Flight Safety Information January 24, 2012 - No. 016 In This Issue L.A. man busted for smoking medical pot on Newark-bound flight American Eagle regional jet makes emergency landing at W.Va. airport Jet Slides Off Iowa Taxiway Family sues company whose helicopter crash killed Mayo Clinic transplant mission team New DOT passenger protection rules take effect Government confident of regaining Category 1 status from FAA (Philippines) China's Hainan Airlines ranked as world's 5th safest airlines L.A. man busted for smoking medical pot on Newark-bound flight, police say NEWARK - A 43-year-old man was arrested for allegedly smoking marijuana in the bathroom of a JetBlue flight from Florida to Newark this morning, officials said. Adam D. Blumenkraz, who gave authorities a Los Angeles address, was in the bathroom when the flight from Orlando began its approach to Newark Liberty International Airport, said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for Port Authority police. A flight attendant knocked on the bathroom door, and when Blumenkranz emerged, the attendant smelled a strong odor of pot, Della Fave said. Blumenkranz later told police who met him at the gate in Terminal A that he was permitted to use marijuana for medical reasons, and produced a bag of marijuana and a glass pipe for smoking it, Della Fave said. He was promptly arrested. "You just can't do that on a commercial airliner," Della Fave said. "You cannot smoke anything, regardless what the issue is." Blumenkranz was charged with possession of less than 50 grams of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, and then released, Della Fave said. Blumenkranz could not be reached. The Willshire Boulevard address he gave authorities is an office where a company official said Blumenkranz used to receive his mail but no longer had any connection to the company. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/la_man_busted_for_smoking_medi.html Back to Top American Eagle regional jet makes emergency landing at W.Va. airport, no injuries MARTINSBURG, W.Va.(AP) - American Eagle is sending a maintenance crew to West Virginia to examine one of its aircraft following an emergency landing at the Eastern Regional Airport. American Eagle spokesman Ed Martelle says the twin-engine Bombardier jet landed without incident at the Martinsburg airport at 8:30 p.m. Monday. The plane was carrying 54 passengers and three crew members from Chicago to Washington, D.C., when an indicator light on an instrument panel lit up. Martelle says it's not yet known whether there was an actual problem. American Eagle booked hotel rooms for the passengers and sent two buses Tuesday morning to take them to Washington. Back to Top Jet Slides Off Iowa Taxiway; No Injuries Reported FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) - No injuries have been reported after a jet partially slid off a taxiway following a landing at the airport in Fort Dodge. Pinnacle Airlines spokesman Joe Williams says the accident occurred after the plane landed a little after 4:30 p.m. Monday. The plane carried 32 passengers and a crew of three. The CRJ-200 jet was listed as Flight 3441 and is part of the Delta connection to and from Minneapolis. Williams says the plane's nose gear ended up in the grass next to the taxiway pavement. Buses took the passengers and crew members to the airport terminal. Williams said Tuesday morning that he didn't have a report from the crew about the accident cause, but he says the airport reported thin ice conditions. http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Jet-Slides-Off-Iowa-Taxiway-No-Injuries-Reported- 137961023.html Back to Top Family sues company whose helicopter crash killed Mayo Clinic transplant mission team They say it's about justice, not money. Crystal Griner (left) and Christine Hines speak to reporters after their family filed a lawsuit against SK Logistics. David Hines was on board the SK Logistics Bell 206B helicopter on Dec. 26 when it crashed in Clay County during a transplant mission to Gainesville for Jacksonville's Mayo Clinic. The 57-year-old medical procurement technician was killed with SK Logistics pilot E. Hoke Smith, 68, and Mayo cardiac surgeon Luis Bonilla, 49. The Hines family filed suit against SK Logistics on Friday. And during a press conference with reporters on Monday, Hines' daughters, Christine Hines and Crystal Griner, played the last telephone message their father left for them on Christmas Eve, two days before he died. David Hines left a phone message for his daughters Christmas Eve. It was the last time Christine Hines and Crystal Griner would hear their 57-year-old father before he and two others were killed in the Dec. 26 crash of a helicopter transplant mission headed to Gainesville for Jacksonville's Mayo Clinic. "Hey, sweetheart, it's your dad. I'm sorry I missed your phone call," the message says. "... Hope everything's OK. Talk to you later. Love you guys. Bye-bye." The Hines family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against SK Logistics, whose Bell 206B helicopter was chartered by Mayo for the flight. Seated with their attorney Monday, Christine Hines said that while the lawsuit seeks damages, it's "not about the money." She and her sister said it's about the families of all the victims, which included SK Logistics pilot E. Hoke Smith, 68, and Mayo cardiac surgeon Luis Bonilla, 49. "We just want justice for our father and the other families that are going through this," Griner said. "We do not want anything to happen to anybody else," she added. "This is a horrible, horrible thing." The lawsuit was filed Friday, four weeks after the crash, to get answers, co-attorney Robert Spohrer said. "It is not quick, really," Spohrer said. "The information that was available from the crash scene suggests that this is an operational negligence situation and the lawsuit enables the family to subpoena to get information that SK Logistics until now has declined to give us." Derrick Smith, vice president for the jet and helicopter service at Northeast Florida Regional Airport in St. Augustine and Hoke Smith's son, said his attorneys have advised him not to comment. The helicopter was flying in mostly cloudy weather and patches of fog when it crashed in a pine forest southwest of Green Cove Springs. A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report said the helicopter dropped about 150 feet along a mile-long track before hitting a 50-foot tree about 6 a.m. and crashing. In a late December interview, Smith's son said his father was a decorated Army veteran helicopter pilot who joined the company's 12 other pilots on about 200 such missions a year. But Spohrer said there is sufficient information from the preliminary report to know that the pilot should have used an ambulance when he saw the flight weather. "We know that the overcast ceiling was as low as 300 feet above the ground and that there was ground fog," Spohrer said. "The area where this occurred is a dark area with few lights. It is easy for a pilot to become spacially disoriented, and what occurred is called controlled flight into terrain, which means the pilot operating the aircraft ... is unaware of his altitude." SK Logistics has 20 days to respond to the initial filing, and Spohrer said he is hopeful the case can be resolved within a year. Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-01- 23/story/family-sues-company-whose-helicopter-crash-killed-mayo-clinic- transplant#ixzz1kOKTGguD Back to Top New DOT passenger protection rules take effect New passenger protections rules implemented by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) will go into effect from tomorrow. The new rules, first issued in April 2011, will require airlines to include all taxes and fees in advertised fares and to disclose baggage fees to travellers. Travellers will also be able to hold reservations without payment or cancel a booking without being penalised 24 hours after making the reservation, if it was made one week or more before the flight's departure date. Airlines will be required to promptly notify passengers of flight delays over 30 minutes and flight cancellations and diversions. Most of the passenger protection rules will take effect tomorrow while the advertising rule will take effect on 26 January. The new rules taking effect this month follow other passenger protection rules that were implemented from last August, which include requirements on airlines to refund baggage fees for lost bags and limit tarmac delays to four hours. US carriers have voiced their opposition against the rules, but the DOT earlier this month formally denied a request to delay the implementation of the rules. However, it said it will not enforce certain rules for six months for interline or codeshare itineraries. Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air have mounted a legal challenge to stop the inclusion of fees and taxes in fares, and Southwest Airlines has supported the airlines by becoming an intervenor in the case. On 29 December 2011, the DOT responded to the lawsuit, arguing that the rules are reasonable and consistent with the First Amendment. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top Government confident of regaining Category 1 status from FAA (Philippines) CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga-The government expects positive results in its bid to regain the Philippines's Category 1 status with the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the coming months, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez said on Tuesday. Jimenez told reporters after the groundbreaking ceremony of the Philippine Academy for Aviation Training Inc. (PAAT) that FAA officials are expected to conduct an audit of the country's compliance with aviation safety standards by next month, which indicates that an upgrade is forthcoming. Asked about the specific measures being undertaken to regain the country's Category 1 status with the FAA, Jimenez said, "We've already done them. We're just waiting for the audit." He said that audit, which may be conducted in February, is only done when one is ready for it. On whether the government expects positive results on its bid to regain Category 1 status by next month, the Tourism chief said, "When we are audited, it means that we are ready." President Aquino, who keynoted the ceremony, said, "The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines [Caap] is focused on regaining Category 1 status under the US Federal Aviation Administration." "A positive outcome will result in the expansion of our airlines' capacities, which will redound to a healthier aviation industry, more mobility for our people, and ultimately, a more robust and equitably progressive economy," Mr. Aquino said. Meanwhile, the Caap on Tuesday briefed members of FAA Technical Review team, which is in the country, on the progress of the rectification program the agency is implementing to improve the country's aviation system. Members of the FAA will be here until January 27 for a technical review to determine the preparedness of the Philippine civil aviation oversight office for a full FAA audit before its issuance of rating for the Philippines. The FAA team, headed by Jacques Astre, is composed of aviation experts who will conduct simultaneous consultations and meetings with their local counterparts to assess the Caap's vigilance and readiness for another round of audit and evaluation to regain Category 1 status, remove the identified Significant Safety Concerns by the Icao and the ban imposed by the European Union on Philippine air operators. Also in the FAA technical team are Beverly Sharkey, lawyer; Craig Michael, operations, member; Andre Lamarre, Airworthiness expert and Julianna Kim, State Department International Transportation Officer, as observer. Among the major improvements made by the Caap, as an offshoot of the country's downgrading to Category 2, is the use of the computer software called Civil Aviation Safety Oversight Reporting and Tracking Suite (Casort) and the Electronic Inspector Toolkit. Casort is a computer program tailor-fit for the database requirements of an aviation oversight on personnel files, reporting of certificate, license and authorization issuances, among others. The Electronic Inspector Toolkit is an intranet system that keeps digital reference documents of inspectors and technical staff. The FAA Technical Review will end this week, with the exit briefings scheduled on January 26 and 27 at the Caap and US Embassy, respectively. The result of the technical review of Caap is expected in a month to determine the category rating for the Philippine civil aviation. http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/22402-government-confident-of- regaining-category-1-status-from-faa Back to Top China's Hainan Airlines ranked as world's 5th safest airlines BERLIN - China's Hainan Airlines was among the world's top five safest airlines in 2011 for having had no death or aircraft losses in its 19 years of service, the German aviation accident investigation agency JACDEC (Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre) said in a recent annual report. The Hamburg-based agency, which has tracked the world's airlines accidents since 1973 and enjoyed a global reputation, published its latest "Aviation Safety Ranking" in German monthly magazine "Aero International." Based on its global network and database, the JACDEC rated 60 largest carriers from every continent in terms of casualties and aircraft losses. It said 2011 was the safest year of civil aviation since the end of Second World War, even with more aircrafts flying in the air. China's Hainan Airlines ranked the fifth safest airline with a safety rate of 0.006, following All Nippon Airways, Finnair, the Etihad Airways, and Cathay Pacific Airways. Founded in 1933, Hainan Airlines began its first international route in 2001 and soon extended its service to major cities in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America with some 400 routes. In December last year, Hainan Airlines was named for the second time as "the Best Airline in China" in the GT Tested Reader Survey Awards, organized by the U.S. magazine Global Traveler. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-01/24/content_14491124.htm Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC