Flight Safety Information June 6, 2012 - No. 115 In This Issue AMR Pilots Distracted by Brakes Said to Lead to Accident Investigator scours site of Utah tanker crash Nigeria suspends air carrier license after crash Nairobi airport reopens after airplane slide(Runway Excursion) PRISM Certification Consultants Huge New Hydrogen-Powered Spy Drone Takes Test Flight Facebook Investor Usmanov Said to Acquire Wide-Body Airbus Jet (A340) International Air & Transportation Safety Bar Association (IATSBA) Announces December Conference Florida Tech Adds Master's Degree in Aviation Safety through Online Learning AMR Pilots Distracted by Brakes Said to Lead to Accident By Alan Levin Speeding down a snowy Wyoming runway after touchdown at more than 100 miles an hour, devices on the AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) (AAMRQ) American Airlines jetliner that use engine power to slow down malfunctioned. As the pilots struggled with that, they failed to notice an even more critical failure on the Boeing Co. (BA) (BA) 757: panels on the wings that are essential for braking hadn't deployed. The Dec. 29, 2010, incident, in which a plane carrying 185 people skidded off the runway, highlights how today's automated, normally reliable aircraft can breed complacency in pilots, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a hearing in Washington yesterday. "This incident demonstrates that experienced pilots can become distracted during unusual events," Katherine Wilson, an NTSB investigator who specializes in human performance, said. Blame for the accident was divided between the malfunctions of the braking systems and the American Airlines captain's failure to notice that the panels known as speedbrakes had malfunctioned, the safety board found in a unanimous vote. Brakes are 60 percent less effective without the speedbrakes, which push a plane's wheels into the pavement, Wilson said. Even with the balky thrust reverser, the plane would have stopped by the end of the runway had the pilots manually switched on the speedbrakes, she said. 'Like a Sled' None of the 179 passengers and 6 crew members aboard the aircraft were injured when it slid off the 6,300-foot runway and came to rest 730 feet away in a snow-covered field, according to the NTSB. The flight was from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to Jackson Hole Airport. "The airplane felt like a sled," co-pilot Todd Brann told investigators, according to an NTSB report. A simultaneous series of events aboard the jetliner prevented its braking systems from functioning, the investigation found. Because the plane's computers momentarily concluded the aircraft had lifted off again after touchdown, it blocked the thrust reverser from working, the investigation concluded. The design of the reversers prevented the pilots from reactivating them immediately, an anomaly none of the pilots interviewed in the investigation had heard of. It wasn't until March 31, 2011, when the same jetliner landed in San Francisco and the speedbrakes malfunctioned again, that investigators realized that the unit on that aircraft contained a manufacturing error, according to the safety board's findings. American's pilots are required to check after landing to ensure the speedbrakes are working. Captain Timothy Kalcevic could be heard on the plane's crash-proof cockpit recorder saying that they were "deployed," Wilson said. More Automation In fact, they hadn't automatically switched on, the safety board found. Wilson attributed Kalcevic's comment to the fact that he expected them to work as they had in the past. As jetliners have become more computer-driven, pilots spend more time monitoring autopilots and other systems, NTSB Chairman Debbie Hersman said in an interview after the hearing. "That monitoring is no less important than the hand flying they once did, and failing to be attentive to the monitoring can be just as catastrophic," Hersman said. Pilots need more time in simulators to practice in increasingly complex cockpits, Rory Kay, a safety consultant and airline pilot who authored a report last year on the hazards of increased automation, said in a phone interview. "Quality training is the best solution to this," Kay said. Recommendations Issued The NTSB voted to recommend that all airlines develop new training on the importance of monitoring speedbrakes. A review of incident reports by the safety board found 11 cases in which the speedbrakes activated and then deactivated on their own. The board also recommended that a warning horn be installed on jetliners to alert pilots if the speedbrakes are not working. The board doesn't have authority to implement changes on its own. "We're satisfied that the NTSB took a thoughtful approach in the investigation and assessment of this incident," Gregg Overman, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing American's flight crews, said in an interview. American has already added training on speedbrakes, Ed Martelle, a spokesman for the carrier, said in an interview. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates airlines, will review the recommendations, the agency said in an e-mail statement. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-05/amr-pilots-distracted-by-brakes-said- to-lead-to-accident Back to Top Investigator scours site of Utah tanker crash SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Federal investigators said Tuesday mechanical failure forced an air tanker fighting a Nevada wildfire to make a crash landing, but they were still trying to determine what brought down another tanker of the same vintage in southern Utah, killing two pilots. Both accidents happened Sunday, and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator was at the scene of the remote Utah crash Tuesday, trying to determine what went wrong. The company that owns the Lockheed P2V said it believes a cockpit voice recorder survived the wreck and could yield clues to the plane's emergency before it went down. Investigators also will interview the pilot of the tanker's "spotter" plane, the smaller aircraft assigned to guide the tanker as it dropped retardant, U.S. Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell said. The P2V was once a Cold War-era submarine attack plane but for years has been a mainstay of the nation's aerial firefighting arsenal. At a news conference Tuesday in Albuquerque, N.M., Tidwell acknowledged the need to modernize the country's firefighting fleet and said the Forest Service was asking contractors to upgrade to a more modern plane. He added officials will "have to wait and see" what comes out of the investigation. But for now, "we wouldn't be flying these aircraft if we didn't think they were safe," Tidwell said. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, countered that the agency needs to act - and fast. "These incidents indicate the need to swiftly replace the aging air fleet and begin contracting new planes for the Forest Service fleet," Tester wrote Tidwell in a letter released Tuesday. "Unfortunately, the Forest Service has yet to provide a long-term pathway for aircraft replacement." Two pilots were killed in the Utah crash - Todd Neal Tompkins and Ronnie Edwin Chambless, both of Boise, Idaho - but no one was hurt when the other P2V was forced to make a crash landing at Nevada's Minden-Tahoe Airport. Video of the crash landing shows the plane dropping to its belly and sliding across a runway. NTSB investigator Kurt Anderson said bay doors for the aircraft's left-side landing gear failed to open. "The gear tried to extend, but the doors wouldn't let it," Anderson told The Associated Press. Tidwell said Tuesday the company that owned the plane that crashed in Utah has a "stellar track record." Montana-based Neptune Aviation says its fleet flew 2,600 hours last year without an accident. The tanker that crashed was built in 1962, according to federal aviation records, but had been modified to fight fires and was among only a handful of air tankers available nationwide. The other P2V was owned by Minden Air Corp. in Minden, Nev. Neptune insisted the P2V is a safe plane, despite its age. The company has gathered the plane's maintenance records for an NTSB investigation; however, it refused to make those records public Tuesday. Tuesday morning, a NTSB investigator arrived at the scene of the Utah crash and began scouring the 600-yard debris field for clues about why the plane went down. The tanker crashed while battling a lightning-caused wildfire that jumped the Nevada border about 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower says it appeared a wing tip hit the ground in a rocky canyon. The plane practically disintegrated, killing both pilots aboard. Firefighters said they didn't expect full containment of the blaze burning over roughly 5,500 acres of rolling hills of pine, juniper and cheat grass until Sunday. Also Tuesday, Tidwell surveyed the burn scar being left by a massive blaze in southwestern New Mexico that has developed into the largest wildfire in the country. He took an aerial tour of the fire, which has scorched more than 404 square miles since being sparked by lightning about three weeks ago. Firefighters were building fire lines and conducting more burnout operations to keep the giant Whitewater-Baldy fire from making any aggressive runs along its boundaries. "We still have active fire within the perimeter, but they're a little more comfortable that they've got a handle on it," fire information officer Gerry Perry said. "That doesn't mean the fire is over, but things are looking better." The blaze became the largest in recorded New Mexico history after making daily runs across tens of thousands of acres in strong winds. In Colorado, authorities said Tuesday that lightning started a 227-acre wildfire that has damaged two outbuildings northwest of Fort Collins. Sheriff's officials say residents of 13 homes that were evacuated after the fire started Monday were being allowed to return Tuesday evening but should be ready to leave again if needed. The blaze was 45 percent contained. Back to Top Nigeria suspends air carrier license after crash ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) A spokesman for Nigeria's aviation ministry says the country has "indefinitely suspended" the license of the air carrier involved in Sunday's crash in Lagos that killed all 153 people aboard and an unknown number on the ground. Joe Obi told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the government suspended Dana Air's license as a matter of safety as it investigates the crash. Officials with Dana Air could not immediately be reached for comment. The MD-83 plane went down in Lagos' Iju-Ishaga neighborhood, about nine kilometers (five miles) from Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The crew radioed the tower that they had engine trouble shortly before the crash, but the exact cause remained unclear. The weather was clear at the time. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Anxious families and diplomats crowded into a hospital in Lagos on Tuesday and tried to identify corpses from a plane crash that killed the 153 people aboard the airliner and an unknown number of others on the ground. The stench of the dead carried outside the air-conditioned morgue. Guards parking cars outside wore surgical masks to block out the smell. Professor David Oke, the chief medical director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, told the dozens of families that the morgue had received about 40 bodies. He said among those already identified were the bodies of a Chinese citizen and a Canadian. Outside the hospital, Ugonna Nwoka said his uncle had been aboard the Dana Air flight that went down in a congested neighborhood on Sunday, turning much of it to rubble. Nwoka said he tried to go to the crash site on Monday but was pushed away by security forces. "We stayed for hours trying to plead to see what happened," Nwoka said. Asked why he needed to see the crash site, Nwoka said if he didn't it would be "all like a dream, like a drama, like it's not real." On Tuesday, he went to the hospital to see if his uncle's body was there. He had worked for the aviation ministry and needed to take a last-minute trip to Lagos, Nwoka said. The flight had originated on Abuja, the capital. About 10 U.S. and Chinese diplomats also joined the families at the morgue. By midday Tuesday, searchers with police dogs recovered 150 bodies, including those of a mother cradling an infant, according to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. It's not yet known how many people died on the ground. Emergency workers were still looking through the debris for bodies, and one damaged building seemed on the verge of collapse. After the hospital's director spoke to families, Jennifer Enanana leaned against a car, quietly sobbing. She said her younger brother had been on board the flight. She said her other brother had died within the last year. "We are without eyes," she said, her sobs growing louder. "We don't have anybody that will protect us that can stand like a man and defend us. Dana stole him." The MD-83 plane went down in Lagos' Iju-Ishaga neighborhood, about nine kilometers (five miles) from Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The crew radioed the tower that they had engine trouble shortly before the crash, but the exact cause remained unclear. The weather was clear at the time. A torrential downpour and strong winds that flooded roads and downed power lines and trees prevented emergency crews from getting to the site early Tuesday morning, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. The rain had stopped by midday. The scene is marked by charred metal from the plane, rubble from destroyed buildings, thick mud and standing water. A three-story apartment building at the site struck by the nose of the MD-83 aircraft began shaking Monday as rescuers dug through debris, and they are afraid it might collapse. "It's going to be messy," Shuaib said. Late Monday, emergency workers recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, said Tunji Oketunbi, a spokesman for the Accident Investigation Bureau, which probes airplane crashes in Nigeria. "We will take them abroad for decoding and that will help our analysis," Oketunbi said Tuesday. "We will know what happened to the aircraft shortly before it crashed." An investigator from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board also is expected to join Nigerian authorities on Tuesday to help them determine a cause for the crash, Oketunbi said. President Goodluck Jonathan wept as he visited the crash site Monday and pledged to make air travel safer, but the crash called into question the government's ability to protect its citizens and enforce regulations in a nation with a history of aviation disasters. Some U.S. citizens were aboard the flight, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, but he could not provide a firm number. A woman from West Hartford, Connecticut, her husband and four young children died on board the flight. The Tuesday edition of the Hartford Courant newspaper identified the family as Maimuna Anyene, her Nigerian husband Onyeke, and their children, a 5 month old, 1-year-old twins and a 3 year old. The Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday that the crash also killed Josephine and Jennifer Onita, sisters from Missouri City, Texas. Others killed in the crash included at least four Chinese citizens, two Lebanese nationals and one French citizen, officials said. Back to Top Nairobi airport reopens after airplane slide (Runway Excursion) NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya's main airport in Nairobi reopened after several hours of closure Wednesday, after an aircraft veered off the runway, causing no casualties but forcing flights to divert, officials said. Everything is back to normal, the plane has been removed from the runway," said airport police official Joseph Ngisa. Jomo Kenyatta airport is the biggest in the region and is the key hub for international flights, although the Kenyan capital has a second airport that handles several regional and domestic flights. "At 03:36 hours today, an EgyptAir 849 plane carrying 123 passengers from Cairo upon landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport veered off the runway," the airports authority said. "Normal operations... resumed from 12.00 noon today after the obstacle was cleared from the runway," it added. Planes were initially diverted to neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania as well as to Kenya's port city of Mombasa before the beleaguered aircraft was towed out of the mud at the end of the runway. Back to Top Back to Top Huge New Hydrogen-Powered Spy Drone Takes Test Flight This image shows the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system, a demonstrator that will stay aloft at 65,000 feet for up to four days. (ABC News) A new unmanned surveillance drone that can stay aloft for four days at a time and has a wingspan bigger than a 757 successfully completed its first test flight over California's Mojave Desert, though it sustained minor damage on landing. Boeing's Phantom Eye drone, which is powered by liquid hydrogen, flew for less than half an hour at 4,000 feet before touching down on a dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base near Bakersfield. The landing gear dug into the ground on landing, causing minor damage. Most surveillance drones currently in use in the ongoing U.S. drone war against al Qaeda and the Taliban can stay in the air for a maximum of 40 hours without refueling. The Phantom Eye's unique liquid hydrogen propulsion system is meant to keep the spy plane aloft for up to four days at altitudes of 65,000 feet. "This flight puts Boeing on a path to accomplish another aerospace first," said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works. Davis said the Phantom Eye would provide greater amounts of "persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance" over broader swathes of land. The Phantom Eye has two 150-horsepower engines, can carry 450 pounds of surveillance gear, and has a wingspan of 150 feet, 25 feet more than the Boeing 757. The Phantom Eye was unveiled in 2010. "The team is now analyzing data from the mission and preparing for our next flight," said Phantom Eye program manager Drew Mallow in a statement. "When we fly the demonstrator again, we will enter higher and more demanding envelopes of high-altitude flight." Back to Top Facebook Investor Usmanov Said to Acquire Wide-Body Airbus Jet (Bloomberg) Billionaire Alisher Usmanov acquired the biggest private jet in Russia, a wide-body Airbus A340, as he was selling $1.4 billion of stock in Facebook Inc. (FB)'s initial public offering, two people familiar with the matter said. Usmanov named the long-range, four-engine craft after his father, Bourkhan, according to one of the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private. The A340 has a range of as far as 9,000 miles and can seat as many as 375 people, according to the website of the manufacturer, Toulouse, France-based Airbus SAS. The plane's 2001 catalog price was $238 million, though the final cost could swell to $350 million or even $500 million depending on how it's decorated and outfitted, said Oleg Panteleyev, an editor at Aviaport.ru, a website that tracks the aviation industry. "It's definitely the largest business jet in Russia and maybe even the largest in Europe," Panteleyev said by phone from Moscow today. Billionaire Roman Abramovich has a Boeing 767 and President Vladimir Putin uses a Russian-made Ilyushin Il-96, both of which are smaller than the A340, he said. Usmanov also commissioned the construction of a $100 million yacht that he plans to name Dilbar, after his mother, the Izvestia newspaper reported last week, without saying where it got the information. Billionaire Index Usmanov is ranked 34th in the daily Bloomberg Billionaire Index of the world's richest people, with a fortune of $15.8 billion, the same as Lakshmi Mittal, the largest shareholder in steelmaker ArcelorMittal. (MT) He is the largest shareholder of Metalloinvest, Russia's largest iron-ore producer, and owns stakes in mobile operator OAO MegaFon, the Mail.ru Group internet company and London soccer club Arsenal. Usmanov is also a major investor in the DST group of funds, which sold about $1.7 billion of Facebook shares in the social- networking site last month, $1.4 billion of which went to Usmanov, according to Bloomberg calculations. Facebook fell 3.8 percent to $25.87 at the close in New York yesterday. The shares have lost 32 percent since they began trading at $38 on May 18, cutting the company's market value to about $62 billion. Back to Top International Air & Transportation Safety Bar Association (IATSBA) Announces December Conference IATSBA President Gary Halbert has announced the association's 2012 National Aviation and Transportation Law Conference to be held December 5-7 in Washington, D.C. IATSBA recently changed its organizational name. IATSBA was formerly called the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Bar Association. The Conference activities planned for the afternoon of December 5 are tailored for attorneys new to the aviation and transportation law fields. The conference welcome reception will be held the evening of December 5. The regular conference continuing legal education sessions will kick off the morning of December 6. The conference banquet and Joseph T. Nall Safety Award presentation will be the evening of December 6 at the "Top of the Hay" in the historic Hay Adams hotel. The conference will continue through December 7. This annual conference was last held in Washington in 2010. The bar association met during 2011 in Pensacola, Florida. The formal conference announcement and opportunity to register will be issued to members in the coming weeks, and available on the IATSBA website approximately two weeks after that for anyone to register. As in years past, the cost of attendance will be discounted for current members. People wishing to join IATSBA or renew their membership may do so on the IATSBA website. The website is at http://www.iatsba.org/ www.iatsba.org Back to Top Florida Tech Adds Master's Degree in Aviation Safety through Online Learning 05/31/2012 MELBOURNE, FLA.-A major government and private sector need for professionals trained in aviation safety has prompted a new degree at Florida Institute of Technology: the Master of Science in Aviation Safety, which is taught 100 percent through online learning. The degree, offered by the Florida Tech College of Aeronautics, is a companion degree to its Master of Science in Human Factors in Aeronautics which is also available on line. Participants will become expert in safety management systems (SMS); aviation safety analysis, complex aviation systems, accident prevention, human factors and decision- making. Program benefits include: Online convenience Experienced, professional faculty Research opportunities Theory combined with application A 30-credit, non-thesis program The goal of the program is to prepare individuals for advanced leadership positions in the public, private, and military aviation sectors through specific skill and competency training in aviation safety. Class sizes are limited to 15 students. Admission requirements and curriculum information available at: http://www.fit.edu/programs/grad/ms_aviationaviation_safety_online/ For more information, contact Steve Cusick, associate professor, at (321) 674-7470 or at scusick@fit.edu Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC