11 MAY 2009 _______________________________________ *Buffalo Crash Sparks Debate Over Use of Cockpit Recordings *Pilot made passes over party before NV plane crash *************************************** Buffalo Crash Sparks Debate Over Use of Cockpit Recordings By ANDY PASZTOR The Feb. 12 fatal crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 has sparked a novel labor-management dispute over appropriate uses of an essential safety tool: cockpit voice recordings. Colgan Air Inc., which operated the flight, is proposing to download and analyze random cockpit recordings in the future as a means of enhancing safety and enforcing cockpit discipline. The union representing Colgan's roughly 480 pilots is dead set against it. Federal investigators Tuesday are slated to release transcripts of the cockpit conversations that took place in the minutes before the twin-engine Bombardier Q400 plane stalled at below 3,000 feet, rolled violently and plummeted to the ground, killing 50 people. According to people who have reviewed the transcripts, the crew engaged in a prolonged chit-chat as the plane descended from cruise altitude and then prepared to land. That violates basic aviation rules, which prohibit discussions of non-flying matters during certain phases of flight. Commercial pilots are prohibited by something called the "sterile cockpit rule" from engaging in extraneous conversations, particularly when maneuvering below 10,000 feet. Firefighters surround the wreckage of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in February. Colgan's management has approached local leaders of the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilot union, with the proposition that such spot checks of cockpit behavior would help supplement and improve existing safety initiatives. ALPA's leadership has responded with a resounding "no." Not a single U.S. airline is believed to sample cockpit recordings in this fashion, and even general discussion of such a step is considered anathema by the pilot union. Pilots contend it would violate their privacy and demonstrate management's lack of trust in their professionalism. Individual pilots at Colgan and other carriers have criticized the airline's proposal, but so far ALPA leaders haven't made a public stink. An ALPA spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., decline to comment. The National Transportation Safety Board hasn't been formally asked by either side to weigh in, but board members, staffers and outside air-safety advocates are likely to oppose the idea on the grounds that it could chill voluntary disclosures of safety lapses or mistakes. Some safety experts fear the initiative could even backfire, encouraging certain pilots to try to deflect blame by possibly erasing cockpit conversations captured on the devices. Currently, such data is used exclusively in accident probes or as part of joint airline-union programs to investigate the causes of various types of close calls or dangerous incidents -- in the air as well as on the ground. Captain's Training Faulted In Air Crash That Killed 50On Sunday, Colgan spokesman Joe Williams confirmed in an email that the carrier has proposed that recordings "be monitored for safety purposes by selected union and company pilots." He said the company believes such a step is the most effective way to obtain "an accurate view of pilot performance." Colgan believes the cockpit recordings "could become great accident prevention tools," he said Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, said Colgan's concept is the natural evolution of current safety practices. "If we are identifying cockpit discipline" as an important safety factor and "there is a random, non-punitive way" to sample data, according to Mr. Cohen, "why wouldn't we at least begin talking" about broader uses of cockpit recorders? Pilot union officials are especially sensitive about the topic because they already face calls by the NTSB to install video-recording systems in many cockpits. Overseas, cockpit voice recordings have become embroiled in criminal proceedings after some high-profile crashes. And pilot representatives increasingly are wary of any proposals to further strip recorded conversations of confidentiality. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124201244946205809.html ************** Pilot made passes over party before NV plane crash RENO, Nev. (AP) - The pilot of a small plane that nose-dived into a northern Nevada cow pasture, killing all five people aboard, was making low passes over a party shortly before the crash, a federal investigator said Sunday. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration investigators on Sunday combed the wreckage for clues as to whether human error, weather or a mechanical problem caused the crash a day before near Gardnerville, about 50 miles south of Reno. "It's way too early to determine the cause," NTSB investigator Van McKenny told The Associated Press. "We haven't ruled out anything at this point. We still need to continue to examine the aircraft." Investigators were unable to examine the engines because both were buried in the ground, he said. They will be examined at a Sacramento, Calif., warehouse after the wreckage is removed from the site Monday. McKenny said witnesses told him that the pilot, Gary Annas, 58, of Minden, was making low passes over the party shortly after taking off from the nearby Minden Tahoe Airport when his twin-engine Beechcraft BE95 made a steep turn and crashed. Annas had earlier stopped by the party to ask if anyone wanted to accompany him on the flight that was to start and end at the airport, McKenny said. The crash occurred about 12 miles from the airport in the rural Carson Valley along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The passengers were identified as Paul Dallas, 43, of Minden; Leia Denner, 40, and Brent Fahey, 30, both of Gardnerville; and Beau McGrath, 30, of Kirkwood, Calif. Witness Douglas Bradshaw, a former pilot, said the plane appeared to be flying normally at a relatively high speed before it crashed about 100 yards from his house. He said the plane passed about 200 feet over his home as he and his wife were sitting on the patio, then suddenly climbed, lost lift and spun into the ground. "The engines were roaring and working great. It sounded like he had full power," Bradshaw said. "The mystery is why would someone suddenly pitch up into a vertical climbing position. It was pretty frightening because it just happened so fast." Mark Faucette, a National Weather Service forecaster in Reno, said gusts of up to 25 mph were reported at the time in the Carson Valley. Investigators also have requested Air Traffic Control and radar data, saying it could help provide clues. The small craft had no black box. Annas, owner of GMA Aircraft Sales at the Minden airport, was an experienced pilot who had been flying since he was a teen, said Al Gangwish, president of Hutt Aviation in Minden. "I was very shocked to find out about the crash because he has a lot of experience," Gangwish said. "Gary had a very successful business and was very well liked and did it the right way. He'll definitely be missed." **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC