Flight Safety Information November 11, 2010 - No. 233 In This Issue Dreamliner Flight Testing Suspended EU safety regulator orders A380 engine inspection International aviation chief slams Israel for poor flight safety Choice of Airbus A380 engines comes home to roost Dreamliner Flight Testing Suspended Boeing Reports An Electrical Fire On 787 ZA002, Crew Executed An Emergency Landing During approach to Laredo, Texas on Tuesday, Boeing's Dreamliner ZA002 lost primary electrical power as a result of an onboard electrical fire. Backup systems, including the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), functioned as expected and allowed the crew to complete a safe landing. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. In a statement on the company website, Boeing said the pilots executed a safe landing and at all times had positive control of the airplane and all of the information necessary to perform that safe landing. Initial inspection appears to indicate that a power control panel in the aft electronics bay will need to be replaced on ZA002. Boeing is inspecting the power panel and surrounding area near that panel to determine if other repairs will be necessary. The company has retrieved flight data from the airplane and is analyzing it in Seattle, according to the statement. They expect that process will take several days. The team was conducting monitoring of the Nitrogen Generation System at the time of the incident but there is no reason to suspect that the monitoring or earlier testing of that system had anything to do with the incident. Boeing says that until the cause of the electrical fire is better understood, flight testing on the dreamliner is suspended. Boeing officials say that decision is consistent with the company's internal processes. Ground test activities will be conducted until flight test resumes. The statement also says that it is impossible to determine the impact of this event on the overall program schedule until the data is analyzed. Teams will continue to work until analysis is complete and a path forward is determined. FMI: www.boeing.com Back to Top EU safety regulator orders A380 engine inspection Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Air safety concerns behind A380 inspection orderThe European Union's air safety regulator has issued an emergency order to inspect all Superjumbo A380 passenger jet engines after a Rolls-Royce turbine blew up on a Qantas flight last week. The order by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) confirms earlier indications from investigators that they suspect a turbine disc on Rolls-Royce engines was the cause of an explosion on the Qantas Airbus A380 jet. "This condition, if not detected, could ultimately result in uncontained engine failure, potentially leading to damage to the airplane and hazards to persons or property on the ground," EASA said in its emergency directive. Qantas, an Australian airline, said this week that it had found small oil leaks in Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on three of its other Airbus A380s during tests it ran after the November 4 incident over Indonesia. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Investigators are still pondering the cause of the explosion Qantas said on Thursday that it was keeping its six A380 Superjumbos grounded until further checks were completed. Singapore Airlines also said on Thursday that it was inspecting its A380 engines after EASA issued the warning. "We are inspecting our wider fleet in accordance with the directives set out by EASA and the recommendations from Rolls-Royce," the airline said in a statement. Singapore, the first to fly the world's largest passenger jet, operates 11 A380s. German carrier, Lufthansa, the other airline using the Rolls-Royce engine type, said its planes were all flying after safety checks were completed. It said one engine was replaced as a precaution. Airlines, however, are worried about the financial impact of grounding planes and changing schedules. Aviation experts said the European directive involved a major safety inspection which would likely disrupt flight schedules. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6218850,00.html Back to Top International aviation chief slams Israel for poor flight safety Israel's aviation safety status was downgraded to category two by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January 2009. The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) on Wednesday castigated Israel for its inferior aviation safety, warning of the economic damage the low safety ranking could cause Israeli airlines and passengers. "[The safety situation] is a national embarrassment," said IATA CEO Giovanni Bisignani, speaking at a meeting with Israeli Transport Minister Israel Katz at Tel Aviv's Dan Hotel. He urged Israel to upgrade its safety ranking to category 1 swiftly. "Israel has been in category two for far too long...It is a costly situation for Israel's reputation and for the financial health of its carriers," Bisignani said. Israel's aviation safety status was downgraded to category two by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January 2009. IATA warned last year it may follow the FAA in downgrading Israel's safety status. "Aviation builds bridges of commerce and goodwill among people, businesses and nations. Airlines connect over 2.3 billion people and 40 million tons of cargo annually...But success must be supported by effective government policies that promote a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible industry," said Bisignani. "Global standards are not out of reach," he said. "Israel's four IATA member airlines (Arkia, C.A.L. Cargo Airlines, El Al and Israir Airlines ) are on the registry of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA ) for achieving the highest standards in operational safety management. The regulator must also uphold global standards decided through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO )," he said. IATA offered its expertise to speed the process and encouraged Israel to join the growing list of countries that have made IOSA a national requirement. Bisignani said IATA objects to expanding the use of Israel's new Code Positive identification for commercial airplanes, which will warn of possible hijackings before the plane lands at Ben-Gurion Airport. "I urged Minister Katz to abandon this unilateral and ineffective program in favor of a strong industry dialogue respecting global standards," said Bisignani. The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations and the Israel Air Line Pilots' Association also object to using the system, even though five airlines have already started using Code Positive last month. Bisignani emphasized Israel's urgent need for an alternative airport to Ben-Gurion to handle operational irregularities. Ovda Airport, the previous commercial alternative airport, was closed to all but charter operations earlier this year, leaving Larnaca in Cyprus as the alternative should Ben-Gurion become unavailable. "This is unacceptable and makes little sense. Airlines face added fuel costs to be able to fly to Larnaca while charter operators continue to land at Ovda. The government must move quickly to upgrade Ovda or designate a military facility for this purpose," said Bisignani. Katz and Bisignani also discussed cargo security. "The events of late October [involving explosives found on international cargo shipments] are a reminder that aviation security is a constant challenge," Bisignani said. "We are committed to working together...to make a secure industry even more secure. Our vision for cargo security combines a supply chain approach, modern technology and intelligence supported by effective information gathering." http://www.haaretz.com/ Back to Top Choice of Airbus A380 engines comes home to roost By: Christine Negroni Many, many factors come in to play when an airline decides what engines will go on the brand new airplanes it purchases. But right about now, I'm guessing that executives at Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore are casting a wistful eye at Emirates and Air France, both of which opted not to put Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines on the Airbus A380 airplanes they operate, selecting the Engine Alliance GP7200 instead. But the Rolls Royce engine customers are probably too busy thinking about their own decisions. Certainly much of their time these days is consumed trying to keep up with the investigation into why the left inboard engine on a Qantas A380 deconstructed in flight shortly after takeoff from Singapore last week. (I've blogged about some of the airplane-related issues that are coming to light, here.) But they're also busy with on-again, off-again concerns about oil leaks and other peculiarities on these engines. After taking a second look at its Trent 900s, Lufthansa went back and had a third look and decided that one engine on this airplane, should be replaced "as a preventative measure" on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the airline said. Singapore Airlines, inspected, cleared and released as "okay" some of the eleven A380s in its fleet and then today recalled three airplanes with plans to swap out the engines. By swap out, I am not suggesting that they're rollin' off the Rolls engines for the engine manufactured by Engine Alliance. Apparently, its not that easy. "Our design is unique to the GP7200 and thus has no correlation with the RR engine," communications manager Katy Padgett told me in an email. "Therefore, we do not offer 'backup' engines to A380 customers with Rolls Royce engines." In my experience, aviation companies avoid beating up on the competition in safety crises like the one in which Rolls Royce finds itself. There's a well-ingrained sense of it's-them-this-time, it-could- be-me-next-time that keeps the behavior civil, at least publicly. Still, its notable that while most of the A380s flying around these days are sporting the Trent 900s, Katy Padgett's numbers suggest that won't be the case much longer. The majority of the A380s on order call for her company's product. In addition to Emirates and Air France, Etihad, Korean Air, Air Austral and planes purchased by the leasing company International Lease Finance orders for the General Electric/Pratt & Whitney engine total more than 500. Let's hope that rather than just watching the Rolls Royce investigation from the sidelines, the engineers at Engine Alliance are paying attention and checking every calculation and widget on their own behemoth products. http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC