Flight Safety Information October 19, 2011 - No. 215 In This Issue Sleeping Controller Triggered Chaotic Response, Report Shows Porter Airlines says safety rebuke due to manual Southwest flight lands in Amarillo after passenger becomes unruly Crashed An-12's cockpit recorder badly damaged Inquiry details BA 777 engine incident similar to Emirates event AI Express flight safety chief quits over probe (INDIA) Six dead in Nepal military rescue plane crash MiG 29 crashes in Himachal, Indian Air Force begins search Middle East carriers will need 36,000 new pilots Corporate jet owners applaud scrapping $100-a-flight fee The San Francisco Chapter...of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators Meeting ANA knocks first 787 into boarding bridge Sleeping Controller Triggered Chaotic Response, Report Shows By Alan Levin Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Two airliners landed in error at Washington's Reagan National Airport March 23 after the lone tower controller on a midnight shift fell asleep and regional officials reacted incorrectly, a U.S. accident investigation concluded. As air-traffic managers tried to figure out why nobody was responding to calls to the airport tower, a regional controller left pilots of incoming flights operated by AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and United Continental Holdings Inc.'s United Airlines with the impression they could land using rules for airports with unmanned towers, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released yesterday. Government-approved procedures for both carriers did not list Reagan National as an airport where such a landing was permitted, the NTSB report said. The planes landed without incident. In the first official report to result from last spring's spate of incidents involving sleeping controllers, the NTSB blamed the incident at Reagan National on the tower controller's fatigue and Federal Aviation Administration's scheduling practices. The FAA has since revamped controller scheduling, assigned at least two controllers to every tower in overnight hours and revised guidelines for when no one in a tower is responding, the agency said in a statement. Nine controllers were reported as sleeping on the job by the FAA earlier this year. The other cases came to light after the incident at National. Four Midnight Shifts American said its pilots acted properly. "The FAA has cleared both pilots," Andrea Huguely, an American spokeswoman, said in an interview. "There is no disciplinary action or anything against them." "Our pilots exercised good judgment in managing the situation they faced that night in Washington DC," Mike Trevino, a spokesman for Chicago-based United, said yesterday. The FAA supervisor who acknowledged falling asleep at the airport told investigators he was working his fourth consecutive midnight shift and his sleep had been disrupted the previous two days, according to the report. The supervisor, who was not identified, said he felt "professionally embarrassed, shocked, panicked, ashamed," the NTSB said. That night, he recalled thinking "I need to throw some water on my face" because he was so tired. The next thing he knew he woke up in a daze, the report said. American Flight 1012 and United Flight 628 landed while he was asleep. Another controller at a regional air-traffic facility advised the pilots that uncontrolled landings had been allowed at Reagan National before and they could decide what to do, the report said. Uncontrolled Towers Pilots are permitted to land at many other airports without a tower provided they announce themselves on the radio and follow other precautions. A supervisor at the regional facility told investigators he should have ordered the controller to hold the jets rather than allowing them to land, the NTSB said. The supervisor said he had no training on how to handle such a situation, the report said. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said two days after the incident that he'd ordered controllers to tell pilots to divert to other airports if they couldn't reach the tower. In the confusion that night, the regional controller also didn't clear the American flight to approach the airport, the NTSB said. Back to Top Porter Airlines says safety rebuke due to manual (Reuters) - Porter Airlines said on Tuesday that no imminent safety issues were involved in an incident some four years ago when it received a warning from Transport Canada inspectors charged with implementing new air safety rules. Rather, the incident involved a previously approved maintenance manual that the small, regional airline was required to bring more into line with the federal body's newly minted safety management system (SMS), Porter Chief Executive Robert Deluce said. The issue arose "in the early stages of our development, at a time when we were struggling to understand the implication of SMS. Today SMS is much better understood," Deluce told Reuters. He said Porter was the first scheduled airline in Canada required to be fully SMS- compliant as its launch coincided with the unveiling of the new rules. Much bigger rivals, Air Canada ACb.TO and WestJet Airlines (WJA.TO: Quote), were given two to three years to phase in the rules, he said. Postmedia group, which owns the National Post newspaper, reported on Monday that Porter had in the past faced the threat of being grounded for failing to comply with Transport Canada's air safety rules. It did not give details of what the issue involved had been or when it had occurred. Closely held Porter, which was launched nearly five years ago, flies to short-haul destinations in Eastern Canada and the United States from the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which is located just minutes from the city's center. Back to Top Southwest flight lands in Amarillo after passenger becomes unruly Amarillo police arrested a California man who airport officials say disrupted Southwest Airlines flight 3683 from Los Angeles to Kansas City, officials said. Ali Reza Shahsauri, 29, was arrested on a charge of interference with a flight crew. "It came in here because - I'm assuming - the crew determined it was the best place to get on the ground," Amarillo Aviation Director Patrick Rhodes said. Rhodes said an emergency call was placed about 3:30 p.m. to the flight tower at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. The caller initially reported a male passenger was attempting to break into the cockpit, Rhodes said. "Police officers have recently told me that that was not the case," Rhodes said. "He was being disruptive and unruly on the flight, but he was not specifically trying to break into the cockpit." The plane landed without incident at the Amarillo airport and was transported to Gate 7 of the new terminal, Rhodes said. Amarillo police took the man into custody and he was questioned by federal authorities before being transported to Randall County Jail, officials said. No one was injured. Passenger Doug Oerding said Shahsauri started screaming obscenities at other passengers during the flight. Attendants attempted to calm Shahsauri and then he went to the bathroom at back of plane and started making a commotion, Oerding said. "All of us guys were looking at him like are we going to have to do something," Oerding said. He said a flight attendant got Shahsauri to calm down. The flight landed and police officers came onto the plane and took him into custody, Oerding said. More than a dozen detectives arrived at the airport to gather affidavits from the estimated 200 passengers on the flight, officials said. Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Sarah Horowitz said information was still being gathered on the incident. http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2011-10-18/southwest-flight-lands-amarillo-after- attempted-cockpit-break Back to Top Crashed An-12's cockpit recorder badly damaged Russian investigators are trying to reconstruct the last moments of an Avis-Amur Antonov An-12 using flight-data recorder information, because the cockpit-voice recorder is badly damaged. The aircraft (RA-11125) came down in the vicinity of Magadan on 9 August. Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said it had restored information from the flight-data recorder. "Analysis and evaluation of the crew's actions during the emergency is being based on the [flight-data recorder] records," it added. MAK pointed out that parts of the cockpit-voice recorder are "badly damaged" and other components are missing. Investigators are working to restore the recorder and assess whether it contains a record of the accident. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Inquiry details BA 777 engine incident similar to Emirates event UK investigators have detailed an incident in which a British Airways Boeing 777-200ER continued a flight despite suffering engine damage on take-off, an event apparently similar to one this year involving an Emirates 777-200ER. As the BA aircraft departed Singapore for London, on 14 June last year, it experienced exhaust gas temperature fluctuations in its right-hand Rolls-Royce Trent 800 powerplant at 500ft. Caution messages over the engine thrust and engine speed appeared briefly but the symptoms disappeared and the flight continued. While climbing through 10,000ft the captain conducted a troubleshooting check by engaging full thrust. Both engines appeared to be running normally but the crew discussed a discrepancy in readings between the two. Only after 5h flying did the situation start to deteriorate, when calculations indicated that reaching London with minimum required fuel of 5.4t was "becoming unlikely" and the trend was "worsening", said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. The 777 was over Afghanistan at this point, and few suitable alternate airports would be available for several hours, even if the aircraft turned back. Since the aircraft was burning 8t per hour and there was still 52t of fuel on board, the crew opted to continue towards Europe. Around 8h 45min into the flight, the high fuel flow and required thrust setting reduced after the crew felt and heard a "thud", which the captain initially thought to be a compressor stall. The fuel state stopped deteriorating, but with inadequate fuel for London the crew planned a diversion to Amsterdam. The aircraft landed without incident. But inspection showed an inner wall duct on the thrust reverser had separated and a large part of the turbine exhaust nozzle was missing. The 777 had sustained damage to its inboard flap fairing and flaperon, and there was gouging on the wing skin and horizontal stabiliser. Debris was found by the runway at Singapore. Earlier this year an Emirates 777 continued a 5h flight despite the crew's hearing a loud bang and receiving a number of cautionary messages while departing Moscow. That aircraft had also suffered duct and thrust-reverser damage. In its report into the BA incident, the AAIB said there were several areas within the engine duct that showed evidence of "thermal exposure and disbond". It added that the incident followed around 10 other events on 777s with the same airframe-engine combination, and that two more had occurred since. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top AI Express flight safety chief quits over probe (INDIA) New Delhi - In a strange turn of events, within days of the flight safety wing of Air India (AI) Express initiating a probe against two of its top officials -chief of operations and training - the airline's flight safety chief, Captain AK Sharma, has quit from his post. Sources said Sharma's team was allegedly under pressure not to carry out the investigation against the two, who are both senior captains and happen to be brothers. Sharma's resignation could snowball into a major controversy for the carrier, which was involved in the Mangalore crash that killed more than 150 people last year. The flight safety department had received a complaint against the two captains, which alleged that to become an instructor, one of the two "used fraudulent means and forged documents" in collusion with his brother and a flight inspector of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2008. "DGCA regulation prohibits blood relatives doing checks or be present during checks of their kin," the complaint said. A probe was initiated last week and the flight safety department had sought all documents relating to the case. Sources said Sharma, who was heading the flight safety department since 2006, was upset after being accused of being "unprofessional" and "failing to maintain decorum in discharge of official duties" by the airline management soon after his team began the probe. "I strongly deny the allegations that he (Sharma) has raised against the management," S Chandrakumar, COO, AI Express said. "The factual position is that we invited applications from type-rated Boeing 737-800 NG Captains for filling up the position of chief of flight safety. Sharma knows he doesn't qualify for the post and was looking for an excuse to leave," he said. "The number of incidents and accidents that AI Express has had in recent times points to a major failure in safety quality assurance programme," Captain Mohan Ranganathan, member of a panel on aviation safety said. http://www.hindustantimes.com/AI-Express-flight-safety-chief-quits-over- probe/Article1-757041.aspx Back to Top Six dead in Nepal military rescue plane crash (BBC) A military aircraft with six people on board which went missing in Nepal has been found to have crashed, killing all six people on board, officials say. The plane was returning to Kathmandu carrying a medical team from a rescue mission in western Nepalgunj town when it lost contact with officials. Rescuers said that some of the bodies were badly mutilated. Plane crashes are fairly common in mountainous Nepal. Last month 19 people died in a crash near Mount Everest. In another crash last December, all 22 people travelling in a small passenger plane were killed east of Kathmandu. An army spokesman said that the Britten-Norman Islander plane involved in Tuesday's accident lost communication while flying over a national park in Baglung district. The plane was carrying a patient along with a doctor, a nurse and a relative of the sick person. There were two crew members on board. "The plane has scattered into pieces in a dense forest in a gorge-like area in the remote hill," senior police official Uma Prasad Chaturbedi told the AFP news agency. "This morning [Wednesday], the rescuers retrieved four bodies. Three of them have been badly damaged, hence it is hard to identify their gender." Nepal army spokesman Rabindra Chetri told the Associated Press that the wreckage was located in an area which was difficult to reach because of the terrain and inclement weather. ********** Date: 18-OCT-2011 Time: 7:06pm LT Type: Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2T Turbine Islander Operator: Nepal Army Air Wing - 11th Brigade Registration: RAN-49 C/n / msn: 2191 Fatalities: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Dhorpatan, Bowang ward 9 of Baglung district - Nepal Phase: En route Nature: Ambulance Departure airport: Nepalgunj Airport - VNNG Destination airport: Kathmandu - Tribhuvan International Airport - VNKT Narrative: A Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2T Turbine Islander of the Nepal Army Air Wing, performing an ambulance flight, crashed in a dense forest near Dhorpatan, Bowang ward 9 of Baglung district an caught fire. All six occupants didn't survive. Note: The two white/blue colored Turbine Isalnders of the NAAW don't carry any external marks. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top MiG 29 crashes in Himachal, Indian Air Force begins search Shimla: A MiG 29 crashed in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul Valley, police said on Wednesday. Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters began a search operation to locate the wreckage of the aircraft in the treacherous mountain terrain. There is no official confirmation about the number of people on board the aircraft that crashed during a night flying exercise in Lahaul and Spiti district Tuesday. "Two small choppers have arrived from the IAF base in Udhampur (in Jammu and Kashmir) and started recce. Still no aircraft fuselage has been reported," Deputy Superintendent of Police Khajana Ram told reporters. He said a team of rescue workers, comprising police personnel, had also been rushed to the hilltop spot to start the search operation. The accident spot is quite treacherous and inaccessible. Superintendent of Police Bimal Gupta said a communication was received from the IAF at around 8.30 p.m. Tuesday that a MiG 29 has crashed. "A team of rescue workers has reached Chokhang village from where they have started trudging up the mountain to reach the accident spot. By evening the team is likely to reach the spot," he said. The hilltop is totally devoid of forest and there are chances that the wreckage could be located easily, Gupta said. Chokhang village on the Keylong-Udaipur highway is about 40 km from the district headquarters of Keylong and 450 km from here. "We have no information about the number of people on board the aircraft," Deputy Commissioner Rajeev Shankar said. Eyewitnesses told police that they noticed a fireball in the sky and heard a loud sound on Tuesday night. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/mig-29-crashes-in-himachal-indian-air-force-begins- search-142474 Back to Top Middle East carriers will need 36,000 new pilots flight crews required for plane orders worth $450b Dubai: The Middle East needs 36,000 new pilots to fly the 2,520 new planes that will be delivered to the region between this year and 2030, according to the latest estimates by Boeing. Worldwide, the pilot requirement will rise to almost 459,600 in the same period, as a total of 33,500 new aircraft are set for delivery by 2030, at an estimated market value of $4.06 trillion (Dh14.9 trillion), of which the Middle East commands $450 billion. But it's not just the shortage of pilots that airlines across the globe are currently grappling with. There is also a strong demand for more than 40,000 aviation industry personnel currently, according to Roei Ganzarski, chief customer officer for Boeing Flight Services. Expansion hitch "Our airline customers tell us that a global pilot shortage is hampering growth plans and that they are struggling to find enough pilots to fly new routes and to add flights to existing routes. "Boeing is catering to their needs by addressing all possible areas," he said, adding that the future of training for Boeing is focused on greater use and increased reliance on technology and digital devices among other elements. The US planemaker, which is looking at plane sales worth around $4 trillion and services worth $2.3 trillion in the period to 2030, trains about 30,000 people a year at 18 training centres around the world, Ganzarski said. But as US-based aviation analyst Ernest S Arvai, president and CEO of The Arvai Group, an aviation consultancy, points out: "The pilot requirements for Gulf carriers will continue to grow, and unfortunately, at a faster rate than local Gulf pilots can be trained." Training challenge He added that typically an airline needs "seven to nine flight crews per aircraft" to accommodate scheduling and rest periods required by regulations. With the rollout of Boeing's new plane, the 787 Dreamliner, the need for additional training centres seems to be rising. Asked if Boeing could potentially open a 787 training centre in the Middle East, a region with large orders for the 787, Ganzarski told Gulf News: "I cannot comment on it right now. We continue to explore ideas." But while new training facilities have emerged in the Gulf, the region is not graduating the number of pilots necessary to accommodate growth and retirements, according to Arvai. "Gulf carriers need to establish additional training academies and find locals to train to meet these critical requirements," he said. Meanwhile, the UAE carriers employ more than 4,000 pilots, with Emirates counting 2,687 first officers and captains, followed by over 1,000 pilots by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, 270 and 244 pilots by two budget carriers Air Arabia and flydubai respectively. And a number of planes are on the way. Emirates has 199 wide-bodied aircraft on order currently, worth more than $66 billion, the bulk of which comprises Airbus A380 superjumbos. Etihad is due to take delivery of 92 planes by the end 2012 to make a fleet of 155 aircraft. More turbulence ahead US planemaker Boeing yesterday predicted more sales cancellations for its delayed Dreamliner 787, after a Chinese airline scrapped 24 orders, but said the overall order book for the new long-range aircraft remained strong. A day after news of China Eastern's cancellations - it will instead spend $3.3 billion (Dh12.11 billion) to buy 45 new Boeing 737 aircraft - a Boeing executive said some orders would fall through as it adjusted delivery dates and that the pace of production of the fuel-efficient aircraft would pick up. "Frankly as we look forward, we expect to see the Dreamliner order base increase, we expect to see more orders, we expect to see more cancellations, especially as we go through mitigation with our customers," Boeing marketing vice-president Randy Tinseth told a briefing in Seoul. China Southern Airlines, Asia's largest carrier by passenger numbers, too said it may scrap its 10 orders for Boeing 787 aircraft after delivery of the first plane was pushed back to July. http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/middle-east-carriers-will-need-36-000-new- pilots-1.903291 Back to Top Corporate jet owners applaud scrapping $100-a-flight fee Owners of corporate aircraft are breathing a little easier this week after the Senate dropped a proposal to add a $100-per-flight fee on business planes that had been part of President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act tax plan targeting the wealthy. The proposal generated buzz at last week's National Business Aircraft Association conference in Las Vegas, where aviation industry leaders said the fee in Obama's bill would have destroyed the economics of operating some models of corporate jets with low costs. "It's clear that the bully pulpit is being used to bully an industry," said Dan Hubbard, a spokesman for the organization, during the association's gathering. "Do we think we've been singled out and selected for punitive treatment? Yes." But after the Senate stripped the provision by the end of the three-day conference Wednesday - and Senate Republicans followed by blocking the entire bill and submitting their own legislation for consideration - industry officials and aircraft owners said rejection of the additional fee couldn't have come at a better time for the industry. Although the economy and roller-coaster ride of fluctuating fuel prices have buffeted aviation companies and limited growth, some segments have seen improvement over last year. What's more, supporters of business aircraft said the industry would continue to pay its fair share of taxes through federal excise taxes on either fuel or the transportation of persons or property. For commercial transportation, passengers and jet owners pay a 7.5 percent tax, a domestic segment fee of $3.70 or $16.30 on international departures and arrivals and $8.20 on flights to and from Hawaii or Alaska. The latter two are up 20 cents and 10 cents, respectively, from 2010. For noncommercial transportation, the fuel tax varies on aviation gasoline and jet fuel. "The Senate appears to have been consistent in its position on user fees," Hubbard said after the conference concluded. "We learned about it when it was proposed, heard about it in hearings and it was debated on the House and Senate floors and dismissed as a bad policy idea." Analysts said the proposal, which would have applied to both jets and turboprop aircraft, would effectively have put a 20 percent cost increase on the operation of some small jets, particularly the recently introduced Eclipse 500, Cessna Mustang and Embraer Phenom 100. The move in the Senate came around the time the National Business Aircraft Association and the 26,000 people who attended its conference were beginning to shut down the trade show, which next year will move to Orlando, Fla. Dozens of corporate jets were on display at Henderson Executive Airport during the show and, for the first time, some small jets, planes and helicopters were shuttled to the Las Vegas Convention Center for display. The association maintained a bus shuttle between the Convention Center and the Henderson airport all week. Those who stood to gain from the Senate's actions included Cleveland-based Flight Options LLC, one of the companies that exhibited at last week's conference. Flight Option, which operates a fleet of more than 100 jets and more than 1,300 owners and program members, reported a 33 percent increase in sales for the first nine months of 2011 over the previous year. One of the company's five maintenance centers is based in Las Vegas. The company has seen minimal growth in Las Vegas operations over last year. For the first six months of 2010, Flight Options had 359 operations at three Southern Nevada airports - McCarran International Airport, Henderson Executive and North Las Vegas. In 2011, over the same six-month period, there were 372. Irwin Helford, a Las Vegas resident and former chairman and CEO of Officer Viking Office Products, also had a stake in the issue. He is a believer in one of the areas in which the industry is growing - fractional ownership, in which customers purchase air time in a plane instead of an entire aircraft. He acquired a fractional ownership seven years ago when his company was in talks to merge with Office Depot. "People buy corporate aircraft or fractionals for a couple of reasons," Helford said. "One is that you can fly right into small communities that don't have an international airport. You can fly to multiple cities in one trip. But the big reason is time. By flying directly into small communities and on your own schedule, you save a lot of time." Helford believes the measure to sock aircraft owners was more political posturing by Obama than revenue generating. "Now that I'm retired, I'm not in that million-dollar-plus salary level that Obama wants to tax so heavily. So it would be an additional burden to me. I'll live with it, but not be happy about it," Helford said before the Senate action. No longer in business, Helford said he is unable to take tax deductions or accelerated appreciation advantages, but he feels the work of the foundations he serves - and using jets to get to meetings - is important enough to continue flying. He serves on a board dedicated to cancer research and chairs another that maintains the Great American Songbook, a collection of jazz and Broadway music considered important to American culture. Even after he retired, Helford opted to continue his fractional investment because of the convenience to him and his family in his philanthropic work. "It's all about QTR - quality time remaining," Helford said. "There's nothing more important to me than time. It's more important than money and more important than pleasure and because of the comfort, safety and convenience, I have my family use private aircraft as well." Helford did a cost analysis to determine whether it made more sense to acquire an aircraft or go the fractional route. Eventually, he determined that flying by private jet was more economical than flying commercially, and because he didn't want to have to maintain a jet and acquire a hangar, he went with fractional ownership. Helford is just one of dozens of corporate aircraft operators in Las Vegas. Officials at McCarran International Airport don't have a data base of corporate aircraft because it leases space to private fixed-base operators, the largest of which are Signature Flight Support and Atlantic Aviation, which have direct relationships to the companies. The base operators assist a tight-knit community of aircraft owners who generally shy away from publicity after some media representatives have targeted them as examples of corporate greed. Amstat, a New Jersey-based aviation market research company, said there are 76 companies that own and maintain aircraft at McCarran, Henderson and North Las Vegas, and their fleets are composed of 149 planes. Several casino companies maintain aircraft fleets, used both to transport executives and important customers. MGM Resorts International has its own aviation department maintaining its fleet of corporate jets. Wynn Resorts advertises a private jet package for guests. Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson's corporate fleet includes a Boeing 747 and Phil Ruffin, chairman of Treasure Island, has an extended-range Boeing 737 corporate jet. The corporate planes support a small business aviation niche in Las Vegas, which includes a family-owed company called Start Pac, which manufactures and sells ground power units, the portable battery devices used to start aircraft engines. Eve Storm, vice president of the Start Pac, said the company relocated to Las Vegas from Page, Ariz., and now sells 24 products, including a lithium ion battery that can be used to start train locomotives as well as airplanes. http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/oct/19/corporate-jet-owners-applaud-scrapping- 100--flight/ Back to Top The San Francisco Chapter of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators presents Investigating a Major Aviation Accident Where: Oakland Aviation Museum, Oakland Airport When: Friday, October 28th, 2011 from 1300-1500 Cost: $5 (to offset the museum entrance fee) This round table discussion will feature: Ron Schleede - NTSB retired - Ron Schleede served the NTSB for more than 28 years as a field investigator, human factors investigator and manager of Major Investigations - 2002 ISASI Jerry Lederer Award Recipient. John Purvis - Boeing retired - John Purvis had a 41 year career with the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company and served as its Director of Air Safety Investigation for 17 years - 2001 ISASI Jerry Lederer Award Recipient. Toby Carroll - Director Flight Safety, Continental Airlines - Toby Carroll has led Continental's Flight Safety Department for over 25 years. Toby also serves as President of the US Society of ISASI. Important Notes: * Program begins at 1300, but you are free to visit the museum before or after the program. * Attendance is NOT limited to ISASI members. You are encouraged to bring friends and colleagues. * A door prize will be given to the person who drives the furthest to attend. * Refreshments provided. Please RSVP by email Susan.Rivers@RTIforensics.com or (510) 921 5357 Fee waived for first 10 people to RSVP Oakland Aviation Museum 8252 Earhart Road - Bldg. L-621 Historic North Field Oakland Intl. Airport (510) 638-7100 www.oaklandaviationmuseum.org Back to Top ANA knocks first 787 into boarding bridge All Nippon Airways has admitted that its first Boeing 787 suffered some slight surface damage to its engine inlet cowl after it hit a passenger boarding bridge. The incident took place while ground crew were towing the aircraft, JA801A, on 13 October, said the spokesman. He added that the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered aircraft suffered only surface damage, and that it resumed regular flight tests on 14 October after the company did some checks. "Everything was fine. There was only some surface damage, and the aircraft was back in operation on schedule," said the spokesman. The inaugural flight for the 787 is on track for 26 October. This will be a special charter service between Tokyo's Narita airport and Hong Kong. Regular scheduled services start on 1 November, with daily flights between Tokyo's Haneda airport and the cities of Okayama and Hiroshima. International operations are due to begin in December on the Haneda-Beijing route. The spokesman also said that ANA has received its second 787, which was delivered to the Japanese carrier on 16 October. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC