Flight Safety Information February 14, 2011 - No. 033 In This Issue Boeing goes long with new 747-8 Intercontinental Fuel truck, Delta jet collide at LaGuardia Schumer Says Watered Down Safety Regulations Could Be Dangerous E-cigs should be banned on planes Cork air disaster: Accident 'has big implications for airline sector' Alaska Airlines Flight Delayed Due to Rat Reported errors double in air traffic control EasyJet turns to nanotechnology to save fuel Indonesian Casa 212-100 crashes during test flight Three injured in JAL turbulence incident Analysis: NASA underestimated shuttle dangers Boeing goes long with new 747-8 Intercontinental EVERETT, Wash. - Eighteen feet. That may not sound like much. But it's the length added to Boeing's (BA) newest version of its 747 jumbo jet - the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental commercial passenger jet - unveiled here Sunday as a crowd of several thousand people waved red and white thundersticks to the blare of rock music. The added length, 18.3 feet to be precise, makes the 747-8 the longest jetliner in the world. The new Intercontinental has other distinguishing features: Its tell- tale hump, which covers double-deck seating inside, stretches 13.3 feet longer than before. Its redesigned wings, which begin near the base of the fuselage and sweep upward as they slope away from the cabin, give it the appearance of a soaring bird. The redesigned plane gives passengers larger windows and reconfigured overhead storage bins to hold more bags than before. But Boeing's "stretch" version of the 747 is not so much about size as important strategic objectives for the company. It's about trying to keep Boeing, which introduced the phrase "jumbo jet" into aviation lexicon with its first 747 more than 40 years ago, in the game of manufacturing the world's biggest class of passenger jets against competition from European rival Airbus and its giant A380. "There's no question that we were coming to a decision that it was either going to be close or near the end of the line for the airplane ... or we had to figure out something new," says Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Intercontinental's debut also represents Boeing's bid to re- establish itself as the world's pre-eminent maker of passenger jets at a time its prestige has been dented by its struggles to deliver its breakthrough jet: the revolutionary 787 Dreamliner that's made mostly from lightweight composites. And it comes as the U.S. aircraft manufacturer faces competition not just from Airbus but from other parts of the world. "Bringing something new to market is a boost to the company's image," says veteran aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Virginia-based Teal Group aerospace analysis firm. "It has kind of a flagship role for the company, too. To be able to efficiently build and upgrade a legacy product that's been around as an icon since 1969, there's value in that beyond just money. There's equity in that." http://travel.usatoday.com/ Back to Top Fuel truck, Delta jet collide at LaGuardia (CNN) -- A fuel truck collided with a parked Delta Air Lines jet at LaGuardia Airport Sunday afternoon, according to officials for the airline and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. No one was seriously injured, they said. The incident occurred at 12:05 p.m. when the truck ran into the stationary Delta MD-88 aircraft on the tarmac. None of the 106 passengers or five crewmembers aboard flight 2879 was injured. The driver of the fuel truck suffered cuts on his head and was taken to an area hospital. The collision damaged the truck and one of the aircraft's wings. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-bound flight was canceled. Officials refused to comment on how fast the fuel truck was moving when it collided with Delta aircraft until after an investigation of the incident is completed. Back to Top Schumer Says Watered Down Safety Regulations Could Be Dangerous U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resist any effort to water down airline safety regulations passed in August 2010, in light of a recent letter from the Air Transport Association (ATA) to the Chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform claiming "much of the regulations we face are unproven, unnecessarily burdensome, and adversely impacts growth, profitability, and job creation in our industry." The safety legislation was drafted in the wake of tragic crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 on February 12, 2009 in Buffalo. It requires implementation of a rule strengthening training programs for crew members, including pilots, flight attendants, engineers, and dispatchers, to be in effect by October 2011 and requires reducing pilot duty time to combat fatigue. Crafted by Schumer and families of the victims, the legislation was designed to ensure that all pilots, including those on regional carriers, have greater training and are more alert during flight time. Schumer noted that any efforts to water-down safety regulations reducing training and fatigue could create a danger to flyers. "Rather than work to water-down vital safety regulations, we need the airline industry to come to the table to ensure we have the greatest possible protections for airplane passengers," said Schumer. "The airline industry needs to recognize that the safer passengers feel, the more likely they will be to fly. Greater safety standards benefit the industry and most importantly, benefit the American public." The ATA letter was sent to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform after Committee Chairman, Darrel Issa, requested the association provide comment on regulations they believe create a "financial and business impact." In their response to Issa, the ATA cited regulations including those requiring more crewmember training and setting flight time and duty limits to combat fatigue as being onerous to the industry. The effort to scale-back these safety regulations appears to be an attempt by the industry to team up with what it views as a new, anti-regulatory House. In his letter to the ATA, Schumer strongly disagreed with the contention that aviation safety regulations have any appreciable impact on employment levels or compromise corporate profits. He noted the safer people feel the more likely they will be to fly. This attempt by the airline association to team with Chairman Issa and water down flight safety regulations is all the more troubling after a recent investigative report by ABC News found that, two years after the Flight 3407 crash, conditions that cause pilot fatigue remain rampant in the industry. ABC News uncovered pilots sleeping in chairs in airport lounges as well as illegal boarding houses around airports. The report noted that many pilots, particularly those who work for regional carriers similar to the Colgan Air, are afforded little-to-no stipend for board when traveling and choose to sleep in less than optimal situations because they cannot afford accommodations. In doing so, pilots often fail to get uninterrupted, optimal sleep before piloting aircraft. In his letter to FAA Administrator Babbit, Schumer made clear he strongly disagrees that aviation safety regulations have any impact on employment levels and urged the agency to resist any efforts to implement rules that put corporate profits ahead of passenger safety. "Pilot fatigue remains a widespread problem that must be addressed, and we simply cannot afford to scale back rules that will get pilots the rest and training they need to fly," Schumer said. "Efforts to do so tend to undermine the flying public's confidence and is a sure-fire formula to drive passengers away. I urge the airline industry to work collaboratively to implement rules that maximize passenger safety because they are a win-win for passengers and the industry." Yesterday marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash near Buffalo, New York which claimed fifty lives. Pilot error was cited as a leading factor in that accident, and the copilot complained of fatigue during the flight, which may have affected her performance. From this accident, a national effort to overhaul flight safety emerged as it became clear that more needed to be done to ensure pilots and copilots are properly trained and fully rested before taking to the skies. An examination was conducted of many elements of air travel safety, ranging from the proper notification of the precise airline a commuter will use when buying a ticket, to the way the air travel industry trains and utilizes pilots and co-pilots. Finding these standards lacking, Congress passed aviation safety legislation requiring the FAA to establish stronger flight and duty time regulations, which resulted in a 13 hour maximum work period to combat pilot fatigue, and requiring FAA to finalize regulations strengthening crewmember training. These new regulations will ensure one level of safety between mainline and regional airlines by requiring all carriers meet the same standards for crewmember training and fatigue prevention. http://www.wkbw.com/news/ Back to Top E-cigs should be banned on planes According to a letter from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the use of smokeless electronic cigarettes on airplanes is now prohibited. And the Department of Transportation plans to issue an official ban this coming spring. And I can't say I am terribly surprised by the measure, considering the ever-growing list of items that are banned from the friendly skies, like gel shoe insoles and snow globes. That's right people - snow globes. Because there is nothing more dangerous than a grandmother with her orthopedic insoles and an "I love New York" snow globe. But, I digress. The debate about smokeless cigarettes on airplanes is not necessarily a matter of airline security. Since e-cigarettes hit the market 10 years ago, there has been some debate as to whether or not the devices are truly as safe as they claim. For those unfamiliar with the product, electronic cigarettes or e- cigarettes are plastic devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating an inhalable vapor. A tiny light on the tip even glows orange to simulate a tobacco cigarette. E-cigarette manufacturers claim that the devices cut back on many of the dangers of cigarette smoke, boasting 4,000 less chemicals than traditional tobacco cigarettes. And e-cigarettes are also cheaper than regular cigarettes. Lobbyists for e-cigarette manufacturers argue the use of smokeless cigarette devices is completely safe for both the user and those who are exposed to people using the device. E-cigarette lobbyists also claim that anti-smoking groups like the American Cancer Society and Americans for Non-Smokers Rights infringe on the rights of smokers, as they move to control human behavior even when the behavior is not harmful to anyone except the user. But I don't know how I feel about being exposed to nicotine vapors, especially inside a stagnant airline cabin. And with little known about the long-term impact that e-cigarettes have on people who use the devices, I worry users might be getting swindled by the manufacturers. E-cigarettes are typically marketed to people who are trying to quit smoking. I have never been a smoker, so I can't say that I understand how difficult it is to quit. And I certainly don't want to force smokers off the face of the planet. I feel that smoking, like drinking, should be a personal choice. But an airplane cabin isn't the same as a restaurant or shopping mall. Without the option to open a window or step outside, passengers shouldn't be forced to inhale a highly addictive alkaloid such as nicotine. Bottom line: Smoke if you got 'em. Just not in a completely enclosed airline cabin. http://auburnpub.com/news/opinion/ Back to Top Cork air disaster: Accident 'has big implications for airline sector' The Cork air disaster could have widespread implications for the airline industry and may spell the end for so-called 'virtual airlines', a leading aviation analyst has warned. As air accident experts start to piece together what caused flight NM7100 to crash, aviation expert Gerry Byrne said he believed that virtual airline industry safety standards must be scrutinised to prevent future disasters - although he agreed the airline, Manx2.com, had followed all the rules. On Saturday Manx2.com resumed its Belfast to Cork route and Cork Airport reopened following Thursday's tragedy, which claimed the lives of six people. As the investigation gets under way to uncover the cause of the crash, air accident investigators aim to find out what went wrong so the aviation world can apply any lessons learned from it as quickly as possible, to try and prevent a similar event from occurring again. Manx2 chairman Noel Hayes has said his airline is co-operating fully with air accident investigation authorities and has offered his sincere condolences to the families of the bereaved. Pilot error has been widely suggested by many experts as the probable cause. It has already been revealed that the fateful flight was one of pilot Jordi Sola Lopez's first as a captain. The 31-year-old Spaniard had taken charge of an aircraft on only a few previous occasions. "Pilot error will be the outcome unless the investigation uncovers engine failure occurred at the last minute," aviation expert Mr Byrne said. "It is highly likely that pilot error will be the outcome. "Normally, if you have an inexperienced co-pilot then you have an extremely experienced captain. That doesn't seem to have been the case in this instance. "The captain was responsible for a very challenging landing. "The problem is when things go wrong an inexperienced captain may not be able to handle it," Mr Byrne said. Captain Lopez's co-pilot Andrew Cantle (27) from Sunderland, England, also died in the crash. Mr Hayes has insisted the crew followed standard procedures, were fully qualified and the aircraft had no recent technical issues. He explained he couldn't comment further because of the ongoing investigation. Mr Byrne believes the disaster raises the issue of the regulation of virtual airlines. Manx2.com is described as a virtual airline because it does not own its aircraft. The airline leases all its planes and as such is not directly responsible for the safety of the aircraft. Mr Byrne said Manx2 follows all the rules but this disaster should result in a legislation change. No-one from Manx2 was available for comment last night. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ Back to Top Alaska Airlines Flight Delayed Due to Rat Planes get delayed for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it is because of weather, and sometimes it can even be due to security scares. However, it is very rare that planes get delayed due to animals. It is even more rare when the animal that delays the plane turns out to be a rat. Well this is just what happened to an Alaska Airlines flight. The flight was suppose to be flying from Seattle Tacoma International Airport and going to Denver International Airport. However, before the plane could take off on Thursday, February 10, there was a slight problem. Needless to say, the plane did not get off the ground at 7:40am as it had planned. Just as the plane was about to depart, the pilot received word that they had picked up an extra passenger. Thus, the plane immediately returned to the gate. The passengers had to be transferred to another plane which resulted in a delay of more than an hour. Of course, these kinds of events are considered very unusual. In fact, one airline official apparently called it a "very rare occurrence." The official went on to say that the plane had been taken out of service and turned over to a professional fumigator. All of this was done before any passengers were allowed to ride this plane again. The good news is that the mechanics said that there was no damage to the plane by the rat. Of course, a rat may not be the most odd thing that has ever gotten lose in a plane. Reports show that dogs, cats and other animals have been found in planes. However, one of the oddest animals that was found lose in a plane was a crocodile. http://www.comparecarrentals.com/news/ Back to Top Reported errors double in air traffic control WASHINGTON - (AP) In a time of unparalleled aviation safety in the United States, reports of mistakes by air traffic controllers have nearly doubled - a seeming contradiction that puzzles safety experts. A near collision last month of an American Airlines jet with 259 people aboard and two Air Force transport planes south of New York City and the rise in known errors has raised concerns in Congress that safety may be eroding. A US Airways jet with 95 people crossed paths with a cargo plane in September, coming within 50 to 100 feet of each other taking off from Minneapolis. An air traffic controller at the Ronkonkoma, N.Y., radar facility that handled the American jet said he complained of a lax atmosphere at the nation's second busiest facility. Controller Evan Seeley, 26, said he ran afoul of the union when he tried to prevent sick leave and scheduling abuses aimed at increasing overtime pay. More disturbing were his charges that controllers sometimes watch movies and play with electronic devices during night shifts when traffic is slower. He said he sent complaints to the Transportation Department's inspector general and Office of Special Counsel. He said his demotion from his front-line manager position was related to his attempts to correct problems. Union officials called Seeley's claims "baseless." In the 12 months ending Sept. 30, there were 1,889 operation errors that usually means aircraft coming too close together, the Federal Aviation Administration said. That was up from 947 errors in 2009 and 1,008 in 2008. Before 2008, the FAA used a different counting method. Back to Top EasyJet turns to nanotechnology to save fuel EasyJet is testing an acrylic exterior polish which aims to reduce fuel burn by smoothing the aircraft's surface, reducing the build-up of dirt and lowering drag. The nanotechnology-based polymer fills minuscule grooves and pits in the top paint layer to prevent any collection of debris in these areas and create a smooth surface. The liquid treatment is manually applied to aircraft's entire exterior surface and then polished. It is typically less than 1 micrometre (0.001mm) thick, although exposed areas such as leading edges have been given a thicker layer for greater durability. The coating adds approximately 4oz (113g) to the aircraft's weight but its manufacturer says it could reduce the specific fuel consumption by 1-2%. EasyJet has coated eight of its aircraft with the treatment and is undergoing a 12-month trial. The coating has already been used on military aircraft in the USA. One objective of the easyJet trial is to assess the coating's durability on commercial aircraft, which typically build-up flight hours much faster than military aircraft. The preparation process involves washing the aircraft with a dicarboxylic acid to cleanse the paint surface and charge it with a positive polarity. The final coating is negatively charged to ensure that it fills all areas of unevenness during the curing. Easyjet declines to comment on the cost of applying the additional coating. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Indonesian Casa 212-100 crashes during test flight A Casa 212-100 operated by Indonesia's Sabang Meruke Raya Air Charter crashed in Bintan island on Saturday during a test flight. The aircraft, with the registration PK-ZAI, was on a test flight after taking off from the Indonesian island of Batam. All five crew died. The aircraft had just undergone a maintenance stop and had its No 1 engine replaced, says Tatang Kurniadi, the chairman of Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee. Indonesia's Ministry of Transport adds that the aircraft departed from Batam and checked in with Tanjung Pinang Approach at 13:41h local time. However, ground staff lost contact two minutes later and attempts by a Lion Air aircraft in the vicinity to communicate with it proved unsuccessful. Officials from the NTSC have recovered the aircraft and investigations are underway. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Three injured in JAL turbulence incident A Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 767-300ER experienced severe turbulence this morning during a flight to Honolulu, resulting in three people being injured. The aircraft, registration JA603J, was operating from Tokyo Narita to Honolulu when it encountered severe turbulence at about 03:30hr "due to wind shear", says a JAL spokeswoman. Two passengers and one cabin crew member were injured, she adds. There were 239 passengers and 11 cabin and flight crew on the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely without incident and is still in service, says the spokeswoman. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Analysis: NASA underestimated shuttle dangers CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA seriously underestimated the dangers astronauts faced when the shuttle fleet began flying in the early 1980s, a new internal safety study shows. At the time, managers thought there was only a 1-in-100,000 chance of losing a shuttle and its crew. Engineers thought the probability was closer to 1 in 100. But in reality, the odds of a disaster were much higher. On each of the shuttle's first nine missions, there was a 1 in 9 chance of a catastrophic accident, according to the new risk analysis. On the next 16 flights that led up to and included the January 1986 Challenger disaster, the odds were 1 in 10. NASA lost 14 astronauts in two shuttle tragedies, and saw near misses on a dozen other flights. "We were lucky. There were a number of close calls," NASA summarized in the new risk assessment. NASA's Shuttle Program Safety and Mission Assurance Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston performed the assessment to gauge the progression of risk - increases and decreases - over three decades of fleet operations. Doing so could help next-generation rocket and spaceship operators better understand the real level of risk involved in flying astronauts on inherently dangerous missions. "The instructive piece of this is that over 30 years of operations, two accidents, countless engineering tests and all those things - looking back at it, (now) we understand what the real risk was. But there was no way to know at the time," NASA shuttle program manager John Shannon said. It's important "to be humble when you're starting a new program, and make sure you have a very robust test program to ferret out these potential issues that could be safety risks," he said. "Collect as much data (as possible) and stay hungry, and distill that data down and learn, and then make good decisions to lower your risk based on real data." NASA, which now plans just three more shuttle flights, will rely on Russia to fly American astronauts to and from the International Space Station for the next several years after that. The U.S. is counting on commercial companies to start flying astronauts on private-sector space taxis by mid-decade, and the new NASA study suggests initial risks will be high. Consider this: There was only a 6% chance that NASA would fly its first 25 shuttle missions without losing an astronaut crew, the assessment shows. Moreover, on the 88 shuttle missions flown between the Challenger and Columbia accidents, there was only a 7% chance disaster would be averted. "It's useful for upcoming programs to understand that maybe their risk is higher than what they think it is," said Teri Hamlin, the NASA safety expert who led the study. "With the shuttle, we have 132 flights of history, of understanding and flying this vehicle, and gaining insight on the drivers of risk. And obviously, we weren't aware of certain ones early in the program." Among the study's key conclusions: - The shuttle now is 10 times safer than it was during the first flight in April 1981. The odds of a catastrophic failure now are 1 in 90. - The increase in flight safety was the result of safety improvements, the most significant of which were made after major events such as the Challenger disaster and the 2003 Columbia accident. - Not all safety modifications reduce total risk. - Risk can increase if managers trade safety margin for increased vehicle performance, or as a result of external events. The results of NASA's shuttle risk progression study will be presented at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in late September. Shuttle managers were briefed on the outcome late last month. "This is a great piece of work," Shannon said. "It's an honest assessment, and that's going to be a good legacy from the shuttle program that will be very instructive to future programs." http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC