26 OCT 2009 _______________________________________ *Sharjah 707 crash inquiry confirms part fell from jet *Co-pilot of jet that overshot airport denies sleeping or arguing *Officials Query Pilots Who Missed Airport *Air France Warns Pilots on Safety Procedures *Spike in laser attacks rattles pilots *Two Afghan helicopter crashes kill 14 Americans *Rethinking Flight Safety With Air Bags In Planes WIDE: Airline air bag demonstration. *Six New 737's In The Pipeline For Norwegian Air Shuttle *Swedes ground Nordic Airways successor *India's HAL to manufacture flaperons for Boeing 777s ************************************** Sharjah 707 crash inquiry confirms part fell from jet United Arab Emirates investigators have confirmed that part of the airframe from the Azza Air Transport Boeing 707-330C which crashed at Sharjah last week fell from the jet during take-off. The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority says part of the aircraft's structure "located around the engine" separated from the 707 as it departed on 21 October. It has temporarily banned Azza Air Transport from operating to the UAE until the inquiry is complete. In a preliminary report into the accident the GCAA says the aircraft had been carrying air conditioning units, automotive parts, computers and tools, and was transporting a crew of six, none of whom survived. The 707's departure to Khartoum, at 15:29, was captured on airport surveillance cameras and video footage had indicated a falling object as the aircraft climbed away. The GCAA says the aircraft part - the identity of which has yet to be fully disclosed - separated from the 707 and dropped onto the runway. Around 20 seconds into the flight, it adds, the aircraft was "found to be on a right turn" which continued until the aircraft struck the ground, some 1.2km from the approach end of Sharjah's runway 12. The GCAA says the ban on Azza's operations is a "preventive measure". It has drawn together an investigation team, headed by five GCAA members. While the inquiry is at an early stage, it says there is no indication that Sharjah Airport operations or infrastructure contributed to the crash. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Co-pilot of jet that overshot airport denies sleeping or arguing Pilots of errant airliner could have their licenses suspended or revoked by the FAA. MINNEAPOLIS — The first officer of the Northwest Airlines jet that missed its destination by 150 miles says he and the captain weren't sleeping or arguing in the cockpit, but he wouldn't explain their lapse in response and the detour. "It was not a serious event, from a safety issue," co-pilot Richard Cole said late Friday in front of his Salem, Ore., home. "I would tell you more, but I've already told you way too much." Initially, Cole and Capt. Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., told federal investigators they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of where they were. Aviation analysts, puzzled by the unusually long gap, wondered whether the pilots could have been sleeping. But Cole denied that and made comments that added to the confusion. "We were not asleep; we were not having an argument; we were not having a fight," Cole said, but he wouldn't discuss why it took so long for him and Cheney to respond to radio calls. Cole added that when the investigation is completed, "it's going to be innocuous." Northwest Flight 188 had remained out of contact for nearly 90 minutes as it flew past Minneapolis, its destination, on Wednesday evening. Four military fighter jets were put on alert. Air traffic control centers from Denver to Minneapolis tried numerous times to reach the pilots by radio, e-mail, data text and cellphone. One center tried to reach the pilot 13 times. Even the White House was alerted about the wayward Airbus A320 and started monitoring the situation. Finally, a flight attendant was able to contact the pilots, and they turned the plane around and landed it safely. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said Saturday that her agency has sent "letters of investigation" to both pilots, notifying them that the incident could lead to the emergency revocation or suspension of their licenses within days. National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Saturday were scheduling interviews with the pilots, board spokesman Keith Holloway said. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/2009/10/25/1025fli ght.html *************** Officials Query Pilots Who Missed Airport By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON — Federal investigators on Sunday questioned the captain and first officer of the Northwest Airlines airplane that overshot its destination by 110 miles on a flight Wednesday from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul, but the officials gave no immediate public comments on what the pilots had said. While some aviation experts have speculated that the pilots were napping, officials at Delta Air Lines, which absorbed Northwest in a merger last year, said privately that they were skeptical that the two men had been asleep. The pilots had a layover of about 17 hours in San Diego, airline employees pointed out, and while staying alert is a problem at some hours of the day, the idea that both could fall asleep in the late afternoon did not seem likely. The pilots have not given any detailed public accounting of what happened, but there have been reports from other sources that before they landed, they told air traffic controllers that they had been involved in a heated discussion of company policy and had lost track of everything else. The pilots have not said publicly what that conversation was about. One Delta pilot said on Sunday that the hot topic of discussion in the cockpits of the company’s planes lately had been the integration of procedures between Delta and Northwest. Delta is standardizing its checklists and procedures, mostly by imposing its operating rules on the Northwest pilots, and this has given the Northwest pilots a lot of new information to absorb, the Delta pilot said. The pilots of the flight, Northwest 188, Capt. Timothy B. Cheney, 53, of Gig Harbor, Wash., and First Officer Richard I. Cole, 54, of Salem, Ore., were interviewed in the Minneapolis area on Sunday. Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the federal National Transportation Safety Board, said that investigators would interview the flight attendants in the next few days. People involved in the investigation said the pilots had been alerted by a flight attendant using the plane’s interphone system, who asked why they were not descending. The plane, an Airbus A320 with 144 passengers and three flight attendants aboard, was above Eau Claire, Wis., before it turned around. Investigators have removed the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and given it a preliminary check. But the voice recorder may be of limited use because it captures only 30 minutes of sound, up to the time that the plane pulls up to the gate and the engines are shut off. The Federal Aviation Administration has sent enforcement letters to the two pilots, which could be the first step in stripping them of their licenses. Delta has already suspended the pilots. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/us/26pilots.html?hp ************** Air France Warns Pilots on Safety Procedures PARIS—Almost five months after an Air France jetliner crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, the airline is warning its pilots to follow safety procedures more closely and to stop criticizing the carrier. But its pilots are bristling at what they perceive as a rebuke, saying that management is blaming them for its failure to maintain safety. In a memo sent to all cockpit crew last week, the unit of Air France-KLM SA said a review of recent safety incidents showed that some of them occurred because pilots had disregarded basic procedures. Air France employees were among the mourners at a June 4 memorial service outside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris for the 216 passengers and 12 crew members on Flight 447 .The airline cited, for example, a case in which a pilot ignored an alarm during takeoff, but it offered no details. The memo said, however, that the cause of the fatal June 1 crash of Flight 447 en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro remains unknown. Since the Airbus A330 crashed, killing all 228 people on board, the airline has been at odds with its pilots over safety rules. Some pilot unions said last week's memo underscores growing tensions within the airline. "The letter is unacceptable," said Erick Derivry, spokesman for SNPL, Air France's largest pilots union. "It highlights how pilots have lost confidence in management." The memo chastised pilots for what it described as deviating from industrywide practices. "There is no need to fix procedures or create new ones," it says. "The mere application of planned procedures would have helped avoid the problems." A copy of the memo, which was signed by Air France head of operations Pierre-Marie Gautron and head of safety Etienne Lichtenberger, was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Air France said in statement Saturday that the memo is an internal document meant to "reinforce safety," and that it has "full confidence in its pilots." Mr. Derivry, the union representative, said he was "shocked" by the memo because it could be interpreted as blaming pilots not only for several small safety lapses, but also for the Flight 447 crash. The accident's cause remains unclear, at least in part because only small amounts of debris have been recovered. Most of the plane, including digital recorders that register cockpit conversations and flight data, are miles beneath the ocean. In its memo, Air France doesn't assign any blame for the crash, which it calls the worst catastrophe in its history. Indeed, the airline says that if investigators remain unable to recover the recorders, the accident's cause may never be known. A preliminary report released by French investigators leading the probe also stopped short of identifying a cause. Among the elements suspected of contributing to the crash are technical problems, pilot error and severe weather conditions. The airline, however, criticized what it called "self-proclaimed experts" promoting their own theories and explanations for the crash. "Those who pretend to act in the interest of flight safety are, in fact, contributing to a debasement of it," the memo said. Air France pilots said the comment was an attack on two of their colleagues, Gérard Arnoux and Henri Marnet-Cornus, who recently released their own analysis of the Flight 447 crash. In their document, the pair say the catastrophe could have been avoided if the airline had replaced potentially faulty speed sensors as problems with them became evident over recent years. The small sensors outside the cockpit, known as Pitot tubes, have a history of providing unreliable speed data to airplane computers, according to aviation authorities. Air France replaced the probes on its long-haul aircraft after the crash. But the airline, as well as French authorities in charge of investigating the accident and officials at aircraft maker Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., have said repeatedly that there is no evidence the speed probes alone caused the accident. Mr. Arnoux said in an interview that he and Mr. Marnet-Cornus stood behind their analysis. "The plane crashed because its speed probes malfunctioned," he said. Air France executives said in the memo that the company was ready to discuss all issues with pilot unions as long as the debate remained dispassionate. But they urged pilots not to give way to the temptation to challenge safety rules and procedures that took decades to develop. Mr. Derivry at the SNPL union said the memo was counterproductive, and that questioning pilots' professionalism wouldn't contribute to dispassionate debate. He added that Air France's advice not to challenge safety rules doesn't square with the airline's pledge to commission an external review of all its procedures in the wake of the Flight 447 crash. After the crash, Air France Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said he expected all crew members to be more vigilant. In last week's memo, the airline said: "We must acknowledge that recent events demonstrate the opposite." The memo listed a number of recent incidents in which it said pilots failed to abide by safety procedures. Without providing details on when and where the problems occurred, the airline cited a pilot ignoring an alarm during takeoff and cockpit crews overlooking elements in their safety checklists. "We shouldn't have to deal with this type of incidents when we review past flights because they shouldn't occur," the memo said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703697004574495363433814956.ht ml *************** Spike in laser attacks rattles pilots There's an alarming increase in the number of high-powered laser attacks on passenger jets and medical helicopters flying into GTA airspace, and police and transportation authorities aren't sure how to deal with it. Using green astronomy lasers that can temporarily disorient a pilot, unknown people have fired on aircraft from Woodbine Racetrack, Bluffers Park, a TTC station and other locations from Georgetown to Markham. There have been 28 of these attacks locally so far this year. A review of Transport Canada's Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS) reveals most of the incidents occur between 8 p.m. and midnight and target planes either shortly after lift-off or shortly before landing at Pearson International Airport. "It's distracting (and) it's a flight safety issue," says Cliff Rundle, a medical helicopter pilot who has had his cockpit beamed by a laser three times while flying low, about 300 metres, over the city. Each time he has been en route to a Toronto hospital with a patient in critical condition. "The cockpit lights up if you get a good hit. The light draws your attention right to it, and that's the problem – you're no longer paying attention to your flight." Toronto-area police and federal transport officials are powerless to catch the culprits. In the U.S., police helicopters are routinely dispatched to track laser beams. But with just one police helicopter in the GTA – in York Region – police here say that's not an option. Laser attacks in the GTA account for 53 per cent of the national total for 2009, but the numbers are up in other regions as well. Rundle's colleague, Kerrin Mobbs, an air ambulance pilot in Ottawa, has been grounded for the past seven weeks, the result of a laser flash directly to the eye. Mobbs, 55, was co-pilot on a midnight mission to chopper a patient from Pembroke to the Ottawa Civic Hospital on Sept. 8. "It was a starry night," says Mobbs. "We were flying low over Gatineau Park coming into the Ottawa Valley. I happened to be looking at the hills. That's when we got splashed by a bright green light. "We landed the helicopter, got the patient into the hospital. "It wasn't until after that my eye started to hurt. My pupils became so small you couldn't even see them." Doctors say his retinas are not permanently damaged, but he's unlikely to fly again for three months. So far in 2009, 26 pilots taking off from or landing at Pearson have complained about laser beams – some of which left them temporarily blinded by their flash. Two other planes flying in and out of the Toronto island airport have reported similar incidents. The most recent report from the GTA was on Sept. 24, when the pilot of a 124-passenger Air Canada flight reported being flashed from an apartment building in the vicinity of Leslie St. and Highway 401. Of the 125 reports Transport Canada has classified as security concerns in the national database for 2009, 52 of them have been the result of lasers. Laser attacks have yet to be blamed for downing an aircraft, but the Air Canada Pilots Association considers them one of the greatest safety concerns to their profession. Authorities are divided over how to deal with the increase because they can't decide whether the acts were intentional or whether the culprits are simply unaware of the risks involved. "While Transport Canada appreciates your interest in educating the public about the dangers of pointing lasers at aircraft, the department respectfully points out that the more this subject is aired, the more occurrences are being reported," says Deborah Baxter, spokeswoman for the ministry. The Star has published three stories about people shining lasers at planes in the GTA over the last two years. Five incidents were reported in the month that followed a story published Oct. 21, 2008, reporting incidents were already on the rise. There was no rise in attacks following the other two stories. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the U.S., the Air Canada Pilots Association and the chief operating officer at Ornge (the company that operates medical helicopters in Ontario) all say it is key to educate people about the dangers of shining lasers at aircraft. Barry Wiszniowski, chairman of the safety division of the Air Canada Pilots Association, has called for better labelling on laser pointers and tougher penalties for those caught beaming them at airplanes. More than 85 per cent of the lasers that hit planes are green. Green lasers have a wave length that is near the limit of the human eye's peak sensitivity and are said to be 30 times more powerful than the traditional red lasers commonly used during boardroom presentations. Green lasers are used by astronomers to map out stars, and can be purchased on the Internet or in astronomy shops for $50 and up. York Regional Police called for a ban on the high-powered laser pointers after their helicopter was hit on multiple occasions. One hit in October 2007 was tracked to a 16-year-old on the ground. No charges were laid. In parts of Australia, astronomy lasers are considered weapons and are illegal because of the threat they pose to pilots. The FAA reports more than 1,000 laser attacks on pilots in the U.S. this year. Laura Brown, spokeswoman for the FAA in Washington, says the best way to catch a laser-pointing culprit is to send a police helicopter into an area where another aircraft has reported being flashed. When the culprits beam the police helicopter they reveal their location and police on the ground then move in for the arrest. It was that method that allowed Calgary police to nab David Mackow after he shone a green laser from his apartment at an Air Canada flight in 2007. The pilot alerted police, who dispatched a helicopter. When Mackow aimed the laser at that chopper, police isolated his position and arrested him. He is the only person convicted of shining a laser at an aircraft and was fined $1,000 for mischief. A similar incident occurred in Edmonton last Aug. 19. Police helicopter pilots were able to trace the laser to a car. A 38-year old man has been charged under the Aeronautics Act with interfering with the safe operation of an aircraft and could face a $100,000 fine and five years in prison. Though Pearson airport falls within Peel's jurisdiction and that force gets most of the complaints, they don't have a helicopter. "If (York Region's) helicopter is available I'm sure that's something that could be utilized," says Peel Const. J.P. Valade. "Of course it's all up to the allocation of resources. If the helicopter is occupied on call of (a) much more serious matter like a robbery or a homicide ... I don't suspect that they'll pull the helicopter. "But I don't want to make it seem that this is not a serious matter." http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/article/716116--spike-in-laser-at tacks-rattles-pilots?bn=1 **************** Two Afghan helicopter crashes kill 14 Americans KABUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan killed 11 U.S. soldiers and three U.S. civilians on Monday, NATO-led forces said in a statement. Neither crash was caused by hostile fire, NATO said. This year has seen a surge of violence in Afghanistan as an increasingly fierce Taliban step up operations against U.S. and NATO forces operating in the country. Seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians were killed when a NATO helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan following an operation against insurgents in which a dozen Taliban fighters were killed. Eleven U.S. troops, 14 Afghan soldiers and a U.S. civilian were injured in the crash. Four U.S. service members were killed and two were injured when two helicopters operated by NATO-led troops collided in mid-air in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in an earlier statement. On Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, one U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack and another died of wounds from an insurgent attack, NATO said in a statement on Monday. A spokeswoman for ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force, could not give any further information on the casualties or the exact location of the crashes. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUS125655034745 ************** Rethinking Flight Safety With Air Bags In Planes There was a time — maybe 25 years ago — when the idea of putting air bags in planes would have been seen as pointless. For decades, aviation safety focused mainly on avoiding accidents on the theory that if a crash occurred, nobody could survive anyway. But more recently, safety experts have discovered that even in major mishaps — like planes running off runways or landing on the Hudson River — passengers can walk away unharmed if they're properly protected. And that's where air bags can help. AmSafe makes most of the seat belts used on planes, and increasingly, the company has been selling belts with air bags attached. AmSafe is supplying the product to most major U.S. airlines to help comply with a new government crash standard. The rule has been phased in slowly over the past 21 years and takes full effect this week, when the seats in newly manufactured planes will have to protect passengers from a crash 16 times the force of gravity. That's roughly what you might experience in a head-on car wreck at a moderate speed. At AmSafe's factory in Phoenix, workers assemble the air bags. They load a deflated air bag into a narrow pouch on top of the belt, and attach it to a trigger mechanism and a helium-filled inflation device hidden under the seat. "The air bag seat belt looks pretty much like a standard seat belt," says Tom Barth, research director for AmSafe. The air bag is sewn onto the webbing and has a decorative cover. "People don't really notice that it's there," Barth says. A New Standard John Hickey, a top official at the Federal Aviation Administration, says the new standard is an improvement over the former requirement of nine-times-gravity force, which he says didn't provide adequate protection. "We were seeing accidents that, sure, some of them were terrible catastrophes and there was never going to be a survivor," Hickey says. But many of the accidents were of the nature that people were still in their seat, and maybe if was a little bit stronger, that person could have survived." Hickey says air bags are just one of several methods airlines can use to comply with the rule, and only a few seats on the typical plane would need them. They're unnecessary, for instance, in most of the coach cabin, because airlines are installing sturdier seat-backs, which serve as an adequate cushion in a collision. Other seats — in especially spacious configurations — comply with the standard simply because there's nothing in front of them a belted passenger could hit. But bags often are used in places like the bulkhead — the wall at the front of the cabin — where a crash could throw passengers into a hard surface. Crash-Test Dummies At AmSafe, there's a special room where two crash-test dummies sit in a mock-up of an airplane cabin. The dummies hit the bulkhead at a force of 16 Gs. Bill Hagan, executive vice president of AmSafe and president of AmSafe Aviation, assesses the test results. "The occupant in the right-hand seat was wearing just a regular two-point seat belt. And if you look at the bulkhead in front of him, you can see a tan mark where his head struck and skidded on the bulkhead," he says. "So that's just not survivable. And the occupant on the left has the seat belt air bag, and never touched the bulkhead." Hagan says about 1 percent of the world's commercial aircraft seats now are equipped with air bags, a number he says will increase as airlines replace older planes. Each of the devices costs about $1,200, compared with just $35 for a standard seat belt. But Hagan says they're worth the price. Though an air bag never has deployed on a commercial flight, he says several have gone off in private plane crashes and he credits them for saving 14 lives. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114115635&ps=cprs **************** Six New 737's In The Pipeline For Norwegian Air Shuttle Lo-Cost Carrier Now Has 48 Next-Generation 737's On Order Boeing and low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle confirmed an order for an additional six Next-Generation 737-800s Thursday. With this order, Norwegian has a total of 48 Next-Generation 737 airplanes on order from Boeing as well as 22 airplanes from leasing companies. The new 737s will feature advanced-technology Blended Winglets, an environmental innovation that reduces drag, resulting in less fuel consumption and a decrease in carbon emissions of 3.5 to 4 percent. The Oslo-based carrier has been opening up new markets in Europe and beyond since it was founded Sept. 1, 2002. Norwegian has reported continuous growth in its passenger figures and improved margins throughout the 2008/2009 recession. Today, the company announced its highest quarterly operating profit to date. Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos has placed the 737-800 at the heart of Norwegian's fleet expansion. "As we expand our markets and provide more low-cost options for our rapidly growing customer base, it makes strategic sense that the 737-800 forms the bedrock of our fleet," Kjos said. "We are also pleased because the airplanes have one of the best environmental profiles in the industry, significantly reducing emissions and noise. Norwegian has more than 200 routes to 90 destinations carrying more than 10,000,000 passengers over the last 12 months." "Norwegian's repeat order is a strategic move that confirms the suitability of the 737-800 to the low-fare airline model, providing unmatched levels of efficiency and utilization," said Aldo Basile, vice president of Sales for Europe and Russia, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. FMI: www.boeing.com aero-news.net *************** Swedes ground Nordic Airways successor Swedish authorities have revoked the operating licence for Nordic Airways Holding, following an assessment of the company's financial position. The carrier, a Boeing MD-80 operator, had emerged with the Nordic Airways brand in June, about six months after a predecessor with the same name was grounded. But the Swedish aviation regulator Transport Styrelsen says it has ordered the withdrawal of the airline's licence, adding: "This means that the company may not continue with commercial flights. "The background to the decision is the company's financial situation." Nordic Airways Holding, the agency believes, can "no longer fulfil commitments and obligations to its passengers" required by European laws governing carriers. Similar failings led to the demise of the previous Nordic Airways operation. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** India's HAL to manufacture flaperons for Boeing 777s Boeing has contracted India's Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to manufacture the flaperons that will be used on its 777 series of aircraft ordered by the country's airlines. HAL will manufacture the parts at its facilities in Bangalore, says Boeing. The 777 flaperons are "a highly complex composite assembly that is instrumental in controlling the airplane's manoeuvrability in flight", working both as an aileron to control roll and as a flap to control lift, it adds. "The composite 777 flaperon that HAL will produce represents a significant leap forward in technological capability, and supports Boeing's strategy to work in partnership with India's aerospace industry for the long-term," says Boeing India president Dinesh Keskar. The first flaperon assembly is likely to be delivered "within the next few years", says Boeing. "Showcasing HAL's composite manufacturing capability on one of the world's premier long-haul commercial jets positions us for even greater opportunities at the forefront of technology," says Soundara Rajan, director for corporate planning and marketing at HAL. Indian carriers have ordered 36 of Boeing's 777s, including 23 orders from Air India and 13 orders from Jet Airways. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC