Flight Safety Information November 1, 2011 - No. 224 In This Issue Jet Blue Chief Offers Apology For Stranding Racing's Rick Hendrick is safe after hard jet landing Plane makes emergency landing in Poland; all passengers safe Russia 'Now World's Most Risky Place To Fly' Azul flight lands at wrong airport Cathay Pacific takes delivery of its first Boeing 747-8F Kyrgyz airplane crashes into Georgian airfreighter at Erzurum airport, Turkey Man accused of shining laser pointer at aircraft Fewer American Airlines pilots are retiring this month ERAU - PhD - Research Survey Request Jet Blue Chief Offers Apology For Stranding Federal Rules To Protect Passengers Limited BOSTON -- Jet Blue's chief officers are apologizing for the ordeal some of its passengers endured over the weekend when they were stranded on a runway in Connecticut for seven hours, saying even though safety was never compromised, the airline will make sure such an incident never happens again. Rob Maruster, Jet Blue's chief operating officer, made the apology in a video message posted on blog.jetblue.com Monday. "We did not deplane those aircraft in our target time allotted," Maruster said. "At no point this weekend was safety ever compromised in our decision making -- whether it was our customers and our crew members -- in fact, safety was their No. 1 concern." Being stuck for hours on a stuffy, stinky plane at the airport -- every passenger's nightmare -- was supposed to be a thing of the past, thanks to the government's threat of huge fines against the airlines. Well, dream on. Last weekend's weather stranding of hundreds of travelers, some for as long as seven hours, on an airport tarmac in Connecticut have underscored the limitations of federal rules designed to protect passengers from such ordeals. Under Transportation Department rules that went into effect in April 2010, most tarmac delays at U.S. airports are limited to three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights. Airlines that violate the limit risk fines as high as $27,500. Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security or if air traffic control advises the pilot that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. Industry officials said the tarmac delays appear to prove the point they've been making all along - that they're often powerless to prevent such incidents. But a consumer advocate said that at least one airline -- JetBlue Airways -- doesn't appear to have made the kind of advance handling arrangements that could have spared its passengers the misery of hours and hours of sitting in cramped airline seats. A rare October snowstorm and equipment problems at Newark's Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport forced 23 planes to divert to the much smaller Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday. Passengers on at least three JetBlue planes and one American Airlines flight from Paris reported being confined for seven hours or more. Food and water ran out, toilets backed up and tempers snapped. The captain of JetBlue Flight 504, which was diverted en route to Newark from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., begged for help to get his plane to a gate. "We can't seem to get any help from our own company. I apologize for this, but is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something?" the captain can be heard pleading with authorities over his radio on audio provided by LiveATC.net. "I have a paraplegic onboard that needs to come off," he said later. "I have a diabetic on here that's got an issue. It's a list of things. I just gotta get some help," The Transportation Department said in a statement that it is investigating whether JetBlue's handling of Flight 504 violated the department's three-hour limit on how long airlines can hold passengers in planes on tarmac or face fines. The department is also looking into several other possible extended tarmac delays of more than three hours, the statement said. JetBlue spokeswoman Alison Croyle declined to comment on the pilot's remarks or whether the airline had arrangements in place in case of a diversion to Bradley. "We are conducting an investigation and we are prepared to support the DOT's investigation," Croyle said. Steve Lott, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, expressed frustration with three-hour tarmac rule. "The way the rule was written it was targeted at the airline industry as if airlines were the only parties involved," Lott said. "This should be a shared responsibility between airlines, airports and government agencies like TSA or customs." Bill McGee, a travel adviser for the Consumers' Union, said that a confluence of events made the situation extraordinary: the snow, the large number of diversions to Bradley, a power outage at the airport during the storm that may have hindered refueling, and not enough customs officials on duty to handle a diverted international flight. But weather affects all airlines equally, and not all of them had extensive tarmac delays, he noted. "How well airlines respond to it is a test of how well airlines treat their passengers," said McGee, a former airline dispatcher. "Their responsibility is to be prepared for situations like this and to have handling agreements in place" with ground service companies that work at airports like Bradley supplying equipment like tugs, tow bars and jetways for just such "irregular operations" as last weekend's diversions. But when international flights are directed not to allow passengers to deplane because there aren't enough customs officials to handle them, as American officials have said was the case, there is little an airline can do, McGee said. "There are some shades of gray here, no question," he said. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has hailed the tarmac delay rule as a success. During the first year the rule was in effect delays of three hours and longer fell to 20 from 693. But the Government Accountability Office said in September that the government's effort to eliminate longer delays has made it 24 percent more likely that airlines will cancel flights as they approach the three-hour ceiling. Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/29646606/detail.html#ixzz1cSs0eH8B Back to Top Racing's Rick Hendrick is safe after hard jet landing A Gulfstream jet carrying the successful NASCAR team owner goes off runway in Key West but there are no serious injuries. The Gulfstream aircraft carrying Rick Hendrick and his wife after it ran off the runway Monday night in Key West, Fla. (Evan Calhoun / Monroe County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office / Associated Press / October 31, 2011) A Gulfstream jet carrying Rick Hendrick, one of NASCAR's most successful team owners, his wife, Linda, and two pilots ran off a runway in Key West, Fla., on Monday night, but "there were no serious injuries," Hendrick Motorsports said. The G150 airplane was "experiencing brake issues upon landing at Key West International Airport," the team said, adding that all four people "were taken to a local hospital for evaluation." Four of the leading drivers in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series drive for Hendrick: reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin. The incident occurred seven years after Hendrick's 24-year-old son, Ricky, Hendrick's brother John and two of Hendrick's nieces, along with six others, were killed when their small plane crashed on the way to a race in Martinsville, Va. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newswire-20111101,0,7897441.story Back to Top Plane makes emergency landing in Poland; all passengers safe A Boeing 767 plane made a dramatic emergency landing at Warsaw, Poland's Frederic Chopin International airport after problems with its landing gear, an airport spokeswoman said Tuesday. All the passengers on the flight, from New Jersey's Newark airport to Warsaw, are safe and uninjured, she told CNN. The LOT Polish Airlines flight, which had been due to land at 1:35 local time, circled above the airport for an hour before coming down in a belly landing at 2:40, she said. There were 230 people aboard the flight, Poland's TVN broadcaster said. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/01/plane-makes-emergency-landing-in-poland-all-passengers-safe/ ************ Plane makes emergency landing in Warsaw A Boeing 767 of Polish LOT airlines makes an emergency landing at Warsaw airport, Poland,Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. The plane was en route from Newark with 230 people onboard but no one was injured. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) WARSAW, Poland-A Boeing 767 from Newark, New Jersey, carrying 230 passengers made an emergency landing in Warsaw after its landing gear failed to open. Leszek Chorzewski, the spokesman for LOT, the Polish airline that operated the flight, said none of the passengers was injured. The plane landed on its belly without its wheels. Passengers could be seen fleeing the plane. The airport has been closed until 8 a.m. on Wednesday. http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2011/11/01/plane_makes_emergency_landing_in_warsaw/ Back to Top Russia 'Now World's Most Risky Place To Fly' Russia has become the most dangerous place in the world to fly, according to figures from the Aviation Safety Network. The country now surpasses even the Democratic Republic of Congo in the number of plane crash fatalities this year. One hundred and twenty people have been killed in eight fatal accidents - all of them in Russian-built aircraft. Sky News' Moscow Bureau gained exclusive access to a factory that continues to make the planes most feared by passengers. At first glance the chilly hangar looks like an aircraft museum. It contains the shells of seven aircraft. The sound of a man drilling what was, or will be, a plane door, echoes through the vast space. It indicates that this is a working factory. Further in, more woolly hat-clad workers chat and smoke cigarettes while they paint, solder and hammer away at vast chunks of Russian planes. Before now, no foreign journalists have been given access to Aviacor, one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in Russia, which produces Antonovs and Tupolevs - names that increasingly make passengers shudder. Between them they have been in six fatal crashes this year alone. But the government doesn't want to look deeper into the problem, because it's too expensive. It's so much easier to blame it on dead pilots. Andrei Litvinov, pilot Cutting-edge industry this is not. The company currently makes one new plane a year. Its main business comes from renovation and repair. One Tupolev is 25 years old. It looks ready for the scrapheap but it is actually here for its third service. In a few months, it'll be carrying passengers again. Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Tupolev was serviced at Aviacor before it crashed killing all 96 people on board. Pilot error was blamed, as it is in most cases. Aeroflot pilot Andrei Litvinov says this is often a lazy excuse: "Sometimes human error does play a role. But, if they make you ride on a rusty bike and you fall, you're not the one to blame, are you? "The government doesn't want to look deeper into the problem, because it's too expensive. It's so much easier to blame it on dead pilots." Russia's most recent air disaster wiped out the Yaroslavl hockey team who were flying in a Russian-built Yak 42. Take non-Western built aircraft like these out of the equation and Russia would have a near-perfect safety record. Aeroflot has worked hard to shed its Soviet image - investing in a fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes. But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged them to buy Russian. Looking at Aviacor's factory, it's hardly a tempting business prospect. Nor is encouraging for the millions of passengers for whom air travel is a necessity in a vast country. In June, a Tupolev crashed in Petrozavodsk, killing 47 of the 52 people on board. Alexandra Kargopolova is one of the few who survived. Her plane was replaced by a Tupolev at the last minute. Fans of the Yaroslavl hockey team mourned in their thousands She says that if she'd known, she'd have refused to fly: "I was sitting on the left. I could see a family with two children sitting on the right, a girl and a boy. The girl was sleeping. And the boy was absolutely terrified. People understood what was going on. No-one was screaming or panicking. But we knew." All four members of that family were killed when the plane hit trees on landing. "Without very strong sleeping pills I start hearing and seeing the first blast and its aftermath. Before the explosion people were screaming. They tried to save themselves, get out of the rubble, crawl away. "Right after the bang everything went silent. Not a sound to be heard. This is the scariest thing. I saw everything - bodies lying beside me. It was terrible." President Medvedev has said ageing Soviet fleets will be taken out of service by next year and the government has also promised more investment. With the Winter Olympics and football World Cup on the horizon, Russia's air safety record is now of grave global concern. http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16099572 Back to Top Azul flight lands at wrong airport An Embraer E-195 operated by Brazil's Azul en route from Fortaleza to Teresina on 30 October landed by mistake at a nearby private airport in Timon. There was no damage to the aircraft or injuries to the passengers in the incident. According to Azul, flight 9136 was operating from Fortaleza to Campinas (Sao Paulo), with stops in Teresina, São Luiz do Maranhão and Belo Horizonte but because of an "operational error" it landed at the [uncontrolled] Domingos Rego in Timon airport instead of Teresina's Senador Petronio Portella airport. The airports are located 6km from each other, on opposite sites of the Parnaiba river. "When the crew realised the error, it decided to take off again and complete the flight to Teresina where it landed at 13:05h local time without further incident," said Azul, adding that the cause of the incident is "subject to further investigation". Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Cathay Pacific takes delivery of its first Boeing 747-8F Cathay Pacific took delivery of its first Boeing 747-8 Freighter aircraft on 31 October. "We took delivery of our first [Boeing] 747-8F on 31 October Seattle time and the aircraft is on its way to Hong Kong now," said a Cathay Pacific official. The carrier, which has 10 747-8Fs on order, is the second customer to take delivery of the type after Cargolux. Cathay Pacific also has eight Boeing 777-200 Freighters on order. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Kyrgyz airplane crashes into Georgian airfreighter at Erzurum airport, Turkey Kyrgyz airplane crashed into Georgian airfreighter at Erzurum airport in Turkey. The Turkish media outlets report this was the fault of the Kyrgyz airman who hit against Georgian airfreighter. The collision severely damaged the airfreighter of a Georgian company whose name is not called. The airplane can not depart because of received damages and needs a repair. Both airplanes delivered humanitarian aid for victims affected by earthquake in Van region, Turkey. http://eng.24.kg/incidents/2011/11/01/21324.html ********** Date: 01-NOV-2011 Time: Type: Ilyushin Il-76 Operator: Sky Georgia Registration: 4L-SKN C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Erzurum Airport - Turkey Phase: Standing Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Destination airport: Erzurum Narrative: Two Il-76 collided at Erzurum airport as a result of deviation of Kirgizstani Il-76 EX-036 from exact landing path. Landing plane hit another Il-76 standing near the runway with wingtip. No crew were onboard Georgian plane at the time of the incident, the cockpit was badly damaged. The crew of involved Kirgizstani plane was detained but disappeared nest morning. Both plane were involved in humanitarian mission to aid victims of earthqake in Van province. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Man accused of shining laser pointer at aircraft DALLAS (AP) - A federal indictment accuses a suburban Dallas man of shining a laser at an aircraft flying near his home. A U.S. attorney's statement Monday says Sammy Don Ladymon Jr. of Garland is charged with a single count of interfering with an aircraft after a laser was pointed at a Southwest Airlines jet on June 2. It says Ladymon is the first such prosecution in North Texas. If convicted, he could get up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Trial is set for Dec. 16. Public defender Richard Anderson declined to comment. Ladymon remains free on his own recognizance. Ladymon also could get an $11,000 penalty from a Federal Aviation Administration civil enforcement action. The FAA says 90 such cases have been reported in North Texas this year. Back to Top Fewer American Airlines pilots are retiring this month After two months of unusually heavy pilot retirements at American Airlines, driven by a wrinkle in the valuation of their savings plans, only 68 pilots, rather than the 100-plus in each of the previous two months, have decided to retire. On average, about a dozen pilots retire from American each month. Spokeswoman Missy Cousino said Monday that the latest round of retirements, effective today, are not expected to affect the airline's schedule. Fort Worth-based American has already cut capacity in its winter flight schedule by 3 percent to adjust to the extra pilot retirements in previous months. "A number of steps have been taken over the last few months to mitigate staffing shortages as a result of the higher pilot retirements in September and October," Cousino said. Apparently, the stock market's strong recovery in October helped trim the number of retirements. That's because one of the pilots' two retirement plans is directly tied to the market. In addition to their traditional pensions, which pay a benefit based on pay and years at the company, American pilots have a defined contribution retirement plan, like a 401(k), called Plan B. Unlike the pension, the payout of a Plan B depends on its value when a pilot retires. Here's the wrinkle: Pilots have an option to lock in the value of their Plan B account based on its worth 60 days before their effective retirement date. So pilots who retire effective today can get payouts based on stock values on Sept. 1. The Dow Jones industrial average, after a terrible summer, rebounded in October, rising 4 percent since Sept. 1. Had the market continued its plunge, more pilots might have decided to go ahead and retire and exercise their option to base their Plan B value on its past, higher value. Of the 68 pilots who did retire today, for which the filing deadline was Monday, 47 were on active duty. Seventeen of them worked on MD-80s while 16 operated Boeing 767s. American has been recalling 30 to 40 pilots a month. Last year, it announced that it was recalling 250 pilots as it added international routes as part of its agreement with British Airways and Iberia. More pilots will have to retire starting in December 2012 because the mandatory retirement age for pilots increased from 60 to 65 in 2007. The first group of pilots forced to retire under the new requirement will hit 65 at the end of next year. American and its pilots union are in contract negotiations. A few weeks ago, they seemed close to a deal, but nothing has been reached. Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/10/31/3489027/fewer-american-airlines- pilots.html#ixzz1cSv2aII6 Back to Top Ph.D. in Aviation Research Survey Request A research study titled "A Mixed Method Exploration of Airline Reliability and Customer Choice" is currently underway. The purpose of this research is to provide an understanding of the public perceptions and preferences in choosing between airlines for travel. Specifically, we seek to understand if people who fly and experience delays are influenced enough, beyond the common complaints we all hear throughout the terminals, to choose which airline to travel on based on the airline's on-time departure reliability. The research team is comprised of three Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Ph.D. students (T. Bauphiban, D. Jackson, and H. Townsend) currently studying mixed methods research in aviation. This course examines approaches to integrating qualitative and single- case research methods with quantitative techniques, to create mixed-method study designs conducive to scholarly inquiry of aviation-related topics. The principle investigator of the study is: Dr. Truong. This research study will utilize a survey constructed to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from a questionnaire that should require no more than a few minutes to complete. You can access the survey at http://www.makesurvey.net/cgi- bin/survey.dll/18E91E86F1254C6FB0BD81B9F25931DC. This study adheres to all of the applicable research requirements set forth in universally accepted research protocols such as The Belmont Report, The World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, The United States Code of Federal Regulations Title 45 Part 46, the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, and the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Institutional Review Board. Thank you for your participation and assisting this research team in understanding mixed-method study designs. Back to Top Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC