Flight Safety Information May 21, 2010 - No. 100 In This Issue Afghan minister: No sign of life at airline crash... Report: JetBlue Pilot Threatens To Crash Plane Kingfisher's Mumbai-Lucknow flight grounded after bomb scare AMR's American Eagle President, CEO Bowler To Retire ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Afghan minister: No sign of life at airline crash KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Search teams Friday reached the remote mountain site where a commercial airliner crashed this week and found no sign of survivors among the 44 people aboard, Afghanistan's aviation minister said. The Antonov-24 operated by Pamir Airways disappeared Monday on a flight from Kunduz to Kabul. The wreckage was spotted Thursday by a search plane on a 13,500-foot (4,100-meter) mountain in Shakar Darah district north of Kabul. Aviation Minister Mohammadullah Batash told The Associated Press that searchers reached the site Friday but found no sign of survivors. Three Britons and one American were among eight foreign passengers on the plane along with nationals from Pakistan and Australia, according to chief aviation investigator Ghulam Farooq. He did not have precise numbers for Australian and Pakistani passengers. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said three Tajikistan citizens working for the airline were also aboard, possibly among the crew. Photos supplied by NATO forces show the plane broken into four pieces and strewn across a steep mountainside about 24 miles (38 kilometers) north of Kabul. Bad weather and the rugged mountain terrain hampered the search. Kabul-based Pamir Airways, named after the Pamir mountain range of Central Asia, began operations in 1995. It has daily flights to major Afghan cities and flies to Dubai and Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage. Pamir's chief executive officer, Amanullah Hamid, said the plane was last inspected about three months ago in Bulgaria. The An-24 is a medium-range twin-turboprop civil aircraft built in the former Soviet Union from 1950 to 1978. A modernized version is still made in China. It is widely used by airlines in the developing world due to its rugged design, ease of maintenance and low operating costs. Also Friday, a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan's main southern city of Kandahar, killing one civilian and wounding three children, an official said. The early morning blast appeared to target an Afghan intelligence service vehicle that drove down a main road in Kandahar city, said Abdul Ali, an intelligence official who was at the scene. Instead, an elderly man took the brunt of the blast - his body could be seen lying in the street. Three children were injured in the attack and taken to hospitals, he said. The intelligence vehicle was damaged but no one inside was wounded, Ali said. Elsewhere, seven insurgents including one would-be suicide car bomber launched an attack on an Afghan border police station in Paktika province on the frontier with Pakistan. Police opened fire as the bomber tried to enter the grounds of the station, police chief Dawlat Khan said. Officers killed the bomber before he could detonate the explosives-laden vehicle. Three other militants outside the vehicle opened fire but were killed in a 30-minute gunbattle. Three others escaped. One policeman and two civilians were killed and one policeman was wounded, Khan said. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Report: JetBlue Pilot Threatens To Crash Plane BOSTON (WBZ) - A JetBlue pilot threatened to crash the plane he was set to fly out of Logan Airport Thursday afternoon, a source has told WBZ NewsRadio 1030. The pilot, who has not been identified, was taken into custody at Logan for allegedly sending an email to his girlfriend in which he said if they did not reconcile their relationship, he was going to crash the plane. The officer was questioned by the FBI at the airport, and taken to a Boston hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Authorities reportedly found the email on the pilot's phone. A government officials familiar with the case says TSA agents and state police were called to "interview a pilot who indicated that he was unfit for duty. During the interview, the pilot voluntarily agreed to to depart the airport and seek appropriate care." JetBlue released a statement at 8:35 p.m. saying that one of their pilots was removed for "health-related reasons." Bryan Baldwin, manager of corporate communications for JetBlue, wrote in an email to WBZ-TV, "At no point were any customers or aircraft in danger. We are working closely with Boston authorities to ensure our crew member receives appropriate medical attention." Baldwin said the company will not provide any additional details. Airport officials confirmed the TSA and FAA are investigating. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kingfisher's Mumbai-Lucknow flight grounded after bomb scare MUMBAI: Following a terror call-which turned out to be hoax-a Kingfisher flight had to cancel take-off and deplane all passengers on Thursday afternoon after the security agencies at the Mumbai airport received a bomb threat from an unidentified caller. Zonal deputy commissioner of police Brijesh Singh said late in the night that the caller was arrested. Immediately after the threat call came in, all passengers and crew members were deplaned of the flight, IT 3149 to Lucknow, which was taken to the isolation bay for a thorough check by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS). After the drill, which lasted for more than three hours, the BDDS gave a clean chit to the aircraft and declared that it was a hoax call. The flight finally took off around 10.15 pm. The incident occurred around 4.30 pm when the Kingfisher flight with 179 passengers and six crew members on board was preparing to take off. Officials said the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) control room received a call around that time from a man. "The called said he was Shoaib from Masjid Bunder and told the officer on the line that he had overheard two men speaking about explosives being planted in the cargo area of the Kingfisher's Lucknow flight. The caller even specified the flight number. The security system was immediately set in motion to prevent the flight from taking off," said Jitender Negi, senior commandant, CISF. "The flight was supposed to depart at 4.45 pm and the call came only moments before. Fortunately, the aircraft was still on ground." The number that appeared on the caller id device installed with the CISF was traced to a phone booth in Nerul. By 5 pm, all passengers were moved to the security hold area of domestic terminal 1A and were put through another round of screening. While the BDDS squad checked the aircraft, officials also went through each of the bags. While the passengers were being deplaned, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) officers decided to conduct a full anti-sabotage drill. "The officials decided on a drill as the call was a very specific one," an airport official said. Confirming the incident, a Kingfisher official said, "Just as the KF flight was preparing to leave, we received an alert from the CISF control room, notifying us that they had received a call saying there was a bomb on board." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Hoax-call-traced-to-Nerul-1-held/articleshow/5955857.cms Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AMR's American Eagle President, CEO Bowler To Retire DOW JONES NEWSWIRES AMR Corp. (AMR) announced American Eagle President and Chief Executive Peter Bowler will retire, ending a 26-year career at the company's American Eagle and American Airlines carriers. AMR, the parent of the two carriers, said it would announce a successor in the coming weeks. Bowler will stay on in his current role until a successor is named. Bowler joined American in 1984, holding a variety of positions in the sales, marketing, human-resources and information technology departments at American before moving to Eagle in 1998, when he was named president. He was named CEO eight years later. At Eagle, Bowler oversaw the integration of three standalone airlines to form one of the world's largest regional airlines. During his tenure, Bowler led the acquisition and integration of Business Express Airlines, the purchase and integration of more than 230 regional jets and the negotiation of labor agreements with each of the company's three unions. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC