Flight Safety Information May 5, 2010 - No. 087 In This Issue Hudson River Landing Illuminating But Not a Miracle... New FAA System Improves Air Safety At Juneau... Hunt For Black Box Of Crashed Air France Jet Extended Volcanic Ash Cloud Closes Glasgow, Belfast Airports Venezuela looking to buy 33 aircraft from China ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hudson River Landing Illuminating But Not a Miracle In bringing the official investigation into the Hudson River landing of USAirways flight 1549 to a close on Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board, did not conclude the ditching seen 'round the world was a miracle. "Even in an accident where everyone survives, there are lessons learned and areas that could use improvement," said Deborah Hersman, the chairwoman of the board. It is a valid and important point. The so-called Miracle on the Hudson, fits into no category better than "other", still there are those who would rather it be the poster child for a different way of looking at transportation safety, including the man who has become an icon of the event, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger. At present, the popular gauge of safety is fatal accidents. No fatalities= a safe year. This is not true of course, but it is an easy leap and journalists as well as the general public often jump to that conclusion. The flip side is a proactive philosophy of transportation safety that focuses on incidents as important precursors to accidents. In 2006, the International Society of Air Safety Investigators held a conference in Mexico. While the sun beamed outside our overly chilled conference center, the spotlight for three days was not on accidents but incidents. What's the difference? Accidents wind up on the evening news. Incidents do not. They are the near-hits, the "What the f-?", the there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I events . Most of the time, passengers don't even know they've been in one. If the idea of discussing what didn't happen sounds like a big snooze, let me assure you, it is not. Start with the premise that every accident lies at the end of a chain of events. To prevent that accident only one link in the chain has to be broken. In this reality, non events are exciting because they are exposing the places where accidents can be prevented. This is what Ms. Hersman is talking about when she sends a delicate sprinkling of rain on the parade of accolades that have deluged everyone and everything associated with USAirways Flight 1549. During the controversy over two books about the accident, Chesley Sullenberger's Highest Duty and William Langewiesche's Fly by Wire, which I wrote about for The New York Times, Capt. Sullenberger told me he was counting on the safety board to properly credit the many links in the chain of events on January 15, 2009. At the time, he was referring to Langewiesche's book in praise of the French designed Airbus A320 with its highly automated cockpit. But in subsequent conversations, Capt. Sullenberger continues to insist, it is not about the airplane, or the pilots, a proper allocation of credit is critical. "This outcome was the result of more than one person," he told me. "Among the things that went right you have to have a clear understanding of the degree to which each of these factors contributed and they have to be weighed in an accurate way." Why didn't the 150 passengers and five crew members drown in the frigid waters of the Hudson River on that day in January? Why didn't the loss of engine power contribute to a stall of the airplane? Why didn't the pilots and flight attendants make critical errors in judgment faced with a horrifying lack of options shortly after takeoff? Asking these questions turns the traditional investigation on its head. Asking why events went right can be as illuminating as examining the events that have gone tragically wrong. In a presentation at the conference in Cancun, safety engineer Richard (Dick) Wood recalled having often been told "'If we want to prevent accidents, we have to work on preventing the incidents first.' Is that true? Yes it is." I'm not alone in criticizing manufacturers and regulators for taking a tombstone approach to safety. When enough people die, a previously identified problem will get fixed. (When I worked in television news we had a variation we called the "if it bleeds it leads" decision.) Accidents capture public attention which turns to public pressure which results sometimes in changes to policy or regulation. But Mr. Wood's presentation makes it clear there's more to it than that. "We have neither the time nor the resources to investigate everything that might be reported as an incident under current reporting rules. We can't do it! An actual accident is the least likely result of a particular series of events," he said. "Because our ability to investigate everything is limited, we are in the position of waiting for the least likely event to occur and then investigating it thoroughly. This is not a proactive approach to safety." As the opposite of the tombstone mandate, glimmers of a comprehensive program to investigate incidents can be seen in confidential reporting programs and flight quality monitoring. Now, the chairwoman of the safety board is talking about room for improvement even in extraordinary events and 155 living breathing souls provide her with a backup chorus. Its enough to make one believe in miracles. Posted by Christine Negroni at 2:08 AM http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/ Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New FAA System Improves Air Safety At Juneau WAM Shows Airplanes In Areas Where Radar Can't See A new surveillance technology called the Wide-Area Multilateration System (WAM) is now allowing air traffic controllers to track aircraft along the difficult approach to Juneau - a mountainous area where radar coverage isn't possible. "This technology will allow more aircraft to fly into Juneau and it will give air traffic controllers the tools they need to safely and efficiently handle these flights," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. Air traffic controllers can now see aircraft approaching Juneau, something that wasn't possible before WAM because of the rugged terrain surrounding the city. The mountains make radar coverage impossible since radar signals cannot pass through solid objects. Without radar coverage, controllers had to separate aircraft approaching Juneau by large distances in order to provide the appropriate safety margins. Air traffic controllers are now able to safely decrease the separation between them to five nautical miles. WAM is comprised of a network of small sensors deployed around Juneau. The sensors send out signals that are received and sent back by aircraft transponders. No other aircraft equipment is required. The system triangulates the returning signals to determine the precise location of each aircraft. Controllers are able to see those aircraft on their screens as if they were radar targets. WAM is being used in the near term while the agency rolls out Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B), the satellite-based surveillance system that will be deployed nationwide in 2013. WAM will then serve as a backup to ADS-B in the event of a GPS outage and provide an additional source of traffic broadcast to properly equipped aircraft. A WAM system is also operating in Colorado. FMI: www.faa.gov Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hunt For Black Box Of Crashed Air France Jet Extended (RTTNews) - Investigators probing the crash of Air France Flight 447 have decided to continue and widen the search, but with fewer resources, for the flight recorders (black boxes) of the crashed jet, authorities said Tuesday in Paris. The Airbus SAS A330 jet crashed June 1 in the Atlantic off the Brazilian coast while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all the 228 people on board. Three more weeks of sea searches "began on May 3 aiming to cover areas surrounding the initial search area and to remove any last uncertainty," the French accident investigation agency, BEA, said in a statement. The scaled-down search hopes to locate the black boxes which could provide evidence of why the plane crashed. Airbus and Air France, which shared the 10 million-euro ($13 million) cost of last month's searches, will each contribute 1.5 million euros to continue the search ending May 25. Since the crash occurred, salvage teams have retrieved about 1,000 pieces of debris and 50 bodies from the ocean, but failed to recover the black boxes; and, investigators say they should find them to acertain what went wrong with the plane. "We really want to find the flight recorders. We have always said that is the key element in the investigation," said BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec. The search will continue with one vessel, "Seabed Worker," after the U.S. Navy recalled the sonar and robot submarine aboard the "Anne Candies", the BEA said. "Seabed Worker" has also returned one of its three robot subs to its owner. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Volcanic Ash Cloud Closes Glasgow, Belfast Airports May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Glasgow Airport, Scotland's busiest international airport, will be closed for 12 hours today because of a cloud of volcanic ash drifting from Iceland. The airport, along with some in northern Scotland, shut at 7 a.m. and is expected to remain closed until 7 p.m., the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority said on its website. Belfast City and International airports in Northern Ireland will be shut from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., while Dublin will have restrictions from 11 a.m., according to the Irish Aviation Authority. Airports in England are expected to remain open, the CAA said. Carriers including British Airways Plc, Ryanair Holdings Plc and EasyJet Plc axed flights because of the disruptions, which follow a five-hour shutdown of Irish airspace yesterday. Ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano forced the cancellation of 100,000 flights across Europe over six days last month following an eruption on April 14. "We're not expecting the cloud to come further south at the moment," CAA spokesman Jonathan Nicholson said by phone. Airports have been closed where ash levels exceed a new "safe limit" agreed by European transport ministers, he said. The regulator will provide its next update at 9:15 a.m. London time. Manchester, Liverpool, Carlisle and Blackpool airports in northern England, together with Edinburgh in Scotland, will remain open today, the CAA said. Irish airspace may closed from 11 a.m. until late afternoon or early evening, Donie Mooney, head of operations at the IAA, told RTE radio today. Ryanair, Europe's biggest discount carrier, scrubbed all flights to and from Belfast, Derry, Edinburgh and Glasgow Prestwick airports from 6 a.m. to at least 2 p.m. British Airways canceled Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh services until 1 p.m., according to a statement on its website. Shares Drop BA had declined 3.7 percent at 208.2 pence as of 8:55 a.m. in London, while Ryanair traded down 2.1 percent at 3.54 euros and Irish rival Aer Lingus Group Plc fell 2.3 percent. U.K. low- cost carrier EasyJet dropped 1.9 percent to 456 pence. Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia's biggest carrier, said some connecting passengers may be affected by the disruptions. The company is monitoring the situation and has no immediate plans to amend any of its flights, Olivia Wirth, a spokeswoman for the Sydney-based carrier, said by telephone today. Disruptions from the Eyjafjallajökull ash plume cost airlines about $1.7 billion in revenue last month, International Air Transport Association Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Bisignani estimated April 21. Engine Threat Airborne volcanic ash threatens aviation safety because the abrasive, silica-based materials may clog engines and scar windscreens. Speed sensors, which are critical in flight, may also be disabled by flying through ash clouds. At a meeting of European transport ministers in Brussels yesterday, the European Commission said it would help craft plans to manage the risk from eruptions and present them to the International Civil Aviation Organization in September. The EC also pledged to speed efforts to create a so-called Single European Sky to ensure a faster response to future events. Measures will include setting up a "crisis coordination cell" made up of regulators including Eurocontrol, the body that coordinates flight paths across the region, and the European Air Safety Agency, that will organize the region's response to emergencies, Spanish Transport and Development Minister Jose Blanco said. More flights may be at risk of delays from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull because northwesterly winds over the volcano "can blow ash over Ireland and disrupt air traffic there in the days to come," Helga Ivarsdottir, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Met Office, said in an interview yesterday. "The forecast for the end of the week and early next week indicates a stronger wind, which can have a greater effect," Ivarsdottir said. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venezuela looking to buy 33 aircraft from China China has signed an in-principal agreement with political ally Venezuela for the sale of 33 civil aircraft, including the Harbin Y12E. Venezuela plans to use the aircraft to develop regional passenger and cargo services in rural areas, says China's state-owned aerospace conglomerate China Aviation Industries Corporation (AVIC). Its overseas sales arm AVIC International signed the deal with Venezuelan government representatives, including the country's National Agricultural Development Fund, it adds. Senior officials at AVIC International, who wish to remain anonymous, say they hope to finalise the deal later this year and that the aircraft will be delivered over a five-year period. The deal includes the sale of Y12E aircraft, a 19-seat turboprop aircraft, confirm the officials. 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