Flight Safety Information March 27, 2012 - No. 061 In This Issue Singapore Airlines A380 Turns Back After Engine Shutdown Allegiant Air flight diverts to Everett, Wash PRISM ANNUAL SMS AUDIT RESULTS Africa remains primary concern for EU ramp inspectors Singapore Airlines A380 Turns Back After Engine Shutdown SINGAPORE (WSJ)-A Singapore Airlines Ltd. C6L.SG +0.28%Airbus A380 superjumbo jet en route to Frankfurt was forced to return to Singapore on Tuesday, in the latest incident involving the Rolls-Royce Holdings RR.LN 0.00%PLC engines that power the world's biggest passenger aircraft. Flight SQ26, which was carrying more than 430 passengers, landed safely at 6:40 a.m. local time after its crew reported a problem with one of the jet's four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines nearly three hours after takeoff, the airline said in a statement. "The crew reported an engine surge in the No. 3 engine and the engine was shut down," a company spokeswoman said in the emailed statement, adding that a surge refers to a disruption of airflow that affects an engine's normal operation. The flight's passengers have since left for Frankfurt on another aircraft, she added. Singapore Airlines is looking into the incident, and will inspect the engine in consultation with Rolls-Royce, according to spokeswomen for both companies. A number of A380s have suffered problems with their Rolls-Royce engines. In November 2010, Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. QAN.AU +0.85%grounded its entire A380 fleet for nearly a month following an engine explosion that forced an emergency landing in Singapore. In June Qantas reached a settlement totaling 95 million Australian dollars with Rolls-Royce. Singapore Airlines, which operates 16 A380s and has firm orders for three more, had Rolls-Royce replace the Trent 900 engines on three of its superjumbos in November 2010 after inspections turned up unusual oil traces. Last November, a Qantas A380 flying to London from Singapore was diverted to Dubai after its crew identified a problem with one of the jet's Rolls-Royce engines. The plane, which has been flying commercially since 2007, is made by Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. EAD.FR +0.18% Separately, Singapore Airlines said Tuesday it will pay a penalty of 25 million South African rand (US$3.3 million) in relation to a South African Competition Commission complaint against the carrier. The carrier did not specify the nature of the complaint, but a commission statement Monday said settlements concluded with both Singapore Airlines and South African Airways related to price-fixing on flights between Johannesburg and Hong Kong Back to Top Allegiant Air flight diverts to Everett, Wash. EVERETT, Wash. (USATODAY.com) - An Allegiant Air flight heading to California on Monday afternoon made an emergency stop in Washington state. A company spokeswoman says the pilot on the early afternoon flight from Bellingham, Wash., to San Diego landed at Paine Field, north of Seattle, because of mechanical issues with one engines. Spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler says none of the 155 passengers and five crewmembers were injured. They are being bused back to Bellingham to catch a new flight around 8:15 p.m. The Las Vegas-based airline, which usually doesn't fly into Seattle, cannot send another plane to pick them up because Paine Field is a small airfield without security. Wheeler says there was nothing scary or unusual about the landing, except for the fact that the plane landed in Back to Top Back to Top Africa remains primary concern for EU ramp inspectors Latest full-year figures from Europe's foreign aircraft safety scheme show that the average number of findings per ramp inspection rose slightly but still stayed below unity. The figures for the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft programme detail the results of 11,703 ramp inspections in 2010, 3% more than during the previous year, carried out on 6,200 aircraft. In a report, the European Commission put the number of findings per inspection at 0.94, up from the prior figure of 0.85, but still the second-lowest level since 1999. However, the rate reached 1.44 for African operators and 1.53 for those from Latin America and the Caribbean, compared with just 0.75 for aircraft from the European Union. The inspection process centres on a checklist of 54 different inspection items to assess compliance of the aircraft with International Civil Aviation Organisation standards. Each finding is classified into one of three groups. Over the course of 2010, inspectors classified 26% of the findings as Category 3, the most serious of the three classifications. In 120 of the 11,703 cases, inspections resulted in restrictions on aircraft operation, while 12 involved grounding of aircraft, although none led to an immediate operating ban - beyond those imposed by the Commission's blacklist, for which the SAFA programme serves as a foundation. Despite the programme's emphasis on third-party examinations, just over half of the inspections (51.2%) were carried out on European Union operators. Of these 5,990 inspections on EU aircraft, just under 20% generated Category 3 findings. But this proportion increased to 48% for African operators and a similar level for Latin American aircraft. "Although in 2009 the average for African operators showed the greatest improvement, this trend was reversed in 2010, when [findings per inspection] figures show the greatest increase," says the Commission analysis. It says the number of findings per inspection increased for almost all the regions, with the exception of South America, which, nevertheless, still has an above-average rate. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/africa-remains-primary-concern-for-eu-ramp- inspectors-369941/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC