Flight Safety Information October 6, 2011 - No. 206 In This Issue Jet Lands Safely In SD After Engine Failure FAA moves forward with ERAM as scrutiny mounts Cessna 208B Caravan Accident (Canada) Air France 447 Crash Criminal Probe Shows Scope of Crew Errors Overshooting a runway wrongly perceived as pilot problem: expert NTSB: "No Signs Of Catastrophic Mechanical Failure Boeing encourages pilot training courses as university degrees Government fires aviation agencies' chief executives (Nigeria) Airport security at Sea-Tac finds loaded gun on passenger LA- ISASI Meeting (19NOV2011) Royal Aeronautical Society - Human Factors Group: Engineering Conference (12OCT2011) European Cabin Safety Conference (1-3NOV2011) Jet Lands Safely In SD After Engine Failure (AP) A United Express plane made a safe landing at the Rapid City airport after one of its two engines failed. Airport deputy operations director Pete Girtz says that the Embraer 145 jet carrying 26 passengers landed without incident about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. No one was hurt. Officials did not immediately know what caused the engine failure. Back to Top FAA moves forward with ERAM as scrutiny mounts The US Federal Aviation Administration plans to roll-out its En Route Automation Modernisation (ERAM) project to six sites by year-end as its execution of the scheme continues to draw criticism from government watchdogs. A cornerstone of FAA's NextGen air traffic control system, ERAM improves the processing of flight data by including a larger number of radar systems to allow controllers to track 1,900 aircraft compared with current limits capping that number around 1,100. During Congressional testimony on 5 October FAA deputy administrator Michael Huerta stated the agency's goal is to roll-out ERAM software to six sites by year-end. FAA's first live test of the system was conducted at the agency's Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Centre. Lockheed Martin is the primary contractor for the ERAM programme, which was originally planned for completion by the end of last year. But software snafus have continually dogged ERAM. Joining Huerta at the Congressional hearing the Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation (DOT) Calvin Scovil stated the problems include errors that display flight data to the wrong aircraft and hand-off problems between controllers at other facilities. Due to the software glitches controllers at key sites have been forced to rely on workarounds including re-entering flight information for aircraft multiple times, which Scovil warned increases workloads. Scovil concluded the workarounds pose a risk of data entry errors and divert controllers attention away from their primary tasks of managing and separating aircraft. "Problems with ERAM functionality are of particular concern at sites that have complex and congested airspace such as the Chicago and Los Angeles centres," said Scovil. "The airspace at these locations is divided into smaller and more heavily congested sectors that do not allow controllers time to use workarounds to compensate for ERAM's deficiencies." The Inspector General uncovered similar problems on FAA's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System, which shares the same tracking software with ERAM. After expressing concern to FAA regarding ERAM, the agency is working with Mitre to assess the ERAM tracker, said Scovil. Pointing to comments made by FAA officials that ERAM is the chassis of NextGen, Scovil quipped the chassis "might be at park". However, he did acknowledge the agency has attempted with great speed to fix the programme's problems. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Cessna 208B Caravan Accident (Canada) Date: 04-OCT-2011 Time: ~11:40am LT Type: Cessna 208B Grand Caravan Operator: Air Tindi Registration: C-GATV C/n / msn: 208B0308 Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 4 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: 20 nm from Lutselk'e, NT - Canada Phase: En route Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Yellowknife Airport - CYZF Destination airport: Lutselk'e-Snowdrift Airport - CYLK Narrative: Air Tindi said a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, performing flight 8T200, left Yellowknife Airport (CYZF) at 11:03 a.m. MT and was scheduled to arrive at Lutselk'e-Snowdrift Airport (CYLK) at 11:45 a.m when it crashed on a peninsula of Great Slave Lake, about 40 kilometres west of Lutselk'e. Two occupants were killed and two were taken to hospital with serious injuries. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Air France 447 Crash Criminal Probe Shows Scope of Crew Errors by: Laurence Frost Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Air France Flight 447's crew reacted badly to an autopilot shutdown and misread instruments including a gauge indicating how fast the plane was losing height as it plunged into the Atlantic, killing 228 people, a report shows. "I've lost VSI," the junior co-pilot said of the Airbus's vertical-speed indicator, according to a recording detailed in the report from court- appointed experts. In fact, the instrument was functioning normally, its analog needle immobilized at the lower limit because the plane was hurtling toward the ocean at 15,000 feet a minute, the document seen by Bloomberg News shows. Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed on June 1, 2009, after ice-blocked speed sensors shut down the autopilot and the crew incorrectly reacted by pulling the jet into a steep climb until it slowed to an aerodynamic stall, France's BEA accident investigation bureau said in May. The interim report from the criminal probe broadly endorses those findings. "The aircraft's stall went completely unnoticed by the crew, who made no reference to it," according to the report, which was presented to victims' families yesterday. Faced with unusual readings, the two co-pilots, alone at the controls while the captain was on a rest break, "rejected them en masse." Interface Issue The document identifies no fault with the Airbus SAS A330, beyond the failure of Thales SA airspeed sensors that caused the autopilot shutdown. Manslaughter charges have been filed against Paris-based Air France and Toulouse, France-based Airbus as part of the criminal investigation, which could increase damages payouts if any criminal liability is established. "This is an interim report and it's impossible to draw any conclusions at this stage," Air France lawyer Fernand Garnault said by telephone yesterday. "The real focus of this investigation is the man-machine interface, and why the pilots didn't have everything they needed to understand what was happening." Air France had earlier suggested the stall alarm confused the A330's pilots by shutting down when the jet slowed to a point where its computer was receiving no useful information, before sounding again when the speed picked up, misrepresenting what was actually a positive development. In reality, the junior copilot began pulling the nose up again before the alarm resumed, the criminal report suggests. While referring to the aircraft's artificial horizon as they struggled to keep its wings level, the co-pilots also disregarded indications from the same instrument that the plane was at a dangerous nose-up angle, the document says. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/05/bloomberg_articlesLSM1ZJ1A1I4I.DTL#ixzz1a0dMi77D Back to Top Overshooting a runway wrongly perceived as pilot problem: expert Despite new technologies and data available on runway accidents - the le ading cause of aviation deaths - runway excursions have remained stable since at least 1995, James Burin said Wednesday. The director of technical programs for Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation told the 2nd annual International Winter Operations conference hosted by the Air Canada Pilots Association that of the 1,508 aviation accidents between 1995 and 2009, 442, or nearly a third, were runway excursions. Only 10 were runway incursions. An excursion is overshooting a runway, either on takeoff or landing, while an incursion is usually an unauthorized object - generally another aircraft - on a runway. Formed in 1947, the not-for-profit foundation conducts studies on various aspects of aviation safety. Burin, who led a study on runway excursions, said they are wrongly perceived by most as a pilot problem. They're not, he told the conference entitled Safety Is No Secret. "They involve aircrews, airline management, air traffic control and regulators - they all play a role," said the former U.S. Navy pilot who was a wing commander during the first Gulf War. The reasons for the great disparity between incursions and excursions, Burin said, is the relative ease of preventing aircraft from bumping into each other - at low speeds. Excursions usually involve high speeds, weather issues and human judgment. One of the major obstacles hampering efforts to lower the incidence of these crashes, said Burin, is there is no single accepted standard measuring the conditions of runways. The other "mystery," said Burin, is the reluctance of pilots and air traffic to do more go-rounds in dodgy situations - to scrap a landing approach, go around the runway and try again. "Why they don't is really the question," Burin said. "But it's partly psychology, partly procedure - what's considered safe." Most of the time, they are proven right, he noted - they land safely. And the 442 excursions resulted in 812 fatalities, statistically not excessive over 15 years. Montreal's International Civil Aviation Organization has isolated runway incidents as a major problem and has advocated one universal system to describe runway conditions. Nancy Graham, director of ICAO's air navigation bureau, told The Gazette in May that the rate of accidents is stable, but "that's why we have a problem. As our traffic grows, we can expect these runway related accidents to grow as well, unless we act now." Runway accidents are "the No. 1 killer in commercial aviation today," she said. Technologies are available that would curb their frequency, Burin said, including one that can read aircraft wheels when braking, translate that info into runway conditions and relay it to the world in real time. He could not say why it hasn't been adopted. Another was developed by Airbus and tells pilots if they should do a go-round to land safely. Airbus has offered the system to anyone willing to use it. Denis Gordon, director of standards and procedures for AéroMag, a Ville St. Laurent firm that handles aircraft de-icing at airports in Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Cleveland, among others, said that removing ice from a plane's wings and fuselage was done with warm water until a 1989 accident in Dryden, Ont., that killed 28 people aboard a Fokker jet. "Three years later, there was a nearly identical accident, except that this time, they waited too long between de-icing and takeoff." That gave birth to de-icing practices that are now standard at most of the world's airports, Gordon said. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Overshooting+runway+wrongly+perceived+pilot+problem+expert/5509485/story.html#ixzz1a0hz3fvq Back to Top NTSB: "No Signs Of Catastrophic Mechanical Failure" In Deadly East River Helicopter Crash Investigators with the NTSB are at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn as they begin to look into whether mechanical or human error caused yesterday's helicopter crash in the East River. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that the cause of the deadly East River helicopter crash remained unclear, but there was no evidence that it was the result of an obvious mechanical problem or fire. "We will not speculate. We want to be cautious," said NTSB spokesman Mark Rosekind. "There are no rule-outs at this point." Both the NTSB and New York City Police Department are continuing their investigation. Rosekind emphasized that the process is complex and that several factors are being considered, including the weight of the passengers as measured against the helicopter's 3,200 pound "maximum gross weight" and weather conditions. "The board will look at the human, the machine, and the environment," said Rosekind. The NTSB spokesman also offered a detailed account of what led to the crash based on statements from the pilot. "After takeoff, at about 15 feet above ground and 45 degrees into a turn is when the pilot reported a problem. He considered turning left, but that would've been into a populated area. The aircraft then crashed into the water and flipped upside down," said Rosekind. Earlier in the day, representatives of the NTSB said a preliminary investigation revealed that part of a rotor blade was missing from the chopper when they pulled it out of the river. The Bell 206 helicopter, which was registered to pilot Paul Dudley, went down around 3:30 p.m. shortly after taking off from the 34th Street heliport. Emergency crews arrived within seconds and rescued three passengers and the pilot. The body of Sonia Marra, 40, was recovered several hours after the crash. An Australian newspaper identifies her as a well-known and "bubbly" restaurant owner who was visiting with her partner Helen Tamaki. Tamaki and Marra's mother were taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition. Her stepfather was treated and released from NYU Medical Center. The pilot was treated on the scene. The wreckage was pulled from the water a few hours after the crash and transported to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Investigators say since the aircraft was largely recovered in one piece it will help them in their probe, though it could take months to determine the cause. Several witnesses reported the helicopter idled and then spun around before crashing. Two officers with the New York City Office of Emergency Management who were near the area on another call were first to arrive on the scene Tuesday. They say quick thinking was key to preventing an even more tragic outcome. "I am just glad that we were here. It was perfect timing, that's all it really was, that we happened to be right here when it happened. Thank God for that," said OEM Officer Wess Doskocil. Investigators say because the 35-year-old aircraft was operating as a private sightseeing charter it may not have needed to meet the same requirements as a commercial flight. The helicopter's pilot, Paul Dudley, is a manager at Linden Airport in New Jersey, where the chopper originated. Investigators say he has 25 years of flying experience, including more than 2,200 hours of flight time -- most of which was done aboard helicopters. "He's a commercial rated pilot. He's, you know, he knows his stuff," said pilot Joe Martinez. "Great skills, qualified pilot. He's been in a couple of situations and got out, I think he did a great job saving whoever he could save in the situation that he was in. So kudos to him. I just feel bad for the woman who lost her life, it's a shame," said pilot Ron Lopes. Back in 2006, Dudley was involved in an emergency landing after his aircraft's engine failed. He guided a single-engine Cessna to safety, landing in Offerman Park in Brooklyn. http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/148369/ntsb---no-signs-of-catastrophic-mechanical-failure--in-deadly-east-river-helicopter-crash Back to Top Boeing encourages pilot training courses as university degrees Offering pilot training courses an accredited university course may make it more attractive, US-based airframer Boeing said at a briefing on the company's outlook for pilots and technicians. This will make it easier for governments to finance the courses and increase the appeal to more people, said Louis J. Mancini, senior vice- president for commercial aviation services at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Sherry Carbary, vice-president for flight services at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, added that there is a need to start training more pilots now to prevent a shortage in the next two to three years. The 2011 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook forecasts that 459,600 pilots and 650,000 technicians will be required globally over the next 20 years. Asia Pacific will account for 182,300 pilots and 247,400 technicians during this time frame, according to the report. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Airport security at Sea-Tac finds loaded gun on passenger An airline passenger carrying a loaded gun was discovered by airport security at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday morning, according to a news release from the Transportation Security Administration. The gun, a .380 Iver Johnson handgun, held six rounds of ammunition, including in the chamber, and was in the carry-on bag of a male passenger bound for Minneapolis, said TSA Public Affairs Manager Lorie Dankers in the release. The man was arrested, and charges are pending, Dankers said. The TSA says "firearms, ammunition, firearm parts and realistic replicas of firearms" are not permitted in carry-on luggage. They may be allowed in checked baggage, depending on local laws. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2016418180_airport_security_at_sea-tac_fi.html Back to Top Boeing encouraging airlines to switch to iPad navigation charts United Continental Holdings Inc. has bought 11,000 iPads Boeing Co. is pitching iPad-based navigation charts to airlines as an alternative to carrying volumes of paper manuals in cockpits as a new generation of pilots that is more comfortable with modern gadgets takes to the skies, a company official said Thursday. "Everybody's looking at it (in Asia). Nobody's yet pulled the trigger, they're trying to understand the value, trying to close their business case," Sherry Carbary, the vice president for flight services at Boeing Commercial Aviation Services told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. United Continental Holdings Inc. has bought 11,000 units of the device manufactured by Apple Inc. and Alaska Airlines has done away with paper manuals, Carbary said. Airlines can simply download the application from the iTunes Store of Apple and get instrument charts and airport diagrams from Jeppesen, a Boeing unit, directly on the iPad. Updates will be automatically added to the application, making the process completely paper-less. Jeppesen will offer similar applications for Android devices in the future. Jeppesen is the world's biggest navigational information, operations management solutions and flight training products and services provider by number of users. Pilots, ship operators and railway companies use Jeppesen charts and data for navigation. Carbary, who oversees Boeing's flight crew, maintenance and cabin safety training as also navigation and crew operations services, said pilots can use the tablet computer in their "down time" while on the flight deck to refresh themselves on the latest updates to manuals or for training. "From a pilot's perspective, you can be much more productive because you can not only look at your navigation charts while you are flying ... you can go and review your manuals. So, you could actually even do some of your training while you are flying," she said. "That's the philosophy and a lot of airlines are looking at it." Boeing, which has forecast the global airline industry will need about 460,000 pilots and 650,000 technical staff over the next 20 years, is seeking to do away with paper-based training where possible. "We're trying to change from a paper-based training methodology in a classroom. For example the 787 was our first step into all digital. You can actually take it (training material) to your hotel room or home and do some of the training," Carbary said. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-boeing-encouraging-airlines-to-switch-to-ipad-navigation-charts- 20111006,0,3994889.story Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top PRESENTS THE EUROPEAN CABIN SAFETY CONFERENCE WITH MEDIA SUPPORT FROM SPONSORSHIP PROVIDED BY Join us at the Marriott Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany 1-3 November 2011 ATTENTION: Due to the influx of registrations and inquiries, (L/D)max Aviation has decided to extend the Early-Bird Discount to 15 October 2011 Speakers and Workshop Sessions are Confirmed! Take a look at the fantastic line-up of speakers and workshop leads joining us in Frankfurt! Dagmar Dostalikova - Cabin Crew Expert, EASA Topic: "Operational Suitability Data - Certification Specifications Cabin Crew" Betty Lecouturier - Operations Officer, Rulemaking Directorate, EASA Topic: "Future Rules for Cabin Crew" Ivan Noel - President & CEO, Inflight Innovations Inc. TM and the Inflight Institute.com TM, Canada Topic: "Pre-qualification of Cabin Crew and How That Improves Cabin Safety" Jurgita Baleviciene - Training Manager-Instructor, Baltic Aviation Academy Topic: "Cabin Crew Competence Development" Arthur Mencher & Stone Harrington - Associates, Spranza, USA Topic: "Situational Awareness & Conflict Resolution in the Skies" Janice Fisher - Manager Cabin Safety Office, UK CAA Topic: "'Research of Cabin Crew Training for Fire Fighting' - The Outcome, Guidance and Overseeing of Training" Catherine Baird - Sr. Vice President of Cabin Crew Training, Emirates Airline, United Arab Emirates Topic: "Training a Multicultural Crew Community in an Environment of Exponential Growth" Capt. Dieter Langhof - Safety and Security Advisor & Capt. Philipp Heinbockel - Training Manager (Head of Training COC/CAB), Condor Airlines, Germany Topic: "Smoke Above 30,000 Feet" Kris Hutchings - Manager, Inflight Safety, WestJet, Canada Topic: "Integrating SMS into Cabin Operations" Martin Maurino - Safety & Efficiency Support Officer, ICAO, Canada Topic: "ICAO's Current Initiatives in Cabin Safety" Martin Sperber - Global Business Field Manager, Aviation, TUV Rheinland Group Topic: "Rearward-facing Cabin Attendant Stations Under Crash Loads" Steve Bentley - Managing Director, Sofema Aviation Services, Bulgaria Topic: "Cabin Product & Service, Ownership & Delivery, Quality Control & Quality Assurance Roles and Responsibilities" Rui Fragoso - Cabin Crew Manager, Portugal Topic: "SAFA's - A View from the Cabin: How Commercial Pressure Affects Cabin Safety Procedures" Adrian Young - Manager of Quality & Safety, Denim Air Topic: "SMS - Incorporating the Cabin" We are also pleased to announce the following Workshop/Training Sessions have been confirmed: Jerry Van den Berg - General Manager, BeSecure Germany Training Session: "Dealing with Physical Aggression" Lori J. Brown - Professor, Western Michigan University, College of Education Training Session: "The Evaluation of Wireless Communication Devices: To Improve Inflight Security Onboard Commercial Aircraft" Gary Morphew - COO, (L/D)max Aviation Safety Group, USA Training Session: "Investigating Turbulence Accidents/Incidents" To learn more about the ECSC speakers and workshop leads, download the complete list of bios by clicking here. Click here to REGISTER TODAY! Take advantage of the EXTENDED EARLY-BIRD DISCOUNT! (L/D)max Aviation is pleased to announce that we have extended the early-bird discount through 15 October 2011. But, don't wait - get registered TODAY to make sure you are able to take advantage of this fantastic deal. * Attendee Registrations 350, € * "Line" Flight Attendant Special 300, € * Exhibitor Registration 650, € (One registration per booth space purchased. Each additional individual per booth is 250, €.) We are also offering GROUP DISCOUNTS! * Groups registering 3-5 attendees will receive a 10% discount on each registration. * Groups registering 6 + attendees will receive a 15% discount on each registration. SIGN UP TODAY AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE SPECIALS! Stay With Us at the Marriott Hotel in Frankfurt! Be sure to Reserve Your Room TODAY and take advantage of the exclusive conference rate! (L/D)max Aviation is pleased to bring you an exclusive conference rate at the Marriott Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany for the ECSC. As the tallest hotel in Germany, this impressive hotel offers spacious rooms for guests along with a number of additional amenities. With three delectable international restaurants, a fully equipped health club, a wellness spa and much more, your stay here is sure to be enjoyable. Click here to make your reservation today and join us for this exciting, highly-anticipated aviation safety event! Don't miss your opportunity to attend and take part in the first European Cabin Safety Conference (ECSC). The ECSC page on our website is continually updated as new information becomes available, such as speakers, exhibitors, and much more. Be sure to share this information with other industry professionals. This is sure to be an event that you won't want to miss. Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn where you can get all of the latest updates and special discount opportunities. Contact: info@ldmaxaviation.com Toll Free: 877-455-3629 Local: 805-285-3629 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC