Flight Safety Information July 29, 2010 - No. 151 In This Issue Survivors "Unlikely" In C-17 "Mishap" On Elmendorf AFB Nascar Team Owner Crashes Plane... U.S. Pilots Need More Flight Experience Under Measure 3 dead in crash of medical helicopter in Tucson Search teams yet to recover FDR and CVR from A321 that crashed in Pakistan Details emerge about fatal flight path of Pakistani Airblue A321 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Survivors "Unlikely" In C-17 "Mishap" On Elmendorf AFB, Military Official Says Four crewmembers were on board an Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft when it crashed Wednesday around 6:15 p.m. on Elmendorf Air Force Base. ANCHORAGE, Alaska-- Four crewmembers were on board an Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft when it crashed Wednesday around 6:15 p.m. on Elmendorf Air Force Base. Senior officials say the crash happened near runway 6 in the northeast quadrant of Elmendorf. During an impromptu press conference at the Boniface gate around 10:20 p.m., Air Force Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, Commander of Alaskan Command NORAD, said he did not know whether the crewmembers had been killed, nor to what branch of the military the crewmembers belonged. Atkins confirmed that the C-17 was a part of a demonstration practice for the 2010 Arctic Thunder air show this weekend. No decision has been made regarding whether the air show will continue as scheduled. During the conference, Atkins said there would be no confirmations on deaths or survivors until investigators have completed their "disciplined" and "deliberate" process of "securing the mishap site." He also repeatedly called the crash a "mishap" and said he was still gathering information on the crash himself. Atkins had landed on Elmendorf just 20 minutes prior to the news conference from Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks. Witnesses say they saw the aircraft flying low over the hillside, followed by a giant plume of smoke coming from the base. A stress management team was dispatched to the base to help anyone who may have suffered trauma as a result of the crash. Family members of the C-17 crew were not allowed on base; the closest some were able to get was the visitor's center at the Boniface gate. There is still no word on what caused the aircraft to go down. http://www.ktva.com/topalaskanews/ci_15624724 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103590207540&s=6053&e=001KgaW-bBRdXGrQll1lxzjWEwJWSE_9OW7D8vQeTnw1JG6BQ1DE0HOQ87V805gx5o0NT3bXpOHMUUtCFHQady_6TC3TX2omRAJUEpJTjWh_uFePELE7iaGVE7nFnBe43VHsMnJWZlCizdhWOz3Xj9RLQ==] ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 28 JUL 2010 Time: 18:14 Type: McDonnell Douglas C-17A Globemaster III Operator: United States Air Force - USAF Registration: C/n / msn: First flight: Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: 4 Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: / Occupants: 4 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Anchorage-Elmendorf AFB, AK (EDF) (United States of America) Phase: Unknown (UNK) Nature: Military Departure airport: Anchorage-Elmendorf AFB, AK (EDF/PAED), United States of America Destination airport: Anchorage-Elmendorf AFB, AK (EDF/PAED), United States of America Narrative: A C-17 cargo plane operated by the US Air Force crashed and burned near Anchorage-Elmendorf AFB, AK (EDF). The airplane was on a local training mission with four on board. The plane came down in a wooded area about two miles from runway 5. www.aviation-safety.net [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103590207540&s=6053&e=001KgaW-bBRdXEWrbGSUZ9aKc4_v4W_RiDbjlInLu-YmvyrptZAro2g1RdxDdVU1rK7mHgMPejUSgVM4jH_7ieAR2MEaKq7T-DwK4qr09jQ5VcEDJrWhmT4DIWrktsSEq0G] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nascar Team Owner Crashes Plane By CHRISTINE NEGRONI Jack Roush, the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing, and a passenger, Brenda Strickland of Plymouth, Mich., were hospitalized Tuesday evening for injuries they sustained when the plane he was piloting crashed and split apart while attempting to land at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisc. Mr. Roush was in serious but stable condition, Lori Halbeisen, a Roush Fenway Racing spokeswoman, told ABCNews.com. Ms. Halbeisen said that Ms. Strickland also was being treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. Mr. Roush was en route to Oshkosh, where he was participating in the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture show. His plane left Detroit for the 280-mile flight to Oshkosh around 5:40 p.m. Tuesday. Mike Hargrave, an air show attendee, told a local reporter he saw Mr. Roush's plane, a twin-engine, high-speed Beechcraft, make the turn to approach the airfield on the fairgrounds, but that the plane seemed to be flying too slowly. "I think that plane is stalling," Mr. Hargrave told his companion. The plane turned on its side, hitting the ground wing-first before cartwheeling, Mr. Hargrave said. The plane separated just forward of its tail-mounted engines. Mr. Roush and Ms. Strickland were able to get out of the airplane unaided, according to Mr. Hargrave. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board will look into the crash; several investigators were on hand at the air show. During the week-long AirVenture as many as 12,000 airplane takeoffs and landings will be handled at the Oshkosh airport, many of them in proximity to parked airplanes and campers. "It's a unique place, the only place in the world that does air traffic control procedures like this," said Darren Gaines, a private pilot and air traffic controller who has worked in the tower at the air show in the past. "It works pretty well if you are going to have this kind of volume and if the pilots are proficient and the controllers follow their guidelines." Mr. Gaines said that typically there was one crash a year associated with flights attending the air show. Mr. Roush is well known among racing fans, but he is also a celebrity at the AirVenture, where he displays his collection of World War II airplanes. In a July 2009 interview with Flying magazine, Mr. Roush said that he moves his Nascar team by a private 727 and that he uses the Beech Premier to fly himself between his racing team's headquarters in North Carolina and Roush Industries in Detroit. This is not Mr. Roush's first airplane accident. In April 2002, he was faulted for the crash of a lightweight experimental airplane he was piloting as part of his 60th birthday celebration. According to the investigator's final report, Mr. Roush was flying too low, just 70 feet above a lake in Alabama, when he failed to see a power line and flew into it. The plane dropped into the lake, and Mr. Roush had to be rescued. Nascar has been affected by high-profile airplane accidents in recent years. In March 2007, a plane crashed into a neighborhood in central Florida, killing Dr. Bruce Kennedy, husband of International Speedway Corporation's president, Lesa France Kennedy, and the pilot, Michael Klemm, along with three people on the ground. In 2004, a plane owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed en route to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Ten people were killed, including the son and brother of Rick Hendrick, owner of the team. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103590207540&s=6053&e=001KgaW-bBRdXHgrHU5OSRVxEnvHIvz9t40FzY_YK6xwVAucScoc4vYEcqFYrU8dHIFpdgsjdOkxAQy6bRD4rCRJWQ5eSJf-6pcEgh0-qFz-z84wUFrgk6MQjLr0-5-5vrA2FcVMvXwYvvZfrhEN3XpBQTUCkpdOGp-yxrjKOD94tLQ1HcsRHce6otcK6YQ79iE] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. Pilots Need More Flight Experience Under Measure (Bloomberg) U.S. pilots would need 1,500 hours of experience to be hired by airlines under legislation House Democrats said Congress may approve in the next few days. The requirement, six times higher than the current 250-hour minimum, was sought by pilot unions and relatives of victims in a February 2009 fatal air crash near Buffalo, New York. The House voted 409-11 for the provision last October as part of "the strongest safety bill passed in decades," said Representative Jerry Costello, an Illinois Democrat. The pilot-safety provisions, which also require additional training for flying in icing conditions, may be adopted by the House and Senate in the next few days as part of broader legislation to fund the Federal Aviation Administration through Sept. 30, Costello and Representative James Oberstar said. "I expect the Senate to concur," Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said on a call with reporters. Lawmakers have until Aug. 1 to extend the law that finances the FAA because without action the taxes supporting the agency expire. The House lawmakers are adding the safety provisions to legislation extending FAA financing to Sept. 30. While funding would be temporary, the safety provisions would be permanent. Besides the 1,500-hour limit, the legislation requires the FAA to ensure pilots have been trained in stall recovery and would force airlines to take steps to make sure pilots are not flying when they are tired. Incorrect Response The National Transportation Safety Board said this year that Captain Marvin Renslow of Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s Colgan unit caused his plane to crash near Buffalo, killing 50, by incorrectly responding to a stall warning in the cockpit. He died along with all passengers, crew and a person on the ground. Renslow and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw each had more than 1,500 hours of experience when the plane crashed. Renslow, 47, had 3,379 hours and Shaw, 24, had 2,244, according to the NTSB. The pilots may have been "seasoned enough" to avoid actions that led to the crash had they been had more than 1,500 hours of experience before they were hired, said Paul Onorato, president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations. Onorato said neither pilot met the experience threshold. "That airplane was perfectly capable of flying," said Onorato, whose group represents pilots at carriers including AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Southwest Airlines Co. and US Airways Group Inc. House and Senate lawmakers are putting off for now resolving disagreements that have stalled a longer-term FAA bill. Legislators are at odds over raising passenger ticket fees that fund airports and enacting a provision that makes it easier for ground workers at FedEx Corp.'s Express unit to form unions. Congress is almost three years overdue in renewing the law that finances the FAA. The agency has been operating on temporary renewals of the law while lawmakers negotiate. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 dead in crash of medical helicopter in Tucson TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A medical helicopter crashed on a Tucson street and burst into flames Wednesday, killing all three people aboard. A witness said the pilot steered the plummeting chopper away from a house. Witnesses told The Arizona Daily Star the helicopter crashed into a fence in front of the house on Park Avenue just south of Glenn Street. The helicopter was owned by Colorado-based Air Methods. Officials with the air ambulance company confirmed that the pilot, flight nurse and paramedic were killed in the crash of the AS350 B3 Eurocopter, which was not transporting a patient at the time. Air Methods officials said the names of the victims would not be released until Thursday at the earliest. Federal Aviation Administration officials said the helicopter was traveling to Douglas from Marana at the time of the crash. The helicopter was in contact with air traffic controllers before the accident, and there was no indication of trouble, FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. Ricardo Carrasco told the Star he saw the helicopter plummet to the ground after the rotors stopped working. He said the pilot managed to steer it away from the house. Tucson firefighters extinguished the fire. No injuries were reported on the ground. The FAA was sending inspectors to the crash site and will conduct the investigation along with the National Transportation Safety Board. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Search teams yet to recover FDR and CVR from A321 that crashed in Pakistan The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) have yet to be recovered from the wreckage of the Airbus A321 that crashed yesterday while on approach to Islamabad airport. "The CVR and FDR have not been recovered so far, but the search teams are at the crash site today," Airblue CEO, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, says in an email to ATI "Weather is heavy rain and fog here which is hampering the activities at the crash site," he says. "The Pakistan CAA investigation team has started their work, and a five-member Airbus team are expected today to arrive in Islamabad," he adds. The Airbus A321 operated by Airblue crashed yesterday in mountainous terrain while on approach to Islamabad airport, killing all 152 on board. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103590207540&s=6053&e=001KgaW-bBRdXFXk6B7q43bfjRwJsiza0vQCnuqbgkX6IXpc4QOYR1gkPUTcWJsQesa0Oxc3nYVvdy1C_jgFVXU4a90ckOYAFuk] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Details emerge about fatal flight path of Pakistani Airblue A321 The Airblue passenger aircraft that crashed yesterday in Pakistan was doing a circling approach to runway 12 at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport because it was prevented from landing at runway 30 due to adverse winds. "The aircraft was on an ILS (instrument landing system) approach to runway 30 from the southeast and then broke off due to adverse winds and started to do a circling visual approach for runway 12 from the northwest side," Airblue CEO, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, says in an email to ATI. "The crash site is actually north/northeast of the airport on an extended downward wind," he adds. The crash site is in the Margalla mountains and satellite images show the crash site is 9.66nm from the airport. Air traffic control prevented the aircraft from landing on runway 30 because the aircraft would have encountered a tail-wind if it tried to land on that runway, says a Karachi-based official, who wishes to remain anonymous. The official works in the Pakistan CAA's air traffic control management division. The official also says aircraft doing a circling approach into Islamabad airport are required to stay within 5nm of the airport. The fact that the crash site is more than 5nm away means the aircraft was in a no-fly zone, he adds. He also says one focus of the investigation will be whether all the systems on the aircraft were working correctly, particularly the ground proximity warning system. The aircraft was an Airbus A321, local registration AP-BJB. Airblue has highlighted in the news media that the pilot in command, Capt Pervez Iqbal Chaudhary, had over 25,000hr of flying experience. Pervez as well as the aircraft's five other crew and 146 passengers were all killed in the crash. The accident occurred yesterday at around 10:00hr local time. The aircraft had left Karachi airport earlier that morning and was performing a scheduled passenger service to Islamabad. The last time that Pakistan had a fatal crash, involving a passenger commercial aircraft, was in 2006 when a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27 crashed and killed 45 people. Airblue is a privately-owned carrier and the country's second-largest airline. Besides the aircraft that crashed, the airline also has two other A321s as well as one Airbus A320 and two Airbus A319s, says Flightglobal's ACAS database. Airbus says the aircraft that crashed was built in the year 2000 and had accumulated approximately 34,000 flight hours in some 13,500 flights. ACAS says International Lease Finance is the aircraft's owner. Airbus says Airblue started leasing it in January 2006. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC