Flight Safety Information June 1, 2011 - No. 111 In This Issue FAA Chief Faces Heat For Controller Lapses Air France 'Black Boxes' Raise Questions About Pilots Response FAA to crack down on people who target planes with lasers Airplane annoyance leads to brouhaha in the skies over D.C Southwest B737 at Sacramento on May 31st 2011, engine shut down in flight Stalled AF447 did not switch to abnormal attitude law Alaska pilots not allowed to access Internet in the cockpit Qantas flight from Dallas/Fort Worth has to make fuel stop on Pacific island Boeing, FAA investigate 777 landing-gear installation problem ATR 72-600 receives EASA certification Ernest named president, CEO of Cessna unit Evergreen exits MRO business FAA Chief Faces Heat For Controller Lapses By Andy Pasztor With the annual surge in summer airline travel looming, Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt for months has been telling lawmakers and the flying public not to worry about a roughly 50% jump in reported air-traffic controller mistakes last year. He says the increase is largely attributable to more-accurate reporting systems. (WSJ) FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)Mr. Babbitt and other FAA officials are quick to emphasize that only a tiny sliver of the documented incidents - less than four dozen of some 1,900 "operational errors" in fiscal 2010 - posed a significant danger. Since the agency and the union representing 15,000 controllers agreed years ago on a voluntary-reporting system for errors, "we want people to report everything," according to Mr. Babbitt. But that trend, he told lawmakers, hasn't produced a comparable jump in the number of incidents classifed in the most serious category of jeopardizing safety. And looking ahead, the FAA chief said, "we're going to get more increases in error reporting" as controllers get more comfortable with the non-punitive reporting system. But passengers are hearing different signals from Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Recently, lawmakers and some outside analysts have cast doubts on the FAA's position, asserting that the statistics may point to certain deep-seated safety problems. As the debate continues, the fallout threatens to affect the credibility of both the agency and its administrator. At a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing last week, lawmakers expressed concerns that the FAA isn't doing a good enough job of determining and then tracking the root causes of controller slip-ups. Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, the panel's chairman, said the statistics, indeed, may reflect a troubling increase in errors. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas talked about a pattern of "alarming lapses" by controllers, including a handful recently caught sleeping on duty. Calvin Scovel, the Transportation Department's inspector general, challenging some of Mr. Babbitt's reassurances, questioned whether the agency has enough "alert, competent and certified controllers." Mr. Scovel also testified that "too many times," the FAA stops short of dissecting reasons behind controller errors and simply relies on a "cursory description" of possible causes. Only days before, the National Transportation Safety Board released a chilling report detailing the real-life meaning of the statistics. The board released a report about controller errors that resulted in a pair of near midair-collision between a US Airways Group Inc. jet carrying 95 people and a propeller cargo plane, both taking off last September from different runways at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Climbing away from the field into clouds, the planes initially came as close as 100 feet, with the jetliner's captain hearing the whine of the smaller plane's engines passing just below the cockpit. "What's this guy doing off the left side?" one of the surprised US Airways pilots blurted out seconds after the encounter. The controller later told investigators that based on experience, he expected the smaller plane, which had only one pilot aboard, to turn out of the way more quickly that it did. About two minutes after the close call, the same controller, who has acknowledged losing track of the turboprop, for the second time put the planes on intersecting paths, again by instructing the turboprop to turn on course that took it too close to the US Airways Airbus 320. The FAA subsequently revamped takeoff procedures in Minneapolis. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood consistently has voiced support for Mr. Babbitt. But the past few weeks of troubling incidents and negative media reports, along with impending controversial FAA rules on pilot fatigue and training, are bound to make this a politically hot summer for the FAA's leadership. Back to Top Air France 'Black Boxes' Raise Questions About Pilots Response Washington, D.C. -- The French government said Tuesday that 75 additional bodies have been recovered in the past week from the wreckage of Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil two years ago. More than half of the bodies of the 228 aboard have now been recovered. Recently released information from the plane's "black boxes" have raised questions about how the pilots responded when the plane's speed sensors failed. The cockpit voice recorder revealed that it was the youngest of three pilots on board who first took control of the Airbus A330 after speed indicators malfunctioned and the autopilot disengaged. When the stall warning went off, the 32-year-old co-pilot initially pointed the nose down as pilots are trained to do to pick up speed and lift. When he leveled off and a second stall warning sounded, he then pointed the nose up. The plane began to rock, then stalled and plummeted toward the Atlantic for nearly three and a half minutes. One minute before the plane hit the water, he handed over responsibility to the other co-pilot, who was 37 years-old, but by then it was too late. The captain of the flight, who at 58 year-old was the most experienced of the three, had rushed back to the cockpit from a rest break. It does not appear as though he ever retook the controls before the crash. An Air France official defended the pilots saying, "we had an optimal level of competency in this Air France plane's cockpit...they were not able to regain control of the plane after it stalled." It's not clear whether they could have saved the plane, but it is clear the pilots only had seconds to react. http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/177623/175/Air-France-Black-Boxes-Raise- Questions-About-Pilots-Response Back to Top FAA to crack down on people who target planes with lasers Los Angeles International Airport reported 102 laser events last year -- the highest number for a single airport in the U.S. (CNN) -- The FAA has seen the light. And it wants to put an end to it. Federal Aviation Administration officials on Wednesday plan to announce they will impose civil penalties on people who point lasers into the cockpit of aircraft. The number of pilots reporting being targeted by lasers nearly doubled last year to 2,836, up from 1,527 the previous year, the FAA said. Officials say the increase is likely attributable to the increased availability of cheap and powerful laser pointers, to the introduction of green lasers which are more easily seen, and to increased reporting of laser events by pilots. "Shining a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft is not a joke," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. "These lasers can temporarily blind a pilot and make it impossible to safely land the aircraft, jeopardizing the safety of the passengers and people on the ground." To date, the government has dealt with the problem largely through a hodgepodge of state and local laws. But on Wednesday, the FAA planned to release a legal interpretation concluding that laser beams can interfere with a flight crew performing its duties while operating an aircraft, a violation of federal aviation regulations. In the past, the FAA has used the regulation against passengers on board aircraft who interfere with an aircraft's crew. The maximum civil penalty the FAA can impose for violating the regulation is $11,000 per violation. "Our top priority is protecting the safety of the traveling public," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "We will not hesitate to take tough action against anyone who threatens the safety of our passengers, pilots and air transportation system." A bill that would criminalize purposefully aiming a laser device at aircraft is currently pending in Congress. While the problem is compounded by the difficulty of tracking down offenders, several individuals have been caught in recent years, usually with the assistance of local police officials in helicopters and on the ground. Last year, Los Angeles International Airport recorded 102 laser events -- the highest number of laser events in the country for a single airport. Chicago O'Hare International Airport was a close second, with 98 reports, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport tied for third with 80 each. So far this year, the Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth areas each have recorded more than 45 laser events, the FAA said. The Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston areas each have recorded more than 30 laser events. The FAA first began paying close attention to the issue in the mid-1990s. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates lasers, required outdoor laser light show operators to notify the FAA of proposed laser operations and resolve any objections that the FAA may have. In 2005, the FAA created a formal reporting system to collect information from pilots. During the first year in operation, nearly 300 reports were collected. Back to Top Airplane annoyance leads to brouhaha in the skies over D.C. Before things got out of hand, it was a typical annoyance that happens once a flight gets airborne: A passenger hit the recline button and sent his seat intimately close to the lap of the guy sitting behind him. What followed wasn't typical at all: a smack to the head, peacemakers diving about the cabin to intervene and a pair of Air Force F-16 fighter jets scrambling into the night skies over Washington. F-16s were scrambled Sunday night to escort a United Airlines flight en route to Ghana back to Dulles airport. In this audio between the pilot of the United flight and the control tower, the pilot is heard saying that an assault has taken place. It happened late Sunday, just after a United Airlines Boeing 767 bound for Ghana with 144 passengers took off from Dulles International Airport. Not long after the 10:44 p.m. departure for the overnight flight, the offending seat was lowered into the offended lap, and a fight ensued. A flight attendant and another passenger jumped in between, said sources familiar with the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details. The pilot has complete authority over the aircraft, a United spokesman said, and he decided to return to Dulles to sort things out rather than continue the transatlantic flight to Ghana when he was unsure of the scope of the problem. Airline and Homeland Security Department officials said they had no other details on the incident. Since Sept. 11, 2001, pilots have learned to be wary. In recent years, disturbances have revealed terrorist attempts to ignite explosives hidden in shoes and underwear. Air Force fighter jets stand ready to respond to situations such as this one, in which passengers, who might be terrorists, cause trouble in flight. A 767 can take off with 16,700 gallons of fuel, and for the more-than-5,000-mile flight to Accra, Ghana, it probably would have needed all of it. The full load of fuel weighs more than 57 tons, and, although a 767 can get that weight airborne, it can't land with it. As the plane turned back to Dulles, an air traffic controller directed the United pilot to fly around for about 25 minutes, shadowed by the fighter jets, to burn off an undetermined amount of fuel. Audio transmissions indicate that the two Air Force fighters scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base at 11:03 p.m, just as the plane reentered Washington airspace. Five minutes later, the fighter escorts took up position 1,000 feet above the jetliner as it headed toward Dulles, sources said. At 11:10 p.m., the controller asked about the passenger who slapped his neighbor, and a voice from the cockpit replied: "The passenger is not secured at this time; the passenger has settled down, though, but an assault has taken place, but at this time he is not secured." Members of the Dulles police force met the flight at the gate, said Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Officers determined that the incident didn't warrant pressing charges, Yingling said. It was probably expensive, however. In addition to the fuel cost - jet fuel averaged $3.03 a gallon last month - the flight was delayed until Monday. Given that no arrests were made, there was no official record of the incident, and the identities of the men involved were not known. It was unclear whether they were on the flight when it left Monday morning or, if so, where they sat, United spokesman Mike Trevino said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-common-airplane-annoyance-leads-to-a- costly-brouhaha-in-the-skies-over-dc/2011/05/31/AGrlMcFH_story.html Back to Top Incident: Southwest B737 at Sacramento on May 31st 2011, engine shut down in flight A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N439WN performing flight WN-691 from Sacramento,CA to Portland,OR (USA) with 137 passengers, climbed out of Sacramento's runway 16L when the crew reported they needed to shut an engine down. The airplane levelled off at 5500 feet and returned to Sacramento's runway 16L for a safe landing about 10 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-700 reached Portland with a delay of 90 minutes. The airline said the crew received an engine indication, declared emergency and returned to Sacramento as a precaution. http://avherald.com/h?article=43d71b37 Back to Top Stalled AF447 did not switch to abnormal attitude law Investigation into the accident sequence of Air France flight AF447 has revealed that the Airbus A330 did not enter the abnormal attitude law after it stalled, despite its excessive angle of attack. The abnormal attitude law is a subset of alternate law on the aircraft and is triggered when the angle of attack exceeds 30° or when certain other inertial parameters - pitch and roll - become greater than threshold levels. Alternate law allowed AF447's horizontal stabiliser to trim automatically 13° nose-up as the aircraft initially climbed above its assigned cruising altitude of 35,000ft. The stabiliser remained in this nose-up trim position for the remainder of the flight, meaning that the aircraft would have had a tendency to pitch up under high engine thrust. Crucially the abnormal attitude law - if adopted - would have inhibited the auto-trim function, requiring the crew to re-trim the aircraft manually. After stalling, the A330's angle of attack stayed above 35°. But while this exceeded the threshold for the abnormal attitude law, the flight control computers had already rejected all three air data reference units and all air data parameters owing to discrepancy in the airspeed measurements. Abnormal law could only have been triggered by an inertial upset, such as a 50° pitch- up or bank angle of more than 125°. "That never occurred," said French accident investigation agency Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses. The BEA is still attempting to explain why AF447's crew failed to rescue the aircraft after it climbed to 38,000ft and stalled. The pilot's control inputs were primarily nose- up, despite the stall condition. There has been no indication that the aircraft switched into any other control law, other than alternate, during the accident - suggesting that auto-trim was available throughout the descent. Failure to realise a need for manual re-trim was central to the loss of an Airbus A320 over the Mediterranean Sea about six months before the AF447 crash. The auto-trim had adjusted the horizontal stabiliser fully nose-up but, during a flight envelope test involving near-stall, the aircraft switched control laws and inhibited the auto-trim. Without manual re-trimming, the aircraft pitched up sharply as the crew applied maximum thrust. It stalled and the crew lost control. In its conclusions over the accident the BEA highlighted the rarity of the need to trim manually, which created a "habit" of having auto-trim available made it "difficult to return to flying with manual trimming". "One of the only circumstances in which a pilot can be confronted with the manual utilisation of the trim wheel is during simulator training," it said. "However, in this case, the exercises generally start in stabilised situations." In the wake of the A320 accident, near Perpignan in November 2008, the BEA recommended that safety regulators and manufacturers work to improve training and techniques for approach-to-stall situations, to ensure control of an aircraft in the pitch axis. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Alaska pilots not allowed to access Internet in the cockpit due to interference issue Alaska Airlines is not permitting its pilots to use their new iPads to access the Internet in the cockpit after witnessing Wi-Fi interference with Honeywell Phase 3 display units [DUs]. The carrier is distributing iPads to its pilots to replace paper flight manuals, and ultimately intends for the Apple tablets to be used as Class I electronic flight bags (EFBs). But accessing connectivity for real-time EFB applications - or for other uses - in the flightdeck will not be allowed in the near term in accordance with FAA guidance, an Alaska spokeswoman confirmed to ATI and Flightglobal. Honeywell Phase 3 display units last year showed themselves susceptible to blanking during electromagnetic interference testing of wireless broadband systems on Boeing Next Generation 737s. One of the conditions for 737NG operators to receive FAA supplemental type certification for Aircell's Gogo in-flight Internet solution is they must require that Wi-Fi devices be powered off in the flightdeck. Alaska, a customer of Gogo, operates an all-737 fleet. "We have experienced the same thing [interference]," revealed the Alaska spokeswoman, noting that the carrier has Honeywell Phase 3 DUs "in some of our aircraft" and as a result pilots "are not using the Internet with the iPads currently". A service bulletin to address the problem has not yet been tabled. Sources say the process is taking longer than expected. "It is our understanding that this [issue] is going to be addressed and it is going to be moved forward but we just don't know when," said the Alaska spokeswoman. The airline looks forward to eventually allowing pilots to access real-time EFB applications while in flight. "This is Chapter 1 and we're pretty excited about it, and we're hoping there is Chapter 2 for this, and taking it to the next step, but again things have to be rolled out and tested slowly. "Right now, the [device] is a document reader, and if we are allowed that Internet connectivity we can use it for another whole range of things." Boeing last year suspended linefit of cabin connectivity systems as a precautionary measure after the interference issue surfaced. Boeing and Honeywell could not be immediately reached for comment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Qantas flight from Dallas/Fort Worth has to make fuel stop on Pacific island Australian media are reporting that a Qantas Airways flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Brisbane on Sunday had to make a stop at Noumea, a Pacific island, to load on more jet fuel. The carrier blamed unusually strong headwinds that increased the fuel burn on the westward flight. Qantas spokesman Thomas Woodward told the Sydney Morning Herald: "They [the pilots] made a decision that it was better, as a precaution, to divert to Noumea and take more fuel on board, rather than continuing. As a result, they had to divert to Noumea to refuel, which led to a two-hour delay getting into Brisbane." Qantas began the flights on May 16. It flies nonstop from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth, with tailwinds reducing the fuel burn. Going back, it stops in Brisbane, Australia, before continuing on to Sydney. Newspapers there had previously reported that Qantas had left some passengers' bags behind in Dallas/Fort Worth to save weight on a previous flight to Brisbane. Noumea, New Caledonia, is 7,397 miles from D/FW and 916 miles from Brisbane. http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/05/qantas-flight-from-dallasfort.html Back to Top Boeing, FAA investigate 777 landing-gear installation problem Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating why a landing gear was improperly installed on a new 777 jet, leading to an emergency landing at Paine Field during a test flight in May. Boeing said Tuesday incorrect rigging of the landing gear during final assembly caused the incident. "It is a workmanship issue," said Boeing spokeswoman Debbie Heathers. She said mechanics are supposed to precisely follow an engineering document as they adjust the landing gear during assembly. "They didn't follow the instructions," she said, leaving "about a quarter-inch of play" in a mechanical part of the system. After the plane landed without incident, mechanics found a broken part in the landing gear. The same part has since been replaced on several other 777s, said Heathers. On May 23, Boeing voluntarily disclosed the incident to the FAA, said agency spokesman Allen Kenitzer. The pace of manufacturing work in Everett has recently increased. In May, production of the 777 ramped back up from five a month to seven a month. A Boeing employee familiar with the incident said self-inspection by mechanics is increasingly the norm within the factory, and no quality inspectors signed off on the work independently of the mechanics who rigged the landing gear. "This is a case of hurry up and get it done," the employee said. Heathers declined to comment on that criticism. The incident happened May 10 during a routine test flight on a 777 newly rolled out of the factory. During the flight, a cockpit warning message told the pilots the left main landing gear was not locked into place, said Heathers. The pilots returned to the airfield and flew low past the air traffic control tower for a visual inspection. Firetrucks were positioned at the edge of the runway as a precaution. However, the airplane landed safely. Heathers said mechanics inspected the jet's landing gear afterward and found that a cylindrical metal bearing called a bushing had broken. Mechanics replaced the bushing and engineers signed off on the airplane, which was delivered to Etihad Airways of the United Arab Emirates a few days later than planned. "As a precaution, we've been checking that part in other 777s, and in some cases we've been removing and replacing it," Heathers said. "Deliveries have been ongoing." Boeing must also determine if any 777s already in passenger service should be checked. Heathers said the Boeing investigation continues. "We're figuring out why it happened and what we have to do to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said. Separately, the FAA's Kenitzer said that an earlier review of manufacturing procedures at Boeing's factories in Renton and Everett is still going on a month after it started. That review came after metal shavings were discovered inside the fuel tank of a new Japan Airlines (JAL) 767 passenger jet during ground maintenance in April. The FAA is looking at Boeing's procedures for preventing what the industry calls FOD, or Foreign Object Debris, meaning any material or object that isn't supposed to be on the airplane when it leaves the factory. Both the FOD review and the inquiry into the landing-gear incident are "active issues" said Kenitzer. "We have follow-up investigations under way," he said. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015197570_boeing01.html Back to Top ATR 72-600 receives EASA certification European turboprop manufacturer ATR has received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification for its ATR 72-600. Flight testing of the latest model in the ATR range began in the summer of 2009. The certification process validated several new features in the ATR design including its new glass cockpit, plus communications and flight management systems. The -600 also includes a redesigned passenger cabin. ATR chief executive Filippo Bagnato said he was "very proud to see that the ATR 72- 600 is now on the brink of entering into service". First deliveries are due this summer to Royal Air Maroc, which has four of the type on order. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/05/31/357364/atr-72-600-receives-easa- certification.html Back to Top Ernest named president, CEO of Cessna unit PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Defense contractor Textron Inc. announced Tuesday that Scott Ernest has been named president and CEO of Cessna Aircraft Co., its general aviation business. He succeeds Jack Pelton, who is retiring. Ernest will report to Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly, the company said in a news release. Ernest is a 29-year veteran of General Electric Co., most recently as vice president and general manager of global supply chain for GE Aviation. In addition to Cessna, Textron run defense, industrial and finance businesses. Shares of Providence-based Textron, whose brands also include Bell Helicopter and Lycoming engines, rose 41 cents, or 1.8 percent, to end trading Tuesday at $22.88. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9NIN5KG0.htm Back to Top Evergreen exits MRO business US investor Relativity Capital is to acquire MRO provider Evergreen Maintenance Center (EMC) in Arizona from parent company Evergreen International Aviation. The operation includes aircraft disassembly and 20 million ft² (1.8 million m²) of parking for more than 400 aircraft. Evergreen will continue to induct its Boeing 747s for heavy maintenance checks at EMC, said Delford Smith, founder and owner of Evergreen International Aviation. The cargo airline operates 10 747s, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC