Flight Safety Information April 5, 2012 - No. 068 In This Issue Lack of de-icing likely caused Russian plane crash 7 hurt when Tampa to Houston jet hits turbulence Drone crashes in Seychelles, second in four months FAA Provides Guidance On Helicopter Terrain Awareness System Mandate PRISM ANNUAL SMS AUDIT RESULTS Security grounds Delta flight attendant U.S. airlines: Safer than ever? FAA Initiates New Flight Procedures In Houston The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship Lack of de-icing likely caused Russian plane crash MOSCOW - Russia's top investigative agency says that a Russian plane crash that killed 31 people most likely was caused by a failure to de-ice the aircraft. The ATR-72 turboprop belonging to UTair slammed into a snowy field minutes after taking off Monday from the Siberian city of Tyumen with 43 people aboard. Twelve survivors remain in serious condition. The state Investigative Committee said Wednesday the French-Italian-made aircraft hadn't been properly de-iced before takeoff, which appears to have been "the most likely reason of the crash." The agency said further analysis of technical data would be required before a final verdict. Russia has seen a string of deadly crashes in recent years, which have been blamed on lax government controls and widespread neglect of safety. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9TU1UHG1.htm Back to Top 7 hurt when Tampa to Houston jet hits turbulence Five passengers and two flight attendants have been hurt after a flight from Tampa, Fla., to Houston hit severe turbulence over Louisiana. Houston Airport Systems spokeswoman Darian Ward says the United Airlines flight landed safely in Houston early Wednesday. She says at least three people were transported to a hospital but has no information on their conditions. United Airlines spokesman Michael Trevino says seven were hurt, but he did not have information about their injuries. The pilots declared an emergency so they would be given priority upon landing in Houston. United is run by Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc. Ward says the flight hit turbulence over Lake Charles, La. It was not clear whether the turbulence was caused by the same storm system that spawned tornadoes near Dallas on Tuesday. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-04/D9TU675O1.htm Back to Top Drone crashes in Seychelles, second in four months VICTORIA (Reuters) - A U.S. drone crash-landed at the Seychelles main airport and careered into the ocean on Wednesday, the second remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft to crash on the Indian Ocean archipelago in four months. The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said the aircraft had technical problems soon after taking off and tried to land at Seychelles International Airport on the main island of Mahe. "It touched down on the runway and bounced a few times before ending (in) the sea at the extreme southern end of the runway," the SCAA said in a statement. A Reuters witness said police prevented reporters from entering a public area next to the end of the runway. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. embassy and it was not clear what the drone's mission had been. A classified U.S. diplomatic cable dated 2009 showed that unmanned aircraft carried out missions over Somalia and the Horn of Africa from the Seychelles. Local officials say drones based in the archipelago are also tracking pirates in regional waters. Back to Top FAA Provides Guidance On Helicopter Terrain Awareness System Mandate FAA is laying the groundwork for a proposed new requirement for installation of the helicopter terrain awareness and warning system (HTAWS) on helicopters used in air ambulance operations. The agency released draft guidance-draft advisory circulars 27-1B and 29-2C-detailing the anticipated technical requirements for installation. FAA has been working on a comprehensive rule covering equipment and operational requirements for both air ambulance and commercial helicopter operations. The notice of proposed rulemaking was released in October 2010, and FAA has been targeting a July 2012 release for the final rule. However, that date may get pushed back since it still must undergo both U.S. Department of Transportation and Office of Management and Budget review. However, release of the draft guidance on April 2 signals that the final rule is well under way, and the HTAWS requirement, at least for air ambulance operations, is widely expected. FAA in 2000 mandated the installation of TAWS on all turbine fixed-wing aircraft with six or more passenger seats. And in 2005, the agency recommended that helicopter operators consider using TAWS for night operations when conditions and missions dictate. But the agency did not include helicopters in the TAWS requirement because the technology, which is designed for fixed-wing applications, presents operational difficulties for helicopters, such as nuisance warnings, FAA says. HTAWS, however, is tailored for helicopter operations, taking into account the fact that helicopters typically fly slower than airplanes and operate closer to the ground in "hazard-rich" environments, the agency says. HTAWS is also able to assess the aircraft position over a smaller area of terrain than TAWS, helping prevent warnings to pilots about obstacles that don't pose an immediate hazard. "FAA believes that the decrease in nuisance warnings with HTAWS increases the usefulness of the equipment," the agency said in the NPRM. The proposal specifically calls for installation of HTAWS, saying TAWS units designed for fixed-wing aircraft could not be used as an alternative. RTCA has already developed standards for HTAWS (RTCA/DO-309, Minimum Operational Performance Standards for Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System Airborne Equipment), and FAA subsequently issued a technical standard order establishing design criteria (TSO-C194). At the time of the NPRM, more than 40% of certified air ambulance operators had started to equip their fleets with TAWS, FAA says. FAA says the use of HTAWS has strong support from the safety community. The National Transportation Safety Board cites the use of TAWS systems as a means to prevent controlled flight into terrain accidents. Similarly, the Flight Safety Foundation and Air Medical Physician Association have backed the use in helicopters. Helicopter Association International, however, has instead pushed for the option of the use of night vision goggles (NVG)-something that FAA rejected as a replacement in its proposal. HAI believes NVG should be mandated regardless, saying it is a proven technology and widely accepted. "In many situations NVGs provide safety benefits superior to HTAWS," HAI told the agency in comments on the proposal. "Although TAWS is proven in the high-altitude IFR environment, minimal data currently exist to evaluate HTAWS use in the low-altitude environment in which many helicopters operate." FAA says it had considered requiring all commercial helicopters to be equipped with HTAWS, but had said, "the agency believes the greatest benefit would be realized by helicopter air ambulance operators because a much greater percentage of their operations are conducted at night and in off-airway routing, and involve unimproved and unfamiliar landing areas." The draft guidance released this week specifically cites the requirements for air ambulance operators, indicating that the final rule likely keeps the HTAWS requirements narrowed to those operators. The guidance cites both the RTCA and TSO standards, detailing the requirements for the systems and their installation. The comment period on the draft guidance ends May 2. http://www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Back to Top Security grounds Delta flight attendant Flight delayed three hours; TSA officer at security checkpoint observed irregular behavior A Delta Airlines flight attendant at Buffalo Niagara International Airport was not allowed to fly Wednesday morning after he was spotted acting in a manner that a security officer deemed unfit for flight, according to authorities. A Transportation Security Administration officer at a security checkpoint noticed the male flight attendant's irregular behavior and alerted Delta Airlines personnel, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. Both the NFTA and Delta officials said the matter did not rise to the level of a security issue. There were no passengers aboard the Atlanta-bound plane when the attendant was removed. "It was Delta's decision to remove the flight attendant from flying," said Gina Laughlin, a Delta spokeswoman. The TSA officer's allegations against the flight attendant are now under review by the airline, she said. The entire crew for Flight 1266, which was scheduled to leave at 6:15 a.m., passed through the security checkpoint and boarded the aircraft to conduct its preflight check, officials said. But when Delta received word of the TSA officer's claims, airline officials removed the attendant and made arrangements for another flight attendant to be flown into Buffalo to replace him, Laughlin said. Once the staffing change was made, the flight departed after a three-hour delay. Delta is deeply concerned any time it receives a complaint of this nature, and that is why it took the proactive step of removing the flight attendant, Laughlin stressed. "We were contacted by TSA early this morning regarding their allegation that one of our flight attendants appeared unfit for duty. We take allegations very seriously, and we are working to confirm the accuracy," Laughlin said. Attention to the stability of airline personnel has heightened recently, with the most recent incident involving a JetBlue captain behaving in a bizarre manner last week in the passenger cabin. The Delta incident was not regarded as a security issue, Niagara Frontier Transportation Administration spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer said. "It was an internal matter that is being handled by Delta Airlines," Hartmayer said. http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article795630.ece Back to Top U.S. airlines: Safer than ever? Airline cockpit procedures created decades ago helped safely resolve last month's JetBlue pilot incident, experts say. (CNN) -- These days, stories about airline crew-member meltdowns and traffic controllers asleep on the job are enough to make even the bravest fliers clutch their armrests a little tighter. But despite these unusual incidents, the U.S. airline industry is enjoying one of the safest periods in its history. "It's really pretty amazing -- not just the year-to-year safety record -- but when you consider that air travel involves doing some fairly risky things, like flying an aircraft in bad weather and all kinds of conditions," says Bill Voss of the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group focusing on safety research and advocacy. Although regional airline crashes in 2009, 2006, 2004 and 2003 killed 133 people, the most recent deadly U.S. crash of a large airliner was in 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 went down in Belle Harbor, New York, killing 265. In the 1990s there were at least five fatal mid-size or wide-body domestic airline crashes, and in the '80s there were at least three. "We've seen a dramatic improvement since the 1990s," says Voss. "Everybody uses different stats, but you used to have probably between one and two accidents per million departures. Last year we were down to well below one accident per million departures." It's not overstating it to say the nation has entered an unprecedented era of safer skies, according to industry experts including a former National Transportation Safety Board official. A combination of improvements introduced and implemented in the '80s and '90s gets credit -- including innovations in pilot training, better sharing of safety solutions, and technological advances. An electronic on-board system called TCAS, which is aimed at preventing midair collisions, has probably saved countless lives. So has something called ground proximity warning systems, which alert pilots if they're in danger of crashing into the ground when weather makes visibility difficult. Also developed in the past decades: cockpit resource management -- a fancy term for procedures first developed in the 1980s to help flight crews behave and communicate better to avoid circumstances that could have deadly consequences. In last month's JetBlue incident during a flight between New York and Las Vegas, Capt. Clayton Osbon began acting erratically, prompting the co-pilot to lock him out of the cockpit. "I don't know if 15 years ago whether a co-pilot would have had the guts to trick that captain into getting out of the cockpit," says Peter Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. "That all comes from CRM -- which is saying that everybody's got a responsibility for safety." "What was a very hierarchical authority-based crew structure back in the early 1980s has been completely overhauled," says Voss."You have a whole new generation of crews that don't even think the same way anymore. They work as a team together, not just in the cockpit, but with the cabin crew." Air travelers have benefited from vastly improved satellite and weather prediction technology. Pilots and controllers have much more precise data allowing them to more accurately fly around dangerous storms. But weather data systems aren't infallible. Air France Flight 447, from Brazil to Paris, which crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 killing 228, paid a price, says Goelz, because it flew through a storm, while other aircraft avoided it. Heavy news media coverage of terrible crashes in the '90s, like ValuJet Flight 592 near Miami and TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, "allowed safety to really go to the top of the agenda in the aviation discussion," says Goelz, giving the NTSB more influence to push Washington and the airlines toward more safety improvements. "Safety is a nonevent which gives you the impression that it doesn't require active effort," says Voss, a former FAA official and air traffic controller. "But it does." About 731 million U.S. passengers flew in 2011, according to the FAA. The yearly projection for 2032 is 1.2 billion. For that reason alone, there are serious questions about whether the industry can maintain its safety record. The biggest threat, says Voss, would be aggressive budget cutbacks, either on Capitol Hill or in corporate boardrooms. "Will we have enough money for the infrastructure? Will we have the appropriate number of regulators available to support the growth that we are going to have and keep the brilliant safety record that we have?" The FAA's plan to improve air traffic efficiency and communication, called NextGen, is the key to safely managing the anticipated surge in passengers, says Goelz. In 2009, a regional air carrier -- Colgan Air Flight 3407 -- crashed near Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people. That tragedy offered the industry a warning about how a shifting economy can affect airline safety, says Voss. "It was a product of a burst of growth," he says. "Airlines started running out of people to fill seats in the cockpit and in certain circumstances you may see cases where someone is not as qualified or trained or as experienced as you might like being pushed into the (pilot's) seat." Colgan concluded the crash of the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 was caused by the crew's "loss of situational awareness and failure to follow Colgan Air training and procedures." The FAA has proposed more stringent qualifications for pilots in the wake of that accident. Voss sees "a very strong correlation between extreme growth pressure and accidents." As examples he cites air crash upticks in the past decade in Indonesia and Africa. "All of them were preceded by a sudden boom in the industry," says Voss. "We got a little taste of that with Colgan -- and now the system has settled back down and hopefully we've taken some lessons away from that." Back to Top FAA Initiates New Flight Procedures In Houston FAA announced the launch of a Metroplex initiative to improve the flow of air traffic into and out of major airports in Houston. A Metroplex is a region with multiple airports serving major metropolitan areas where heavy airport activity and environmental constraints combine to hinder the efficient movement of air traffic, FAA noted. Metroplex initiatives are under way or planned in 21 metropolitan areas nationwide as part of the agency's NextGen program, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., and Northern California. The Metroplex initiative is based on satellite navigation, or Performance-Based Navigation (PBN), which is a key component of NextGen. PBN enables pilots to fly aircraft using radar or satellite coverage, or by using the on-board flight management system. PBN allows shorter, more direct routes that reduce flight time and fuel consumption, and result in fewer carbon emissions, according to FAA. FAA estimates that as a result of the Houston Metroplex airspace initiative, airplanes will fly 648,000 fewer nautical miles annually, based on flight plans. This and other NextGen procedures will save up to three million gallons of fuel and reduce carbon emissions by as much as 31,000 metric tons each year. The collaborative regional partnership includes the FAA, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and the Houston Airport System. http://www.aviationnews.net/?do=headline&news_ID=203842 Back to Top Calls for Application for The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship DEADLINE for filling application 15 April, 2012 The 2012 ISASI Seminar will be held at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Aug 28-30, 2012 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS 2012 The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship (In memorial to all ISASI members who have died) Purpose: To encourage and assist college-level students interested in the field of aviation safety and aircraft occurrence investigation. Funding: The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship fund will be established through donations and will provide an annual allocation of funds for the scholarship if funds are available. Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled as full time students in a recognized (note ISASI recognized) education program, which includes courses in aircraft engineering and/or operations, aviation psychology, aviation safety and/or aircraft occurrence investigation, etc., with major or minor subjects that focus on aviation safety/investigation are eligible for the scholarship. A student who has received the annual ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship will not be eligible to apply for it again. Administration of the Fund: The President of ISASI will appoint a two person committee to be executors and administrators of the fund. The ISASI Treasurer will oversee all expenditures. The Scholarship Fund Committee will check that the education program is at a recognized school and applicable to the aims of the Society, assess the applications and determine the most suitable candidate. Donors and recipients will be advised if donations are made in honor of a particular individual. Annual Scholarship: Funded attendance at ISASI Annual Seminar An award of $2000 will be made to each student who wins the competitive writing requirement, meets the application requirements and will register for the ISASI annual seminar. The award will be used to cover costs for the seminar registration fees, travel, and lodging/meals expenses. Any expenses above and beyond the amount of the award will be borne by the recipient. ISASI will assist with coordination and control the expenditure of funds. In addition, the following are offered to the winner(s) of the scholarship. 1. A one year membership to ISASI 2. The Southern California Safety Institute (SCSI) offers tuition-free attendance to ANY regularly scheduled SCSI course to the winner of the ISASI Scholarship. This includes the two-week Aircraft Accident Investigator course or any other investigation courses. Travel to/from the course and accommodations are not included. More information at http://www.scsi-inc.com/ 3. The Transportation Safety Institute offers a tuition free course for the winner of the Scholarship. Travel to/from the course and accommodations are not included. More information is available at http://www.tsi.dot.gov/ 4. The Cranfield University Safety and Accident Investigation Centre offers tuition-free attendance at its 5-day Accident Investigation course which runs as part of its Masters Degree program at the Cranfield campus, 50 miles north of London, UK. Travel to/from the course and accommodation are not included. Further information is available from www.csaic.net/ Application requirements: 1.A full time student who meets the Eligibility requirement stated above and has been enrolled for a duration of one year 2. The student is to submit a 1000 (+/- 10%) word paper in English addressing "the challenges for air safety investigators" 3. The paper is to be the students own work and must be countersigned by the student's tutor/academic supervisor as authentic, original work 4. The papers will be judged on their content, original thinking, logic and clarity of expression 5. The student must complete the application form with their paper by April 15, 2012 and submit it to ISASI by mail, fax, or email to isasi@erols.com. ISASI contact information - Ann Schull, International Office Manager 107 E. Holly Avenue, Suite #11 Sterling, VA 20164 703 430 9668 (Main) 703 430-4970 (FAX) Some advice to those applying: 1. Late submissions are not advisable 2. Handwritten applications are not advisable 3. Make sure to include your email address as indicated in 5/ above 4. For email submissions the essay should be in MS Word format; however, the application form may be in pdf, in order to facilitate scanning the completed and signed application. *********** Application Form 2012 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship (In memorial to all ISASI members who have died) Name: Date: Address: Course enrolled for: Year /Subjects Studied: Academic Institute: Address: Email: Telephone number: Student Signature:_____________________________________________________________ Tutor/Academic Supervisor title and signature:________________________________________ 1000 Word Paper ""the challenges for air safety investigators" NOTE: Students who wish to apply for the scholarship should visit www.isasi.org or send email to isasi@erols.com. The ISASI office telephone number is 1-703-430-9668. Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC