Flight Safety Information April 4, 2011 - No. 068 In This Issue Gulfstream IDs Crew Lost In G650 Crash SWA Returns 19 Inspected B737-300s to Service Southwest Jet Showed Previous Cracking, NTSB Says Investigators to Show Photos of Found Air France Jet Report on UPS Jet's Crash Highlights Cargo of Batteries One more fake pilot arrested (India) Bodies found in wreckage of 2009 Air France crash over Atlantic Flight ends in minutes, returns to La. airport American B763 at Dallas on Apr 1st 2011, suspected tail strike on takeoff Unseen loading error led Qantas A330 to depart overweight ICAO to co-operate to stop North Korean GPS jamming Aviation Expert Joins Clyde & Co. in New York Gulfstream IDs Crew Lost In G650 Crash Two Pilots, Two Flight-Test Engineers Were Killed During Flight Testing In NM Gulfstream Aerospace has identified the four employees killed in the crash of a Gulfstream G650 during flight testing in Roswell, NM. Experimental test pilots Kent Crenshaw and Vivan Ragusa and technical specialists David McCollum and Reece Ollenburg died in the April 2 accident. All four were residents of Savannah. "We mourn the loss of our colleagues and friends and extend our deepest sympathies to their families," said Joe Lombardo, president, Gulfstream. "The Gulfstream team has already rallied to support the people these men left behind, and we know that the local and aviation communities will do the same. On their behalf, we ask for your kindness, support and understanding as they, and the rest of the Gulfstream family, grieve the passing of these fine professionals." Crenshaw, 64, joined Gulfstream in August 1997. He leaves behind a wife and adult son. Ollenburg, 48, had been with Gulfstream since June 2009. He is survived by his wife and three children. Ragusa, 51, was hired at Gulfstream in 2007. He is survived by his wife and three children. McCollum, 47, who started working at Gulfstream in 2006, is survived by his parents. The ultra-large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G650 crashed April 2 during takeoff- performance tests at the Roswell International Air Center Airport in Roswell. FMI: www.gulfstream.com ********* Status: Preliminary Date: 02 APR 2011 Time: 09:30 Type: Gulfstream G650 Operator: Gulfstream Aerospace Registration: N652GD C/n / msn: 6002 First flight: 2010 Engines: 2 Rolls Royce 201 BR700-725A1 Crew: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Roswell International Air Center Airport, NM (ROW) (United States of America) Phase: Takeoff (TOF) Nature: Test Departure airport: Roswell International Air Center Airport, NM (ROW) (ROW/KROW), United States of America Destination airport: Roswell International Air Center Airport, NM (ROW) (ROW/KROW), United States of America Narrative: A Gulfstream G650 jet was damaged beyond repair in a takeoff accident at Roswell International Air Center Airport, NM (ROW). The airplane was used to conduct takeoff- performance tests in Roswell when it crashed. Two Gulfstream pilots and two Gulfstream flight-test engineers died in the crash. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the plane had just taken off when it rolled and slammed into the runway. He says the plane's gear collapsed and the craft burst into flames. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top SWA Returns 19 Inspected B737-300s to Service, But Two Show Cause For Repair Cracks on Two Planes Require Additional Maintenance The media feeding frenzy that started over this week's emergency landing of an elder Boeing 737-300 is likely to go on for a while. While the aircraft involved made a safe landing in Yuma after first descending at a rapid rate to get to a breathable ambient pressure, evidence continues to mount that this aircraft may have had visible issues prior to the actual failure. NTSB spokespersons have confirmed that the aircraft involved showed evidence of previous damage while two other SWA B737s (all of the 300 variant) were reported to require 'additional repairs.' According to Southwest Airlines, their inspection of the 737-300 fleet revealed the following: In cooperation with Boeing, an additional inspection program was set up for a subset of the Southwest 737-300. The inspection involved a non-destructive test (NDT) in the form of High-Frequency Eddy current of the aircraft skin. This test is designed to detect any subsurface fatigue in the skin that is not visible to the eye. As of 4 p.m. Central time Sunday, 19 planes had undergone the intense inspection with no findings, and those planes have been returned to service. In two other airplanes, the testing did detect small, subsurface cracks. Further evaluation and potential repairs will be necessary before those planes are returned to service. Inspections of the remaining aircraft in the sub-fleet (79 total) will continue for the next few days. As inspections are completed with no findings, those planes will continue to be put back into service today and Monday. The airline anticipates completing the inspections by late Tuesday. The 79 aircraft designated for the additional inspections were designed differently in the manufacturing process. Southwest continues its cooperation to the ongoing investigation being led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into the cause of the hole in the airplane which diverted to Yuma, AZ, on Friday, April 1. Sunday, Southwest expects to cancel approximately 300 flights while the inspections are ongoing. Customers should continue to check flight status at www.southwest.com for any changes to their flights as a result of inspections and out-of-service aircraft. Southwest continues to try and put a good spin on things with statements like, "I could not be more proud of our Maintenance and Engineering professionals who supported Boeing and the FAA in the establishment of these new inspection procedures," said Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "Boeing has since identified an inspection program for this section of the aircraft. Based on this incident and the additional findings, we expect further action from Boeing and the FAA for operators of the 737-300 fleet worldwide." At the same time, SWA has had problems in this arena before and the cry for additional FAA oversight of this and other airplanes is increasing. Southwest notes that it operates a total 737 fleet of 548 planes and that "the fleet is constantly undergoing rigorous checks and inspections as directed by the FAA and Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer. These checks and inspections are dictated by number of cycles (a cycle is a takeoff and landing) and on a calendar basis as well." "Our highest priority is the safety of our Employees and Customers," Van de Ven said. "Prior to the event regarding Flight 812, we were in compliance with the FAA-mandated and Boeing-recommended structural inspection requirements for that aircraft. What we saw with Flight 812 was a new and unknown issue. We regret any Customer inconveniences as a result of the inspections currently underway. Delays and cancellations are never the preference, however we are taking every precaution we can to ensure that our operation is safe." FMI: www.southwest.com Back to Top Southwest Jet Showed Previous Cracking, NTSB Says April 3 (Bloomberg) -- A Southwest Airlines Co. jet that suffered a tear in its fuselage in flight showed signs of previous cracking, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said. A board spokesman, Terry Williams, confirmed comments made by federal investigators yesterday as reported by the Associated Press. AP said the entire length of the 5-foot- long tear in the skin of the Boeing Co. 737 plane had signs of fatigue cracking when checked after an emergency landing on April 1. Southwest, the world's biggest operator of Boeing 737 jets, has canceled 600 flights over two days as it pulled 79 737s out of service for inspections. Flight 812 was en route to Sacramento, California, from Phoenix two days ago when the hole formed, causing a loss of cabin pressure and forcing a landing in Yuma, Arizona, the carrier said. Southwest said late today that 21 planes had undergone inspections. Two planes had "small, subsurface cracks" and are in need of repair. The other 19 had no problems and were returned to service. The airline expects to finish examining all the planes by late on April 5. Metal Fatigue Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said no fleetwide action is being taken for the line of 737s, which include the 300, 400, and 500 series. The aircraft maker is working with Southwest and the NTSB in the investigation, and will take action if there's a need, he added. In July 2009, metal fatigue was blamed for an 18-by-12 inch rip in a Southwest 737 while it was flying at 35,000 feet, also forcing an emergency landing. In January 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered fuselage checks for metal fatigue on 135 Boeing 737-300s, -400s and -500s in the U.S., after the planemaker recommended such checks in September 2009. In the most recent incident, Southwest passengers described a hole in the model 737- 300 as being 1 foot (0.3 meters) wide by 3 feet long, said Linda Rutherford, a spokeswoman for the Dallas-based carrier. A flight attendant and a passenger were injured, Rutherford said. The plane will be 15 years old in June; its fuselage skin had been inspected on March 29 and Feb. 5, Rutherford said. Southwest has 548 737s in its fleet, it said today in a statement. According to the airline's website, it had 171 737-300s, 25 737-500s and 352 737-700s as of Dec. 31, 2010. The average age of Southwest's fleet of 737-300s was 19 years as of the end of 2010. Back to Top Investigators to Show Photos of Found Air France Jet (WSJ) French crash investigators plan to release on Monday photographs of the wreckage of an Air France jetliner that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean almost two years ago. Oceanographers conducting an undersea search on Sunday located pieces of the Airbus A330 jetliner, which crashed on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people onboard. The current search, which began ten days ago, is the fourth attempt to find the plane's wreckage. "We found the accident site. We know exactly where the aircraft is," said Martine Del Bono, spokeswoman for France's Air Accident Investigation Bureau, or BEA. The agency plans a news conference in Paris on Monday afternoon. As with crashes on land, wreckage is spread over a wide area, Ms. Del Bono said. Searchers have found at least the plane's landing gear and an engine, according to a person familiar with the investigation. "We have found a large part of the plane, surrounded by debris," said French environment and transport minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in a radio interview on Monday. "One part has remained intact." Searchers will now focus on finding the rear of the plane's body, or fuselage, where its data recorders are located. Investigators want to retrieve the digital recorders' voice and data files, which may help answer questions about the plane's final minutes. The two-engine jetliner disappeared after entering an area of intense storms near the equator. Automated-maintenance messages broadcast by the plane indicated it had suffered troubles with speed sensors, which caused some computer systems to disengage. But safety experts have said the problems identified from the data received would not alone have caused the plane to crash. So investigators hope the so-called black boxes will give details of what transpired after speed sensors failed. If the recorders are located, it could take several weeks to retrieve them because the ship conducting the search, the Alucia, doesn't have undersea retrieval equipment onboard. Once recovered, the recorders would be shipped for analysis at a specialized laboratory. The devices are designed to withstand crashes and harsh conditions, so information on them is quite likely still usable, said air-crash experts. The current investigation is being led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which has conducted some of the most difficult undersea searches ever, including locating the Titanic. Before restarting the Air France search, maritime experts did an exhaustive analysis of all information gathered in the previous three searches, including computer modelling of oceanic flows. Results of the analysis significantly helped the search team narrow their hunt. The effort was made slightly easier because, although the crash is deep, the local terrain is fairly flat, according to the person familiar with the investigation. According to this person, Woods Hole searchers on Sunday downloaded data from one of three Remus autonomous submarines that had been conducting sonar scans of the seabed and quickly saw anomalies. The Remus was sent back to photograph the discover and returned with pictures of the wreckage. Air France-KLM SA Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said in a statement that the discovery "is good news indeed since it gives hope that information on the causes of the accident, so far unresolved, will be found." Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said the discovery "rewards the tremendous efforts of those who never gave up." Back to Top Report on UPS Jet's Crash Highlights Cargo of Batteries By ANDY PASZTOR (WSJ) A report about the 2010 crash of a United Parcel Service Inc. jumbo jet in Dubai carrying large numbers of rechargeable lithium batteries highlights the fire dangers of such cargo, and how quickly smoke can spread into the cockpit and incapacitate pilots. The preliminary accident report issued Sunday by United Arab Emirates investigators comes three days after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a broad aviation bill including a provision effectively blocking adoption of tough new U.S. rules under consideration to crack down on air transport of lithium batteries. In detailing the events leading up to the fiery Boeing 747 accident that killed both UPS pilots, the report indicates that flammable batteries "were distributed throughout the cargo decks" and some "lithium ion battery packs" should have been singled out and handled as hazardous cargo. For many months, the Obama administration has been considering sweeping rules requiring special handling and packaging of certain airborne lithium-battery shipments, including alerting pilots that they are onboard and loading them only in designated areas. But a broad coalition of industry opponents, including battery manufacturers, cellphone companies and various trade associations, continues to oppose such measures. Instead, those groups want the U.S. to adopt existing international standards, which in some cases are less stringent. Partly due to the opposition, White House officials haven't given the green light for new regulations. Details of the accident are likely to provide ammunition for those demanding tougher rules. Two minutes after the first warning of a cargo fire, according to the report, the cockpit filled with smoke and the pilots donned oxygen masks and goggles. Three minutes later, the captain told air-traffic controllers the cockpit was "full of smoke" and the crew couldn't effectively monitor their instruments. After an emergency descent, the copilot, who at that point was flying the plane by himself, couldn't see enough to change radio frequencies and relied on a nearby aircraft to relay transmissions to and from controllers. In addition to highlighting fire hazards for the crew, the report also raises questions about aircraft design and the ability of the 747 to withstand the intense heat typically generated by lithium battery-fed blazes. According to the report, some of the plane's flight controls also malfunctioned within minutes of the initial fire alarm. And the aircraft's landing gear didn't function during the emergency descent to land back in Dubai. The plane crashed into a military compound after overflying the airport. Back to Top One more fake pilot arrested (India) New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) One more pilot was arrested for obtaining a licence on forged documents, Delhi Police said Monday. He is the seventh pilot to be arrested in the scam. "The pilot has been identified as Abhinav Kaushik from IndiGo airline. He has been arrested Friday for forging his marksheet to obtain a commercial pilot license," said a senior police officer. Kaushik was held following investigations into a complaint filed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that he forged marksheets to obtain a licence. Delhi Police issued a lookout notice March 28 against three pilots and a flying instructor for forging marksheets to procure pilot licences. Notices were issued against pilots Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR, and Syed Habib Ali and Bhupinder Singh, who have licences but have not joined any airline. A lookout notice has also been issued against flying instructor D. Asatkar. The pilots had allegedly procured Airlines Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) using fake documents. Police issued lookout notices to prevent them from fleeing the country. All airports and ports have been put on high alert. Police are conducting searches across the country to nab them. With Kaushik's arrest, Delhi Police have so far arrested seven people, including a DGCA official, for their involvement in the fake pilots scam. Pradeep Kumar, 48, an assistant director with aviation regulator DGCA, Pradeep Tyagi, 35, the pilot who helped others to procure fake marksheets, and his two associates Pankaj Jain, 23, and Lalit Jain, 34, were arrested between March 22 and March 25 from Delhi and Chennai. Pankaj Jain and Pradeep Kumar were arrested from the capital March 25, while Lalit Jain was arrested from Chennai March 24. Tyagi was picked up from Rohini in Delhi March 23. During interrogation, Pradeep Kumar told police that he had processed files for around 60 licences in the past couple of years. Tyagi had arranged for a forged result card through Lalit and Pankaj in east Delhi after paying them Rs.1 lakh. He also paid about Rs.25,000 to Pradeep Kumar, the DGCA official, for ensuring that there was no hitch in processing the papers, police said. During investigation, it was found that Tyagi had obtained commercial pilot licence through forged documents and fudged flying hours in June 2010. Since 2008, he developed contacts in the DGCA for smooth processing of the papers and for grant of licences to the pilots who approached him. Tyagi had helped pilots Parminder Kaur Gulati, Meenakshi Sehgal, J.K. Verma, Swaran Singh Talwar, Syed Habib Ali and Bhupender Singh in obtaining licences on the basis of forged documents. Pradeep Tyagi charged Rs.6 lakh, of which he normally paid Rs.1 lakh to Lalit and Pankaj for preparing forged result cards, and Rs.20,000-25,000 to Pradeep (Kumar), police said. The first to be arrested were suspended IndiGo pilot Parminder Kaur Gulati March 8 and J.K. Verma of Air India four days later. Meenakshi Sehgal of IndiGo, another suspect, has obtained a court order preventing her arrest, though she has been asked to cooperate in investigations. http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=230988 Back to Top Bodies found in wreckage of 2009 Air France crash over Atlantic Some remains of the 288 passengers and crew aboard an Air France Airbus that crashed over the Atlantic in 2009 have been found in the plane's wreckage, Reuters and CNN report, quoting the French government. Everyone aboard the Airbus 320-303 died when the plane went down in extremely violent weather en route from Rio to Paris. Searchers, who had made numerous attempts to locate remains of the plane, confirmed on Sunday that pieces of the Airbus were found using submarines. Today, Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet says human remains were found in the wreckage, which included intact parts of the fuselage, Reuters reports. The minister is quoted as saying that searchers found "more than just traces" of human remains and that "identification is possible." CNN.com reports that some of the bodies will be recovered and brought to the surface. The cause of the crash has not been determined. http://content.usatoday.com/ Back to Top Flight ends in minutes, returns to La. airport A United Airlines flight from New Orleans to San Francisco returned to the New Orleans airport within minutes of taking off Monday after rocking back and forth. Copilot Ronald Lee Young told an Associated Press reporter aboard Flight 497 that he landed on backup systems, with minimal steering and braking ability, after the plane lost all electronics. He said the plane, heavy with fuel, ran off the runway and blew a tire. As soon as the flight was on the ground, flight attendants shouted "Leave everything. Get out!" Passengers slid down the front and back slides. A few passengers walked to an ambulance after a call for anyone with injuries. The injuries appeared to be minor, such as abrasions from the slide. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/national/article_ebccc6ae-eb8c-53b9-90e1- 5708a9411096.html Back to Top Incident: American B763 at Dallas on Apr 1st 2011, suspected tail strike on takeoff An American Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration N371AA performing flight AA-945 from Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) to Santiago (Chile) with 170 passengers and 12 crew, departed Ft. Worth's runway 36R and was climbing out of the runway when the crew began to suspect a tail strike and stopped the climb at 17,000 feet. The airplane returned to Dallas Ft. Worth for a safe landing on runway 36R about 30 minutes later. The flight was subsequently cancelled, the replacement flight on Saturday was cancelled, too. The airline said the crew decided to return to Dallas suspecting they had suffered a tail strike on takeoff. A replacement aircraft was scheduled to depart the following day (Saturday). http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL945/history/20110402/0225Z/KDFW/SCEL Back to Top Unseen loading error led Qantas A330 to depart overweight Investigators have determined that a failure to detect a discrepancy in loading documentation led a Qantas Airbus A330-300 to depart above maximum weight limits. The twinjet was 884kg above its maximum take-off weight and 384kg above maximum taxi weight when it left Sydney for Hong Kong. This oversight led the crew to enter inaccurate centre-of-gravity and zero-fuel weight data into the A330's computer systems, and delays in notification of the loading error meant the jet operated 10 more sectors before undergoing precautionary maintenance checks. Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators have catalogued the chain of events on 6 March 2009, stating that the aircraft had originally been predicted to be overweight. While the A330 was being prepared at Sydney, proprietary flight management software predicted that, given the operational demands, the aircraft would be overweight. The load controller examined options for removing some of the freight pallets and, in the course of this discussion, checked that they could be locked down in their assigned position. But owing to the nature of the software this action generated a premature load instruction report that was automatically sent to the ramp. When the load controller finalised the loading configuration of the aircraft - electing to remove a heavy pallet and replace it with a lighter one, to bring the weight within limits - the previously-issued loading instructions were not amended. "That resulted in the ramp staff being unaware of the changed loading requirement and the loading proceeded as initially planned," says the ATSB. "The discrepancy between the actual aircraft load and operator's load management system was not detected during the completion of the load controller's 'final distribution check' prior to issuing the final load sheet to the flight crew." As a result of the carriage of a heavier pallet than indicated during the loading check, the A330 (VH-QPJ) departed with 1.62t more freight than indicated. The net effect was that the jet exceeded its maximum taxi and take-off weights. Although ground staff in Hong Kong noticed a discrepancy in the freight consignment, the required documentation was not completed and the carrier's safety department did not become aware of the event until six days later. Records showed that the maximum taxi weight was exceeded by 0.2%. No damage was detected during the eventual overweight taxi check. But the ATSB says that, although this figure was minor, "a discrepancy between the [calculated] and actual aircraft loading had the potential to affect the safety of flight". In its report into the event the ATSB states that while "no safety issues were identified", the operator implemented several changes to the process for managing load control. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ICAO to co-operate to stop North Korean GPS jamming ICAO is considering measures against North Korea after the reclusive state was accused of jamming satellite navigation signals. The organisation is intending to co-operate with South Korea over the matter, says the Korean ministry of foreign affairs. It follows a meeting between Korean foreign minister Kim Sung-Hwan and ICAO secretary general Raymond Benjamin yesterday. The ministry says that ICAO has accepted its position of "pointing out the illegality" of Global Positioning System signal jamming by North Korea in early March, and that a "recurrence of such [an] incident must not occur". It also says that ICAO has agreed to "co-operate with Korea in taking necessary measures" should there be another incident, because North Korea's action "threatens civil aviation safety, of not only Korea but also other countries". ICAO was not immediately available to comment on the foreign ministry's statement. Benjamin's visit to South Korea included addressing a regional training conference, at which he reiterated ICAO's concern over a forecast shortage of training capacity to meet demand by 2030. "Not surprisingly, the Asia-Pacific region is where the situation is more acute, given the remarkable current and projected growth rates," he told the gathering in Seoul. "Enormous efforts will have to be deployed to fill the gap between training needs and training capacity required." During his time in South Korea, Benjamin also participated in a ceremony marking 10 years of operation for Seoul's Incheon Airport. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Aviation Expert Joins Clyde & Co. in New York John McKay has joined Clyde & Co as Senior Counsel in its New York office. John joined the firm from Global Aerospace where he was Assistant Vice President and Claims Attorney. Prior to his time at the leading insurer, John was in private practice in New York City and Charlottesville, Virginia. John has extensive major products and aviation litigation experience. He has advised clients on major accidents, especially those of a high-profile and complex nature. John is admitted to practice in New York, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Virginia and West Virginia. He has been listed in Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World. He is also holds a Commercial Pilot license with multi-engine and instrument ratings. Clyde & Co partner Diane Westwood-Wilson said: "We are delighted to welcome John to the firm. He is a top-rated litigator with outstanding expertise in the aviation sector. As an experienced pilot, John adds immeasurably to the depth of expertise of our US aviation team. Clients value John's practical insights, particularly in cases where the critical issues can turn on what the pilot did, or could have done, in a given situation." John McKay said: "Clyde & Co is a leader in aviation, litigation and insurance and the firm has impressive international reach. This is fantastic opportunity and I am excited to be part of the highly talented Aviation Group at Clyde & Co. During my 25 years as a litigator, I have found general aviation and aviation products cases to be amongst the most fascinating and challenging matters that I have encountered." Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC