13 AUG 2009 _______________________________________ *Bombardier Cancels 15 Jet Orders Of Italian Airline *American emergency landing is third in five days *Papua New Guinea Plane Crash Investigation Begins *Flyers may have lost their bearings *FAA pressed for immediate restrictions on NYC airspace *FAA launches review of Part 23 certification process *India to Form Ministers Panel for Aviation Sector *Delta to suspend the SLC-Tokyo nonstop flight *Gulf Air upgrades data monitoring system *Gulf Air picks US firm for new flight-data monitoring system *Airplane Carrying Peru's President Garcia Makes Emergency Landing *Airlines Set to Ask More of Passengers **************************************** Bombardier Cancels 15 Jet Orders Of Italian Airline Montreal, Quebec (AHN) - Bombardier Aerospace canceled an order purchase agreement with Italian firm MyAir.com to manufacture 15 jets because of the airline's uncertain situation. MyAir.com ordered on Sept. 25, 2006 from Bombardier 19 CRJ900 aircraft. On Feb. 17, 2009 Bombardier said it would convert the 15 CRJ900 order into the larger CRJ1000 model. However, Italian civil air authorities suspended last month the license of MyAir.com due to financing issues besetting the airline. Bombardier gave up $750 million in revenues because of the agreement cancellation. The CRJ1000 was launched in 2007 as part of the evolution of Bombardier. Had the deal pushed through, Bombardier would have received certification and begin service by December 2008 and January 2009. Aside from MyAir.com, Brit Air has orders for 14 of the CRJ1000 and Air Nostrum, based in Spain, ordered 35 units of the same aircraft. *************** American emergency landing is third in five days D/FW AIRPORT - For the third time in a five-day period, pilots on an American Airlines flight were forced to make an emergency landing due to engine problems. The Allied Pilots Association said it's a troubling trend that is only growing. "A pilot might go a whole career without having an engine failure," said APA spokesman Scott Shankland. "Now, we're telling our guys you need to be prepared to deal with this every time you do a takeoff." The latest occurred Tuesday morning, when a Chicago-bound jet returned to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after an engine problem. Last Friday, two other flights - one coming from D/FW and the other from West Palm Beach - were forced to land due to engine problems. In June, News 8 reviewed FAA data of engine shutdowns showing American experienced 23 last year. So far this year, American has already experienced 22. Thirteen of the failures - including the three most recent incidents - were in the airline's older MD-80 model jets. Still, the FAA explained, such failures happen only once in every 21,000 takeoffs. "They are statistically small," Shankland said. "But the fact that they are increasing and not decreasing year over year is very disturbing to us." American Airlines said the FAA's numbers on its in-flight engine shutdowns have been wrong over the last few years. The airline said the numbers are actually trending downwards and leveling off, although it wouldn't share its own figures. No one disputes that the narrow-body twin-engine MD-80, though it is aging, remains a reliable aircraft. The airline refurbished 238 MD-80 engines last year and conducted 60,000 engine inspections. This year, American purchased dozens of 737-800s, which are newer, more fuel-efficient jets that will gradually replace the MD-80s that some pilots are concerned about. The pilots union blames problems on years of cost cutting at the airline. http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090811_mo_ engineproblems.d053ced2.html **************** Papua New Guinea Plane Crash Investigation Begins Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Australian officials reached the wreckage of a plane that crashed into a mountain range in Papua New Guinea, killing all 13 people on board, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. Military and consular personnel camped out in the jungle overnight after reaching the site on foot and will be joined later today by police officers winched down from Black Hawk helicopters, Rudd told Parliament. Three bodies were removed from the wreckage and remain at the site because helicopters are unable to land, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. The operation to recover bodies and wreckage is being made "more difficult by the rugged terrain and changeable weather conditions," Rudd said, adding villagers and police are clearing away trees to allow helicopters to land. The Twin Otter Airlines PNG turboprop crashed at about 5,500 feet (1,680 meters) in the rugged Owen Stanley Range north of Port Moresby two days ago, with nine Australians, three Papua New Guineans and one Japanese citizen on board. They were members of a trekking party that aimed to visit a World War II battle site known as the Kokoda Trail. Four officers from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau arrived late yesterday in Port Moresby to help with the investigation, spokesman Julian Walsh said by telephone. "Obviously the PNG topography, terrain and weather conditions are challenging, but it is too early to draw conclusions about the cause of the crash," Walsh said. Fog and rain clouds often cloak the mountainside, making flying conditions treacherous. Fighting along the 96-kilometer (60-mile) Kokoda Trail in 1942 was a central moment for Australians in the conflict. Soldiers turned back an advance by Japanese forces, preventing the capture of Port Moresby and a possible invasion of Australia 160 kilometers to the south. Kokoda is visited by 5,000 Australian tourists each year, many paying tribute to relatives who fought and died there during the war. Rudd said it was a "tragedy" that the trekking group was killed "on what has become a national pilgrimage" to Kokoda. **************** Flyers may have lost their bearings INVESTIGATORS probing the crash of an Airlines PNG Twin Otter at Kokoda will be examining whether the pilots became disoriented in low cloud and flew into a ridge. All 13 passengers and crew were killed when the aircraft slammed into the ridge southeast of the Kokoda airstrip as it was due to land with its load of trekkers, including nine Australians. Weather was reported to be bad at the time but details released yesterday show that three other aircraft -- two of them Twin Otters -- managed to land safely at the airstrip and reported variable visibility. The first flight of the day, a Twin Otter believed to be operated by rival company Hevilift and scheduled to land at 9am, returned to Port Moresby after circling Kokoda for 20 minutes but later returned and landed safely. An Airlines PNG Twin Otter landed at 9.48am and reported good visibility below a broken cloud layer of 7000ft to 9000ft above sea level with the nearby Owen Stanley Range covered in cloud. When the Hevilift Twin Otter left Kokoda at 11.10am -- about the time the crashed aircraft was descending to the airstrip -- visibility was average and reduced in some areas but, according to Airlines PNG, still above legal requirements. A fourth flight, from Efogi to Kokoda at 11.35am, also reported good visibility, again below a cloud layer of 7000ft to 9000ft. The crashed aircraft was due to land at 11:20am after departing Port Moresby at 10:53am. It tracked directly to Kokoda through a descending valley used by aircraft to get to the wider area containing the runway. The last radio contact with the aircraft was at 11:11am and the airline's agent in Kokoda contacted its operations centre when it failed to arrive on time. Both pilots, Jenny Moala and Royden Soauka, were locals with about five years' experience. They were said by the carrier to be experienced with the aircraft as well as with PNG's challenging conditions and the route. People familiar with the airstrip said yesterday the Kokoda runway was not considered difficult by PNG standards, although weather could pose a problem. The aircraft was also equipped with a ground proximity warning system. However, Australian and International Pilots Association president Barry Jackson, who flew the route in the 1980s, said this may have been of limited use. "They're great if you've got time to react and the aeroplane's got the performance to outclimb a mountain," he said. "But if you're flying towards a hill, it ain't any help." Helicopter pilot and former air safety investigator David Inau, who was present when the wreckage was found, said it was six or seven nautical miles southeast of the airstrip at a height of about 5500ft, more than 4000ft above the runway. "Another helicopter had located the crash site and when we flew over it we saw that the aircraft had gone into a heavily timbered ridgeline, clipped a couple of trees and disappeared in amongst the foliage," he said. Kiunga Aviation principal Richard Leahy, who has more than four decades' experience in New Guinea, said it was unusual to get total cloud cover. "You just fly around the area that you want to go to until you find a hole and you go through that," he said. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25922039-5013404,00.html ************** FAA pressed for immediate restrictions on NYC airspace This letter, sent to the Federal Aviation Administration Administrator J. Randolph Babbitt by 15 members of Congress, requests immediate restrictions on New York City's airspace. The group is spearheaded by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), the Northeast's highest-ranking member of the House Transportation Committee. August 11, 2009 The Honorable J. Randolph Babbitt Administrator Federal Aviation Administration 800 Independence Avenue SW Washington, D.C. 20591 We write to request that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately regulate New York City's congested and dangerous airspace. Saturday's midair crash between a sightseeing helicopter and a small airplane over the Hudson River is a tragic and powerful reminder of what we have known for some time - that the virtually nonexistent oversight of small on-demand aircraft must come to an end, particularly in New York's heavily congested airspace. The Hudson River flight corridor must not continue to be the Wild West. The FAA must act immediately, before further lives are lost. It is unfortunate that the FAA insisted to us for years that it lacked statutory authority to regulate the airspace in the New York City corridor below 1,100 feet altitude. We are gratified, that yesterday [Monday], the FAA reversed its position and agreed it has statutory authority to regulate this airspace. It is tragic that it took nine deaths to produce this belated concession. Now, the FAA should swiftly use its authority to prevent future tragedies. First, the FAA should take immediate steps to implement the recommendations of the Department of Transportation Inspector General (DOT IG), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the FAA Advisory Committee for these types of aircraft operations. At a minimum, the FAA must require the installation of the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS-II), and a Mode C Transponder, on all aircraft that seat less than 10 people. Any additional common-sense measures that can be implemented should be done so immediately. Second, the FAA should carefully review this incident, along with other factors, and determine what additional improvements can be made in the near term and long term to improve the management of the region's airspace. For example, the FAA should examine the feasibility of moving to a satellite-based system for air traffic management that could provide greater technological capability to manage flight traffic below 1,500 feet. In the meantime, every helicopter and general aviation aircraft should be required to file flight plans, even for trips under 1,100 feet. In addition, we should seriously consider banning all flights below 1,100 feet until radar systems are available to track them. The Hudson River flight corridor presents unique challenges, but the danger of unregulated on-demand aircraft is also a widespread problem in the New York region and the country. According to the DOT IG, there were 33 accidents and 109 fatalities involving on-demand aircraft in 2007 and 2008. And these types of collisions have been happening for decades. In 1989, following a similar accident in Southern California, Congress passed legislation to accelerate the development of collision-avoidance systems. In 1994, the FAA took action to regulate dangerous helicopter tours in Hawaii. Just this year, the FAA initiated a rule making to increase safety operations of emergency medical service helicopters. Despite the decades of incidents, studies, and recommendations, much work remains to be done. We call on the FAA to take immediate action to provide greater oversight of small aircraft operations throughout the country, the New York region, and in particular, of the Hudson River flight corridor in New York. We stand ready to work with you to provide the FAA with whatever additional resources might be necessary to improve the safety of New York's congested airspace. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/faa-pressed-for-immediate-restrictions-on -nyc-airspace-1.1365267 *************** FAA launches review of Part 23 certification process Improving business aviation safety standards is one goal of the first Federal Aviation Administration review in a quarter century of its Part 23 certification process. Part 23, which governs how all non-transport fixed-wing aircraft are certificated in the USA, has not been reviewed since 1984. An initial certification process study was completed in July by a working group consisting of key industry groups and FAA officials. The study, conducted over the past 18 months, made 56 recommendations that will now be folded into a full review of Part 23 regulations to be completed by the FAA over the next year. The manager of the standards office at FAA's small airplane directorate, John Colomy, says the review will be "comprehensive" because "it's got to carry us for the next 20 years". He adds that the FAA will take a "holistic" approach and the review will closely examine the entire lifecycle of aircraft, pointing out the average age of the US small aircraft fleet is now about 40 years. The study focused primarily on "the adequacy of current airworthiness standards throughout a small aircraft's service life while anticipating future requirements". Currently all aircraft ranging from small piston trainers to large business jets fall under the same Part 23 airworthiness standards while transport aircraft are grouped under Part 25, but the study recommends splitting Part 23 into three subgroups with small unpressurised aircraft in the bottom group and pressurised aircraft that cruise at up to Mach 0.6, including some light jets, in the middle group. The third and final group will include all aircraft flying faster than M0.6, including most business jets. Another key recommendation is to amend the regulations governing equipment modifications to make it easier to install glass cockpit technologies. Further safety improvements will be targeted by reviewing data management requirements. Specifically, the FAA will consider mandating general and business aviation maintenance providers to report "service difficulties". Colomy says there is now a lack of pertinent safety data for several types of small aircraft because mechanics are not using the FAA's service difficulty reporting system. He says data for this is crucial for improving safety, but in some cases aircraft owners are telling mechanics not to write up what they have discovered. "We fell we need a no-blame culture here to move forward," Colomy says. "The FAA and the industry are moving to safety management systems. To do that we really need to gather data." The Part 23 review will also look at improving safety by revising pilot training requirements. One of the recommendations in the certification process study is to "re-emphasise the difference between stall warning and aerodynamic stall". This could result in more stall training in simulators to highlight the procedures required for recovery. "We need to get back to teaching stall and stall recovery, big time," Colomy says. The FAA is also being urged to mandate more training at VREF approach speed. Colomy says the number one cause of business jet accidents are runway overruns and business jet pilots are typically taught on simulators to make approaches that ensure soft landings for the passengers rather than ensure the minimum amount of runway is used. The certification study asks the FAA to "reconsider establishing VREF training and operational check ride margins to encourage pilots to fly at VREF -5/+5, especially when operating on minimum length fields". Several industry associations were involved drafting the study, including the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. GAMA chief executive Pete Bunce hopes that a Part 23 overhaul will help drive down the cost of flying, which the current system makes "very expensive". http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/08/12/330930/faa-launches-review-o f-part-23-certification-process.html *************** India to Form Ministers Panel for Aviation Sector NEW DELHI -- India's federal government has decided to form a panel of ministers to look into the issue of higher jet fuel prices, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Thursday. Jet fuel prices comprise about 40% of a local carrier's operating costs. Higher jet fuel prices were a key reason for the combined losses of about 100 billion rupees incurred by Indian carriers in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. Mr. Patel said a presentation was made to the federal cabinet earlier Thursday, informing it about the health of the aviation industry. "There are two components in ATF (aviation turbine fuel)," Mr. Patel said. "One is the differential sales tax charged by various states. Number two, the base price of the fuel, which also is much higher than most places internationally." "These are the two primary areas of focus which the group of ministers shall look into," he said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125015050072828577.html *************** Delta to suspend the SLC-Tokyo nonstop flight Utahns can say "sayonara" to nonstop five-day-a-week flights to Tokyo. The Delta Air Lines Inc. flights will be suspended during winter, the company said Tuesday, after announcing in July that it was eliminating its Wednesday flights between Salt Lake City and Tokyo. In September, the flight will be offered four days a week. From Oct. 1 through May 14, 2010, the flight will be suspended. "After that, we will bring it back four days a week," said Anthony Black, spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based carrier. The nonstop, 11-hour fight from Salt Lake City International Airport to Tokyo Narita International Airport began June 3. However, demand for travel has been cool with the recession and the H1N1 virus scare. Delta had announced it intended to cut 15 percent of its international flights, and the Salt Lake City-Tokyo flight cutbacks are part of that plan. Delta doesn't share competitive information, such as the number of people purchasing tickets for the flights, but Black said the company responds to market demand. The flights will resume four days a week next summer because "the primary season for U.S. travel is from Easter to Labor Day," Black said. If you have booked a flight to Tokyo for anytime between Oct. 31 and May 15, originally thinking it's nonstop from Salt Lake City, your itinerary will change. Plan for a layover. "Passengers can have nonstop service out of Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Portland," Black said. Delta is assuming Northwest Airlines' Tokyo hub as the two carriers are in the process of merging. From Tokyo, Northwest offers nonstop flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China; Bangkok, Thailand; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Singapore. Other cities, such as Seoul, Korea, and Hanoi, Vietnam, can be reached from Tokyo through other airlines. To encourage Delta to begin offering nonstop flights to Tokyo, the state promised to spend its own money to advertise it. The state spent about $112,000 in advertising the new service inside Sunset magazine for residents of the Western U.S. and in Delta Sky Magazine for other would-be passengers, including Asians, said Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism. Now that the flight has been suspended, von der Esch stopped plans to advertise in October and November magazines. Advertising will resume when the flights do, she said. Von der Esch doesn't think the money was a waste, despite flight cutbacks, because the ads promoted Utah as a tourist destination. "I didn't just pay for a Delta ad," she said, describing one advertisement. "I have a young Japanese woman kneeling in front of an arch that's clearly Utah. And we have advertorial that talks about Utah." http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705323024/Delta-to-suspend-the-SLC-Tokyo- nonstop-flight.html?linkTrack=promo-20163 **************** Gulf Air upgrades data monitoring system Flight data monitoring can help to boost safety. Gulf Air has upgraded its flight data monitoring (FDM) system after signing a three year partnership with Austin Digital, Inc. of Austin, Texas. Flight data monitoring involves proactively using digital flight data from routine operations to improve fleet safety. "Gulf Air has a well-established accident prevention and flight safety program and regularly upgrades its systems and procedures so that it maintains the highest flight safety standards," said Captain Chris Cain, chief operating officer, Gulf Air. "The new integrated FDM system offers a robust and sophisticated functionality to analyse and optimise our daily flight operations, helping us increase our fleet's technical dispatch reliability. The data provided by the FDM is used to improve flight safety and can also be utilized in areas such as maintenance, navigation and operations planning. Austin Digital, Inc. will set up and implement the FDM service, as well as providing ongoing assistance and knowledge. http://www.arabiansupplychain.com/article-2831-gulf_air_upgrades_data_monito ring_system/ *************** Gulf Air picks US firm for new flight-data monitoring system Middle Eastern carrier Gulf Air is implementing a new flight-data monitoring system, after signing an agreement with US firm Austin Digital, Inc. The Bahraini operator says the agreement covers implementation of the infrastructure at its headquarters. Flight-data monitoring enables airlines to use routine operational information to detect and correct possible areas of concern before they pose a high risk. Gulf Air chief operating officer Capt Chris Cain says the new system offers "robust and sophisticated" analysis functionality and the data can be used not only for flight safety but for maintenance and operations planning. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Airplane Carrying Peru's President Garcia Makes Emergency Landing LIMA -(Dow Jones)- The airplane (B737) carrying Peru President Alan Garcia to Ecuador for the inauguration of President Rafael Correa made an emergency landing in northern Peru on Monday. The airplane landed in the city of Chiclayo after a crack appeared in a window, the government said. The landing was done to avoid any loss of pressure on the cabin, it added. Garcia continued on the trip to Quito after a brief stop. ************** Airlines Set to Ask More of Passengers Government Says Extra Information Will Prevent Watch-List Mismatches U.S. airlines on Saturday will begin asking travelers to provide their birth date and sex for the first time under a new aviation security requirement, federal officials said Wednesday. The change comes as the Department of Homeland Security takes over responsibility for checking airline passenger names against government watch lists. The additional personal information, which airlines will forward to the Transportation Security Administration, is expected to cut down on cases of mistaken identity, in which people with names similar to those on terrorist watch lists are erroneously barred or delayed from flights. U.S. airlines on May 15 started asking passengers for their full name as it appears on a government-issued identification card, a change intended to allow companies to upgrade their reservation and information systems. Starting Saturday, airlines will be required to get both the name and the additional information, although TSA is working with individual airlines to phase in compliance, TSA spokesman Greg Soule said. Passengers should not be concerned if their airline does not ask them for the information, Soule said. The agency hopes to vet 100 percent of domestic passengers by March 31 and all passengers on international flights to, from or over the United States by the end of 2010 -- a total of 2 million daily passengers. For now, there will be no penalty for passengers who do not provide the information, Soule said. However, once the program is fully implemented, they could be denied boarding passes, he said. "We have been assured that no passenger will be turned away or be denied the ability to travel," said David A. Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association of America, a domestic airline trade group. "It would simply mean if you didn't have the information, you would be subjected to secondary screening." The TSA seems to have softened its stance since October, when then-TSA Administrator Kip Hawley and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the Secure Flight program. They said that except in rare situations, passengers who did not provide the additional information would be denied boarding and subject at minimum to being flagged for additional screening at airport security checkpoints. Citing security reasons, the TSA would not say how many or which airlines are ready to comply with Secure Flight. However, an aviation industry official said that starting Saturday a majority of domestic travelers can expect to be asked for the added information. Full implementation of Secure Flight would fulfill a top aviation security goal after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was included in a 2004 law overhauling U.S. intelligence agencies. U.S. officials said that by taking over watch-list vetting, the government will consistently apply the latest list information and sophisticated algorithms to catch name variations, and avoid the security risk of giving such data to industry. Adding full names, gender and birth dates will allow 99 percent of travelers to avoid delays -- or all but 2,000 passengers a day, they said. Civil liberties groups have said the government still lacks adequate redress procedures for people mistakenly matched to watch lists. Watch-list mismatches have delayed countless passengers whose names are similar to those on the agency's no-fly list, or on a second list of "selectees" identified for added questioning. Travelers who are stopped often endure lengthy questioning without an explanation. Watch-list mismatches have ensnared infants and toddlers and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). The wife of former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Catherine, was stopped after a computer flagged her name because of its similarity to "Cat Stevens," the pop singer who converted to Islam and took the name Yusuf Islam. The government said it placed him on the no-fly list out of concern over his donations to groups that it said might have terrorist ties. U.S. officials in October said the no-fly list included fewer than 2,500 individuals and the selectee list fewer than 16,000, most of whom were not U.S. citizens. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203 000.html?wprss=rss_nation **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC