Flight Safety Information March 1, 2011 - No. 045 In This Issue Continental flight diverts to Dulles after it reports striking birds United jet has engine trouble, lands safely Judge dismisses lawsuit filed over jet that veered off Denver International Airport runway Bill to Criminalize Laser Pranks Advances UAE probe includes design check on vintage plane EU body ready to testify over Air France crash GE Aviation buys new Boeing 747 for test bed Nigeria: ICAO to Audit the Country's Aviation in May AOPA asks NTSB for fairer rules for pilots Helicopter hits duck, makes emergency landing Brazil's TAM makes $3.2B jet orders Continental flight diverts to Dulles after it reports striking birds Continental flight 1559 departed Reagan National Airport outside Washington, said FAA Flight diverted after reports of birds striking left engine FAA did not give cause for problem, but recorded air traffic conversations indicate bird strike Washington (CNN) -- A Continental flight departing Reagan National Airport near Washington for Houston, Texas, on Monday morning diverted to nearby Dulles airport after the crew reported that the plane struck birds, damaging its left engine. The incident happened shortly after Continental flight 1559 departed Reagan National Airport outside Washington, said Arlene Salac, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman. The plane reported an engine problem, the FAA said. The FAA did not immediately have a cause for the problem, but in air traffic control radio conversations apparently recorded by LiveATC.net, the crew of the Boeing 737 contacted the airport and said, "Ah, we just hit some birds. We're losing our left engine."When the controller asked the plane to confirm, the crew responded, "We're losing our No. 1 engine. We're going to have to go over to Dulles." In a later radio transmission, the crew said the engine was still running, but was "rough." The plane landed without incident at Dulles, and taxied to the terminal under its own power, the FAA said. The Boeing 737 aircraft are designed to operate on one engine if necessary. Bird strikes are relatively common and do not always damage jet engines, although large birds or flocks of birds can seriously harm planes and engines. Most famously, in 2009, a flock of geese damaged both engines on US Airways flight 1549, forcing the crew to land the plane in New York's Hudson River. All 155 people on the plane survived. Back to Top United jet has engine trouble, lands safely BIG ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) - A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Kona had mechanical problems and the pilot shut off one engine about 50 minutes before landing safely on the Big Island. According to reports, a low oil pressure indicator light went on in the cockpit so the pilot decided to turn off the engine. To be safe, crash units, ambulances, fire trucks and police were on the scene when the jet landed at about 12:40 p.m. There were 84 people about the Boeing 757-200 twin engine jet include crew and passengers. Back to Top Judge dismisses lawsuit filed over jet that veered off Denver International Airport runway DENVER (AP) - A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by 20 people who sued Boeing Co. after a Continental Airlines jet made by the company veered off a Denver runway in 2008. The dismissal was entered in U.S. District Court in Denver on Monday. The parties had said in January that a settlement was reached. Court documents don't include details of the settlement. Passengers sued after a Houston-bound Boeing 737 veered off a Denver International Airport runway and into a ravine, where it caught fire in December 2008. Six people were seriously injured, and dozens of others had minor injuries. The plaintiffs contended that Boeing negligently designed or manufactured parts of the plane. In December, a judge chastised plaintiffs' attorneys for seeking more time to build their case. Back to Top Bill to Criminalize Laser Pranks Advances (AP) People who knowingly aim laser pointers at aircraft - which can distract or temporarily blind pilots - would be committing a federal crime subject to up to five years in prison under a measure passed by the House on Monday. The Senate approved the measure a month ago. The two chambers must now decide whether to send it to President Obama as separate legislation or an amendment to another bill. The Federal Aviation Administration says 2,836 people pointed lasers at planes and helicopters in 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/us/01brfs-BILLTOCRIMIN_BRF.html Back to Top UAE probe includes design check on vintage plane after crash that killed 4 Americans AL AIN, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The top civil aviation official in the United Arab Emirates says investigators are looking into possible defects on a 1940s-era plane that crashed two days ago, killing four Americans aboard. The director general of the UAE's Civil Aviation Authority, Saif al-Suwaidi, also says that human error has not been ruled out in Sunday's crash in Al Ain, about 60 miles (100 kilometres) east of Abu Dhabi. The aircraft - built in 1946 and reportedly modified in recent decades - went down shortly after takeoff, killing all four people on board. Al-Suwaidi says the plane was in good condition and fully certified but that investigators Tuesday were examining possible defects because of the plane's age and upgrades. Back to Top EU body ready to testify over Air France crash (AFP) The European Aviation Safety Agency is ready to testify over the crash of an Air France plane in June 2009 that killed 228 people if requested, an EASA spokesman told AFP Monday. "We have not received a formal request from French judicial authorities," but "the day we receive such a request we would of course respond," the spokesman said. European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and French carrier Air France are to face questions on March 17 that might lead to an indictment for manslaughter in connection with a June 1 2009 crash into the Atlantic Ocean. French investigating magistrate Sylvie Zimmerman would also like to ask EASA questions related to the disaster that struck the doomed flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, French newspaper Le Figaro said on Monday. Civil plaintiffs allege that EASA did not place enough emphasis on possible ice problems with aircraft speed probes in alerts issued prior to the crash. Investigators believe false data from the air speed monitors could be linked to the worst disaster in Air Frace's history, and EASA ordered some probes on A330 and A340 airliners be replaced two months later. "We hope the accident's causes will be determined as quickly as possible," the EASA spokesman said Monday. Back to Top GE Aviation buys new Boeing 747 for test bed GE Aviation will turn a newly purchased Boeing 747-400 into a flying test bed for the next generation of jet engines - starting with the CFM International LEAP-X, the company announced Monday. The 747-400, which features GE CF6-80C2 engines, is a former Japan Airlines airliner. It will be based at GE's Victorville, California facility, replacing the company's current 747 flying testbed, which is the oldest version of the 747 still flying in the U.S. and the fifth-oldest in the world. "This investment in an updated 747 flying testbed is exciting news for the Victorville site and shows our commitment to the Southern California Logistics Airport and the Southern California region," Dom Pitocco, plant leader for GE's Victorville Flight Test Operations, said in a news release. The overhaul includes redesigning and strengthening the aircraft's wing and strut to accommodate experimental engines of varying size and weight and installing test systems in the cabin. The plane is scheduled to make its first test flight, with a LEAP-X, in about two years. CFM International is a joint company of GE and Snecma. The LEAP-X is one of two engine options on Airbus' re-engined A320neo and the only choice on the Chinese Comac C919. GE flies most test missions in the Edwards Air Force Base Restricted Test Area, but also goes to Colorado Springs, Colo., Yuma, Ariz., Seattle and Fairbanks, Alaska. http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/2011/02/28/ge-aviation-buys-new-boeing- 747-for-test-bed/ Back to Top Nigeria: ICAO to Audit the Country's Aviation in May Lagos - As part of efforts to certify the 22 airports managed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has disclosed that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will be in the country in May to carry out extensive audit on the Nigerian aviation industry. Director General of NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren, disclosed this while speaking at the 7th World Bank supervision mission to Nigeria in Lagos on Monday. Demuren added that he has told FAAN that any airport without a perimeter fence will not be certified, adding that it is one of the conditions that must be met by airlines as stipulated by ICAO. The ICAO audit, the Director General said, will be a total audit of the aviation industry which will include airlines, aerodrome, airports and other support services in the sector, adding that NCAA's duty in this regard is to ensure that everything that will ensure the certification of airports is put in place in line with ICAO requirements. He said that ICAO has agreed to turn its audit programme into a continuous assessment, adding that Nigeria has been chosen as the first country where the new assessment by the international body will commence. Demuren disclosed that already, Abuja and Port Harcourt perimeter fence works are ongoing and that the project is been supported by the World Bank , adding that four international airports have been shown to ICAO, with Abuja being the first airport in the country to be certified. On Asaba airport, built and managed by the state government, Demuren, said that the airport can land a 747 aircraft and that its runway is world standard. He said that for Asaba airport to commence commercial operations it must be certified in line with ICAO requirements. On the recertification of airlines, Demuren said that already Arik Air has been recertified, adding that three other airlines are about to be recertified. The last audit carried out by ICAO on the country's aviation sector was in 2006. http://allafrica.com/stories/201103010240.html Back to Top AOPA asks NTSB for fairer rules for pilots AOPA is supporting changes to the rules of the National Transportation Safety Board to make them fairer to pilots. The NTSB serves as an appellate court to FAA attempts to suspend or revoke a pilot or medical certificate. AOPA's efforts are particularly aimed at the FAA practice of often immediately grounding a pilot, on an emergency basis, before he or she has had a chance to make a defense to the emergency determination. Under current rules, the NTSB, in reviewing the FAA's emergency determination, must assume the truth of the FAA's allegations in the emergency order of suspension or revocation, which makes it virtually impossible to reverse the immediate grounding. Under these rules, the FAA wins 95 percent of the emergency challenges. AOPA wants the NTSB to get rid of the "assumption" and leave it up to an NTSB law judge to determine the legitimacy of the FAA's "immediate grounding." The law firm Yodice Associates filed formal comments Feb. 22 on behalf of AOPA, in response to the NTSB's advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) that raises the possibility of revising its Rules of Practice in Air Safety Proceedings and Implementing the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) of 1980. AOPA's comments also addressed discovery and exchange of documents, electronic filing of documents, and rules governing claims for the recovery of fees under EAJA. AOPA issued the comments as the organization "representing a large class of the public who could find themselves subject to an FAA enforcement action or FAA denial of their certificate or their aircraft's certificate, and as the association providing and administering the largest and broadest aviation legal services plan." Under current procedures, the FAA administrator is authorized to issue orders amending, modifying, suspending, or revoking pilot certificates issued on an emergency basis, subject to NTSB review. The NTSB sought comments through its ANPRM on whether to change the procedures, and how to do so. It asked for input on how challenges to the FAA's emergency powers should be handled; how discovery should proceed; and the timing for filing documents. "AOPA supports the NTSB's critical evaluation of whether the administrator's allegations truly warrant the immediate grounding of a respondent during the pendency of an appeal in light of all factors relevant to such a determination, such as the passage of time, the conduct of the FAA's investigation, the severity of the respondent's alleged activity, and the history of the respondent's exercise of the FAA-issued certificate," wrote AOPA Counsel Kathleen A. Yodice. A standard that assumes the allegations to be true "is patently unfair to respondent petitioners who may dispute the administrator's allegations," she wrote, estimating that approximately five percent of the hundreds of petitions filed to date had succeeded. "This presumption of guilt created by the assumption of truth is not mandated nor suggested by the statutory language, nor consistent with the intent of the statute providing for NTSB review of such determinations. It is a one-sided assumption in favor of the (FAA) administrator, who otherwise has the burden of proof in these proceedings." AOPA also recommended that the NTSB require that the FAA make its enforcement investigative report available to respondents at the time that a notice of proposed certificate or civil penalty action is issued; that proposal seeks to avoid problems or delays obtaining the information encountered by respondents representing themselves or those with representatives who infrequently practice before the NTSB. Those parties may not be familiar with what amounts to a "magical incantation" to obtain the document, familiar to practitioners accustomed to NTSB discovery proceedings, and to FAA attorneys, Yodice wrote. AOPA also recommended allowing paper document filings to continue for two years-or longer for good cause-after an electronic document filing system has begun operating in enforcement cases. And, AOPA supported broadening rules under EAJA for the recovery of certain fees and expenses incurred in enforcement appeals. http://www.aopa.org/ Back to Top Helicopter hits duck, makes emergency landing An Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter made an emergency landing in Gibson County early Monday morning after a duck hit the windshield and caused the glass to shatter. Public relations manager Julie Heavrin said the incident happened at about 1 a.m. when the helicopter was flying a patient from Martin to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. No one was injured in the incident. The patient was transferred to another helicopter and transported to the hospital. http://www.jacksonsun.com/ Back to Top Brazil's TAM makes $3.2B jet orders SAO PAULO, Brazil's largest airline says it is investing $3.2 billion to buy 34 new planes. TAM Airlines says it's ordering 32 jets from the Airbus A320 line and two Boeing 777-300ER planes. The Boeing jets will be delivered in 2014. The Airbus aircraft will delivered between 2016 and 2018. The airline says in a Monday release the orders are needed to meet Brazil's booming air travel demand, which it says should grow 9 percent a year for the next two decades. The aircraft will be used on both domestic and international routes. TAM says all the new jets are more fuel efficient, helping the company reduce carbon emissions. TAM's current fleet consists of 152 aircraft. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9LLU6IG0.htm Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC