11 SEP 2009 _______________________________________ *Pilots, Airlines Urge New Fatigue Rules *DOT Aims to Step Up Commuter-Airline Safety *FAA Wants Better Inspections of Boeing 737s *FAA forum promotes safety through sharing information, best practices *New Runway Safety Tool Kit Released *Roseville, CA Man Sentenced For 'Lasering' Police Helicopter *IATA Positions Available: *************************************** Pilots, Airlines Urge New Fatigue Rules By ANDY PASZTOR Representatives of the airline industry and pilots unions agreed to an overhaul of rules aimed at combating cockpit fatigue, according to people familiar with the situation, a move that could bring sweeping changes to the way airlines run their operations. The group urged Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt on Wednesday to jettison decades-old regulations that set uniform limits on how many hours pilots can fly and replace them with more flexible rules based on scientific studies about what causes fatigue. The recommendations call for drafting rules that would limit each pilot's flight hours based on the time of day, the number of takeoffs, or segments, during a trip, and the internal body clocks of pilots. Firefighters at the scene of the fatal crash of a Colgan Air plane outside Buffalo, N.Y., in February. .The proposal envisions a sliding scale of between seven and 11 scheduled flight hours for pilots per day, compared with the current maximum of eight hours, these people said. Rules on total hours spent on duty, which aren't regulated as strictly as flight time, also would be adjusted. If the FAA moves to implement such far-reaching changes -- which could come at the earliest by the end of next year -- it would substantially alter the workdays of many pilots. It would also likely increase personnel costs for many regional carriers, which fly shorter routes. Many commuter pilots -- who work grueling schedules that include multiple takeoffs and landings a day -- likely would have less time behind the controls than they do now. But major carriers could save, for example, because they could schedule the same cockpit crew for a morning trip from the West Coast to the East Coast and then a return flight the same day, according to people familiar with the proposal. Rules now require a new crew on the second flight. Mr. Babbitt has championed efforts for change in the wake of recent airliner incidents and accidents, including February's crash of a Colgan Air turboprop near Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 50 people. That accident highlighted widespread fatigue faced by commuter crews stemming from reduced rest periods and workdays lasting up to 16 hours. Although the U.K. and other countries pioneered scientifically based pilot scheduling years ago, the U.S. has largely stuck with a one-size-fits-all rule because regulators, airlines and pilots couldn't agree on changes. But in recent years, lawmakers, federal air-accident investigators and outside safety experts have intensified their calls for a sweeping rewrite of fatigue regulations. In spite of broad agreement on much of the package, some portions remain controversial, and the FAA ultimately will have to sort out disagreements. Some of the thorniest disputes involve cargo airlines, which contend they would be economically devastated by portions of the proposal. Some charter carriers that routinely fly at odd hours complain they would also be handicapped. These groups are pushing for a separate set of rules, according to people familiar with the talks. Spokeswomen for the FAA and the Air Line Pilots Association declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents mainline carriers. Without discussing specifics, Roger Cohen, head of the country's largest regional airline association, said his group has "total and complete commitment" to the process, and a number of regional airline chiefs participated actively in the deliberations. Commuter pilots are bound to feel more tired than long-haul crews, according to Mr. Babbitt. "There's weight given to [the number of] takeoffs and landings," Mr. Babbitt said in an interview earlier this year, but scheduling issues "are so intertwined" that "we're obliged to address them all at once." The same day, the FAA chief told a pilot safety conference in Washington that existing regulations "don't reflect the difference" between commuter and long-haul operations. "Not only does one size not fit all" carriers, he said, "it's absolutely unsafe to think that it can." Even before discussion of revamped rules, large and smaller airlines stepped up efforts to develop their own fatigue-mitigation techniques and train pilots how to recognize the danger signs of sleeplessness. Regional carriers have assumed a larger role in domestic aviation by offering their big-airline partners less costly flight crews and high productivity. New fatigue rules could erode some of those advantages because they would be required to use more pilots to cover the same flight hours. As it is, the major airlines, themselves financially strapped, are attempting to cut the rates they pay their regional partners and reduce the number of regional planes under their contracts. So tougher fatigue-mitigation regulations could end up hurting the bottom lines of regional carriers. One highly-charged area the group of fatigue experts stayed away from involves personal commuting by airline pilots to get to work. FAA and pilot union officials have said individual aviators ought to be held accountable for reporting rested and in condition to start flying. The FAA-chartered group of experts didn't end up making any formal recommendations on this topic, according to people close to the discussions As federal officials struggle to draft new scheduling principles -- a process a former FAA administrator once called "the third rail of aviation safety regulation" --- European regulators also are working on comprehensive revisions to fatigue-prevention measures. At the same time, international aviation safety groups are prodding other countries and carriers to update workday limits based on the latest scientific data. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125254175933897517.html *************** DOT Aims to Step Up Commuter-Airline Safety By ANDY PASZTOR WASHINGTON--Enhancing training and oversight of commuter-airline pilots is the Obama administration's top aviation-safety priority, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told an aviation conference Thursday. Speaking at the Federal Aviation Administration's annual safety forum, Mr. LaHood said most passengers "were astounded" by the preliminary findings of training lapses and other safety shortcomings uncovered after the fatal February crash of a Colgan Air turboprop near Buffalo, N.Y. "I don't think the flying public understood" those issues, he said, and "we think it's our role at DOT to step up quickly" and show that "this is our No. 1 concern." In his strongest comments yet about being proactive in confronting commuter-airline safety problems, the Department of Transportation chief said "we're not waiting for investigators to issue a report." Proposals to revise rules to combat fatigue will "lead to better and more consistent pilot performance," he said. The secretary also told the safety forum that the FAA, which reports to him, is collecting additional data on various pilot-training programs and devising better ways to track pilots with training failures. The DOT, he said, is also urging carriers to mandate that pilots disclose safety problems, instead of making such reports voluntary. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125261092387100499.html **************** FAA Wants Better Inspections of Boeing 737s By ANDY PASZTOR WASHINGTON -- Two months after a Southwest Airlines Co. jet suffered a one-foot-wide rupture in its fuselage in midair, federal air-safety regulators are moving to propose enhanced inspections of certain Boeing 737 aircraft. The stepped-up structural inspections, according to government and industry officials, will cover about 130 planes in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration, which is slated to issue a proposed safety directive shortly, doesn't expect service disruptions. The FAA's anticipated move follows an earlier safety advisory manufacturer Boeing Co. issued covering about 300 planes worldwide. The FAA seeks to mandate Boeing's voluntary service bulletin. The July incident sparked media attention and prompted an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Board officials have determined that the hole doesn't indicate any broad fleetwide safety problems with Boeing's widely used family of 737 jetliners. One NTSB official said Thursday that more-frequent inspections are intended to identify cracks in certain portions of the fuselage before they grow and create safety hazards. Boeing and the safety board, according to government and industry officials, determined that the rupture last July extended only as far as reinforced sections of the fuselage. The plane's design is supposed to stop such cracks from spreading further, which could result in larger chunks of the fuselage tearing off in midflight and endangering the jet. The July incident ended with the plane landing safely. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125262381804701255.html ***************** FAA forum promotes safety through sharing information, best practices A wealth of information is available on aviation safety, but improvement is needed in coordinating and sharing the best safety practices that could benefit the entire industry, ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin said yesterday at the annual FAA International Aviation Safety Forum in Washington. "There's no need for anyone not to have access to safety-critical information," Benjamin said. "We need a global safety information exchange." Such an exchange would lead to more "targeted regulations" and provide data and information on best practices, he argued. "It's truly an idea whose time has come." He told ATWOnline he anticipates that the "principle" of the exchange will be agreed upon at a March ICAO meeting in Montreal. The information network would be Web-based and supported by both FAA and EASA, he indicated. Benjamin also noted that international cooperative efforts are underway to examine issues related to pilot fatigue, which received considerable attention following the February crash of a Colgan Air Q400 outside Buffalo (ATWOnline, July 21). "We will look at all aspects of fatigue management," he said. JetBlue Airways COO Rob Maruster also spoke out in support of improved information sharing and leadership by example in developing a strong safety culture. "As an industry we need to do a better job just speaking to the results, and the results speak for themselves," he said. Rather than individual airlines, he argued that FAA, the US Dept. of Transportation and trade groups like the Air Transport Assn. and the Regional Airline Assn. should promote both the industry's safety record and the changes being made to improve it. He acknowledged that some of those changes occur after fatal accidents. "I don't think we do a very good job talking about the changes we have made," he said. "As an industry, we need to do a much better job of speaking to those changes when they are made. In essence we are becoming safer in many respects." http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=17830 ************* New Runway Safety Tool Kit Released IATA and the Flight Safety Foundation have released a new Runway Excursion Risk Reduction tool kit. The tool kit is designed to reduce the number of runway excursions, which are instances when an aircraft unexpectedly leaves the runway during takeoff or landing. IATA safety data for 2004-2008 identifies runway excursions as a contributing factor in 27% of all accidents. Flight Safety Foundation data confirms that this amounted to an average of 30 accidents per year over the last 14 years. "Safety is our number one priority," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO. "Our safety record is constantly improving. Getting on a plane is about the safest thing that anybody can do. And we are determined to make it even safer. Data drives safety improvements. This toolkit analyses the major causes of runway excursions and provides practical solutions." The new tool kit provides an in depth analysis of runway excursion accident data, a compilation of significant risk factors, and provides recommendations for operators, pilots, airports, air traffic management, air traffic controllers and regulators to assist in addressing this challenge. The toolkit also contains considerable training materials and best practices for all operators. "Safety is the responsibility of everyone in the industry. The tool kit provides solutions for airlines, airports and regulators - from training to on-the-job implementation," Bisignani added. http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news09/119-RunwayKit.shtml *************** Roseville, CA Man Sentenced For 'Lasering' Police Helicopter He Will Serve More Than Three Years In A Federal Prison United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced today that Balltazar Valladares, 30, of Roseville, was sentenced Wednesday by United States District Judge William B. Shubb to three years and one month in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for interfering with the safe operation of an aircraft. Valladares pleaded guilty on June 8, 2009. This case is the product of an investigation by the Roseville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Air Marshals Service. "These years in federal prison should give anyone pause when contemplating as reckless an act as potentially blinding a pilot who is operating an aircraft," stated U.S. Attorney Brown. According to Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Segal, who prosecuted the case, on March 16, 2009, a Southwest Airlines flight landing at Sacramento International Airport was hit by a green flashing laser light while flying over Roseville. Police dispatched to the area were unable to locate the source of the laser. Approximately two hours later, the Sacramento Sheriff's Department Air Unit STAR 5 flew over the area and was hit by a high-powered green laser. While the laser remained on the helicopter, STAR 5 flew in the direction of the light, coming within a 1/4 mile of the source of the laser. STAR 5 identified Valladares's residence. Class III Laser File Photo Roseville Police officers arrived at the residence and spoke with Valladares. He admitted that he had been shining the laser into the sky during the night and that he had shined the laser at the police helicopter. During a search of the residence, police found the laser in two pieces hidden in different parts of the defendant's room. The laser possessed by Valladares was seven times more powerful than the standards published by the Food and Drug Administration. High-powered lasers like the one used by the defendant have the potential to blind those who may look at it. As it concerns aircraft, the laser may interfere with pilots several kilometers away and can cause problems during critical phases of an aircraft's operation, including takeoffs and landings. Judge Shubb, in sentencing Valladares, noted his long criminal history and his "apparently sincere indication to turn his life around." However, more important to the court was "the message that needs to be sent to others who might engage in this sort of conduct." Judge Shubb said that a "message has to be sent out" because shining a laser onto aircraft in flight is a "very serious problem," with "very, very serious consequences." FMI: www.caed.uscourts.gov aero-news.net *************** IATA Positions Available: 3 Vacancies in Miami: . Assistant Director Safety, Operations & Infrastructure - Latin America & Caribbean . Manager, Safety, Operations & Infrastructure - Latin America & Caribbean . Assistant Director, Safety, Operations & Infrastructure - North Atlantic & North America These postings can be found on the IATA website at http://www.iata.org/hc/recruitment.htm . Please let me know if you require additional information. ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC