Flight Safety Information August 17, 2010 - No. 167 In This Issue Colombia survivors: A normal flight, then a crash on the runway Engineers: Passengers' survival was miracle by design American union threatening to leave FAA safety program... FSI Advertsing Article Headline ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Colombia survivors: A normal flight, then a crash on the runway Passengers say they weren't aware of any problems on the Aires jet until landing at the San Andres airport in Colombia. A pilot says a 'great sinking' caught the plane as it landed The crash was the first sign that something had gone wrong, survivors said (CNN) -- Aires Airlines Flight 8250 was seconds away from landing at San Andres airport on a small island off the coast of Colombia. The pilot had turned on the seat belt sign and told passengers to stay in their seats. Passengers could see rain and lightning outside their small cabin windows, but nothing was amiss. Everything seemed calm. Normal. Routine. Then a hard, violent crash as the Boeing 737-700 smacked into the runway. The plane started to break apart, and sparks flew as metal ground against concrete. Seats came loose from their moorings and tumbled about the cabin. Passengers could see the runway and the rainy predawn sky through the gaping holes left in the sheared fuselage. Some of them fell to the ground, still strapped into their seats. Survivors of Monday's plane crash that left one person dead and more than 120 injured describe nearly two hours of normalcy followed by minutes of sheer terror. "Everything was going well," Heriberto Rua told Radio Caracol. "When I felt something, it was the crash." Another passenger, Juan Carlos Hurtado, said everything was fine until the moment of landing about 1:49 a.m. (2:49 a.m. ET). "No sooner had the rear wheels touched down when it started to break apart," he told Radio Caracol. "It broke apart, and the seats were torn loose. We ended up seeing the road, and it started to catch on fire. There were many people wounded, screaming." Industrial engineer Jose Ricardo Ramirez said he was ejected from the ruptured plane. "The truth is that I can't say whether the plane got to roll down the runway," Ramirez told Radio Caracol. "Simply, when we fell down, we ended up on the pavement, chairs and all." Ramirez said his first inclination was to unbuckle his seat belt and then undo his wife's restraint. A couple and their three children were traveling behind him, Ramirez said. He noticed that a plane seat was lying on top of the man. He lifted the seat off him and then noticed that his own wife's face was covered in blood. "I immediately grabbed her and tried to get her away because flames were coming from the plane," Ramirez said. "We tried to get away, but because my wife had a broken knee, I had to help remove her. "A police patrol arrived minutes later, and they helped us and brought us to the clinic, where we were tended to as soon as possible." Two residents of the metro Atlanta, Georgia, area were among those seriously injured. Carolina Bellino said she and her husband, David, suffered fractured backs. She cannot move, Bellino said. "He is worse than mine," she told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. Bellino, who said she is seven or eight weeks pregnant, recalled that she prayed until rescuers arrived. "It's just like a nightmare, but I'm thankful because I'm alive," she said. "It's a new beginning for us. You know you realize you can lose your life in just 20 seconds." Colombian authorities say they are investigating whether the plane may have been hit by lightning or been buffeted by a severe downdraft. One of the two pilots stood outside the wrecked plane shortly after the crash and described to a police videographer the flight's final moments. CNN affiliate Caracol TV played the recording Tuesday. "We were caught in a great sinking as we reached the runway, as our wheels touched down," said the unnamed pilot, his face bloodied. "It threw us out. It threw us out. Nature is very strong." The pilot paced back and forth before the camera, recounting his ordeal as crews worked on the plane just a few yards away. "It grabbed us with everything it had," the pilot said. "I said, 'Landing' and cut, and when I was cutting, I started to level off, and I felt that the plane was going straight (down). "I pulled [on the stick]. I pulled. I pulled. And the plane kept on going, kept on going. It was when we said, 'Landing.' When there's nothing left to do." Survivors said they were unaware that anything had happened to the aircraft until the violent impact. Ramirez, the industrial engineer, said he had seen lightning outside his window as the plane approached the airport. "[But] I didn't feel any explosion," he told Caracol. "It's a miracle from God. Thanks to God we are all alive." Hurtado also said he was unaware of any lightning striking the plane, as reported by some officials on the ground. "That's what people say," Hurtado said. "Others [say] that the landing gear did not go down. But I don't know what happened. Only that it was horrible." Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Engineers: Passengers' survival was miracle by design No passengers died on impact Monday when an Aires airline Boeing 737-700 crashed while attempting to land on the Colombian island on San Andres. By Alan Levin, USA TODAY When an airliner slammed onto a rainy Caribbean runway early Monday and split into three shredded pieces, passengers called it a miracle that no one died in the impact. To the engineers and accident investigators who pushed for decades to improve airliner safety, the outcome was by design. "I cringe when I see these headlines that this was a miracle," said John Hickey, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) deputy safety chief. "We as engineers and scientists don't believe that this is a miracle. We are totally convinced that the work that we did in the 1980s has proven its value." At that time, a crash severe enough to break a jet into pieces was almost certain to kill passengers. Since then, the FAA - pushed at times by federal crash investigators - has required tougher seats, better emergency lighting, more accessible exits and numerous protections against fire. The AIRES airline Boeing 737-700 that crashed while attempting to land on the Colombian island of San Andrés is just the latest example of recent accidents that caused severe damage to large jets but caused few, if any, deaths. In Monday's crash, one 68-year-old female passenger died. The Associated Press reported that she suffered a heart attack after escaping from the plane. Since 2005, there have been at least seven crashes around the world with similar outcomes, according to federal officials and aviation safety experts. "This can't all be luck," said Bill Voss, president of the non-profit Flight Safety Foundation. "I think you have a series of unglamorous incremental improvements making a difference." The recent accidents include: ˇAn American Airlines 737-800 slid off a rainy runway on Dec. 22 in Kingston, Jamaica, slamming into rocks on the seashore and breaking into three pieces. No one died. ˇA Continental Airlines 737-500 trying to take off in stiff crosswinds in Denver ran off the runway on Dec. 20, 2008. The jet broke apart and caught fire, but no one died. ˇAn Air France Airbus A340 carrying 309 people skidded off a runway in Toronto on Aug. 2, 2005, bursting into flames. Everyone escaped. The investigation into Monday's crash has just begun, but among the factors that almost certainly helped prevent deaths were the seats. Investigators probing crashes in the 1980s and 1990s noticed that seats often tore loose during an impact, heaving passengers about the cabin. The results could be grim. In 1990, an Avianca airlines jet approaching New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport ran out of fuel and glided to the ground. Despite the impact, the jet remained mostly in one piece and there was no fire. However, large sections of seats came loose, said Rick DeWeese, who heads the crash laboratory at the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City. As a result, 73 of the 158 people aboard died. By contrast, the AIRES jet was equipped with newer seats that are far more likely to stay put upon impact, according to the FAA and Boeing. Hickey acknowledges that luck may have played a role in reducing fatalities in some recent accidents. The outcome Monday might have been different if a fire had broken out, for example. Still, Hickey is certain that the safety enhancements pushed by the FAA gradually over the past two decades have made a difference. "When you get into one of these accidents, you are more likely to survive than before," he said. http://www.usatoday.com/ Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ American union threatening to leave FAA safety program   WASHINGTON - American Airlines' mechanics union has threatened to quit a key aviation safety program, arguing that federal inspectors have used it to investigate its workers. The disagreement is the latest dispute between Fort Worth-based American and the Federal Aviation Administration, which has closely scrutinized the carrier's maintenance practices for more than two years. The program at issue, known as ASAP, encourages pilots, mechanics and other airline workers to self-report safety violations to the FAA in exchange for immunity from punishment. To be accepted into the program, an airline worker must be the sole source of a report, which can't involve falsification, intentional misconduct or alcohol or drugs. In a letter outlining its concerns, the Transport Workers Union cited 16 recent reports in which American mechanics disclosed violations that the union says should have shielded them from further investigation. ASAP cases are confidential, so neither the FAA nor the union will say what happened in those cases. But the TWA's letter says the FAA has used such reports "to open enforcement action against employees and the airline." "We felt like we should use this [program] consistently and apply it in a fair way to every report," said Brad Brugger, the union's safety of flight and compliance coordinator. "And we don't feel that has happened every time," he said. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the 16 reports were rejected because they didn't meet the criteria for acceptance into ASAP. "All of the parties to this [ASAP] agreement knew from the outset that certain things would not meet the criteria," Lunsford said. So-called partnership programs such as ASAP encourage pilots and mechanics to report safety risks that otherwise wouldn't be known. However, pilots and mechanics have expressed concern that ASAP reports could be used against them. American Airlines' pilots union briefly suspended its participation in ASAP in 2008 over that concern. Aviation watchdogs sometimes have the opposite view - that ASAP has been used to grant amnesty for incidents that should prompt corrective action. The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general reported in 2009 that the program lacked guidance about what kinds of incidents should be accepted into the program. Robert Gless, the Transport Workers' system coordinator for American Airlines, said his union is continuing to negotiate with the FAA over the program. In a July 22 letter to the FAA, Gless wrote that misuse of the program would cause workers to "go underground" and "hide their mistakes." "Just the way they are viewing [the reports] - it is not so much, 'We are happy the report was filed, we'll look into this,' " Gless said. "It's, 'I can't believe the individual made this mistake. It was reckless!' " Lunsford said the FAA remains committed to the ASAP program because it has worked as intended "in the cases that qualify to be accepted." American has sparred with the FAA since the carrier grounded hundreds of jets in spring 2008 to address FAA inspections of electrical wires on its McDonnell Douglas MD-80 fleet. The incident forced American to cancel thousands of flights, as the FAA charged the violations were serious enough to jeopardize safety. American said flight safety was never at risk. The FAA is still considering a civil penalty against American for the alleged violations. http://www.dallasnews.com/ Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ crop [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103622699584&s=6053&e=001eOQtZIHy0ScpY4PAjqC88v2BAs4uqibiaOjvGK_fwf52q_C1NckhHeDJwq3V7tTXmgJl72EEpQPvct0eeK_a15KKeNLYJ0ou0B3JsfPX1zQ8NofFA3bxAg==] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Puzzle [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103622699584&s=6053&e=001eOQtZIHy0SesZUMGL3_iOQKETxOlsEYw2shE44sFHr29UIHp-OEVZOZDVj4XdhQAfe69lezA9pBFYs8UhDJgVgnwTi0TvYqnkqaKo6_Q5UbKJBhyVI1VKw==] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC