Flight Safety Information November 9, 2010 - No. 231 In This Issue DOT Substantiates Whistleblower Concerns Regarding American Airlines Laser pointed at jet landing in Seattle Tribunal orders reinstatement of two Air Canada pilots forced to retire Shippers fought full screening of cargo planes DOT Substantiates Whistleblower Concerns Regarding American Airlines OSC Determines The Findings "Appear Reasonable" The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) late last week sent reports to the President and Congress detailing the DOT's response to a whistleblower's allegations that the FAA failed to provide effective oversight of American Airlines, and to address the air carrier's noncompliance with inspection and maintenance requirements. The whistleblower, Mr. Andrew G. Blosser, an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector assigned to the American Airlines Certificate Management Office (CMO), in Fort Worth, Texas, alleged that CMO officials were unwilling or unable to obtain positive corrective actions from the air carrier and that the failure to enforce inspection and maintenance requirements has resulted in a poorly maintained fleet that represents a safety concern for the flying public. Mr. Blosser identified six areas of concern regarding American Airlines' non-compliance: Maintenance procedures. Minimum equipment list (MEL) deferrals. Required inspection items (RII). The repair station training needs assessment (TNA). The Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System (CASS). The fuel tank system (FTS) maintenance program. The report and a supplemental report submitted to OSC by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood substantiated Mr. Blosser's allegations that the CMO failed to ensure that American Airlines complied with requirements in four of the six areas identified above; specifically, maintenance procedures, MEL deferrals, RII requirements, and CASS requirements. The investigation found that at the time of Mr. Blosser's disclosures, CMO Actions to ensure compliance were not effective. In addition, the investigation found that inaccurate and untimely FAA guidance for the review and approval of the air carrier's FTS maintenance program most likely contributed to inspector confusion and uncertainty as to whether the program met federal regulations and AD requirements. In response to the findings, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt pledged to take corrective action, including improving policies and procedures within the CMO. In addition, FAA removed or reassigned managers and noted that American Airlines replaced several senior level personnel. FAA further indicated that it plans to have an outside office provide oversight of the CMO to ensure corrective actions are taken. By March 2011, inspectors from outside the region will conduct an independent audit to assess the effectiveness of the corrective actions,and in July 2011, the FAA's Flight Standards Quality Assurance Division will conduct an independent Flight Standards Evaluation Program evaluation of the CMO. OSC determined that the agency's report contains all of the information required by statute and the findings appear reasonable. FMI: www.osc.gov, www.dot.gov, www.faa.gov Back to Top Laser pointed at jet landing in Seattle SEATTLE, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Port of Seattle says it is trying to track down who pointed a laser at an airplane flying into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The plane landed without trouble at 9 p.m. Sunday, spokeswoman Charla Skaggs told CNN. The incident is the latest such report at Sea-Tac. Pilots from at least 12 jetliners have said someone aimed a green laser light into their cockpits as the plane were landing. The problem has plagued pilots since the introduction of cheap laser pointers. Skaggs would not give any more information about which airline was involved or who saw the laser. Back to Top Tribunal orders reinstatement of two Air Canada pilots forced to retire TORONTO The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered Air Canada to reinstate two pilots, aged 65 and 67, who were forced to retire at age 60. The tribunal had already declared the mandatory retirement provisions in their collective agreement with Air Canada discriminatory in an August 2009 ruling. The decision released Monday dealt with the appropriate remedy, and while the tribunal ordered the two pilots reinstated, it did not order mandatory retirement to be eliminated for all Air Canada pilots. The tribunal says its finding that a section of the Canadian Human Rights Act allowing mandatory retirement in federally regulated industries is not a legal precedent and only applies to this specific case. George Vilven, 67, and Neil Kelly, 65, were forced to leave in 2003 and 2005, and today the tribunal ordered them reinstated at Air Canada with full seniority. In addition, the tribunal ordered the airline and the Air Canada Pilots Association to compensate the men for lost wages from Sept. 1, 2009, plus interest, minus the pension money they received. Advocacy group CARP said in a statement it welcomes the decision in favour of Vilven and Kelly, but it is still calling on Ottawa to repeal the relevant section of the Canadian Human Rights Act. "The courts are doing what the federal government has declined to do although all parties have campaigned on it, but it is a long, arduous and costly process and still leaves things in a state of some uncertainty," Susan Eng, CARP's vice-president of advocacy, said in the statement. The larger fight is to resume Nov. 22 when the Federal Court is to conduct a judicial review of the tribunal's 2009 decision. The Canadian Press Back to Top Shippers fought full screening of cargo planes WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite knowing for decades that terrorists could sneak bombs onto planes, the U.S. government failed to close obvious security gaps amid pressure from shipping companies fearful tighter controls would cost too much and delay deliveries. Intelligence officials around the world narrowly thwarted an al-Qaida mail bomb plot last month, intercepting two explosive packages shipped from Yemen with UPS and FedEx. But it was a tip from Saudi intelligence, not cargo screening, that turned up the bombs before they could take down airplanes. Company employees in Yemen were not required to X-ray the printer cartridges the explosives were hidden inside. Instead, they looked at the printers and sent them off, U.S. officials said. The scare is prompting officials in Washington and around the world to rethink air cargo security. Lobbying by the multibillion-dollar freight industry has helped kill past efforts to impose tough rules. In 2004, when the Transportation Security Administration considered requiring screening for all packages on all flights, the Cargo Airline Association downplayed a terrorist threat. It argued slowing down shipping for inspections would jeopardize the shipping industry and the world's economy. "As a practical matter, all-cargo aircraft operators today are permitted to accept freight from all persons and entities all over the world, including unknown shippers, precisely because of the lack of any credible threat to all-cargo aircraft," the association, whose members included FedEx, UPS and other shippers, told the agency. The government agreed. "TSA believes that a requirement to inspect every piece of cargo could result in an unworkable cost of more than $650 million" in the first year, the agency wrote in 2004. The government wanted security, TSA said, "without undue hardship on the affected stakeholders." The U.S. requires all packages be screened before being loaded onto passenger flights originating in the U.S. But there's no such requirement enforced for all cargo loaded onto U.S.-bound international passenger flights or on cargo-only flights, such as UPS and FedEx planes. Jetliner bombings in the 1970s and the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 led the U.S. to examine cargo security long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington made counterterrorism measures a top priority. Those efforts came in fits and starts. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Postal Service once had such a poor relationship that neither agency carried out their part of a mail security agreement they reached in 1979 after a mail bomb blew up on an American Airlines flight, congressional investigators reported in 1994. In 2007, a coalition of more than a dozen business groups lobbied against requiring close inspections of packages, arguing in a letter to then-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, that applying the same rules to passenger baggage and air cargo would set "an unachievable standard." Only in August, nine years after 9/11, did the U.S. require that all cargo be screened on U.S. passenger flights. That rule drew heavy lobbying from airlines, air cargo carriers and trade groups. They devoted at least $32 million last year and $28 million so far this year to lobbying in Washington on that and other matters. The air transportation industry, meanwhile, donated at least $8.3 million to congressional candidates in the 2009-10 election cycle, split almost evenly between Democrats and Republicans, an analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics found. The TSA, carrying out a 2007 law requiring the screening of all cargo on passenger planes within three years, decided that starting last August it would mandate the screening of cargo on passenger planes loaded in the United States. It said its rule wouldn't apply to cargo placed on U.S.-bound passenger flights overseas, or to cargo-only flights. In leaving cargo loaded onto passenger flights outside the U.S. from the August requirement, the agency said it would work with other countries to try to standardize screening requirements and apply "risk assessment" to cargo headed for the U.S. That decision drew praise from the International Air Cargo Association, whose members include FedEx, UPS and other major shippers. The industry has long contended that requiring the careful inspection of every package would cost too much and take too long. Its companies want to be able to screen items quickly and they want the government to bear as much of the cost as possible. The Obama administration announced new cargo rules Monday banning freight out of Yemen and Somalia. It also restricted the shipment of printer and toner cartridges weighing more than a pound on all passenger flights and some cargo flights. But the overall cargo security rules were unchanged. The announcement came after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano held a conference call last Wednesday with cargo industry giants FedEx, UPS, German-based shipper Deutsche Post DHL AG and Netherlands-based TNT. On the call, Napolitano "underscored her commitment to partnering with the shipping industry to strengthen cargo security," her agency said. The air cargo industry isn't short of political connections. FedEx spent $19 million lobbying from January through September alone; its chief executive, Frederick W. Smith, raised campaign money for Republican President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama's 2008 GOP rival, Sen. John McCain, and has made the White House guest lists of at least three presidents: Obama, Bush and Bill Clinton. FedEx and UPS have served on various federal agency advisory panels over the years, and the head of the Cargo Airline Association has been part of an aviation security advisory committee. Association lobbyist Gina Ronzello used to work for the U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general, with a focus on aviation issues, and was a congressional aide. A Bush administration Customs and Border Protection official, Michael Mullen, lobbied last year for the Express Association of America, whose members included FedEx, UPS, DHL and TNT. On the Net: * Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC