000 feet, and at 1405 the pilot again requested to divert to Butte. At 1427 air traffic control asked the pilot if he had the airport in sight and the pilot indicated he had one more cloud to maneuver around. At 1428 the pilot reported the airport in sight and air traffic control terminated radar service. At 1429, air traffic control called the aircraft in the blind with no response. The accident was reported to local authorities at 1433. Initial reports from ground witnesses indicate that the airplane was flying approximately 300 feet above ground level in a north-northwesterly direction. Shortly thereafter, the airplane's nose pitched to a nose-low attitude and it impacted the ground. One witness with aviation experience reported that the airplane was west of the runway centerline and appeared too high to land on the runway. The witness then saw the airplane bank to the left and fly farther west when it rolled, pitched down, and descended out of his view. Although there is no air traffic control tower at Butte, the local fixed base operator lineman was monitoring the radio as the airplane approached the airport. He heard the pilot transmit that he would be landing on runway 33. FMI: www.ntsb.gov aero-news.net **************** Hearings on Crash May Focus on Pilot Conduct The professionalism of the pilots involved in the Feb. 12 crash of a commuter airplane outside Buffalo is expected to be a key area of scrutiny at public hearings into the accident next week, say people who have been briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board. The board is also expected to examine whether the pilots were properly trained to handle the plane's emergency features. Three days of hearings start Tuesday. The Buffalo crash killed 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The Newark-to-Buffalo flight was operated by Manassas-based Colgan Air, a regional carrier with links to Continental Airlines. The safety board, which is conducting a federal investigation into the crash, has called the accident the deadliest U.S. transportation disaster in seven years. According to the sources, transcripts from the cockpit voice recorders are expected to show "extensive discussion" by the two pilots -- discussions not related to flying. Those discussions may have violated "sterile cockpit" rules, which seek to limit pilot talk to flying matters, particularly during certain high-risk operations. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR2009050603 937.html *************** Dassault Falcon Jet to Equip Demonstration Aircraft with EVAS EVAS Worldwide MAHWAH, NJ -- EVASWordwide, an international distributor of the Emergency Vision Assurance System (EVAS), finalized an agreement with Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. to equip all of Dassault Falcon Jet's demonstration aircraft with EVAS. Dassault Falcon Jet currently offers EVAS as optional equipment on all new aircraft. Currently, EVASWorldwide has received approval and is certified by the FAA, EASA and Transport Canada for the entire Falcon business jet product line with the exception of the new 7X. EVAS has received FAA, Transport Canada, and EASA approval for the 7X. EVASWorldwide has delivered more than 3000 EVAS Cockpit Smoke Displacement systems, and is the winner of the Aerospace Industry Award for Safety. The Emergency Vision Assurance System is the only cockpit smoke displacement system that is approved and certified by the FAA, EASA, and Transport Canada to effectively defend against heavy and continuous smoke emergencies in the cockpit and cabin. The System is available for all aircraft types and requires virtually no installation. It has earned acceptance in nearly every segment of the aviation community. http://www.amtonline.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=8116 *************** Charter plane for soldiers blows tire landing at BWI LINTHICUM, Md. (AP) - A charter airplane flying soldiers into BWI blew its front tire while landing today and five crew members have been taken to a hospital for evaluation. Jonathan Dean, spokesman for Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, said none of the 168 soldiers aboard the World Airways DC10 was injured. The plane landed around 1 p.m. and blew a tire on the front nose gear. The plane was grounded in the middle of the runway for roughly two hours and the plane's passengers got on shuttle buses to the terminal. After the tire was replaced about 3:30 p.m., Dean said the airport reopened the runway. He said there was only a minimal disruption to other flights at the airport. **************** FAA's Air-Traffic Networks Breached by Hackers WASHINGTON -- Civilian air-traffic computer networks have been penetrated multiple times in recent years, including an attack that partially shut down air-traffic data systems in Alaska, according to a government report. The report, which was released by the Transportation Department's inspector general Wednesday, warned that the Federal Aviation Administration's modernization efforts are introducing new vulnerabilities that could increase the risk of cyberattacks on air-traffic control systems. The FAA is slated to spend approximately $20 billion to upgrade its air-traffic control system over the next 15 years. The increasing reliance of modernized systems on the Internet "is especially worrisome at a time when the nation is facing increased threats from sophisticated nation-state sponsored cyber attacks," wrote Assistant Inspector General Rebecca Leng. Read letter requesting oversight hearing on addressing issues raised in the report. 2000 GAO Report on FAA Computer Security 1998 GAO Report on FAA Information Security "We are working on developing security architecture for that whole system," said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. "We have identified it as an issue we need to focus some attention on, and we're doing that." Security tests identified 763 "high risk" vulnerabilities that could allow hackers access to administrative systems, which could then provide a path to more-sensitive operational systems, the report said. Ms. Brown rejected the report's conclusions that hackers could get into critical air-traffic operational systems through administrative systems. "It's not possible to use the administrative and mission support network to access the air-traffic control network," she said. "We have specific orders that prohibit them from being directly connected." The Wall Street Journal reported last month that an Air Force air-traffic control system had been compromised, alarming intelligence officials who feared that such an attack could be used to interfere with air-traffic systems. Most of the known penetrations of FAA systems involved administrative networks that manage air-traffic flow and electric power, as well as email systems and internal and external Web sites, the report said. The nature of one 2006 attack is a matter of dispute between the inspector general and the FAA. The report says the attack spread from administration networks to air-traffic control systems, forcing the FAA to shut down a portion of its traffic control systems in Alaska. Ms. Brown said it affected only the local administrative system that provides flight and weather data to pilots, primarily of small aircraft. Last year, hackers of unspecified origin "took over FAA computers in Alaska" to effectively become agency insiders, and traveled the agency networks to Oklahoma, where they stole the network administrator's password and used it to install malicious codes, the report said. These hackers also gained the ability to obtain 40,000 FAA passwords and other information used to control the administrative network, it said. In February, another cyber break-in yielded the personal information of 48,000 current and former agency employees. "The threat of hackers interfering with our air-traffic control systems is not just theoretical; it has already happened," said Republican Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin, one of the lawmakers who requested the report. "We must regard the strengthening of our air-traffic control security as an urgent matter." Tom Kellermann, a vice president at Core Security Technologies, a cybersecurity company, likened the threats cited by the report to the television show "24" in which terrorists hack into and commandeer the FAA's air-traffic control system to crash planes. "The integrity of the data on which ground control is relying can be manipulated, much as seen in '24,'" he said. Most critical infrastructure, such as the electric grid, have developed links between administrative and operational control systems that indirectly link the control systems to the public Internet, intelligence officials said. The report warned that the FAA isn't well equipped to detect intrusions into its computer system, noting that it has detection sensors at only 11 of its 734 facilities across the country. All of those detectors are placed on administration or "mission support" systems, with no detectors on any of its operational systems, giving it little visibility into potential problems with operational networks, the report said. When intrusions are detected, they aren't addressed quickly enough, the report said. Fifty unresolved incidents had been open for more than three months, it found, "including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control" of computers within the FAA's operations wing. The FAA "is identifying and fixing weaknesses," Ms. Brown said, such as scanning software for potential vulnerabilities. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124165272826193727.html *************** JAL axing 130 foreign pilot jobs based in Hawaii Japan Airlines (JAL) is closing its foreign pilot crew base in Hawaii which means 130 foreign pilots are losing their jobs. "We didn't have direct contract with each pilot" but rather "we had a contract with" companies in Hawaii that last year provided 130 pilots, a JAL spokesman says from Tokyo. "Basically for the 2009 year we don't need any of these pilots," says the spokesman, who confirms 130 foreign pilots will be leaving and most operate JALways Boeing 747s. JALways is an international outfit that mostly operates on low yield leisure routes. The spokesman elaborates, in a statement to ATI, that JAL is cutting pilot jobs in response to the global economic downturn. "Results for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 show JAL's international passenger traffic dropped by almost 20%," says the spokesman. "JAL is responding swiftly to minimize the impact of the drop in travel demand by reducing its flights and down-sizing its fleet." But "these reductions have resulted in a surplus in the number of cockpit crew and cabin crew," he says. Even though the Hawaii-based pilots are leaving, "there will be no change in the number of JAL's Hawaiian flights and aircraft fleet," he adds. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** American moves ahead with 757 modifications for transatlantic routes Oneworld alliance member American Airlines is making headway in its reconfiguration of 18 domestic Boeing 757-200s destined for transatlantic services and flights from Miami to the Northern Rim. Two aircraft have already been modified with winglets and lie-flat business-class seats in the front of the cabin. The first of these begin transatlantic operations this month on seasonal service between New York JFK and Brussels, the carrier confirms to ATI. Boeing 757 flights linking Barcelona with JFK are due to start in August. "These 757s replace [Boeing] 767-300s and going forward the 757s will used to replace larger-capacity types, augment current service and possibly to launch service to new European destinations," says American. Company senior vice-president, planning Henry Joyner adds: "The product that we put in the front cabin will be perfectly competitive with anyone else. Its size and economics at that range make it pretty attractive." American has been reluctant to predict whether it will implement further capacity reductions this summer in the highly-competitive North Atlantic market, saying it is "waiting on more visibility" about how the season appears to be shaping up "before deciding whether more must be done" on the international side. But after seeing transcontinental routes take "the steepest unit revenue declines" in American's entire system during the first quarter, the Oneworld alliance member "probably" expects mainline system capacity to be down about 6.5% versus 2008 and mainline international to be down about 2.5%, said Tom Horton, CFO of American parent AMR Corp, during a recent earrings conference call. The carrier has already announced that it will cull a single frequency from Boston to London Heathrow in August, resulting in two daily flights on the route instead of three. However, it is adding a third daily Heathrow-Dallas service on selected days of the week operated by 767-300 aircraft. Joyner explains why forecasting the summer schedule is so difficult. "It is hard to tell because a lot of leisure traffic is booking much closer to departure than before. March is typically a heavy period for us because of holidays [in the US] and we saw people booking closer to departure and one school of thought is that may be what we will in the summer too." One of the challenges right now, he says, is that "for the last year when the dollar was relatively weak it was very attractive for Europeans to come to the US". With that no longer the case, and in the face of a lack of consumer confidence, North Atlantic traffic "is very challenged this year". American's capacity additions across the North Atlantic over the last two or three years have been pretty modest and generally a good match up to its partners. For example, on 1 May American launched daily nonstop service between its Dallas hub and Madrid in anticipation of anti-trust immunity with Spanish carrier Iberia and British Airways (BA). "Given the state of the traffic across the North Atlantic, we are very cautious. The connectivity with Iberia will be better and [because of open skies] we can codeshare [beyond Madrid] more effectively on the other side," says Joyner. Indeed, American believes it has answered all of the Department of Transportation's questions about its antitrust immunity application with BA, Iberia, Royal Jordanian and Finnair. "While we can't make promises about the outcome of the process we believe we have made a very strong case and we continue to expect that approval will occur in the second half of this year," says Horton. As part of its strategy to shrink capacity to combat then-escalating fuel costs, American last year eliminated service from New York JFK to London Stansted, after premium carriers Eos and Maxjet ceased operations. Since that time, fuel prices have moderated. American has effectively "swapped the oil prices of 2008 for the travel demand crisis of 2009", says CEO Gerard Arpey. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC