22 MAY 2009 _______________________________________ *T-38 Goes Down North of Edwards AFB *Meet The New Boss -- Babbitt Confirmed As FAA Administrator *The Dreamliner Roars: Boeing Completes First 787 Dreamliner Engine Runs *Big Bucks: FAA Wants To Fine Gulfstream International Airlines $1.3M *Airplane bumps into another at LAX *NASA Shares Collier Trophy Award for Aviation Safety Technologies *House OKs safety plan for overseas aircraft work *Airports Won't Use 'Puffer' Machines *Flight Safety Chief: Preserve Bilaterals *DGCA upgrades to escape US curbs (India) *Aussie flight attendant gets jail for bomb hoax *Plane makes emergency landing in Buenos Aires *Carriers could face GPS software glitch next month **************************************** T-38 Goes Down North of Edwards AFB Two On Board, One Reported Dead An Air Force T-38 Talon crashed at 1:15 p.m. May 21, about nine miles north of Edwards Air Force Base. The Edwards aircraft was on a flight-test training mission at the time of the accident. Kern County fire spokesman Sean Collins reported that the T-38 went down about 1330 Thursday in the Mojave Desert. Two crewmembers were on board; and according to local media reports, one person was dead at the scene and other airlifted to the hospital. The aircraft and its two-person crew were on a flight-test training mission at the time of the accident. The T-38 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 officers will investigate the accident. FMI: www.af.mil aero-news.net ****** Date: 21-MAY-2009 Time: 13:15 LT Type: Northrop T-38 Talon Operator: USAF Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Edwards AFB, California - United States of America Phase: Unknown Nature: Military Departure airport: Destination airport: Narrative: The aircraft, on a training mission, crashed in the Mojave desert approx. 9 miles north of the base for unknown reasons. One crew member killed and the other one hospitalized. (aviation-safety.net) ***************** Meet The New Boss -- Babbitt Confirmed As FAA Administrator With An Extensive Airline Background, Will Babbitt Be Fair To ALL of Aviation? Late Thursday, as the Senate hurriedly wrapped up business before the coming holiday, J. Randolph Babbitt was confirmed as the next Administrator of the FAA. Babbitt was, most recently, a partner at Oliver Wyman, an international aviation consulting firm. A former airline pilot, Babbitt has also been the president and CEO of ALPA. He was the former Chairman and CEO of Eclat Consulting until they were acquired by Oliver Wyman in 2007. The White House noted that "Babbitt is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of aviation safety and policy, and labor relations with almost 40 years of experience in the industry. Babbitt began his aviation career as a pilot for Eastern Airlines and flew for more than 25 years. He served as President and CEO for US ALPA, the world's largest professional organization of airline pilots. In 1993 he served as a Presidential appointee on the National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry." Babbitt is well familiar with the inner workings at the FAA. President Clinton appointed Babbitt to FAA's Management Advisory Council in 2000. Last year, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters appointed him to the independent review team of aviation and safety experts that examined the FAA's approach to safety. That team offered recommendations to improve the agency's safety culture and the implementation of an aviation safety system. The announcement of Babbitt's nomination was originally well received within the FAA. In a broadcast message to all employees, acting Administrator Lynne Osmus said, "Randy is no stranger to the FAA, and many of us have had the pleasure of working with him over the last several years." FMI: www.faa.gov aero-news.net *************** The Dreamliner Roars: Boeing Completes First 787 Dreamliner Engine Runs Dreamliner Converts Fuel To Noise Is Boeing getting the 787 back on track? Judging by recent events, it sure looks like progress is being made... and on something that actually resembles a schedule... albeit a much modified one. Regardless; it shows steady progress toward the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner, as Boeing completed the first engine runs on the all-new airplane, Thursday morning. The occasion marks the first all-electric start of a commercial jetliner engine on a commercial jetliner; the engines had been started electronically in test facilities earlier. Engine runs began at 9:30 a.m. (PDT) today and ended 40 minutes later. During initial engine runs, the engines are started and operated at various power settings to ensure all systems perform as expected. Today's engine run test began with the Auxiliary Power System providing power to start the two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. Basic systems checks continued throughout the test. The engines were powered down and inspected and will be restarted following a technical review. The team completed a vibration check and monitored the shutdown logic to ensure it functioned as expected. "We were very pleased with the performance on the engines during this test," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "We will now get ready for our intermediate and final gauntlet tests." FMI: www.boeing.com aero-news.net *************** Big Bucks: FAA Wants To Fine Gulfstream International Airlines $1.3M Same Airline Once Employed CC3407 Captain The FAA is attempting to exact a $1.3 million civil penalty from Florida-based Gulfstream International Airlines, Inc. for violations of the FAR's. Gulfstream has been making some news of late for also being a former employer of the Captain of the ill-fated Continental Connection 3407 flight. The alleged violations include improper scheduling of flight crew duty time, and the installation of unapproved air conditioner compressors and improperly maintained vent blowers on the airline's fleet of 27 BE-1900-D aircraft. An FAA review of the airline's electronic record-keeping system for tracking crew duty and rest time revealed that Gulfstream International did not accurately input the proper data from its manually generated hard-copy aircraft logbook records into the electronic system. The discrepancies resulted in scheduling crew members in excess of daily and weekly flight time limitations. During a June 2008 inspection, the FAA determined that the airline had installed unapproved automotive air conditioner compressors on its aircraft between September 2006 and May 2008. Following the FAA inspection, the airline grounded all of the affected aircraft and replaced the units with approved aircraft air conditioner compressors. In the course of a July 2008 inspection of Gulfstream International avionics and component shops in Fort Lauderdale, the FAA discovered that the airline had installed improperly maintained vent blowers on six planes between January 2008 and June 2008. Following that inspection, the airline replaced the blowers with properly maintained units. Gulfstream International Airlines has 30 days from the receipt of the civil penalty letter to respond to the FAA. FMI: http://gulfstreamair.com aero-news.net *************** Airplane bumps into another at LAX A commuter plane bumped into another commuter aircraft as it backed out of its gate at LAX on Thursday afternoon. At 4:40 p.m., an American Eagle flight bound for San Diego bumped into the tail section of another American Eagle plane parked at LAX's midfield terminal, said Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. None of the 40 passengers and three crew members aboard the departing aircraft were injured, but there was slight damage to one or both of the planes, said Nancy Castles, an LAX spokeswoman. The plane returned to the gate, and the passengers were booked on other flights, airport officials said. No one was on the other plane at the time of the incident. FAA traffic controllers were not directing either of the two Embraer E135 turboprop planes at the time of the accident, Gregor said. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident, Castles said. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/2-airplanes-bump-each-other-on -lax-runway.html ***** Date: 21-MAY-2009 Time: 4:40 pm Type: Embraer EMB-135 Operator: American Eagle Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) - United States of America Phase: Pusback / towing Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: KLAX Destination airport: KSAN Narrative: During pushback, two American Eagle EMB-135 aircraft collided. One of them was about to depart for San Diego. No injuries to passengers reported. Sources: http://www.10news.com/news/19533080/detail.html# (aviation-safety.net) ************** NASA Shares Collier Trophy Award for Aviation Safety Technologies WASHINGTON, May 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, NASA is part of a team chosen to receive one of the most prestigious awards in aviation. On May 28, the National Aeronautics Association will present the 2008 Robert J. Collier Trophy to the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, or CAST. This unique industry and government partnership was established in 1997 with the goal of reducing the U.S. commercial aviation fatal accident rate by 80 percent in 10 years. CAST represents thousands of people in public agencies and private industry "who have worked diligently since 1997 to produce the safest commercial aviation system in the world," according to the Collier Trophy award nomination the Air Transport Association submitted. The nomination notes the partnership's original goal was difficult to achieve, but that "the year 2008 topped the previous year as the safest year in commercial aviation history, and the CAST team is proud to report the risk in fatal commercial accidents has reduced by 83 percent." NASA's Aviation Safety Program has been a part of CAST since the team was established. Executive Committee membership includes the director of the Aviation Safety Program in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington. "I'm very pleased that the Commercial Aviation Safety Team has been selected for this year's Collier Trophy," said NASA's current Aviation Safety Program Director Amy Pritchett. "NASA's Aviation Safety Program has been instrumental in CAST during its lifetime." Researchers at four NASA field installations have worked as part of the Aviation Safety Program to develop advanced, affordable technologies to make flying safer. The researchers work at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., and NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The National Aeronautics Association awarded the 2007 trophy to a team that included NASA's Langley and Ames research centers for their work on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, a system that allows aircraft to be tracked by satellite rather than radar. For information about NASA's aeronautics research programs, visit: http://aeronautics.nasa.gov For information about other NASA programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov *************** House OKs safety plan for overseas aircraft work WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. inspectors would conduct more checks of overseas aircraft repair stations under a House bill approved Thursday that seeks to address safety concerns as major airlines send maintenance work overseas. The European Commission has threatened to pull out of an aviation safety deal over that requirement. A U.S.-European Union agreement says each will have comparable safety requirements and inspection systems. The legislation also authorizes $13.4 billion to accelerate the U.S. transition from a radar-based air traffic control system to one based on Global Positioning System technology. The bill, approved by a vote of 277 to 136, requires the Federal Aviation Administration to increase its overseas inspections from once a year to twice a year, and foreign workers would have to submit to the same drug and alcohol testing and criminal background checks that apply to U.S. workers. A report last year by the Transportation Department's internal watchdog said nine big U.S. airlines are farming out aircraft maintenance at twice the rate of four years earlier and now hire outside contractors for more than 70 percent of major work. While most of the outsourced work is still done in the U.S., often at nonunion repair shops, more than one-quarter of the repairs are done overseas. The European Commission has threatened to withdraw from the pending aviation safety deal if the provision on overseas repair station becomes law. Republican lawmakers called the provision a "job killer," predicting European airlines will stop sending their aircraft to repair stations in the United States. "Our interest here is putting people to work and making this system safe, not doing away with jobs," said Rep. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who waved a list he said contained of 11,000 aircraft repair jobs in the U.S. that would be lost. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the Europeans are "crying wolf." "I wouldn't want to have to come back on this floor at some future date and have to respond to an air tragedy because an aircraft wasn't properly inspected in a foreign repair station that wasn't properly crewed or supervised by U.S. personnel," Oberstar said. Another provision of the bill would make it easier for unions to organize FedEx truck drivers and other non-aviation employees. Since its founding in 1971, FedEx Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., has fallen under the Railway Labor Act, which requires long mediation before employees can take work actions and bars localized unions. The bill's provision placing some FedEx workers under the less restrictive National Labor Relations Act would benefit the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has sought to represent FedEx drivers, and rival package delivery giant United Parcel Service of Atlanta, whose drivers are already Teamsters. FedEx has vowed to cancel a $7 billion order for 30 Boeing 777 freighters if the provision is enacted; Teamsters officials have accused the company of trying to blackmail Congress. The provision "threatens FedEx's ability to provide competitively priced shipping options and ready access to global markets," FedEx spokesman Maury Lane said. The bill, which would authorize $70 billion for the FAA through September 2012, also would: _Require the agency to hire more safety inspectors. _Increase taxes on fuel used by corporate and private aircraft, raising an additional $600 million over 10 years beginning in 2010. _Create an independent office to investigate whistle-blower complaints. _Increase money available to subsidize air service to rural communities from $127 million to $200 million annually. _Require a study on pilot fatigue. _Require a study on airline pilot training and certification. _Require airlines and airports to develop contingency plans for how they will handle the passengers whose flights have been delayed for hours on tarmacs. Consumer advocates had sought a three-hour limit on how long airplanes can sit on runways before they have to return to a gate. On the Net: House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee: http://transportation.house.gov/ Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov *************** Airports Won't Use 'Puffer' Machines The Transportation Security Administration is abandoning a $36 million airport screening program designed to foil terrorists by shooting air blasts at passengers and sniffing for explosives particles dislodged from skin and clothing, an agency spokeswoman said. The TSA bought 207 "puffer" machines for $30 million from General Electric and Smiths Detection in 2004 but halted deployment of the detectors in mid-2006 because they were too slow, unreliable and expensive to operate. The devices got clogged by dust and confused by humidity or jet fuel fumes, increasing operating costs by as much as $48,000 per $150,000 machine, according to USA Today. The machines will be replaced with full-body scanners. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104 361.html *************** Flight Safety Chief: Preserve Bilaterals As the FAA Reauthorization Bill of 2009 waits in limbo, many in the aviation industry emphasize the importance of reciprocal agreements between the U.S. and foreign nations. Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO William Voss spoke out today in defense of bilateral airworthiness and aviation safety agreements. "We have seen no evidence whatsoever that aircraft maintenance performed by non-U.S. repair stations is any less safe than that performed within the U.S., provided the repair stations and personnel are properly certificated and regulated," Voss said in a statement. "We would be very concerned about any interference in the carefully crafted international system of reciprocal recognition of airworthiness determinations." H.R. 915, the FAA Reauthorization Bill of 2009, was considered by the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation & Infrastructure Committee on March 5, but it has not yet been voted on in the House. If the reauthorization package passes as written, it would mandate new requirements for foreign repair stations that service U.S. aircraft, among them twice annual inspections by FAA inspectors and drug and alcohol testing. Many feel that the new requirements would prompt other nations to revise or revoke bilaterals in place with the U.S.--a move that could impact trade relations and further strain the FAA's human resources. Reciprocal Matters Such bilateral agreements allow reciprocal certification of aircraft and aircraft safety products. The U.S. FAA currently has bilateral airworthiness safety agreements (BASA) in place with 17 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K., says FAA representative Alison Duquette. These BASAs predate a separate EU BASA, which has not yet been ratified. Bilateral airworthiness agreements have been established with 13 other countries. Voss isn't the first to air concern (O&M, April 2009, p.19). Rockwell Collins Chairman, President and CEO Clayton Jones has told the T&I Committee that a requirement for twice annual inspections "could ultimately undermine the exact safety systems we are constantly improving--while damaging the FAA's leadership around the world." Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the ranking Republican on T&I Committee, has said he believes the committee should hold hearings on the matter to look at the "possible violation of international accords." Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.), the ranking Republican on the House aviation subcommittee, has said he has "grave concerns" about the provisions. AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey wrote a letter to the T&I Committee outlining the bill's potential impact on smaller companies, and ARSA Managing Director and General Counsel Marshall Filler has emphasized FAA's lack of resources. T&I Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (D.-Minn.), who sponsored the bill, has dismissed concerns, saying "This is just a lot of hoopla." Co-sponsor and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D.-Ill.) has said the proposed measures respond to "a safety issue." http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=mro&id=news /fsf5219.xml&headline=Flight%20Safety%20Chief:%20Preserve%20Bilaterals **************** DGCA upgrades to escape US curbs (India) New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has spared the government a major embarrassment by meeting 60 per cent of the critical conditions laid down by the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in an assessment it conducted in March 2009. Had it not met these conditions, the US would have curtailed flights from India and imposed more stringent security checks. A DGCA official said that the regulator had overcome in about two months 54 of the 89 shortcomings pointed out by the FAA. "The DGCA has now also constituted a Board of Aviation Safety under the chairmanship of the director general to take periodic stock of safety and security developments," the official told The Indian Express. The FAA team is scheduled to visit India in June for another inspection. Though the DGCA expects to fulfill all the conditions by then, it has decided to buy more time from the FAA and push the deadline to July. Earlier, the regulator was hauled up by the civil aviation ministry, which had to request the external affairs ministry to firefight on its behalf with the American counterpart. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/DGCA-upgrades-to-escape-US-curbs/463982 ***************** Aussie flight attendant gets jail for bomb hoax BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhuanet)-- An Australian flight attendant was jailed for 18 months in England for creating a bomb hoax on a London-bound plane. Matthew Carney, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to "inducing a false belief that an object liable to explode" on board his Emirates flight EK-011 from Dubai to London in March. Handing down Carney's sentence, judge Richard Brown said the Australian had breached the trust of the plane's 164 passengers, its owner and his co-workers. Carney was arrested after the Emirates Boeing landed at Gatwick airport amid a major security scare about whether there was a bomb on board. While no explosive devices were found, two notes referring to a bomb on the jumbo were discovered - one in a passenger toilet and another in Carney's luggage. Fears about a bomb being on board the plane arose when a passenger on board the Boeing found the note 10 minutes before the plane was due to land and raised the alarm. When the flight arrived at Gatwick it was taken to a secure holding area and surrounded by armed police. The passengers and 16 crew were taken off the plane and interviewed and Carney was arrested shortly afterwards. *************** Plane makes emergency landing in Buenos Aires BUENOS AIRES, May 21 (Xinhua) -- An international flight of American Airlines leaving the Ezeiza international airport of Buenos Aires for New York on Wednesday night had to return and made an emergency landing due to a technical failure, an airlines spokesman said on Thursday. The spokesman said that it was a Boeing 767 with 200 passengers aboard. After two hours of flying on Wednesday night, "the pilot detected a failure at the defrosters" so "he declared an emergency and returned to Ezeiza," the spokesman noted. Before making the emergency landing, the plane had to flight over De la Plata River to finish the fuel. American Airlines' commercial manager Hector Parodi said that the emergency happened to Flight AA956, adding that the anti-ice system is crucial to flight safety as this model of aircraft usually flies at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters. The plane took off at 8:39 p.m. and landed safely at 11:17 p.m. local time, the spokesman said. He added that all foreign passengers aboard were well accommodated in Buenos Aires, and the flight was rescheduled for Thursday night. ***************** Carriers could face GPS software glitch next month A software bug resident in a wide range of multi-mode GPS receivers (MMR) built by Rockwell Collins could cause datalink and other problems during the chronological transition from 20 to 21 June, cautions the European Aviation Safety Agency. In a safety information bulletin (SIB) published 20 May, the regulator "strongly" recommended that operators with the units, which fly on practically all Boeing and Airbus models as well the Bombardier CRJ series, develop mitigation plans to deal with the potential problems, which were brought to EASA's attention by Rockwell Collins. EASA says the error "may cause the MMR to compute a date that is 512 weeks or approximately 19.5 years in the past" unless the unit is powered on during the transition between the days (at 0000h GMT) or if an onboard source such as a flight management system or flight deck clock is set up to provide time to the MMR instead. While the anomaly will not affect "position, integrity and time of day provided by the MMR," says EASA, it could prohibit the use of air traffic control datalink functions, result in incorrect date information on flight deck clocks, and possibly cause loss of maintenance and condition monitoring system data, as well as other anomalies. Rockwell Collins says through the course of GPS system development and product regression testing "our engineers discovered a minor software anomaly that affects the way the GPS receiver handles the date after June 20, 2009". Stressing the anomaly does not in any way compromise navigation precision or integrity, the company adds: "We have been working closely with our customers and regulatory agencies to rapidly resolve this issue with minimal impact to our customers." Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC