De : "Curt Lewis" Date : 31/07/2009 14:58 A : Objet : [flightsafety] Flight Safety Information (31JUL09-176) Flight Safety Information (31JUL09-176) _______________________________________ *Airbus Asks Airlines to Use Goodrich Sensors, Not Thales Probes *EASA to mandate replacing Thales A330/340 pitot tubes *Southwest plans $114M bid for Frontier *Southwest would transition Frontier to an-all 737 fleet *New safety legislation 'is not necessary': FAA's Babbitt *Airbus Offers to Pay for Extended Crash Search *Airbus to assist funding of extended AF447 recorder search *Air Safety Falls in First Half of 2009 *U.S. military scrambles jets to track airplane before it crashes *HK soars into world's top five on air safety strategies *Air France crash hits Novae *EASA alerts A320 operators of CFM56 anomaly ***************************************** Airbus Asks Airlines to Use Goodrich Sensors, Not Thales Probes July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS, the maker of the Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in June, advised carriers that fly its A330 and A340 jets to install Goodrich Corp. speed probes instead of units from Thales SA. The so-called Pitot tubes are one element in the inquiry into the Air France accident after the A330-200 sent automated messages that its airspeed sensors were malfunctioning. Each of the planes has three of the probes. Airbus’s advisory is a response to the flood of information from airline customers about the sensors since the Air France accident, not a response to the June 1 crash, Stefan Schaffrath, a spokesman for the planemaker, said yesterday in an interview. Goodrich is committed to “meeting the needs of our customers,” Laurie Tardif, a company spokeswoman, said in an e- mail. “Any requests we receive for our products or services will be responded to accordingly.” Sensors from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Goodrich are the standard on A330/A340 wide-body jets, and are used on 800 of the 1,000 such planes now in service, Schaffrath said. Toulouse, France-base Airbus installed Thales units only when specifically requested by airlines, he said. Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., has been in talks with the European Aviation Safety Agency about the sensors, Schaffrath said. An e-mail message to EASA for comment after regular business hours yesterday wasn’t immediately answered. “On the basis of the limited available information from the accident, and despite all the Pitot tubes meeting their objectives, we have decided to recommend to A330-A340 operators with Thales Pitot tubes to exchange them, or at least to have two Goodrich probes,” Schaffrath said. Two-Hour Change Schaffrath said Goodrich has enough of the sensors to exchange for Thales units on A330/A340 jets, and the switch takes about two hours. A message left on the mobile telephone of a spokesman for Neuilly Sur Seine, France-based Thales, Europe’s largest defense contractor, wasn’t immediately returned. US Airways Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc.’s Northwest unit, the only U.S. operators of A330s, said they had already completed upgrades of the Pitot tubes on their planes with different Thales units following an earlier Airbus advisory. “We’re reviewing the recommendation” that Airbus issued yesterday, said Betsy Talton, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Delta. ‘Talking to Airbus’ US Airways completed the initial upgrades in June, and the latest new A330 to be delivered also had Thales probes, said Jim Olson, a spokesman for the Tempe, Arizona-based carrier. “We are talking to Airbus about the service bulletin and the availability of parts to support the modification,” Olson said. The cause of the Flight 447 accident still hasn’t been determined, and searchers haven’t found the so-called black boxes that could help pinpoint any link between flawed speed measurements and the crash. The plane was carrying 228 people to Paris from Rio de Janeiro. Investigators looking for the flight recorders have narrowed their search to an area of the ocean floor, the French accidents bureau said yesterday. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_RjA4KU5LOM **************** EASA to mandate replacing Thales A330/340 pitot tubes European safety regulators are to mandate the replacement of Thales pitot tubes on Airbus A330/340 aircraft, and expect to issue a proposal in the next two weeks. The airworthiness directive will require aircraft fitted with Thales probes to replace at least two of the three with probes manufactured by Goodrich. Thales' older type 'AA' probes would no longer be fitted. Aircraft retaining a single Thales probe would have the 'BA' type installed. The decision follows a precautionary recommendation in an Airbus telex to operators, which the airframer has issued "on the basis of limited information" about the circumstances of the A330 accident over the South Atlantic on 1 June. Airbus reiterates that the advisory is being sent despite the fact that the probes meet certification objectives. A spokesman for the airframer says the manufacturer wants to take advantage of the "benefit of greater in-service experience we have with the Goodrich probes". In a statement the European Aviation Safety Agency says its proposals, which have been agreed with Airbus, are based on pitot probe performance data recently analysed by EASA. "All three [pitot tube] types comply with the applicable safety standards," it says. "The proposals are therefore intended as a precautionary measure." EASA intends to publish its proposal in the next two weeks. Airbus says a large majority of the 1,000 A330/340s delivered - about 80% - are already fitted with the Goodrich equipment, the standard offering by the airframer. Thales tubes are an optional fit. Thales and Goodrich have yet to comment on the decision. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Southwest plans $114M bid for Frontier Southwest Airlines, already the top domestic carrier by some measures, wants to get nearly 10% bigger overnight by acquiring struggling rival Frontier. Southwest has filed its intent to bid at least $113.6 million for the Denver-based carrier that has been operating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since April 2008. Frontier already had a bid on the table from Republic Airways Holdings, the parent of a string of regional carriers. The auction is expected on Aug. 11. Southwest said Thursday that if it won the bid, Frontier would be operated separately until its 51 Airbus jets could be replaced by Boeing 737s, Southwest's preferred plane. Southwest said most of Frontier's 5,000 employees could be hired. Republic, based in Indianapolis, could try to outbid Southwest, as could others. But Southwest has the strongest balance sheet of any U.S. carrier right now. It has $2.4 billion in cash and access to credit. "We're in this to win," said Ron Ricks, a Southwest executive vice president. Tactically, buying Frontier would remove a low-fare competitor in the large Denver market and strengthen Southwest in competition against United, which has more than 50% of the market there. Strategically, the deal could give Southwest a way into several key U.S. markets it has never served, including Atlanta and Reagan National airport in Washington, D.C. Frontier flies to both. Combined, Frontier and Southwest carry about a third of all Denver passengers. They compete directly on 27 routes. Southwest officials said some of Frontier's capacity could be shifted to Denver routes that currently are flown on a non-stop basis only by United, creating new low-fare competition. Vaughn Cordle, analyst and consultant at AirlineForecasts, says Southwest's non-binding bid is a "smart strategic and financial move" because it would be acquiring a carrier that he values at around $300 million at a lower bankruptcy auction price. Southwest's domestic market share also would increase 9.7%, which would make it by far the largest domestic carrier. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-07-30-southwest-frontier_N.htm ************** Southwest would transition Frontier to an-all 737 fleet Southwest Airlines would eventually replace Frontier Airlines' Airbus fleet with Boeing 737 aircraft should the bankruptcy court approve Southwest's bid for its Denver-based competitor. The low-cost operator will submit at least a $113.6 million offer for Frontier by 10 August, assuming the court determines Southwest is a qualified bidder. Next month the court will auction off Frontier, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2008 and has since attracted a $108 million bid from its former partner Republic Airways Holdings. Dallas-based Southwest would initially operate Frontier independently should the court finalize the acquisition, but Southwest would absorb the carrier in a couple of years, Southwest executive vice president of strategy and planning Bob Jordan said today during a media call. If Southwest absorbs Frontier's fleet, the low-cost carrier will gain nearly 10% mainline capacity as the carriers operate 535 and 51 aircraft, respectively, he says. In addition to the fleet transition, Southwest would gradually shift the carrier from the Frontier brand to the Southwest name, Southwest carrier executive vice president corporate services and corporate secretary Ron Ricks says. However, plans have not been finalized, he adds. Frontier's fleet currently includes 10 A318-100s, 38 A319-100s and 3 A320-200s, according to Flight's ACAS database. Frontier's regional subsidiary Lynx operates 10 Bombardier Q400 turboprops, according to ACAS. Southwest has not determined what it would do with Lynx aircraft. "At this point, we can't rule anything out including operating the operation ourselves," Ricks says. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** New safety legislation 'is not necessary': FAA's Babbitt US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt says a bill introduced by Congress earlier this week aimed at improving regional airline safety in the wake of February's Colgan Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 crash "is not necessary" because the agency has already taken sufficient steps to address the issues raised by the fatal crash. If enacted, the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 would force the FAA and regional carriers to enhance training and hiring requirements and fatigue countermeasures. The bill was introduced in the House on 29 July but Babbitt believes by the time Congress returns from its summer recess in September and starts debating the bill the need for such legislation will be moot. He points out the FAA has been working with regional carriers the last couple of months on several safety enhancements. "I think we may be well enough along [with these efforts] that by the time this bill works its way to the floor that we may be able to see some of the supporters of this and say: 'This was a great idea but we did it already and here's the final product. We don't need to do anything except to finish this,'" Babbitt told Flightglobal in an interview during AirVenture 2009 in Oshkosh. "I think this is not necessary. Many of the things they are looking to address have already been addressed." Babbitt points out that the FAA is already proposing new rules governing pilot training and rest. As part of the FAA's effort to improve regional airline safety in the wake of the Colgan crash, in June Babbitt also asked all regional carriers to provide by the close of business on 31 July a written commitment to adapt voluntary safety measures. Babbitt says it has already received "a good number" of replies from this request and to date all of them have been positive. He says more replies are expected to come in the last day before the deadline and he is confident most, if not all, carriers will respond although they are not required to do so. "It's not a mandate. [To be a requirement] I'd have to propose a rule and that would take a fair amount of time," Babbitt explains. "We've asked what I thought was a reasonable request. We have also indicated that by the end of September I will make public who hasn't complied with the request." Specifically Babbitt is asking airlines to participate in voluntary safety reporting schemes such as the Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and the Aviation Safety Action Programme (ASAP). "We have a call to action. All of the regional carriers I hope will be in compliance with our request to have FOQA and ASAP programmes," Babbitt says. While most of the requirements included in the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 are already being addressed by the FAA as part of earlier actions, Babbitt acknowledges the bill's proposal to significantly increase the minimum hours of flight time required for first officers would be a totally new requirement. But Babbitt believes requiring airline co-pilots to have at least 1,500 hours is not necessary. "In the pilot community I think it is acknowledged that simply raising the total amount of time by over half is not really a good benchmark for how good the quality of the pilot is," Babbitt says. "The quality of training is far more important than the quantity of training or total time." Babbitt, who took over as FAA administrator two months ago and is a former head of the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), says the agency will try to educate members of Congress to prove to them that quality of training is more important than quantity. "I think we need to do some education in a few areas," he says. "Every now and again someone makes a misconception and says, 'oh my goodness this is a very bad situation.' In some of these we can say: 'Look this is a misconception. Here are the actual facts.' I think we'll actually do that with some of these cases." Babbitt's comments follows suggestions by Air Transport Association of America (ATA) CEO James May that lawmakers should wait until interventions already launched by the FAA and others have an opportunity to generate results before legislating any changes. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/07/31/330444/new-safety-legislation-is-not-necessary-faas-babbitt.html **************** Airbus Offers to Pay for Extended Crash Search PARIS — The chief executive of Airbus said Thursday that the company would contribute a “significant” sum to help finance an extended search for the flight recorders and undersea wreckage of an Air France A330 jetliner that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean two months ago, killing all 228 people aboard. Air France Flight 447“We want to know what happened, as improving air safety is our top priority,” the chief executive, Thomas O. Enders, said in a statement. “Thus we are fully committed to support the extension of the search with a significant contribution.” Aircraft manufacturers and airlines routinely provide technical support to accident investigators in the event of a crash, but it is unusual for them to share in the financing of any phase of the investigation, which is supposed to be impartial. Stefan Schaffrath, an Airbus spokesman, said the Flight 447 case was the first time that Airbus had offered to “sponsor” a search mission. “This is an exceptional accident and an exceptional situation,” Mr. Schaffrath said. Air France Flight 447 had left Rio de Janeiro and was en route to Paris on June 1 when it went down during strong thunderstorms in an area 600 miles off northern Brazil. Search teams recovered more than 600 pieces of debris from the ocean, representing only about 5 percent of the airframe, investigators have said. The bulk of the wreckage, including the critical “black box” data and cockpit voice recorders, has not been found and is presumed to be lying somewhere on the mountainous seabed, miles below the ocean surface. Investigators this month abandoned the audio search for the flight recorders’ “pingers,” which are designed to emit a signal for 30 to 40 days, but they have continued to hunt using diving equipment and sonar scanners towed by a French frigate. Those efforts are due to go on until Aug. 22. The French Bureau of Investigations and Analyses has asked both Airbus and Air France to help pay for a prolonged search of up to three more months, Mr. Schaffrath said, though he declined to specify the amount of the agency’s request. The French newspaper La Tribune reported that the figure could be between $16 and $28 million. Martine Del Bono, a spokeswoman for the French investigation agency, welcomed Airbus’s readiness to help finance a prolonged search “if it becomes necessary,” she but said it was too early to predict the cost of such an operation. “We are just at the beginning of the second phase of the search, and we do not start from the principle that this phase will not be successful,” she said. Air France confirmed that it had discussed the possibility of financing the search with investigators but said it had not yet received a formal request for funds. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the cause of the disaster, although they suspect a malfunction of the aircraft’s speed sensors may have contributed to the crash. In a preliminary report published this month, investigators said their examination of the floating debris indicated that the plane did not break up in the air, but hit the water intact. Airbus, the manufacturer, had recommended replacement of a component of the air speed indicators, called Pitot tubes, and Air France had replaced the tubes on some of its airplanes but not on the one that crashed. The airline has since replaced all of the tubes across its fleet as a precaution, and many other airlines worldwide have done the same. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/world/europe/31plane.html ***************** Airbus to assist funding of extended AF447 recorder search Airbus is to contribute funding next month, along with other parties, to assist the deep-sea search effort for the flight recorders from the crashed Air France A330. The twin-jet was lost two months ago during its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris but attempts to trace the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders have been unsuccessful. Following the 1 June loss a search programme, 'Phase 1A', was initiated to retrieve debris and detect the recorders' sonic locator transmitters. This was abandoned earlier this month, after recovery teams felt that the transmitters' power supply would have expired, and a second stage, termed Phase 1B, commenced to find debris and the recorders through sonar analysis. Sources familiar with the situation state that both phases were funded from the budget of French investigation authority Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses but that Phase 1B will formally conclude on 22 August. Airbus and other interested parties will contribute funding to extend the search to a third stage, designated Phase 2, which will broaden the sonar hunt to a larger region. Sources indicate that the combined funding could amount to €20 million ($28 million), although it is unclear whether the Phase 2 search has a defined timeframe. Airbus declines to comment beyond stating that the effort to locate the recorders from flight AF447 is important and that it is "supporting" the organisations involved. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** Air Safety Falls in First Half of 2009 Though flying got safer every decade of the 20th century, the record has leveled since 2000—and the first six months of this year have seen a rise in crashes When it comes to safety, there are few success stories as glowing as that of the aviation industry. That the accident rate would decline each decade on civilian airlines has become almost as much of a given as the fact that computer chips get faster with each new generation. This has been the rule since the Wright Brothers first took flight with their motorized airplane in 1903. That long-lasting trend, however, appears to have ended this decade. According to the latest calculations by the trade publication Flight International, the time frame between 2000 and 2010 has seen a stagnation in aviation safety. Is "safety on the slide?" the British magazine recently asked, noting that many recent accidents could have been averted. Of course, we have arrived at an extremely high level of flight safety—and it is harder these days to improve it than it was in the past. Nevertheless, few of the recent accidents actually happened because of incalculable factors like bad weather or bird strikes, as proved to be the case in the emergency water landing of a US Airways (LCC) Airbus (EAD.PA) aircraft in January on New York's Hudson River. When the era of jet aviation first began, 11 people were involved in accidents per 1 million flights. Now that figure is below 1 person. Indeed, if the accident rate were the same in these booming times for air travel as it was back in the 1970s, Boeing (BA) officials have calculated, we would be seeing one major crash per week. Still, for a major airline like Lufthansa, (LHAG.DE) which has more than 2,000 takeoffs and landings per day, it is difficult to remain below that average accident rate. A single crash can push an airline above it. Air France (AIRF.PA) is a case in point. So far, according to the official figures collected by the International Air Transport Association, the French carrier has had an average accident rate of 0.9 percent—very close to the global average according to IATA's statistics. However, if you look solely at the airline's fleet of Airbus aircraft, like the A330 involved in the recent crash on a flight between Rio and Paris, that figure rises. An advisory committee to the European Union is calling for the accident rate to be reduced by a further 80 percent by the year 2020. During the first six months of 2009, however, the airlines didn't make much progress toward that goal. Indeed, it was a bad six months for flight safety. According to Flight International statistics, 499 people died in accidents on passenger jets—a greater number in the same period than any year since 2002 (when 716 died). And those figures don't even include the recent Caspian Airlines and Aria Air crashes, both in Iran, during the month of June that claimed 184 lives. These disasters will first be calculated during the third quarter. The reason for the exceptionally high casualties this year is the crash of two large jets—an Air France plane and another from Yemenia Airways. For the first six months of this year alone, the accident rate is already 50 percent higher than the total annual average in the first six months of the past 10 years. Another contributing factor was the February crash of a Turkish Airlines plane in Amsterdam in February. A faulty altimeter incorrectly indicated the plane was just two meters above the runway, leading the aircraft's computers to reduce the jet thrust. The pilots overlooked the discrepancy—perhaps because they had blind faith in the onboard computers. The Boeing 737 crashed prematurely into a field just short of the runway, killing nine passengers. Flight International is predicting a new security debate soon. "The issue of humans and highly automated aircraft will rise on the agenda," the paper predicts. It will be difficult to compensate for the rapidly rising number of flights today with additional safety measures. The number of smaller incidents and near accidents has risen, says one safety expert at a major airline. For every crash or accident that results in human injury, according to the rule of thumb, there are hundreds of accidents with material damage as well as smaller incidents. "At this lower level, we are seeing a growing trend," the insider says. The main cause is the loss of control of the aircraft—a broad category with many subgroups of problems: The crew got distracted, was disoriented or was unable to get enough propulsion during a touch-and-go takeoff. It would be easy to write these things off as pilot error, but in many cases it has been proven that the pilots weren't given training for such situations. The minimum standards required by legislators in pilot training, apparently, don't include all of these situations. And the ruinous degree of competition between airlines translates to a situation where many airlines are less motivated to invest in additional capabilities for their pilots. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2009/gb20090730_951034.htm *************** U.S. military scrambles jets to track airplane before it crashes Single-engine Cirrus SR22 flew more than 300 miles past destination (CNN) -- The U.S. military scrambled fighter jets to track a single-engine airplane that flew more than 300 miles past its scheduled destination before crashing in rural West Virginia on Thursday night, the U.S. Northern Command said. The pilot, the only person aboard, was killed in the crash, CNN affiliate WSAZ reported. He apparently became incapacitated during the flight and flew past his destination, aviation officials told the affiliate. North American Aerospace Defense Command sent two F-16s to follow the Cirrus SR22 at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration after it overshot Eagle Creek in northwestern Indiana, the scheduled stop on its flight from York, Nebraska. The FAA lost contact with the plane as it flew by the airport, according to the FAA's Arlene Salac, prompting the agency to contact NORAD. The two fighter jets eventually overtook the plane and tried without success to make contact with the pilot visually, with flares, and via radio, Salac said. The plane crashed about 8 p.m. -- two hours and one time zone later -- northwest of Henderson, West Virginia. The aircraft is registered to Sequoia Airways in Avon, Indiana, according to the FAA. The SR22 is a is a high-performance single-engine, four-seat aircraft. The model is equipped with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, which deploys a parachute designed to control the descent of the aircraft to the ground in an emergency. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/31/west.virginia.plane.crash/ **************** HK soars into world's top five on air safety strategies Hong Kong has been ranked among the top five places in the world for aviation safety. The International Civil Aviation Organization, which conducted an international audit, has ranked it fifth out of 129 regions, with an overall score of 94.47 percent for the effectiveness in implementing a safety oversight system. Director-General of Civil Aviation Norman Lo Shung- man said: "The global average was 59.34 percent as of June this year, so this means Hong Kong has done very well. To our knowledge, Hong Kong currently ranks second in Asia." Singapore will be inspected next year. Strengths displayed by the Hong Kong team included primary aviation legislation and resolution of safety concerns - areas where the team received top scores, Lo explained. Another area where the team scored quite high was in licensing, certification, authorization and approval obligations. The team could focus more on training and the standardization of procedures to get an even better score, Lo said. Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Department has started construction of new, improved headquarters at the southeast end of Airport Island. It is expected to open by 2013. The project will cost HK$2 billion. The headquarters will centralize all functions of the department under one roof and house an air traffic control center. The department hopes to expand the number of workstations from the current 32 to at least 56. ADELE WONG http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=85653&sid=24770264&con_type=1 **************** Air France crash hits Novae LONDON (SHARECAST) - Underwriter and specialty insurer Novae Group slipped into the red at the interim stage after taking a £26m hit from aviation reinsurance and credit insurance claims. “An otherwise sound performance in the first half was hit principally by an abnormal incidence of loss during the period in our aviation reinsurance unit, including the Air France loss over the Atlantic,” said Matthew Fosh, chief executive of Novae. “There was also an increase in losses from our credit insurance unit but, as a whole, our range of property and casualty classes has been resilient in a market where rates overall are rising but only in a piecemeal fashion,” Fosh added. Loss before tax in the six months to 30 June was £18.5m, versus a pre-tax profit a year earlier of £16.3m. As well as the hit on aviation reinsurance and credit insurance claims the company saw a currency loss on non-monetary items of £16.4m. Gross premium revenue advanced to £199.9m from £162.7m. Net claims incurred also grew, however, from £65.4m to £100.3m. Net asset value per share was virtually unchanged at 389p from 390p at the end of June 2008. The interim dividend has been upped to 3p from 2.5p a year earlier. http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=2922004 **************** EASA alerts A320 operators of CFM56 anomaly EASA today issued a safety information bulletin alerting operators of CFM56-5A turbofan engines of an unexplained anomaly that on 30 June caused an aircraft on departure to return to the airport. CFM says there are more than 1,100 of the engines in service, built specifically for the A320 series aircraft, with a cumulative total of 32 million flight hours and dispatch reliability of more than 99.9%. According to the EASA report, the engine in question during takeoff experienced a stall and in-flight shutdown with an accompanying exhaust gas temperature (EGT) over limit and high vibrations. Mechancis conducting a borescope inspection after the incident found that the engine's low-pressure turbine (LPT) section had been damaged, with several blades broken off. The engine had accumulated 39,808h and 30,980 cycles since new but only 21h and 15 cycles since its last shop visit. EASA did not report which airline or maintenance shop was involved. Upon disassembly, a preliminary examination of the LPT and high-pressure turbine (HPT) revealed overheating, suggesting a "cooling deficiency by hot gas ingestion into the turbine rotor air cooling system", says EASA. "The cause of this overheat condition has not yet been identified." The disk, identified as the LPT stage 1 disk, had fractured with "one full radial separation", says EASA. "The disk remained in one piece, expanded but fully contained." EASA, FAA and CFM continue to investigate the maintenance shop that performed the most recent work, and the airline involved. "This investigation will determine whether any recommendations or mandatory actions are necessary." CFM could not be immediately reached for comment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** "Flight Safety Information" is a free service of: Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC (Targeting Safety & Risk Management) curt@curt-lewis.com www.curt-lewis.com www.fsinfo.org PH: 817-303-9096 Cell: 817-845-3983 Fax: 682-292-0835 Curt Lewis & Associates, LLC is a multi-discipline technical and scientific consulting firm specializing in aviation and industrial safety. Our specialties are aviation litigation support, aviation/airport safety programs, accident investigation, safety & quality assessments/audits, system safety, human factors, Safety Management Systems (SMS) assessment/implementation & training, safety/quality training & risk management, IS-BAO Auditing, and airfield/heliport lighting products. ******************