Flight Safety Information August 24, 2010 - No. 171 In This Issue FAA Announces Category 1 Safety Rating For Nigeria ATSB report finds Tiger Airways Airbus flew for eight months with a wing fault FAA Set to Plumb Mid-Air Incidents 14 killed in Nepal plane crash Swiss airport gets international safety status Airblue A321 crash: No evidence of technical problems Safety Management System (SMS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAA Announces Category 1 Safety Rating For Nigeria Rating Means The Country Complies With International Safety Standards The FAA announced Monday that Nigeria has achieved a Category 1 rating under the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program, which means that Nigeria complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO is the United Nations' technical agency for aviation which establishes international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance. The IASA Category 1 rating is based on the results of a July FAA review of Nigeria's civil aviation authority. With the IASA Category 1 rating, Nigerian air carriers may now apply to operate to the United States with their own aircraft. An IASA Category 1 rating means a country has the laws and regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, and that its civil aviation authority - equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters - meets international standards for technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping and inspection procedures. As part of the FAA's IASA program, the agency assesses the civil aviation authorities of all countries with air carriers that operate or might be authorized to fly to the United States and makes that information available to the public. The assessments determine whether or not foreign civil aviation authorities are meeting ICAO safety standards, not FAA regulations. FMI: www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ATSB report finds Tiger Airways Airbus flew for eight months with a wing fault A TIGER Airways passenger jet flew for eight months with a faulty wing before the problem was reported to investigators, an air safety report reveals. The report tells how the problem was only reported when the Airbus A320, carrying 125 passengers in May last year, began to shake continuously during a Melbourne bound flight. Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators say in the report that the problem should have been reported eight months earlier when it was experienced by another pilot, forcing him to turn back and land. In both instances the shaking disappeared when the jet was landing. Investigators found that Tiger Airways, the operator of the aircraft, failed to comply with the Transport Safety Investigation Act by not reporting the earlier incident. Responding in a statement Tiger Airlines said the symptoms of both incidents were similar, but the problems were unrelated and that ongoing safety is never compromised. In a second statement tonight Tiger Airways contradicted the regulator saying the plane did not fly continously for eight months with a faulty wing. Airline spokeswoman Vanessa Regan said that the first incident in 2008 was not safety related, and that it was considered inappropriate to report the event (to the ATSB). ``At no time was safety compromised or was safety a risk,'' she said, noting that after the fist incident a decision was made to undertake a technical assessment in Melbourne where a technician was available. ``That issue was resolved at that time,'' Ms Regan said, adding that the second incident was immediately reported to the ATSB. The investigators report attributed the incident to a servo valve controlling the movement of the flaps on trailing edge of the left wing. Investigators said the valve was adjusted incorrectly when the plane was built in 2007 causing undue wear in the flap control mechanism. The wing flaps, otherwise known as ailerons, are hinged surfaces that move up and down on the wings during during flight to increase or reduce the varying degrees of lift on an aircraft. In its report yesterday, the ATSB offered a detailed picture of the incident, telling how the Tiger aicraft, registered VH-VNC left Mackay aerodrome in Queensland for Melbourne on May 18 last year with 125 passengers and six crew. During the flight a caution message appeared in the cockpit warning of a flight control problem. At the time the crew reported that there appeared to be no flight control problems. But the report tells that once the jet reached cruise height of 35,000ft, a "light continuous shaking became evident within the aicraft.'' Ten minutes into the incident it was estimated that the left aileron was moving up and down five degrees, with the flight manager reporting to the pilot that the left wing was "moving up and down.'' A subsequent check by the co-pilot confirmed the flight manager's report. "He identified to the pilot in charge that the left aileron was moving up and down continuously, and that the left wing was moving up and down through about 1 metre,'' the report says, telling how the pilot decided to divert to the Gold Coast. According to the report the vibration increased at 20,000 ft as the jet descended. The regulator noted that Tiger Airways had revised its safety reporting system and included additional training for its flight and cabin crews and Airbus had had found a new way to adjust the hydraulic valve. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103634347336&s=6053&e=0019xyqAcUYwP1FhehyUF-J1k7QryPfEhTg1EmtKxa_UBO17WH1Vx1HFN2V8avdrfk9__m3SapGtffC9WEekPkAIAmlyeBLDELo1AAstSHYxhE6QlyPRa_kWUFQMO0WeyYg] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAA Set to Plumb Mid-Air Incidents By ANDY PASZTOR Responding to a spate of midair near-collisions in recent months, the Federal Aviation Administration wants to bring pilots and air-traffic controllers together to voluntarily share information after such events. The goal of the initiative is to obtain a more complete picture of what led up to such dangerous incidents and how to prevent them. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines is likely to be the initial participating carrier. The model program is intended to "more accurately identify potential hazards and develop more robust mitigation strategies" without seeking to punish either controllers or pilots, according to agency documents. "Merging the perspectives" of both groups and jointly analyzing data about mistakes, according to the FAA, may help "enhance the understanding" of the incidents. The National Transportation Safety Board, which recently began collecting its own data from pilots about airborne near-collisions across the U.S., has received roughly 400 reports over the past few months of cockpit-warning systems activating because planes may have flown too close to each other. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has called for a review of procedures to combat the trend. The review is to include possible changes in training for air-traffic controllers but also new ways to encourage controllers and their supervisors to report voluntarily. Under the initiative, the controllers would rarely facing punishment if they quickly and fully report inadvertent errors. A United spokeswoman confirmed discussions are underway but said no final agreement has been signed. FAA officials also have discussed the program with Southwest Airlines Co. A Southwest spokeswoman had no comment. The FAA and industry safety experts also have been looking into a different set of reports-previously supplied by European carriers. They highlight spikes in midair collision-avoidance warnings in recent years around major U.S. airports, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver Chicago and the New York metropolitan area. A special analysis team including airline, pilot, controller and FAA representatives hasn't pinpointed the causes, and an FAA spokeswoman said officials believe it's too early to comment on any findings. The safety board is looking into the details of about a dozen of the most serious incidents of the 400 it received over the past few months, according to one person familiar with the matter. The safety board's stepped-up involvement reduces the likelihood that important cockpit or radar data may be lost before investigators have a chance to focus on an event. But for the long term, formal pilot-controller cooperation in analyzing events could offer the most important advance in reducing such safety lapses. Patterned after separate voluntary data-sharing programs already in place for pilots, mechanics and controllers-for other safety-related issues-the aim is to combine detailed flight data with voluntary interviews of pilots and controllers to develop prevention strategies. Pilot and controller reports now generally are analyzed independently. The series of close calls included two incidents at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport; a United Airbus A319 on approach to Washington's Reagan National Airport that narrowly avoiding hitting a business jet; and a Southwest jet on approach to Burbank, Calif. that reportedly came within 200 feet of a small plane after controllers misjudged the spacing near a runway. http://online.wsj.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103634347336&s=6053&e=0019xyqAcUYwP3-5ROCptYq3llvJ1qaKeu42Ff3SUr97BD9m10dnVk5D2lo71Wr1VrlLZFt9zzQMGhaAHBrbD_UHTDT0atHACvej2QPAg2pg6zXbjmKQ6p-5w==] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 14 killed in Nepal plane crash KATHMANDU (AFP) - All 14 people aboard a small plane heading for the Everest region, including four Americans, a Japanese and a Briton, were killed when the plane crashed in bad weather near the Nepalese capital on Tuesday. "Our teams have now reached the site and I can confirm that there are no survivors. All 14 people are dead," said Bimlesh Lal Karna, head of rescue operations with the civil aviation authority. The Agni Air plane was returning to Kathmandu after it was unable to land at Lukla, its intended destination in a popular trekking spot in the Everest region of eastern Nepal, home ministry spokesman Jayamukunda Khanal told AFP. Thousands of travellers fly into Lukla, 140 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, every year to access the stunning Himalayan range that forms Nepal's northern border with Chinese-controlled Tibet. Local villagers said they saw the plane crash into a field next to a school about 15 miles south of Kathmandu and break up on impact. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. "There are small pieces of the plane all over the field and you can see body parts. We are all so shocked," villager Pratap Lama told the Kantipur radio station. Relatives of some of the passengers gathered at the airport in Kathmandu to wait for news. "My cousin is a trekking guide and he was flying up to take a group of tourists to Everest base camp," Ganesh Rijal, 40, told AFP. "He got married recently and his wife is in deep shock. I have been waiting here for hours, but nobody has been able to tell me anything." The 550-metre-long (1,800 feet) sloping airstrip at Lukla, perched on a hillside 2,757 metres above sea level, is considered one of the most difficult landings in the world. The last major accident there was in 2008 when a Twin Otter plane carrying 18 people crashed killing everyone on board. The airport is used by climbers heading for the heights of Everest, though now is the low season for both mountaineering and trekking. Tourism is a major foreign currency earner for impoverished Nepal and the number of visitors has increased since a civil war between Maoist guerrillas and the state ended in 2006. Earlier this year, the government announced an ambitious plan to attract a million tourists to the country in 2011 -- around twice the number that visited in 2009. Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103634347336&s=6053&e=0019xyqAcUYwP1fxGVDHCZMoXLp5HSSKtpeLVKhvzpg3f2yZjEBiSyw8XCT21PFMIWrK4DUHQWUz2AQqH6pfo0orMpdz6hu9_v5] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Swiss airport gets international safety status GENEVA (Reuters Life!) - Switzerland's Sion airport in the heart of Alpine ski and summer mountain touring country has won top-level safety status putting it on the same level as major international hubs. The decision came from the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and means there are now five Swiss airports meeting the United Nations agency's standards for handling regular passenger flights. "This is important for us, as it will make it easier to attract new traffic to Sion," the airport's deputy director Patricia Fellay told Reuters. "They will now know that landing and taking off here is as safe as anywhere." Currently Sion, in the Rhone valley between two ranges of the Alps, handles just under 30,000 passengers a year and around 28,000 planes, from medium-range business jets through small company aircraft to helicopters and single-seater private planes. But it can take planes carrying up to 120 passengers, said Fellay. One small British charter company flies there regularly in the winter but most flights are by private owners, both Swiss and foreign, or by Swiss and foreign business firms. There are no plans to expand the airport, which is also a base for rescue planes serving mountain areas and training for Swiss airforce pilots. "But the infrastructure is already here for more flights," Fellay said. It is close to the city of Sion, capital of the Valais canton and a picturesque fortress town. It is also a gateway to major international Alpine centers like Zermatt, Crans-Montana, Saas-Fee and Verbier, and popular thermal baths. The other Swiss airports holding the ICAO safety seal -- given for top-class snow-clearing, plane defrosting, fire control and refueling capacities -- are Zurich, Geneva, Berne and St.Gallen's Altenrhein. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67N1FY20100824 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103634347336&s=6053&e=0019xyqAcUYwP2G2XIkRZmlmo9z6HrzzIhXmKSkw95r9WjMz0pLox0BuxZBEJ2EAX7nVDO3DxLNa9j95-cRD4yUyPslNAIfgEETfMvou1cRxA_uBJHqW1IY6NJGuyJBTFuHZGL2xfj62MDWay3F1Wze80tvFGrj8awX] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Airblue A321 crash: No evidence of technical problems Preliminary inquiries into the fatal Airblue Airbus A321 accident outside Islamabad last month suggest the aircraft suffered no technical problems before the crash. Flight ED202 had been attempting to land at the Pakistani capital on 28 July but struck terrain north of the airport. Both the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders have been successfully read by the French investigation agency Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses. This information has enabled investigators to "determine a preliminary analysis", says a source familiar with the inquiry. "It is fair to say that the [investigators] should have everything they need to understand what happened," the source states, adding that there is "no indication of any technical malfunction". "The cause of this accident seems to be on the operational side." Airbus has informed operators of A320-family aircraft that it has "no specific recommendation to raise", effectively a statement that nothing points to a need for carriers to make technical checks or modify their operations. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC