Flight Safety Information June 18, 2010 - No. 120 In This Issue Boeing 787 Withstands Lightning Strike American continues investigation into door separation on a 777 Justices find off-duty pilot's death work related Expat pilots to undergo med tests in India Senator favors liability by major air carrier in a regional crash ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Boeing 787 Withstands Lightning Strike Six months into Boeing's aggressive flight test program for the new 787, the company announced this week the Dreamliners have flown just over 1,000 hours. The news comes during a busy week for the program after the first flight of a 787 powered by General Electric's efficient new GEnx engines and news that the flight test team experienced the first lightning strike with the composite airliner. Tuesday's first flight of airframe ZA005 was reminiscent of the very first flight of ZA001 back in December. Low clouds delayed the GE powered flight for several hours. By early afternoon the clouds cleared enough and the fifth test airplane departed the factory at Paine Field and immediately went to work on a test flight that took the airplane over the central part of Washington state before returning to Boeing Field in Seattle. On Wednesday Boeing announced the 787 program has flown more than 1,000 hours with the five aircraft currently participating in flight test. ZA001 has been the busiest so far with more than 384 hours of flying during 139 flights. The newest member of the flight test team flew three hours and 50 minutes on Tuesday, including a pass by Mt. Rainier for the classic photograph that has been taken of just about every Boeing airliner ever made. The 787 flight test team gathered some unexpected data last month after one of the composite airplanes was struck by lightning. Boeing 787 program manager Scott Fancher told Bloomberg News the strike occurred during a flight in the Seattle area. Fancher said there appears to be no damage to the airplane, adding engineers continue to study how lightning will affect the composite airplane. The company will further test the affects of lightning with simulated strikes while the airplane is on the ground later this year. The sixth and final 787 to be used for flight test, another GE powered airplane, is expected to make its first flight before the end of July. Boeing says the 1,000 hour mark means the program is roughly 40 percent finished with flight testing. The company continues to say the first customer aircraft will be delivered to All Nippon Airways before the end of the year. Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103493624400&s=6053&e=001OyM-igJhRSuevUELVI3oC0oMxu0JgYgCM3piLTb8JC6RfQDet4EDnFDpSlu-zTXsb8MOzNNtfeXesBsIajJcHwpQVCPG93YHDgUX6Y0eUQUMEzbIy07wu3wAgCh_Pe0H] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ American continues investigation into door separation on a 777 An American Airlines Boeing 777 whose door ripped off on 15 June remains out of service for repairs, but could resume operations today, says the airline. The door separated from the aircraft when it rolled back upon parking at the gate at American's hub in Dallas-Fort Worth. The aircraft arrived as Flight 962 from São Paulo, Brazil with 200 passengers and 14 flight crew onboard. No injuries have been reported. Because the investigation is still ongoing, American does not know the exact cause of the incident. The airline says it is unsure if the brakes were set and malfunctioned, or if the brakes were not set at all. The Dallas-based carrier does confirm, however, that the wheels were not chocked at the time of the incident. The aircraft is currently out of service for repairs, but American tells ATI that it could return to revenue service later today. The aircraft's removal from service has not affected any other flights. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Justices find off-duty pilot's death work related FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that the death of an off-duty pilot killed in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 in August 2006 was work related. The ruling handed down Thursday opens the way for the family of Clarence Fortney to receive worker's compensation benefits from AirTran Airways Inc. Fortney and 48 other people died when the Comair regional jet crashed after taking off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington. Fortney lived in Lexington but worked out of AirTran's hub in Atlanta. AirTran had argued that Fortney's death was not work related because he was commuting to work. Justices ordered the case sent back to an administrative law judge for further consideration. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Expat pilots to undergo med tests in India MUMBAI: In a major amendment to rules, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now done away with the disparity in medical standards for Indian and foreign pilots employed with airlines in the country. Expatriate pilots will now have to undergo medical tests in India and get certified in accordance to Indian medical standards. Till now, foreign pilots employed by airlines in India didn't have to undergo numerous medical tests prescribed by India for its pilots as the DGCA accepted the medical certificate issued by their home country. Under the amendment, foreign pilots will now have to undergo medical tests in India which are carried out for Class I medical renewals. Class I medical certificates are issued by Indian Air Force doctors and these are mandatory medical tests that pilots who hold either a Commercial Pilot Licence or an Airline Transport Pilot License undergo to keep their license valid. A Class I medical renewal involves lesser number of medical tests as compared to an initial Class I medical. Sources said disparity in medical standards of Indian and foreign pilots was one of the priority issues taken up by the air safety advisory council which was formed in the aftermath of the Mangalore air crash last month. For years now, pilots unions like the Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP) (an association of Jet Airways pilots) have been demanding common medical standards for Indian and expatriate pilots. One of the reasons was the more stringent medical standard followed in India. In US, for instance, there are no additional medical tests for pilots over the age of 60. The other reason was that the Indian norm of accepting medical certificates issued by foreign countries was in contradiction with international norms. In most countries foreign pilots have to mandatorily undergo medical checks in the country where they are employed as well. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103493624400&s=6053&e=001OyM-igJhRSt7QvF1pcK_HgM0P8fxKXllZZQKsjjlx_32VHqJSCFGc4BF_flL0tWnK13dg5nd8c7zTEvhSjd6zUuF7Qs2f6GJuHUxP54QmPvMld3hm0LW97bS9VSQa4nA] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Senator favors liability by major air carrier in a regional crash WASHINGTON - The plane that crashed in Clarence Center 16 months ago had the name "Continental" emblazoned on it - and now some lawmakers are talking as if that ought to really mean something. A day after Continental's chairman tried to deflect blame for a crash that claimed 50 lives, a key senator Thursday suggested that big airlines such as Continental should bear legal responsibility for what happens on the subcontracting airlines that run their regional flights. "I believe that the liability ought to be assumed by the carrier whose name is on the plane," Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N. D., said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the proposed merger between Continental and United Airlines. Dorgan, who is chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, said that "there is no one level of safety" between major carriers such as Continental and the subcontractors they hire, such as Colgan Air, which ran Continental Connection Flight 3407, the plane that crashed in Clarence Center in February 2009. "We've learned plenty from the Colgan crash, and much of it is very frightening," Dorgan said. The idea of shifting legal liability to the deeper-pocketed major airlines surely must have been very frightening to Jeffery A. Smisek, the Continental chief executive officer, who told a House subcommittee Wednesday that Continental was not responsible for how subcontractors such as Colgan train their pilots. Smisek sat stonily through Dorgan's remarks Thursday, never reverting to the sort of comments he made a day earlier, when he said he never knew that Colgan had failed to give its pilots hands-on training in a key component of the plane's stall-recovery system. "We weren't aware of that training deficiency," Smisek said. "That's the responsibility of the FAA" - the Federal Aviation Administration. Smisek's comments enraged members of the Families of Continental Flight 3407, as well as Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y. "It was outrageous that Continental tried to wash their hands of airline safety," Schumer said. "The families deserve an apology." Of course, airlines such as Continental might be a bit more aware of what their outsourcing partners were doing if the big airlines were legally responsible for a crash of a regional airliner bearing the major carrier's name. But that idea isn't included in aviation safety legislation that's currently moving through Congress. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., first suggested shifting liability to the major airlines at a hearing in December. By then, the safety legislation was already well on its way to being shaped, said Kevin Kuwik, one of the key members of the Families of Continental Connection Flight 3407, which has lobbied for the safety changes. But if there's another crash of a regional, and another group of families forced to lobby for safety legislation, "this is definitely the kind of thing they ought to look at," Kuwik said of shifting the liability to the major carriers. Then again, judging by Smisek's attitude, it's likely the major airlines would do everything they can to stop such a move. "All the good things in life come from profitability," Smisek said during Thursday's hearing. http://www.buffalonews.com/html Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC