Flight Safety Information October 27, 2011 - No. 221 In This Issue Virgin Galactic selects pilot for spaceflights Controller in first lady incident had prior errors FAA Launches Website In Ongoing Fight To End Laser Strikes On Aircraft TSA screener removed for inappropriate note Africa's aviation industry set to soar, says Boeing CAA chief warns over industry disaster planning Thai Airways A300s undamaged by Don Mueang floods ATSB issues report on Qantas 767 'too low gear' incident Virgin Galactic selects pilot for spaceflights Virgin Galactic said Keith Colmer, above, brings 12 years of operational, developmental and experimental aircraft test flight experience plus more than 10 years of combined military experience in Air Force spacecraft operations and flying. After combing through a long list of astronauts, fighter pilots, and space geeks, British billionaire Richard Branson named a new astronaut pilot to join his start-up space venture that aims to lift paying passengers into space. Branson's company Virgin Galactic announced Wednesday that former U.S. Air Force test pilot Keith Colmer will join chief pilot David Mackay to begin flight training and testing of the company's revolutionary aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. Colmer was selected from more than 500 applicants, which included about 10 current and former astronauts, Virgin Galactic Chief Executive George T. Whitesides said in a recent interview at the company's office in Pasadena. "We selected the best pilot for our vehicles," he said. "Unlike most spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo is actually flown to space. So the emphasis is on people who have tremendous pilot skills." In the past, the way people have reached outer space is aboard a high-powered rocket. Instead, Virgin Galactic will depart from Spaceport America in New Mexico using a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. It will fly with the reusable SpaceShipTwo rocket plane under its wing to 50,000 feet, where the spaceship will separate, blast off and, after their journey, be flown back to New Mexico. When the rocket motor engages, high gravitational forces will pin the pilot to the back of his seat as he steers the craft - and up to six passengers - to the edge of space, or about 60 miles above the Earth's surface. Once they reach that suborbital altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. Then they will re-enter the atmosphere and coast back to a runway and land. The pilot will have manual control of SpaceShipTwo for nearly the entire flight. This is unusual in an age when automated controls pervade air and spaceflight. "That spaceship is the sexiest vehicle in the world for the right kind of pilot," Whitesides said. "If you're going to fly it, you need to have the 'right stuff,' " referring to the 1979 book "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe about the early days of NASA's space program. Similar to those early pioneers, Whitesides said, Colmer is blazing a path in the new world of commercial spaceflights. Virgin Galactic said Colmer brings 12 years of operational, developmental and experimental aircraft test flight experience plus more than 10 years of combined military experience in Air Force spacecraft operations and flying. He has logged over 5,000 hours in over 90 different types of aircraft, including two combat tours in Iraq as an F-16 fighter pilot. Colmer, who goes by the nickname "Coma," will join the team in Mojave where Virgin Galactic's carrier aircraft and spaceships are made by Spaceship Co. They are currently undergoing test flights. Whitesides said the company hopes to start commercial flights within two years. "I am extremely honored to have been the first astronaut pilot selected through competition to join the team," Colmer said in a statement. "Virgin Galactic is truly revolutionizing the way we go to space, and I am looking forward to being a part of that." http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-1027-spaceship-pilot-20111027,0,3248060.story Back to Top Controller in first lady incident had prior errors WASHINGTON (AP) - A report by federal safety investigators says the air traffic controller who allowed a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama to fly too close a military cargo jet last spring had accumulated four previous "coordination errors." The National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday said the controller violated two Federal Aviation Administration procedures during the incident. The Boeing 737 with Mrs. Obama and vice presidential spouse Jill Biden aboard was forced to abort an intended landing at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to avoid wake turbulence from the larger military jet and to give it time to clear the runway. The report said the controller, who wasn't identified, was relieved of his air traffic control duties and sent for retraining, but is approved to handle air traffic again. Back to Top FAA Launches Website In Ongoing Fight To End Laser Strikes On Aircraft October 27, 2011 - In the past 11 months, Randy Babbitt, Administrator for the FAA and Ray LaHood, Secretary of the Department of Transportation have worked to raise public awareness about the dangers of shining a laser at an airplane or helicopter. Unfortunately, however, these dangerous incidents are still on the rise. As part of our ongoing effort to stop these threats to pilot, crew, and passenger safety, the Federal Aviation Administration has launched a new website. The new site includes statistics, research on the dangers lasers pose, and links for reporting laser incidents. It also features downloadable videos. Pointing a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft threatens lives. As FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said, "As a former commercial airline pilot, I can tell you that shining a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft is a serious safety risk. Lasers can distract or temporarily blind pilots who are trying to fly safely to their destinations and could compromise the safety of hundreds of passengers." The FAA takes this seriously; the aviation community takes this seriously; and law enforcement agencies take this seriously. Yet, through October 20, pilots have already reported 2,795 laser events for 2011. Reports for this year are likely to top 2010's record of 2,836 incidents. In fact, laser event reports have increased steadily since 2005, when the FAA created a formal reporting system to collect information from pilots. Part of the early increase from 300 in 2005 to 1,527 in 2009--can be attributed to pilots, air traffic controllers, and the public becoming more aware of the dangers and calling local authorities. But the dramatic rise cannot be explained away that easily. Portable laser pointing devices are less expensive, more powerful, and more readily available than ever. And people seem unable to resist the very dangerous temptation to shine them at aircraft. But the FAA has also been more active than ever in trying to protect the safety of pilots, crews, and passengers. In June, the FAA announced it would start imposing civil penalties of up to $11,000 against people pointing a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft, and the agency is currently working on 18 civil penalty cases. The FAA also worked with Myrtle Beach, SC, to develop a law making it illegal to point a laser at an aircraft. In September, Myrtle Beach passed its law, joining a number of other states and communities who have recognized the dangers lasers pose. "The website FAA Administrator Babbitt launched today at the Air Line Pilots Association "Laser Illumination Conference" is another step in this ongoing pursuit of safety. And I urge you to visit the new site and share it with your friends. "Safety is our absolute number one priority, and we will do everything we can to get the word out about how dangerous it is to point a laser at an aircraft. These incidents must stop". The three most common physiological effects associated with exposure to bright lights are; Glare - Obscuration of an object in a person's field of vision due to a bright light source located near the same line of sight. Flashblindness - A visual interference effect that persists after the source of illumination has been removed. And an Afterimage - A transient image left in the visual field after an exposure to a bright light. The demands on a pilot's vision are task dependent and frequently change according to the particular phase of flight and current visual conditions. Of principal concern to aviators is the possibility of being illuminated by a laser during terminal operations, which include approach, landing, takeoff, and departure maneuvers. Pilots conducting low-level flight operations at night are particularly vulnerable to accidental or malicious laser illumination. During these activities, the pilot's visual workload is highest, and the time to recover from exposure to a visually debilitating light source is minimal. Should distractions or physiological impairment disrupt cockpit procedures, flight crew coordination, or communication between the pilot and air traffic control personnel during critical phases of flight, the consequences could be catastrophic. On October 30, 1995,At approximately 6:30 pm PST the first officer on Southwest Airlines flight 1367 sustained a debilitating eye injury after being irradiated by a laser beam on departure from McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, NV. The airplane was enroute from Las Vegas to San Antonio, TX, climbing through 7,000 feet MSL, on a standard instrument departure route when the incident occurred. The pilot-in-command (first-officer) reported that the laser beam sweep through the cockpit, resulting in temporary blindness and pain in his right eye, in addition to after-image effects that impaired the vision in his left eye. The pilot could not focus or interpret any instrument indications and was disoriented for several minutes requiring the captain to assume control of the aircraft (13). Note: As a result of this incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) placed a moratorium on outdoor laser activities in the Las Vegas area. On November 29, 1996, a suspected laser beam illuminated a Skywest Airlines pilot during approach on flight 5410 into Los Angeles Airport (LAX). The Embraer EMB-120 was over a college campus on visual approach to LAX from Bakersfield, CA, when the incident occurred. The aircraft was on a right base leg, level at 6,000 feet MSL, when the captain was exposed to a bright light in his right eye while looking for downwind traffic through the right window. As the flight continued, the captain found it increasingly difficult to see because of the burning and tearing he was experiencing in that eye. On final approach, he relinquished control to the co-pilot who completed the landing. Examination revealed the pilot suffered multiple flash burns to his right cornea (14). Note: As a result of this incident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended the FAA change the existing guidelines to protect pilots from temporary visual incapacitation and to conduct research to validate laser exposure limits. http://avstop.com/news_october_2011/faa_launches_website_in_ongoing_fight_to_end_laser_strikes_on_aircraft.htm Back to Top TSA screener removed for inappropriate note A Transportation Security Administration screener who wrote a personal message on the back of a formal inspection slip placed in a female passenger's bag is no longer checking luggage, the agency said Wednesday. The screener at Newark Liberty International Airport wrote the message on the back of a Notice of Inspection slip that TSA places in bags that require a physical search. "Get your freak on girl," the message said, allegedly in response to a sex toy packed in the luggage of Jill Filipovic, a Manhattan blogger and lawyer. Filipovic discovered the personal message on the back of the inspection slip when she unpacked her bags after arriving in Ireland last Sunday. In response, she tweeted the photo and blogged about it: "Total violation of privacy, wildly inappropriate and clearly not ok, but I also just died laughing in my hotel room." Amid media inquiries, TSA initially questioned the allegations, but Wednesday announced it had identified the employee responsible for the message. "That individual was immediately removed from screening operations and appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated," the agency said in a message posted on its blog. "The handwritten note was highly inappropriate and unprofessional, and TSA has zero tolerance for this type of behavior," the agency added. TSA said it has reached out to Filipovic to apologize for the incident. An agency spokesman could not say whether the screener had been reassigned, put on leave or fired, citing federal personnel privacy rules. The incident is just the latest in a series of unrelated episodes involving inappropriate or criminal behavior committed by TSA screeners. Here's a sampling: Oct. 4, 2011: TSA apologizes to a breast cancer survivor subjected to a public patdown at New York's Kennedy Airport even though she offered to produce documentation about her medical implants. Jan. 3, 2010: A TSA agent was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for behaving erratically. The guard had just gotten off duty and was heard saying, "I am god, I'm in charge." Jan. 6, 2010: An internal investigation discovered that four LAX TSA agents used drugs at an after-hours party. All four were tested for drugs and one came back positive. That employee was fired. Jan. 22, 2010: A screener lost his job after pretending to plant a plastic bag of white powder in the carry-on luggage of a passenger at the Philadelphia International Airport. A spokeswoman called the behavior "highly inappropriate and unprofessional." Jan. 28, 2010: A screener was put on desk duty after she was photographed sleeping in plain sight at LaGuardia Airport. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/tsa-screener-removed-for-inappropriate- note/2011/10/26/gIQAxl8cJM_blog.html Back to Top Africa's aviation industry set to soar, says Boeing Cape Town, South Africa (CNN) -- Africa's passenger airline industry may still be awaiting full take off but Boeing has identified the continent as a market ripe with potential. The U.S. company -- one of the world's biggest airplane manufacturers -- has found its order book filled with an increasing number of African clients in recent years. But with airlines based on the continent still only accounting for a fraction of overall air traffic between Africa and the rest of the world, the company's Vice President of Sales for Africa, Van Rex Gallard believes there remains plenty of room for further expansion. "Right now the African market for the airlines is quite small," he says. "African airlines only have around 2% of the total of revenues of the traffic between Africa and the rest of the world, so to me the potential is huge," he adds. We have a lot of customers in Africa and this is actually a very exciting period. Van Rex Gallard, BoeingThe latent "potential" that Gallard refers to is confirmed by industry statistics and future passenger projections. According to research conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in February 2011, Africa is now the second fastest growing region in the world in terms of commercial aviation, behind China. The Airbus Global Market Forecast published earlier this month meanwhile reported that sub-Saharan Africa alone will require at least 542 new aircraft by 2020 to meet rising passenger numbers. By providing the technology and expertise to meet these increased capacity requirements, Gallard believes that Boeing and the African airlines they provide for can jointly reap the benefits. "We have a lot of customers in Africa and this is actually a very exciting period," he says. "The numbers, if everything stays the way it is right now ... without the African airlines growing faster and the way they should, it would be around 800 airplanes for the next 20 years (and) worth around 100 billion dollars," he adds. Aviation ... is a machine that will develop the region. Van Rex Gallard, BoeingGallard cites airlines such as Nigeria's Arik Air -- which recently purchased two 747-8 Passenger Airplanes, Boeing's biggest passenger planes ---, Ethiopia Airlines, Kenya Airways and Rwanda Air as some of the companies striving to meet Africa's burgeoning aviation and connectivity needs. But while bullish about the potential of these companies in the years to come, he remains wary of the infrastructure, political and technological challenges they must first navigate if they are to fully meet their potential. Gallard cites a lack of trained pilots, poor safety records, African governments unwilling to open their skies and foreign competitors -- particularly from the Middle East -- who can undercut the prices of African airlines, as some of his most pressing concerns. Yet in spite of these issues Gallard remains optimistic about what can be achieved if airlines, manufacturers and governments work together for the good of continent as a whole. "Aviation ... is a machine that will develop the region," he says. If governments and African airlines can combine their interests and meet these challenges, he adds "they will be able to find growth and development," across Africa, taking full "advantage of this machine." Back to Top CAA chief warns over industry disaster planning The aviation industry is not significantly better prepared in identifying and responding to one-off events than it was before the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010, according to the chief executive of the UK's Civil Aviation Authority. Speaking at the Airline Business World Air Forum in Amsterdam, Andrew Haines called for "total collaboration" between airlines and airports to identify, investigate and respond to potential threats to the industry from one-off events before they happen. He said that the industry was "woefully under-prepared" to deal with the disruption caused by last year's eruption, and warned that unless significant progress was made, passengers would not be as tolerant in future should a similar event occur. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Thai Airways A300s undamaged by Don Mueang floods Two decommissioned Thai Airways A300-600 aircraft parked at Bangkok's Don Mueang airport have been undamaged by the floods that have close the airport until 1 November. "All essentials of the aircraft are carefully wrapped and protected by plastic materials to prevent damage," said Thai Airways president Piyasvasti Amranand. Images emerged on Wednesday, 26 October 2011 of the two parked aircraft with floodwaters up to their wheels. Neither aircraft is in use and they do not have operating licences. He added that sandbags and "strong barricades" protect the carrier's maintenance hanger at Don Mueang, where one aircraft is being converted into a freighter and two others are being retrofitted. "These aircraft are lifted high from the ground and fully shielded," said Piyasvasti. He added that Thai flights operating from Suvarnabhmi International airport are unaffected by the floods. Airports of Thailand has closed Don Mueang until 1 November owing to floods that have affected runway friction, the airport's electricity supply and aerial visibility aids. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ATSB issues report on Qantas 767 'too low gear' incident The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has issued a safety report with regard to a Qantas Boeing 767-300 aircraft that was forced to initiate a go-around when the crew realised that the landing gear was not extended. The incident occurred at 07:35 local time on 26 October 2009 as the aircraft, registration VH-OGP, approached Sydney airport's runway 16R after departing Melbourne at 06:13, said the ATSB. The incorrect configuration stemmed from "several interruptions and distractions during the approach" that "resulted in a breakdown in the pilots' situational awareness." Distractions involved the transition from an instrument landing approach to a visual procedures approach, noise abatement approach procedures, and two other aircraft: one landing on runway 16R and, following this, another cleared to depart on the same runway. Sydney tower cleared the departing aircraft for immediate takeoff at 07:34. As the Qantas 767 passed 580ft (176.8m), it received clearance to land, and the crew disconnected the autopilot. At 500ft, both pilots became aware that the aircraft was incorrectly configured, which was immediately confirmed by an aural "too low gear" warning from the aircraft's enhanced ground proximity warning system. The crew immediately initiated a go-around and the aircraft landed without further incident. The report added that the captain had 16,500h of total flying experience with 594h on the 767. The first officer had 8,882h total flying experience with 2,082h on the 767. Following the incident, both pilots "underwent remedial training", said the ATSB. The report added that the aircraft's systems, ground based navigation aids, and radio traffic played no role in the incident. As a result of the incident, in November 2010, Qantas told the ATSB that it had introduced "soft and hard triggers" to better monitor the selection of the landing gear during an approach. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC