22 JUN 2009 _______________________________________ *Brazil identifies 11 bodies from Air France crash *Qantas Flight From HK Encounters Severe Turbulence *FAA Agrees to Improvements for Pilot Training and Safety Programs *Airbus to deliver 1st China-assembled A320 jet *Jackson Hole Airport Under Investigation for Environmental Violation *Japan govt plans emergency loan to Japan Airlines *Health vs. experience central to pilot-age debate *Senate panel misses the point on aviation safety delays by FAA **************************************** Brazil identifies 11 bodies from Air France crash SAO PAULO (AP) - Medical examiners have identified the first 11 of 50 bodies recovered from the Air France flight that plunged into the Atlantic three weeks ago, officials said Sunday. Five bodies were identified as Brazilian men, five as Brazilian women and one as a "foreigner of the male sex," the Public Safety Department of the northeastern state of Pernambuco said in a statement. The department did not reveal the nationality of the non-Brazilian victim. Dental records, fingerprints and DNA samples were used to identify the bodies, the statement said. Investigators are reviewing all remains, debris and baggage at a base set up in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco. The families of the Brazilian victims and the embassy in Brazil representing the foreigner's home country have been notified, but the identities will not be publicized in keeping with the families' wishes, the statement said. Air France Flight 447 fell into the ocean off the northeast coast of Brazil on the night of May 31, killing all 228 people aboard. Thus far, 50 bodies have been retrieved from the ocean. Searchers from Brazil, France, the United States and other countries are methodically scanning the surface and depths of the Atlantic for signs of the Airbus A330, which crashed after running into thunderstorms en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Still missing are the plane's flight data and voice recorders, thought to be deep under water. French-chartered ships are trolling a search area with a radius of 50 miles, pulling U.S. Navy underwater listening devices attached to 19,700 feet of cable. The black boxes send out an electronic tapping sound that can be heard up to 1.25 milesaway. Brazilian and American officials said that as of Sunday evening no signals from the black boxes had been picked up. Without the black boxes to help explain what went wrong, the investigation has focused on a flurry of automated messages sent by the plane minutes before it lost contact. One of the messages suggests external speed sensors had iced over, destabilizing the plane's control systems. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-06-21-airfrance-victims_N.htm **************** Qantas Flight From HK Encounters Severe Turbulence SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) said Monday that an Airbus A330-300 aircraft flying to Perth from Hong Kong encountered severe turbulence, injuring six passengers and one crew member. The seven people were taken to hospital when the aircraft arrived in Perth but were later released. "The aircraft most likely encountered what is known as convective turbulence, which led to it rapidly gaining around 800 feet in altitude before returning to its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet," said Qantas Group Executive Government and Corporate Affairs David Epstein. "This convective turbulence is not normally visible to weather radar," he said. Qantas reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which will investigate. The airline said there was no reason to link the incident to other recent in-flight incidents involving A330 aircraft. There were 206 passengers and 13 flight and cabin crew on the aircraft, which hit the turbulence over Borneo, about four hours out of Hong Kong. The flight captain reported minor damage to two overhead panels in the cabin and two oxygen masks were dislodged. An A330 aircraft owned by Air France crashed into the Atlantic earlier this month on route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro with 228 people on board. The cause of that disaster is unknown. ***** Date: 22-JUN-2009 Time: Type: Airbus A330 Operator: QANTAS Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: / Occupants: Airplane damage: Minor Location: Over Borneo - Malaysia Phase: En route Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: HKN Destination airport: PER Narrative: SIX passengers and a crew member aboard a Qantas flight from Hong Kong have been hurt after the Airbus A330 hit severe turbulence. (aviation-safety.net) **************** FAA Agrees to Improvements for Pilot Training and Safety Programs Senior officials from U.S. airlines, pilot unions and the FAA recently agreed on several major actions to improve safety programs and pilot training at the nation's airlines. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt hosted the "Call to Action" to identify immediate steps to strengthen and improve pilot hiring, training and testing practices at airlines that provide regional service as well as at the country's major air carriers. "We must inspire confidence in every traveler, every time he or she steps onto an airplane," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "We are acting now and acting together because safety is our highest priority." The participants agreed on best practices for pilot record checks that would result in a more expansive search for all records available from a pilot's career. The expanded search would include all the records the FAA maintains on pilots in addition to the records airlines already receive from past employers. The airlines and unions will also review existing pilot training programs over the next several months, according to FAA-issued guidance, to see how they can be strengthened. "We want to make sure we're not just checking boxes," Administrator Babbitt said. "There's a real difference between the quantity of training and the quality of training." Airline and union officials recommended developing pilot mentoring programs that will expose less experienced pilots to the safety culture and professional standards practiced by more senior pilots. The programs could pair experienced pilots from the major airlines with pilots from their regional airline partners. To address concerns about pilot fatigue, Babbitt said the FAA will start rulemaking to rewrite the rules for pilot flight and duty time to incorporate recent scientific research about the factors that lead to fatigue. Babbitt added that he will ask all of the airlines to operate safety reporting systems such as Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) to provide better data about safety issues. FAA and industry representatives agreed to hold as many as 10 similar meetings throughout the country to assure that every carrier and pilot union has the opportunity to commit to these actions and to identify additional best practices that can be shared. FAA inspectors will assist in the implementation of these actions over the next several months and evaluate their effectiveness. http://www.charterx.com/resources/article.aspx?id=4384 ****************** Airbus to deliver 1st China-assembled A320 jet BEIJING (AP) -- European jet maker Airbus says it plans to deliver its first China-assembled jetliner on Tuesday and plans to produce 10 more this year. The plane is the first Airbus assembled outside Europe. The A320 jet was assembled in Tianjin, east of Beijing, Amelia Xu, an Airbus spokeswoman in Beijing, said Monday. The plane was to be delivered to Dragon Aviation Leasing and operated by Sichuan Airlines in southwestern China, she said. "We are planning to deliver around 11 A320 jets this year," Xu said. The aircraft had conducted a four-hour test flight from the Tianjin International Airport on May 18. China's aviation market is one of the biggest and fastest-growing. Despite financial problems this year for Chinese carriers due to the global slump, suppliers say airlines are expected to need as many as 3,400 new aircraft over the next two decades. Airbus, a unit of Paris-based EADS, announced plans in 2007 for the Airbus Final Assembly Line China, or FALC, in Tianjin. Airbus says the Tianjin plant will be able to produce four A320s a month. Airbus holds a 51 percent stake in the plant, a joint venture between Airbus and a consortium that includes China Aviation Industry Corp., the country's biggest aircraft maker, and the Tianjin Free Trade Zone. ***************** Jackson Hole Airport Under Investigation for Environmental Violation If you've ever been on a flight to Jackson Hole, you're probably aware of the Jackson Hole Airport's beautiful natural surroundings. Well, the National Park Service is aware of it, too. Lush greenery, miles of trees, and breath-taking views of mountains in the distance are just a few of the aesthetic bonuses you'll see when you book a flight to Jackson Hole. Settled in the thick of Grand Teton National Park, the airport has the benefit of fresh air and gorgeous environment. That environment is exactly what has been disturbed through the violation of the National Environmental Policy, according to USA Today. Although the airport leased the land in 1983, it still owes the National Park Service for its 25 year-use of 533 acres. Not only does the debt bother the group, but the fact that the airport disrupts the continuity of wildlife habitat is also stirring controversy. So far, The Nature Conservancy has suggested that in order for the airport directors to pay the $80 million owed, they could use a $5 surcharge for every flight. Authorities from the Jackson Hole Airport are open to discussing the reparations, but not until more legal investigation is done on exactly how much is owed, and what specifically counts as a violation. http://news.cheapflights.com/airlines/2009/06/jackson-hole-airport-under-inv estigation-for-environmental-violation-.html ******************* Japan govt plans emergency loan to Japan Airlines * State loan to JAL on condition it cut costs * Loan likely to be around 100 billion yen TOKYO, June 22 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Monday the government was preparing a loan to loss-making Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T), caught by severe airline turbulence in the global economic crisis. Yosano said he has received a request by Transport Minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko, in charge of overseeing airlines, for the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) to extend loans to JAL, Japan's biggest airline. "I replied that we hope to cooperate through DBJ loans and that I will pass on the request to them," Yosano told a news conference after a cabinet meeting. The Ministry of Finance oversees operations of DBJ, a state-owned bank. A bank official said it would likely provide around 100 billion yen ($1 billion) in emergency financing to JAL. [ID:nTKF106437] Hit by slumping global travel and rising fuel costs, global airlines are forecast to lose $9 billion this year, the International Air Transport Association said this month, nearly double its estimate of just three months ago. [ID:nSP479878] JAL earlier this year requested finance through a government emergency loan lending programme. JAL has not announced the amount it is seeking, but a company source said it may be around 200 billion yen ($2.1 billion). [ID:nT46662] The carrier reported a 50.9 billion yen operating loss for the year to March 2009 and warned of a 59 billion yen in the current year to next March. A syndicate of Japan's three biggest banks and the state-backed DBJ are planning to lend about 100 billion yen to the airline as early as this month, the Nikkei daily reported earlier this month. [ID:nBNG24493] Government support for the carrier will help ease funding strains as it would encourage commercial banks to lend to JAL, Yosano said. Kaneko said the transport ministry did not see any big problems in JAL's operation itself. "The airline firm JAL and the airline industry are very important for the Japanese economy as well as for the people, and it is important to maintain airlines in Japan in order to operate internationally, too," he told a news conference. JAL spokesman Satoru Tanaka said the airline hoped to draft out a new business plan as early as possible, reflecting the government's help. ($1=96.26 Yen) http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUST90134 20090622 ***************** Health vs. experience central to pilot-age debate (CNN) -- A 57-year-old pilot ditches a plane in New York City's Hudson River, saving all 155 passengers and crew on board. A 60-year-old pilot dies of an apparent heart attack, leaving the co-pilot and relief pilot to land the plane. The debate over the age requirement for pilots took a different flight path Thursday after Craig Lenell, 60, died en route from Brussels, Belgium, to Newark, New Jersey. The Boeing 777 and its 247 passengers arrived safely at Newark International Airport. Two years ago, Lenell would've been forced to retire from international routes when he turned 60 as part of a Federal Aviation Administration requirement that had been in effect since 1959. The rule changed 18 months ago when then-President Bush signed the Fair Treatment of Experienced Pilots Act, raising the age to 65. Watch more on airline procedures > "I don't think there is a magic age," said Justin Green, a former military pilot and aviation attorney with Kreindler & Kreindler in New York. "Big airline pilots, especially those flying internationally, are among the most carefully monitored people in terms of their health." This was Continental's second in-flight pilot death in two-and-a-half years. In January 2007, Continental co-pilot Zia Sheikh died en route from Houston, Texas, to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, forcing an early landing. Sheikh reportedly died of a heart attack at age 57. Since 1994, when the FAA began keeping tabs, five pilots -- their ages ranging from 48 to 57 -- have died in-flight prior to Thursday's incident, all of which were filed under the category "cardiac," according to the agency. Green said pilots generally take good care of themselves, sleep more than the average person and get regular checkups. They also are banned from drug use, in some cases, even if a doctor prescribes them medication. "There's no scientific basis one way or another to suggest a pilot's ability is diminished between the ages 60 and 65, to the degree it would warrant a rule," he said. The FAA said it had a fine reason for increasing the retirement age to 65. In announcing in 2007 that the agency was considering changing the rule, then-administrator Marion Blakey addressed the issue of pilot age. "A pilot's experience counts -- it's an added margin of safety," she said. "Foreign airlines have demonstrated that experienced pilots in good health can fly beyond age 60 without compromising safety." Watch emergency crews respond after Thursday's landing > Tony Bothwell, a San Francisco, California-based attorney specializing in civil liberties issue, including age discrimination, said, "It really was a safety decision." Bothwell represents about 180 pilots in a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting Blakey and others. The majority of pilots in the group turned 60 shortly before the law was enacted, Bothwell said. Though many issues will be raised during the lawsuit, chief among them, he said, is that "older pilots have a safer record." Posts on the Professional Pilots Rumor Network also suggested ageist complaints were out of line. "As long as you can hold a medical you should be good to go," read one. Another opined, "A lot of outwardly healthy individuals drop dead in their 40s from heart attacks. I don't think, therefore, there is much mileage in dwelling on the upping of the [retirement] age. If the guy had been 59 ... this wouldn't even have been part of the discussion." However, one individual using the handle "BlackBird" wrote, "It's the greed of the companies and the greed of those old fart captains sitting in my seat. I think this just goes to show that age 65 was too much -- law should be repealed and age 60 should return as the norm." Numerous responses indicated BlackBird was in the minority. Commercial pilots older than 40 are required to undergo physicals twice a year, according to the FAA. Among the requirements, they need at least 20/40 vision, 70 percent reception in one ear and a bill of health free from vertigo, speech and equilibrium disturbances, psychosis, bipolar disorder and substance dependence. One of the few age-specific requirements is that first-class airline transport pilots must take an electrocardiogram once at age 35 and annually after they turn 40. Though the FAA claimed it had safety in mind when it proposed changing the rule, Green said he believes another impetus may have been money. In the last 10 to 15 years, he said, most airlines have renegotiated their contracts with pilots, resulting in the majority of pilots being stripped of their pensions in lieu of 401(k)s, Green said. The airlines provided the pilots with seed money for their 401(k)s, but "a lot of pilots approaching retirement age were really screwed" and wanted to keep flying, he said. Green, who holds a commercial pilot's license, concedes that people's capacities diminish with age, but that is true in any realm, including driving an automobile, he said. Experience is a commodity in the airline industry, Green explained, as U.S. Airways pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III demonstrated earlier this year. He saved the passengers and crew of Flight 1549 by gamely ditching an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after birds crippled both engines. Sullenberger was 57 at the time and had been flying for more than 40 years. Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, called the landing "an amazing piece of airmanship." Though pilot message boards predict Lenell's death Thursday will renew an unwarranted debate over pilots' ages, Green said he believes the law is correct as it stands. Watch doctor who examined Lenell during flight > "Sixty is an arbitrary age. I think 65 is more appropriate," he said. "It's so rare that [an in-flight pilot death] could happen, but when it did, the other pilots flew the plane, landed it no problem. I think this is kind of an anomaly." **************** Senate panel misses the point on aviation safety delays by FAA By: Barbara Hollingsworth - Examiner Columnist Leave it to Congress to hold not one, but two public hearings and still not get to the heart of the matter: For at least six years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has failed to heed warnings by airline pilots who reported serious safety concerns that put the public at risk. And the very same safety issues are still not being adequately addressed now. Like the first hearing held a week earlier, last Wednesday's inquiry by the Senate Aviation Subcommittee focused on the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 in Buffalo, which killed all 50 people aboard and one on the ground. The lack of adequate training and pilot fatigue were cited as the two major contributing factors by FAA administrator Randy Babbitt and National Transportation Safety Board acting chairman Mark Rosenker. However, neither Babbit nor Rosenker mentioned the fact that FAA had been warned about these same issues six years prior to the Colgan crash by commercial pilots with sterling cockpit credentials and decades of flying experience. Instead of being commended for their candor, these pilots were medically grounded in retaliation for speaking up. Instead of defending their own members, the Airline Pilots Association looked the other way as their lives and careers were ruined. Yet not one of these former pilots were called to testify before the subcommittee, even though several offered to do so and even traveled to Washington at their own expense. Consequently, none of the senators, including chairman Byron Dorgan, D-ND, asked Mr. Babbitt exactly how he planned to prevent future suppression of mandated safety warnings by airline and FAA officials. Former United captain Dan Hanley, head of the Whistleblowing United Pilots Association, wasn't allowed to tell subcommittee members that he was forced out of the cockpit after complaining about pilot fatigue - the same issue the subcommittee is now investigating - and that the same kind of legal and economic pressures the airlines experienced after 9/11 still prevent pilots from voicing their concerns. A former Continental pilot said that a physician who fabricated a medical diagnosis that permanently grounded him after he filed a safety complaint now works for the FAA, so those who muster the courage to speak out are still being threatened with losing their jobs. But because he wasn't allowed to testify either, Babbitt wasn't questioned about it. An overworked young pilot told me that calling in to report excessive fatigue means he will not only lose his own pay, but his entire flight crew would also be docked as well. This policy puts added pressure on sleep-deprived pilots to fly even when physically impaired. Why didn't the FAA address the pilot fatigue issue before 51 people died? Babbitt should have been asked, but wasn't. Airline passengers literally put their lives in the hands of airline pilots every day. They should be appalled to learn that the federal agency with direct responsibility for aviation safety has ignored safety warnings by pilots and allowed airline management to interfere with its mission to protect the flying public. And that members of Congress are still letting them get away with it. Barbara F. Hollingsworth is the Examiner's local opinion editor. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/BarbaraHollingsworth/Senat e-panel-misses-the-point-on-aviation-safety-delays-by-FAA-48764612.html **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC