Flight Safety Information March 31, 2010 - No. 064 In This Issue SB Investigating Near Mid-Air Collision Over San Francisco ICAO Holds Safety Conference To Discuss Global Safety Targets Airbus to dismiss claims aircraft caused Air France crash Philippines defends record after EU plane ban Global Aviation Regulators Agree to Share Safety Data ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NTSB Investigating Near Mid-Air Collision Over San Francisco Incident Involved A Commercial Airliner And A GA Aircraft The NTSB has launched an investigation to determine why a commercial jetliner and a small light airplane came within an estimated 300 feet of colliding over San Francisco on Saturday. At about 11:15 a.m. PDT on March 27, the crew of United Airlines Flight 889, a B777-222 (N216UA) destined for Beijing, China, carrying 251 passengers and a crew of 17, was cleared to takeoff from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on runway 28L and climb to an initial altitude of 3,000 feet. The first officer, who was flying the aircraft, reported that after the landing gear was retracted and the jet was at an altitude of about 1,100 feet, the tower controller reported traffic at his 1 o'clock position. Immediately following the controller's advisory, the airplane's traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) issued an audible alert of "TRAFFIC TRAFFIC." The pilots saw a light high wing airplane, an Aeronca 11AC (N9270E), in a hard left turn traveling from their 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock position. The first officer pushed the control column forward to level the airplane. Both crew members reported seeing only the underside of the Aeronca as it passed to within an estimated 200-300 feet of the 777. TCAS then issued an "ADJUST VERTICAL SPEED" alert, followed by a "DESCEND, DESCEND" alert. The first officer complied and the flight continued to Beijing without further incident. NTSB investigator Scott Dunham is traveling to San Francisco to begin the investigation. FMI: www.ntsb.gov Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ICAO Holds Safety Conference To Discuss Global Safety Targets Wed, 31 Mar '10 Recommendations Based On "Transparency" and "Information Sharing" A high-level Safety Conference hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) opened Monday in Montreal. Attendes stressed the need for greater transparency and sharing of safety-related information among ICAO Member States and air transport industry stakeholders as the basis for a new global strategy to significantly improve aviation safety around the worldn his opening address, the President of the Council of ICAO, Roberto Kobeh González, said that while the number of fatal accidents and associated fatalities had consistently dropped over the past decade or so, despite an increase in traffic, it is essential to reduce regional differences in safety that continue to exist. "Our task is now to develop and implement more flexibility and targeted strategies to help States with specific challenges in reducing their accident rates and thereby contribute to an even safer global air transport system, while at the same time reinforcing safety in others," he told a group of some 600 Ministers and Directors General of Civil Aviation of ICAO Member States, as well as industry stakeholders, at the Organization's headquarters in Montréal. Mr. Kobeh called for the Conference to agree on ways to complement the Organization's prescriptive-based methodology with a proactive, performance-based approach to help reduce accident rates from their present levels. "The new way of doing business will allow proactive identification and response to emerging safety issues before they result in accidents or incidents," he explained. "This involves understanding the risks associated with the many facets of today's complex aviation system through transparency and sharing of information." In the first presentation of the Conference, ICAO Air Navigation Bureau Director, Nancy Graham, detailed progress made against the Organization's Global Aviation Safety Plan's three major objectives. The first is a reduction in the number of fatal accidents and related fatalities worldwide. Graham said significant progress was made as fatal accidents involving civil aircraft over 5,000 pounds (usually seven passengers or more) declined from 26 in 2000 to 14 in 2009, while the number of fatalities over the same period dropped from 955 to 654. The second is a significant reductions in the global accident rate. At approximately 4 accidents per million flights and 0.062 fatal accidents per million flights, rates are low but unfortunately stable given the anticipated increase in traffic in the coming decade and beyond, which could translate into a potential increase in accidents. And the final objective is that no region would have an accident rate more than double the world average. Graham said that significant variances remain unacceptably high, with one region over twice the global average. The international news service AFP reports that Graham said that overall, the number of accidents had been consistently about 4 per million flights, and with air travel expected to grow, the goal should be to cut that number in half. To meet that goal ICAO members are expected to vote on tough new measures against states which fail to meet safety standards, including stripping companies of their airline code, meaning they would be unable to fly on most international routes. The conference will conclude Thursday with the expected adoption of recommendations on the next steps for global aviation safety. Among them, AFP reports, is the ability for the ICAO to pull airline codes from companies that don't meet safety standards, effectively grounding them on international routes. "Our task is now to develop and implement more flexibility and targeted strategies to help states ... in reducing their accident rates," said ICAO council president Roberto Kobeh. FMI: www.icao.int Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Airbus to dismiss claims aircraft caused Air France crash Airbus is facing 23 wrongful death lawsuits from the families of passengers who were killed in an Air France crash in June last year. The relatives claim that Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean because of flaws in the Airbus plane and its US-made components. It alleges that design and manufacturing defects left the pilots without accurate data to maintain altitude and air speed. Defendants include Airbus, Thales and US companies Honeywell, Motorola, Intel, Rockwell Collins, Hamilton Sundstrand, General Electric, Goodrich, Rosemount Aerospace, Dupont, Judd Wire and Raychem. But the aircraft manufacturer has called the lawsuits baseless. "We don't believe that they are well stated or well founded," Airbus Americas spokesman Clay McConnell told Reuters. "We will be moving to have them dismissed." France's aviation investigation agency BEA is leading the investigation into the crash but still has not determined a cause and only resumed a search for the plane's data recorders last week. http://www.etravelblackboard.us/showarticle.asp?id=94243 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103252303504&s=6053&e=001XgUg8ep3sLu8z1HrrjExieD7_FDNKtLO32J83bFo1yVfj5sTJx15oXnJaT7FlI-rhVwKWCgOFpXxxsXHGhLk8BdHCeiq82shpY0jGX1_oW9D70EItYyGqBv6XiZCv-AfHyV1mMKs1N53iOcO7aou7-kFld-mwJdY] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Philippines defends record after EU plane ban MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino aviation officials criticized the European Union on Wednesday for banning all Philippine airlines - including the country's flag carrier - from flying to the continent due to safety concerns. The European Commission on Tuesday banned carriers from the Philippines and Sudan from entering its airspace due to noncompliance with international safety standards. At least 47 Philippine carriers are covered by the ban, which takes effect Thursday, officials said. No Filipino carrier currently flies to Europe, but Philippine Airlines, which last flew to the continent in 1998, said it has always included the EU among a list of destinations where it planned to operate. PAL operates up to 33 weekly flights to American destinations. Alfonso Cusi, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, acknowledged that there were some safety concerns, but that "does not mean that Philippine aircraft are unsafe." The ban came after the International Civil Aviation Organization questioned whether the Filipino aviation authority could adequately ensure the safety of Philippine-registered airlines, and after the earlier downgrading of the Philippines' safety rating by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. ICAO is the Montreal-based U.N. aviation safety agency. ICAO has raised doubts over Philippine authorities' ability to adhere to international standards, such as the regular use of safety checklists during aircraft inspections, Cusi told The Associated Press. But an official from Philippine Airlines, the country's flag carrier, said other concerns dealt with the training of aviation safety inspectors and a lack of an adequate number of aviation safety personnel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. Cusi said steps have been taken to address safety concerns and that he was "disappointed" that EU authorities had not checked on those steps before announcing the ban. He said he has invited EU aviation safety officials to visit in May. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Global Aviation Regulators Agree to Share Safety Data A broad alliance of aviation regulators and industry groups signed an agreement Tuesday to collect and jointly analyze airline-safety data from around the world, a move that has the potential to produce major advances in responding to safety threats. Creating a truly global data network to identify emerging commercial-aviation hazards has been discussed for years, but only recently were senior officials able to forge a consensus about how to hammer out an agreement. Under the "declaration of intent" signed at an aviation conference in Montreal, the Federal Aviation Administration, the European Commission and the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization will link up with the airline industry's International Air Transport Association to establish a common information-sharing network. One aim of the agreement is to help regulators and carriers in developed countries confront subtle hazards that otherwise might go undetected. Another benefit is expected to be enhanced safety programs in parts of Africa, Latin America and other regions, where cutting-edge data analysis often isn't available and accident rates historically have been much higher than in North America or Europe. A copy of the document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal notes there currently isn't any system "for the timely, efficient and structured sharing of critical safety information" among public and private entities. But the agreement merely sets the stage for future work on issues such as standardizing data collection. Proponents agree that many difficult hurdles remain and that a full-scale implementation is likely years away. One challenge is creating sophisticated new computer tools able to sort through a barrage of data. The agreement also calls for follow-on efforts to resolve technical, legal and confidentiality issues, as well as to develop new ways to disseminate lessons learned after analyzing the data. Still, the latest development is widely seen as an important building block to reach the next phase of commercial aviation safety: identifying and eliminating incipient hazards before they can cause dangerous incidents or crashes. Sifting through global data, for example, could provide early warnings about a pattern of dangerously fast or steep approaches to certain airports. It also might help regulators better understand the causes of some engine or flight-computer malfunctions, before the problems become more frequent and pose a greater hazard to passengers. An FAA spokeswoman said that international cooperation could identify "top-level safety hazards," establish joint priorities and help make other regions aware of U.S. techniques to enhance safety. Describing it as a "milestone agreement," Giovanni Bisignani, the head of IATA, said it is "the first time the global aviation community has come together to work on a global safety information exchange. Data must drive our actions so that we can focus our joint efforts on reducing the greatest risks." ICAO, which is expected to have the largest role in distributing lessons learned, has stressed the need for a "global collaborative process." Raymond Benjamin, the group's secretary general, has emphasized the problem of different airlines, regional groups and independent safety organizations collecting separate "gold mines of information" that aren't linked and therefore their "effectiveness is dramatically reduced." Shortly after taking office, Mr. Benjamin told a safety conference in Washington last fall that he was determined to "build partnerships to increase the collective power" of safety data. Each of the participating organization already has its own information-gathering and analysis system, but the databases aren't complementary and detailed results often aren't shared across continents. Initially, the focus will be on sharing audits of airlines and the effectiveness of oversight by air-safety regulators in individual countries. The FAA and the European Commission, for instance, conduct separate assessments of foreign carrier safety, but now there is no formal way to compare data. Similarly, the FAA has faced obstacles recruiting European and other foreign carriers to contribute their closely guarded data to the agency's most comprehensive safety analysis project. If the initiative succeeds, proponents ultimately see broader applications. They envision a world-wide repository of voluntary reports of pilot mistakes, other operational problems, maintenance slip-ups and lapses by air-traffic controllers. Better data sharing could also help airlines avoid issues such as collisions on the tarmac between planes and airport-service vehicles, a problem that costs airlines about $4 billion annually. http://online.wsj.com [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103252303504&s=6053&e=001XgUg8ep3sLva60mZyiFMh4utEqLnzFStCawElaorrqgmh7vLOzOnJVzRFBjBBd9nnGFX8Q3BdFNZHJi13d6TV0jSfAopfRFc] Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103252303504&s=6053&e=001XgUg8ep3sLva60mZyiFMh4utEqLnzFStCawElaorrqgmh7vLOzOnJVzRFBjBBd9nnGFX8Q3BdFNZHJi13d6TV0jSfAopfRFc] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC