Flight Safety Information December 15, 2011 - No. 253 In This Issue Philippine authorities investigate Beechcraft BE65 crash Air Force says pilot at fault in fatal F-22 Raptor crash Vietnam Airlines' former pilot uses fake papers Tests Show LightSquared Interference with 75 Percent of GPS Receivers Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Wins FAA Certification Tourists avoid helicopter tours in Vegas after deadly crash Flight Safety Information Journal (12/2012) Air Zimbabwe 767 impounded at Gatwick FORECAST: Jet fuel derived from alcohol could be next big thing Philippine authorities investigate Beechcraft BE65 crash Philippine authorities have started investigating the 10 December crash of an Aviation Technology Innovators (ATI) Beechcraft BE65 aircraft. The Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) have secured the charred aircraft's (registration RP-C824) engines and other recoverable parts fro the crash site south of Manila, said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). It is working with the engine's authorised repair station to determine if there were mechanical malfunctions before the crash. The AAIIB has obtained the aircraft's records and the credentials and licences of the aircraft's pilots and owners. "These documents are expected to shed light concerning the nature of operations of RP- C824 and the circumstances surrounding the aircraft accident," the CAAP added. CAAP said it has issued subpoenas to the aircraft's owner and "alleged" aircraft operator, "whose testimonies are indispensable in the ongoing investigation". The aircraft was en route from Manila to San Jose in Occidental Mindoro province on a cargo flight when the incident happened at 2.14pm local time. The crash killed 13 people, including the pilot, co-pilot and a passenger in the aircraft. The remaining 10 people were on the ground. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Air Force says pilot at fault in fatal F-22 Raptor crash The Air Force made public a long-awaited report about the death of a pilot who crashed in the Alaskan wilderness in the military's most expensive fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor. An Air Force accident investigation board issued a report that said Capt. Jeff "Bong" Haney, 31, was at fault when his F-22 crashed near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson during a test mission at night in November 2010. Investigators came to that conclusion despite finding that the aircraft's air intakes had experienced a malfunction and caused an automatic shutdown of various systems -- including the main oxygen supply -- which cut off air to Haney's mask. The report found that Haney's oxygen supply was stopped automatically after the F-22's onboard computers detected an air leak in the engine bay. When that happened, the system shut down the oxygen system to protect itself from further damage, as designed. To save himself and the plane, Haney should have engaged an "emergency oxygen system" by pulling a green ring located under his seat by his left thigh or by simply taking his mask off, the report said. Instead Haney, flying about the speed of sound above the snow-covered valley below, tried to slow down and began to descend in an attempt to get himself air, the report said. When that didn't work, Haney became disoriented and his aircraft began to roll into an inadvertent dive that he was too slow to pull out of, the report said. Haney's "channelized attention" to get himself oxygen through his mask instead of engaging the emergency system led to factors that contributed to the crash, the report said. Haney, known to be a highly skilled fighter pilot, crashed about 138 miles north of the base in the Talkeetna Mountains, the Air Force said. Brig. Gen. James S. Browne, the president of the accident investigation board, wrote: By clear and convincing evidence, I find the cause of the mishap was [Haney's] failure to recognize and initiate a timely dive recovery due to a channelized attention, breakdown of visual scan, and unrecognized spatial disorientation. By the preponderance of evidence, I also find organizational training issues, inadvertant operations, personal equipment interface, and controls/switched were factors that substantially contributed to the mishap. According to the report, the Air Force's investigation was completed in July. It wasn't made public until Thursday. The report is the latest in an ongoing saga for the problem-plagued F-22, each of which costs an estimated $412 million, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In all, the F-22 has experienced seven major crashes with two fatalities since it entered service in 2005. The supersonic, stealthy jet has never been used in combat. This year a government safety investigation grounded the entire fleet of 170 F-22s for more than four months after more than a dozen incidents since April 2008 in which pilots reported oxygen problems. Shortly after it reentered service in September, several F-22s were temporarily grounded in October after an incident at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Despite its problems, the sleek diamond-winged jet, made by Lockheed Martin Corp., is considered the most advanced fighter jet in the world. It has state-of-the-art engines with thrust-vectoring nozzles that can move up and down, making the plane exceptionally agile. An F-22 can reach supersonic speeds without using afterburners, enabling the plane to fly faster and farther. It's also packed with cutting-edge radar and sensors, allowing a pilot to identify, track and shoot an enemy aircraft before it can detect the F-22. Two decades ago, the U.S. government planned to buy 648 of the fighters for $139 million apiece. But that order was slashed again and again until recently retired Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ended the purchase in 2009 at 188 planes -- the last of which was built this week by Lockheed in its Marietta, Ga., facilities. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/f-22-raptor-air-force-accident- lockheed.html Back to Top Vietnam Airlines' former pilot uses fake papers VietNamNet Bridge - The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has concluded that gaps in pilot recruitment procedures of Vietnam Airlines enabled Korean pilot Kim Tae Hun to falsify his flight hours. The Korean pilot failed to make a smooth landing when he was the co-pilot for a Vietnam Airlines flight in Busan, South Korea, in April. The Vietnamese chief pilot then had to take over the plane and landed safely CAAV's inspectors said that pilot Kim Tae Hun was recruited by 919 Flight Crew through the Direct Personnel International (DPI). According to CAAV's regulations, Vietnam Airlines must recruit pilots through at least five agents but since it urgently needed pilots, the airway contacted with only one agent - DPI - which had an employment contract already. CAAV said that Vietnam Airlines was partly responsible when it didn't inspect the documents submitted by pilot Kim Tae Hun, which are confirmed to be bogus by Indonesia's Batavia Airlines. Elly Simanujuntak, PR manager of Batavia Airlines, said that Kim Tae Hun only attended an A320 model training course held by this airline, but this carrier had not ever granted him any document on Kim's flying time on A320 aircraft. Using fake documents, which proves that he had up to 680 flying hours on A320 aircraft, CAAV earlier granted Kim Tae Hun the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) that allowed him to fly A320. CAAV said it had asked its Flight Safety Department to notify airport authorities in foreign countries of Kim's fraud. Kim is currently flying ATR 72, an Italian-made turbo-prop, for Laos Airlines. Kim was suspected of a lack of qualifications when he tried several times to land the Vietnam Airlines plane VN970 carrying 160 passengers at Busan Airport on April 26. The Vietnamese chief pilot Vuong Dinh Hue then had to take over the plane and landed safely. S. Korean media then claimed Kim had only 1 hour of flight experience which would make him completely unqualified for his post. After the incident, airport officials in S. Korea asked Vietnam Airlines to review its process of training and issuing licenses to pilots. Kim quietly left Vietnam Airlines in early 2011. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/society/16556/vietnam-airlines--former-pilot-uses-fake- papers.html Back to Top Tests Show LightSquared Interference with 75 Percent of GPS Receivers An updated version of this article, to appear on Thursday, December 15, will include data from the presentation of findings regarding LightSquared effects on general location/navigation GPS receivers, as presented by Lt Col Robert Erickson, U.S. Air Force, and Dean Bunce, Federal Aviation Administration, the two co-chairs of the National Space-Based PNT Systems Engineering Forum (NPEF). In very brief summary, the tests showed that 75 percent of GPS receivers examined in a U.S. government test were interfered with at a distance of 100 meters from a LightSquared base station. Statement by Anthony Russo, Director, National Coordination Office On Behalf of the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, December 14, 2011 WASHINGTON -- "Today [December 14], a government technical group reviewed the findings from last month's testing of LightSquared's proposal to provide new broadband service. The final test report will be sent to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which advises the President on telecommunications policy, and represents federal agencies to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). "Preliminary analysis of the test findings found no significant interference with cellular phones. However, the testing did show that LightSquared signals caused harmful interference to the majority of other tested general purpose GPS receivers. Separate analysis by the Federal Aviation Administration also found interference with a flight safety system designed to warn pilots of approaching terrain. "The findings were presented to the technical steering group which represents the nine federal agencies that make up the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. Over the next several weeks, the final analysis of the findings will be completed and a final report will be transmitted from NTIA to the FCC." http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/news/tests-show-lightsquared-interference-with- 75-percent-gps-receivers-12418 Back to Top Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Wins FAA Certification The FAA has issued Boeing certification for the 747-8 Intercontinental, the company's newest and largest passenger airplane, clearing the way for first delivery to launch customer Lufthansa "early next year," the company announced this afternoon. The FAA presented Boeing an amended type certificate (ATC) and the amended production certificate for the 747-8 today. Boeing expects the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to issue its ATC for the airplane tomorrow. Boeing received its FAA and EASA certificates for the 747-8 Freighter in August. Two Intercontinental flight-test airplanes accumulated "a bit less" than 700 hours of testing since the first example took to the air in March and the second in April, while a third, non-instrumented aircraft flew some 200 hours of function-and-reliability testing. Featuring new General Electric GEnx-2B engines, a redesigned wing, new alloys in the fuselage and a new interior that can hold 51 more passengers and 26-percent more cargo in the lower hold than the 747-400 can carry, the Intercontinental also provides "double digit" improvements in fuel economy and carbon emissions per passenger and generates a 30-percent smaller noise footprint, according to Boeing. Boeing and Lufthansa conducted pre-delivery testing of the Intercontinental at the airline's main operations base at Frankfurt Airport between December 6 and December 9. During the exercises, Lufthansa maintenance and engineering personnel rehearsed ground-handling processes within the airline's facilities and on the airport's ramps while ground support crews tested how their equipment accommodates the airplane. The airplane used to conduct the pre-delivery trials, known as RC021, had already tested interior systems, such as heating and air conditioning, cabin lighting and systems and galleys during the certification program. Boeing has taken orders for a total of 36 Intercontinentals, including 20 from Lufthansa, five from Korean Air, two from Nigeria's Arik Air and nine VIP examples. http://www.ainonline.com/?q=aviation-news/2011-12-14/boeing-747-8- intercontinental-wins-faa-certification Back to Top Tourists avoid helicopter tours in Vegas after deadly crash; passengers consider safety LAS VEGAS (AP)- During a normal eight-hour shift on the Las Vegas Strip, Michael Denicoli usually sells enough helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon and Sin City to fill two or three choppers. But since a crash killed five people this week and made international headlines, tourists who walk by his booth are skipping the splurge of a few hundred bucks for a bird's eye view of the Hoover Dam and other sites. "I have advertisements of helicopters, and they look at it like as if it says: 'The plague,'" Denicoli said as he worked an Adventures International stand on the Strip across from the CityCenter casino complex at the start of a busy tourist weekend. "It went from being slow to being beyond slow." Denicoli said he removed countertop brochures for Sundance Helicopters - the company that operated the helicopter that crashed Wednesday evening in a remote canyon some 12 miles east Las Vegas - not wanting potential customers to link the operator to the stand. But few, if any, among hundreds of tourists who pass the stand during any given hour are stopping. Sundance and other helicopter operators have tried to move forward from the crash with normal flight schedules as passengers with tickets have called to ask about safety. Meanwhile, those who've taken rides before have been openly thinking about whether they'd do so again as they post pictures of their excursions on Facebook and Twitter. "It was beautiful, but it was pretty frightening at some points," said Liz Beltran, 23, of Norwalk, Conn., who posed for a picture at the bottom of the Grand Canyon after taking a $500 helicopter tour nearly a year ago. "I really loved it and I told all my friends to do it, but definitely now after this, I don't think I'm going to be recommending it too much anymore," she said. Federal investigators were still piecing together what happened in the crash that killed 31-year-old pilot Landon Nield, a Kansas couple celebrating their wedding anniversary and another couple from New Delhi. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to issue a preliminary report on the crash in two weeks, and the Federal Aviation Administration hasn't kept Sundance from flying again. Sundance resumed normal operations on Friday after voluntarily suspending them on Thursday, and planned to give refunds if customers asked for them, spokeswoman Sabrina LoPiccolo said in an email. LoPiccolo said it was too early to tell whether Sundance has had cancellations or slower bookings since the accident. She said Sundance employees, if asked about the crash, say that it was a Sundance helicopter but share few details because of the investigation. Aerial sightseeing is big business in Las Vegas, with four operators at McCarran International Airport averaging more than 1,500 passengers per day combined so far this year at ticket prices often starting above $200 each. The flights let tourists see some of the region's most iconic sites from vantage points they couldn't get from the ground. Many tourists, especially international visitors, aren't necessarily in Las Vegas because they want to glue themselves to a blackjack table or a slot machine. Couples often board the flights for romantic excursions, as do tourists looking to fulfill a bucket list of America's top destinations. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/tourists-avoid-helicopter-tours-in- vegas-after-deadly-crash-passengers-consider- safety/2011/12/12/gIQAeDIkpO_story.html Back to Top Back to Top Air Zimbabwe 767 impounded at Gatwick An Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200 has been impounded at London Gatwick Airport for an alleged failure by the airline to keep up to date with payments for spare parts. Kenneth Connor, director of marketing at Washington DC-based aircraft spare parts supplier American General Supplies (AGS), told Flightglobal that Air Zimbabwe owes the company $1.5 million. "We took action through the US and UK courts to impound the aircraft at Gatwick," said Connor. A Gatwick spokeswoman said that between 50 and 60 stranded Air Zimbabwe passengers spent last night at the airport, which "provided food and refreshments" for them. AGS has had a "long and amicable relationship" with Air Zimbabwe that dates back to 1982, according to Connor. "We started having payment problems in 2009 and we reached an agreement in July 2010, but then the payments stopped. We made attempts to reach out to them but we didn't come to a satisfactory agreement," he said. AGS is "hopeful" that it will receive $1 million from Air Zimbabwe by tomorrow, with the remaining $500,000 expected to be paid by the end of the week, at which point it would release the aircraft, said Connor. "We're not talking about auctioning the aircraft and we're hopeful that we will resolve this by Friday," he added. Earlier this year, IATA suspended Air Zimbabwe from its settlement system due to non- payment of booking fees. Air Zimbabwe owns two 767-200ERs, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database. It also owns three Boeing 737-200s - one of which was reportedly impounded last week in South Africa. The airline could not immediately be reached for comment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top FORECAST: Jet fuel derived from alcohol could be next big thing While the certification of renewable jet fuel derived from natural plant oils and animal fat was the talk of 2011, the big story in 2012 is expected to be the progress of alcohol-to- jet (ATJ) fuels towards obtaining the green light for commercial use. Kevin Weiss, chief executive of California-based biofuels company Byogy Renewables, believes that ATJ fuels will be the next big thing in terms of reducing the aviation industry's reliance on petroleum and improving its carbon footprint. "This is going to be very public over the next four months - it's going to be a hot topic," says Weiss, who claims to have developed the world's first 100% synthetic replacement for jet kerosene. "We've invented a process that converts alcohol to jet fuel. Most companies take the alcohol to someone else to turn into jet fuel." Byogy uses sugar-based feedstocks, which it pre-treats, ferments and distils into ethanol. The ethanol is then converted into jet fuel by catalytic synthesis. One of the key advantages ATJ fuels have over fuels derived from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) - which were certified for commercial use by ASTM International on 1 July - is that they do not have to be blended with kerosene because they already contain aromatics. A number of airlines began operating commercial flights running on a mixture of HEFA fuels and kerosene during 2011. "This is a 100% replacement jet fuel from the most abundant feedstock in the world: sugar," says Weiss. "HEFA fuels require massive hydroprocessing - the fuel has to be taken to an oil refinery. We're completely different - the fuel is made at our site and is ready for distribution at a fraction of the cost." Weiss is hopeful that ASTM certification for ATJ fuels can be achieved either by the end of 2013 or the middle of 2014. "It's not a matter of if ATJ will get approved, it's a matter of when." Richard Altman, executive director of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), believes the certification process for alcohol-based jet fuels will likely take "two to three years", judging by the amount of time it took for HEFA fuels and fuels developed through the Fischer-Tropsch process to be approved. "We need to be combining the forces of all the global entities working on this to get the data [required for the certification process to begin] in a timely manner - that's the challenge," said Altman. "We understand the scale-up. Alcohol should be readily available, and it's then just a matter of how quickly it can be commercialised." Another key project to look out for on the ATJ front is the collaboration unveiled in October between Virgin Atlantic and Chicago-based energy company LanzaTech. The latter generates fuel-grade ethanol through a gas-to-liquid process, which involves capturing vented gases from steel, cement and chemical factories and fermenting it. The ethanol produced is then sent to Swedish Biofuels, which converts it into synthetic jet fuel. Virgin Atlantic is hopeful that it will be able to conduct flights from Shanghai and Delhi to London using the fuel produced through this venture within three years, provided ASTM certification can be achieved in the coming two years. Altman sees LanzaTech's solution as a win-win situation: "In the case of LanzaTech, the steel mills will pay you to take away their carbon." Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis