Flight Safety Information June 22, 2011 - No. 127 In This Issue Substitute Pilot at Controls in Crash Court Rebuffs Flight 447 Families Paris-Tokyo in 2˝ noiseless hours by hypersonic jet FAA inspections fault Philippine repair station Southwest pilot suspended for slur-laced rant on air-traffic frequency Jumbo Jets in Near Miss at JFK Ex-pilot convicted of being drunk on flight in 2009 Embry-Riddle Introduces UAS Bachelor's Degree Substitute Pilot at Controls in Crash A plane and flight crew that crashed while trying to land in thick fog at Karelia's capital, killing 44 of the 52 people on board, were provided by a U.S.-affiliated charter airline as a replacement for a smaller jet after too many passengers bought tickets. The pilot rejected instructions from the air traffic controller to abort the landing just before midnight Monday on the flight from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, moments before the Tu-134 jet rammed into a highway and soon after exploded into what an eyewitness described as "a pillar of fire." Local residents managed to pull eight people out of the wreckage before the blaze, including a mother and her two children, aged 9 and 14. At least nine foreigners, including a Florida-based family of four, were among those who died in the crash. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov indicated that pilot error was to blame, drawing a comparison to the crash of a Polish presidential plane in thick fog in the Smolensk region last year. The Moscow-Petrozavodsk flight was initially supposed to be operated by the RusLine airline on a Bombardier CRJ200, which has 50 seats. But too many people bought tickets, so RusLine called in RusAir to handle the flight with a 66-seat Tu-134 on Friday, RusLine spokeswoman Svetlana Yakovleva said by telephone. "RusLine doesn't have a Tu-134," Yakovleva said, without specifying how many tickets had been sold. Several passengers missed the flight, because only 44 passengers checked in - enough to fill the Bombardier jet. Lifenews.ru said at least four people, all employees of the same company, did not show up. Yakovleva said RusAir provided the Tu-134 jet along with the crew. RusAir officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. The airline's web site said the ill-fated jet was built in 1980, had flown about 40,000 hours with 25,000 landings, and was obtained by the airline earlier this year. The airline presents itself as a "VIP-class" operator affiliated with Highland, New York- based Clintondale Aviation, which specializes in charter flights in Russia and Kazakhstan. Established in 1994 as CGI Aero, the airline was renamed RusAir in 2002. Crash investigators were trying to determine Tuesday what happened in the moments before the crash near Petrozavodsk's Besovets Airport, 640 kilometers northwest of Moscow. Preliminary findings suggest that the jet grazed a power line, slammed into trees and finally hit the highway next to the airport. The plane crashed after it "steered off course and started an early descent" just 700 meters from the runway, said Federal Air Navigation Agency chief Alexander Neradko, according to Itar-Tass. In addition to pilot error, crash investigators were considering equipment malfunction, poor weather conditions or error by airport personnel. The plane's flight recorders were recovered and sent to Moscow for examination, the Federal Air Navigation Agency said. Besovets Airport director Alexei Kuzmitsky blamed the crew, saying the air traffic controller had asked the pilot to "make a go around" but the pilot refused, Interfax said. The air traffic controller, Sergei Shmatkov, said visibility around the airport was "minimal" but not too poor to land. The final decision was in the pilot's hands, and he told Shmatkov "that he would land the aircraft manually at his own risk," Shmatkov told Lifenews.ru. The pilot did not survive the crash. Early reports said the runway lights were switched off for about 10 seconds before the crash, but the Federal Air Navigation Agency said the power outage actually came after the jet hit the power line. 'Pillar of Fire' Fragments of the plane were scattered as far as 300 meters from the crash site, investigators said. Photographs released by the Emergency Situations Ministry showed some debris landed a mere 100 meters away from two cottages. A piece of wing and an overturned part of chassis could be seen lying nearby. Gruesome footage from the site, shot by Russia Today television, showed body parts amid the burning wreckage. "I've never seen such a horrible scene in my life," said Olga Mimmiyeva, an editor with local weekly Petrozavodsk, who arrived at the crash site about an hour after the crash. "Severely burned and dismembered bodies were scattered around the scene," she said by telephone, adding that "an insane pillar of fire was glowing over the wreck." She said "visibility was horrible" because of very thick fog. Even driving her car on familiar roads to the crash site posed a serious challenge, she said. Petrozavodsk, which was to celebrate its annual City Day holiday on Tuesday, canceled it, and the governor declared three days of mourning for the entire region. Casualties Residents of the Besovets village managed to save eight people, including the mother and her 9-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter, Interfax said. Of the nine crewmembers, a flight attendant survived, as did travel agent Alexandra Kargopolova, who was flying to Petrozavodsk to show her two-meter-long pet boa constrictor to her parents, Lifenews.ru said. The snake did not survive. Of the eight survivors, seven were hospitalized in serious condition on Tuesday night, RIA-Novosti said. Five were airlifted to Moscow hospitals, while two others could not be transported and remained in Petrozavodsk. Among the 44 people dead were the wife and two daughters of Igor Osipov, head of Coca-Cola's Volgograd office, the local Pervaya Gazeta reported. The businessman, who had driven to Petrozavodsk by car, was waiting for their arrival at the airport at the time of the crash. Also killed was one of the Premier League's top football referees, Vladimir Pettai, 38, and five senior officials with Rosatom subsidiaries, news reports said. The dead foreigners included Alexander Simanov, a computer programmer who lived and worked in Florida, and his wife and two daughters, Lifenews.ru said. The four had dual U.S.-Russian citizenship. The other foreigners were Jakob Vetterut of Sweden, Alerds Hans Guenter of the Netherlands, and Vargam Simovyan and Kristina Onishchenko of Ukraine, according to a Russian-language statement from the Emergency Situations Ministry. The Swedish citizen, Vetterut, was himself a rescue worker who was traveling to Petrozavodsk to attend a conference, emergency officials said. The German Foreign Ministry said one more victim had dual Russian-German citizenship. It did not elaborate, but media reports identified him as 54-year-old Oleg Hartvig, head of a Petrozavodsk-based geological company. Just Like Katyn Deputy Prime Minister Ivanov, who oversees transportation affairs in the government, compared the crash to the one near Smolensk that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in April 2010. "Unfortunately, this resembles the crash of the Polish aircraft near Smolensk," Ivanov said in Paris while visiting the Paris Air Show, RIA-Novosti reported. Kaczynski's Tu-154 jet hit trees and crashed under unclear circumstances. Russian investigators have blamed the crash solely on the Polish pilots, while Poland said Russian air traffic controllers and the airport's outdated navigation equipment also played a role. The Tu-154 is a larger model of the Tu-134, both of which were workhorses of Soviet aviation and praised by experts as safe aircraft. Ivanov said pilot error was the most likely explanation for the Tu-134 crash. But Transportation Minister Igor Levitin appeared to chide Ivanov several hours later, calling on government officials to keep to themselves any "personal conclusions" and wait for the results of the official inquiry, RIA-Novosti reported. President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin limited themselves Tuesday to expressing their condolences. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/substitute-pilot-at-controls-in- crash/439315.html Back to Top Court Rebuffs Flight 447 Families Judge In Northern California Says Claims Should Be Filed In French Courts A judge in northern California has ruled that claims brought by the families of those lost on Air France flight 447 in 2009 can not be filed in U.S. courts, and reportedly places stringent limits on the damages they may expect to recover. Attorneys for some of the plaintiffs in a suit which targets U.S. companies which manufactured parts on the Airbus A330 which went down in thunderstorms over the Atlantic ocean said they should be able to seek damages in U.S. courts. But the Wall Street Journal reports that Judge Charles Breyer upheld his previous decision that the law required the case to be heard in France. He also said that was a better venue because French authorities were conducting a detailed investigation into the accident. Those American companies, with names like Honeywell and GE, have also said that the case has strong connections with France. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say they will determine next week whether to appeal Breyer's decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. FMI: www.cand.uscourts.gov Back to Top Paris-Tokyo in 2˝ noiseless hours by hypersonic jet Eads presents its new jet concept at the 49th International Paris Air Show, at Le Bourget, yesterday. The European aerospace group is continuing to develop the jet, which takes off from a standard runway but uses rocket boosters to soar above the atmosphere. The aircraft is unlikely to be ready for commercial use before 2050. FANCY TRAVELLING from Paris to Tokyo in 2˝ hours? What if the aircraft was soundless and caused hardly any pollution? Eight years after the era of supersonic flight came to an end with Concorde's last transatlantic crossing, the European aerospace group Eads - which owns aircraftmaker Airbus - has gone one better by confirming it is developing a hypersonic jet that takes off from a standard runway but uses rocket boosters to soar above the atmosphere. "It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that the aerodynamics of the 1960s were very smart," Jean Botti, Eads's chief technical officer, said at the Paris air show, where details of the audacious project were revealed. The concept, known as Zehst (zero emission high speed transport), is being developed in collaboration with Japan. Like Concorde, it would be designed primarily for the business market and could carry 50-100 passengers. According to Eads, the aircraft will take off conventionally using a standard turbofan engine burning an algae-derived biofuel, before rocket boosters kick in to start a sharp ascent, sending the aircraft soaring into the stratosphere. Ramjet engines, currently used in missiles, will then take the aircraft up to altitudes of 32km - more than three times higher than standard passenger jets today. The hypersonic plane will have cruising speeds beyond Mach 4 (nearly 5,000km/h), or four times the speed of sound and more than twice that of the now-defunct Concorde. After a gliding descent, the turbofans will reignite for landing. It may sound like science fiction, but Eads says its confidence is founded on the fact that the technology is mostly already in place. "Zehst has no novelty - it is all things that have been created before," Mr Botti said. By flying above the atmosphere and using biofuel to get the aircraft off the ground initially, the group hopes to avoid the supersonic boom and pollution for which Concorde was notorious. "When you are above the atmosphere, nobody hears anything," Mr Botti remarked. Despite releasing images of a jet that looks strikingly similar to the Concorde, Eads have stressed Zehst's singularity. Whereas higher oil prices today would make Concorde uneconomical, the key technological advance in the Zehst is its cleanliness. The maker believes it can fuel the jet off hydrogen and oxygen, resulting in zero emissions. The concept project comes as companies such as Virgin Galactic pursue plans to take paying customers on commercial space flights, and Zehst itself is being developed using research from Eads's space arm Astrium. Unlike Virgin Galactic customers, however, Eads says Zehst would have a maximum acceleration of 1.2G, meaning passengers will not need any specific equipment or training in order to fly. With Boeing, the US rival of Eads-owned Airbus, also planning its own hypersonic jet, the scene is now set for a battle to design a new post-Concorde icon of passenger travel. Developed in the 1960s, Concorde heralded a new age of supersonic travel, but its promise was never fulfilled. Jointly developed by France and the UK, and put in service in 1976, the aircraft reached a cruising speed of 1,350mph (2,175km/h), or twice the speed of sound, at a height of 60,000ft (18,000m). The distinctive droop-nosed aircraft was grounded after a Continental Airlines Concorde crashed near Paris in July 2000, killing 113 people. It subsequently returned to service, but with declining air travel demand following the September 11th terrorist attacks, rising fuel prices and soaring maintenance costs, the programme faltered. The last commercial flight was in October 2003. The Zehst research has been sponsored by the Direction Générale de L'Aviation Civile, a French agency, and Eads officials were yesterday due to meet with their Japanese colleagues to see what the project's next steps should be. Anyone looking forward to splash out the suitably stratospheric price of a rocket- powered flight from Paris to Tokyo flight will have to wait a while, however. Eads expects to have a demo in place by 2020, but an aircraft ready for commercial use is unlikely before 2050. "We're not talking about a product that we launch in the next few years," said Eads chief executive Louis Gallois. "We have to see about security, the integration of different technologies and how man reacts to it." http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0622/1224299382658.html Back to Top FAA inspections fault Philippine repair station WASHINGTON (AP) - A repair station in the Philippines that services planes for nearly 50 airlines around the world has shown a pattern of stubborn problems that safety experts say underscore concerns about the airline industry's outsourcing of maintenance to facilities in developing countries. The Federal Aviation Administration inspections of Lufthansa Technik Philippines in Manila said the facility had repeated difficulties in following U.S. regulations on matters ranging from record-keeping to calibrating tools used to make repairs. The records, which cover inspections from 2008 through last month, also cite recurring problems with training workers to FAA standards and unfamiliarity by in-house inspectors at Lufthansa Technik, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Airlines, with U.S. regulations. Lufthansa Technik's "quality assurance department demonstrated an inability to effectively audit the repair station for compliance with all aspects of (U.S. regulations), specifically, appropriate facilities, tools/equipment, personnel and training requirements," according to an inspection in May. A 2009 inspection noted that two in-house inspectors were unfamiliar with FAA aircraft maintenance regulations. The inspectors had recently received four hours of training in the regulations, but weren't tested for their knowledge afterward, it said. The same inspection noted that "throughout the repair station numerous personnel are not aware of which airline they are providing maintenance for" and which country's regulations applied. The reports show problems scattered throughout the facility rather than in one department, which indicates the problems are systemic, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and an expert on aircraft maintenance. The result, he said, is an erosion of the margin of safety. "As they expand into Third World countries to take advantage of the labor rates and lower costs these problems keep coming back because you just don't have the people infrastructure," Goglia said. "How many trained people do you think there are the Philippines, in Malaysia and in Indonesia? They are expanding a big operation with a relatively thin technical workforce." The Manila facility employs 2,800 aircraft mechanics and other employees. It's certified by the FAA and aviation authorities from 20 nations to perform maintenance work ranging from routine repairs to major overhauls, according to Lufthansa Technik. The company recently began construction of a new hangar so that Airbus A380s - the world's largest airliner capable of seating up to 853 passengers - can be serviced at the facility. The records were obtained from the FAA through a Freedom of Information Act request by a labor union, Unite Here, which represents employees of Lufthansa's catering subsidiary in North America, SkyChef. The union and the airline are in contract negotiations. "None of the mentioned FAA audit findings had significant impact on safety and reliability of aircraft and components," Lufthansa Technik said in a statement. "Each finding has been treated as an opportunity to enhance the existing system, as it is an industry standard to deal with findings from internal and external audits," the statement said. "Corrective actions have always been implemented and accepted by the FAA." However, the report on last month's inspection said numerous problems cited in an August 2010 inspection still had not been corrected. "An acceptable corrective plan has been submitted, but due to recent failures, an on-site follow-up inspection ... is required," it said. Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, an industry-supported group that promotes aviation safety worldwide, said the inspections indicate Lufthansa Technik Philippines has a problem with quality control, but he cautioned against making more general judgments about offshore aircraft repair stations. "It's a huge leap to suggest this is representative of all foreign repair stations," Voss said. "I'm not sure offshore equals bad." The FAA said in a statement that it holds foreign repair facilities to the same standards as U.S. facilities. Repair facilities that don't meet those standards can lose their certification. The FAA has certified Lufthansa Technik Philippines for repairs since 2000. The Transportation Department Office of Inspector General announced in December it has launched an investigation of the FAA's oversight of maintenance performed for U.S. passenger airlines by outside contractors, including oversight of overseas repair stations. A 2008 report by the inspector general said nine big U.S. airlines farm out aircraft maintenance at twice the rate of four years earlier and hire outside contractors for more than 70 percent of major work. While most of the outsourced work is still done in the U.S., often at nonunion repair shops, more than one-quarter of the repairs are done overseas, it said. A bill backed by House Democrats that would have required the FAA to step up inspections of foreign repair stations from once a year to twice a year died last year. It was opposed by the European Union, which threatened to cut back on planes its airlines send to repair facilities in the U.S. Lufthansa, one of the world's largest airlines, owns 51 percent of Lufthansa Technik Philippines, while the Philippine MacroAsia Corp. owns 49 percent. The only U.S. carrier that sends planes to Lufthansa Technik Philippines for major maintenance work is Hawaiian Airlines, which flies to destinations in the Western United States, the Pacific and Asia. Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Qantas, LAN, Philippine Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Vietnam Airlines, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Jet Airways are among some of the other airlines that use the facility for major work. Back to Top Southwest pilot suspended for slur-laced rant on air-traffic frequency USA TODAY - Southwest Airlines says it has suspended a pilot after he went an obscenity-laden misogynistic and homophobic rant from the cockpit, CBS 2 of Houston reports. The March 25 rant was inadvertently broadcast over a Houston air traffic control frequency after the pilot failed to shut off his flight's communications link with air traffic control, a move that also tied up the frequency for other flights in the area, according to CBS 2. CBS 2 says the unidentified pilot "could be heard talking to his co-pilot in the cockpit, expressing frustration over the airline hiring so many flight attendants that he found to be unsuitable for dating." "A continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes," the pilot could be heard saying from the cockpit via the Houston Center air traffic control frequency. "Eleven (expletive) over-the-top (expletive) ass (expletive) homosexuals and a granny," the pilot continued, all while complaining that there were so few flight attendants that would be up to his standards. In listening to the audio (bleep-heavy, but still graphic) the pilot seemed to disregard whether any of the potential attendants might be married. An air traffic controller tried to interrupt the pilots rant several times, though the pilot appeared to be unaware of the attempts. CBS 2 says the tape become public after "air traffic controllers in Houston first alerted Federal Aviation Administration supervisors on March 25, 2011, around 1:30 p.m. and those supervisors forwarded a tape of the episode to Southwest Airlines to take action against the pilot." In some of the additional "color" provided by the pilot, he refers to Houston as "one of the ugliest bases," consisting of "just a handful of cute chicks." After the rant ended, several other pilots on the frequency were quick to say the rant didn't come from their flight. Another apparently appalled pilot, from SkyWest, added: "They wonder why airline pilots have a bad reputation." Speaking about the incident, the FAA issued a statement to CBS 2 saying "the incident occurred during a phase of flight in which personal conversations are permitted in the cockpit." However, the FAA did not appear to be pleased with what had happened. "Nevertheless, the FAA expects a higher level of professionalism from flight crews, regardless of the circumstances," the statement concluded. Southwest spokeswoman responded to CBS 2 in an e-mail, saying it would not provide details of the pilot's punishment because it considered the incident to be "family matter." However, King did say "we've built our Company's reputation on the Golden Rule: treating others as you would like to be treated. The actions of this Pilot are, without question, inconsistent with the professional behavior and overall respect that we require from our Employees." She said the pilot was suspended without pay, and was reinstated only after undergoing diversity training. "He will continue to undergo regular diversity and inclusion education as part of his recurrent training," King added in the e-mail. Back to Top Jumbo Jets in Near Miss at JFK Air traffic control tower audio conveys the frightening exchange between the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport and a Lufthansa flight as the airbus came dangerously close to colliding with another jet. The incident happened at about 6:30 p.m. Monday when an EgyptAir pilot apparently did not follow air traffic control instructions to hold short of its taxiway and veered into the path of the other plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. "Egypt Air 986, a B777, did not follow ATC instructions to hold short of Taxiway D. As a result, air traffic canceled the takeoff clearance for Lufthansa 411, an A346 on Runway 22R," FAA spokesman spokesman Jay Blackman said. The Lufthansa flight had been cleared for take-off moments before the EgyptAir plane veered into its path, and the pilots had to slam on the brakes to avoid a crash, reports The New York Post. "Cancel take off! Cancel take-off plans!" shouted an air controller who saw the Munich- bound Lufthansa plane barreling toward the EgyptAir flight. It wasn't immediately clear how close the planes came to each other. "The closest proximity still is being determined as part of our ongoing investigation," Blackman said. The Lufthansa plane was taken off the runway for a brake inspection following the incident, and ended up departing about an hour and 40 minutes behind schedule. It landed safely in Munich. A Lufthansa spokesperson said the jet was carrying 286 passengers, plus crew, at the time of the incident. EgyptAir declined the Post's requests for comment, but the paper reports the airline's jets can carry up to 346 passengers in addition to crew. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Jumbo-Jets-in-Near-Miss-at-JFK-- 124341539.html?dr Back to Top Ex-pilot convicted of being drunk on flight in 2009 (CNN) -- A former commercial pilot has been found guilty of charges that he was intoxicated while co-piloting a flight from Austin, Texas, to Denver in 2009, a federal prosecutor announced Tuesday. Aaron Jason Cope, 32, was found guilty of operating a common carrier under the influence of alcohol and faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000, according to a statement from John F. Walsh, U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado. The conviction was handed down by District Court Judge John R. Tunheim last week after a bench trial June 6-7. Cope was the first officer aboard United Express Flight 7687 on the morning of December 8, 2009. According to court documents, the flight's captain, Robert Obodzinski, testified that although his co-pilot "appeared to be thinking and speaking clearly, every few minutes during the flight (Obodzinski) detected an unusual odor, which he eventually concluded was the smell of an alcoholic beverage." When the plane arrived in Denver, Obodzinski testified, he "leaned over and took a big whiff" and determined that the odor was coming from Cope. Cope had been the "monitoring" pilot on the flight and thus had not manipulated the plane's controls. However, he was scheduled to fly the Embraer 170 aircraft on the next flight. The Embraer 170 has a seating capacity of 70 to 80 people. Once Cope returned to the cockpit after conducting a post-flight inspection, Obodzinski reportedly told him, "if you have any problem taking a Breathalyzer, call off sick and get out of here," to which Cope replied, "Well, I guess I better call off sick then." Obodzinski, who had been on the phone with superiors while Cope was doing the inspection, was directed by his company to escort the co-pilot to an alcohol testing facility in Denver International Airport's main terminal, according to trial documents. There, his blood alcohol content was found to be 0.094%, more than twice the FAA- prohibited level of 0.04% for any crew member of a civil aircraft. Republic Airways prohibits any crew member from working with a blood alcohol level above 0.02%. At the testing facility, according to testimony, Cope admitted that he had gone to a bar with a friend and also bought beer from a gas station near the hotel where he, Obodzinski and two flight attendants had stayed the previous night. United Express is the name under which several regional airlines operate flights for United Airlines. Flight 7687 was operated by Shuttle America, which is a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings. Back to Top Embry-Riddle Introduces UAS Bachelor's Degree Pilot, Non-Pilot Tracks Cover All Aspects Of UAS Operations Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach campus will launch a B.S. in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Science degree program in the Fall 2011 semester. Open to U.S. citizens who have a basic background in math and physics, this new program is designed to help meet the growing demand for skilled UAS pilots and operators. Unmanned aircraft are becoming crucial tools for fire-fighting, disaster relief, law enforcement, and military expeditions, among others, mainly because they keep pilots out of harm's way while allowing those pilots to perform as well as they would if they were inside the cockpit. Ted Beneigh, professor of aeronautical science and program coordinator of the new degree, said, "Embry-Riddle stands ready to provide educated,well-qualified personnel to this new and important field that promises to revolutionize aviation." The B.S. in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Science will focus on the operations aspect of UAS, preparing students for such roles as pilot, observer, sensor operator, or operations administrator. The program offers two tracks - the pilot track is for students who are interested in flight operations from the pilot's perspective, while the non-pilot track is for students seeking a career as a sensor operator or a support position. Both tracks will cover basic engineering topics, hazardous and long-duration operations, international airspace, and regulatory restrictions in the United States. FMI: www.erau.edu Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC