02 JUN 2009 _______________________________________ * Flight 447 vanished without warning * Air force planes search the Atlantic for survivors as hopes fade * Mumbai near-miss adds to Praful's safety concerns * ASAP Reinstated at Comair * Air Collision Fears for Drones * Embry-Riddle Creates Global Wildlife Strike Information Center to Improve Air Safety * Northrop Grumman Wins FAA Contract to Improve Airport Safety On the Ground * Safety first (India) *************************************** Flight 447 vanished without warning Washington - Globe and Mail Update, Tuesday, Jun. 02, 2009 04:42AM EDT The sudden, catastrophic loss of a nearly new Airbus jetliner without warning or distress call on a routine Air France transatlantic flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris suggests a bizarre, perhaps unprecedented, aviation disaster. Although the doomed flight had just passed through a patch of extreme turbulence in the tropics as it threaded a line of thunderstorms filling the night sky near the equator, the abrupt, fateful silence from Flight 447 echoed the sudden finality of bombs or mid-air collisions, rather than even the worst weather. "Modern airliners do not just go missing," David Learmount, safety editor at Flight International magazine in London. Those that do, without warning at high altitude, have usually been blown up or shot down. Modern airliners are designed to shrug off lightning and cope with turbulence so extreme that sometimes unbelted passengers are injured or killed. But a full-blown structural failure of a jet because of weather would be unprecedented. Nothing suggests terrorism or foul play in the Air France crash, but finding the so-called black boxes - the cockpit voice recorder that captures the last 30 minutes of the pilot's conversations, and the even more critical flight data recorder that tracks all of the systems and flight controls - will be crucial to re-creating the final stages of the flight and the causes of the crash. France will lead the accident investigation because the crash occurred in international waters. "Accident investigators can't rule out anything," said Jim Hall, former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. "But these aircraft are designed to withstand almost any lightning strikes or any level of turbulence." Even pinpointing the crash site will be difficult, let alone finding the recorders, although they broadcast an emergency locator signal. In several previous ocean crashes, both the recorders and key wreckage parts have been recovered by remotely operated deep-sea submersibles. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/flight-447-vanished-without-warnin g/article1162634/ *************************************** Air force planes search the Atlantic for survivors as hopes fade Tuesday 02 June 2009 Military planes continue to search the Atlantic where an Air France plane carrying 228 people disappeared Monday on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Airline sources say there is little chance that anyone would have survived a crash. In response to a French request for aid, US President Barack Obama has agreed to help the search for the flight in any way possible. Flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 216 passengers and 12 crew disappeared off radar screens in the early hours of Monday, four hours into its scheduled 11-hour flight. A daytime search by Brazilian air force planes turned up nothing. The search continued into the night with a specially equipped aircraft. A Hercules C130 hunted over the dark waters for the missing Airbus's emergency beacon, and an Embraer AWACS jet with infrared gear searched for bodies on the water. "We will search all night long and keep going through dawn," said Colonel Jorge Amaral of the Brazilian air force. "We have to work as if it were possible to find survivors." France has also sent two maritime reconnaissance planes from Senegal, and the ship "Mistral" has been routed to the area. They are searching in a zone 1,100 kilometres off the north-eastern coast of Brazil. The flight was last in contact with the Brazilian air force when 565 kilometres from the coast. A possible lead came from the pilot of a plane with Brazilian airlines Tam, who reported seeing "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean while flying through the same zone, half an hour behind the ill-fated Air France flight. But a merchant ship in the area found no sign of burning or other debris from the missing flight. "Catastrophe" If no survivors are found, this would be the worst disaster in the airline's 76-year history and the worst aviation accident in a decade. "It's a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen," said Sarkozy. The cause of the disaster is perplexing. "There's a lack of information," said France 24's Claire Pryde from Charles de Gaulle airport. She said that Air France staff were not satisfied with the explanations so far given. Air France officials have linked it to the possibility of a lightning strike during stormy and turbulent weather, but that is relatively common phenomenon on aircraft and usually causes no damage. Two Lufthansa flights subsequently passing along a similar flight path did not experience any difficulties. Air France's chief executive, Pierre-Henry Gourgeon, said the aircraft had sent a series of error messages shortly after crossing an area of major turbulence. Gourgeon said that "a succession of a dozen technical messages" sent by the aircraft around 0215 GMT showed that "several electrical systems had broken down", which caused a "totally unprecedented situation in the plane". "It is probable that it was shortly after these messages that the impact in the Atlantic came," he told reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport. http://www.france24.com/en/20090602-air-france-crash-brazil-airbus-a330-rio- searching-survivors-accident *************************************** Mumbai near-miss adds to Praful's safety concerns 2 Jun 2009, 0341 hrs IST, TNN NEW DELHI: The near-miss at Mumbai airport where two aircraft narrowly avoided a collision on Sunday, along with the US threat to downgrade India's weak aviation regulatory authority, have laid the agenda for Praful Patel as aviation minister in UPA-II. Patel, who took charge on Monday, said safety issues will top the ministry's agenda followed by aviation infrastructure augmentation and strengthening Air India. ''Growth of the sector in the past few years has brought about its own challenges. Though safety was not given the go-by in past five years, but now this, along with regulatory issues, will get highest priority,'' Patel said. In the past five years as air traffic soared, the regulator - Directorate General of Civil Aviation - has actually seen its strength fall majorly, which meant while there were more flights to oversee, there were fewer people to do so and ensure air safety. This failure to strengthen DGCA got frowns from international community with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) threatening to downgrade India to sub-Sahara African levels. An FAA team inspected DGCA in mid-March and enumerated 19 shortcomings to the government, with time till June to sort them out to avoid being downgraded. In the past two months, the aviation ministry and DGCA have sorted out 18 of the 19 issues raised by FAA. The government has sanctioned close to 700 officer-grade posts for DGCA. ''We are now going to recruit people for ATC and DGCA ahead of time. There has been shortage of staff in these places as trained people left for greener pastures. The regulator is being strengthened,'' Patel said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Mumbai-near-miss-adds-to-Prafuls-sa fety-concerns/articleshow/4606269.cms *************************************** Monday, June 1, 2009 ASAP Reinstated at Comair Comair pilots and management, together with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), recently signed a memorandum of understanding to reinstate the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) for pilots at Comair. The original safety program was terminated by Comair in October 2008 after concerns were raised about its administration. ASAP allows and encourages workers to report safety issues and protects employees who report problems from disciplinary actions or the imposition of sanctions. These reports enhance safety by alerting management to potential issues that might otherwise go unreported. http://www.aviationtoday.com/asw/topstories/ASAP-Reinstated-at-Comair_32531. html *************************************** Monday, June 1, 2009 Air Collision Fears for Drones Major advances in unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology has advocates clamoring to use more drones for everything from coastal patrols and border surveillance to tracking natural disasters. But fear of midair collisions is holding up any broad expansion of their domestic use. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials have made it clear that until the pilotless aircraft gain the high-tech ability to 'sense and avoid' manned aircraft, the federal government is unlikely to allow them to operate much more freely in congested airspace. According to Ardyth Williams, the FAA's UAS air traffic manager, "this is a new technology, an approaching technology, but there are already hundreds of them flying out there right now." http://www.aviationtoday.com/asw/topstories/Air-Collision-Fears-for-Drones_3 2532.html *************************************** Embry-Riddle Creates Global Wildlife Strike Information Center to Improve Air Safety Posted : Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:04:16 GMT Author : Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; PRESCOTT, Ariz. and DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., June 2 ERAU-wildlife-center Center Will Expand Research, Accuracy, and Availability of Data PRESCOTT, Ariz. and DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Jan. 15 ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River vividly illustrated the dangers of midair collisions between birds and aircraft. But what led to the "miracle on the Hudson" happens more often than the public realizes. Bird and wildlife strikes cause more than a half-million hours of aircraft down time and cost U.S. civil aviation more than $500 million annually, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the threat to air safety is on the rise with the expansion of many wildlife species that are hazardous to aircraft. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a leader in aviation education and safety, is launching the International Center for Aviation and Wildlife Risk Mitigation to help manage this growing hazard. The new Center, based at Embry-Riddle's Prescott, Ariz., campus, will bring together top aviation wildlife experts to share and develop new research and management solutions to reduce the dangers and serve as a resource to airports around the world. The Center is an initiative of national wildlife expert Archie Dickey, an associate professor of aviation environmental science in Prescott, Ariz., who serves as director. Dickey created and has managed the FAA's web-based wildlife strike database since 1999. The FAA site is a compilation of data about aircraft and wildlife strikes around the country, and data is voluntarily reported by airport officials. "We created this Center to support data collection efforts, develop better solutions to reduce wildlife strike hazards, and serve as a clearinghouse to share this information with industry and organizations that need it," Dickey said. "The US Airways landing in the Hudson River was the wake-up call that we needed to accelerate our plan to create this Center, which was several years in the making." The new Center is designed to be part of a larger comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. bird strike hazard management system proposed by industry experts and now under review through the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as well as the FAA. One of the Center's goals is to bring together and leverage broad industry, academic, and government supporters to gain federal and state funding to establish the Center as the pre-eminent national facility for wildlife/bird strike data collection, research, and development, similar to FAA-sponsored Centers of Excellence now operating at Embry-Riddle and other universities. The Center is advised by prominent experts in aviation safety, aerospace engineering, aviation law, and pilot training. They include Russell DeFusco, Ph.D., founder of the wildlife management consultancy BASH Inc.; Paul Eschenfelder, aviation consultant and president of Avion Corp.; and Ed Cleary, retired FAA wildlife biologist. Students enrolled in the Aviation Environmental Science degree program at Embry-Riddle, which Dickey also chairs, will assist with research at the Center. The new Center will develop and promote solutions for managing wildlife around airports and training pilots and airport personnel to avoid aircraft collisions with birds and wildlife. Some approaches already show promise, according to Dickey. For example, certain marine radar has been modified to detect birds near airports, and the mowing of airport-area grass to a height of six to 12 inches deters the presence of larger birds. The Center will work with bird strike committees in North America and abroad to collect, maintain, and disseminate relevant data and research. The Center will develop training programs, management policies, and operational plans regarding aviation and wildlife risk mitigation to effectively and accurately facilitate communication with the scientific community, public, media, and government organizations. For more information, contact Archie Dickey at Prescott.Birdstrike.Project@erau.edu. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/embry-riddle-creates-global-wildlife -strike-information-center-to-improve-air-safety,845907.shtml *************************************** Northrop Grumman Wins FAA Contract to Improve Airport Safety On the Ground SAN DIEGO, June 1, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) a contract for the Low-Cost Ground Surveillance (LCGS) program to heighten situational awareness of airport surface traffic. The contract is for the installation of the LCGS system at the Reno, Nev., airport and includes options for installation at additional airports. LCGS will provide surface surveillance at U.S. airports to significantly upgrade efficiency and safety. This is especially critical at small and medium-size airports where air traffic controllers currently rely only on their "out-of-the-window" view of surface traffic as the primary means for avoiding conflicts and maintaining operational capacity and safety. That view can be severely hampered by adverse weather conditions, compromising safety for travelers. Northrop Grumman's solution features the NOVA 9000 developed by Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems. The NOVA 9000 processes and integrates radar and related data to give graphical views of aircraft and vehicles in the airport movement area on display screens to controllers in the tower. The system offers integrated and efficient airport ground surveillance to the world's airports and has been installed in more than 40 airports throughout more than 20 countries. The NOVA 9000 is cost-effective and easy to install and operate, and its scalability allows suitability for installation at small airports as well as some of the world's largest and busiest airports such as London Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. "We are pleased the FAA has chosen our solution that is based on the most widely installed and trusted ground surveillance system in the world," said Roger Fujii, vice president of Network Communication Systems for Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector. "We look forward to working with the FAA and furthering the safety of traffic on airport runways and taxiways." Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, based in Peterborough, UK and Oslo and Horten, Norway, supplies communication, navigation and surveillance systems for air-space operations worldwide. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. CONTACT: Sudi Bruni Northrop Grumman Information Systems (858) 592-3407 sudi.bruni@ngc.com Ken Beedle Northrop Grumman Corporation (London) +44 207 747 1910 +44 7787 174092 ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/globenewswire/166338.htm *************************************** Safety first (India) Tuesday, June 02, 2009, 1:00 [IST] "Air safety should get Priority in India." The near collision in Mumbai airport of two aircraft carrying around 220 passengers calls for immediate steps to improve safety standards in our airports. Both the planes were reportedly given the green signal by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to take off from diagonal runways simultaneously. A collision was averted in the nick of time by an ATC official who ordered one of the aircraft to halt. This was just a few seconds before the aircrafts were to take off. In February this year, an Air Force helicopter of President Pratibha Patil's fleet landed on a runway seconds before a Delhi-bound passenger plane took off on the same runway. A few days later, a plane carrying 43 passengers from Dibrugarh to Kolkata and an aircraft of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) came within 300 feet of each other. A collision was averted as the pilot of the passenger aircraft immediately dropped altitude. Collisions were averted in all three incidents. But we might not be this lucky all the time. We need measures to improve safety. It is unfortunate that instead of learning from their mistakes, civil and military aviation authorities, ATC officials, airlines and pilots have been busy over the past few months blaming each other. In the circumstances, another mishap was bound to happen. Only recently, the government decided to allow 24-hour use of Mumbai airports cross-runways, provided conditions like good visibility, adequate manpower and so on are fulfilled. In fact, this was to come into effect on Monday. The near collision at Mumbai on Sunday indicates that our airports are still not ready for this. Aviation officials have observed that while 24-hour use of cross runways would increase the number of flights taking off per hour, the increase is marginal. The risks involved in having multiple flights take off at the same time far outweigh the gains. Increased air passenger traffic and congestion of runways and airports has resulted in airports across the world looking for ways to address the problem. And round-the-clock use of cross runways has been one way of doing so. It has worked in other airports and it could in India too. But before attempting to put cross runways to use 24/7 we need to improve efficiency and safety standards of our airports. ATC is obviously understaffed and overloaded with work. Its officials can ensure safe air travel only if they are provided with more hands and state-of-the art equipment. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/5728/safety-first.html *************************************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC