Flight Safety Information August 30, 2010 - No. 177 In This Issue China sets up special task force to investigate air crash Nepal searches for black boxes after plane crash Hot or not? Iceland style.... Iranian Fokker 100 damaged after overrun into ditch US Airways: Flames seen on landing plane's engine Mexicana airlines ceases operations, Indian authorities ground Jet Airways crew after evacuation incident ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ China sets up special task force to investigate air crash BEIJING (AFP) - China has set up a special task force bringing together officials from six different government agencies to investigate a plane crash last week that killed 42 people, state media reported Monday. The team, which includes personnel from the work safety and civil aviation administrations, will probe the cause of the crash in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the China Daily said. It will establish responsibility for the accident and advise the government on how to revamp the industry to avert future disasters, the report quoted Liang Jiakun, deputy head of the country's work safety board, as saying. "The probe involves every aspect of the jet -- its manufacturer, operator, pilot, crew, maintenance record, and the air traffic management and airport authorities," said Li Jian, deputy head of the civil aviation administration. On August 24, a Brazilian-made Henan Airlines jet crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at an airport in Yichun city near the Russian border. Fifty-four passengers and crew survived the disaster. An initial investigation and survivors' accounts indicate the plane -- made by Embraer -- missed the runway and crashed, cracking the cabin and triggering a subsequent explosion and fire, according to previous state media reports. Authorities in China's central province of Henan have ordered the airline to change its name following the crash to prevent it tarnishing the province's image. The company had previously been known as Kunpeng Airlines. Some of the survivors are still in critical condition. Ten have been transferred to hospitals in Beijing and 35 are being treated in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang, the report said. Doctors in Harbin say 17 of the survivors -- five of whom are children -- are still in grave danger with serious burns or head and chest wounds, it added. The crash was China's first major air disaster in nearly six years, and authorities have already ordered checks of the country's fast-growing civil aviation fleet of 1,300 planes in the wake of the disaster. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nepal searches for black boxes after plane crash KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Nepalese investigators hoping to find the cause of a small plane crash last week that killed 14 people, including six foreigners, offered a reward Monday for help in finding the aircraft's "black box" recorders. Investigators still have been unable to locate the voice and data recorders nearly a week after the Aug. 24 crash near Shikharpur village, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Katmandu. The private Agni Air flight was heading to the Mount Everest region when it crashed in heavy rain outside Nepal's capital, killing all 14 people aboard, including four Americans a Briton and a Japanese. Suresh Acharya, a spokesman for the government appointed investigation team, said investigators distributed photos of such devices among villagers and offered a reward of 50,000 Nepalese rupees ($675) for anyone who finds them. Investigators at the crash site, whose work has been complicated by continuing monsoon rainfall, collected pieces of the German-built Dornier turboprop plane. The crash created a crater that has filled with 10 feet (3 meters) of water. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hot or not? Iceland style. The end of summer draws near. Temperatures fall and the dust settles around Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Far away from the white hot glare of the media, Iceland's president is demonstrating a flying lesson; every event provides an opportunity to learn. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has invited geologists, pilots, regulators, airline executives and yes, even the press, to come to Iceland in September to review what happened in April when Eyjafjallajökull volcano issued the belch heard round the world. In his invitation to the conference at Keflavik International Airport, President Grimsson quipped with delightful understatement; "the earth is capable of ultimate surprises." He then suggested to the aviation industry that "systems must take into account the will of nature." To recap - since in a 24-hour news cycle, four months ago is practically pre-historic - from April 15-23, while Eyjafjallajökull was happily spewing its abrasive ash directly into the North Atlantic jet stream, 300 European airports shut down causing airlines to cancel thousands of flights stranding 7 million passengers. SAS Airlines claims to have lost $68 million, British Airways, $250 million. Cutting directly to the chase, Tom Hendricks, operations and safety director for the Air Transport Association called the airline losses, "eye-watering". He told me, "It was bad enough for the U.S. carriers, it almost brought the European carriers to their knees." Tom was flying as a captain for Delta Airlines at the time. When European aviation authorities began closing airspace, Delta and other U.S. airlines started canceling their flights rather than have their passengers, crews and airplanes grounded, even though Delta has experience flying planes in areas of volcanic activity. The European authorities were "too conservative," he said "This was a new experience for them, but the U.S. has operated safety for well over 2 decades." "There are some 52 active volcanoes in Alaska, and there are one to two eruptions in average per year," Jón Hjaltalín Magnússon reminded me in an email. He is one of the organizers of the conference and he was explaining why Hendricks as well as representatives from Alaska Airlines, NASA the FAA, ICAO and IATA and the U.S. Geological Survey were asked to offer their advice about whether U.S. procedures should be applied elsewhere. "The U.S. model delegates the responsibility to the operators - to the airlines," Tom said. "Airlines are managing their own risk but the Europeans chose to shutter vast areas of airspace that we thought were safe to operate in." So next month, these disputes will get vented once again. Were the authorities overly aggressive in restricting flights? Are there ways to safely navigate around volcanic eruptions? Who should decide when it is safe to fly and when it is not, airlines or aviation regulators? Safely protected by time if not by distance from the now-spent fury of the volcano, representatives from the whole alphabet soup of aviation organizations - a diverse crowd - will descend on Iceland to dissect what happened. It will do what aviation sometimes does so well, take the lessons of the past and apply them to the future. Will that happen this time? It could be hot. http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqvqzbdab&et=1103645417110&s=6053&e=001ejVYAMBtH1NskY1OsVexQSt2MPVMz9e578mR0bbInhGQebH9go8Ut3MAtYJ4c8AJbNEdEP4dLSF1shkXMiUrqjKW-S8pAFjfu9mQ3XlzASxgbV8BKem9IbKR_9rJdvh9] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Iranian Fokker 100 damaged after overrun into ditch One of the Fokker 100s in the fleet of Iranian carrier Iran Aseman Airlines has suffered substantial nose damage after an incident in which it came to a halt in a ditch. The aircraft, registered EP-ASL, overran runway 30R on 26 August while landing at about 22:15, says the operator of Tabriz Airport. It says the aircraft overran by some 400m (1,300ft). The twin-jet came to rest nose-down in a channel, impacting the far wall and crushing the radome. The airport operator states that there were "fortunately, no casualties" among 103 passengers and seven crew members on board. Meteorological data from the airport at the time shows thunderstorm activity and rain in the vicinity. The accident led to the airport's implementing a temporary displaced threshold on the reverse-direction runway 12L. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 26 AUG 2010 Time: ca 21:15 Type: Fokker 100 Operator: Iran Aseman Airlines Registration: EP-ASL C/n / msn: 11432 First flight: 1992 Engines: 2 Rolls Royce 650-15 Tay Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Tabriz Airport (TBZ) (Iran) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Tehran-Mehrabad Airport (THR/OIII), Iran Destination airport: Tabriz Airport (TBZ/OITT), Iran Flightnumber: 773 Narrative: A Fokker 100 passenger jet operated by Iran Asseman Airlines, suffered a runway excursion at Tabriz Airport (TBZ), Iran. The plane lost control just after landing and plunged into a nearby canal. The front part of the plane was partially damaged and two passengers received some injuries. www.aviation-safety.net [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqvqzbdab&et=1103645417110&s=6053&e=001ejVYAMBtH1M-HAs78C5EJgO6SAO6CzfOxddK4cF5Vtp5RpENDEd0p3W6bZlzyHl2P9_RBh7ag3752xvU1WLHyOdODOBGN2qGLV_jmgbIac9IEfSBs6xpoowy0Iw5fKky] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US Airways: Flames seen on landing plane's engine ARLINGTON, Va.(AP) - US Airways is investigating why flames were seen coming from the engine of an airplane as it landed at Reagan National Airport outside Washington. US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder says the captain of flight 1764 from Charlotte, N.C., to Washington declared an emergency as a precaution upon landing around 7 p.m. Saturday. Wunder says flames were seen coming from the Airbus 319's engine, but it does not appear that the engine was on fire. No one on board was injured. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman Rob Yingling says by the time firefighters arrived, there were no flames. The plane taxied safely to the gate on one engine about five minutes later. Wunder says US Airways mechanics are investigating the problem. Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqvqzbdab&et=1103645417110&s=6053&e=001ejVYAMBtH1MYcyC0EPCXIpyyJytzA6K6dIKNoEAHVpdspRtW7vOU9NwYfR94x2k8EdZWLuWbXY1gNE2ohIIgdrC1Zzyozhi8] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mexicana airlines ceases operations, strands business and leisure travelers Mexicana airline group has stopped all flights starting Saturday morning "until further notice", citing financial problems they inherited when the group changed owners a week ago. Mexicana Airlines, MexicanaClick, and MexicanaLink have all suspended operations. "Today's decision is a painful one for the 8,000-strong Group Mexicana family, but we will continue seeking out ways of securing the company's long-term financial viability, so our passengers can once again enjoy the quality services they are accustomed to," the statement said. "We hope to be back in the air soon and would like to thank everyone involved in this process for their support and understanding." The company has advised all passengers still holding tickets to visit it's website for refunds. This comes at a bad time as continued violence in Mexico, political unrest, and other factors have all combined making it a difficult time to do business in Mexico. The shutdown of one of Mexico's major airlines and 2 of its smaller subsidiaries makes it near impossible. http://www.examiner.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqvqzbdab&et=1103645417110&s=6053&e=001ejVYAMBtH1NhG2j-AkeQxZJOGVNUccZPdVm6PNBScj9Lox4aJi17mgzQzRUfcF6PDS6d8rsA899Ce4tGZnMY_KlOKsSUDmUoKWCkILP4z4Snlwzv8zbgXw==] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Indian authorities ground Jet Airways crew after evacuation incident Indian authorities have suspended two pilots and eight crew members from Jet Airways for mishandling the evacuation of passengers from an aircraft at Mumbai Airport. In the 27 August incident, passengers were evacuated from a Jet Airways Konnect flight departing for Chennai, after crew members reportedly saw fire on the aircraft's left engine, says India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Jet Airways operates Boeing 737 aircraft on the flight. While the aircraft was taxiing for departure, additional crew members who were travelling as passengers on the aircraft reportedly observed fire on the left engine. They proceeded to inform the pilot, who then asked an on-duty cabin crew member to confirm that there was fire on the engine. After she did so, the pilot pulled the fire handles for both engines and the auxiliary power unit, says the DGCA. However, he did not discharge any of the fire bottles to extinguish the fire, it adds. The pilot then ordered an evacuation of the aircraft through the escape slides. Fourteen of the 131 passengers on board were injured while leaving the aircraft. Subsequent inspections of the aircraft found that there was no fire in the engine area, and checks showed no problems with the engines, says the DGCA. It has removed the aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder for analysis. Preliminary findings have indicated "serious procedural lapses in dealing with the emergency and evacuation situation as per existing procedures", says the DGCA, which has classified the incident as serious. It has suspended the two pilots, four cabin crew members and four additional crew members pending investigations, it adds. "The DGCA has also called for a meeting of the heads of training of all airlines to review the training procedures of cabin and flight crews, particularly in emergency and evacuation procedures," says the authority. Jet Airways says the pilot had ordered an evacuation as a "precautionary emergency". "Safety of our guests is of paramount importance to Jet Airways and any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted," it adds, saying that it is fully co-operating with the DGCA's investigation into the incident. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC