Flight Safety Information April 29, 2010 - No. 083 In This Issue Hudson Collision Errors Safety Rules Toughened on Budget Airlines Bathroom threat diverts flight An-158 performs early maiden flight Kenya 737 crash probe highlights disparity between pilots India's DGCA analyses recorders from Emirates turbulence incident ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hudson Collision Errors By ANDY PASZTOR [http://ui.constantcontact.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=ANDY+PASZTOR&bylinesearch=true] Repeated safety violations by air-traffic controllers led to the fatal midair collision between a sightseeing helicopter and a small private plane over the Hudson River in August, according to documents released Wednesday by federal investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board information paints the most detailed picture yet of how a series of lapses by a number of controllers-including distractions caused by personal business-preceded the high-profile crash that killed nine people. The victims included five Italian tourists celebrating the 25th wedding anniversary of one of the passengers, as well as a Pennsylvania businessman and two others who died aboard the single-engine Piper aircraft. Both craft plummeted into the river near the West 30th Street helipad in Manhattan, from which the chopper had taken off just earlier. Joggers and pedestrians watched and filmed the horrific scene. The board's data reinforce earlier indications that a distracted controller, engaged in a personal phone call while on duty and juggling various tasks, failed to keep proper track of the small, propeller-powered plane. The controller, Carlyle Turner, later told investigator he didn't see or hear radar-system warnings about an impending collision, the documents indicate. According to a transcript released Wednesday, Mr. Turner was on a personal call for about 2 1/2 minutes. Five seconds before impact, he hung up by telling the female friend on the call: "Let me straighten ... stuff out." Disciplinary action is pending against Mr. Turner, according to people familiar with the details. An FAA spokeswoman said he remains on paid administrative leave, but declined to elaborate. A spokesman for the union representing controllers declined to comment, and said Mr. Turner wasn't available for comment. In addition to shedding more light on the actions of controllers, the latest information highlights apparent slipups by both pilots, as well as other factors that contributed to the tragedy. In analyzing the sequence of events, investigators are raising new questions about why Brian Jones, a controller based at nearby Newark Liberty International Airport, told the safety board that he also failed to hear or see the same collision warnings. According to investigators, Mr. Jones wasn't wearing glasses at work that day, as required by his medical certificate. Mr. Jones said that at first he thought an aircraft, by itself, had crashed into the river. When he realized a midair collision had occurred, according to a summary of his interview with investigators, "it hit him like a ton of bricks and he was pretty much in shock at that point." The union also declined to make him available for comment. In addition, Investigators disclosed that the experienced pilot of the sightseeing helicopter failed to follow the normal flight path-he climbed above 1,000 feet-after taking off from a heliport just moments before the accident. The collision occurred at an altitude of 1,100 feet, with neither pilot issuing any kind of emergency warning or transmission. View Full Image Reuters In the wake of the crash, amid pressure from federal lawmakers and local politicians, the Federal Aviation Administration revised flight paths and rules for choppers and planes operating under visual flight rules along the busy Hudson River corridor. New Jersey's Teteboro Airport is used by numerous corporate jets ferrying executives in an out of the New York area. The latest timeline indicates that Mr. Turner failed to follow proper procedures from the time Steven Altman of Ambler, Pa,, the pilot of the private plane, requested instructions to take off from Teterboro shortly before noon on August 8. The pilot, according to the safety board's information, apparently wasn't familiar with airways over the Hudson and requested an unusual routing. Initially, Mr. Turner, the Teterboro controller, failed to properly coordinate with other controllers at nearby Newark airport, according to one of the safety board's report. The Newark controller later told investigators he didn't notice any collision warnings. Meanwhile, an air-traffic control supervisor on duty at Teterboro had stepped out, contrary to normal procedures, to run a personal errand and therefore wasn't available to keep an eye on preparations, according to investigators. The new safety board documents indicate that the plane's pilot failed to switch radio frequencies as requested, so controllers at Teterboro and Newark weren't able to reach him and issue instructions that may have averted the crash. The Teterboro controller missed the pilot's incorrect acknowledgment of the new radio frequency, according to safety board investigators, because he was on a personal phone call while simultaneously monitoring radio transmissions from the plane's pilot and a Newark airport controller. "He's lost in the (radio spectrum), try him again," Mr. Turner told a fellow controller about 30 seconds before the collision. Once it was clear that an accident had occurred, controllers also failed to properly follow emergency procedures to notify other agencies, according to investigators. Next month, the safety board is expected to use the midair collision as one of its case studies at an unusual public forum on aviation safety scheduled for Washington. The three-day event will feature discussion about ways to enhance professionalism and concentration on the job by both pilots and controllers. The safety board also is expected to look at two instances when school-age children visited the controller tower at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and were allowed by supervisors and their father, an experienced controller, to briefly give instructions to pilots. The May sessions also will focus on various airline pilots distracted by cell phones, personal laptops or nonpertinent conversations while seated behind the controls. http://online.wsj.com Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Safety Rules Toughened on Budget Airlines Safety rules on low-cost airlines will be strengthened next month in line with a growing number of air travelers here who fly on airplanes operated by budget air carriers. The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Thursday that both local and foreign budget airlines carrying Korean passengers will be subject to a set of beefed-up safety checks in May. It said airplanes operated by domestic air carriers will be thoroughly inspected before carrying passengers on international routes. A month after they launched new air services, safety inspectors will be onboard to check whether crew members adequately follow safety rules and procedures. The ministry also plans to look into operation policies and safety-related facilities of foreign budget airlines. Six months after the flight launch, they will be again comprehensively examined for their compliance with safety rules. The move comes after budget airlines at home and overseas have begun expanding flight services. Domestic low-cost air carriers have recently started launching international routes to Japan, China and other neighboring countries, riding on their success on domestic lines. Currently, four local budget carriers are offering flight services, operating less than 10 airplanes each. Additionally, some foreign budget airlines have recently made inroads into the domestic market to attract price-conscious Korean air travelers. Promoting low ticket prices and simplified onboard services, budget air carriers have taken passengers away from the nation's two flagship carriers, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, who mostly fly from one domestic city to another. But there have always been safety concerns for airplanes operated by low-cost carriers. Along with a set of standard rules applied to all budget airlines, the ministry plans to draw up three to seven additional safety checks specific to each company. To help them provide high quality flight services, the government will open a flight training center for low-cost air carriers and offer safety-related consultations. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/ Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bathroom threat diverts flight RALEIGH (North Carolina) - A DOMESTIC Continental Airlines flight en route to the US capital was diverted to North Carolina on Wednesday after an apparent bomb threat was found in the plane's bathroom. A message scrawled on an airplane restroom mirror 'left the impression that it could be a bomb situation on the airplane,' said Ted Johnson, executive director of Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greenboro, North Carolina. Local and federal law enforcement agents with bomb-sniffing dogs rushed aboard Continental Airlines flight 3006 when it landed at the airport near Greensboro at 10.43am (1443 GMT, 9.43pm Singapore time). 'The plane taxied to a remote location where it was met by law enforcement,' said Lauren Gaches, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Authority. After a search of the plane failed to discover anything dangerous, the flight's 45 passengers and three crew members were allowed to reboard and continue on to Dulles International Airport outside Washington DC. It was the second times in as many days that a US flight was diverted following a bomb threat. On Tuesday, a Delta Airlines flight en route from Paris to Atlanta, Georgia was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Maine after a passenger claimed to have hidden explosives on board the plane. No explosives were found aboard the craft, and the passenger - a decorated US veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - has been charged with making a false bomb threat. The plane diverted on Wednesday was an Embraer passenger jet en route from Houston, Texas. Mr Johnson said no one had been arrested or detained, but authorities are continuing to investigate the incident. -- AFP Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An-158 performs early maiden flight Antonov has carried out the first flight of its new An-158 regional twin-jet, nearly two weeks earlier than originally expected. The jet is a stretched variant of the baseline An-148. A spokesman for Antonov says the aircraft carried out the maiden flight, which lasted 1.5hr, on 28 April. It became airborne from a plant in Kiev, in the presence of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, and landed at Gostomel, site of the company's testing facility. Antonov test pilot Sergei Troshin, assisted by Andrei Spasibo, piloted the aircraft. The manufacturer used the first flight of the An-158 to test the handling characteristics and aerodynamic functionality. Chief designer Dmitry Kiva expects the new aircraft to deliver a 10-17% improvement in fuel efficiency over the An-148 through winglets and other modifications. Antonov expects to complete validating the type in the first quarter of 2011. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kenya 737 crash probe highlights disparity between pilots Pairing of a dominant captain and a reserved first officer on the crashed Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 in Cameroon appears to have contributed to their poor co-ordination and failure to correct the aircraft's fatal trajectory. The 52-year old captain had 8,682hr of which 824hr were on the 737-700/800, says the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority in its final technical report into the crash outside Douala. Progress reports during captaincy training mentioned his satisfactory aircraft handling but described an "overbearing tendency" towards colleagues, a "touch of arrogance" and "insufficient flight discipline". Since his securing captaincy on the 737, it adds, Kenya Airways instructors had mentioned "several recurrent shortcomings" in areas such as respect for standard operating procedures, crew resource management and cockpit scanning - although remedial recommendations had been made in each case. The CCAA says that Kenya Airways' oversight was "not aggressive enough" with regard to dealing with "weak pilots". In contrast to the captain's experience, the first officer, aged 23, had accumulated 831hr with 170hr on the 737-700/800. His line training had similarly shown up a need to monitor closely the flight and highlight any deviation from the flying pilot. The captain had an "authoritative and domineering" character, says the CCAA, and he took a "paternalistic attitude" towards the first officer, who was "reserved" and "not assertive". Assessment of the fatal 737 flight, KQ507 to Nairobi on 5 May 2007, revealed evidence that shortcomings identified in training showed up during the accident sequence. The captain "hardly associated" the first officer in decision-making, says the CCAA, while the first officer appeared "subdued by the strong personality of his captain" and failed to call out "clearly visible and important lapses of piloting", seeming instead to "completely place his confidence with the captain". Kenya Airways' management, it adds, should have "taken the necessary measures to avoid pairing up this type of crew". All 114 passengers and crew members on board KQ507 were killed after the pilots failed to recognise a steadily-increasing bank after take-off, resulting in the 737's entering a spiral dive from which it did not recover. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103349152871&s=6053&e=001T8TGlsh8QGTwgC3jg4ThtPgxbEb3rcHsSAgLXhBV4kGRfaAW3jLjX1TtFS-kfN5S1uuu7aingtmB5mDPdroez8c0AI3hw6FE] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ India's DGCA analyses recorders from Emirates turbulence incident Indian civil aviation authorities are analysing the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the Emirates aircraft involved in a severe turbulence incident in Indian airspace on 25 April. Officials from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have inspected the Boeing 777-200ER, registration A6-EML, which has returned to the United Arab Emirates, says the DGCA's director of air safety B.S. Rai. "Investigations are still ongoing, and we have interviewed the aircraft's captain and crew," he adds. Analysis of the FDR could take up to 15 days, says Rai. The aircraft experienced severe turbulence on a flight from Dubai to Kochi in an incident classified as serious by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority. Twenty passengers and three crew members suffered minor injuries. Inspections of the aircraft showed "minor cracks" in its interior cabin, says Rai, adding that these parts will be replaced. The aircraft, owned by Emirates, was built in 1998, says Flightglobal's ACAS database. Emirates officials were uncontactable for comment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC