05 JAN 2010 _________________________________________ *Ryanair jet forced into emergency landing over fears of on-board fire *FAA Aviation News Focuses on Human Factors *Pilot to face court on drink charge *Mesa Air Group files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy *American conducts it own review of wingtip scrapes *Air Berlin 737 suffered minimal damage in overrun ****************************************** Ryanair jet forced into emergency landing over fears of on-board fire The Ryanair jet was forced to return to John Lennon Airport and make an emergency landing shortly after take-off A Ryanair jet was forced to make an emergency landing in Liverpool on Monday over fears of a fire on board. The Ryanair jet was forced to return to John Lennon Airport and make an emergency landing shortly after take-off Photo: AFP The plane, which was heading to Agadir in Morocco from Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, made a u-turn in mid-air after a fire indicator light was activated in the cockpit. The Boeing 737 was forced to return to the airport and make an emergency landing less than half an hour after take-off. The 116 passengers and crew scrambled onto inflatable emergency slides to evacuate the plane and were rushed away from the aircraft by coach. No injuries have been reported and Ryanair arranged a spare aircraft to fly the delayed passengers on to Agadir. Police and ambulances rushed to the scene, and fire crews scoured the plane for signs of fire with thermal imaging equipment. No evidence of a blaze was found and a faulty fire indicator light is believed to have been the cause of the scare. Robin Tudor, a spokesman for John Lennon Airport, said: "An emergency was declared after a report of a fire on board the plane. The emergency landing was performed safely, everyone was evacuated and we got passengers away from the aircraft as quickly as possible as a precaution. The airport remained closed for approximately one hour, and reopened shortly after 5pm. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/6933675/Ryanair-jet-forced-into -emergency-landing-over-fears-of-on-board-fire.html **************** FAA Aviation News Focuses on Human Factors The latest issue of FAA Aviation News focuses on the critical role human factors play in aviation safety. Articles address fatigue, decision making, aircraft design and technology, and more. The link to the online edition is: http://www.faa.gov/news/aviation_news/ *************** Pilot to face court on drink charge (AP) An American pilot arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of being drunk on a plane is to appear in court. Erwin Washington, 51, of Lakewood, Colorado, is due to face magistrates in Uxbridge, Middlesex. The United Airlines pilot was arrested at Heathrow on November 9 last year after colleagues reported him to police. The Boeing 767 departure to Chicago was "imminent", with 124 people on board the plane along with 11 members of crew, when police arrived. Washington is charged with performing an aviation function while exceeding the proscribed alcohol limit. After his arrest, United Airlines said the pilot had been removed from service while an investigation was carried out. They added in a statement: "United Airlines' alcohol policy is amongst the strictest in the industry and we have no tolerance for violation of this well-established policy." *************** Mesa Air Group files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Mesa Air Group Inc., a potential investor in Hawaiian and Aloha airlines when those carriers were in bankruptcy, has now followed that same flight path and filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The parent of interisland carrier go! and the 75 percent owner of the go! Mokulele joint venture, submitted paperwork early today in federal Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. However, the go! Mokulele venture, which operates as a separate entity, did not file for bankruptcy and service will be unaffected in Hawaii. Phoenix-based Mesa called the bankruptcy a "financial restructuring" and said it was necessitated by 41 excess aircraft that it has parked and has been unable to put into service, 26 planes that will be coming out of service in the next four months from United Airlines, and significant upcoming aircraft lease payments that will be due later this month. "It's not like we have a business that doesn't work," Mesa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein said. "We have a business that works, but unfortunately we have assets that we can no longer utilize." Mesa, which said it will operate as normal during the restructuring, listed both assets and liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion. It estimated its total number of creditors as 5,001 to 10,000, with Wells Fargo Bank being the largest unsecured creditor with an unknown claim amount. The second-largest creditor is aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc. at $133 million with another aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, being owed $42 million. Bank of Hawaii Leasing Inc., which is among the 30 largest creditors, is owed $11 million. The company's common stock, which likely will be wiped out in the reorganization, closed yesterday down .0013 of a cent at 11.9 cents. The stock traded as low as 1 cent on Feb. 12, 2009. Ornstein said over the past two years that Mesa has worked closely with its lessors, creditors and other constituents to restructure its financial obligations. "These efforts have led to the elimination of over $160 million of debt obligations, the return of a number of aircraft, and the restructuring of inventory management and engine overhaul agreements," Ornstein said. "We are nonetheless faced with an untenable financial situation resulting primarily from our continued lease obligations on aircraft excess to our current requirements." Mesa currently has idled 14 ERJ-145s, seven CRJ-200s and 20 Beechcraft 1900Ds, and over the next four months will have 26 CRJ-200s coming out over time from United after United failed to extend an operating agreement with Mesa. Altogether, Mesa has 130 aircraft in its fleet in which it operates as a regional carrier for Delta Air Lines, US Airways and United. Mesa also operates independently as Mesa Airlines and go! Mokulele. The company said the bankruptcy filing will allow it the opportunity to reach a more timely conclusion in the litigation with Delta in which Mesa is seeking in excess of $70 million in damages after Delta attempted to terminate a regional flying contract with Mesa over flight-performance issues. Subsequently, Mesa obtained a preliminary injunction stopping the termination, Delta appealed the ruling and the case is heading for trial. As of its last quarterly financial filing for the period ended June 30, Mesa listed $20.9 million in unrestricted cash and equivalents and $14.1 million in restricted cash, which is money generally held back by credit-card companies to potentially be used for customer refunds. Ornstein said go! Mokulele will continue operating during the parent company's restructuring and that all passenger tickets will continue to be sold and honored, all terms and conditions governing tickets purchased will remain the same, and the frequent flyer program will remain intact. Go! Mokulele operates five 50-seat CRJ-200s and flies up to 60 flights a day from Honolulu to Lihue, Kahului, Kona and Hilo. The company also operates four nine-seat Grand Caravans to smaller island airports. Sources close to the company say that the go! Mokulele joint venture should be profitable in this new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, if fuel prices remain at current levels. The sources also said that the length of time Mesa spends in bankruptcy could be quick since the company already has a labor agreement with its pilots union and has a tentative agreement with its flight attendants union that currently is in the ratification process. Go!, which has had only one quarterly operating profit since debuting on June 9, 2006, lost $3.5 million in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30 and through the first nine months had an operating loss of $4.7 million. The parent company lost $2.7 million in its third quarter and through nine months lost $24.2 million. Last week, Mesa notified the Securities and Exchange Commission that it needed an extension on its year-end financial report but that its net loss for the year ended Sept. 30 would be less than its net loss of $1.07 a share in fiscal 2008 when the company lost $29.2 million. Mesa, a low-cost carrier which at one time dropped one-way interisland fares to a rock-bottom $1, has had a rocky existence in Hawaii. In April 2008, Mesa paid Hawaiian Airlines $52.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Hawaiian that alleged Mesa had misused confidential Hawaiian information obtained during Hawaiian's bankruptcy in 2004 to enter the Hawaii market in 2006. And in November 2008, Mesa settled a 2007 lawsuit with Yucapia Cos., Aloha's former controlling shareholder, in which Aloha accused Mesa of misusing confidential information that Mesa obtained as a potential investor during Aloha's bankruptcy. Aloha also accused Mesa of predatory pricing designed to run Aloha out of business. Mesa paid Yucaipa $2 million and issued Yucaipa 10 percent of Mesa's common stock. By that time, Aloha, which had filed for its second bankruptcy on March 20, 2008, was out of business, calling it quits 11 days later. Mesa Air Group Inc., a potential investor in Hawaiian and Aloha airlines when those carriers were in bankruptcy, has now followed that same flight path and filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The parent of interisland carrier go! and the 75 percent owner of the go! Mokulele joint venture, submitted paperwork early today in federal Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. However, the go! Mokulele venture, which operates as a separate entity, did not file for bankruptcy and service will be unaffected in Hawaii. Phoenix-based Mesa called the bankruptcy a "financial restructuring" and said it was necessitated by 41 excess aircraft that it has parked and has been unable to put into service, 26 planes that will be coming out of service in the next four months from United Airlines, and significant upcoming aircraft lease payments that will be due later this month. "It's not like we have a business that doesn't work," Mesa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein said. "We have a business that works, but unfortunately we have assets that we can no longer utilize." Mesa, which said it will operate as normal during the restructuring, listed both assets and liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion. It estimated its total number of creditors as 5,001 to 10,000, with Wells Fargo Bank being the largest unsecured creditor with an unknown claim amount. The second-largest creditor is aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc. at $133 million with another aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, being owed $42 million. Bank of Hawaii Leasing Inc., which is among the 30 largest creditors, is owed $11 million. The company's common stock, which likely will be wiped out in the reorganization, closed yesterday down .0013 of a cent at 11.9 cents. The stock traded as low as 1 cent on Feb. 12, 2009. Ornstein said over the past two years that Mesa has worked closely with its lessors, creditors and other constituents to restructure its financial obligations. "These efforts have led to the elimination of over $160 million of debt obligations, the return of a number of aircraft, and the restructuring of inventory management and engine overhaul agreements," Ornstein said. "We are nonetheless faced with an untenable financial situation resulting primarily from our continued lease obligations on aircraft excess to our current requirements." Mesa currently has idled 14 ERJ-145s, seven CRJ-200s and 20 Beechcraft 1900Ds, and over the next four months will have 26 CRJ-200s coming out over time from United after United failed to extend an operating agreement with Mesa. Altogether, Mesa has 130 aircraft in its fleet in which it operates as a regional carrier for Delta Air Lines, US Airways and United. Mesa also operates independently as Mesa Airlines and go! Mokulele. The company said the bankruptcy filing will allow it the opportunity to reach a more timely conclusion in the litigation with Delta in which Mesa is seeking in excess of $70 million in damages after Delta attempted to terminate a regional flying contract with Mesa over flight-performance issues. Subsequently, Mesa obtained a preliminary injunction stopping the termination, Delta appealed the ruling and the case is heading for trial. As of its last quarterly financial filing for the period ended June 30, Mesa listed $20.9 million in unrestricted cash and equivalents and $14.1 million in restricted cash, which is money generally held back by credit-card companies to potentially be used for customer refunds. Ornstein said go! Mokulele will continue operating during the parent company's restructuring and that all passenger tickets will continue to be sold and honored, all terms and conditions governing tickets purchased will remain the same, and the frequent flyer program will remain intact. Go! Mokulele operates five 50-seat CRJ-200s and flies up to 60 flights a day from Honolulu to Lihue, Kahului, Kona and Hilo. The company also operates four nine-seat Grand Caravans to smaller island airports. Sources close to the company say that the go! Mokulele joint venture should be profitable in this new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, if fuel prices remain at current levels. The sources also said that the length of time Mesa spends in bankruptcy could be quick since the company already has a labor agreement with its pilots union and has a tentative agreement with its flight attendants union that currently is in the ratification process. Go!, which has had only one quarterly operating profit since debuting on June 9, 2006, lost $3.5 million in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30 and through the first nine months had an operating loss of $4.7 million. The parent company lost $2.7 million in its third quarter and through nine months lost $24.2 million. Last week, Mesa notified the Securities and Exchange Commission that it needed an extension on its year-end financial report but that its net loss for the year ended Sept. 30 would be less than its net loss of $1.07 a share in fiscal 2008 when the company lost $29.2 million. Mesa, a low-cost carrier which at one time dropped one-way interisland fares to a rock-bottom $1, has had a rocky existence in Hawaii. In April 2008, Mesa paid Hawaiian Airlines $52.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Hawaiian that alleged Mesa had misused confidential Hawaiian information obtained during Hawaiian's bankruptcy in 2004 to enter the Hawaii market in 2006. And in November 2008, Mesa settled a 2007 lawsuit with Yucapia Cos., Aloha's former controlling shareholder, in which Aloha accused Mesa of misusing confidential information that Mesa obtained as a potential investor during Aloha's bankruptcy. Aloha also accused Mesa of predatory pricing designed to run Aloha out of business. Mesa paid Yucaipa $2 million and issued Yucaipa 10 percent of Mesa's common stock. By that time, Aloha, which had filed for its second bankruptcy on March 20, 2008, was out of business, calling it quits 11 days later. http://www.starbulletin.com/news/bulletin/80688267.html **************** American conducts it own review of wingtip scrapes American Airlines says it is wrapping up reviews of two incidents in December where wingtips of Boeing MD-80 aircraft touched the ground during landing. The incidents occurred at Charlotte Douglas International airport and Austin-Bergstrom International airport. Those two incidents and the 23 December overrun of an American Boeing 737 at the Norman Manley International airport in Kingston, Jamaica have prompted the US FAA to increase inspector oversight of American to determine if those three events are indicative of a larger issue, says the agency. American says it does not believe the two wingtip events are related. The carrier also says it is cooperating with FAA and other authorities in the investigations of all three incidents. FAA also conducted a separate investigation in 2009 of American after the carrier disclosed a discrepancy in fasteners that were used to repair bulkheads on a small number of its MD-80 aircraft. At the time American said the fasteners were of aerospace quality, and explained it removed the aircraft featuring those fasteners from revenue service to complete inspections and appropriate maintenance actions. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Air Berlin 737 suffered minimal damage in overrun Inspection of the Air Berlin Boeing 737-800 which overran the runway at Dortmund yesterday has found minimal damage to the airframe. The carrier expects to put the aircraft back into service within three or four days, says a spokeswoman for the airline. She says that the fuselage and the CFM International CFM56 engines were undamaged in the incident. "The aircraft is now being surveyed," she says, but adds that it will be in operation "in the short term". The carrier states that the overrun occurred after the crew aborted take-off but says that the rejection was carried out in accordance with procedures. It has not indicated how fast the aircraft was travelling at the time, but says simply that the abort occurred at "high speed", above 80kt. The reasons for the abort decision are unclear. Investigators from Germany's BFU agency are conducting an inquiry. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC