Flight Safety Information January 21, 2011 - No. 016 In This Issue Airbus tanker plane for Australia damaged in test FAA Mandates Crew Resource Management Training For On- Demand Charters DHC-6 Twin Otter Accident (Ecuador) Poland to raise grievances on Russia plane crash probe at EU level No U.S. airline fatalities in 2010 EU Transport Chief Asks Airports To Plan For Winter Disruptions Air India revival, new airports top civil aviation minister's list Panama's Copa Airlines Isn't Considering Merger Plans China Approves Order For 200 Boeing Airliners FAA Seeks $1.025 Million Civil Penalty Against San Antonio Aerospace According to the United States, Israel's Air Safety is Among the Worst in the World Two Planes Grounded After Tail Strikes Airbus tanker plane for Australia damaged in test PARIS Jan 20 (Reuters) - Airbus Military is investigating the loss of part of a refuelling boom over the Atlantic during testing of a tanker plane being developed for the Royal Australian Air Force. The European planemaker does not expect the incident to delay the first delivery of the aircraft, which is scheduled for February, a spokesman said on Thursday. However, the mishap comes at a critical time for Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA) as the United States evaluates whether to buy tanker planes from the European group or rival Boeing (BA.N) in a contract worth up to $50 billion. A decision on that deal is expected as early as next month. The incident happened over the Atlantic on Wednesday at 1600 GMT during inflight testing between an EADS MRTT tanker plane and a Portuguese air force F-16 fighter, the spokesman said. The boom, or refuelling arm, was damaged when it lost one of its two stabilising fins, making the device uncontrollable. The cause of the incident was not reported. "We are flying in almost operational conditions," the spokesman said. "We hope to determine the origin of the malfunction and proceed with deliveries. At this point we don't see any delay in the first delivery next month," he said. The damaged aircraft was not among the first two planes due to be delivered to Australia. Both EADS and Boeing have experienced technical problems or delays with their most recently sold tanker aircraft. Back to Top FAA Mandates Crew Resource Management Training For On-Demand Charters Affected Carriers Have Two Years To Establish Procedures The FAA has finalized a rule that requires non-scheduled charter airlines and air taxis to train pilots and flight attendants in Crew Resource Management (CRM), a well-established concept that helps reduce human error in commercial aviation by teaching pilots, flight attendants and other aviation workers to act as a team. Air carriers affected by the final rule must establish initial and recurrent CRM training for crewmembers within two years of the effective date of the rule. The training must address the captain's authority; intra-crew communications; teamwork; managing workload, time, fatigue and stress; and decision-making skills. "This type of training is critical for the safety of flight crews and passengers," said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The FAA has required CRM training for air carriers operating larger airplanes since December 1995. "I know the value of making Crew Resource Management part of the safety culture from my days as an airline pilot," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "A crew that works as a team is a better crew, regardless of the size of the plane or the size of the airline." CRM training focuses on the interactions among personnel including pilots, flight attendants, operations personnel, mechanics, air traffic controllers and flight service stations. This training in communications and teamwork can help prevent errors such as runway incursions, misinterpreting information from air traffic controllers, crewmembers' loss of situational awareness, and failure to fully prepare for takeoff or landing. This final rule responds to a 2003 National Transportation Safety Board recommendation that is currently on the Board's "Most Wanted" list of safety improvements. FMI: www.faa.gov Back to Top DHC-6 Twin Otter Accident (Ecuador) Status: Preliminary Date: 20 JAN 2011 Time: 15:45 Type: de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 Operator: Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana Registration: FAE449 C/n / msn: 934 First flight: 1986 Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: El Capricho area (Ecuador) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Military Departure airport: Pastaza-Shell Mera Airport (PTZ) (PTZ/SEPA), Ecuador Destination airport: Tena Airport (SETE), Ecuador Narrative: A de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 plane, serial FAE449, was damaged beyond repair in an accident at El Capricho area, Ecuador. The airplane was serving isolated communities of the Amazon, as part of a special economic air program of the ECORAE - Instituto para el Ecodesarrollo Regional Amazónico. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Poland to raise grievances on Russia plane crash probe at EU level EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Polish investigators looking into the air disaster in Smolensk last year plan to complain about Russia's alleged mishandling of the probe at a new EU civil aviation club. Speaking to the Polish Press Agency in Brussels on Wednesday (19 January), Edmund Klich, a Polish lieutenant who worked with Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) on the Smolensk crash, said he will bring detailed grievances to a meeting of the European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities in Cologne in April. "It's about raising awareness at the EU level about problems in the crash investigation relating to Annex 13 and problems in co-operating with the Russians, so that people in the EU know that it's not so easy to work with the Russians," he explained. "I think we have to put forward this problem in an international forum ... Russia violated Annex 13 on numerous occasions, now let the specialists decide." Russia took sole custody of the investigation under a 1947 international agreement, the Chicago Convention, Annex 13 of which says it is obliged to share all documents with Poland and to take its observations into account in the final report. The MAK report, published last week, appalled Warsaw by putting all the blame on Polish pilots without mentioning Poland's views on the poor quality of the Russian airport in Smolensk and mistakes made by Russian air traffic controllers. The European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities was created last September to advise EU institutions, make EU-wide air safety recommendations and promote best practices in investigation procedures. The Smolensk crash, which killed former Polish president Lech Kaczynski and 95 other senior Polish officials and relatives, is a hot topic in upcoming Polish elections, with the opposition Law and Justice Party, led by Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, accusing the government of being soft on Russia for the sake of better relations. Jaroslaw Kaczynski at a heated debate in the Polish parliament on Wednesday said: "MAK is, from the point of view of European regulations, an institution whose reports deserve only to be laughed at." Commenting on Poland's efforts to improve relations with Russia, he added: "Latvia for 18 years did not even have a border or any relations with Russia and developed very well under these conditions ... Russia is today a weakening country which has to take account of international opinion." For his part, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is keen to secure a second term in the October elections and to run a smooth Polish EU presidency later this year, said Moscow is a "difficult partner," but accused Mr Kaczynski of trying to start a "Cold War" with Russia for the sake of political gain. "The issuing of clarifying the Smolensk catastrophe is very important for us Poles, but let's not kid ourselves that it's a priority for all the countries of the world," he noted. "I count among the chief interests of Poland ... positive, correct relations with its neighbours," he added. "The international standing of Poland, in the EU as in the wider world, depends - and this is unequivocal, there can be no discussion here - on the type of relations we have with our neighbours." http://euobserver.com/24/31673 Back to Top No U.S. airline fatalities in 2010 By Alan Levin, USA TODAY U.S. airlines did not have a single fatality last year. It was the third time in the past four years there were no deaths, continuing a dramatic trend toward safer skies. Years without deaths have occurred sporadically since the dawn of the jet age, but never have so many occurred in so short a period, according to an analysis of data from the National Transportation Safety Board. The average number of deaths fell from about 86 a year in the 1990s to 46 a year since 2000, a 46% drop. Last year also marked the first time that there were no passenger fatalities on any airline based in developed nations, says Arnold Barnett, a professor who specializes in accident statistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. "In the entire First World, fatal crashes are at the brink of extinction," Barnett says. Dozens of safety improvements that have gradually eliminated whole categories of crashes, says John Cox, a consultant who previously served as head of safety for a major pilots' union. "The proof of those steps is results like this," Cox says. Last year, U.S. carriers flew more than 10 million flights and hauled more than 700 million passengers, but only 14 people suffered serious injuries, according to the NTSB. There also were no major accidents, the most serious category under the NTSB's definitions. The last fatal accident occurred Feb. 12, 2009, when a Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 turboprop plunged into a neighborhood near Buffalo, killing 49 people on board and a man on the ground. That broke a 2 ½-year stretch of no deaths dating to Aug. 27, 2006, when a Comair regional jet tried to takeoff on a closed runway in Lexington, killing 49. Although the NTSB data analysis is cause for celebration, it also highlights the remaining risks in the system. In some cases, there has been a fine line between a fatal accident and an incident with no injuries. For example, a US Airways Express Bombardier regional jet narrowly avoided tragedy on Jan. 19, 2010, when its pilots bungled a takeoff and skidded off the runway. The airport is built on a plateau and the terrain plunges after the runway, but the jet was stopped by a bed of hard foam designed just for such emergencies. Safety analysts, such as Cox and the Federal Aviation Administration, credit the improving safety record to scores of initiatives that have gone into place in recent decades. Among the most critical enhancements: technology that has nearly wiped out collisions with the ground and other aircraft, improved training and data collection that identifies hazards before they cause accidents. Many of these improvements were done voluntarily through a decade- long cooperative effort between industry and the FAA, says Administrator Randy Babbitt. "We have identified and eliminated many of the major risks in the system and we will continue to act on the remaining safety challenges and keep air travelers safe," Babbitt says. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/ Back to Top EU Transport Chief Asks Airports To Plan For Winter Disruptions BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--Airports across Europe will have to submit the European Commission a plan to face possible disruptions caused by bad weather, in an effort to avoid the chaos created by snow in December, the commission's transport chief said Wednesday. "We take consistent European standards for granted when it comes to aviation safety - and rightly so. Now we need to do the same for severe weather planning," Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said in a statement. Kallas also said he will propose new, more stringent rules on the issue later this year. Back to Top Air India revival, new airports top civil aviation minister's list Vayalar Ravi has a lot to contend with in his new role as the minister of civil aviation. Though, on the very first day he spoke of prioritising Air India revival, having more airports and more passenger facilities for fliers, aviation sector experts point towards several areas that need attention. To begin with, a comprehensive policy on airports is needed, says KPMG's Amber Dubey. State-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) is the world's largest owner-operator of airports, but of its 127 airports, 40 remain non-operational and most of the smaller airports are running in losses. Dubey pointed out the need to devise a comprehensive transportation policy, which envisages viability of smaller, regional airports, in addition to the big nine airports that are anyway profitable. Another analyst said the five-year moratorium on overseas operations for Indian carriers needs to be removed, so that competition is encouraged and more airlines can enter the sector. As of now, the share of international to-and-fro traffic for Indian carriers is only 30% - 70% traffic is handled by carriers such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, among others. The contentious issue of allowing foreign carriers to acquire stake in Indian airlines is also hanging fire. While many in the industry want foreign airlines to be allowed to invest, many others say that to maintain parity, Indian airlines should be encouraged to enhance code shares with foreign carriers. The new minister may have to tackle this tricky subject sooner or later. Another pet peeve of private airlines has been taxation on Aviation Turbine Fuel. ATF accounts for almost 40% of an airline's costs and the industry has been seeking a reduction in excise duties on ATF. This involves delicate negotiations with state governments and the new minister may just find it one of the trickiest parts of his assignment. In his remarks after taking charge, Ravi emphasised on encouraging private players to increase connectivity to the North East, increasing focus on customer services and safety aspects of aviation. He also asserted that national carrier, Air India, would be made more competitive, with improved services and on-time performance. But aviation sector experts point to the mounting debts of even private airlines, while asserting that the industry needs a sector- specific revival package and lending from banks. Other smaller issues for the new minister include short-staffed Air Traffic Control function and the troublesome Ground Handling Policy (which allows private airlines to do their own ground handling after check-in), which is yet to be implemented. http://www.dnaindia.com/money/ Back to Top Panama's Copa Airlines Isn't Considering Merger Plans Panama's Copa Airlines isn't considering combining with competitors after Lan Airlines SA and Tam SA agreed to create the biggest airline in Latin America, Chief Financial Officer Victor Vial said. "We don't feel pressure to have to run and merge with anybody," Vial said in an interview at a conference in Panama City. The combination of Santiago-based Lan and Sao Paulo-based Tam will form the world's 11th largest carrier by passengers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The transaction poses "no threat" to Copa, which is seeking to increase capacity by 20 percent this year as it adds new flights and routes in Canada and Latin America, Vial said. Copa, with a market value of $2.56 billion, is Latin America's fourth- largest airline by value and has 150 daily flights to 24 countries. Lan is the region's biggest airline by market value, while Tam is the largest by revenue. Together, they will have a network of 116 destinations in 23 countries. Lan hopes to secure regulatory approval for the takeover in the coming months, President and Chief Operating Officer Ignacio Cueto told reporters in Santiago yesterday. At least one or two other competitors would need to combine before Copa would consider a merger to boost its business, Vial said today. Copa Holdings SA, the parent of Copa Airlines, fell 1.2 percent to $58.75 at 3:11 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, erasing this year's rally. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ Back to Top China Approves Order For 200 Boeing Airliners A standing order for 200 Boeing commercial aircraft worth $19 billion has been approved by the Chinese government, paving the way for delivery to begin later this year. The deal includes 185 Boeing 737 and 15 Boeing 777 jets. Large international orders like this one are sometimes part of a broader relationship and Boeing has recent history with China. In 2005, Boeing announced it would buy $600 million worth of Chinese-made aircraft components and the company has contracted with Chinese manufacturers to produce certain parts for the 787 Dreamliner. This year, the White House said that Boeing, Honeywell International, and Pratt & Whitney will be providing Air China with technical support to begin biofuel flights, according to Marketwatch.com. China is expected to represent a growing market for aviation businesses. Boeing isn't the only major manufacturer seeking inroads. GE has announced a joint venture that will develop avionics systems for the civil aviation market, targeting "a $2 billion slice of that market," according to Bloomberg news. As of December, Airbus had delivered 738 aircraft to the Chinese market. Boeing had delivered 662. China is expected to purchase more than 4,300 commercial aircraft through 2030. Boeing expects China to become its largest customer. http://www.avweb.com/ Back to Top FAA Seeks $1.025 Million Civil Penalty Against San Antonio Aerospace Company Allegedly Violated DOT's Drug And Alcohol Testing Program The FAA is proposing a civil penalty of $1,025,000 against San Antonio Aerospace LP for violating the Department of Transportation's Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing programs. The company was renamed ST Aerospace San Antonio in November 2009 and is a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Aerospace, Ltd.; however, the alleged violations occurred before the company changed its name. The FAA alleges San Antonio Aerospace failed to conduct required pre-employment drug tests and receive verified negative drug test results before hiring 90 people to perform safety-sensitive functions, a violation of federal safety regulations. Twenty-five of the employees performed safety-sensitive work before the results of their drug tests were known. The violations occurred between March 24, 2007 and May 8, 2008. "Required pre-employment drug testing is an important part of the government's effort to ensure safety at all levels of transportation," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "We take these violations very seriously." The FAA alleges San Antonio Aerospace did not administer pre- employment drug tests to 62 workers and did not receive verified negative results prior to the date those workers were hired. Twenty- three of the workers performed safety-sensitive work before the tests were administered and before the company received verified negative results. Another 22 workers received the required pre-employment drug test, but the company did not receive verified negative results until after those workers were hired. Two of those workers performed safety-sensitive tasks before the company received verified negative results. Another six workers took their pre-employment drug tests on the day they were hired. "Safety is compromised when our regulations are skirted or ignored," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "The traveling public has to be confident that the people who perform work on their planes are complying with those regulations." San Antonio Aerospace has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA's enforcement letter to respond to the agency. FMI: www.faa.gov Back to Top According to the United States, Israel's Air Safety is Among the Worst in the World Apparently Israel's heavily fortified international airport is considered by many to be the go to place for airline security. At the airport there are vehicle checks, closed circuit cameras and controversial passenger profiling to help achieve this. According to reports, it is not the airport that needs help. Beyond the airport lies troubled skies. The United States government has ranked Irsrael's air safety to be among the world's worst. The government has put them in the same category as countries like Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Zimbabwe. In a pair of mishaps, the Israeli air force scrambled warplanes to intercept commercial airlines. They had suspected the planes of being hostile aircraft. Some pilots fear an airline could one day be shot down by mistake by the Israeli air force. An Israeli aviation official, speaking on conditions of anonymity, because he was not permitted to discuss such details with the media, said that the downgrade in Israeli safety was first issued in 2008. The head of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni Bisignani, said that this is an international embarrassment for the civil aviation authority. This downgrade is not a good thing, and something has to be done about it. Israel's state watchdog agency just recently accused the government of dragging its feet on implementing a safety panel's recommendations to redress serious problems. Some of the problems that need to be addressed are outdated technology, runways that are too short, crowded airspace used for both commercial and military use, and a dysfunctional civil aviation authority. These are problems that they hope can be solved sooner rather than later. http://www.comparecarrentals.com/news/ Back to Top Two Planes Grounded After Tail Strikes By ANDY PASZTOR A recent spate of safety lapses by American Airlines, including a Boeing 757 that apparently took off at an unusually slow speed and slammed its tail on a California runway last week, are prompting concerns among federal safety officials as well as some of the carrier's pilots and mechanics. American Airlines grounded two planes after tail strikes. Above. an American Boeing 757 takes off in Miami. None of the incidents resulted in injuries, though two planes suffered enough damage to warrant temporarily taking them out of service. An airline spokeswoman said "we take each incident very seriously," various internal reviews are under way to understand the causes, and American usually works together with labor and government officials "to make sure these types of incidents are mitigated." She didn't provide details of what precipitated the operational problems. Federal officials are conducting their own investigations into a number of incidents ranging from last week's takeoff error at Los Angeles International Airport to a botched landing in late December that resulted in a jet carrying 181 people running off the end of a snowy Jackson Hole, Wyo., runway. The takeoff mistake in Los Angeles ended with the Hawaii-bound Boeing 757-piloted by a senior-management captain who is the chief pilot for 757 crews based in Los Angeles-quickly returning to the field. The aircraft may have suffered significant damage from what is called a "tail strike," which usually happens when the takeoff angle is too steep and the rear portion of a departing jet's underbelly hits or drags on the runway. The heavily loaded Boeing 757 was taken out of service and may need repairs to its rear bulkhead, according to people familiar with the details. The plane was ferried to American's Tulsa, Okla., maintenance base earlier this week, without passengers and under rules requiring the pilots to fly at lower altitudes in order to reduce structural stresses from pressurizing the fuselage. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the agency is investigating the Los Angeles tail strike and safety experts are "assessing the extent of the damage to the bulkhead." The National Transportation Safety Board also has looked into the incident. Tail strikes occur from time to time, mostly on longer models such as Airbus A340 or Boeing 767 and 777 jets, but safety experts said they are particularly unusual during takeoffs of 757 jets. Greg Smith, the management captain who was in command of the flight, didn't respond to questions, and the American spokeswoman said employees aren't authorized to speak to reporters. In the past few weeks, the AMR Corp. unit also experienced a separate tail strike at Los Angeles Airport involving a Boeing 737 taking off for Canada. American said it didn't tell U.S. or Canadian investigators about the event because the damage wasn't significant enough to warrant such reports. The plane, however, remains out of service, pending a decision slated for next week by American's engineering and maintenance experts. At a minimum, according to people familiar with the matter, the aluminum skin around the plane's tail was damaged. In early January, yet another American jet, this time a Boeing 767 wide-body aircraft, had to return to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly after takeoff, when its nose gear wouldn't retract. After making a safe but overweight emergency landing, it turned out that mechanics had failed to remove a pin installed during overnight maintenance. The New York incident has attracted attention from American pilots and mechanics because such pins have red-and-white streamers attached to them, reminding crews to "Remove Before Flight." None of the mechanics, baggage handlers or other ground staff noticed the pin prior to the plane's beginning its taxi for takeoff. The aircraft's pilots, who are responsible for visually checking the condition of every aircraft prior to flight, also missed the pin. The American spokeswoman said the airline doesn't publicly "discuss corrective actions" affecting pilots. At least three of American's recent incidents featured some unusual factors, and that's partly why they have sparked intense scrutiny from different groups. The staff of the safety board, for example, appears especially interested in figuring out why the experienced captain in the Jackson Hole event failed to manually deploy panels on top of his jetliner's wings to help decelerate the speeding plane after touchdown. The panels failed to deploy automatically as the cockpit crew expected. Investigators are examining whether a maintenance mix-up contributed to that failure, and somehow also may have helped delay deployment of devices at the rear of the engines intended to slow the jet by reversing the direction of engine thrust. Initially, the pilots of the Boeing 737 that scraped its tail climbing away from Los Angeles didn't realize anything unusual had happened. But during the flight, according to people familiar with the details, flight attendants alerted the cockpit crew that they had heard sounds of creaking metal after the jet's tail smacked the runway. The Boeing 757 damaged during takeoff from Los Angeles may have been climbing at a speed of less than 120 miles an hour, according to people familiar with the details. That's markedly slower, these people said, than such a 110-ton jet typically would be flown in order to lift safely off the ground. http://online.wsj.com/article/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC