Flight Safety Information May 22, 2012 - No. 102 In This Issue Sukhoi Crash Probe Detects No Systems Failure on Recorder Air bosses order stricter inspections of Super Puma helicopters China-made counterfeit parts found in US military aircraft NTSB issues safety recommendations on lightning data for air traffic controllers English Skills a Concern as Global Aviation Grows PRISM CERTIFICATION CONSULTANTS GULF FLIGHT SAFETY COMMITTEE AGM - DUBAI 6 JUNE 2012-05-21 Kuwait to Spend $6 Billion to Double Airport's Capacity Swedish Regional Carrier Skyways to File For Bankruptcy PIA MD plans to restore direct flight facility for US... SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon capsule lifts off Sukhoi Crash Probe Detects No Systems Failure on Recorder (Bloomberg) The probe by Indonesian air safety specialists into the crash of a Sukhoi SuperJet flight found no sign of aircraft-systems failure, the plane's manufacturer said. The plane's cockpit voice recorder showed that the collision-avoidance system was working, United Aircraft Corp., the Moscow-based parent of Sukhoi, the manufacturer of the 90- seat plane, said in a statement. "Indications of the failure of the aircraft's systems and components were not discovered," United Aircraft said on its website. The plane's collision-avoidance system was providing information on distance to the ground, the company said. Cockpit recorders can reveal whether any system-failure alarms sounded and show whether audible warnings indicated a crashed plane was about to hit an obstacle. The hunt for the digital flight data recorder continues, with special forces now replacing an earlier search team. That recorder contains information on the functioning of the plane's systems and engines. The plane crashed May 9 into a mountainside in Indonesia's West Java province, killing all 45 people on board. The Sukhoi jet was on a promotional trip through Asia. Joint Investigation The investigation may be critical in deciding the future of Russia's first new passenger plane in more than two decades as President Vladimir Putin seeks to revive his nation's aerospace industry. The 90-seat Sukhoi SuperJet was designed with western partners to compete with aircraft built by Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B) and Embraer SA. (EMBR3) United said the information came from the results of a joint investigation of the accident undertaken by Indonesia's National Committee for Transport Safety and by Russian authorities. "Let the investigation finish first," said Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, who spoke by telephone. He referred to the initial published statement about the investigation as a "common protocol." United said nothing in the statement about any information gleaned from cockpit conversations or whether pilots spoke in the final minutes of the flight. A cockpit voice recorder would also be able to capture the sounds of engines being put into higher thrust if pilots responded to a collision-warning alarm. The statement didn't indicate anything about engine noises. The plane, which seats five abreast, uses engines built by PowerJet, a venture between Snecma, a unit of Safran SA (SAF), and NPO Saturn. The aircraft had been on its second flight of the day, carrying prospective customers and local journalists, when it disappeared from radar screens shortly into its voyage. Back to Top Air bosses order stricter inspections of Super Puma helicopters over new safety fears AIR safety bosses have issued an emergency alert over a potential fault in Super Puma helicopters after one ditched in the North Sea. The European Aviation Safety Agency have ordered stricter safety inspections on the EC225 choppers amid fears about a gear shaft in the main rotor drive. The report comes after a Bond copter was forced to put down in the North Sea off Aberdeen with 14 people on board, sparking a major rescue operation. The drama on May 10 happened after pilots saw an oil pressure warning light come on. Investigations revealed a gearbox shaft had cracked. Bond suspended all flights of the EC225 while rigorous checks of the fleet, manufactured by Eurocopter, were carried out. An airworthiness report has now stated that there could be a "manufacturing defect" in the aircraft's bevel gear shaft. The ditching was the third serious incident involving a Bond aircraft in the North Sea in three years. A Bond spokesman said they had immediately put the stricter safety inspections into force. He added: "We will be discussing flight scheduling arrangements with customers to avoid any potential disruption to services." http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/05/22/air-bosses-order-stricter- inspections-of-super-puma-helicopters-over-new-safety-fears-86908-23868862/ Back to Top China-made counterfeit parts found in US military aircraft: Senate The US Senate Armed Services Committee has issued a report stating that China is a major source of counterfeit electronic components found on aircraft such as the L-3 Communications/Alenia C-27J, Lockheed Martin C-130J and Boeing P-8A. The committee's investigation discovered 1,800 cases of counterfeit parts, with the total number of individual parts involved exceeding 1 million, the Senate Armed Services committee said in a statement. "Our report outlines how this flood of counterfeit parts, overwhelmingly from China, threatens national security, the safety of our troops and American jobs," says committee chairman senator Carl Levin. "It underscores China's failure to police the blatant market in counterfeit parts - a failure China should rectify." The 112 page report details how counterfeit parts made their way into several high profile programmes. In November 2010, cockpit display units produced by L-3 Display Systems were found to contain a counterfeit memory chip. At the time of the discovery, over 500 displays had been installed in types such as the C-27J, C-130J, C-17 and CH-46 helicopter. L-3 had purchased the chips from a distributor in California, which had in turn bought them from a Shenzhen company called Hong Dark Electronic Trade. Aside from the suspect memory chips, the report claims that L-3 Communications bought "tens of thousands" of Hong Dark's parts in 2009 and 2010. As for the P-8A, on 17 August 2011, Boeing informed the navy that an ice detection module aboard the aircraft had "a reworked part that should not have been put on the airplane originally and should be replaced immediately." BAE Systems, which made the module, informed Boeing of the suspect parts in January 2010 - over 18 months before Boeing informed the US Navy about the issue. BAE had purchased the parts from a California firm called Tandex Test Labs, which had not tested the parts. Tandex had obtained the parts from a Florida distributor, which had in turn bought the parts from an affiliate of Shenzhen-based firm A Access Electronics. The report cites several such examples. One theme is the failure of contractors to notify their military customers about the counterfeit parts in a timely fashion. It noted that counterfeit parts change hands many times before being purchased by contractors and that "contractors may know little about the ultimate source of the electronic parts they purchase." The report called for more exhaustive testing processes for parts and for more timely reporting of counterfeit part issues when they emerge. A committee statement added that the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act has provisions that should "address weaknesses in the supply chain" identified by the investigation. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/china-made-counterfeit-parts-found-in-us- military-aircraft-senate-372155/ Back to Top NTSB issues safety recommendations on lightning data for air traffic controllers Flight US1209 flightpath; red dots indicate total lightning detected (source: NTSB) The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recently investigated several accidents and incidents in which air carrier airplanes have encountered significant convective weather conditions in flight, resulting in turbulence-induced crew and passenger injuries, damage to airplanes from hail and lightning strikes, and associated flight diversions. For example, on August 14, 2011, US Airways flight 1209, a Boeing 757 en route from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Philipsburg, St. Maarten, was struck by lightning at approximately 16,000 feet. The crew reported smoke in the cockpit, declared an emergency, and diverted to Baltimore, Maryland, where the airplane landed without further incident. Because thunderstorms are, by definition, always accompanied by lightning, the presence of lightning is a strong indicator of potentially severe weather conditions, and its identification serves to locate areas that should be avoided by all aircraft. Pilots and air traffic controllers currently attempt to protect aircraft from such encounters by using both airborne and ground-based weather radar systems that detect significant precipitation, which is frequently associated with convective weather. The NTSB believes that in addition to the precipitation data provided by weather radars, real- time information provided by modern "total lightning" detection networks can further assist pilots and controllers in identifying specific areas where lightning exists, and, through observation of storm motion, may exist as aircraft proceed along their flightpaths. Therefore, the National Transportation Safety Board makes the following recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration: *Study the technical feasibility of presenting, through the use of the weather and radar processor system or other means, real-time total lightning data on controller displays at both air route traffic control centers and terminal radar approach control facilities, and, if feasible, incorporate real-time total lightning data on controller displays and in associated weather products for current and future display systems. (A-12-18) *To the extent practicable, incorporate direct center weather service unit briefings on new weather-related air traffic control equipment and information services into controller training. (A-12-19) *Incorporate real-time total lightning data into the products supplied to pilots through the flight information services - broadcast data link. (A-12-20) More information: *NTSB Safety Recommendations A-12-18 through -20 www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top English Skills a Concern as Global Aviation Grows (NYT) - "Please, where is ahhty-ahm?" he asked. At least, that's what I heard, even when he slowly repeated the question. I was flummoxed until he took a bank card out of his wallet and made the motion of inserting it into an imaginary slot. "Oh, A.T.M.!" I said, and pointed the way to the nearest one. As he thanked me, the man seemed to speak English well enough. But his question had been incomprehensible to me because of his pronunciation - a short rather than long A, an accent on the first rather than last syllable of "A.T.M." The exchange was inconsequential. But consider similar misunderstandings involving greater complexity in exchanges that are crucial indeed, like those, say, between airline pilots and air traffic controllers who do not share the same native language. Confusion often occurs. Sometimes it's just amusing, like a 2006 recording of exchanges between an Air China pilot and an air traffic controller at Kennedy Airport in New York. The controller becomes increasingly exasperated by the pilot's hapless English, to the point where you can almost hear the steam coming out of his ears. That recording, on YouTube as Air China 981, is a favorite among air traffic controllers and pilots who have their own stories of language misunderstanding in global aviation. "It's the most beautiful example of the problem," said Paul Musselman, the chief executive of Carnegie Speech, a language education company that offers training on how to communicate more clearly in English to people who are not native speakers but need to use English on the job. The Air China example is beautiful because it is simply funny and no one got hurt through miscommunication. On the other hand, the list of aviation catastrophes around the world that were caused primarily by language misunderstandings between air and ground is long and tragic. In 1977, for example, two Boeing 747s collided on a runway at Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. The disaster, in which 583 people died, occurred in a dense fog. But complicating the situation were misunderstandings of orders and acknowledgments between the aircraft on the runway and the air traffic controllers. International aviation authorities later drafted more strict requirements for the use of standard, clear common English phrases in aviation operations. As global aviation grows, concerns are rising about English-language proficiency among foreign pilots and air traffic controllers. In October, for example, the International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations that promotes international air travel safety and development, issued new recommendations to improve English- language training, "in response to fatal accidents in which the lack of proficiency in English was identified as a contributing factor." English was mandated as the language of international flying in the years after World War II, as commercial aviation expanded worldwide. While common sense dictates that aviation needs a lingua franca, a language as rich in vocabulary and nuance as English presents some challenges in aviation operations, where communication is supposed to be terse and unambiguous. Still, aviation is now inextricably locked into English, and the need for better English communication skills is clear as more countries become major players in commercial aviation. Mr. Musselman's company, for example, offers English-language classes in a program called Climb Level 4 to bring international pilots up to the so-called Level 4 standard set for English by the International Civil Aviation Organization. That is defined as a level where vocabulary and grammar are good, but also where "pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation" are adequate to communicate clearly and quickly in English. Carnegie Speech has a partnership with Pan Am International Flight Academy to offer its proficiency courses for international pilots at the company's flight training centers in the United States and abroad. "We're in the business of teaching someone how to speak English so they can be understood," Mr. Musselman said. The program's software is customized for each person, "so we can assess your English in terms of your speech, word stress, fluency, grammar and pronunciation," he said. And English, as we all know, can be very tricky, not just in sound and meaning but in idiomatic forms we native English speakers take for granted. I remember a pre-theater dinner with my wife some years ago, at a restaurant in Times Square where the waiter, newly arrived from Milan, was clearly proud of his excellent English. When I asked for the check, however, I carelessly told him, "We need to make a curtain at 8 o'clock." He looked crestfallen, with an expression that said, "Why does this man tell me he needs to sew draperies at 8 o'clock?" Mr. Musselman had a linguistic example more apropos to aviation. "I was in the Army, a Green Beret for 11 years," he said. At parachute jump school, soldiers were required to say "Not clear" to respond negatively to any question, rather than simply "No." "The reason is because 'No' sounds dangerously close to 'Go,' " he said. And for a parachutist waiting by the aircraft door for the order to jump, he explained, the crucial command is "Go!" Clear? Back to Top Back to Top GULF FLIGHT SAFETY COMMITTEE AGM - DUBAI 6 JUNE 2012-05-21 The Gulf Flight Safety Committee, the regional aviation safety forum for the Gulf, will hold its annual general meeting at the Emirates Training Centre in Dubai from 0830 to 1630 on 6 June 2012. In addition to the annual appointment of the executive committee and other GFSC business, there will be the usual mix of incident reviews and industry debate, followed by some informative safety presentations. All existing members are urged to attend and take part in shaping the next steps for the GFSC, and others with an interest in regional safety matters and perhaps thinking of joining are welcome to attend on this occasion. Further information is available on the website www.gfsc.aero and queries should be directed to chair@gfsc.aero or to the current chairman Jo Gillespie jgillespie@gatesaviation.com . Back to Top Kuwait to Spend $6 Billion to Double Airport's Capacity (BloomBerg) - Kuwait's government will spend $6 billion to almost double the number of passengers its international airport is able to handle by the end of 2016, the head of the country's aviation regulator said. Work will begin this year on adding a terminal and renovating infrastructure to raise capacity to 13 million passengers, Kuwait Civil Aviation President Fawaz Abdul-Aziz Al- Farah told reporters in Dubai today. The airport, which is built to handle 7 million travelers a year, received 8.5 million passengers in 2011, and the figure may exceed 9 million this year, he said. The expansion is part of Kuwait's $111 billion four-year development plan announced in February 2010 to build a subway and rail network, expand the airport and construct power stations, hospitals, roads and a port for the nation of 3.7 million people. Neighboring Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are building airports and expanding existing ones to accommodate growth in travel. Kuwait International Airport's capacity may be expanded to 25 million passengers by 2025 and 50 million people by 2035, Al- Farah said. The emirate's main carriers are Jazeera Airways KSC (JAZEERA), a low- cost operator, and state-owned Kuwait Airways Corp Back to Top Swedish Regional Carrier Skyways to File For Bankruptcy STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)--Skyways Express AB and its subsidiary City Airline AB Tuesday canceled all flights with immediate effect and said it will file for bankruptcy during the day as its owner said it could no longer finance the Swedish regional airline. The small carriers are part of a Nordic airline group created by Ukrainian entrepreneur Igor Kolomoisky through his investment company Mansvell Enterprises Ltd. which has collapsed this year as high fuel prices and sluggish growth have played havoc with Europe's airline sector. Danish regional carrier Cimber Sterling, also owned by Mansvell, filed for bankruptcy May 3. Hungary's national airline Malev and Spanish regional airline Spanair went bust earlier this year. "It feels very sad for the company and for our passengers that will be immediately affected," said Mikael Wangdahl, chief executive at Skyways and City Airline. "We have come far in turning the company around but after the bankruptcy of Cimber it became almost impossible to continue," said Mikael Wangdahl. However, Skyways and City Airline were operating in a fiercely competitive market where airlines need scale to compete. Skyways and City Airline fly between around 20 destinations within Scandinavia as well as to Switzerland, the U.K., France and Germany, with a fleet of 11 Fokker-50 propeller planes and a handful of Embraer aircraft. "There is an overcapacity in the [Nordic] market," said Anders Lidman, airline analyst and Chief Executive of Aeropol AB. "This type of traffic, involving small planes and short distances is the most expensive and, in this climate, I doubt that there's a big interest from other airlines to take over all of [Skyways' and City Airline's] routes." Scandinavian airline SAS AB (SAS.SK) said Tuesday that about 12,000 of its passengers will be affected by the financial collapse of Skyways and City Airline with which it has codeshare agreements allowing the smaller airlines to feed traffic to SAS's Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen hubs. A codeshare is an aviation business arrangement whereby two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on one airline but the flight is operated by a cooperating airline under a different flight number or code. SAS, which is struggling to reduce its losses with a wide-ranging restructuring program of its own, said it will be difficult for it to replace flights that were operated by Skyways' and City Airline's propeller planes with its own bigger jet aircraft, but it is looking at other possible solutions. Earlier Tuesday, Finland's national carrier Finnair Oyj (FIAIS.HE) said it will transfer 12 Embraer aircraft and 250 pilots and cabin attendants to the joint venture Flybe Nordic AB it has set up with U.K. budget carrier Flybe Group PLC (FLYB.LN) as part of its efforts to cut costs and return to profit. Back to Top PIA MD plans to restore direct flight facility for US KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Managing Director Air Chief Marshal (r) Rao Qamar Suleman is formulating a comprehensive strategy on emergency basis for restoration of EASA 145 (European Aviation Safety Agency) approval for PIA engineering and PIA flights to USA without en route secondary security checks at Manchester, PIA spokesman said here on Monday. Suleman returned after his visit to the EASA Offices in Colonge, Germany on May 15, 2012. This was the highest-level meeting between EASA and PIA to date. The PIA MD was invited by the EASA board to discuss possible ways for restoration of PIA's EASA 145 approval. EASA Head Quarters Colonge, Germany, May 15, 2012: EASA authorities agreed with the steps suggested by PIA. The EASA officials welcomed the nomination of the new managing director and hoped to work with him to resolve the issues. The PIA team presented a road map on restoration of EASA 145 approval for PIA engineering. TSA Meeting Washington DC, May 18, 2012: The PIA MD also met with top officials of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) along with Homeland Security officials and discussed the various options available to both sides to create a framework that would allow PIA to fly to the USA without en route secondary security checks. PIA MD was welcomed by TSA officials. During the meeting security concerns were discussed. MD PIA assured that all issues shall be addressed by PIA on an urgent basis. The TSA team was satisfied by steps suggested by PIA. Both meetings were successful as the PIA MD was able to convince EASA and TSA to allow PIA time to resolve the issues raised by both the agencies. The matter is most critical for the airline as a possible sanction by either of the agency can result in suspension of the PIA flights to EU and the USA. The PIA MD is putting together a comprehensive strategy to tackle the matter on emergency basis, the PIA spokesman concluded. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C05%5C22%5Cstory_22-5- 2012_pg5_1 Back to Top SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Dragon capsule lifts off on historic flight to International Space Station CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A commercial rocket blasted off early Tuesday with a load of supplies for the International Space Station, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight. The SpaceX company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, aiming for a rendezvous later this week with the space station. The rocket carried into orbit a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000 pounds of space station provisions. It is the first time a private company has launched a vessel to the space station. That's something only major governments have done - until the present test flight. Launch controllers applauded when the Dragon reached orbit 9 minutes into the flight. This time, the Falcon's nine engines kept firing all the way through liftoff. On Saturday, flight computers aborted the launch with a half-second remaining in the countdown; a bad engine valve was replaced. The real test comes Thursday when the Dragon reaches the vicinity of the space station. It will undergo practice maneuvers from more than a mile out. If all goes well, the docking will occur Friday. The space station was zooming over the North Atlantic, just east of Newfoundland, when the Falcon took flight. NASA is looking to the private sector to take over orbital trips in this post-shuttle period; several U.S. companies are vying for the opportunity. The goal is to get American astronauts launching again from U.S. soil. SpaceX officials say that could happen in as little as three years, possibly four. Until their retirement last summer, NASA's shuttles provided the bulk of space station equipment and even the occasional crew member. American astronauts are stuck riding Russian rockets to orbit until SpaceX or one of its competitors takes over the job. Russia also is making periodic cargo hauls, along with Europe and Japan. SpaceX - or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. - is based in Southern California. That's where the company's Mission Control is located for this flight and where billionaire founder Elon Musk positioned himself for Tuesday's launch. Musk, a co-creator of PayPal, founded SpaceX a decade ago. He's poured millions of his own money into the company, and NASA has contributed $381 million as seed money. In all, the company has spent more than $1 billion on the effort. Hundreds of SpaceX and NASA guests poured into the launching area in the wee hours of Tuesday, eager to see firsthand the start of this new commercial era. The company had a single second to get its rocket flying, and that's all it needed. Everyone, it seemed, was rooting for a successful flight. "Good luck SpaceX Dragon," read a hotel sign in nearby Cocoa Beach. The six space station astronauts were especially enthusiastic; the crew beamed down a picture on the eve of the launch, showing the two who will use a robot arm to snare the Dragon. In December 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and retrieve it. That test flight of a Dragon capsule paved the way for this mission, which also is meant to culminate with a splashdown of the capsule in the Pacific. This newest capsule is supposed to remain at the space station for a week before bringing back experiments and equipment. None of the other types of current cargo ships can return safely; they burn up on the way down. SpaceX and NASA officials stress this is a demonstration flight and that even if something goes wrong, much can be learned. "Whatever happens today, we could not have done it without (at)NASA, but errors are ours alone and me most of all," Musk said via Twitter right before Saturday's launch abort. The company will try again no matter what; two more Dragon supply missions, in fact, are planned this year. Musk, 40, is the chief executive officer and chief designer for SpaceX. He also runs Tesla Motors, his electric car company. NASA retired its space shuttle fleet last summer. The three remaining shuttles - Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis - are now relegated to museums. http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/article/256089/250/SpaceX-rocket-lifts-off-on- historic-flight-to-station Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC