Flight Safety Information August 25, 2011 - No. 176 In This Issue Air disaster narrowly averted in China: report Two from AA flight injured in LAX jet-bridge collapse Federal Aviation Administration gets 2 reports of lasers pointed at NJ-bound airplanes FAA investigates Southwest close call with fireworks mortar Aeromexico pilot held in Madrid on suspicion of smuggling cocaine New Holistic Airline Safety Ranking UK CAA awards CAMO status to AMS Aircraft Air disaster narrowly averted in China: report SHANGHAI (AFP) - A Chinese pilot's refusal to give up his landing slot to a passenger plane that issued a distress call to say it was running out of fuel almost caused a disaster, state media reported Thursday. China's privately-owned Juneyao Airlines confirmed that one of its pilots refused to give way when a Qatar Airways plane contacted air traffic controllers at Hongqiao airport, asking permission to land immediately. The pilot of the Qatar plane said it had just five minutes' worth of fuel left after it was diverted from Shanghai, the Global Times newspaper reported, adding that a disastrous accident was only narrowly averted. The Qatar plane was travelling from Doha to Shanghai when it was ordered to divert due to a thunderstorm on August 13. Air traffic controllers in Hongqiao, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) from Shanghai, ordered the Juneyao pilot to circle the airport and allow the Qatar plane to land first, but the pilot refused. The Global Times said the Juneyao pilot claimed he had been waiting "a long time" and needed to land "right now", citing comments posted online. Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines, which was founded in 2005, said the pilot and crew had been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, but that the "rumours on the Internet are far from the truth". "It remains doubtful whether the fuel on the Qatar Airways plane was really fewer than five minutes," the paper quoted a spokeswoman as saying. "And why didn't it inform the tower controller earlier?" At one point, the two aircraft came perilously close for there to be a risk of collision, according to an aviation forum quoted in The Global Times. "A Mayday is rare and means the plane is in an extreme emergency and may even face the danger of a crash," the paper quoted an unnamed senior air traffic control official as saying. China's civil aviation authority said in a statement it was investigating the incident and those responsible would be "severely punished". The Qatar plane landed safely after the incident. Back to Top Two from AA flight injured in LAX jet-bridge collapse The captain and a passenger on an American Airlines flight were injured in Los Angeles last night after the jet bridge they were on collapsed. The Boeing 737 captain and a passenger on AA Flight 557 were exiting the aircraft at LAX's gate 48A around 6:50 p.m. PT when the incident happened. It dropped the victims "about 12 feet" onto airport's apron, according to NBC 4 of Los Angeles. "They were stepping on the platform closest to the jet bridge" at the time of the collapse, AA spokeswoman Rhonda Rathje tells the Los Angeles Times. The Times adds that AA plans to follow up by inspecting all of the jet bridges at its gates at LAX. "We're looking into everything right now, and should know more in a couple days," she says to the Times. KTLA TV of Los Angeles says the injured were taken to the hospital in fair condition, adding that they "complained of pain to their necks, backs and ankles, officials said." Several Los Angeles-area media outlets say the incident also damaged the aircraft, though the The Associated Press issued a conflicting report saying that the plane was not damaged. It also was not immediately clear if the jet bridges are the responsibility of the airport or the airline. http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/08/lax-jet-bridge- collapse/416674/1 Back to Top Federal Aviation Administration gets 2 reports of lasers pointed at NJ-bound airplanes NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Authorities are investigating two reports of lasers being pointed at aircraft bound for New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters says the crew of a United Airlines flight reported seeing a laser pointed at the aircraft 15 miles southwest of the airport Tuesday night. A Cessna corporate jet from Dallas reported illumination by a green laser an hour later 2 1/2 miles from Somerset Airport. Both planes landed safely at Newark. No injuries were reported. The cases have been referred to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, state police and the FBI for further investigation. Lasers aimed at aircraft can seriously hamper a pilot's vision. A man convicted in California of shining a laser and temporarily blinding a pilot was sentenced in 2009 to 2 1/2 years in prison. Back to Top FAA investigates Southwest close call with fireworks mortar The US FAA has posted air traffic control audio tapes revealing a near miss between a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 and a fireworks mortar the night of 10 July. A pilot on Southwest Flight 735, inbound to the Greenville-Spartanburg international airport in South Carolina at approximately 22:00, told controllers shortly after landing about two problems that occurred on the approach - a possible bird strike over the threshold and a "fireworks mortar" that exploded near the aircraft at 400-500ft AGL on final approach. "We saw the fireworks coming in and then they seemed to have ceased; we thought they were stopping just as a courtesy to us," the pilot told controllers. "And then, ah, just there probably about five, four hundred feet, one went off [near our] right wing, real close to the aircraft." Airport officials say police officers sent to the residential area where the fireworks would have been launched did not find evidence of the activities. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Aeromexico pilot held in Madrid on suspicion of smuggling cocaine A Mexican airline co-pilot is under arrest in Spain on suspicion of attempting to smuggle 92 pounds of cocaine in his personal luggage on an Aeromexico flight he helped pilot. The case marks the second time in nine months that Aeromexico employees have been arrested at Madrid's Barajas Airport on suspicion of smuggling cocaine after flying there on Mexico's remaining legacy airline. In December, three Aeromexico flight attendants were arrested after allegedly attempting to enter Spain with more than 308 pounds of the drug between them, as La Plaza reported. The flight attendants, all men, were traveling as tourists but carrying Aeromexico identification. The recent arrest is considerably more serious. The suspect, Ruben Garcia Garcia, had served as first officer on an Aeromexico Boeing 777 flight to the Spanish capital from Mexico City when he was arrested Aug. 17. In a statement posted on its website, the airline said it "deeply regretted" the arrest and that Garcia had been fired (link in Spanish). Mexico's federal transportation agency on Wednesday revoked Garcia's pilot license, and the national pilots union said it would not come to his defense (links in Spanish). Garcia was being held at a Spanish jail while awaiting charges. Federal authorities in Mexico said they were also investigating (link in Spanish). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/08/aeromexico-copilot-cocaine- smuggling-madrid-ring-police.html Back to Top New Holistic Airline Safety Ranking GENEVA, Switzerland, August 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The independent Swiss agency "Air Transport Rating Agency" is providing the new scientific "holistic safety rating" for commercial airlines. Although the European Union publishes a "black list" of dangerous airlines, there are real differences in terms of safety among the other airlines belonging to the "white list". The Swiss rating agency Air Transport Rating Agency has used a scientific multi- criteria analysis approach that takes into account the complexity of airlines organizations in order to obtain results which are tangible, meaningful and that can be reproduced: the ATRA holistic safety rating. Most of safety rankings are based on one single criteria which is accident statistics. This approach is very limited because accident rates are fortunately extremely low in commercial aviation and unable to derive any valid statistical interpretations beyond simple descriptive information. Indeed, the analysis of air disasters very often shows an accumulation of technical, human, organizational and external causes. "Highly experienced pilots can handle technical and external problems very well; conversely flights without technical or external problems can go very well with very inexperienced pilots. However, the combination of technical or external problems and inexperienced pilots can be disastrous."explains Jean-Pierre Otelli, aviation safety expert, author of reference books in Air disasters and Pilot errors. Unfortunately, conjunction of very rare factors can occurred with any carriers and one single accident significantly impact company reputations. The innovative approach of the ATRA holistic safety rating takes into account airlines organizational parameters which contribute to general safety, without being necessarily directly attributed to safety management. Using publicly available data sources, Air Transport Rating Agency has selected 15 criteria directly or indirectly contributing to flight safety. Quantitative parameters (such as the average age of the fleet) or qualitative parameters (such as the homogeneity of the fleet) were subjected to a multi-criteria mathematical analysis in order to generate a synthetic indicator and to present a meaningful holistic safety rating. Like any unsolicited rating agencies, full detailed rating and competitive data report are available for professionals (airlines, insurance companies, financial analysts, etc.) from Air Transport Rating Agency. Technical report includes Airlines cluster analyses, correlations between selected parameters, multi-criteria rating calculations, etc. Special requests for ad hoc analyses are also possible such as advanced multi-criteria analyses of internal databases, sub-ratings by type of airlines, market or geographical area, experts' reports, etc. From a dataset of the 100 most important airlines44 airlines met the inclusion criteria for the multi-criteria analysis. The top ten airlines 2011 (2009 data) from the holistic safety profiles are (by alphabetic order): Air France-KLM, AMR Corporation (American Airlines and American Eagles), British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways. The top 10 airlines of the "ATRA holistic safety rating" will be released to the general public every year thru the website http://www.ATRA.aero. Visit the official website : http://www.atra.aero SOURCE Air Transport Rating Agency Back to Top UK CAA awards CAMO status to AMS Aircraft UK-based aircraft trading and inspection company AMS Aircraft has been approved as a continued airworthiness management organisation by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The EASA Part M certificate covers CAMO services for Airbus A320-family, A330, A340 and Boeing 737-300 to -900 series aircraft flying under European regulations. This may be further extended in the future, said marketing head Graeme Shanks. The firm has "considerable interest" in Bombardier regional and corporate jets as well as ATR turboprops, he added. The approval is a "significant step change" in the company's technical service offerings, AMS said in a statement. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC