18 MAY 2009 _______________________________________ *Airline industry changes raise safety issues *Wheel falls off Colgan plane at Buffalo airport *Comair pilots rejoin federal safety program *Senate Panel will hold airline safety hearings *Sheppard T-38 Involved In Runway Accident *NTSB Responds to Political Plea About CC3407 Investigation *Jet Pilot in Near Miss Criticized *Turkish Airlines plane lands safely after bird strike *************************************** Airline industry changes raise safety issues WASHINGTON - Revelations this week about pilot pay and working conditions at the regional airline involved in an air crash that killed 50 in upstate New York have raised broader concerns that long-term structural changes in the aviation industry may be undermining safety. Members of Congress said they were stunned to learn how little the pilots of Continental Connection Flight 3407 were paid, that they may have tried to snatch sleep in an airport crew lounge against company policy, and that the first officer was living with her parents near Seattle and commuting cross country to work in New Jersey. "All these things raise questions: Are they an aberration, or are FAA standards sufficient? Or are the standards not enforced?" said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate's aviation subcommittee. House and Senate hearings are planned. Aviation industry experts said conditions at regional carriers reflect a broad restructuring of the industry that took place post-Sept. 11, 2001, when air travel dropped sharply. It took the industry years to recover and triggered a wave of major airline bankruptcies, mergers, and management demands for dramatic wage and benefit concessions. The role of regional airlines has also been transformed. Once considered industry runts alongside the powerful and glamorous major carriers, they are now joined at the hip with their big brothers so that passengers who buy a ticket on a major airline often find themselves on a regional carrier for some leg of a domestic trip. The transition is so seamless that passengers often don't even realized they're traveling on two airlines, rather than one. Regional carriers account for half of all domestic departures and about a quarter of the passengers. They are also the only scheduled service to about 440 communities. Witnesses at National Transportation Safety Board hearings this week said it's possible that many passengers flying on Flight 3407 the night of Feb. 12 didn't know the plane and its flight crew belonged not to Continental, but to Colgan Air Inc. of Manassas, Va. The twin-engine turboprop experienced an aerodynamic stall as it neared Buffalo Niagara International Airport, plunging into a house below in a fiery crash. All 49 people aboard and a man in the house were killed. Testimony and documents indicate Captain Marvin Renslow and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw made a series a critical errors. NTSB investigators calculated Shaw was paid just over $16,000. Colgan officials testified that captains like Renslow earn about $55,000 a year. The company later said Shaw's salary was $23,900 and that captains earn about $67,000. While pilot pay is usually based on the size of the aircraft, the workload and flight schedules at regional airlines are often more demanding than at a major airline, where the planes are larger, said Scott Johns, a former Northwest Airlines pilot and air crash investigator. "Regional airline pilots do the bulk of the hard work of the airlines, feeding passengers to the more traditional routes, like the nonstops between Los Angeles and Boston or the overseas routes," Johns said. "I'm not sure how you fix this pay system discrepancy." Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, said lower salaries are an industrywide problem. He predicted airlines generally will suffer a shortage of pilots once the economy improves. He denied, however, that safety has been affected. "Compensation has nothing to do with safety," Cohen said. "We're going to defend the quality of our people." William Swelbar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's airline data project noted that until the Buffalo crash, major and regional U.S. air carriers hadn't experienced a fatal crash in more than two years. The vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Paul Rice, said salaries vary between companies, but major airline captains typically earn about $120,000 to $125,000. He said senior captains who fly internationally can earn about $180,000. US Airways Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who was widely credited with averting a catastrophe on Jan. 15 after a collision with a flock of Canada geese knocked out thrust in both of Flight 1549's engines, told a House panel in February that airlines today are less able to attract "the best and the brightest." He said his pay had been cut 40 percent. Jeffrey Skiles, Flight 1549's first officer, said some US Airways affiliates hire pilots with as few as 300 hours flying time. "When I was hired, it required 3,000 hours even to be consider for an interview," Skiles, a 30-year veteran, testified. ************* Wheel falls off Colgan plane at Buffalo airport Wheel from main landing gear fell off as aircraft was landing earlier this week Colgan Airlines spokesman says no one on Flight 3268 was injured (CNN) -- A wheel from the main landing gear of a Colgan Airlines passenger plane fell off and rolled away as the aircraft was landing in Buffalo, New York, earlier this week. A wheel fell off the landing gear of Q400 Bombardier upon landing on Colgan Flight 3268 earlier this week. On Thursday night, The Toronto Sun posted a video of the incident shot by a passenger on the Q400 Bombardier -- the same type of plane involved in a fatal Colgan Airlines crash three months ago, also on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The video shows the wheel touch down on the ground and then roll away, followed by metal parts that are meant to keep the wheels in place. The plane was towed to the gate, where everyone on board "deplaned normally," said Joe Williams, a spokesman for Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan's parent company. "At no time was any passenger or crew member at risk, nor were any injuries reported," Williams said of the Tuesday incident. "The aircraft was properly maintained in accordance with the manufacturer and Federal Aviation Administration procedures." Williams said the incident "appears to have been caused by the failure of the outer wheel bearing ... the bearing was relatively new, having been on the aircraft for five weeks." Colgan Flight 3268 originated in Newark, New Jersey. "I was scared, and the other passengers looked worried, too," one passenger told the Toronto newspaper. "For a moment, I thought the worst in that we may not make it." Three months ago, Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed in nearby Clarence Center, New York, killing all 49 passengers and crew members aboard. One person was killed on the ground. Hearings about the cause of that accident have been held in Washington this week. Investigators have focused on pilot fatigue as a possible cause of the crash. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/15/new.york.tire.plane/index.html *************** Comair pilots rejoin federal safety program Comair and its pilot union today agreed to rejoin a federal program that allows pilots to report safety issues and incidents anonymously. The Erlanger-based regional airline's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association had dropped out of the program in October, citing previous issues around the anonymity of the program, known as the Aviation Safety Action Program, or ASAP. Union officials now say the program is one of the best in the industry, because it outlines every step of the process in agreement with company management. "The goal of anyone in this industry is to enhance safety, and this gives our pilots another tool to increase that," said Matthew Lamparter, chairman of the 1,200-member local union. "This new program returns its focus on encouraging the reporting to find the problems. We have taken the best of the best of the best of programs and enhanced it even further." The FAA-sponsored program allows pilots to report any issue, including ones they may have caused, to a telephone tip line, via fax, or over the Internet. A panel including representatives from the company, the FAA and the union then meet to determine any courses of action, keeping the worker's names secret even if retraining is necessary. The system will be fully operational within a month or two. The new agreement spells out individual steps the union and management can take, and responsibilities within each organization, Lamparter said, a change from previous language. Comair's maintenance and dispatch workers also have similar programs, and Lamparter said he knew of negotiations to bring in the airline's flight attendants as well. Most larger and smaller carriers have similar programs nationally, including Comair's corporate parent Delta Air Lines. The FAA says the program is beneficial because it solves potential safety issues without punishment or discipline. The reinstatement comes at a time when safety at regional airlines is under scrutiny - the ongoing NTSB investigation into the Colgan Air (flying for Continental) crash last year near Buffalo has raised concerns about pilot rest and other issues at smaller carriers. "Reinstating this important program reaffirms Comair's commitment to continue developing a strong safety culture," said Comair president John Bendoraitis in a statement. "Programs such as ASAP are designed to help provide a safe and reliable work environment for our employees and travel experience for our passengers." http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090515/BIZ01/905160332/Comair+pilots+re join+federal+safety+program *************** Senate Panel will hold airline safety hearings WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. Senate subcommittee will examine the safety practices of the regional airline industry next month, the panel's chairman says. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D., announced the move on the final day of National Transportation Safety Board hearings into the crash of a Continental Connection flight near Buffalo, N.Y. Dorgan says he was "stunned by what I've seen and heard on the evidence" of the crash which killed 50 people, The Washington Post reported Friday.. "There are so many things that are troublesome," Dorgan said. "It calls for a real serious investigation." The crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in February was the first fatal commercial aviation accident in two years. The flight was operated for Continental by Colgan Air, a unit of Pinnacle Airlines. Dorgan said he met with the families of the victims Thursday. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/15/Panel-will-hold-airline-safety-hearin gs/UPI-45601242395239/ **************** Sheppard T-38 Involved In Runway Accident A Sheppard Air Force Base T-38 Talon veered off the runway during takeoff at about 2:10 p.m. CDT May 14 at Sheppard, AFB, TX. The crew of two experienced minor injuries and received treatment. The airfield was temporarily closed except for military aircraft returning to Sheppard AFB. The T-38, assigned to the 80th Flying Training Wing, is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer. The Talon has swept wings, a streamlined fuselage and tricycle landing gear with a steerable nose wheel. Two independent hydraulic systems power the ailerons, rudder and other flight control surfaces. Critical aircraft components are waist high and can be easily reached by maintenance crews. The more recent T-38C incorporates a glass cockpit with integrated avionics displays, head-up display and an electronic "no drop bomb" scoring system. The AT-38B has a gun sight and practice bomb dispenser. The T-38 needs as little as 2,300 feet of runway to take off and can climb from sea level to nearly 30,000 feet in one minute. T-38s modified by the propulsion modernization program have approximately 19 percent more thrust, reducing takeoff distance by 9 percent. The instructor and student sit in tandem on rocket-powered ejection seats in a pressurized, air-conditioned cockpit. A board of Air Force officials will investigate the incident. FMI: www.af.mil aero-news.net ************** NTSB Responds to Political Plea About CC3407 Investigation The increasingly political issues surrounding a crash investigation continue unabated.... and in the case of the tragic Continental Connection 3407 accident, the political commenting and interference is reaching a fever pitch. While anti-aviation lawmakers like NY's Charles Schumer (D-New York) have all but concluded the causes of the crash and placed blame on some of this favorite scapegoats (and grabbed the obligatory headliens and soundbytes), others are being sliughtly more circumspect, though still voicing concerns -- longbrbefore the NTSB can even hope to publish a Probable Cause. US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) recently wrote the Acting Chairman of the NTSB, Mark Rosenker, to keep the deceased pilots from shouldering all the blame for what she suspects may be a systemic issue. Gillibrand implored Rosenker to 'responsibly assess where the blame should truly lie. On behalf of the families who lost loved ones in this tragedy and all Americans who depend on safe air travel, I urge you not to turn the pilots of Flight 3407 into scapegoats.' Gillibrand notes that, "Over the course of the last week, we have heard shocking testimony about the grave errors that were made by the pilots of Continental Flight 3407. I am outraged to learn that the horrible crash could have been prevented had mistakes not been made." The Senator continues, "While it appears that the pilots of this aircraft committed grave errors, their conduct seems to be an indictment of the aviation system as a whole. These pilots are the product of an aviation system where training, salaries, and oversight are severely flawed. We all heard how the co-pilot only made $16,000 a year, which obviously does not even cover the cost of living for a Newark-based crew member. Crew members live so far away and are not given proper accommodations before their flights, leaving them exhausted and ill-equipped to do their job. Furthermore, these pilots did not have enough training for typical winter conditions in the northeast. In addition, the witness from the human resources department could not answer simple questions about requirements and qualifications for pilots. Failing to hold the system accountable would be a further injustice to these families and all consumers across the country. The Federal Airline Administration must accept some of the responsibility for the tragedy in Buffalo, or these systemic risks and failures will continue. Justice must be served for the men and women who lost their lives in the horrible accident of Flight 3407, and that does not mean resting all the blame on the pilots. These pilots made grave errors but were also a product of an industry that is not adequately training or caring for their workers." NTSB/Rosenker Response Dear Senator Gillibrand, Thank you for your letter earlier this afternoon. We appreciate your thoughts and interest in our investigation. As you noted, we just concluded a three-day public hearing on the circumstances surrounding the tragic crash of Continental Connection flight 3407, operated by Colgan Airways, occurring on February 12, 2009. I can assure you, as I assured the many family members this week who attended the hearing, that the National Transportation Safety Board will consider every factor before rendering a probable cause of the accident. We pride ourselves in providing an objective comprehensive investigation of such transportation accidents. We intend to complete our investigation in as timely a fashion as possible. As you know, our primary products are safety recommendations aimed at preventing similar accidents from occurring again. Such recommendations can be issued at any time during the course of an investigation. I will be happy to keep you apprised of developments in this investigation, and will appreciate your supportive efforts as we strive to improve aviation safety in this country. FMI: www.ntsb.gov aero-news.net **************** Jet Pilot in Near Miss Criticized The man who killed a Danish air traffic controller after his wife and children died in a midair collision has called for the pilot involved in a near miss near Moscow last month to be stripped of his license. Two Russian passenger jets carrying 300 passengers nearly collided after taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports on April 24. Investigators say the pilot of one of the planes, a Tu-154, inexplicably descended into the path of the other plane, a Boeing 767, and a crash was only averted by a quick-thinking air traffic controller. "I believe such pilots should not be allowed near a plane at all," said Vitaly Kaloyev, a North Ossetian architect sentenced to 5 1/2 years in a Swiss prison for the killing but released early for good behavior, RIA-Novosti reported. Kaloyev's wife and two children died when a Tu-154 and a cargo jet collided over southern Germany in 2002 in a crash blamed on the Danish air traffic controller. http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/1010/42/377197.htm ***************** Turkish Airlines plane lands safely after bird strike ISTANBUL, May 17 (Reuters) - A Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS) domestic flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a flock of birds hit its engines, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Sunday. The airplane, which left the central Turkish city of Konya for Istanbul late on Saturday, returned safely to the Konya airport after the bird strike, Anatolian said. Two people were treated at a hospital for their injuries, it said. The plane was carrying 140 people. **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC