Flight Safety Information November 4, 2010 - No. 225 In This Issue Defense gives alternate theory in jet crash trial Airlines aren't pushing for re-engined 737 Britain faces pilot shortage threat UPS Pilots to Hold Press Conference on Safety and Security UAE taking 'all possible measures' to ensure flight safety Flight Safety Foundation has opened its 63rd annual seminar in Milan NTSB CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL FAMILY ASSISTANCE CONFERENCE US airline merger critic Oberstar loses House seat Defense gives alternate theory in jet crash trial NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- An adviser to a charter jet company whose plane crashed at Teterboro Airport in 2005 testified Wednesday that he believed mechanical failure caused the crash, a conclusion at odds with the official version that blamed the company for alleged unsafe practices. Randy Williams' testimony came during direct questioning by Michael Salnick, attorney for Platinum Jet Management co-founder Michael Brassington. Brassington, his brother Paul and former PJM maintenance head Brien McKenzie are charged with conspiracy and lying to authorities. Michael Brassington also is charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft, a more serious charge that carries a 20-year maximum sentence. A charter jet operated by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based PJM carrying 11 people crashed into a warehouse on takeoff from Teterboro Airport, injuring 20 people, four seriously. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded that the plane's center of gravity was too far forward, and prosecutors have contended that was because the plane was overloaded with fuel in violation of Federal Aviation Administration regulations. But Williams, an FAA inspector who was on leave from his job at the time of the crash and was hired by PJM to consult on the investigation, testified he felt a mechanical failure involving the yoke, or the plane's steering wheel, prevented the plane from getting airborne. Pilot John Kimberling "insisted over and over, 'As hard as I could pull, the yoke would not move,'" Williams said. "I saw data that led me to believe there was a mechanical failure and that weight and balance wouldn't have become an issue." Earlier Wednesday, the government rested its case with testimony from an expert whose conclusions echoed the official NTSB report, which contradicted Williams' version. According to the indictment unsealed last year, PJM illegally ran commercial charters without proper certification and then, after piggybacking on another company's certificate, continued to break the stricter safety rules that govern commercial charters. Three former company executives already have pleaded guilty. Among the company's clients were sports figures and entertainers such as Jay-Z and Beyonce, Luciano Pavarotti, Joe Montana and Burt Reynolds. Williams is expected to be cross-examined by the government Friday, after which defense attorneys are expected to conclude their case. Back to Top Boeing exec: Airlines aren't pushing for re-engined 737 Despite public comments to the contrary, Boeing's major 737 customer airlines are not clamoring for new engines, a Boeing executive said on Wednesday. "There are virtually no customers I can name off the top of my head, throughout the executive suite, that are pushing us to re-engine," Nicole Piasecki, vice president of Business Development and Strategic Integration at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in Bellevue, at the annual aerospace conference of the British-American Business Council's Pacific Northwest branch. Boeing and Airbus have been considering whether to re-engine their single-aisle mainstays or launch replacement programs in the face of new competition from upstarts such as Canada's Bombardier, Russia's United Aircraft Corp. and China's Comac. At the same time, Boeing and Airbus have each secured dozens of new orders this year for their existing single-aisle jets, which already had big backlogs. "If you talk to any sales VP today, all they say is: 'Get me more product. Our customers want more,'" Piasecki said. "At some point in time there will be a moment for a new airplane, a new production program, and we're working very hard to figure out when that might be." Executives at two of the largest 737 operators -- Southwest Airlines and Ryanair -- have recently been quoted (here and here) saying they want more-efficient airlines. Asked about that, Piasecki said that, if the airlines want re-engining, "We will look very seriously at doing it." Airbus executives have hinted that they will probably go ahead with re- engining the A320, although the company has delayed the decision in recent weeks. Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor conference Wednesday, United Technologies Corp. Chief Executive Officer Louis Chenevert said Airbus' decision might not come until 2011, according to a Bloomberg account. In Bellevue, Christopher Jones, vice president of North America sales for Airbus Americas, said: "We will make the decision by the end of the year." The decision isn't about deciding whether re-engining makes sense, Jones said. "We've gone through the business case. The issue right now is resources." Jones also echoed Piasecki's comments about demand for existing jets, saying: "The market simply can't get enough single-aisle airplanes." Airbus is still trying to ramp up the production rate on its A380 to bring the double-decker airliner closer to profitability, while developing its composite A350 XWB, which will compete against Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and 777. Asked last month about Airbus' apparent hesitation on re-engining, Boeing 737 chief project engineer John Hamilton said: "I think they're out talking to the same customers we are and they're getting a similar response, a lukewarm response." Jones didn't directly answer a question Tuesday about what airlines were telling Airbus, saying: "Everyone wants more efficiency." There's no question that Boeing and Airbus executives are thinking about the upstart competitors. The emergence of new competitors is the biggest recent change in the aircraft market, Piasecki said. "This wonderful duopoly that we've had for 15 years that I used to hate, I now love it, but it's dead. It's definitely dead in single-aisles," she said. "With five to seven companies in the sort of 90- to 125-seat market segment it could be very chaotic, very fragmented. ... My prediction is that there will definitely need to be some sort of flushing out of players in that segment, but getting from here to there is definitely going to be bloody." Government backing of competitors in China and Russia makes it more important than ever to have a rules-based system that allows companies to compete on the product and customer relations, Piasecki said. Improper government subsidies to plane makers have, of course, been the subject of U.S. and European World Trade Organization cases against each other. The general industry view of Comac's inaugural C919 model is that it won't be competitive outside of China but will be something the company can build on. Concerns about protection of intellectual property are holding back the C919, Philippe Coude du Foresto, vice president of marketing at aircraft supplier Eaton Aerospace Group, said Wednesday. "We only exposed mature technology, things that we don't value long-term in terms of differentiating from the competition." Asked about how long it would take the C919 to become competitive in North America and Europe, Boeing's Piasecki said: "I learned a long time ago from my good Airbus competitor that it isn't just about the airplane capability, and China will be the power as we look forward economically, geopolitically. ... But it has to be safe, and I think they know it." Getting back to intellectual property protection, Carolyn Corvi, a board member at aircraft supplier Goodrich Corp., said: "The realization and reality is you can't always protect everything." The winners, she said, will be "the ones who keep advancing the technology so they always step ahead of the competition." http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/227109.asp Back to Top Britain faces pilot shortage threat Britain is facing the threat of a pilot shortage because of the cost of training, which can cost recruits up to £100,000. According to the British Airline Pilots' Association the number of people learning to fly commercial aircraft is falling. "Once young people could enter the profession through airline sponsors'' said Captain Mark Searle, BALPA Chairman. "But now they have to fund their own initial training which can cost up to £100,000.'' Armed Forces 'fleet numbers' will fallUp until the turn of the millennium, many airlines used to sponsor cadets who wanted to enter the industry. Gradually as a result of cost cutting this was stopped, with British Airways being the last to drop its programme in the aftermath of September 11. However airlines did still pick up the cost of the additional licence pilots needed to operate individual aircraft, such as a Boeing 737. But this has ceased within the last five years, leaving cadets facing a further bill of at least £25,000. A top-earning pilot, at the controls of a Boeing 747, can expect to earn £110,000 a year, while a junior recruit on a smaller plane would start at around £25,000. The union says the industry average is around £60,000. BALPA says it has been contacted by potential pilots who have decided against joining the industry because of the cost of training. Flying schools have also told the union that they have noticed a drop in applications. "This is plain wrong,'' said Captain Searle. 'These young pilots are desperate for a job and are now being charged by airlines to fly fare paying passengers. Airlines should be ashamed.'' Pilots retire at 65. According to the aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, aviation will need 448,000 new recruits over the next 20 years, just to replace those who have left the industry. In the short term there is a plentiful supply of pilots, because of the number who were laid off during the recession. But if the dramatic recovery of aviation in recent months continues, the industry could find itself short of pilots by the middle of the decade. However BALPA's analysis was challenged by Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association. "In the current economic climate many airlines can no longer offer direct sponsorship but, if pilot recruitment becomes a significant problem for UK airlines in the future, this policy may need to be reviewed," he said. "Currently we are unaware of UK airlines experiencing difficulties in recruiting pilots." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Back to Top UPS Pilots to Hold Press Conference on Safety and Security Issues at National Press Club November 5th Share By Independent Pilots Association WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2010 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UPS Pilots to hold press conference on Friday at 1:00 p.m. at the National Press Club The Independent Pilots Association (UPS pilots union) will hold a press conference on Friday, November 5th at 1:00 p.m. to address safety and security issues at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Murrow Room - Washington, DC. SOURCE Independent Pilots Association Back to Top UAE taking 'all possible measures' to ensure flight safety Gulf interior ministers call for better security coordination (AFP) The United Arab Emirates is taking "all possible measures" to ensure flight safety, the head of its aviation watchdog said on Wednesday, after a parcel bomb posted to the United States was found in Dubai. The UAE is taking "all possible measures" to "ensure the safety of passenger as well as cargo flights operating to and from the UAE," Mohammad Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Civil Aviation Authority, said in a statement. "In view of the discovery of explosives in a cargo consignment at Dubai and... in Europe, (the) UAE has been assisting international civil aviation agencies to address the issue and prevent" future threats, Suwaidi added. Two parcels addressed to synagogues in Chicago and containing the lethal explosive PETN hidden in ink toner cartridges were uncovered in Dubai and Britain on Thursday, sparking a global security alert. Washington believes the parcel bombs were the work of Saudi militant Ibrahim Hassan Al Asiri, a suspected Al Qaeda bombmaker. Gulf interior ministers on Tuesday expressed concern over the "growing activity of the Al Qaeda terror network," and called for better security coordination among Gulf Cooperation Council states and for improved exchange of information on the activities of extremist organisations. Back to Top Flight Safety Foundation has opened its 63rd annual seminar in Milan Milan, Italy - The seminar is attended by 400 participants (WAPA) - The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) opened its annual International Air Safety Seminar (IASS) in Milan this morning. Hosted by the Foundation 8 October and Demetra, is attended by more than 400 aviation professionals who will hear presentations on the latest safety information. "We are looking forward to the upcoming seminar in Milan" noted FSF president and CEO, William Voss. "This will be am IASS like no other and we are privileged to have it recognized at the highest levels of the Italian government". The "Foundation 8 October 2001" was formed in 2004 to represent the interests of the 8 October committee after the October 8, 2001 airline accident at Milan-Linate airport, where 118 persons lost tragically their lives. It launches and promotes valid activities to improve flight and airline transportation safety through conferences, research projects and data collection. "Demetra" is the research center created in 2006 by a commitment of academic, business and institutional framework ot promote the initiatives of Italy's educational, legal, administrative and economic transport, with particular reference to civil aviation. "I hope this forum will be an impulse to improve and to do more in air safety" Pierluigi Di Palma, president of "Demetra" said addressing the participants. (Avionews) Back to Top NTSB CHAIRMAN HERSMAN DISCUSSED THE NEED FOR FAMILY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS DURING REMARKS AT INTERNATIONAL AIR SAFETY SEMINAR, ANNOUNCED SAFETY BOARD'S 2011 INTERNATIONAL FAMILY ASSISTANCE CONFERENCE Washington, DC - National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman today stressed the need to create a more formal process worldwide to assist survivors and family members of aviation accidents. Also, at the 63rd annual International Air Safety Seminar in Milan, Italy, she announced the upcoming international family assistance conference to be hosted by the NTSB, in Washington, D.C., on March 28 and 29, 2011. "I have been on-scene at approximately 20 major transportation accidents, and I can tell you first-hand that having the family assistance team on site is a great asset," Hersman said. "And, based on conversations with colleagues from other transportation safety organizations around the world, there is a growing need for family assistance programs." In her remarks, Hersman highlighted the passage, by Congress, of the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act in 1996 which requires airlines in the United States to have disaster contingency plans in place so assistance can be deployed immediately after a tragedy occurs. The Act also assigned the Safety Board the responsibility to oversee the government's family assistance efforts. To meet this need, the NTSB created a Transportation Disaster Assistance (TDA) division and hired professionals from the mental health and forensic pathology fields. TDA is responsible for overseeing the four critical aspects of family assistance: notification to families, dissemination of information about the accident and investigation, victim recovery and identification, and locating and returning personal effects. "For more than 13 years, TDA has been directing family assistance in the United State and our outstanding professionals are prepared to handle almost any circumstance that arises," Hersman said. "This has taken time and a willingness to constantly learn and refine our approach. Ultimately, we judge our success by real, on the ground results." Back to Top US airline merger critic Oberstar loses House seat Outspoken US airline merger opponent Representative James Oberstar lost his re-election bid on 2 November as Republicans regained control of the US House of Representatives. Oberstar, chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, was defeated by slightly more than 4,000 votes by Republican challenger Chip Cravaack. Oberstar, a Democrat representing a northeast Minnesota district, stood strongly opposed to airliner merger deals. He also was a strong advocate for the US FAA's NextGen modernization plan for the air traffic control system. With Republicans re-taking the majority in the House, control of Oberstar's committee will shift to the opposite party. Representative John Mica, a Florida Republican who easily won re- election, is currently the ranking member, and is poised to resume the chairman's seat on the committee. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC