Flight Safety Information August 29, 2011 - No. 178 In This Issue Gulf Air passenger jet skids off runway in Kochi Possible blown tire prompts LAX emergency landing Low fuel suspected in deadly helicopter crash Dreamliner Certified to Fly by FAA, EASA Emergency AD Issued for AW139 Tail Rotor Blades FAA seeks $262,000 civil penalty against Ameriflight Kochi limits runway operations after Gulf Air accident Boeing unveils senior leadership changes Space Station Crew Closely Watching Russian Rocket Crash Investigation Brazilian airline ordered to reforest area near airport GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Gulf Air passenger jet skids off runway in Kochi, passengers safe 7 injured as passengers jump off Gulf Air plane amid panic At least seven passengers have reportedly been injured when a Gulf Air aircraft, with 137 passengers and six crew, skid off the runaway at Kochi airport in the southern Indian state of Kerala. The aviation authorities have completely shut down the Kochi International Airport for the time being and diverted the flights to Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore airports. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also started an investigation into the accident. "The Gulf Air flight GF270 deviated from the runway at 0355 [2225GMT] Monday morning," Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Airport Director ACK Nair as saying. Nair said that the plane damaged its nose wheel when it slid to the muddy area. Some of the passengers reportedly jumped out of the emergency window in panic and injured themselves. The airport official added that there was no need to panic, adding that the emergency ladder did not work because the plane's nose was damaged. "So a rescue team started bringing ladders to the site. But before they arrived, people began to jump. All those injured were injured because they jumped out too soon," Nair added. In a tragic accident in May last year, a Boeing 737 passenger plane, when overshot the runway, killed 158 people, while it was landing in the Indian city of Mangalore. Meanwhile, the DGCA sources, based on the preliminary inquiries, held pilot responsible for the Gulf Air plane skid-off with some claiming that the aircraft was not correctly aligned at the time of landing. However, a senior official said that an official comment could be released only after the completion of the inquiry. Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90058506?Gulf%20Air%20passenger%20jet%20skids%20off%20runway%20in%20Kochi%2C%20passengers%20safe#ixzz1WQFMZ0is ******** Status: Preliminary Date: 29 AUG 2011 Time: 03:55 Type: Airbus A320-214 Operator: Gulf Air Registration: A9C-AG C/n / msn: 4188 First flight: 2010-01-19 (1 year 7 months) Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-5B4/3 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 137 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 143 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Cochin International Airport (COK) (India) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Bahrain International Airport (BAH) (BAH/OBBI), Bahrain Destination airport: Cochin International Airport (COK) (COK/VOCI), India Flightnumber: 270 Narrative: An Airbus A320 was damaged in a runway excursion accident at Cochin International Airport (COK), India. At least seven passengers were injured. Gulf Air Flight GF270 operated on flight from Bahrain International Airport (BAH) to Cochin. During the landing roll the airplane went off the side of the runway. The nose gear collapsed as the airplane came to rest in the grass some 2200 m from the beginning fo runway 09 and 31 m left of the runway centreline. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Possible blown tire prompts LAX emergency landing LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Philippine Airlines jumbo jet carrying more than 400 people has landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport after declaring an emergency amid fears of a blown tire. After the Boeing 747 touched down smoothly around 9 p.m. Friday, the airport said the airliner was found to have two blown tires on one landing gear. The pilot initially descended to a low altitude so a police helicopter could inspect the tire's condition, then pulled up again and circled before landing. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said the pilot reported that the jet may have had a blown tire upon takeoff from Manila and declared an emergency landing. The aircraft idled on the runway as fire trucks and other ground crews surrounded it. There were 400 passengers and 20 crew members aboard. Back to Top Low fuel suspected in deadly helicopter crash Investigators and emergency personnel used a tow truck Saturday to remove part of the engine from the medical helicopter that crashed the night before near Mosby. National Transportation Safety Board officials said Saturday that they would investigate the fuel level a medical helicopter had before it crashed and killed all four people onboard. The helicopter crash near Mosby in Clay County is the latest in a string of air ambulance crashes that have been increasing as the business spreads rapidly across the country. The Eurocopter AS-350 crashed into a grassy field near Cameron Road and Northeast 146th Street about 7 p.m. Friday. The three medical transport employees were identified as Randy Bever, 47, a flight nurse from Savannah, Mo.; Chris Frakes, 36, a flight paramedic from Savannah; and James Freudenberg, 34, the pilot, from Rapid City, S.D. Clay County officials identified the fourth victim, a patient being transferred to Liberty Hospital, as Terry Tacoronte of Colorado. Tacoronte's husband, Victor Tacoronte, told the St. Joseph News-Press that law enforcement had informed him that the helicopter had exhausted its fuel. "They confirmed the guy ran out of gas," Tacoronte said. "They took me in a little room and told me a helicopter went down." Craig Yale, a vice president of Air Methods, the parent company of LifeNet, the helicopter's operator, said that because of the federal investigation he could not speak about conditions that may have led to the accident. "I would ask that people be patient and let the (Federal Aviation Administration) and the NTSB do their investigation," Yale said. "It's important that we not jump to conclusions." Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the NTSB, said investigators didn't have information on how much fuel the helicopter had remaining before the crash. "That is one of the things we'll be looking at, the level of fuel," Knudson said. "We don't know (that it was a factor), but that's something we're going to check." The aircraft, based in St. Joseph, was headed to Liberty Hospital from a hospital in Bethany, Mo., when the pilot indicated he planned to stop for fuel at the Midwest National Air Center near Excelsior Springs, said Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the FAA, in an email. The helicopter crashed about a mile from the airport, he said. Last year, there were at least 12 emergency helicopter crashes, including six that claimed the lives of a total of 16 crew members, according to the NTSB. It's been almost a year since the last fatal crash occurred, in Scotland, Ark. Air Methods, which says it is the largest air medical emergency transport company in the country, has had 14 other incidents and accidents since May 2008, including nine fatalities. The fatal accident rate for ambulance helicopters is 1.18 per 100,000 hours of service, according to the FAA. Yale said his firm's accident rate is 0.6 per 100,000 hours. The country saw a record number of emergency helicopter crashes in 2008, when there were a dozen crashes killing a total of 29 people. That spate of crashes prompted the NTSB to call for safety improvements, including the installation of autopilot systems for single pilots, technology for alerting pilots to changes in terrain, and requiring pilots to wear night-vision goggles. The FAA is developing new safety rules for an industry that's been criticized for not being sufficiently regulated by the government as it grows. Ten years ago, there were an estimated 300 ambulance helicopters nationwide. Now there are believed to be more than 800, a growth spurt that experts say was fueled by increases in Medicare reimbursements. U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Olympia Snowe of Maine introduced a bill last month to tie Medicare reimbursements to national safety standards for air ambulances. They want to restructure Medicare reimbursements so they ensure there's an incentive for helicopter operators to make safety improvements. Yale said the helicopter that crashed was equipped with night-vision goggles, a cockpit satellite weather reporting system, modern instrumentation and a flight tracking system that sent an electronic "ping" to the company every 30 seconds while in the air. Knudson said investigators know of no one who heard or saw the crash. Nor was there any known contact with air traffic controllers before it crashed in the field, he said. The investigation and report into the crash could take up to 12 months to complete, although a preliminary report could be released in 10 days but will not state the crash's cause. Yale said the deaths are a tremendous blow. "It hurts," Yale said. "We're a fairly big company, but we're a fairly small community. This is our family, and we have great compassion and concern for the families and for our patient." Freudenberg, the pilot, joined the company in 2010 after flying for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Freudenberg had 2,153 flight hours, most of them in helicopters, Yale said. Yale said Bever joined the company in 1998 when the helicopter ambulance service started in St. Joseph. Frakes had been with the company since 2006. Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/08/27/3104643/low-fuel-suspected-in-helicopter.html#ixzz1WQHGe1Nf Back to Top Dreamliner Certified to Fly by FAA, EASA The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have presented certifications to Boeing Corp. confirming that its new 787 commercial jet is certified for service, a landmark development for the overdue production program. Boeing followed that news with the announcement that its "launch customer" for the new jet, All-Nippon Airways (ANA) will take delivery of the first 787 on September 26. The 787, or "Dreamliner," is a wide-body twin-engine aircraft with long range and carrying capacity for 210 to 330 passengers. Boeing has said it will be its most fuel-efficient commercial jet, with a structure based on a large volume of composite materials helping to reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% versus similar-size jets. A more advanced aerodynamic design than previous jets, more-electric systems, and modern engines add to the 787's appeal to airlines. The Dreamliner is almost three years behind schedule because of various delays in design, production, and testing, though Boeing maintains it has orders for 827 of the new jets and remains confident it will deliver on its promise of greater fuel efficiency than current designs. Last week, FAA administrator Randy Babbitt presented Boeing with the U.S. Type Certificate to verify that the 787 has been tested and found to be in compliance with all federal regulations. Similarly, Patrick Goudou, exec. director of EASA, presented with the European Type Certificate for the 787. Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh stated: "Certification is a milestone that validates what we have promised the world since we started talking about this airplane. This airplane embodies the hopes and dreams of everyone fortunate enough to work on it. Their dreams are now coming true." http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/News/Article/False/87801/ Back to Top Emergency AD Issued for AW139 Tail Rotor Blades Senior Táxi Aéreo was the operator of the AW139 that crashed off the coast of Brazil on Aug. 19, possibly due to cracks in a tail rotor blade. A statement on the company's website expresses condolences to the victims' family, friends and colleagues and states that the company is fully co-operating with the investigation. AgustaWestland Photo Prompted by preliminary findings in the investigation into the fatal crash of an AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter in Brazil, multiple aviation authorities have issued an emergency Airworthiness Directive for AW139 and Agusta-Bell AB139 tail rotor blades. The AD - originally issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency on Aug. 25, and adopted in similar form by the United States Federal Aviation Administration, Transport Canada, and Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority - requires the inspection of AW139 and AB139 tail rotor blades within 25 flight hours after the date of the AD, and thereafter at intervals not to exceed 25 hours. More significantly, it imposes a new life limit on the tail rotor blades of 600 hours time in service or 1,500 flight cycles (take-offs and landings), whichever occurs first. This has grounded some AW139/AB139s as they wait on replacement blades. According to the EASA AD, the Aug. 19 crash of an AW139 off the southeast coast of Brazil may have been caused by cracks in a tail rotor blade. As described in news reports, the aircraft, which was being operated by Senior Táxi Aéreo on behalf of the Brazilian state-run energy corporation Petrobras, went into the Atlantic Ocean after departing an oil rig around 5 p.m. local time. All four people on board were killed, including the pilot and co-pilot. Shortly before the crash, the pilot reportedly radioed to air traffic control that he was making an emergency landing at sea. EASA noted that in early 2011, an occurrence of tail rotor dynamic unbalance was reported on an AW139 helicopter, which prompted the agency to issue AD 2011-0081, requiring repetitive inspections of tail rotor blades. The new AD, 2011-0156-E, supersedes that AD. It retains the repetitive inspections - to be applied to all tail rotor blades, regardless of accumulated flight hours - but also imposes the reduced life limit on the tail rotor blades. For tail rotor blades for which the number of flight cycles cannot be determined, EASA requires that the number of flight hours accumulated by the blade since its first installation on a helicopter must be multiplied by four to determine the replacement time for that blade. EASA requires that blades that have exceeded the hours/flight cycles limit be replaced within five flight hours or 30 days after the effective date of the AD. The emergency AD issued by the FAA, AD 2011-18-52, differs only slightly from the EASA AD. It uses the term "take-off and landing cycles" rather than "flight cycles," and "hours time-in-service" rather than "flight hours." Unlike the EASA AD, the FAA's does not require operators to contact the manufacturer if they discover a crack in a tail rotor blade. It also requires replacement of blades that have exceeded the newly revised life limits within five hours time-in-service, rather than the first occurring of five flight hours or 30 days. Both EASA and the FAA describe their emergency ADs as "interim actions," with further ADs a possibility. At the time of publication, AgustaWestland had not yet responded to Vertical's request for comment. http://www.verticalmag.com/news/articles/emergency-ad-issued-for-aw139-tail-rotor-blades.html Back to Top FAA seeks $262,000 civil penalty against Ameriflight The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing a civil penalty of $262,000 against Ameriflight, LLC, of Burbank, Calif., for allegedly violating Department of Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing programs and provisions of the company's FAA-approved Antidrug and Alcohol Misuse Prevention Program. The FAA alleges Ameriflight conducted the Department of Transportation's required pre-employment drug tests, but did not wait to receive verified negative drug test results before hiring 14 people to perform safety-sensitive flight crew or maintenance duties. Ameriflight allegedly used the individuals to perform the safety-sensitive duties, again before receiving verified negative drug test results. The alleged violations of federal regulations occurred between March 2009 and March 2010. The FAA also alleges Ameriflight failed to administer periodic alcohol tests to 11 randomly-selected individuals, as required by Department of Transportation regulations and Ameriflight's random testing program. Ameriflight has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA's enforcement letter to respond to the agency. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Kochi limits runway operations after Gulf Air accident India's Kochi international airport is maintaining operations from its main runway despite the landing accident involving a Gulf Air Airbus A320. NOTAM information from the airport authority states that the disabled aircraft is positioned 2,200m from the beginning of runway 09, and 31m to the north of the centreline. The runway at Kochi is 3,400m long. Arrivals are being limited to runway 09 and departures to runway 27, the NOTAM states. Information from the airport indicates that the aircraft landed around 04:15. The aircraft was transporting 137 passengers and six crew members when it came off the runway. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Boeing unveils senior leadership changes Boeing has announced a series of senior leadership changes at the company, to take effect 9 September. Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP of sales Marlin Dailey has been named president of Boeing Germany, Northern Europe/EU and Africa, said the airframer. He will report to Boeing International president Shep Hill. "Marlin Dailey's long-time international experience working in London and Brussels from where he led European sales for six years, as well as his background working global markets, brings unique customer, stakeholder and industry knowledge to this key role," said Hill. Boeing has also appointed Ray Conner, VP and general manager of supply chain management and operations, to the new role of senior VP of sales and customer support. He will be responsible for leading sales, marketing and commercial aviation services. Conner will be succeeded in his role by Stan Deal, most recently VP and general manager of the commercial airplanes supplier management organisation. In addition, Boeing South Carolina VP and general manager Jack Jones will now report to Boeing president and CEO Jim Albaugh, instead of Conner. "This move reflects the strategic importance of the Charleston facility and will provide closer linkage to all of Commercial Airplanes," said Boeing. Separately, the airframer has also appointed VP of Boeing International and president of Boeing Germany Lianne Stein to VP of global corporate citizenship. She replaces Anne Roosevelt, who will retire 31 August. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Space Station Crew Closely Watching Russian Rocket Crash Investigation Astronauts on the International Space Station are keeping a close eye on the investigation into the recent crash of a Russian rocket in order to learn how it will impact their mission in orbit. The Soyuz rocket was carrying Russia's Progress 44 supply ship for the International Space Station, which was expected to deliver 3 tons of supplies to the orbiting lab's six-man crew. Instead, the rocket and cargo ship crashed in eastern Russia after a malfunction in the booster's third stage forced an engine shutdown. "It's a pity the launch of Progress resupply vehicle didn't go well. Experts have worked on the investigation of its various impacts," station astronaut Satoshi Furukawa of Japan wrote on Aug. 26, two days after the crash, on Twitter, where he posts updates about his mission as @Astro_Satoshi. "But, as there are plenty of supplies to support the crew, we'll be fine for a while." Since Russia's Federal Space Agency uses similar versions of its Soyuz rocket design to launch unmanned Progress vehicles and its crewed space capsules, officials want to make sure that they are safe to carry astronauts and cosmonauts. The next Soyuz to ferry a crew to the station was slated to launch Sept. 22 to replace three astronauts who are due to return home on Sept. 8. Those plans may now change, the astronauts said. It's possible that the launch of the new station crew will be delayed until the crash investigation is complete, and that may force the three returning crewmembers to stay in orbit longer than planned. "We don't have a lot of decisions made yet because we want to make sure we have the right course of action," station astronaut Ron Garan, of NASA, told SPACE.com from orbit Thursday (Aug. 25). "So we're going to take a little bit of time to think about it and make sure we have all the facts together before we go on and have a game plan." Garan is one of the three astronauts who would have to extend their stay on the space station. They were due to land next week to end a six-month spaceflight. "Up here, we're in kind of a wait-and-see mindset," Garan said. "We're fully prepared to support whatever decisions are made." NASA will hold a press conference today at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) with the latest on the crash's impacts on the space station crew. Russian rocket inquiry Before the Progress 44 crash, Russia was expected to launch four Soyuz rockets -two carrying new crews and two with unmanned Progress cargo ships - as part of the regular flight schedule. If the investigation into last week's rocket crash isn't completed quickly, NASA and its space station partners may consider cutting the orbiting lab's crew size in half, from six people to three, or even leaving the space station unmanned for a time until flights can be resumed, station managers have said. Space station flight planners have until October to decide to shift down to a three-person crew, they added. [Photos: Building the International Space Station] "If things extend too long, which we don't have any indication today that's the case but given the anomaly we have to be prepared, there is an ability to operate station with less than six crew if that becomes necessary," NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffering told reporters last week just after the rocket crash. With NASA's space shuttle fleet retired (the final flight was in July), Russia's Soyuz space capsules are the only vehicle currently ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Robotic cargo ships built by Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency also make deliveries to the orbiting lab. NASA currently has contracts with two private U.S. spaceflight companies, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, to provide unmanned cargo deliveries to the station in the next few years. Test flights for those vehicles are expected in the coming months. NASA also plans to eventually use commercial spacecraft for astronaut launches, too. However, Russia's string of rocket and satellite failures in the last year that has caused some concern among U.S. lawmakers and experts since the country is also the sole avenue for American spaceflight until the new private spaceships become available. Suffredini said he is confident NASA's Russian partners will find the cause of the Soyuz rocket malfunction and resume flights as soon as it is safe to do so. "We're trying, right now, to give our Russian colleagues time to collect the data," Suffredini said. "Really, what you need right now is time." Space station crew size cut ahead? The space station currently has enough supplies to support a full, six-person for about 50 extra days beyond the scheduled Sept. 8 return of Garan and his crewmates, Suffredini added. There are enough supplies to support a smaller crew through at least March 2012, when the next European space freighter is due at the station, he said. Suffredini also said that, barring an unforeseen major system or equipment failure, the space station could be even be flown without a crew for up to a year. Such a move, however, would be unprecedented. The $100 billion space station has been continuously inhabited by crews of various sizes, from two-person skeleton crews to a full complement of six, since the first crew took up residence in 2001. The space station was completed earlier this year after more than a decade of orbital construction. It is larger than a football field and can be easily spotted by observers on Earth at night if they have clear skies and know where to look. Space station officials are hopeful Russia's Soyuz rocket crash will be solved in time for the next scheduled launch of a Progress cargo ship, which is slated for late October. On the space station, the astronauts said they, too, are confident that Russia's rocket issues will be solved, and that they are ready for any challenges, be it a decision to extend the current crew's mission or cut the station crew size in half temporarily. "Obviously, I would have mixed feelings ... I mean I've been away from home for a long time. But a lot of people are away from home doing things that they believe in," Garan said, adding that at the very least he'd have more time to share his spaceflight experience with people on Earth. "So there's an upside and a downside and whatever the decision is, I think it will be what's best for the program and we'll fully support it." http://www.space.com/12764-space-station-crew-rocket-crash-investigation.html Back to Top Brazilian airline ordered to reforest area near airport to compensate for jet pollution SAO PAULO (AP) - A court has ordered Brazil's second-largest airline to plant trees near Sao Paulo's international airport to compensate for pollution caused by its passenger jets. The Sao Paulo State Court of Justice says in a statement that Gol Lineas Aereas Intelligentes S.A. must reforest an area whose size has not yet been determined to compensate for pollution generated by departing and landing aircraft at the airport, located next to the city of Guarulhos. A Guarulhos city hall spokesman says he expects the court will order the other 41 airlines operating at the airport to adopt similar measures. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the ruling. Gol spokesman Leandro Buarque said late Friday that the airline had no immediate comment. Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Hello, My name is David Landeros and I am working towards fulfilling my requirements for a Masters of Aeronautical Science degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. One of my degree requirements is the completion of a Graduate Capstone Project that deals with Miscommunication and its impact on Aviation Safety. This survey is a research tool that will be used to gather data for my research topic. Responses to the survey are submitted electronically to a database that does not identify the user's information, so answers will be completely confidential. Findings will be released only as analyzed data or summaries in which no individual's answers can be identified. If you have flown aircraft and communicated with an Air Traffic Facility, you are eligible to take the survey, and your responses are valid and important. There are 10 short questions. This will takes less than 2 minutes to complete. Please click the hyperlink below to access the survey. Thank you in advance. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VN33N7P Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC