Flight Safety Information November 29, 2010 - No. 244 In This Issue Air France Accuses Airbus of Ignoring Speed Sensor Another Qantas jet grounded, Boeing 747 has trouble Emergency landing in Little Rock Qantas jet checked for second maintenance worry Bird strike suspected in cargo plane crash Report Cites 'Panicked' Co-Pilot in Air India Jetliner Dive FAA Urged to Require Bird Strike-Resistant Helicopter Windshields L.A.-bound Delta flight diverted to Denver Inside airport scanner maker Rapiscan FSI Advertising Flight 447 Fallout: Air France Accuses Airbus of Ignoring Speed Sensor Warnings Air France has accused Airbus of ignoring warnings over faulty speed sensors that may have contributed to the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 which killed all 228 on board. The airline also says Thales, an Airbus supplier, did not attend the sensors, which are called Pitot tubes, that were not functioning adequately. "The chronological analysis shows that Air France was constantly proactive in trying to remedy events linked to the malfunctioning of the Pitot probes," Air France said in a document submitted to French authorities. "Airbus and Thales felt that these events were minor and without potentially catastrophic consequences," it added. Fernand Garnault, an Air France lawyer, said the airline decided to submit the note to explain its views and what happened chronologically with the Pitots. On June 1, 2009, Flight 447 left Rio de Janeiro for Paris, but the aircraft, and Airbus A330, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The cause of the crash remains unclear although there are some indications that the aircraft was receiving false air speed readings. The accusations have become public after the French government announced its plans to search for the aircraft's "black box," which could be as deep as 3 miles under the sea in February 2011. This would be the fourth attempt to recover further evidence regarding the crash. Initial searches recovered 50 bodies, but much of the aircraft and passengers were never found. The last search ended in May, but family members have constantly questioned the handling of the incident. http://nycaviation.com/ Back to Top Another Qantas jet grounded, Boeing 747 has trouble AS Qantas staged a major PR exercise to mark the return of its A380 fleet to service, another plane from Sydney, a 747, was grounded last night with engine failure. The flight, QF1 from Sydney to London, was due to leave at 6.05pm - but passengers were pulled off the plane after a loud noise emanated from the engine while they were taxiing towards the runway. The flight was later cancelled, reported The Daily Telegraph. Earlier, passengers watched as Qantas CEO Alan Joyce staged a media conference to assure the public the company was now "100 per cent confident" A380 planes were safe. To prove the point, Mr Joyce flew the Singapore leg on the first A380 plane to return to service since the fleet was grounded three weeks ago when an engine exploded on a flight from Singapore. But while passengers on the A380 flight to London got away on time, passengers on board flight QF1 to London via Bangkok were pulled off their flight because of an engine fault. "The aircraft was taxiing to the runway and the pilot had an indication of an issue with one of the engines, and following procedures it returned to the bay," a Qantas spokesman said. The passengers disembarked about 7pm and were given meal vouchers, while engineers examined the engine. But at 9pm they were told the flight was cancelled. It was expected to leave at 9am today.A passenger on the plane told The Sunday Telegraph he could hear the engine die. "We were on the tarmac and then the captain said there was a mechanical problem; he said there was an electrical fault and that every time they tried to start the engine up it cut out," he said. "We sat for 45 minutes and then they took us off the plane." He said many passengers were annoyed the A380 flight, with Mr Joyce on board, left on time while they were stuck. But as the passengers boarded the 5.30pm A380 QF31 flight to London earlier, they expressed concerns. Claudia Clegg, 28, from Lilyfield said she was far from happy to be on board the first flight to return to service since the November 4 incident. On board QF31 for her honeymoon with husband Jonathan, she said she was feeling "anxious" and was not happy to be flying an A380. "I've been following the story," Mrs Clegg said. "I received an email from the CEO two days ago saying they were pleased to announce that the A380 was going to start flying again and that I would be on the first flight. "They said the CEO would be on the flight but that does not make me feel any better." But Lesley Arena, 28, from Bondi, said she had no doubts the flight would be uneventful. "I'm sure that if it wasn't safe they wouldn't put it up at all," she said. Mr Joyce said 16 Qantas A380 engines would have to be replaced, and two engines on yesterday's aircraft had already been replaced. The captain of yesterday's flight, David Evans, who was part of the cockpit crew onboard flight QF32, said as "a precaution" Qantas had decided to use "reduced thrust" on the engines for the initial flights. http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/ Back to Top Thanksgiving travel winds down, emergency landing in Little Rock An American Airlines jet made that emergency landing Sunday morning at the Little Rock National Airport. Aside from that scare, things appear to be going smoothly. The new National Security procedures don't seem to be slowing folks down. Other than a few delays, Thanksgiving travel in and out the Little Rock National Airport went smoothly. But it took a little longer for passengers on American Airlines flight 419 leaving Boston as pilots made an emergency landing in Little Rock Sunday morning. There were 165 passengers on there way to Dallas for a stop before heading to Los Angeles. Passengers say there were about 15 loud bangs and the plane jerked every time. One man explains, "It sounded right beneath us, but apparently it was more about the engine." American Airlines tells Today's THV the engine stalled but did not shut down and there were no injuries. Passengers credit the pilots for keeping everyone calm. Another passenger says, "It kind of startled us, but we didn't think anything of it. Then the attendants said they we're going to contact the pilot and let them know that was going on, but I guess the pilots were already aware of it." More than 40 million people plan to travel over this Thanksgiving holiday. More than 1.6 million are flying and according to AAA, it's a 3.5 percent increase from last year. But this holiday, it appears the real problem lies with a now grounded plane under inspection. Passengers on the plane that made the emergency landing were able to board another plane and make it to their final destination. Passenger Glenn Anderson spoke to Today's THV by phone from the plane. He said the pilot did an excellent job keeping everyone calm during the landing. The passengers left Little Rock for Dallas at 1:35 p.m. The Boeing 757 had 165 passengers, two pilots and four flight crew members. An American Airline Spokesperson says this is similar to a car engine sputtering; although the plane engine did not shut down. http://www.todaysthv.com/news/ Back to Top Qantas jet checked for second maintenance worry Qantas maintenance workers have checked an aircraft after a second incident in less than a day. The Boeing 737 with more than 160 people on board was taxiing at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne on Sunday night when a passenger reported seeing flames coming from an engine. The pilot took the aircraft back to the terminal and engineers cleared it for take- off to Adelaide about an hour late. The same aircraft was due to fly from Adelaide to Sydney on Monday but that flight was cancelled due to a technical problem with a valve. A Qantas official said the two incidents were unrelated. Alternative flights were found for 150 Sydney-bound passengers. http://www.abc.net.au/news/ Back to Top Bird strike suspected in cargo plane crash KARACHI - The bodies of 12 victims of the Russian cargo plane crash were recovered while the rescuers were unable to recover the black box from the rubble. According to reports, Russian cargo plane IL-76, flight number MGCC142, carrying 3.5 tonnes of goods including oil and eight foreign crewmembers reached Karachi from Emirates and took off at 01:48 am for Khartoum, Sudan. Fire erupted in the left engine of the ill-fated plane and it crashed at 01:49 am and hit an under-construction building known as Navel Heights located in the Navy residential area of PNS Shahbaz. Colonel Mukhtar Butt, Media Consultant Civil Aviation, told The Nation that they could not say anything about the reason behind the incident while a committee had been formed under the supervision of Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majeed to probe into the incident. He said that all eight foreigners crewmembers and four local labourers sleeping inside the construction building died. The removal of the rubbles is under way and the black box of the plane is yet to be recovered, he added. Rescuers of various organisations including scores of volunteers rushed towards the spot and dig out some four mutilated bodies within two hours of the incidents while rest of the eight bodies were recovered in the morning. SSP Shad-Ibne-Mashi while taking to The Nation said that the bodies of 12 victims had been recovered so far and shifted to the hospital for identification. He said that one passer-by namely Sajid sustained injures and shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi. He further said that rescue work was yet to be completed while various teams were engaged in removing the rubble. http://www.nation.com.pk/ ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 28 NOV 2010 Time: ca 01:45 Type: Ilyuhsin 76TD Operator: Sun Way Registration: 4L-GNI ? C/n / msn: 43452546 First flight: 1982 Crew: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 Ground casualties: Fatalities: 4 Airplane damage: Destroyed Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: ca 5 km W of Karachi-Jinnah International Airport (KHI) (Pakistan) Phase: Initial climb (ICL) Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Karachi-Jinnah International Airport (KHI) (KHI/OPKC), Pakistan Destination airport: Khartoum-Civil Airport (KRT) (KRT/HSSS), Sudan Flightnumber: 4412 Narrative: An Ilyuhsin 76TD cargo plane, possibly registered 4L-MGC, was destroyed in an accident close to Karachi-Jinnah International Airport (KHI), Pakistan. All eight crew members were killed. The airplane operated on a flight from Karachi-Jinnah International Airport (KHI) to Khartoum-Civil Airport (KRT). The jet crashed into buildings that were under construction inside a naval base, close to Jinnah airport. The airplane carried a cargo of 31 tons of relief supplies (tents) to Sudan. Fourt persons on the ground were confirmed killed, probably construction workers who were sleeping inside the buildings. Recent fleet lists from the Georgian CAA indicate that Sun Way operated two IL- 76 planes: 4L-GNI, 4L-MGC and 4L-MGM. Contrary to initial reports, rumouirs now indicate that 4L-GNI was the plane involved in the accident, but there is no official confirmation yet that this was the plane involved in the accident. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Report Cites 'Panicked' Co-Pilot in Air India Jetliner Dive By ANDY PASZTOR (WSJ) An Air India Express co-pilot got "into a panic situation" when he inadvertently put a Boeing 737 into a dangerous dive six months ago and couldn't recover from it, before the captain rushed back to the cockpit and regained control of the jetliner, according to investigators. The final report by Indian air-safety officials about what occurred aboard the flight on May 26 from Dubai to Pune, India describes the nearly 26-year-old co- pilot as effectively unable to fly the twin-engine plane with the autopilot engaged during most of the upset, after the captain left the cockpit for a routine bathroom break. The co-pilot, according to the report released last week, told investigators he was too stressed even to unlock the cockpit door for the more-experienced captain. India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation determined that the co-pilot inadvertently knocked into the plane's control column and pushed the nose of the plane down at 37,000 feet while adjusting his seat forward, touching off a scary, roughly two-minute rollercoaster drama for the 113 passengers aboard. The autopilot was engaged and the captain had just left the cockpit but found the bathroom occupied. The jetliner quickly banked and went into steep dive that ended up exceeding maximum safe flying speed. The co-pilot, according to the report, initially tried to regain control by quickly pulling back on the controls but then pushed the nose down and reached a dangerous "overspeed" condition, with various warnings going off in the cockpit. With the autopilot engaged, the plane's computer system sounded a chime and tried to regain altitude. The sound, according to the report, "caused a panic" in the co-pilot. The plane's automated thrust system rolled engine power back to idle, according to the report, in a vain attempt to keep airspeed from increasing. The upset prompted passengers to scream and sent "boxes and plastics and bottles" into the aisle, according to the report. The senior flight attendant told investigators the captain informed her, and the passengers, minutes later, that the plane had hit an "air pocket." The co-pilot, who had less than 1,000 hours of experience on Boeing 737s, told investigators he was too stressed to respond to repeated calls from the cabin over the plane's intercom to open the cockpit door for the captain. He also said he tried unsuccessfully several times to call for help by using the flight attendant call system. Flight 212 had been cruising uneventfully over the Arabian Sea before it started down, and the co-pilot panicked and mistakenly pushed progressively harder downward on the controls to try to regain control. The jet resumed normal flight after the captain used an emergency code to unlock the cockpit door and grabbed the controls. "What are you doing?" the captain shouted as he rushed in, according to what the report says the lead flight attendant later recounted to investigators. The captain stopped the descent and put the plane back on track, but only after he and the co-pilot briefly gave conflicting commands - with each one apparently pulling with all his might -- to the plane's flight-control systems. The report says the plane lost a total of nearly 7,000 feet of altitude during the incident. At one point, according to information retrieved from the plane's flight-data recorder, he co-pilot was pushing down on the controls with a force of about 200 pounds. At the same time, the captain was pulling in the opposite direction, trying to raise the plane's nose with a force of 130 pounds. Nobody was hurt, the plane wasn't damaged and it landed safely at its destination. But when it occurred, the incident prompted questions about Indian air safety. The report, which paints an unflattering picture of discipline and training, is expected to stoke further questions. The report concludes that the plane descended about 3,000 feet while the two pilots struggled over the controls. It also said the co-pilot hadn't put on his seat harness and "probably had no clue to tackle this kind of emergency." Air India pilots practice such upset scenarios in simulators, according to the report, but only in manual mode when autopilots are disengaged. The report comes after a different Air India Express flight touched down to long and too fast on a Mangalore runway in May, careened down a cliff and burst into flames, immediately killing 158 people. The final report on that crash hasn't yet been released, but investigators have concluded that the pilots of the plane, also a Boeing 737-800 model, failed to communicate properly and didn't react quickly enough to an improper approach. Together, the fatal crash and the unusual incident have prompted regulators and international air-safety experts to focus on ways to fix persistent shortcomings in India's pilot-training programs. Indian regulators, among other things, have moved to tighten rules ranging from acceptable landing procedures to fatigue- prevention schedules for pilots. After the May incident, Indian regulators stressed that pilots should always use harnesses while seated in the cockpit, and that a flight attendant should enter the cockpit whenever a pilot step out, in order to open the door from the inside in case of an emergency. In the U.S., commercial pilots generally are trained to react to in-flight upsets by immediately turning off the autopilot and manually flying the plane. They also are trained to don oxygen masks as a safeguard when left alone in the cockpit. Back to Top FAA Urged to Require Bird Strike-Resistant Helicopter Windshields Actual bird strikes and testing proves cast acrylic windshields are not sufficiently resistant, the National Transportation Safety Board says in a new accident report. A oil rig transport helicopter crash in January 2009 that killed eight occupants near Morgan City, La., was caused by the impact of a female red-tailed hawk with the aircraft, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a Nov. 24 final report on the crash. The report recommends that FAA not allow helicopter operators to replace strike-resistant windshields with less-protective ones, as was done in this helicopter prior to the crash, according to NTSB. NTSB cited the lack of requirements for bird strike-resistant windshields as a contributing factor in the crash. The crash occurred Jan. 4, 2009, and involved a dual-engine Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter registered to and operated by PHI, Inc. about seven minutes after takeoff from Amelie, La. Both pilots and six of the seven passengers aboard died in the crash. According to the report, the helicopter was at 850 feet and traveling at 135 knots "when the cockpit voice recorder recorded a loud bang, followed by sounds consistent with rushing wind and a power reduction on both engines." Seconds later, the helicopter crashed. The safety board said the impact of the bird on the canopy just above the windshield "likely jarred the fire extinguisher T-handles out of their detents and moved them aft, pushing both engine control levers into or near the flight idle position, reducing fuel to both engines. The pilots were probably disoriented from the broken windshield and rushing air and were unable to react in time to maintain control of the helicopter." The helicopter was originally equipped with laminated glass windshields that complied with European bird-strike resistance standards. PHI replaced them with aftermarket cast acrylic windshields that did not meet any bird-strike resistance standard, according to the report. http://ohsonline.com/articles/ Back to Top L.A.-bound Delta flight diverted to Denver LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Passengers on a Delta flight arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday after being delayed for a few hours because of a medical emergency. Flight 2821 left Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sunday morning and was supposed to land at Los Angeles International Airport at 9:17 a.m. Instead, the plane was diverted to Denver after two passengers fainted onboard and required medical attention. The other passengers were able to continue onto Los Angeles when the flight resumed about an hour later. The plane landed at LAX about 12:20 p.m. Sunday. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/ Back to Top Inside airport scanner maker Rapiscan, and a very close-up view of one of its execs Of all the inventive names enraged and unamused people have conjured for airport backscatter X-ray scanning machines, "genital visualizer" is the one that comes to mind as I assess the curves and folds of Peter Kant. Kant is an executive vice president at Rapiscan, which makes such machines, and we're standing in a room in Rapiscan's offices in Arlington County. He is demonstrating for me - nothing to be afraid of, he says, without saying so - the Rapiscan Secure 1000, in use in about 70 U.S. airports. Two industrial-blue boxes, the size of voting booths, are separated by a rubber mat with yellow crime-scene-type footprints. Kant gamely hops in and takes the stick-'em-up pose. When the image pops up, a whir and about 10 seconds later, I can easily see where his belt cinches his stomach. I note the pronation of his knees. These are details otherwise obscured by his loose suit. The picture is not so clear that I can make out nipples. It is not a photograph. Nevertheless, there are other appendages clearly visible. I hope Rapiscan is paying him extra for this. If we were in an airport, Kant notes, the image would appear for only a few seconds, so long as the scanning software did not flag anything suspect. The machines have no capacity to save or store images, he says. (The case where marshals in a courthouse in Florida saved 35,000 images from a scanner? Those were not agents of the Transportation Security Administration, and that was not a Rapiscan machine.) Nevertheless, the recent furor over the TSA screening process has meant furor over the graphic images. And furor over the graphic images has meant grief for Rapiscan - three syllables, by the way, with a short "a" as in "sat." Of late, everyone from the stolidly apolitical to hippie parents to civil libertarians, from the Huffington Post to the Drudge Report, has taken aim at it. Rapiscan's response to this controversy? First, it says, it just makes the scanners - it does not tell its clients how to use them, and it has nothing to do with TSA's aggressive new pat-down procedures. Second, Rapiscan says, it can make better scanners. It is aware of the controversy and at pains to show everyone how it is working on ways to make the security process easier on air travelers. Recent "Don't touch my junk!" furor aside, times have been good for Rapiscan. Terrorism and war are good for security contractors, and the previous decade has seen a lot of both. "People scanning," in industry lingo, makes up a minority of Rapiscan's business. The company also makes luggage and cargo scanners, mail scanners and scanners for shipping containers. But the people-scanning business is growing. About a year ago, the firm won $173 million in TSA contracts to produce Secure 1000s for airports. (L-3 Communications, a competitor, won a similar-size deal.) About 1,000 machines will be in place by the end of next year. Investors in Rapiscan's parent, OSI Systems, seem mostly unperturbed by the media blitz, and the company's stock recently started rising again after dipping a bit. Some publications and pundits have questioned the company's lobbying and ties to government, noting that its chief executive, Deepak Chopra (not that Deepak Chopra) accompanied President Obama on part of his trip to Asia and that Michael Chertoff, former Department of Homeland Security chief, has lobbied for the company. But the company notes that there are no real allegations of impropriety on its part. Of course Rapiscan has close ties to and lobbies the government: It is a government contractor. Rapiscan is confident that scanning - specifically, more-automated scanning - is the future of airport security. And its argument isn't just about safety. It's about efficiency. "For this newest airport model, the precision of the data is very high," Kant says. "We have very low false-alarm rates, meaning fewer people need to go through secondary pat-downs." In the meantime, Rapiscan is building a software patch so that the TSA screener looking at the X-ray image sees nothing but a plain, test-dummy-type body, with any anomalies flagged. It is also creating new sensitivities and add-ons. Soon, Kant says, Rapiscan machines will have more advanced threat-recognition systems, sensitive to liquids, ceramics, guns, sharp metal objects and any number of other possible weapons or illegal items. The machines will automatically flag contraband, removing the need for a TSA representative to review most of the X-rays. (The government would like that, too, because it would cut down on personnel costs.) In the longer term, Rapiscan is working on ways to make the airport security process less unpleasant as well. (The TSA says much the same thing.) It is working on integrating a shoe scanner into its machines so passengers don't have to take theirs off, and on dynamic scanners, so that people can walk through machines without stopping. Kant notes that, as far as the hassle of airport security is concerned, "bag clutter" is actually a bigger challenge for Rapiscan than "people clutter." It's easier to see whether there is something dangerous tucked into a bra or a pocket than to see whether one item out of 100 packed into a crowded carry-on is dangerous. Kant also says the company's polling shows that 99 percent of passengers would rather go through the Rapiscan machine than be patted down. In London's Heathrow Airport, where Rapiscan machines are in use, 95 percent of passengers opt for a X-ray rather than a pat-down, it says. Independently collected data back Rapiscan up. And a recent CBS News poll found that more than 80 percent of Americans approve of the use of the machines in airports. One thing Rapiscan may have going for it is that when it comes to airline security - unlike, say, toll-free customer service lines - most people would prefer to deal with a machine than with a person. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC