Flight Safety Information May 25, 2010 - No. 103 In This Issue Future Of Aviation Advisory Committee Sets First NTSB Offers Two Dozen Recommendations For Dealing With Bird Strikes FAA Issues SAIB For 'Loose Items' In The Cockpit Black Box Recovered from Indian Jet Crash Do Expat Pilots Deserve Scrutiny After Mangalore Crash?... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Future Of Aviation Advisory Committee Sets First Panel Will Convene May 25 at 0930 The Future of Aviation Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on Tuesday beginning at 0930 EDT at the U.S. DOT headquarters in Washington, DC. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt will address the opening session of the meeting, which is open to the public, and Secretary LaHood will hold a brief media availability at 1130 EDT. The committee was created in March to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation on challenges facing the aviation industry. "Aviation is essential to our nation's economy and our ability to compete in international commerce," Secretary LaHood said when the committee was announced. "This committee, which represents a broad cross-section of the aviation community, will begin the important conversation about how to ensure the industry remains vital and competitive." The committee will focus principally on five issue areas: ensuring aviation safety, ensuring a world-class aviation workforce, balancing the industry's competitiveness and viability, securing stable funding for aviation systems, and addressing environmental challenges and solutions. The advisory committee grew out of a forum last November hosted by Secretary LaHood on the future of the U.S. aviation industry, during which he urged attendees to nominate potential committee members. The members selected represent airlines, airports, labor, manufacturers, environment, finance, academia, consumer interests, and general aviation stakeholders. The committee will meet at least four times over the next year, after which it will issue its recommendations to the Secretary. FMI: www.dot.gov, www.faa.gov Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NTSB Offers Two Dozen Recommendations For Dealing With Bird Strikes Lengthy List Follows The Conclusion Of US Airways Flight 1549 Investigation The NTSB has issued 24 individual recommendations following the conclusion of its investigation into US Airways Flight 1549, which famously ditched in the Hudson River with no loss of life following the ingestion of large birds into both engines of the Airbus A320. The recommendations cover a range of issues, from proposed changes in engine-out checklists as related to bird ingestion and low-level dual engine-out training for pilots, to requiring "applicants for aircraft certification to demonstrate that their ditching parameters can be attained without engine power by pilots without the use of exceptional skill or strength." Several of the recommendations apply specifically to Airbus aircraft. The NTSB recommends that the FAA require Airbus operators to amend the ditching portion of the Engine Dual Failure checklist and any other applicable checklists to include a step to select the ground proximity warning system and terrain alerts to OFF during the final descent, and to expand the angle-of-attack- protection envelope limitations ground-school training to inform pilots about alpha-protection mode features that can affect the pitch response of the airplane. It is also recommended that the FAA require Airbus to redesign the frame 65 vertical beam on A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes to lessen the likelihood that it will intrude into the cabin during a ditching or gear-up landing and Airbus operators to incorporate these changes on their airplanes. More generally, the NTSB recommends that the FAA work with the military, manufacturers, and NASA to complete the development of a technology capable of informing pilots about the continuing operational status of an engine, require manufacturers of turbine-powered aircraft to develop a checklist and procedure for a dual-engine failure occurring at a low altitude, and once the development of the checklist and procedure for a dual-engine failure occurring at a low altitude has been completed, as asked for in Safety Recommendation A-10-66, require 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, Part 135, and Part 91 Subpart K operators of turbine-powered aircraft to implement the checklist and procedure. Seven of the recommendations were also passed along to the EASA. A final recommendation was made to the Department of Agriculture. The safety board says the Ag department should develop and implement, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, innovative technologies that can be installed on aircraft that would reduce the likelihood of a bird strike. It issued a similar recommendation to the FAA. FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAA Issues SAIB For 'Loose Items' In The Cockpit Items Placed On Glare Shield Of Particular Interest An event aboard a Mitsubishi MU-2B has prompted the FAA to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) concerning the potential hazards and airworthiness concerns related to having loose equipment in the flight compartment; particularly items placed on the glare shield. It applies to all aircraft that have a glare shield installed above the instrument panel, and is of particular concern to aircraft with windshield heating systems where the power terminal strips may be exposed and subject to an electrical short from a foreign object placed on the glare shield. During recent flight, thick black smoke filled the cockpit of a Mitsubishi MU-2B, and the crew was forced to make an emergency landing. It was discovered that a hand-held GPS receiver and antenna had been set on the glare shield. A metallic portion of the GPS antenna inadvertently made contact across the windshield heater terminal strips, resulting in an electrical short circuit. The resulting current flow caused the loose equipment to burn, resulting in smoke in the cockpit. The FAA says that loose equipment on the glare shield or in the cockpit can present a hazard, particularly for aircraft with a windshield heater system installed where electrical terminal strips may be exposed and subject to short circuit. Owners and operators should recognize the potential for exposed terminal strips to be attached to high current windshield heating systems and refrain from placing any loose items on the glare shield that might cause an electrical short and subsequent electrical fire. If possible, these terminal strips should also be insulated or covered to mitigate such an occurrence. The FAA also reminds owners and operators that loose or portable equipment on the glare shield can obscure the field of view of the crew, can potentially influence the magnetic compass accuracy, and can become a hazard in turbulence. Loose or portable items and equipment should be properly secured prior to and during the flight, portable or loose equipment should be isolated from other equipment installed, and the magnetic compass should be checked to assure it is not being affected by any magnetic or electrical influence from portable or loose equipment. FMI: www.faa.gov Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Black Box Recovered from Indian Jet Crash Searchers in southern India have found the flight data recorder of the Air India Express plane that crashed last week killing 158 people. An aviation official said Tuesday the data recorder, commonly referred to as the black box, was recovered at the crash site in the city of Mangalore in southern Karnataka state. The cockpit voice recorder was found on Sunday. The Air India Express plane Boeing 737 passenger jet carrying 166 people crashed early Saturday while landing at Mangalore's airport. Eight people survived the crash when the plane overshot the runway and plunged down a ravine before bursting into flames. Officials say 146 of the 158 bodies recovered from the wreckage have been identified. A U.S. forensics team is in India to assist in the investigation. Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told CNN-IBN television that human error may have caused the crash, as weather and visibility were good during the landing. But Air India chairman Arvind Jadhav has said the pilot who landed the ill-fated aircraft was highly experienced. The crash is one of the deadliest in India's history. A 1996 midair collision of two planes over New Delhi killed 349 people. http://www1.voanews.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103434080176&s=6053&e=0014cavpz51EVnzDskZmSlk9tuVYNtRTO8BejR5Y6a0D33adbDjEFy8f55N2J7lxTW5ltHVP1J6mLyBX_2A3YBPocdTejr8cfxwLkhh1nZLeExuFvKELnaMbg==] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do Expat Pilots Deserve Scrutiny After Mangalore Crash? The crash of an Air India Express jet in Mangalore has turned a spotlight on the use of foreign pilots in India, with some aviation consultants and media talking heads pointing the finger at expats for accidents and close-shaves in recent years. Aviation and Air India officials have been quick to point out, however, that the pilot of the Boeing 737-800 in Saturday's accident, a British national of Serbian heritage, was quite experienced. He had 9,000 hours of flying experience and had landed 19 times at Mangalore's Bajpe airport, the company's chairman told reporters Sunday. So it would seem a stretch to suggest that he was somehow unprepared to pull off the hilltop landing. Nevertheless, the crash of flight IX 812 has provoked debate again on whether India needs foreign pilots in the first place. As of January, there were 562 expats commanding Indian jetliners, according to government data. Kingfisher Airlines had the most with 139, while Jet Airways and Air India had 137 and 136, respectively. There are about 9,800 total licensed commercial pilots in India, though many are only qualified to serve as co-pilots. Foreign pilots were brought on a few years ago because there weren't enough Indian aviators with the experience to command the new aircraft, including the Boeing 737-800 and the Boeing 777, being inducted into the Indian fleet as the industry expanded. Some Indian aviators have raised concerns about cultural miscues - language misunderstandings and the like - when an Indian pilot and an expat are working a flight together. But one Air India pilot, an Indian, said such issues are often overblown and were unlikely to have played any role in the crash. "The confusion that takes place in the cockpit is usually very minor and wouldn't lead to such a catastrophe," the pilot said, requesting anonymity since the airline has a gag on its employees during the post-crash controversy. The idea was that the foreigners would train Indians to operate the more advanced aircraft over time, but Indian pilots have complained that they aren't being promoted fast enough. "There isn't a good plan in place to promote the Indian pilots and remove the expats," the Air India pilot said. The issue of when the expats would be kicked out became more pressing when the industry's breakneck growth fell off in 2008 and early 2009 amid the global downturn, making it harder for Indian pilots to get jobs. Some union officials say that even with the economic rebound in recent months, there are still thousands of Indian pilots out of work. Airlines have indeed removed several hundred expats in the past few years and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the top airline regulator in India, has ordered airlines to phase out expat pilots entirely by July 31, 2011. India is also trying hard to improve its training facilities so a new generation of pilots is ready to take command of advanced wide-body jetliners. In response to a question in parliament on May 4, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said that "in order to have sufficient quality of pilots over longer period of time," the government has modernized the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (The Indira Gandhi National Flight Academy) by acquiring more trainer aircraft and upgrading civil and electrical infrastructure. A new flying institute has also been set up in Maharashtra state, he said. http://blogs.wsj.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103434080176&s=6053&e=0014cavpz51EVk9nAkyuu0KzJnpvhUG7zVuR-saAJmLo-RGle4PId2kOnRL4GBS6WHi5nUEaf4FQM-DumzSiP3xUoGecfL56DOPC-wh_urBnRg=] Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103434080176&s=6053&e=0014cavpz51EVl95KTBVWvJnFvbcNaiiXm3SUVVN1AERiS4VREQhIDSuf2uSotSCYGL_rPnITsmNHSv9ePIF3gKAsZD9VHNfGIs] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC