Flight Safety Information May 17, 2011 - No. 101 In This Issue Air France Flight Data Are Salvaged Pilots Avoid Jail in Brazil Crash Fumes force flight to return to Mesa Aviation investigator: Icing may have been at fault in plane crash Taiwan investigates UNI Air landing incident African flight data monitoring 'yielding results' for airline safety Oz jet forced to divert to Adelaide after burning through fuel Emirates to host human factors safety course European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP) Human Factors Courses for 2011 at Emirates and Aer Lingus (L/D)max Aviation Safety Group and Training Solution Align with Aviation Industry Organizations to Bring the World the European Cabin Safety Conference Air France Flight Data Are Salvaged By ANDY PASZTOR And DANIEL MICHAELS (WSJ) Accident investigators have successfully downloaded all of the information captured by the flight-data recorder aboard the Air France jetliner that mysteriously crashed into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago, killing 228 people, French investigators said Monday. Led by French air-safety specialists, an international team of government and industry experts over the weekend retrieved data and voice recordings expected to help pinpoint the causes of the accident, according to the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses, or BEA. The BEA said the team collected "all the data" from the flight-data recorder and the "whole recording of the last two hours of the flight" on the cockpit voice recorder. The BEA added that the data will now be subjected to analysis over several weeks, after which a further interim report will bewritten and then published during the summer."Investigators so far haven't characterized details about the data obtained from the recorders. The Airbus A330 jet was the first big airliner in decades to disappear midflight, and the accident on June 1, 2009, is the most significant crash in years to go unsolved for so long. It has alsosparked a French criminal probe in parallel with the safety investigation, which has focused even more attention on the continuing analysis. Airbus is a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. Air France is a unit of Air France-KLM. Nonetheless, with competing theories about possible pilot errors or plane malfunctions circulating among aviation experts, French investigators may feel compelled to divulge information more quickly than they otherwise would prefer. There were some indications Monday that investigators could release another update as early as Tuesday. Data collected from the recorders could quickly buttress or disprove one prominent theory about the crash. If the plane's automated flight-control systems reverted to a different computer configuration than pilots typically are trained to handle, according to experts, that would have made it easier for the crew to inadvertently stall the jet. At the time, neither Air France nor other large carriers with sizable Airbus fleets specifically trained pilots to handle stall problems or similar unusual airplane positions at high altitudes and speeds, according to safety experts. Since the crash, Air France and Airbus have embraced the concept of training pilots to help them cope with such highly unusual but dangerous emergency maneuvers. Officials investigating the crash of an Air France flight from Paris to Rio in 2009 say it will take time to interpret the data from the recovered flight recorders. Video and image courtesy of Reuters. The flight-data recorder was in excellent condition and showed almost no corrosion from salt water or other types of damage, according to a person familiar with the work, despite spending nearly two years on the seabed at a depth of almost 12,900 feet, or 3,900 meters. The flight-data recorder was designed to capture several hundred different parameters, from engine operations and movements of flight-control surfaces to computer-generated commands and changes in various automated systems. It was found recently by an underwater robotic-search vehicle, and arrived in France last week. The Airbus A330's cockpit-voice recorder, according to a person familiar with the matter, suffered slightly more damage and required greater efforts by investigators to clean and dry its internal computer chips and memory boards. The accident's causes remain unknown, though automated maintenance messages sent by onboard computers shortly before the crash revealed problems with the Air France jet's external air-speed sensors, followed by a cascade of other malfunctioning systems and loss of control by the pilots. Over the next few weeks and months, investigators will fuse the different strands of recorder data to reconstruct a single, precise timeline and virtual replay of the accident, which until now has confounded experts. Reading the digital recorders was widely expected to pose unprecedented challenges, because no such devices have been recovered after spending such a long time at such depths. The quick results cap several weeks of fortunate developments, starting with the discovery of the wreckage early last month on the fourth attempt to locate it. Air France Flight 447 disappeared while flying through heavy storms from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009. Other jetliners flying above the same area of the Atlantic Ocean-notorious for large and particularly violent storms-took different routes to avoid the worst of the weather. Investigation of the Air France crash has been watched closely by safety experts around the world partly because it was the first time an advanced jetliner with a strong safety record-and flown by a major Western carrier-dropped out of the sky. The plane went into a fatal dive without the cockpit crew managing to broadcast any kind of emergency message or request for help. The recorders may help answer two nagging questions: Did the cockpit crew attempt to turn the plane around to escape the brunt of the storm, and did the pilots manage to regain control shortly before impact and struggle to pull out of the dive? The crash also has sparked broad questions about how pilots interact with automated flight controls, sophisticated systems increasingly found in latest-generation aircraft. Since the crash, Airbus as well as Air France and other carriers have specifically started training pilots to cope with automation problems at high speeds and altitudes. Efforts to download the flight-data recorder were captured on video, according to the BEA, and the work was observed by government air-crash investigators from the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Brazil, as well as two French legal officials. Families of the victims also are slated to be informed about how much information ends up coming from the black boxes. Since the flight-data recorder captured many hours of information about the behavior of onboard equipment during flights prior to the crash, investigators should be able to assemble a comprehensive pattern illustrating the health of various systems on the plane. One person familiar with the matter said he was told that investigators downloaded more than 25 hours of data. In many ways, the toughness of the recorders and relative ease of the data-recovery effort surprised some veteran U.S. safety experts. Manufactured by Honeywell International Inc ., the digital recorders contained arrays of chips made out of ceramic material, which was coated with a special waterproofing compound. The chips were arranged inside a protective case to cushion the impact from outside forces. Joe Kenney, a high-ranking product integrity official with Honeywell, said in an interview Monday that there hasn't been any comparable accident resulting in recorders staying underwater for such a long stretch. The closest event, according to Mr. Kenney, was the fatal 2007 crash of a Boeing 737 aircraft flown by low-cost Indonesian carrier Adam Air. Information from those Honeywell recorders, submerged in about 6,500 feet of water for about eight months, was successfully downloaded upon recovery, Mr. Kenney said. But when it came to the Air France crash, he said, "we had no data point" for reference. Investigators, as expected, found some water had penetrated both recorders. But the flight data recorder was in practically "pristine condition" otherwise, Mr. Kenney said. "There were smiles all around the senior management team," he added, when it became clear the data had been preserved. Back to Top Pilots Avoid Jail in Brazil Crash SÃO PAULO, Brazil (NYT) - A Brazilian federal judge on Monday sentenced two American pilots involved in a fatal air crash over the Amazon rain forest in 2006 to community service. Judge Murilo Mendes sentenced the pilots, Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino, to four years and four months of prison in a "semi-open" facility for their role in the collision between the Legacy private jet they were flying and a Gol Boeing 737-800, which resulted in 154 deaths. But the judge commuted the sentences to community service to be served in the United States, where the pilots reside. Brazilian authorities accused the pilots of turning off the Legacy's transponder moments before the accident and turning it on again only after the crash. In a deposition taken in the United States by Brazilian authorities via videoconference the men denied that the equipment had been turned off. Judge Mendes, in the 86-page sentence, said the pilots had failed to verify the function of equipment for more than an hour, a length of time he called "an eternity" in aviation. An Brazilian air traffic controller had been previously convicted in the case of a crime equivalent to manslaughter. Back to Top Fumes force flight to return to Mesa An Allegiant Air MD80 airplane landed safely at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport after the pilots smelled fumes and hot air coming from the cockpit shortly after takeoff. The plane left the Mesa airport bound for Pasco, Wash. about 8:30 a.m. and soon after the pilots reported smelling fumes and "hot air" inside the cockpit, said Jordan McGee, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas-based airline. Twenty minutes into the flight, the pilots radioed to the tower that the plane would be returning with its 151 passengers and five crew members, said Capt. Forrest Smith, a Mesa fire spokesman. "That gives us a chance to get way out in front of it on the ground," Smith said of the firefighter response. About 50 firefighters from Mesa and Gilbert responded to the scene to ensure passengers were safe, Smith said. A fire crew then inspected the plane to determine the source of the fumes. Passengers are scheduled to again depart Mesa at 11 a.m. in a different plane. McGee said that will allow maintenance crews an opportunity to give the original plane a thorough inspection. www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/05/16/20110516mesa-flight-smoke-in- cockpit.html#ixzz1MaEzDGl6 Back to Top Aviation investigator: Icing may have been at fault in plane crash (Update. The North Slope Borough issued a press release this afternoon. It reads: On May 16, 2011, at approximately 2:33 a.m. the North Slope Borough King Air crashed while en route to Atqasuk for a medevac. There were three crew/medevac members aboard and none were injured seriously. Two employees were treated at Samuel Simmonds Medical Hospital in Barrow, AK early this morning and released. Icing is suspected as a cause, but has not been confirmed. The FAA will begin an investigation tomorrow.) An aviation safety investigator said he's looking into the possibility that a North Slope Borough medevac plane that crashed early this morning failed after too much ice built- up on the airplane. "There was icing forecast in the weather, and the pilot had reported some icing conditions on the airplane itself," said Larry Lewis, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator who said he has talked to borough officials about the incident. He has yet to talk to the pilot, he said. The Beechcraft King Air 200 crashed about 2:30 a.m. on approach to the Atqasuk airport, about seven miles west of the village, he said. The plane belonged to the borough's Search and Rescue Department and was on a medevac flight to the village of 230 people some 60 miles southwest of Barrow. Lewis said he understands the three people aboard - the pilot and two other borough employees - were not seriously hurt. "I've only heard scrapes and bruises," he said. Ice build-up can disrupt the air flow over the wings that keeps the plane aloft. The NTSB will lead the investigation into the crash and will work with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is expected to send a man to the scene tomorrow, Lewis said. "I'm waiting for some pictures from some folks who were supposed to go out and secure (the scene) for us," he said. "We're going to interview the pilot and the folks who were on board and took a look at the procedures and the weather. The icing possibility will draw their initial attention. "It is equipped for flight into known icing so it should have all the appropriate equipment, so we'll be taking a look to make sure everything worked," he said. http://thearcticsounder.com/article/1120aviation_investigator_icing_may_have_been_a t Back to Top Taiwan investigates UNI Air landing incident Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council is investigating a landing incident involving an UNI Air Boeing MD-90 at Taipei Taoyuan International airport. The aircraft, registration B-17917, was landing at the airport on 12 May at 20:36 after a flight from Macau when its main landing gear "deviated from the runway", says the council. Four runway lights were damaged in the incident and subsequent investigations showed cuts to the aircraft's landing gear tyres, it adds. There were no reports of injuries in the incident. The council has retrieved the aircraft's flight data and cockpit voice recorders and has conducted preliminary interviews with the flight crew, it says. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top African flight data monitoring 'yielding results' for airline safety One of several IATA safety programmes for Africa is yielding tangible results, according to director safety, operations and infrastructure for Africa Gaoussou Konate. In 2009, IATA launched a flight operations data monitoring programme dubbed the Implementation Programme for Safe Operations in Africa (IPSOA), involving nine carriers which volunteered to take part. The ability of flight operations data monitoring to recognise and record the details of badly flown approach or departure profiles enables airlines to apply training or improved standard operating procedures. Konate said this has led to a 56% reduction in flight profile deviations, and has dramatically improved runway safety, which is vital because runway excursion is by far Africa's most common hull loss cause. Most runway overruns start with unstable approaches, says Konate, and it is by enabling airlines to identify the causes of unstable approaches that the overruns can be avoided. An additional benefit, Konate reveals, has been the ability to identify the airports at which unstable approaches most frequently occur, enabling the airlines not only to work on the problems with their crews, but to confront air traffic control and the airports with the evidence to enable them to work out a joint approach to solving the problem. Another programme that is changing the safety culture, says Konate, is the application of the IATA Operational Safety Audit which, since its launch in 2005, has been embraced by 23 IATA member carriers in Africa, causing these carriers to have a hull loss accident rate that is only a third of the rate for Africa as a whole. The combined effect of the IATA-backed programmes, he says, "is to enhance airline safety cultures, and to provide data as evidence to address infrastructure safety". Konate intends that an improvement in African airline safety would have a powerful effect on the way African aviation is perceived at home and overseas, which would create a virtuous circle of economic improvement at airline level and in the economy as a whole. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Oz jet forced to divert to Adelaide after burning through fuel Melbourne, May 17 (PTI) - A Melbourne-bound Qantas plane carrying 249 passengers was today forced to divert to Adelaide after crew discovered it did not have enough fuel. A spokesman of the Australian national airliner Qantas said the A380 from Singapore made the unexpected pit stop around 5 am (local time), media reports said. He said the low fuel supply was not the result of a leak. "Engineers have inspected the aircraft on ground this morning in Adelaide and found there were no technical issues," the spokesman said, adding "the flight crew found they had burnt through the fuel supplies quicker than expected." "It was not an emergency landing," he said. The jet was expected to arrive here about 7.30am (local time), a ABC report said. Back to Top Emirates to host human factors safety course Emirates Airline is to host a human factors training course next month at the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai, Arabian Aerospace has reported. Scheduled on June 5-9, the 14th "Human Factors in Flight Safety: SMS, Risk Management and Safety Investigation" has a strong focus on Human Factors aspects of air safety management and investigation, with additional emphasis on Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Risk Management. http://www.ameinfo.com/265296.html Back to Top Reminder - places still available: European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP) International Courses on Human Factors in Flight Safety, Safety Management Systems, Risk Management and Safety Investigation, 2011. Dr Rob Lee, Kristina Pollack and Brent Hayward will be conducting two of their popular EAAP-recognized "Human Factors in Flight Safety, Safety Management Systems, Risk Management and Safety Investigation" courses in 2011. The first of these courses was conducted at the European Commission Joint Research Centre at Ispra, Italy in 1999. Since then, these EAAP courses have been continually updated to reflect the many changes in the aviation industry. They have been held regularly, in locations including Eurocontrol, Luxembourg; the SAS Flight Academy, Stockholm; Iberia Airlines, Madrid; NAV Portugal, Lisbon; the Swiss Air Force, Interlaken; and, Emirates, Dubai. A total of more than 250 participants, both civil and military, have attended these highly regarded courses. This year, the 14th of these courses will be held in Dubai, UAE, from 05-09 June 2011, kindly hosted by Emirates Airline. The 15th course will be held the following week, between 13-18 June, in Dublin, Ireland, kindly hosted by Aer Lingus. Both courses will be open to all interested parties. Both courses will offer reduced registration fees for EAAP members, as well as a significant additional "Early Bird" discount for those who register and pay by mid-May 2011. Detailed information on the course content and its instructors, together with Registration Brochures for both the Dublin and Dubai courses can now be downloaded from the EAAP website: http://www.eaap.net/courses.html Back to Top FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Chrissy Kelley (L/D)max Aviation Safety Group PO Box 2612 San Pedro, CA 90731-5991 Phone: 805-285-3629 http://www.ldmaxaviation.com info@ldmaxaviation.com (L/D)max Aviation Safety Group and Training Solution Align with Aviation Industry Organizations to Bring the World the European Cabin Safety Conference San Pedro, CA - May 17, 2011 - Organizations around the world are increasingly in need of cabin safety training across a variety of subjects within aviation. Addressing issues and concerns that affect cabin safety on a daily basis, and on an international scale, is critical in today's world. (L/D)max Aviation Safety Group and Training Solution recognize there is a high demand for such education and training, and as such are pleased to present the European Cabin Safety Conference (ECSC). The ECSC will be held at the Marriot Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany 1-3 November 2011. Understanding the critical need for such an event while accounting for limited budgets around the world, (L/D)max Aviation and Training Solution teamed up to bring this exciting opportunity to Europe, allowing more aviation professionals from that and surrounding regions the opportunity to attend. The European region has voiced a high level of interest and expressed a great deal of need for such an event for quite some time. Unique rules and regulations, cultural differences, regional issues and much more have led to a higher demand for an opportunity to further train and educate cabin crew at all levels on the current best practices, safety and security issues, in-flight topics, and more. "Our goal is to provide cabin crew throughout the world, specifically throughout Europe, with training and education on a wide variety of cabin safety related topics and issues in an effort to increase safety overall," said Sharon Morphew, (L/D)max Aviation CEO. "This European Cabin Safety Conference will cover current cabin safety issues and concerns, and having the tools and education necessary to improve safety throughout the aviation industry is critical in today's world." Supported by Halldale Media Group and CAT Magazine, the combined efforts of (L/D)max Aviation and Training Solution are bringing together experts from a variety of aspects pertaining to aviation and cabin safety. Among the topics to be covered at this event health and medial matters, training, in-flight topics, safety and security, and lessons learned. The current, informative presentations accompanied by the comprehensive, interactive workshops will bring cabin safety training to the forefront of the European aviation industry. (L/D)max Aviation and Training Solution are offering an "Early-Bird Registration" special. For those who sign up before 1 October 2011, the following prices will be offered: * Attendee Registration 350, € * "Line" Flight Attendants 300, € * Exhibitors 650, € (One registration is provided with each booth space purchased. Each additional individual per booth is 250, €) "Ultimately, it is my goal to bring elite training, innovative workshops, and informative presentations to a forum that will allow the most current and beneficial information to cabin crew at all levels as well as airline safety departments," said Sharon Morphew. The ECSC is open for registration. Click here to sign up today. To continue to receive all of the most currently information about this event as it becomes available, including speakers, workshop topics, and more, sign up for the (L/D)max Aviation newsletter by visiting the company's homepage at www.ldmaxaviation.com. For more about (L/D)max Aviation Safety Group, visit: www.ldmaxaviation.com For more about Training Solution, visit: www.mytrainingsolution.de Contact: info@ldmaxaviation.com Toll Free: 877-455-3629 Local: 805-285-3629 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC