Flight Safety Information July 7, 2011 - No. 136 In This Issue US group tasked to study pilot fatigue needs more data to draw conclusions Australian Authorities To Seek Extension Of Tiger Airways Suspension Air traffic control celebrates 75 years Saudia B747 Emergency Landing Many Airlines Go Radio Silent on Pilot Fatigue: Study DGCA lays trap, busts fake pilot training institute in Delhi (India) Flying car cleared for highway use Man arrested at Ontario airport with loaded gun Southwest cites exhaust issue in emergency landing Marine helicopter crashes in Ca. training; 1 dead Airbus claims 'biggest order in aviation history' Robert H. Widmer, Designer of Military Aircraft, Dies at 95 US group tasked to study pilot fatigue needs more data to draw conclusions An interim report by the US National Academy of Sciences examining the effects of pilot fatigue acknowledges that travel across multiple time zones could exacerbate commuting-related fatigue, but overall, "there is paucity of information on the nature of commutes or how commuting affects factors that connect sleep and performance". A US Congressional mandate issued in 2010 required the US FAA to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study of pilot commuting and its effects on fatigue, following highly-publicised reports of one pilot commuting across the country prior to the February 2009 crash of a Colgan Air Bombardier Q400. The NAS study also is designed to be used by FAA in its final rulemaking revising regulations covering work and duty hours. Acknowledging little information exists on pilot commuting, the committee assembled by the academy to study the issue requested input from pilot and airline associations and passenger groups to a series of specific questions the committee was asked to review. "A case could be made that the committee should ideally acquire systematic data to quantify the prevalence and characteristics of pilots and their commutes," the study stated. "However, developing, testing, implementing and analysing a pilot survey to acquire such data would require an extended timeframe that well exceeds the time and resources available to the committee." Instead going forward the academy's committee said it is relying on data it can obtain from various aviation sources, including the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In the interim phase of the research airlines were asked to supply data on pilot domiciles and home zip codes to allow the committee to obtain estimates of commutes on an individual level. However, "very little information was available at the time of this interim report". Overall, based on comments and documents collected by the committee to date, "pilots believe that pilot fatigue is a safety concern," said the report. "However, the extent and circumstances under which commuting contributes to fatigue remain unclear." The final report issued by the committee will include recommended changes to FAA regulations, research priorities and "promising practices". Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Australian Authorities To Seek Extension Of Tiger Airways Suspension CASA Would Extend Suspention Of The Airline Until August 1st The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia says it plans to ask an Australian federal court to extend the suspension of Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd until August 1st. The application will be lodged at the Federal Court in Melbourne. CASA suspended Tiger Airways Australia's operations on July 2nd because it believed permitting the airline to continue to fly posed a serious and imminent risk to air safety. The suspension of Tiger Airways Australia's operations remains in place at until either the Federal Court refuses CASA's application or CASA withdraws it. If CASA completes its investigations and determinations before August 1st and is satisfied Tiger Airways Australia no longer poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety it may be possible for it to resume operations earlier. CASA is making the application to the Court because investigations into Tiger Airways Australia will not be completed by the end of the initial five working day suspension period. The agency says it will continue to work in a constructive and co-operative manner with Tiger Airways Australia during the investigation. FMI: http://casa.gov.au Back to Top Air traffic control celebrates 75 years Federal air traffic control started in 1936 with 15 employees Today more than 15,000 controllers balance traffic with capacity in U.S. airspace In 1936, the fastest coast-to-coast flight lasted about 17 hours; now it lasts five hours (CNN) -- It's summer and vacation planning is in full swing. While dreaming of sun and sand or mountains and lakes, many travelers forget that flying carries some uncertainties. That's where air traffic control comes in. And today the Federal Aviation Administration is celebrating 75 years since 15 federal workers started operating in three control centers in 1936. The first control centers were in Chicago, Cleveland and Newark, New Jersey. Now there are more than 300 federal air traffic control facilities and more than 15,000 controllers. "As a pilot, I am in awe of the aviation safety and technological advancements that have been made in the last 75 years," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. A sweeping overhaul of the air traffic system, called NextGen, will make aviation even safer and more efficient, Babbitt said. The system will transition from using ground-based radars to satellite technology The anniversary comes at a time of year when severe weather can make getting to any destination a challenge. It's thunderstorms that ramp up the business of air traffic control, Babbitt told CNN. Babbitt, the FAA's 16th administrator and a veteran pilot, is no stranger to dealing with air traffic in bad weather. Standing in the middle of the operations at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Northern Virginia, he explained how today's controllers plan air traffic for the entire country, taking into consideration how weather and other events will affect traffic patterns. "The beauty that we have here is the ability for us all to see it and view all the information together. So everyone who has an interest in the solution, you know, what are we going to do with the traffic, has situational awareness. How we are going to reroute traffic? It all comes together here," Babbitt said. When the system started in 1936, the fastest plane in the commercial fleet was the Douglas DC-3. A coast-to-coast flight lasted about 17 hours in this aircraft, which carried 21 passengers. Today, jets carry hundreds of passengers on each flight from New York to Los Angeles in about five hours. FAA, air traffic controllers agree on new fatigue rules About 50,000 aircraft are in U.S. airspace each day, carrying about 1.7 million passengers. The command center in northern Virginia is staffed round the clock with controllers balancing traffic demand with system capacity. Specialists work with others in the aviation industry to minimize flight delays and congestion and maximize the overall use of the airspace. "They can see the overall traffic issues. They can see what's happening to traffic and take early action to reroute people and minimize delays," Babbitt said. Most controllers don't actually see the aircraft they are managing, but instead monitor radar screens at locations throughout the country. Controllers link up with flight crews by radio once their planes are airborne. They are responsible for aircraft in between airports and use sophisticated tracking systems to maintain a safe distance between planes. The summer travel season can be more challenging because of unpredictable weather, said Terry Biggio, an FAA air traffic manager at the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Center in Hampton, Georgia. Can technology fix air traffic troubles? "Starting March 1, severe weather season will start. It will go until August and most of September. So you might get some gridlock at the airport. We actually take a look at this particular picture, this graphing, and help free up the gridlock. The coordination takes place here," Biggio said. So if you are traveling this summer and you're sitting at the airport and it's a clear blue sky, you still may experience delays due to unforeseen weather in other parts of the country. But on this 75th anniversary, just as every day, the job of air traffic control is to minimize troubles in the sky. Back to Top Saudia B747 Emergency Landing Date: 06-JUL-2011 Time: Type: Boeing 747-468 Operator: Saudi Arabian Airlines Registration: HZ-AIV C/n / msn: 28339/1122 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 200 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: None Location: Enroute near Chennai, India - India Phase: En route Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Kuala Lumpur International Airport - WMKK Destination airport: King Abdulaziz International Airport - OEJN Narrative: A Jeddah-bound Saudi Airlines plane with about 200 passengers on board today made an emergency landing here after pilots noticed smoke emanating from the cockpit. Airport sources here said the pilots noticed smoke mid-air when the aircraft SV-841 was on its way from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KMKK) to King Abdulaziz International Airport (OEJN), Jeddah and it was allowed to make an emergency landing at Chennai International Airport (VOMM). The passengers were evacuated to safety, sources said. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the aircraft was taken to an isolation bay, they said. Back to Top Many Airlines Go Radio Silent on Pilot Fatigue: Study When a Congress-backed committee attempted to gather data on pilot commutes and dangerous fatigue, dozens of airlines failed to respond, according to a study released today by the National Research Council. The report concluded that pilot commutes could contribute to fatigue that may endanger passengers, but there was not enough data to support strict regulation. Although the report was sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, when the NRC asked 84 airlines, from major passenger carriers to regional and cargo airlines, to provide data on their pilots' commute and fatigue policies, only 33 airlines responded at all and only some of those answered, or could answer, all of the questions they were asked. "The problem is that we just don't know what proportion of pilots are commuting in an irresponsible manner," said Clint Oster, chairman of the research committee. "For whatever reason, I don't think [airlines] know the commuting patterns of their pilots because they have never had a reason to collect it." Six unidentified airlines did directly address the issue of problematic commuting causing fatigue -- three said it "never" significantly affects a pilot's fitness for duty and three others saying it is "not minimal" and can be problematic. Congress requested the report after the fatal 2009 crash in Buffalo, New York, which claimed the lives of 50 people. "That's unacceptable. No wonder we don't have this data. It shows the airlines really don't want to know," she told ABC News. The study said the "relatively modest" response rate from airlines was due to the "extremely short turnaround" of a few weeks between sending the requests and holding meetings on them, but former Continental Express Jet pilot Josh Verde, said it showed an "unwillingness to help." "Everyone has something to lose if [pilot commuting] gets regulated and increases costs," Verde told ABC News. "What bothers me about this story is that they're all aware of the safety ramifications but are willing to put it aside because of other motives they have, quality of life and keeping costs down." An ABC News investigation in February found that large numbers of pilots report to duty every day after getting only a few hours of what fatigue experts call "destructive sleep" in crowded crew lounges and so-called dormitory-style "crash pads." Over the course of the ABC News investigation, current and former pilots described missing radio calls, entering incorrect readings in instruments and even falling asleep in mid-flight as a result of airline scheduling practices and long-distance commuting. In the past 20 years, more than two dozen accidents and more than 250 fatalities have been linked to pilot fatigue, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Undercover video of crew lounges taken by pilots and provided to ABC News shows pilots sleeping overnight in chairs and on sofas. The practice is contrary to airline rules and also contradicts what the head of the FAA said he was told by industry representatives. "We're getting a different answer than you're getting, so somewhere there's a gap," FAA administrator Randy Babbitt told ABC News in February. "We asked the carriers themselves -- they're their crew lounges -- is this going on or not? We're not getting the kind of answer you are." "They're telling us it simply isn't going on," Babbitt said. Inside Pilot Crash Pads In so-called "crash pads," stacks of triple-decker bunk beds are crammed into apartments within blocks of most major airports, part of an underground world that is secret only to the public. Inside one crash pad near LaGuardia airport in New York, there are 28 beds in all in a three-story row home -- "hot bunks" that rent for $25 a night. In September 2010, the FAA proposed new rules to help ensure pilots get enough rest before flights, including allowing others to assess whether a pilot is fatigued, but the new study found there was no "valid and reliable" way to do that. Moreover, it said the FAA needs to know more about pilots' commute to effectively combat fatigue. "Some commutes have the potential to contribute to fatigue in pilots, and fatigue can pose a safety risk, but at this point we simply don't know very much about actual pilots' commuting practices," said NRC committee chair Clint Oster, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington. "Airlines and FAA should gather more information on pilots' commutes, and also work with pilots to lower the likelihood that fatigue from commuting will be a safety risk." Verde said that the suggestion the FAA should gather more information is a "cop out." "If ABC News can get photos and statements from pilots on what conditions are like, then how is it that this organization doing a scientific study can't get this data?" he said. "Had we had more information we could have come up with some more helpful insight. We knew going into it was going to be difficult," Oster said. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/airlines-radio-silent-pilot-fatigue- study/story?id=14009295&page=2 Back to Top DGCA lays trap, busts fake pilot training institute in Delhi (India) NEW DELHI: After fake pilots, brace yourself for fake pilot training institutes. The first of its kind case was detected in Palam Extension, Dwarka, last week. An institute promising pilot training and issuance of licences at the earliest - on the basis of its self-claimed links in the aviation regulatory agency - for Rs 18-20 lakh was busted when Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Bharat Bhushan received a complaint from a victim last week and investigated the matter. Not very fluent in Hindi, Bhushan asked one of his officers to call up the institute and pose as an aspiring pilot from a speaker phone in front of him. "The person running the institute did not open up initially and asked how did we got to know about him. When told that we had been referred by some DGCA officials, the person opened up and started talking freely. He asked us to download the form from the website and assured us of 100% placement. He asked us to come to his office on any working day between 9 am and 5 pm to know about the payment schedule," said sources. When asked about any basic requirement for becoming a pilot, the caller was told he should be fluent in English. The institute, whose name has not been disclosed as that may affect the probe, claimed to have branches all over India. Bhushan referred the matter to the police, resulting in a raid on the institute's Dwarka office last Saturday. A person running the place was arrested. When contacted, Bhushan said, "I received a complaint and investigated that by getting an officer to contact the institute posing as a student. The complaint was found to be correct and referred to the police." DGCA is now probing the institute. "It may have been a front for some insiders and we are examining this aspect. We are also trying to find out how many students they may have helped with their dubious methods," said sources. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/DGCA-lays-trap-busts-fake-pilot-training- institute-in-Delhi/articleshow/9131519.cms Back to Top Flying car cleared for highway use The first flying car just got one step closer to gliding, and then driving, onto the market. On June 30th the Transition Roadable Aircraft, as the car-plane hybrid is called, was granted a series of special exemptions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that make the car operable both in the air and on the road. So what kinds of special exemptions does a "roadable aircraft" (best name ever) need? Well, special windows, for one. Regular laminated automotive safety glass is too heavy for the Transition while in the air, and there's always a danger that a bird could fracture it. (Dang birds!) Instead of glass windows, the Transition will use a polycarbonate material less prone to shattering. NHTSA also signed off on the use of special tires. It all sounds very excitingly sci-fi, and in a way it is - the car really does fly. But it is really more of an airplane that can drive on the road, rather than a car that can fly in the air. We're not in Jetson-land yet. The Transition had its first test flight/drive in 2009 (see the video above), and Terrafugia Inc., the company that is developing the plane-car, says it is scheduled to be available by the end of 2012. When the vehicle does go on sale, consumers can expect to pay $250,000 to live the future. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/the-flying-car-is-now-cleared-for- highway-use.html Back to Top Man arrested at Ontario airport with loaded gun ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) -- The Transportation Security Administration says a passenger was arrested at Ontario International Airport over the weekend for traveling with a loaded gun. The TSA said Wednesday the man, whose name was not released, had a 9 mm gun loaded with eight rounds of ammunition in his carry-on bag. Officers found the gun during the X-ray screening process Saturday morning. It was the fourth gun found at the airport during the screening process this year. Officials say firearms are allowed in checked bags, but they must be unloaded, packed in a locked container and made known to the airline at the check-in. Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/06/3752786/man-arrested-at-ontario- airport.html#ixzz1ROdFqP7n Back to Top Southwest cites exhaust issue in emergency landing PHOENIX (AP)-A Southwest Airlines spokeswoman says an engine exhaust problem caused a jetliner carrying 134 people to land in Phoenix with just one engine. The Boeing 737 en route from El Paso, Texas, to Phoenix landed without incident at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday and taxied to the gate under its own power. No one was hurt. Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Ashley Dillon says there was an "issue with engine exhaust" on Southwest Flight 427 that caused one of the plane's two engines to go out. She says a flight attendant noticed the problem while looking out a window. Dillon says the captain notified passengers and explained that they'd see fire trucks on stand-by waiting on the runway. She says the plane was built to withstand such malfunctions, and therefore the landing was "uneventful." She says maintenance crews are examining the engine. Back to Top Marine helicopter crashes in Ca. training; 1 dead CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - A Marine Corps helicopter crashed Wednesday afternoon at the sprawling coastal base of Camp Pendleton, killing one and injuring five others aboard. The helicopter belonging to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Camp Pendleton went down at about noon in the northern section of the San Diego County base, said 1st Lt. Maureen Dooley, a spokeswoman at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The section is a remote mountainous area where the Marine Corps conducts takeoffs and landings. Sgt. Derek Carlson, another Marine Corps spokesman, said he had no immediate details on the victim's identity. He said five others remained hospitalized late Wednesday, but didn't release details about their injuries or say whether any were life-threatening. At least three of the injured were taken to nearby Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla in San Diego, about 30 miles south of the base, hospital spokeswoman Lisa Ohmstede said. She said she also couldn't discuss their injuries and she didn't know what other hospitals took in patients from the crash. Wednesday was sunny and hot in the county so it was unclear if weather played a role. Dooley said there will be an investigation into the cause of the incident. The UH-1Y helicopter, known as a Yankee Huey is a modernized variant of the decades- old UH-1 design by Bell Helicopter. Among survivability features on the UH-1Y are "crashworthy" crew seats and fuel tanks, according to a description of the aircraft on the Bell Helicopter website. The UH-1Y is described as a medium helicopter with two engines and one four-bladed main rotor. Back to Top Airbus claims 'biggest order in aviation history' Airbus says IndiGo buying 180 aircraft; calls deal 'biggest order in aviation history' LE BOURGET, France (AP) -- Airbus said Wednesday it had received "the biggest order in aviation history" from Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo for its hugely successful new fuel- efficient A320neo jets. The airline ordered 180 aircraft, including 150 A320neos. The remaining 30 aircraft will be Airbus' standard A320 single-aisle short and medium haul jets. The firm order follows a preliminary deal signed by the two companies in January. Airbus said then that the deal was worth $15.6 billion at list prices, though Airlines often negotiate discounts. The order is the largest ever submitted to a single company in terms of planes. The previous record was an order by China's Central Aircraft Sales Corp. for 150 aircraft each from Airbus and Boeing in 2005. Airbus has seen a jump in sales of its A320neo, which it says is 15 percent more fuel efficient than the older model thanks to a new engine and modified wingtips. Its appeal has grown as fuel prices have skyrocketed this year. Airbus has now racked up more than 600 orders and committments for the A320neo since it began marketing the jet last December. Airbus' top salesman John Leahy said Wednesday it's possible Airbus will have more than 1,000 orders and committments for the jet by the time the Paris Air Show ends this weekend. Back to Top Robert H. Widmer, Designer of Military Aircraft, Dies at 95 The day the legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager shattered the sound barrier in 1947, Robert H. Widmer marched into his boss's office at the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation in Fort Worth to say he wanted to design the world's first supersonic bomber. He was told to stick to the contracts the company was already fulfilling. Mr. Widmer, an aeronautical engineer, nonetheless threw himself into designing the plane on his own time. Two years later, when the Air Force asked for bids to build a bomber that could fly at extreme altitudes and supersonic speeds, he had all but finished. Convair, as the company was called, won the contract for the bomber, the B-58, with Mr. Widmer's design. He named the plane the Hustler. Able to fly as high as 15 miles and at a speed twice the speed of sound, it carried some of the most sophisticated military systems yet developed. The Russians had nothing that came close. Bomber pilots passed up transfers with pay raises and promotions just to fly it, Popular Science reported. Mr. Widmer, whose family said he died in Fort Worth on June 20 at the age of 95, would go on to lead the design and development of major aircraft like the F-111 "Aardvark" and the F-16 "Fighting Falcon" as well as the Tomahawk cruise missile, helping to enforce the cold war strategic balance known as mutual assured destruction. His daughter, Gail Widmer Landreth, said he saw lethal airplanes as instruments of peace. When the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics presented Mr. Widmer with its Reed Aeronautics Award for 1983, the organization said he had pioneered "the eras of supersonic cruise and fly-by-wire computerized flight control." Well into his 80s, Mr. Widmer continued to go to the office every day as the company became General Dynamics, then Lockheed, then Lockheed Martin. In his later years he worked on the sort of unmanned aircraft that became integral to American warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. A short man with a high-pitched voice, he also continued to display the salty personality for which he was known. "He swore like a sailor," said Armand Chaput, who worked on advanced aircraft design at General Dynamics and now teaches at the University of Texas. "People were afraid of him, but they really respected him. He could shred you." Robert Henry Widmer was born in Hawthorne, N.J., on May 17, 1916. Attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he built a small racing biplane as his thesis project and was named the outstanding aeronautical engineer in his class. He earned a master's degree at the California Institute of Technology but dropped his plans to earn a Ph.D. to join Convair at its headquarters in San Diego, where he first worked on marine aircraft. Transferred to the company's main aircraft factory in Fort Worth, he honed the wing of the B-24 "Liberator," the most-produced American military aircraft. When Convair moved on to the B-36 "Peacemaker," Mr. Widmer presided over wind-tunnel tests. The B-36 went on to become the Air Force's largest bomber ever and a strategic stalwart in the 1950s. But it experienced repeated problems, prompting Stuart Symington, secretary of the Air Force, to pay a visit to Fort Worth, as The Dallas Morning News recounted the episode in 1997. After being lobbied by Mr. Widmer, Mr. Symington decided that the program should continue and nervously phoned his decision to Defense Secretary James Forrestal. Mr. Symington then asked Mr. Widmer and two Air Force officers to stand and join hands. "If this damn airplane doesn't make it," Mr. Symington told them, "we're going to walk either east or west until our hats float." A decade later, similar mechanical problems dogged the F-111, a medium-range attack plane. For a time Mr. Widmer flew to Washington every Saturday to confer with Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara about ironing out the flaws, Mr. Chaput said. Mr. Widmer later defied his bosses by secretly pushing ahead on the F-16, a lightweight fighter, even though there seemed to be no market for it, Mr. Chaput said. Mr. Widmer hid prototypes in hangars. Several years later, the Pentagon decided it wanted such a fighter, and General Dynamics, thanks to Mr. Widmer's surreptitious efforts, was ready. Having been initially threatened with dismissal for insubordination, Mr. Widmer was instead promoted to vice president for science and engineering for all of General Dynamics. Among his later projects was the Tomahawk cruise missile, which was used extensively in the Persian Gulf war and the Iraq war, and a more fuel-efficient engine for automobiles that carmakers declined to buy. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Widmer is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Jeanette Billing; his son, Robert; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Mr. Widmer often worked on highly classified projects, none more secret than his proposed spy plane "Fish" (the letters stood for First Invisible Super Hustler). In a 1999 television interview, Mr. Widmer said an early concept for the plane was to build it in the shape of a disc, a statement that has since reverberated on U.F.O. Web sites. Some of the stealth technology found its way into later airplanes. Mr. Widmer was so valuable to the government that for years the C.I.A. positioned agents in parked cars at each end of the Fort Worth street where he and his family lived, his son said. Mr. Widmer himself told of being instructed to keep a low profile - to make airline reservations under a fake name and to meet agents in half-finished buildings. The ultrasecret projects he worked on were called black projects. "I'm talking about the extreme black," Mr. Widmer said. "I have lived the extreme black." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/business/03widmer.html?_r=1 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC