Flight Safety Information October 13, 2011 - No. 211 In This Issue NTSB Highlights International Aviation Safety Experiment points to pilot error in Russian crash Bird strike problem continues at Sitka airport TSA expands test of letting pilots skirt security lines Air France Crash Book Shows Transcript of Pilot Confusion Whitney Houston almost kicked off Delta Airlines flight American Airlines to close pilot base in San Francisco Tires on Delta flight deflate upon landing Ryanair reveals plan to have just ONE toilet NTSB Highlights International Aviation Safety National Transportation Safety Board WASHINGTON - Today, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) outlined the agency's role and participation in international aviation safety investigations; a lesser known role for the agency. "Aviation safety knows no borders - and there are no boundaries to what we can achieve when we work together," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman. "The NTSB works closely with our international counterparts to provide technical expertise in foreign aviation accident investigations and similarly, we have benefited from their participation in our investigations." During the Board meeting, NTSB Board members and staff discussed the U.S. obligations under the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Annex 13. Annex 13 provides the international protocols for the investigation of aircraft accidents and incidents. The meeting also highlighted specific examples of international investigations in which NTSB participation led to improvements in aviation safety in the U.S. and abroad. Facts about international aviation accident investigations: * In the last ten years NTSB investigators have provided support to about 1,900 foreign investigations; * A third of the recorders processed by the NTSB are from foreign accidents; and * The NTSB has issued more than 320 safety recommendations stemming from findings developed through participation in international investigations with twelve of these issued in 2011. www.ntsb.gov Back to Top Experiment points to pilot error in Russian crash MOSCOW (AP) - A pilot helping to investigate a Russian jet crash that killed 44 people said Thursday that a simulation pointed to pilot error as the cause. The Yak-42 jet crashed into the banks of the Volga River on Sept. 7 moments after takeoff from the city of Yaroslavl in western Russia, wiping out the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, which included several former NHL players. Test pilot Vasily Sevastyanov told state-run Channel One television that the plane went into a spin because a pilot pulled it up too sharply following an abnormally slow run. Officials have not yet announced the reason for the crash, but have said that all the plane's systems were functioning normally until impact. Russian media reports said the investigators believe that one of the pilots accidentally activated the wheel brakes during takeoff, while another pilot pulled the plane up to a critical angle in a desperate attempt to get it into the air. The sharp maneuver caused the jet to crash immediately after takeoff. Sevastyanov, who participated in the crash simulation at the Zhukovsky flight test center outside Moscow, said a "braking force" kept the plane down during its run, and an attempt to raise the plane's nose would lead to a crash. The only person who survived the crash, flight engineer Alexander Sizov, told Channel One from his hospital bed that he couldn't say whether the plane's brake was activated during takeoff. The crash was the latest in a string of air disasters that have raised concern about plummeting aviation safety standards in Russia and prompted President Dmitry Medvedev to suggest replacing all Soviet-era aircraft with Western-made planes. Industry experts note, however, that the recent air crashes in Russia are rooted not simply in the planes' age, but in a myriad of other problems, including insufficient crew training, crumbling airports, lax government controls and widespread neglect of safety in the pursuit of profit. Back to Top Bird strike problem continues at Sitka airport Alaska Airlines employees work on repairing a jet Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011, in Sitka, Alaska, after it was damaged by a sea gull striking the engine on Sunday. Airline officials estimate the damage to be around $1 million. SITKA, Alaska (AP) - Sitka's problem with bird strikes at its airport improved after eagle nests were removed but the problem occurred again over the weekend. The Sitka Sentinel (http://bit.ly/nwaJdu) reports an Alaska Airlines jet with 80 passengers sucked a bird, possibly a seagull, into its right engine Sunday on its approach to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport. The jet landed safely but the damaged engine is destined for a $1 million overhaul. A company flight crew in August 2010 aborted a takeoff 2,000 feet from the end of the runway after it hit an eagle, which caused $2.9 million in damage to a jet. State Department of Transportation safety and security officer Paul Khera says there have been at least five bird strikes since Aug. 24. ___ Information from: Daily Sitka Sentinel, http://www.sitkasentinel.com/ Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Bird-strike-problem-continues-at- Sitka-airport-2216609.php#ixzz1afmFHUf9 Back to Top TSA expands test of letting pilots skirt security lines The TSA on Wednesday made Washington Dulles International Airport the sixth of seven test sites for the "Known Crewmember" program aimed at speeding pilots to their planes while reducing security lines for passengers. If judged a success, the TSA could extend letting pilots go through separate checkpoints at most of the nation's major airports starting next year. The program, devised by the airline industry and pilots, lets uniformed pilots from 22 airlines show two forms of identification, which is checked against a database called "Cockpit Access Security System." A recent photo of the pilot pops up on a laptop screen, with either approval or disapproval to proceed without heading through metal detectors or other scanners. It's the latest TSA experiment in trying to change how fliers are screened for terror threats - a process that many travelers have complained is an invasion of privacy, a source of embarrassment or simply a hassle. In recent months, the agency no longer requires children under 12 to remove their shoes. It's putting new software on some full-body scanning machines that shows a generic image rather than a passenger's nude one. And it's testing a "Trusted Traveler" program at four airports aimed at expediting the screening of travelers who provide more information about themselves to the government beforehand. TSA Administrator John Pistole says the agency's strategy is to increasingly focus the heaviest screening on the riskiest travelers. "This new system is a key component, as we continue to explore more risk-based, intelligence-driven security solutions," says Greg Soule, a TSA spokesman. So far, 40,000 pilots have avoided regular security lines since the Known Crewmember program began Aug. 9 at Chicago O'Hare and was expanded to Miami, Seattle, Minneapolis and Phoenix. The experiment will be tried at Boston's Logan later this month, with a decision coming in January on whether to take the program nationwide. In addition to helping speed pilots along, says Sean Cassidy, a pilot for Alaska Airlines, it lets them avoid possibly angering the passengers they could be carrying. "It can be tense when you're jumping to the front of the line," says Cassidy, first vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which devised the program with the airlines' trade group, the Air Transport Association. This isn't the first effort to try to get airline crews through security separately. Arinc, a private firm, created a program in July 2008. That CrewPASS project, which is still being tested at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and in Pittsburgh and Columbia, S.C., has allowed 400,000 to go through separate checkpoints after providing identification and a fingerprint. Some airlines balked at Arinc's initial costs, but program director Tim Ryan says the largest four airlines could now participate for less than $1 per pilot, with higher costs for smaller carriers. He hopes both experiments can be combined into a single program. "We have the superior technology and we know how to run the services," Ryan says of the fingerprinting. So far, flight attendants can't take advantage of either program because of the way the databases are arranged, but both test programs say they'd like to add them. Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, says she hopes attendants will be included "in the near future." http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011-10-12/TSA-expands-test-of-letting-pilots- skirt-security-lines/50744964/1 Back to Top Air France Crash Book Shows Transcript of Pilot Confusion Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The first book investigating the Air France 447 crash into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 supports official conclusions that the pilots took the wrong measures to avert disaster that killed all 228 on board. Publishing what he says is the first full transcript of the pilots' voice recordings, French aviation author Jean-Pierre Otelli describes a scene in the Airbus SAS cockpit that is dominated by confusion, a lack of coordination, and denial among the flight crew as the jet plunged through the night sky toward the ocean surface. Otelli, who specializes in aviation safety, publishes his book "Piloting Error, Volume 5" today. Aviation investigators have been able to piece together the last hours of the June 2009 flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after retrieving the flight and data recorders from the ocean ground following a two-year search. France's BEA investigator has published two reports that contained only select transcripts. The reports showed the crew pulled the jet into a steep climb until it slowed to an aerodynamic stall before slumping into the sea. "This accident, and the mystery surrounding it, elicited huge emotion in France as well as in Brazil," Otelli writes. "Beyond the questions raised about modern air safety and pilot training, the crash of the Rio-Paris flight will remain a case study in the annals of air transport." Ice-Blocked Tubes The BEA accident investigation bureau said it ''strongly condemns'' the disclosure of the full transcript. The mention of personal conversations between the crew members "have no bearing on the event, which shows a lack of respect for the memory of the late crew members," the bureau said. The BEA will issue a final report on the accident June 2012 following meetings of experts that will examine pilot behaviors in stressful situations. An interim report from a criminal probe earlier this month broadly endorsed the findings by the BEA in a report in May, which showed ice-blocked speed sensors shut down the aircraft's autopilot and the crew reacting incorrectly. The French aviation safety authority earlier this year released only limited portions of pilots' conversations to help shed light on what occurred in the cockpit. Air France SA said yesterday that the information in the book was ''non-verified, and non-verifiable,'' saying it brought "no new elements." Meat Cargo "At this stage, the analysis done by judicial experts and the technical investigation led by the BEA don't permit any definitive conclusions to be drawn," the Paris-based airline said in a statement commenting on Otelli's book. Otelli's presentation of the night's events showcase the relative inexperience of the pilot who was controlling the plane. At 32 years of age, he was the youngest and least tested, with less than a third of the flight hours of the captain who was almost twice his age, and only a handful of flights to South America. When the captain prepared to leave the cockpit for routine crew rest, he asked the young pilot if he had a full airline pilot's license, rather than just a commercial pilot license, Otelli's account shows. The captain returned to the flight deck in the last moments of the flight, but never resumed control. Anyone for Whisky? As the plane hurtled vertically toward the sea, time to salvage the aircraft quickly ran out, Otelli writes. Aggravating the situation was the fact that neither of the co-pilots appeared entirely sure at times who had the controls of the plane. The book acts as a fly-on-the-wall account that reveals some of the more trivial banter in the cockpit in the hours before the deadly impact. At one point, a flight attendant enters the cockpit to inquire if the temperature in the baggage hold could be lowered to protect the meat she's brought back in her suitcase from Brazil, Otelli's transcript says. The pilot acquiesces, joking that they'd send her the bill for the extra fuel consumed. Earlier in the flight, the captain and the younger co-pilot are enjoying music from a portable player after dinner, prompting the junior pilot to joke that "all we need is whisky," Otelli writes. Air France and Airbus were charged in March with manslaughter in the criminal investigation, an interim status that does not mean they will stand trial. Both companies deny the charges. Lawyers for Air France, Airbus and the crew did not return messages left at their offices and on their mobile phones for comment. "It reflects what has already been published by the BEA," Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said by e-mail. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-13/air-france-crash-book-shows- transcript-of-pilot-confusion.html Back to Top Whitney Houston almost kicked off Delta Airlines flight Celebrities always seem to have problems on planes, whether it is Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong getting told to keep his pants up or director Kevin Smith being told that he was too obese to safely fly. Now, you can add troubled singer Whitney Houston to the list. She was almost booted off a Delta Airlines flight because she refused to buckle her seat belt. Sources told TMZ that the "I Will Always Love You" singer was boarding a flight from Atlanta and "got diva" on a crew member that asked her to put on her seat belt. She refused to put it on until another told her that she could get kicked off the flight if she refused. Fox News reports that she did not buckle the seat belt herself. Rather, the second crew member did it for her. Only then, was the plane cleared for take off. A source close to Houston admitted to TMZ that she may have overreacted a little bit, but she is "still 100% sober." The same source told TMZ that she was en route to Detroit where she is filming a new film. During the summer, Houston sought help for her alcohol and drug addiction in a 30-day rehab program, according to TMZ. http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/whitney-houston-almost-kicked-delta-airlines-flight- 10-13-2011 Back to Top American Airlines to close pilot base in San Francisco American Airlines, blaming a critical shortage of pilots caused by retirements, will close its pilot base in San Francisco, the airline's chief pilot told pilots Thursday. "This decision was not made lightly and comes with much regret and only after intensive discussion and strategic analysis," John Hale, vice president of flight, said in a message to pilots. "Unfortunately, this difficult course of action proves to be the best in the long run for all concerned." The San Francisco base has been deemphasized in recent years as American has adopted a "cornerstone" strategy focused on its Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago and Miami hubs and Los Angeles and New York. It has canceled two long-lived routes from San Francisco to Honolulu and to Boston this year as part of that strategy. The airline has seen 240 pilots retire since the end of August and 368 so far this year, more than triple the rate seen in all of 2010. On Monday, the airline said it would reduce its capacity 3 percent in late fall and winter, and might have to lay off some employees as a result. "As many of you know, the recent surge in retirements has left our manning levels to be critically short to the detriment of our schedule reliability," Hale said in his message. "We were unable to achieve a bridge agreement to allow us to temporarily ease the manning crunch, so we must find another way to underwrite the reliability of our operation." As a result, American is "concentrating our resources where we were need them most and marshaling our forces around our cornerstone strategy. The current economic environment also leaves us faced with making tough choices about where and how we spend our money and this closure will save significant reserve and management cost," he said American had attempted to negotiate some temporary steps outside of the current pilot contract to ease the staffing problem, including incentives if pilots would fly more hours. However, the Allied Pilots Association has taken the stance that any relief needed to be in a new contract, not a side letter outside the contract. The two sides have been in contract talks since September 2006. As part of that APA president Dave Bates on Tuesday scheduled a special meeting of the APA's board of directors for Saturday afternoon, in case the airline and union can reach a tentative agreement. "AMR management has conveyed to APA their desire to make a concerted effort to conclude pilot negotiations this week," Bates told pilots in a message Tuesday. "Accordingly, APA and management resumed negotiations today at an undisclosed location in Texas and plan to continue bargaining through the weekend." http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/10/american-airlines-to-close-pil.html Back to Top Tires on Delta flight deflate upon landing SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Maintenance teams are examining a Delta Airlines plane after two of its tires deflated upon landing in Salt Lake City. Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin says the flight from Las Vegas landed at about 6:51 p.m. Wednesday with 148 passengers and five crew members aboard. Laughlin calls the incident "uneventful," and says no injuries were reported when two of the plane's left tires deflated. She says the plane briefly stopped on the runway before taxiing to another location where passengers got off and took a bus to the terminal. David Korzep, superintendent of airport operations, says hot brakes caused the front tires to blow after the plane had landed. Firefighters responded to the scene, but Laughlin says there was no fire. The plane was not scheduled for another flight Wednesday. Back to Top Cross your legs and prepare for take-off: Ryanair reveals plan to have just ONE toilet on each plane to make room for more seats Airline's plan would make space for six extra seats Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary argues move 'would fundamentally lower air fares by about five per cent' The airline's longest route route from UK is service to Rhodes in Greece which takes four-and-a-half hours Move would see 200 people on flight vying for access to sole lavatory It is a cruel irony for the millions of holidaymakers who slam Ryanair for charging them for hidden 'extras' while flying. Because soon, the budget airline's passengers will feel grateful for the chance just to spend a penny. For it plans to rip out even more toilets from its planes - whittling them down to just one loo per aircraft. No stranger to controversy: Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary argues that the move would ultimately benefit passengers, as it 'would fundamentally lower air fares by about five per cent.' The move, which takes 'no frills travel' to a whole new level, could see 200 passengers vying to share one facility - forcing them either to wait in very long queues or cross their legs and pray. COURTING CONTROVERSY Michael O'Leary's plan is the latest scheme from the budget airline. Some have been implemented, while others have not. They include... Charging passengers £1 to use the toilet on flights Redesigning their aircraft to allow standing passengers Charging overweight passengers more to fly Asking passengers to carry their own luggage to the plane Charging passengers £5 to check-in online and £20 at the airport desks Charging £5 per passenger to pay by debit or credit card Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said he wants to replace the toilets with extra passenger seats in order to offer cheaper air fares. He is pressing Boeing to 're-certify' Ryanair's aircraft to enable six extra seats to be installed, particularly for short-haul flights. The airline flies only one type of aircraft type, the Boeing 737-800. It has 189 seats on each plane, the maximum allowed under current rules. Fitting six extra seats would mean ripping out two of the three loos - leaving 200 passengers to share just one. But Mr O'Leary insists: 'We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway.' The move 'would fundamentally lower air fares by about 5 per cent for all passengers - cutting £2 from a typical £40 ticket', he added. There is no legal stipulation for an airline to provide toilets on its aircraft. Boeing declined to be drawn on the plans, saying: 'We don't discuss those conversations.' The budget airline has announced plans to remove two of the three lavatories from its planes - a move that it believes will allow space for up to six extra seats Ryanair will carry 75million passengers this year. Its longest UK route is from Rhodes to Liverpool, taking four hours and 25 minutes. Initially, though, the higher-capacity aircraft would be deployed on shorter routes. A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents said: 'We all know how inconvenient it can be if a toilet on a plane is out of order. This move could be a step too far.' But aviation consultant John Strickland said: 'High fuel prices are making it difficult for even Ryanair to keep fares low, so anything which helps reduce costs is essential.' Last summer Ryanair said it planned to introduce flights where passengers stand up rather than sit, from £4 per ticket. The plan would remove the back ten rows of seats from its 250 planes and replace them with 15 rows of vertical seats. The Office of Fair Trading is investigating a 'super-complaint' by the Consumers' Association into charges by low-cost airlines. Ryanair - which charges up to £20 per piece of checked luggage per flight - faced outcry in 2009 for plans to charge passengers a pound to visit the plane toilet. The plans to 'charge a pound to spend a penny' have now been dropped, Mr O'Leary said. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2048198/Ryanair-toilet-aircraft- plan-make-room-seats.html#ixzz1afrARojl Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC