01 DEC 2009 _______________________________________ *Investigators analyzing CVR and FDR from crashed MD-11F *Cessna Aircraft delivers 300th Citation X *FAA bans takeoffs with polished frost *Boeing 787's wing fix passes crucial test, sources say *Regulators Draft New Rules to Alleviate Cockpit Fatigue *Brazil’s ANAC Grants Additional STC for ALERTS System *Flight 3407 relatives sue pilot training firm *E African countries to improve flight safety *FAA asked to do more to fix morale **************************************** "Black box" of crashed Zimbabwean cargo plane found in Shanghai Investigators analyzing CVR and FDR from crashed MD-11F Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from a Boeing MD-11 freighter that crashed on take-off from Shanghai Pudong airport on 28 November. "Both recorders have reached Beijing, and they are being analyzed," says an official in the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The exterior of the recorders has some damage, he adds. Cargo carrier Avient Aviation was operating the aircraft, which had seven crew members on board. Three died and the remaining four were hospitalized. It is still not clear if the aircraft, local registration Z-BAV, was airborne before it crashed. The CAAC had previously only said it skidded off the runway. "Investigations are still going on in Shanghai and the circumstances are still unclear," says the CAAC official. The aircraft was operating a charter freight flight and was carrying consumer products such as electrical goods and clothing, says Avient. Chinese media reports say the aircraft was bound for Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** citationx Cessna Aircraft delivers 300th Citation X In 1996, golf legend Arnold Palmer took delivery of Cessna Aircraft’s first midsized Citation X business jet. Cessna delivered its 300th Citation X this week. The jet was delivered to Cessna’s authorized sales representative, Jetalliance, based in Vienna, Austria. An unnamed retail customer will operate the plane from Vienna, Cessna said. Cessna calls the Citation X the world’s fastest nonmilitary aircraft. It has a top speed of .92 Mach, just under the speed of sound. Since it’s launch, Cessna has delivered more than 45 Citation Xs to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. http://blogs.kansas.com/aviation/2009/11/30/cessna-aircraft-delivers-300th-c itation-x/ **************** FAA bans takeoffs with polished frost The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is prohibiting takeoffs with "polished frost" — frost buffed to make it smooth — on the wings, stabilizers and control surfaces of several classes of aircraft. The new rules are effective on January 30, 2010. There are 57 operators flying 188 aircraft affected by the rule changes. The FAA already prohibits major and regional air carriers from operating with polished frost. Frost can affect the aerodynamics of wings and control surfaces, and the safest action is to completely remove it. Previous FAA guidance recommended removing all wing frost prior to takeoff, but allowed it to be polished smooth if the aircraft manufacturer’s recommended procedures were followed. But manufacturers never published standards of acceptable smoothness for polished frost, and the FAA has no data to determine exactly how to polish frost to satisfactory smoothness. The new rules also clarify that affected aircraft must have functioning deicing or anti-icing equipment for flights under Instrument Flight Rules into known or forecast light or moderate icing conditions, or under Visual Flight Rules into known light or moderate icing conditions. (FAA) (aviation-safety.net) *************** Boeing 787's wing fix passes crucial test, sources say Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner has successfully completed a redo of the wing test that the jet failed last May, and now looks set to fly before Christmas, according to two sources familiar with the test outcome. Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner on Monday successfully completed the wing test that the jet failed last May, and now looks set to fly before Christmas, according to two sources familiar with the test outcome. Engineers are still analyzing data from the repeat test and haven't yet given the official thumbs-up, but the composite fibers in the wing did not delaminate when it was bent to the same point as in the previous test, the sources said. An initial look at the data suggests that the structure performed as anticipated following a complex fix that Boeing has worked on since postponing the scheduled first flight in June. Boeing's current target date for first flight is Dec. 22, according to people familiar with the plan. That hinges on a successful outcome of the wing test. The company issued a statement confirming the completion of the test late Monday, adding that it will take 10 days to do a full analysis of the results. During the test, engineers bent the wings on a ground-test airplane upward until they passed "limit load," which is the maximum load the wing is expected to bear in service. Sometime next year, the wings will be bent further, beyond "ultimate load," which is 50 percent higher than limit load. That's the level required before the Federal Aviation Administration will certify the plane to fly passengers. In the previous test last May, at a point just above limit load, the wings suffered delamination at the ends of each of 17 long stiffening rods, called stringers, on the upper skin of the wing boxes: the fibers ruptured and the stringers came away from the skin. The damage occurred on the upper skin of the exterior wing at the point where it joins the fuselage. Corresponding damage occurred on the other side of the join on an inner structure called the "center wing box." Boeing attributed the failure to a design flaw. Discovery of the damage led Boeing executives in June to cancel a maiden flight that had been planned for the week after the Paris Air Show. The last-minute cancelation caused consternation among industry observers, and in August Boeing commercial airplane chief executive Scott Carson stepped aside, replaced by Jim Albaugh. Responding to the failure, Boeing engineers first designed a fix that involved cutting a u-shaped piece out of each stringer end to shift the load, then reinforcing each of the stringer/skin joins with fasteners. They tested it on computer models, and then methodically began installing the fix on the airplanes already built. Installation of the fix on Dreamliner No. 1, the first plane to fly, was completed Nov. 11. The installations were completed on the ground test airplane and on Dreamliner No. 2 a few days later. But No. 1 couldn't fly until the bending of the wings of the ground test airplane was successfully completed. With that done, Boeing must roll out Dreamliner No. 1 again, and repeat some of the systems tests that were done last summer. Monday, that jet was moved outside to the fuel dock on Paine Field, where the wings will be filled with jet fuel for initial engine runs and system tests. After that, the Dreamliner will proceed to taxi tests and then, barring another mishap, it should be in the air by Christmas. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010391573_webboein g30.html ************** Regulators Draft New Rules to Alleviate Cockpit Fatigue By ANDY PASZTOR Federal air-safety regulators are drafting new rules to alleviate cockpit fatigue, partly to prevent a replay of some harrowing incidents involving sleepy commuter-airline pilots in recent years. Examples of mix-ups and oversights range from taking off on a wrong runway to poor navigation to having a regional jet tumble in altitude because of an inattentive captain and co-pilot. Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt has stressed that typically short commuter hops featuring multiple takeoffs and landings, particularly those late at night or starting early in the morning, are more taxing for pilots than much longer transcontinental or international trips. The agency is drafting comprehensive rules to tailor work schedules to account for such differences. And for the first time, the industry association representing most U.S. commuter carriers has agreed to conduct sleep research to help inform the debate. .One of the FAA's most controversial proposals, according to industry officials, would restrict how long certain pilots can stay behind the controls in a single day. The limit might go down to seven hours of scheduled flying under some circumstances, versus the current maximum of eight. The tentative revisions also envision scheduling duty periods lasting no longer than roughly nine consecutive hours for pilots on particularly challenging commuter routes, these officials say. Under today's rules, 14 or 15 consecutive hours on duty—though not flying during all that time—aren't that unusual in commuter operations. The work periods can stretch even longer because of weather, mechanical issues or extra duties. To bolster their case for change, proponents are marshaling examples of bleary pilots who became distracted or actually nodded off. In September 2005, during an early-morning takeoff from Eau Claire, Wis., a Pinnacle Airlines jetliner was accelerating past 115 miles per hour when, according to the captain's confidential safety report to the company, "I realized we were on the wrong runway." The strip he was on was much shorter, though he was able to get the plane airborne by adding maximum thrust. The captain blamed, among other factors, "complacency," distraction by bad weather and "lack of sleep" because he had just reported for work after a shorter-than-usual overnight rest. He also acknowledged "failure to review the airport diagram" or "verify the proper heading." Citing the confidential nature of the captain's report, Pinnacle declined to comment. The twin-engine Embraer was climbing on autopilot through roughly 35,000 feet when it approached a stall. The startled crew then revved up the engines, according to people familiar with the details, but because of the thin air the jetliner lost thousands of feet of altitude before it was able to level off. According to these people, the captain, who was finishing up a grueling four-day trip, had nodded off, and the co-pilot, distracted by paperwork, didn't notice his state or realize that because the throttles weren't set properly, the plane was losing airspeed dangerously fast. The crew voluntarily reported the incident and nobody was punished, although the people familiar with the details said managers criticized the captain's failure to alert the copilot about fatigue issues. ExpressJet confirmed the general outlines of the incident but not all of these specifics. A spokeswoman said the plane dropped only about 1,200 feet. She said that the captain "wasn't feeling 100% that day" but didn't doze off. The airline later used the incident as a training aid for pilots, the spokeswoman added. In their drive to improve safety, federal regulators have looked far beyond fatigue factors. According to the FAA, in recent months agency inspectors met with the top safety officers at both commuter and major airlines to focus on pilot training, and also to help carriers better review such programs. In a statement Monday, the FAA said it has proposed new rules to mandate widespread use of advanced simulation technologies, along with ways to enhance their effectiveness. But many experts feel combating chronic fatigue is one of the most difficult goals. FAA rules strictly prohibit pilots from napping during flight. Airline managers and pilots say this nonetheless happens on more than a few flights. Aviators use various techniques to cope with fatigue, some frowned on both by airlines and by the FAA. Pilot-union officials say they are receiving more reports of aviators who, to relieve boredom as their planes are moving around airports, send personal text messages. Others read newspapers or do crossword puzzles while planes cruise at high altitudes, just to help them stay awake. Still others resort to informal cockpit code to warn fellow pilots they intend to catch some shut-eye. Fatigue can build up even on the ground. Pilots say that sometimes, waiting to climb into the cockpit can be among the most tiring experiences. Every day, significant numbers of commuter pilots lounge around airports across the country just so they can be immediately available to fill in for a late, sick or otherwise unavailable aviators. It is considered draining, mind-numbing duty, and often the stand-ins get paid only for a portion of the time they may have read, dozed or cooled their heels in anticipation of getting assigned to a flight. When Charlie Preusser started his commercial-pilot career at Colgan Air in 2007, he was based in Albany, N.Y. But on many Sundays, his schedule called for him and a captain to grab a seat on another airline to Boston to report to work. "Colgan consistently would forget to list us on the 'deadhead'" list to reserve space, he says, so managers would "have us rent a car and drive three hours to Boston." He also said Colgan crew schedulers would call pilots on their days off "and beg us to fly." Mr. Preusser, the son of a Northwest Airlines pilot and a former U.S. Army helicopter mechanic, said he considered Colgan "disorganized" and a "shoestring operation." He quit in less than a year and joined a larger airline, where he now works as a first officer. A spokesman for Colgan said the airline is committed to safety practices that match or exceed those of major carriers. He said senior airline managers, most with 30 or more years of airline experience, "continually review crew scheduling policies and procedures to ensure that proper controls are in place." When Colgan managers testified earlier this year at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the February crash of a Colgan plane near Buffalo, N.Y, they played down the significance of extended work schedules. "At the end of the day," said Daniel Morgan, vice president of flight safety, "16 hours is right" for a maximum work period. It isn't "an ideal way to work," he told the board, "but neither is working overnight at the Post Office." FAA chief Babbitt, referring to Colgan management's attitude, later told a Senate panel that pilot "professionalism certainly wasn't being pushed from the top down." A spokesman for Colgan said it "has repeatedly proven its commitment to safety" through investments and new equipment. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125962786713670537.html?mod=article-outset-b ox ************** Brazil’s ANAC Grants Additional STC for ALERTS System Appareo Systems, LLC is pleased to announce that it has received an additional Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the ALERTS Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) system. Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC), Brazil’s national civil aviation agency has issued the STC for the Eurocopter AS350 and has granted earlier STC’s for Bell 206 and 407 aircraft. ALERTS has previously been granted STCs for the same aircraft types in the United States and Canada. ANAC has validated FAA STC SR02686CH and issued their own STC 2009S08-01 against it. ALERTS – Aircraft Logging and Event Recording for Training and Safety – is a comprehensive FOQA and Flight Data Management (FDM) system designed for light and legacy aircraft where more traditional flight data recorders are too large and costly to be viable choices. As a comprehensive system, ALERTS makes an effective FOQA/FDM program available to operators of any size. The STC is a document that is granted by ANAC when the applicant has received approval to modify an aircraft from its original design. “Appareo Systems is pleased that the ANAC has issued this STC for the ALERTS system,” said Ben Wright, Appareo Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “With this certificate, Brazilian operators of the popular AS350 will be able to enjoy the same safety and training benefits that the ALERTS system has shown in other light helicopters around the world.” The STC applies to the airborne portion of the ALERTS System, the GAU 2000 & RMS 2000. The GAU 2000 is a lightweight unit that gathers flight data with an integrated GPS and a sophisticated inertial sensing suite. Requiring only aircraft power and ground and weighing roughly two pounds, the GAU 2000 can be mounted in nearly any type of aircraft. The gathered flight data is recorded to an SD memory card and an internal crash hardened memory and is later transferred to the software portion of ALERTS, which automatically analyzes the data for any events that are outside of standard operating procedures. These events are then forwarded to the system administrator for further action. Additionally, all recorded flight data is stored in a database that can generate detailed reports on any aspect of the fleet’s performance, further improving safety, pilot training and efficiency. As a leader in FOQA/FDM solutions for light and legacy aircraft, Appareo Systems will continue to advance the ALERTS system’s capabilities and seek additional aircraft certifications in the future. About Appareo Systems, LLC Founded in 2001, Appareo Systems, LLC is a vibrant and growing company with significant experience in electronics design and engineering. Appareo creates high-value commercial products and custom engineering services through the innovative application of cutting-edge technology. Appareo Systems is based in Fargo, ND. Appareo’s innovations have been lauded by industry associations, independent media outlets, university programs and private pilots alike – they have charted new territory in flight safety by bringing innovative products designed for light and legacy aircraft to a market where none have existed in the past. http://www.rotor.com/Default.aspx?tabid=510&newsid905=62692 *************** Flight 3407 relatives sue pilot training firm A flight safety company that helped train the pilots of the Colgan Air turboprop plane that crashed in Clarence has been sued for the first time for its alleged role in the February crash that killed 50 people. FlightSafety International Inc., headquartered at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, was cited in four lawsuits filed last week in New York State Supreme Court for its alleged deficiencies in stall recovery training. “Real change can occur only if we look at all elements of the tragedy,” said Terrence M. Connors, who filed suit on behalf of Kevin W. Johnston. “Training is key.” The lawsuits allege that FlightSafety trained Capt. Marvin D. Renslow and First Officer Rebecca Lynn Shaw in flight simulators under contract with Colgan Air. Renslow, 47, was trained by FlightSafety on its Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 simulator in November 2008 in St. Louis, according to the suit. Shaw, 24, received her flight simulator training from FlightSafety in March 2008 at the company’s Toronto center, the lawsuits say. Despite the simulator training, the suits allege, neither pilot received instructions in using what is called the stick pusher in the Colgan aircraft. Reconstruction of the final seconds of Flight 3407 by the National Transportation Safety Board show that Renslow took the exact opposite approach to the stick pusher and failed to bring the aircraft out of a deadly spin to the ground. While the NTSB has not yet made a final conclusion on what caused the crash, experts have pointed to a series of factors, including icing, fatigue, idle cockpit chatter between the pilots, allowing the aircraft to slow to a stalling speed, and Renslow’s improper use of the stick pusher. The slow speed, according to those reconstructions, activated a device called the stick shaker, which should have alerted the pilot to lower the plane’s nose and apply power to bring it out of its aerodynamic stall. The stick shaker alarm was followed by an alarm for the stick pusher, which would have automatically lowered the plane’s nose. Instead, the reconstruction shows, Renslow jerked the stick upward, which sent Flight 3407 into its fatal spin. The lawsuits, like the two dozen already filed in U. S. District Court, also cite Colgan Air and its parent company, Pinnacle Airlines Corp., as well as Continental Airlines Inc., whose name the Colgan flight was flying under. A number of the other suits also named the manufacturer of the aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace. Two things, however, mark a difference between these last four suits and the two dozen before them: naming FlightSafety as a defendant, and filing them in state court. “We felt that training was part of this,” said attorney James T. Scime of Lipsitz Green, who filed suit for Justine Krasuski on behalf of Jerome Krasuski of Cheektowaga. “We felt they should answer for their role in this tragedy.” R. Charles Miner of Smith, Miner, O’Shea & Mahoney, who sued for Cheryl Borner on behalf of David M. Borner, also said the four attorneys felt they should file the suit in state court. “You’d really be hard pressed to find somebody in Erie County who was not touched by this crash,” Miner said. “We just think that Erie County jurors, since they have the most at stake in this, should hear this suit.” Also filing suit last week was Timothy W. Hoover and Kenneth A. Manning for Tina Siniscalco, the sister of Mary Julia Abraham, who died in the crash. Hoover declined comment. A spokesman for FlightSafety, citing the Thanksgiving Day holiday, said there was nobody available to comment. FlightSafety International, like The Buffalo News, is a Berkshire Hathaway Company. http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/876727.html *************** E African countries to improve flight safety A new proposal that will charge East African air passengers an additional fee for aviation safety support is presented to East Africa Community ministers for approval. The regional Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (Cassoa) has proposed an average surcharge of $0.70 on tickets of all passengers to fund the operations of the agency. Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya have up to March to decide on the proposed levy, which would be reviewed during the mid-year strategic plan. The proposals are contained in Cassoa’s Five Year Strategic Plan from 2010/11 to 2014/15. The measure is intended to raise the budget of the institution whose current financing strategy, which includes contributions by Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) of partner States, is not sustainable, media reported quoting Cassoa directors. Consultants from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently established that the apportioned budget contribution the regional agency gets from CAAs was "unsustainable for the complex structure of Cassoa." The proposed levy is seen as the most viable mode of funding because it comes directly from the aviation sub-sector itself. The Cassoa directors also deemed the proposed levy as a fairly reasonable method of raising funds on the grounds that it would be chargeable equitably related to aviation activities in all the Partner States. An average projected regional growth in the passenger numbers is assumed at 4.7 per cent in Burundi, 6.1 per cent in Kenya, 6.8 per cent in Rwanda, seven per cent in Tanzania and 7.5 per cent in Uganda. The current numbers are extrapolated to reflect this growth. The agency says they may also seek the funds from other sources as provided by in the Protocol, which include grants from regional and international bodies. Under the Cassoa Act 2009, the East African partner States are obligated to directly finance its operations, but this is now seen as inadequate to sustain the agency’s operations. http://www.africanews.com/site/E_African_countries_to_improve_flight_safety/ list_messages/28256 ************** FAA asked to do more to fix morale Agency should take broader approach to diversity, GAO says The Federal Aviation Administration needs to step up its efforts to promote diversity and do more to counter low morale, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO called on the agency to broaden its training programs rather than narrowly focusing on racial diversity in hiring. The GAO said the agency's initiatives "fell short" of diversity management practices at other organizations. The FAA needs diversity training to "provide employees an awareness of their differences -- including culture, work style and personal presentation -- and an understanding of how diverse perspectives can improve organizational performance," the GAO said. The FAA has long had employee morale problems. In 2009, the FAA ranked 214 out of 216 agencies in a survey of the best places to work in the federal government published by the Partnership for Public Service and American University. In a statement, the agency said FAA Administrator J. Randolph Babbitt has been "working diligently to increase employee engagement and improve workplace satisfaction." According to the GAO, the aviation agency's morale and culture problems could obstruct its ability to attract and retain tech-savvy workers. The GAO said the need for such workers will grow as the FAA moves to more advanced equipment, including more widespread use of satellite-based navigation technologies for tracking planes. Like other federal agencies, the GAO said, the FAA is facing a wave of retirements that will compound the problems it faces. The FAA predicts that 38 percent of its employees who perform work that is "critical to FAA's mission" will be eligible to retire by 2013, according to the report. In the next five years, 42 percent of air traffic controllers, 31 percent of the specialists who maintain air traffic control systems and 48 percent of safety inspectors are projected to be eligible to retire, the GAO said. Carl Goldman, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees' Council 26, which represents most of the workers at the FAA's Washington headquarters, said a lot of the agency's morale problems center on money. He said workers have long complained about the agency's complicated system of awarding pay increases. For example, a portion of yearly raises is based on agency-wide performance goals, Goldman said. Sometimes the goals include criteria that most employees at the headquarters have no control over, such as the number of runway incursions at airports. "There's no transparency in how awards are made, and people can get penalized for something they had nothing to do with," he said. In August, the FAA resolved a years-long contract and pay dispute with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, its largest union. The agency said the NATCA contract success and other efforts to promote diversity would help raise employee morale. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113004 066.html ***************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC