Flight Safety Information February 22, 2011 - No. 039 In This Issue FAA Seeks Helo Industry Input On How Best To Meet Safety Challenge Emergency AD: Falcon 50 fire extinguishing system inspection Embraer opens Florida plant Louisville-Chicago flight lands in Indianapolis Safeskies Avalon 2011 Aviation Safety Symposium CAE sends flight safety lab to Nigeria SIA 747-400 returns to Changi after windshield crack forms Runway crack at Hangzhou Airport suspends flights FAA Seeks Helo Industry Input On How Best To Meet Safety Challenge Partnering With HAI, Helicopter Safety Team To Develop Briefing Material The FAA Safety Team (FAAST) has eight regional teams that run regular local events to update pilots, mechanics and small operators on particular hazards to safe general aviation flying. Those teams, which have earned a reputation for conducting highly useful briefings for fixed-wing fliers, are focusing on developing the same strength for the helicopter community. Toward that end, the FAASTeam has partnered with HAI and the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) in developing safety briefing material tailored to helicopter operations. It plans to hold a meeting March 22 and 23 in Portland, Ore. to solicit suggestions from the helicopter community on the safety challenges confronting them and how best to meet them. The morning sessions will include presentations by HAI President Matt Zuccaro and Director of Safety Stan Rose; Christopher Eastlee, executive director of the Air Medical Operators Association; and representatives of the IHST. Afternoon sessions will offer an opportunity for members of the helicopter community to provide input for the FAASTeam on several topics, including MET Towers, HEMS operations, Flight Training and other areas of interest. FAASTeam leaders will in turn use that information to provide industry input to the FAA headquarters and to develop their briefing curriculum for the next two years. HAI urges pilots, instructors, mechanics, operators, manufacturers and insurers to attend the meeting, which will be held at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower/Downtown Portland. Following the March 22 session, Stan Rose, along with Fred Brisbois and Terry Palmer from the IHST, will host a FAASTeam discussion for General Aviation helicopter pilots and instructors about risk factors that often lead to accidents or injuries. The session, "Rotorwing 'Gotcha's' for General Aviation Helicopter Pilots & Instructors," will start at 1900 in the Hilton, and will provide valuable insight into the causal factors that repeatedly plague the general aviation helicopter community. FMI: www.rotor.com, www.faa.gov Back to Top Emergency AD: Falcon 50 fire extinguishing system inspection The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency airworthiness directive, requiring inspection of the fire extinguishing system of Dassault Falcon 50 and Falcon 50EX aircraft. On two occurrences on Falcon 50 aeroplanes in service, it was detected that two pipes had been swapped in maintenance at the frame 42 firewall. The swapped lines are the extinguishing system line to engine # 2,and engine # 2 Low Pressure (LP) bleed line. If the swapping of these two lines is not detected and corrected, in case of engine # 2 fire, the fire extinguishing capability would not be operational. For this reason, the AD requires an inspection of the connection of the two lines (extinguishing and LP bleed lines) at frame 42 in the rear compartment and, in case of findings, proper re-installation of the lines. This AD requires as well reporting to Dassault Aviation. This AD is considered to be an interim measure and, depending on the inspection results provided by operators, further AD action may follow. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Embraer opens Florida plant Embraer has celebrated the opening of its first US aircraft final assembly plant, as the company prepares for large scale manufacture of its Phenom executive jet series in the US. Based at Melbourne International Airport in Florida, the new 7432 sqm hangar and paintshop facility will be used for production of the Phenom 100 entry level executive jet. Embraer had originally announced Melbourne as its chosen location for a new 13,935sqm, US$50 million state-of-the-art facility in May 2008. In December of that year, the company broke ground on the first phase of the construction - the production hangar and paint shop which has now been completed. In addition to the final assembly plant, a second construction phase for Embraer's Customer Centre has already begun, giving customers the ability to custom design interiors of their Phenom, Legacy and Lineage executive jets with the use of high-end 3D visualiation technology. Final completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011. 126 Phenom jets were produced and delivered by Embraer to customers worldwide in 2010 http://australianaviation.com.au/2011/02/embraer-opens-florida- plant/ Back to Top Louisville-Chicago flight lands in Indianapolis INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An American Eagle flight headed from Louisville, Ky. to Chicago has made an unscheduled landing in Indianapolis after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. Indianapolis International Airport spokeswoman Susan Sullivan tells The Indianapolis Star that the American Eagle flight landed safely at the airport on its own power about 11:25 a.m. Monday. No one was injured on the plane, which was carrying 39 passengers. Sullivan says the plane was about 10 miles east of the Indianapolis airport when the call came in. She says the pilot reported a strong smell of what he suspected could be wiring or electronics that were hot or smoking, but that there was no visible smoke in the cockpit. Sullivan says the plane was to be inspected. Back to Top Safeskies Avalon 2011 Aviation Safety Symposium Safeskies, Australia's premier aviation safety conference, will hold a seminar as part of Avalon 2011, leading up to the Safeskies 2011 Conference in Canberra in October. Safeskies at Avalon on Thursday 3 March will be dedicated mainly to GA safety. Safeskies at Avalon on Friday 4 March will recognise the RAAF's 90th anniversary with a session on safety in military flying, followed by a presentation by the ATSB on current accident trends and issues. This program will run from 1000 to 1130 on each of those days. www.airhsow.net.au/avalon2011/conference/safeskies.html Back to Top CAE sends flight safety lab to Nigeria MONTREAL - Flight training giant CAE Inc. will deliver a complete flight safety laboratory to Nigeria's Accident Investigation Bureau for installation at the bureau's Lagos facilities. The contract's financial terms were not disclosed. The heart of the new lab will be its Flightscape Insight software, which is used by many safety investigators worldwide, Montreal-based CAE said Friday. "This technology will dramatically improve our ability to meet our obligations as a signatory to the International Civil Aviation Organization's Annex13, covering investigation of accidents and serious incidents," bureau chief executive officer Sam Oduselu said. "It will also be used to examine flight data to identify unsafe trends as early as possible." Nigeria will be able to analyze flight data recorders, cockpit voice recorders, quick access recorders and radar data, CAE said. It will the region's first lab of its kind. Flightscape software and services are based on technology and processes originally developed at the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. CAE has built or augmented flight recorder labs worldwide. www.montrealgazette.com/news/ Back to Top SIA 747-400 returns to Changi after windshield crack forms A cracked windshield obliged a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 aircraft on the Singapore-Melbourne route to return to Singapore Monday morning. One hour after departure a crack formed on the first officer's windshield, says an SIA spokesman. The aircraft, carrying 300 passengers and 20 crew, returned without incident to Changi Airport where the passengers were transferred to a replacement aircraft. The registration of the aircraft involved in the incident is 9V-SPM. This aircraft is 11 years old according to FlightGlobal's ACAS database. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Runway crack at Hangzhou Airport suspends flights Flights were temporarily suspended at China's Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport today after a crack was found in the airport's runway, The crack was found at 06:55hr, and the runway was subsequently shut for two hours to allow for repairs to be carried out, says an airport spokesman. About 30 flights were affected, he adds. Flights resumed at 08:50hr. The spokesman says the crack could be due to wear and tear, adding that the airport has been in operation for about ten years. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC