Flight Safety Information March 3, 2011 - No. 047 In This Issue Singapore Air to Inspect Jet Wiring Aviation Experts See Europe Safety Concerns Air Force has first female Osprey pilot Senate inquiry into training and safety extended (Australia) Singapore Airlines Had 5 "Minor" Oil Leak Cases On Airbus A380 Engines Feds offer $5,000 reward in BWI laser incident Check out the new issue of the FAA Safety Briefing China aerospace group to buy U.S. airplane maker Airbus military transport clears testing milestone Boeing Shifts Focus to 737 Successor Rather Than New 777 Model Singapore Air to Inspect Jet Wiring By ANDY PASZTOR And ROSS KELLY (WSJ) Singapore Airlines Ltd. said it plans to inspect certain wiring on all of its Airbus A380 superjumbo jets "as a precaution," in the wake of an unusual electrical malfunction at the end of January. In disclosing the inspections on Wednesday, an airline spokesman said they were prompted by an electrical fault aboard an A380 on Jan. 31, headed from Singapore to Hong Kong. Flight attendants reported the smell of smoke from a lavatory and discharged a portable fire extinguisher. After the plane landed safely at its destination, mechanics found burned electrical wiring in part of the plane's cargo hold. Investigators have determined that the problem was prompted by a generator that supplied excessive voltage to the plane's electrical system, Singapore spokesman James Boyd said Wednesday. Both Singapore and manufacturer Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., have described the January event as an isolated incident. Mr. Boyd didn't elaborate on the timing of the inspections. The latest Singapore checks follow oil-pressure problems last month that affected two different A380s operated by Qantas Airways Ltd. There have been no injuries stemming from the spate of recent incidents. Still, industry safety experts remain focused on A380 incidents partly because of the hazardous, high-profile disintegration of a Rolls-Royce PLC engine on a Qantas A380 in November, shortly after takeoff from Singapore. Engine parts damaged the fuselage and various aircraft systems, forcing pilots to confront a cascade of computerized fault messages, cope with leaking fuel and make a harrowing emergency landing. The engine maker, Airbus and safety regulators came up with a fix and enhanced inspection requirements, though Quantas ended up grounding its entire A380 fleet for a longer period than other operators. Both of the subsequent engine oil-pressure drops affected what the airline described as an external fuel line, and weren't directly related to previous manufacturing defects with Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engines. The oil-pressure problems occurred five days apart, while the A380s were en route from Singapore to London. The planes continued to safe landings. A Qantas spokesman said that in both February incidents, pilots detected a decrease in oil supply to one engine and rolled back thrust but didn't shut down the affected engine. The airline has said that crews reacted appropriately and there weren't any safety hazards. Four-engine jets such as the A380 are built and certified to fly on three engines. The Qantas spokesman said the external fuel lines were removed to permit detailed internal engine inspections mandated after the November engine emergency. But the airline said they were re-attached "in line with Rolls-Royce requirements." Back to Top Aviation Experts See Europe Safety Concerns By ANDY PASZTOR ISTANBUL-European budget cuts threaten to erode aviation safety by reducing the number of regulators, inspectors and air-traffic controllers overseeing the region's airlines, said industry experts at a safety conference that kicked off here Wednesday. Speakers and attendees at the Flight Safety Foundation's seminar discussed sharp spending cuts, which have slashed personnel by 30% or more at some national regulatory authorities over the past few years. And the trend, these officials said, appears to be accelerating. Regions such as Europe that "traditionally have led safety issues are muddling their way through the global economic crisis," said Lynn Brubaker, chairman of the foundation, an industry-backed group based in Alexandria, Va., that advocates for safety in more than 150 countries. Echoing the same worries, Bill Voss, the foundation's chief executive, said budget pressures are prompting European politicians to target aviation-safety groups. "Understaffed regulators are probably going to be even more understaffed." Industry and government safety officials also agreed that the European Aviation Safety Agency, or EASA, an umbrella group set up in the past decade to draft European-wide regulations and supervise national regulatory authorities, may lack the manpower and expertise to effectively fill the gaps. In a presentation slated to be delivered to the conference on Thursday, pilot union leader Martin Chalk, president of the European Cockpit Association, indicates that pilots in some countries are worried about regulators who have "apparently lost their teeth." According to Mr. Chalk, the U.K. lost 30% of its aviation-safety regulatory work force between 2002 and 2007, while the country's carriers over the same period increased their overall capacity by roughly the same percentage. Mr. Chalk's analysis also suggests that EASA, based in Cologne, Germany, has a total of less than 200 safety professionals to ensure that more than 30 countries are adequately staffing regulatory offices and enforcing mandatory safety standards. European accident statistics have remained relatively flat over the past few years. But Mr. Chalk and other critics of the cutbacks contend that with the acquiescence of local regulators, some large carriers have been saving money by skirting EASA regulations related to simulator training and pilot fatigue. Michel Masson, a senior safety official at EASA, acknowledged in an interview that his agency isn't equipped or authorized to step in when national regulators scale back oversight. "You can't just transfer regulatory responsibilities like that," Mr. Masson said. The budget crunch also has hit Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency responsible for coordinating air-traffic management across more than 35 European countries. According to Radu Cioponea, a senior safety official at Eurocontrol, the agency has shed roughly 25% of its staff in the last three or four years, with offices responsible for safety analysis suffering deeper cuts. Mr. Cioponea said training is the first item to suffer under such circumstances. David McMillan, the director general of Eurocontrol, said "there's no evidence yet that (safety margins) are worse" than in the past. But he said budget pressures are likely to encourage further consolidation of air-traffic facilities and operations. "Why does every country need to have everything" related to air-traffic management, Mr. McMillan asked during an interview Wednesday, when "the number of experts we have in Europe is quite limited." The budget reductions comes as Portugal, Greece and other countries are recovering from economic crises-and looking at further ways to ramp down government spending. Overall, Europe faces "a growing and quite serious shortage of safety oversight staff," Mike Ambrose, director-general of the European Regions Airline Association, told the conference. The association represents 80 carriers and more than 130 other companies, including aircraft and engine makers. In an interview, Mr. Ambrose stressed that Europe isn't experiencing "a safety meltdown." But he said that the worsening budget outlook in many countries means that in terms of regulatory oversight, "there simply isn't the same depth of experience or consistent expertise there was years ago." Back to Top Air Force has first female Osprey pilot From Air Force News via Military.com comes this story about Air Force 1st. Lt. Candice Killian completing training to fly the CV-22 Osprey, the very close cousin of the Marines MV-22. "It started with pictures of aircraft in her grandfather's home. Then it was on to starting lessons to earn her private pilot's license as a high school senior. It kept up through her Air Force training. First Lt. Candice Killian, a 58th Training Squadron student, has always wanted to fly. From the (Air Force) academy, Lieutenant Killian went to initial pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. The initial training, on the T-6A Texan II training aircraft, took about six months and included flight training and academics. After that, she went to Fort Rucker, Ala., to learn how to fly the UH-1 Huey helicopter. "I knew I wanted to fly helicopters," Lieutenant Killian said. "I like the mission role that helicopters in the Air Force generally fly, the broad spectrum of things we can do. Upon completion of the course at Fort Rucker, you can get CV-22s, UH-1s or HH-60 (Pave Hawks). The mission of the Osprey is very appealing." After undergraduate pilot training, Lieutenant Killian was chosen to train as a pilot on the CV-22. The initial training took place with the Marine Corps at Air Station New River, N.C. As a joint program, all Air Force CV-22 pilots complete the Marine course, where they are taught general aircraft systems and the basics about flying a tiltrotor aircraft. http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2 Back to Top Senate inquiry into training and safety extended (Australia) March 3, 2011 - 7:12 pm, by Ben Sandilands After the shocks that emerged in a Senate committee hearing last Friday concerning pilot training and airline safety in Australia the inquiry has been extended to May 4. It is understood the inquiry, chaired by Senator Bill Heffernan, will recall the CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, the Jetstar Group CEO, Bruce Buchanan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Martin Dolan and the CEO of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, John McCormick, and seek the attendance of Virgin Blue CEO, John Borghetti, who did not attend last week's hearings at which his airline offended some of the committee with the dismissive brevity of its written submission. It is further understood that some of those the inquiry wishes to question further are keen to be recalled, after a hearing that was crammed with fresh information and gave rise to dozens of additional questions on notice including to representatives of a range of private pilot training organisations . During that hearing Senator Heffernan raises an incident involving a near wheels up landing by an Australian registered A330. Heffernan's disclosure caused confusion at the witness table for the Qantas entourage in which Alan Joyce said there was no incident, and Bruce Buchanan said he thought it was a Jetstar A330 at Singapore Airport. (Which it was, and which is being investigated by CASA.) There was similar disarray when Senator Nick Xenophon, who had instigated the inquiry, ambushed Joyce over the existence of a letter from CASA demanding an explanation of a series of 15 'stick shaker' incidents involving Qantaslink Dash 8 turbo props in which the airliners, which operate many of the flights politicians use to complete their trips to Canberra, were put in imminent danger of stalling. Only one of those incidents had been previously disclosed to the travelling public through a report in Crikey blog Plane Talking, and that involved a first officer disobeying the instructions of a captain to abandon an unstable approach to Sydney Airport and go around. Instead the junior pilot persisted with the dangerous approach, causing two 'stick shaker' warnings within 10 seconds while it was dropping towards the airport from the direction of Botany Bay. This incident was of major safety concern yet air brushed in the ATSB report into a short document that escaped general media attention, after being released too late in the day to make any of the papers anyhow. The senators are also understood to have unfinished business in relation to their reference to examine the near crash of Jetstar A320 during a missed approach to Melbourne's main airport on July 21, 2007. Critiques of the differences between the Qantas/Jetstar submission to the Senate inquiry over this incident and the testimony of the ATSB and CASA, have been published by Plane Talking. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2011/03/03/senate-inquiry-into-training- and-safety-extended/ Back to Top Singapore Airlines Had 5 "Minor" Oil Leak Cases On Airbus A380 Engines SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore Airlines Ltd. had five incidents of oil leaks in Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engines that propel its fleet of Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, according to a company spokesman. "We have had five cases of oil leaks on Trent 900 engines but there was no safety of flight issue on any of those occasions. The issue that caused the leaks was identified and corrected," Nicholas Ionides, the vice president for public affairs at Singapore Airlines said in an email in response to queries from Dow Jones Newswires. He didn't state when the incidents took place. The incidents were minor and the pilots didn't need to reduce engine power in flight, Ionides said in response to queries on two incidents of oil pressure problems on similar engines, also manufactured by Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR.LN), that were reported by Australian carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU). Pilots of the Qantas A380s had to reduce power to the affected engines in two separate incidents last month. Industry safety experts remain focused on incidents involving A380 aircraft partly because of the hazardous, high-profile disintegration of a Rolls-Royce engine on a Qantas A380 on Nov. 4, shortly after takeoff from Singapore. Debris from the engine damaged the fuselage and various aircraft systems, forcing pilots to confront a cascade of computerized fault messages and return to Singapore for an emergency landing. The engine maker, Airbus and safety regulators came up with a fix and enhanced inspection requirements, though Qantas ended up grounding its entire A380 fleet for a longer period than other operators while Singapore Airlines recalled its jets for checks and had to delay some flights. The European Aviation Safety Agency said in a statement on its website on Wednesday that airlines can stop "intrusive" inspections advised earlier by the regulator. The cause of the incident has been addressed adequately and it is now considered prudent to cancel the inspections, the EASA said. Ionides said Singapore Airlines conducts regular checks on all its engines and "that won't change." However, he didn't offer a comment on the EASA notice. Back to Top Feds offer $5,000 reward in BWI laser incident Someone on ground pointed laser at Southwest plane Feb. 20, injuring pilots and risking catastrophe; Incidents on the rise (CBS/AP) Federal officials are offering a reward in the case of a laser beamed at a commercial aircraft approaching Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The FBI posted a $5,000 reward Monday for information leading to the arrest of the person who beamed the laser into the cockpit of the Southwest Airlines flight from Milwaukee, with more than 130 people on board, as it passed over Millersville around 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 20. Officials say the pilot and first officer took their eyes off the instruments during final approach, but the aircraft landed safely. The FBI says the eyes of the pilot and first officer were injured and they were treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital and released. The FBI reward comes in the wake of a report released by FAA in January documenting the record number incidents involving lasers pointed at airplanes in 2010. Congress is also considering legislation to make aiming the laser pointers at aircraft a federal crime. Special Agent Rich Wolf from the FBI Baltimore Field Office confirmed that this is the first time a reward has been offered by the FBI in connection with one of these cases and says it is due to the injuries of the pilots. Watch: Laser pointers a big threat to planes Wolf says that while authorities have been able to "geo-locate" the approximate location of the source of the laser given the location of the aircraft, there are "no leads" in the case as of yet, reports CBS News producer Carter Yang. He says that the FBI of course hopes that the award will give an incentive to anyone who has information to report it. The Maryland Transportation Authority Police says the incident is outside of its jurisdiction and, contrary to at least one report, it is not investigating the incident nor did it play a role in offering the reward. The aircraft was apparently targeted on final approach for landing at an altitude of 2,000 feet. According to the FBI, "An unknown person(s) on the ground, illuminated the cockpit of the aircraft with a laser. Although the aircraft landed safely, the pilot and first officer suffered injuries to their eyes and were subsequently taken to a local hospital for treatment. This incident had the potential to cause catastrophic loss of life to the passengers, crew and individuals on the ground." The FBI, Maryland Transportation Authority Police requests that anyone with information related to this incident to contact the FBI at 410-265-8080. Back to Top Check out the new issue of the FAA Safety Briefing. Back to Top China aerospace group to buy U.S. airplane maker HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China Aviation Industry Corp. will acquire Minnesota-based aircraft maker Cirrus Industries Inc., with a deal expected to close around mid-year, making the first takeover of a U.S. aerospace firm by a Chinese company, according to reports Thursday. The acquisition will see a unit of the Chinese state-run company take over Cirrus's line of four-seat propeller aircraft, potentially with a view to expanding in China's general-aviation market, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. No financial terms were disclosed in the reports. A report in the state-run China Daily on Wednesday said the acquisition will boost the Chinese group's global expansion plans. Those plans reportedly include setting up research and development centers, along with sales and service centers in the U.S., Europe and China. The China Daily also said the Chinese aerospace group would seek a stock market listing in 2015, citing comments by Meng Xiangka, its president, who was speaking Wednesday. Back to Top Airbus military transport clears testing milestone BRUSSELS -- Airbus' much-delayed A400M military transport plane has passed a critical milestone on its way to certification and full-scale production, the company said Thursday. The airframe has successfully completed the simulated flights as part of the requirement for certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), spokeswoman Barbara Kracht said. Civil certification is vital for the program, because it serves as the common standard for the seven air forces who are the customers for the four-turboprop military freighters. "There is nothing to prevent us from getting civil certification by EASA before the end of the year," she said. The testing program, which involves four pre-production aircraft, "is now absolutely on target and moving ahead as planned," Kracht said. The first aircraft is on track to be delivered to the French air force in 2013. A total of 174 aircraft have been ordered by the seven launch customers - Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey - and export customer Malaysia. Airbus expects to sell about 400 A400M freighters over the next 20-30 years, as air forces around the world - and particularly in the Middle East - start replacing their transport aircraft. The program nearly collapsed over cost overruns, and a struggle between the plane's manufacturer and its military customers over technical and financial problems came to a head last year after EADS threatened to pull the plug on the project. The euro20 billion ($27 billion) project was about euro5 billion ($6.8 billion) over budget and three years behind schedule. The seven customer nations then agreed to increase the price of the project by euro2 billion ($2.8 billion) and also said they would provide an additional euro1.5 billion ($2.1 billion) in exchange for a share of future export sales. European nations have long been hampered by the shortfall in strategic military airlift capabilities. In the 1990s, they struggled to deploy forces to nearby troublespots in Bosnia and Kosovo without using U.S. Air Force transports such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. Airbus says the A400M, which uses the largest turboprop engines ever fitted to a Western aircraft, will be able to carry twice the load of another competitor, the Lockheed Hercules, and that its fuel-efficient power plants will make it cheaper to operate than the jet-powered Boeing C-17. The A400M's four turboprops, mounted high on the wing, also will allow it to fly in and out of unprepared airstrips where jet-powered transports with engines slung low beneath the wings face the danger of ingesting runway debris, Airbus says. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030301526.html Back to Top Boeing Shifts Focus to 737 Successor Rather Than New 777 Model (Bloomberg) Boeing Co., shifting focus on its next new aircraft, is now leaning toward developing a successor to its best-selling 737 single-aisle jet before making improvements to the wide-body 777. A new plane probably would be wider than the 737 and seat about 150 to 220 people, said Mike Bair, who leads the team formed last year to study the concept. Once that jet enters service, as soon as 2019, Boeing could put new engines and wings on the 777, he said. "Six or nine months ago, we were leaning toward a bigger airplane sooner," Bair said in an interview yesterday in his office near Boeing's Everett, Washington, wide-body jet factory. Now, "most of the emphasis is on a new, small airplane." A decision to build a new narrow-body jet, which Bair said will come by June, is pivotal as Boeing jockeys for sales with Airbus SAS. With the 787 Dreamliner and new 747-8 jumbo-jet variant running years late and costing billions of dollars in charges, Boeing has vowed to stagger future aircraft programs. That means picking the market segment that will get priority. Airbus took an intermediate step with its single-aisle A320 on Dec. 1, offering upgraded engines on the so-called A320neo as of 2016. Chief Operating Officer John Leahy has said Airbus may not have a new narrow-body before 2027 because it doesn't expect enough advances in engine technology before then to warrant a $10 billion development program. 'Significant Change' "This is a significant change in thinking by the Boeing Company," said Doug Runte, a managing director at Piper Jaffray & Co. in New York. "An all-new 737 replacement would be an aggressive move to challenge the A320neo and limit its potential market penetration and lifespan that could create real difficulties for Airbus." Boeing fell 55 cents to $69.57 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading as rising oil prices dragged down airline shares and some suppliers. Runte doesn't rate Boeing, which has gained 8 percent in the past year. The company's shift follows a pickup in demand for the 777 that has prompted Chicago-based Boeing to plan a 66 percent boost in production through 2013, as Airbus has indicated that its planned competitor, the A350, may be delayed. Bair said the new plane may arrive sooner than expected because of a "better understanding" of new technology on the 787 and its possible benefits on a single-aisle jet, the plane type that produces the bulk of earnings for Boeing and Airbus. Dreamliner's Gains The potential gains should be similar to those achieved with the composite-plastic Dreamliner in the twin-aisle market, Bair said. That would mean a boost of about 20 percent in operating efficiency through lighter materials, as well as the use of more electricity to power the jet's systems. Engineers have learned from the 787's production that its composite-plastic construction can be scaled to a small jet more easily than they thought, Bair said. Should Boeing decide to offer a plane starting in the 130-seat range, it could use new aluminum-lithium materials that are lighter, stronger and less prone to corrosion than traditional alloys, he said. The size of the new model is the most challenging decision left, Bair said, because Boeing will have to make assumptions about air travel in 2030, when the jet would be in its prime. Engineers are studying how to speed loading and unloading, with either a wider aisle or possibly two aisles, he said. A new plane by the start of the next decade would far outstrip competitors, said Bair, 54, who was named to the 737 project in January 2010 after serving as vice president of business strategy and marketing for Boeing's commercial airplanes business and previously as chief of the 787 program. 'Really Good Run' "We don't see anything that says, 'If we were to do this, then five years later we'd get leapfrogged,'" Bair said. "We don't see anything on the horizon that could deliver that. We think we've got another really good run." Narrow-body jets are the workhorses of airline fleets worldwide, flown mostly on domestic and short-haul routes. The 737, the world's most widely flown jetliner, was developed in the 1960s and redesigned in the 1990s. With 2,164 unfilled orders, the $78 million plane makes up 63 percent of Boeing's backlog. That's prompted the company to raise production to a record 31.5 a month, and it's planning an increase of another 21 percent beyond that over the next two years. New-Engine Savings Boeing still could follow Airbus's lead and offer new engines on its 737, Bair said. An updated 737 could achieve savings of as much as 11 percent in fuel burn, he said. The trade-off would be a heavier plane subject to increased strains on landings and requiring more maintenance, Bair said. That along with other expenses would yield a reduction in costs of just 2 percent at most, and most airlines have told Boeing that the company should focus resources on a more attractive option, he said. "We've taken all the work we've done on re-engining and put it in a box on the shelf," Bair said. "If something changes over the next six months or so and we come to a different conclusion, we can always pull it out and go do it." Boeing would only decide on a new 737 engine if engineers determine there's not "enough in the toolbox" by midyear to proceed with a new jet, Bair said. "I don't think that's going to happen," Bair said. "We've got a lot of work left to do, but the technologies we can bundle up for the back end of this decade look pretty attractive." Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC