Flight Safety Information February 8, 2011 - No. 029 In This Issue National Safety Council...International Air Transport Section (ARTEX)...Aviation Ground Safety Seminar New York Air Traffic Manager Blows The Whistle On Some Controllers Air France Told To Upgrade Safety Culture US Senate Finance Panel Approves Aviation Funding Bill Airplanes pilot skills (2): FAA urges an increase of courses Rudder control fault grounds SIA A380 in Zurich National Safety Council International Air Transport Section (ARTEX) Aviation Ground Safety Seminar & Section Meeting February 22-23, 2011 Time is running out... Don't miss the next ARTEX Aviation Ground Safety Seminar. Discounted registration deadline been extended to February 16, 2011! You are cordially invited to attend and participate in the upcoming ARTEX Aviation Ground Safety Seminar at Delta Air Lines Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on February 22-23, 2011. We are excited to announce that our final agenda includes expert speakers and interesting presentations on current aviation ground safety topics including: * OSHA Voluntary Protection Programs - a panel discussion with airlines and regulators * Implementing an SMS at a supplemental carrier * Creating a Just Culture for ground crews and its role in incident prevention * Weather phenomena and lightning detection * Tribometry - A scientific approach to preventing slips, trips, and falls * Running hot and cold - working in temperature extremes * Crew hotel safety considerations * WC medical programs that reduce costs permanently The registration fee of $100 US includes on-site continental breakfasts, refreshment breaks, and catered lunches on both days. Dress code for all ARTEX meetings and activities is "business casual." All attendees must pre-register. No registrations will be accepted after February 16, 2011. For security reasons, we cannot accept on-site registrations. You will need government-issued photo identification to clear Delta Air Lines Security. Want more information? Please contact Sloane Grubb at Sloane.Grubb@nsc.org, for the full agenda, hotel and ground transportation information, and complete registration details. Back to Top New York Air Traffic Manager Blows The Whistle On Some Controllers Calls For An Investigation In A Complaint To The FAA A front-line manager at the New York ARTCC in Long Island has sent complaints to the FAA and the Office of Special Counsel alleging some controllers work just three hours per shift, and sometimes watch movies or send text messages while they should be monitoring air traffic. Evan Seeley is the whistleblower. He raised the issue three days after an American Airlines B777 nearly collided with two C-17 Globemasters over the Atlantic ocean on January 14th. The New York Post reports that the airliner came within 200 feet vertically and 2,000 horizontally from the military aircraft. The NTSB is reportedly investigating the incident after an inquiry from the paper. In his letters, Seeley alleges that the controllers, whom he says are union employees, are not properly supervised at the center. He said two or three controllers often track as many as 15 aircraft at a time, while others will socialize, relax, or play games or movies on their laptop computers despite an FAA prohibition against electronic devices in the workplace. He says sometimes stations are closed down, and that most controllers only work on average three hours of their assigned eight hour shifts. The Post reports that Seeley's claims are corroborated by other air traffic control personnel. One told the paper that the situation was "just the tip of the iceberg." FMI: www.faa.gov Back to Top Air France Told To Upgrade Safety Culture Air France needs to significantly alter its safety organization and culture to be able to improve overall safety levels, according to recommendations made by a mandated independent panel of experts. The Independent Safety Review Team (ISRT) of eight leading authorities in the field was set up in December 2009 by the airline. Air France had just suffered the loss of Flight 447 on June 1 in which all 228 people onboard were killed. The review is not meant to identify causes and factors in that particular accident, but is studying the airline's overall performance in terms of safety. The review has not been made public, but Aviation Week obtained a copy of the findings and recommendations. The ISRT found that Air France's safety governance structure is "overly complex, leading to an overlap and blurring of the lines of responsibility." Stating that the airline needs to change the "governance arrangements starting at the top," the panel recommends the introduction of a board subcommittee for safety. "In general there is an absence of the strong safety leadership at all levels of management needed to guide proper consideration to safety in daily actions and decision-making." Senior managers emphasized that they are committed to safety as a top priority. "However this message does not appear to have penetrated the workforce. This may lead some employees to believe that safety considerations are secondary to commercial considerations," according to one insider at the airline. Therefore, the ISRT finds, the CEO and senior management should display more visible leadership. AF447 was the third major accident involving an Air France aircraft since 2000, when Concorde F-BTSC crashed shortly after takeoff at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport. In 2005, an Airbus A340-300 had to be written off after a severe landing incident at Toronto Pearson International Airport. While the events are not linked, they have had a deep psychological impact on the organization and have raised awareness that the company should look at its performance in a more structured way. Following the 2009 crash, the airline's management determined that something concrete had to be done, and quickly. The review found that in many departments the safety culture is mainly event-driven, being reactive where it should be proactive. They recommend critically analyzing individual events with an eye to what these could mean on a broader level. Also, some aspects of pilot behavior were criticized. Flight data monitoring analysis, introduced in 1974, is "seen by some pilots as a policeman and not as a proactive tool to improve procedures and safety." Also, while Air France allows pilots to deviate from established procedures when necessary, "there is a small percentage of captains who abuse this general guidance and routinely ignore some rules." According to the ISRT: "Maintenance and cabin crew expressed a difficulty relating to pilots, noting that some treated them in an autocratic and arrogant manner." Once again this may be a small percentage of pilots, but the effect on morale, discipline and crew resource management is entirely out of proportion to the number of offenders." One recommendation is that "a review of initial pilot selection and training programs may provide an opportunity to develop a more team-oriented, less elitist pilot workforce." As to individual responsibility, the review notes that "the culture at Air France does not reflect the level of trust and cooperation . . . that is typically seen at best-performing carriers." The panel encouraged team-building exercises. The ISRT presented 35 detailed recommendations to Air France, many of them organizational changes, though some address training and operational policies. The group believes that it may take Air France up to a decade to implement them all. One of the biggest challenges cited involves redefining "the relationship between management and the unions, particularly the pilot unions." Also, the airline is urged to jettison a project-based approach in favor of a more long-term view. "Major safety improvements are possible, but if, and only if, they are driven from the top." Air France says it has already instituted preliminary recommendations such as the creation of the safety subcommittee and a line operations safety audit. Most of the other recommendations will be "rapidly implemented." http://www.aviationweek.com/ Back to Top US Senate Finance Panel Approves Aviation Funding Bill WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to renew $11 billion in annual funding for U.S. aviation infrastructure. The committee vote, by unanimous voice vote, moves the Senate closer to passing the two-year aviation funding legislation possibly later this month. The bill would fund the Federal Aviation Administration, set the framework for long-delayed plans to install a satellite-based air-traffic control system, and finance airport construction. Those activities have long been funded by taxes and fees, including the jet-fuel tax and passenger fees, and the Senate bill would extend and modify some of those taxes. Democrats say the bill would create jobs, improve air-travel efficiency and reduce flight delays. "As we work to modernize our airways, the fund's reauthorization is long overdue," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) said. The aviation trust fund lapsed in 2007 and has been kept going through a series of short-term extensions since then. The bill increases the tax on jet fuel for general aviation to 35.9 cents per gallon, from the current level of 21.8 cents per gallon. The committee approved an amendment from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), to allow the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance certain fixed-wing emergency medical aircraft. Back to Top Airplanes pilot skills (2): FAA urges an increase of courses Washington, Usa - "A new kind of training is required" (WAPA) - A Federal Aviation Administration report, due to be published later this year, is expected to establish a connection between accidents and inadequate training of pilots FAA human factors expert, Kathy Abbott, is leading a team carrying out a study provisionally entitled "Operational use of flightpath management systems". Acknowledging the capability of today's sophisticated flight management systems, the study examines how successful pilots are at using them and the effect they have on pilot performance overall. Abbott's mission is to "Review the operational use of, and training for, on-board systems for flightpath management". She presented her initial findings from the ongoing study at the Flight Safety Foundation international aviation safety seminar held on 3-5 November 2010 in Milan. At the same event, four aviation industry heavyweights from Airbus, Boeing and the US Airline Pilots Association presented on subjects that acknowledged a worrying decline in line pilots' basic flying skills. There were three presentations on stalling and stall recovery and an entire presentation on the art of the go-around. Both subjects were topical because of recent stalling and go-around events in which pilots demonstrated insufficient knowledge and skill to handle them safely. Abbott reveals that training is also failing to impart skills for managing advanced automation, suggesting that training at many airlines is deficient on all counts when it comes to ensuring that pilots gain and retain the skills needed for the job. The evidence gathered by Abbott suggests, among other things, that pilots concentrate on programming the automation at the expense of monitoring the flightpath. http://www.avionews.com/ Back to Top Rudder control fault grounds SIA A380 in Zurich A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 scheduled to depart from Zurich yesterday experienced a rudder control system fault before departure, and is now being worked on in the Swiss city. The aircraft, registration 9V-SKC, was preparing to depart for Singapore when a "rudder control system fault message was encountered", says an SIA spokesman. "Work is underway to rectify it in Zurich," he adds. More than 400 passengers were scheduled to depart on the flight. Some of them were moved to SIA flights from other European points, or on other carriers for travel to their final destinations, says the spokesman. The Star Alliance carrier has provided accommodation for those staying overnight in Zurich, he adds. SIA's spokesman says a scheduled flight from Singapore to Zurich tomorrow morning at 01:20hr is not expected to be affected by the delay in arrival of the affected aircraft. According to Flightglobal's ACAS database, the aircraft was built in March 2008. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC