17 DEC 2009 _______________________________________ *NTSB fills in details on errant Northwest flight *Pilots on Autopilot *Air France crash report set for release *Search for Wreckage of Downed Air France Flight Could Resume *French Experts to Advise 'Black Box' Changes *FAA inspector injured in Maui chopper accident *Airplane makes Emergency Landing at Ford International Airport *SIA A380 returns to Paris after power failure in galley *Timely abort could have averted blocked-pitot 757 struggle *NTSB investigates American Airlines wing scrape at Charlotte *MAK issues final report on Yak-40 landing accident in Kazakhstan *New Paperwork For Aircraft Flying Internationally Required In January *15 Airlines Take major Step In Alternative Fuel Deployment **************************************** NTSB fills in details on errant Northwest flight http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2009/12/17/flightx-large.jpg The flight path of Northwest Flight 188 is shown. Attempts to reach the pilots on Flight 188, which made a bizarre odyssey across the Midwest Oct. 21 without talking to controllers for an hour and 17 minutes, were hindered by a string of errors, glitches and miscommunications, according to hundreds of pages of documents released by the NTSB. By Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON - Glitches in a system designed to alert the military about security breaches over the nation's skies added more confusion to the recent debacle in which a Northwest Airlines jet flew 150 miles past its destination, federal investigators reported Wednesday. Attempts to reach the pilots on Flight 188, which made a bizarre odyssey across the Midwest Oct. 21 without talking to controllers for an hour and 17 minutes, were hindered by a string of errors, glitches and miscommunications, according to hundreds of pages of documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The documents also add new details to the frantic moments in the cockpit when the pilots first realized what had happened. MORE: Wrong-way pilots' cockpit tapes released BACKGROUND: Minneapolis-bound flight overshoots airport by 150 miles The pilots told investigators that they had no idea anything was wrong until flight attendant Barbara Logan called on an intercom to ask when they would be landing. The pilot who answered told her he was "hosed" and hung up, Logan said. Capt. Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., told investigators he was "in shock" when he looked up at a computer screen that displays flight information on the Airbus A320 and saw that it was largely blank because the jet had already flown its assigned route. Cheney and co-pilot Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., were stripped of their pilot licenses by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Both men have appealed the revocations. The FAA acknowledged last month that controllers and managers had been slow to react after the pilots went out of radio contact. Among the new details in the documents: .The special phone line that connects the FAA's Minneapolis Center to the Domestic Events Network (DEN), which alerts the military and law enforcement agencies about aviation security emergencies, had numerous problems. FAA managers said that the communication equipment "does not operate adequately in a consistent manner." Its volume rises and falls uncontrollably, and it suffers from loud feedback and clicking noises that render it "unusable." The FAA said the DEN should have been notified within five to 10 minutes, but they were not called for more than an hour. .Because of apparent mix-ups, controllers never tried to radio the pilots on the last radio frequency they had spoken on, according to the preliminary NTSB report. As a result, the pilots may never have heard controllers frantically trying to reach them. .At least initially, the controllers did not attempt to reach the pilots on a radio frequency reserved for emergencies, the NTSB said. The pilots said they were monitoring the frequency. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-16-laptops-northwest-flight_N.ht m **************** Pilots on Autopilot By ARNOLD REINER THE Northwest Airlines pilots who became so absorbed in their laptop PCs that they flew 150 miles past their destination have added to the concerns of the public, during this busy holiday travel season. This incident should also be a wake-up call to the aviation industry. Decades of technological enhancements and automation have made flying undeniably much safer but also fostered a subtle disconnect between pilots and the planes they fly. Designed to reduce crew workload and enhance safety, today's highly automated aircraft can leave pilots so detached from flying that they become almost like passengers on their own flights. That's apparently what happened on Northwest Flight 188. Once the busy takeoff and departure was behind them and their aircraft was at cruising level, with the autopilot and the flight management system doing all the flying and navigating, the pilots felt comfortable enough to get to work on a new crew scheduling program. In cruise flight, all they were required to do was monitor the plane's flightpath, have an awareness of other traffic, monitor systems and respond to radioed air traffic control instructions. Pilots call it being "situationally aware." But these pilots' preoccupation was so deep that situational awareness went out the window and even radio calls were tuned out. The plane was on its own and this crew was along for the ride just like the folks in the back. What got the crew into this pickle was thousands of hours in highly reliable, automated planes that over time made them ever more confident and blunted their need to be involved in the tasks of flying. In contrast, the early years of jet travel required far more crew involvement and there was always something to do or watch over. When I was a Pan Am Boeing 707 co-pilot in the late '60s, few cockpit controls and systems were fully automated. Most required periodic attention and resetting to operate properly. After a series of computations for temperature, altitude and other considerations, engine thrust had to be carefully set for takeoff and reset during climb and cruise. Controlling pressurization and adjusting cabin cooling was a respected art performed by the flight engineer, who also made sure that the wings stayed in balance and fuel from the plane's seven tanks fed the engines. Flying over land, pilots continually retuned and identified navigation radios, reset courses and adjusted heading for wind drift. Flying over the ocean still required a knowledge of celestial navigation. Our 707's had a periscopic sextant on board that could be popped through a small round hatch in the cockpit ceiling for star shots. On Atlantic crossings, pilots used a World War II-era long-range radio navigation system known as Loran to manually plot position. On some long Pacific flights where Loran coverage was too sparse, navigators were the hardest workers, taking star shots, measuring drift and passing heading correction slips to the pilots. These disciplines required extreme accuracy and skill. And with all the numbers and variables of this demanding work, errors were expected and occurred. That's why Pan Am required additional verification steps from another pilot to confirm each course change or future position. In short, even when things were going smoothly during level cruise flight, cockpit crews had to be more actively involved to get where they were going. By the early 1980s, aircraft systems and automation had evolved significantly. Most of the manual chores of staying on the airways or oceanic tracks were eliminated. In many planes, there was no longer a flight engineer sitting sideways behind the pilots, facing a bank of gauges, status lights, toggle switches and levers to operate the plane's systems. Those functions had been automated, their controls condensed and placed in the pilot's overhead panel. By the late '80s, I was a captain on the A310, a highly automated Airbus jet. I had evolved from the hands-on flier of my earlier years to a systems manager, controlling the plane with a flight management keyboard. During qualification training, pilots quipped that to pass their F.A.A. simulator checkride they had to be able to type 50 words a minute. It was a joke, but not far from the truth. Today it's the way we fly new airliners, with G.P.S. accurate to within a few feet and computers, known as fly-by-wire systems, sending commands to the engines and all flight control surfaces. The challenge now is to keep airline crews connected and aware when all this automation relieves them of the details and tasks that kept pilots on their toes in years past. Manufacturers must develop an effective alerting system to complement - or rather mitigate - the effects of advanced automation. Designing an alert intrusive enough to yank crews back to reality in moments when they're not responding to conditions won't be easy and it will have to be right. Today's cockpits are already filled with annunciator lights, caution lights, and all sorts of indicators and displays, most with their own distinct sounds and decibel levels. Aviation accidents often involve inappropriate or misunderstood alerts, which in some cases were even disconnected before a crash. But the best safety device is the pilot, who, deep down, regardless of the aircraft, retains a sense of fallibility and vulnerability. No system can ever substitute for that. Arnold Reiner is a retired airline captain and a former director of flight safety at Pan Am. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/opinion/17reiner.html ***************** Air France crash report set for release A Brazilian navy frigate crew recovers wreckage from the Air France crash in June. Official: Report has "no surprises" but offers details on safety recommendations New search for data recorders to begin in February, investigation bureau chief says (CNN) -- Investigators probing the June crash of an Air France flight off Brazil will release their second interim report Thursday with a press briefing, officials said. France's Investigation and Analysis Bureau will hold the briefing Thursday afternoon, the bureau said in a statement. Flight 447 -- an Airbus A330 -- went down in stormy weather in the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 while flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. All 228 people on board were killed. Large parts of the plane, including both flight data recorders, have never been found, despite an extensive search operation that included a French navy submarine. Investigators said earlier this week they were planning to resume the search for the data recorders, according to Agence France-Presse. Jean-Paul Troadec, director of the investigation bureau, told reporters that the new search, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off Brazil's northeast coast, will begin in February. The new underwater sweeps will last a maximum three months and involve sonar and robot submarines, he said. Troadec was in Rio de Janeiro to speak to the relatives of the 58 Brazilians who were on board, AFP reported Sunday. "We tried to convince the families that we are conducting the investigation with the full intention of getting to the truth," he said. The upcoming report contained "no surprises" but did set out "new details, notably in terms of safety recommendations," he said. Tests have already brought into question the performance of pitot tubes, which are used to measure the pressure exerted on the plane as it flies through the air, and are part of a system used to determine air speed. Before it crashed, Flight 447 sent out 24 automated error messages that suggested the plane may have been flying too fast or too slow through the thunderstorms, officials have said. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a directive in late August requiring airlines to replace pitot tubes manufactured by Thales Avionics on Airbus A330s and A340s. It said airlines should replace them with other Thales tubes and those manufactured by Goodrich. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/12/16/airfrance.report/ **************** Search for Wreckage of Downed Air France Flight Could Resume French air-safety investigators probing the June 1 crash of Air France Flight 447 are expected to announce Thursday that they will resume underwater searches for the plane's flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision to begin a new search underscores the difficulties investigators have had in trying to piece together the causes for the crash, which killed all 228 people on board. The Airbus A330 flew into a severe thunderstorm in the Atlantic en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, and neither the airline nor air-traffic controllers received distress signals from the plane before it went down. Investigators have tried to piece together a scenario about what might have occurred based largely on a series of automated maintenance messages sent from the plane moments before the crash. Those messages indicated a cascade of various system malfunctions and problems. The Airbus A330's outside speed sensors are believed to have iced up, and French crash investigators said in July that the plane entered the water on its belly at high speed, largely intact, and then broke apart. But a search for the wreckage that lasted many weeks failed to turn up the cockpit data recorder. Investigators and industry officials remain eager to recover more of the wreckage and the recorders because that's the only way a definitive cause could be found. In an interim report on their investigation to be released Thursday, French air-safety experts are expected to announce that a new search could begin as early as February. The effort is likely to use new search techniques, as well as look into some areas that weren't previously examined. The search is daunting because in some sections, the water reaches depths of more than 20,000 feet. An Airbus spokesman in the U.S. had no comment, and the airline has said it is waiting for the investigation to end before commenting on specifics. French investigators scheduled a press conference in Paris for Thursday, but otherwise have declined to elaborate details. "We remain unable to determine the causes and circumstances," of the accident, Jean-Paul Troadec, director of France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, or BEA, was quoted by Reuters last weekend. According to the Associated Press, Mr. Troadec has told families of the victims that the new search will include help from the U.S., including the Navy and the National Transportation Safety Board, along with experts from Germany, Britain, Russia and Brazil. French investigators also are expected to advocate ways to make it easier to recover recorders, and to discuss technology designed to broadcast critical information about airplane systems and location using satellites in the event of an emergency. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126101228748094875.html?mod=googlenews_wsj *************** French Experts to Advise 'Black Box' Changes PARIS - France's air accident investigators are expected on Thursday to recommend new technical standards for the signal beacons attached to the "black box" recorders of commercial aircraft and to propose requiring real-time transmission of certain flight data that could aid in the search for wreckage in the event of a deep-water crash. Times Topics: Air France Flight 447The recommendations are contained in a second interim report on the investigation into the fatal crash in June of an Air France jet. Details of the report, by the Bureau of Investigations and Analyses, were provided by an official who had seen the report. In the report, the bureau's investigators call on aviation safety regulators to require that the locator "pingers" attached to the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of any passenger jet flying over water be upgraded to emit a signal for as long as 90 days, rather than the current requirement of 30 days. The report also recommends that additional beacons with a life of at least 30 days be attached to parts of the plane's fuselage. The investigators also urge regulators to study the possibility of requiring equipment and software that would enable automatic, real-time transmission of a plane's position, altitude, speed and direction to a ground station. The investigations bureau and the European Aviation Safety Agency declined to comment on the report before its publication on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330, went down in heavy thunderstorms more than 1,000 kilometers, or 600 miles, off northern Brazil on June 1, during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew members were killed. A lengthy search recovered over 600 pieces of floating debris and 51 bodies from the ocean, but the black boxes and the bulk of the wreckage were not found. Without the flight recorders, investigators have said it may never be possible to determine the definitive cause of the disaster. So far, the main source of information about what happened is a series of messages sent automatically from the plane to a maintenance base, which indicated there was a malfunction of the plane's air speed sensors. Investigators have said the faulty speed reading - possibly due to icing - could have contributed to the crash, but was unlikely to be the primary cause. The report to be published Thursday will propose that new studies be done of the composition of the Earth's atmosphere at altitudes of 35,000 to 40,000 feet, where most jets spend the cruising phase of their flight. The goal would be to determine whether the effects of climate change should be taken into account when certifying components like speed sensors, which are vulnerable to icing. France expects to begin a renewed search for the black boxes of Flight 447 in early February. The search, which will last up to three months, will take place with the support of experts and specialized equipment from the United States, Britain, Brazil and Russia. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/world/europe/17crash.html **************** FAA inspector injured in Maui chopper accident WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) - A Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector and a helicopter tour pilot are recovering from non-life-threatening injuries after mechanical problems forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing on Maui. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says the inspector suffered a broken ankle during Wednesday's landing near the remote town of Hana, on Maui's east end. The pilot's injuries were not believed to be serious. Gregor says the aircraft operated by Sunshine Helicopters experienced unknown mechanical problems as the inspector was giving the pilot a routine, annual proficiency check required for commercial pilots. The helicopter's tail boom broke during the landing. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident. Sunshine Helicopters had no immediate comment. **************** Airplane makes Emergency Landing at Ford International Airport KENT COUNTY, Mich. (WZZM)- A Northwest Airlines airplane made an emergency landing Wednesday night at Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Airport Spokesman Bruce Schedlbauer tells WZZM 13 News the flight from Minneapolis was headed to Cleveland when the crew suspected a pressurization problem in the cockpit. The flight was diverted to Grand Rapids where it landed without incident at 6:14p.m. Schedlbauer says the two pilots were examined by ambulance crews and we unharmed. Northwest Airlines is accommodating the passengers. http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=116776&catid=14 ***************** SIA A380 returns to Paris after power failure in galley A Singapore Airlines (SIA) Airbus A380 had to turn back to Paris on 16 December after the power went out in its galley. While the fault did not pose a safety issue, the Singapore-bound aircraft was turned back to Paris two hours into the flight because food could not be served on board, says an SIA spokesman. The 444 passengers remained on board while engineers tried to fix the problem at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, he adds. The aircraft was later declared serviceable but by then, the flight and cabin crew had already exceeded their operating hours, says the spokesman. Arrangements were made to accommodate some passengers in hotels, while others left on other airlines. The aircraft will depart Paris today for Singapore at 12:00 GMT, says the spokesman. The incident is the latest in a series of glitches affecting the superjumbo aircraft. On 14 December, an Air France A380 bound for Paris did not take off from New York because of a fuel tank problem. On 27 November, Air France turned back a Paris-bound A380 to New York after a problem with its navigation system. Two months before that, another SIA A380 returned to Paris mid-flight after one of its four engines failed. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Timely abort could have averted blocked-pitot 757 struggle Investigators believe a Boeing 757-200 crew's struggle to establish stable flight after a pitot tube blockage could have been avoided if the pilots had aborted take-off at low speed rather than opt to continue. The Ghana International Airlines service from Accra was being operated by UK wet-lease carrier Astraeus. Investigators discovered that the left pitot system had become blocked by an insect, causing discrepancies in the captain's airspeed indicator. Although the problem was detected during the take-off roll, below 80kt, the captain chose to resolve it once airborne. Pitot tube blockage was held responsible for two fatal 757-200 accidents in 1996, and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch warns that flying a large aircraft with incorrect instrument readings is "demanding" and that crews can become "task-saturated". "There were times during this flight were the flight crew were confused as to what was happening," it adds. Although the right-hand autopilot - which used the right-hand air data computer - was selected as the aircraft climbed through 8,000ft, the captain selected the alternate air data source at about flight level 180. In doing so, says the inquiry, the captain believed he had isolated the problem with the left-hand air data computer. But as the 757 reached FL316, and the vertical navigation mode became active, the flight control computers adjusted the flight profile according to left-hand air data. While a fault would normally result in a switch to the other air data computer, the AAIB says that the computer might not interpret a pitot blockage as a system failure. The false air data information resulted in the aircraft automatically pitching up to counter a possible overspeed. The unusual behaviour greatly concerned the co-pilot, who countered by pitching the aircraft's nose down. Having declared an emergency and decided to return to Accra, the crew managed to bring the aircraft under control. The inquiry says that rejecting initial the take-off at low speed would have been "more appropriate". Astraeus has since advised crews to reject take-off if a problems is recognised at speeds below 80kt. It has also changed procedures to ensure fitting of pitot covers during long turnarounds, and the carrier includes blocked-pitot simulation in its recurrent training. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ***************** NTSB investigates American Airlines wing scrape at Charlotte American Airlines has confirmed that it is working with the FAA and US National Transportation Safety Board to analyze an MD-82 landing incident at the Charlotte Douglas International airport the night of 12 December. The crew of Flight 1402, flying to Charlotte from Dallas Fort-Worth with 110 passengers and five crew, was performing an instrument landing at Charlotte in poor visibility at 2248h that night when the aircraft's right wing received "substantial" damage, according to the FAA preliminary incident report. American Airlines is not commenting on the incident, other than to say that the " damage was not caused by an attempted auto-land" and that there were no reported injuries to the passengers and crew. Air traffic control tapes reveal that the tower controllers had asked the pilots if they would be performing a go-around as the aircraft approached the runway end, an indication that aircraft might have appeared to controllers to be on an unstabilized approach. The pilots however responded, "No, we're on the ground". The wing scrape comes three days after a Northwest Airlines DC-9 scraped its wing on landing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport on the morning of 9 December in very gusty wind conditions. None of the passengers or crew on Flight 7012 were injured. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** MAK issues final report on Yak-40 landing accident in Kazakhstan The MAK Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) issued their final report on the investigation into the accident involving a Yak-40 jet in Kazakhstan in September 2009. The airplane sank back onto the runway during a go-around, resulting in a belly landing. Factors identified in the investigation include: - The crew's unintended selection of the landing flaps to the fully retracted position shortly after leaving the ground, which led to a decrease in wing lift and subsidence of the aircraft; - Retraction of the undercarriage at a low altitude, which led, in the subsidence aircraft, to the aircraft fuselage contacting the runway surface and further movement on the runway on the nose landing gear and part of the tracted main landing gear wheels; - The crew's attempt to go around with the engine reversers deployed, resulting in insufficient acceleration during the takeoff. The decision to go around was made by the captain, most likely due to the longitudinal plane imbalance that has arisen in the first seconds of the path of the aircraft and caused erroneous actions of the pilot in the performance of landing. (MAK Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC)) (aviation-safety.net) **************** New Paperwork For Aircraft Flying Internationally Required In January FAA InFO Outlines ICAO Standardized Certified True Copy Of Air Operator Certificates The ICAO has amended Annex 6 to require air operators to carry onboard their aircraft a standardized certified true copy of their AOCs when operating internationally. To enable certificate holders to fulfill this ICAO requirement, the FAA has made an ICAO standardized AOC available as template A999 in WebOPSS. Much of the data contained in the AOC will be preloaded from WebOPSS. Some of the data must be entered by the principal operations inspector (POI) or the certificate holder. This standardized ICAO AOC is in addition to the FAA Operating Certificate or Air Carrier Certificate as described in Order 8900.1, Volume 2, Chapter 1, Section 4. Certificate holders must carry this ICAO AOC on board their aircraft when operating internationally in order to be in compliance with Annex 6. The FAA recommends that certificate holder who fly, or intend to fly internationally should request Template A999 in WebOPSS from its POI, so that it may be issued before January 1, 2010. The certificate holder should then work with its POI to properly fill in the information on the template. The AOC will be digitally signed when it is issued by the POI, fulfilling the ICAO requirement for a certified true copy. The certificate holder may print a copy for each aircraft operated internationally and place it on board or, if the air carrier has the capability, carry it electronically on board so that it is accessible to a foreign Civil Aviation Authority during an inspection. FMI: www.faa.gov aero-news.net *************** 15 Airlines Take major Step In Alternative Fuel Deployment Have Signed Comprehensive MOUs To Negotiate Purchase Of Fuel from AltAir, Rentech A core group of 15 airlines has signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with alternative fuel suppliers AltAir Fuels and Rentech for a future supply of alternative aviation fuel, the Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (ATA) announced Tuesday. Twelve airlines from the United States, Canada, Germany and Mexico - Air Canada, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, FedEx Express, JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa German Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, Polar Air Cargo, United Airlines, UPS Airlines and US Airways - have signed MOUs with both producers. In addition, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines and Honolulu-based Hawaiian Airlines signed the MOU with AltAir Fuels, and Orlando-based AirTran Airways signed the MOU with Rentech. The trade association says these alternative fuels will be more environmentally friendly, on a life cycle basis, than today's jet fuels. This domestically produced fuel will create jobs and bolster U.S. energy independence. "Today's announcement reinforces the proactive steps that airlines are taking to stimulate competition in the aviation fuel supply chain, contribute to the creation of green jobs, and promote energy security through economically viable alternatives that also demonstrate environmental benefits," said Glenn Tilton, ATA board chairman and UAL Corporation and United Airlines chairman, president and CEO. Tilton also noted that discussions with a number of additional alternative-fuel producers about other projects are underway, as are discussions with the U.S. military regarding other cooperative opportunities. "Our intention as an airline industry is to continue to do our part by supporting the use of alternative fuels. We urge the U.S. government and the investment community also to do their part to further support this critical energy opportunity," said Tilton. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said, "Today's announcements reaffirm the airlines' commitment to a greener, more stable and secure energy future, reinforcing the spirit of innovation and openness that is the essence of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative." AltAir Fuels Founder and CEO Tom Todaro said, "The airlines' pledge to use renewable jet fuel sends a clear and unmistakable message to policymakers, investors and industry leaders that AltAir Fuels has entered a new era of more sustainable aviation." "This agreement is a significant step forward, establishing a framework for a large group of diverse carriers to negotiate a definitive fuel purchase agreement," added D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Rentech president and CEO The AltAir Fuels project contemplates the production of approximately 75 million gallons per year of jet fuel and diesel fuel derived from camelina oils or comparable feedstock, refined at a new AltAir Fuels plant to be located at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, WA. The Rentech project in Adams County, MS, contemplates the production of approximately 250 million gallons per year of synthetic jet fuel derived principally from coal or petroleum coke, with the resultant carbon dioxide sequestered and the carbon footprint potentially further reduced by integrating biomass as a feedstock. FMI: www.airlines.org aero-news.net *************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC