Flight Safety Information June 20, 2012 - No. 126 In This Issue Two flee helicopter crash and fire Bangkok Airport Draws New Complaints W. Sac family injured in Woodland airplane crash Qatar Airways world first to acquire stateof-the-art comprehensive aircraft recovery equipment Iridium plans global air traffic surveillance ARGUS PROS Aviation Auditing FAA, NASA Sign Commercial Space Travel Agreement Rare WWII Junkers Ju 88 Pulled Up From Baltic Sea Floor Secret Space Plane Lands at Vandenberg Wearable Gadgets Upset F.A.A. Curbs on Devices 2012 First Annual FAA Flight Standards Asia-Pacific Meeting Two flee helicopter crash and fire Two men have escaped unhurt from a helicopter which crashed and caught fire, west of Ceduna in South Australia. The pilot, 52, from West Lakes Shore in Adelaide, had attempted an emergency landing at Charra, 20 kilometres south of the Eyre Highway in the far west of SA, just before sunset on Tuesday. Police said the man and his son, 23, from Victoria tried to put out the fire but then got clear before the entire craft erupted in flames. The helicopter had refuelled and left Ceduna airport late in the afternoon. About 45 minutes later, the pilot smelt smoke and made an emergency landing in a paddock about 80 kilometres west of Ceduna. The six-seater Eurocopter had been valued at more than $1 million. The men had been heading to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Justin Woolford from the Country Fire Service said it took some time for crews to reach the crash area. "They're extremely lucky both managed to walk away without any injuries. [It is] unknown what exactly caused the crash," he said. "It took emergency crews quite some time to get out to the location because of the distance to travel. "Once the crews were actually out there, the aircraft was found to be completely destroyed by fire." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-20/helicopter-crash-landing-fire/4080884 Back to Top Bangkok Airport Draws New Complaints Runway repairs at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport are causing flight delays, and a global airline association says carriers and passengers could be significantly affected in the weeks ahead. Airlines are warning passengers of delays at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The gleaming facility, which was four decades in the making and finally opened in 2006, has long been a lightning rod for criticism. Disgruntled travelers say poor planning and alleged corruption during its construction resulted in rutted tarmacs and a cramped arrivals hall, among other issues. Thai authorities said the problems were just the usual glitches that come with opening a major new airport. Gripes continue, though, with some passengers complaining about the facility's lengthy immigration lines (which have improved lately), its chronic lack of jetways, and - perhaps worst of all - its scarcity of bathrooms. As a result, Suvarnabhumi ranks well below other Asian airports on some traveler surveys, despite Thailand's desire to be one of the region's main transport hubs. In the 2012 Skytrax World Airport Awards survey, for instance, Suvarnabhumi landed at No. 25, behind more than 10 other Asia-Pacific airports, including Korea's Incheon International Airport, Singapore's Changi Airport, and Hong Kong International Airport, which ranked first, second and third, respectively. Suvarnabhumi is currently ranked 10th among airports of its size, measured by annual passengers. Now, nearly half of one of Suvarnabhumi's two runways has been closed for repairs until Aug. 9. The Airports of Thailand, which manages the country's six main airports, announced earlier this month that a one-mile section of the two-and-a-half-mile-long runway would be closed for maintenance necessitated by heavy usage. Airlines are warning passengers of delays. AirAsia said in a statement that some flights and schedules "may be affected" by the repairs, and advised fliers to monitor their schedules for possible flight changes. Bangkok Airways said the repairs "will surely cause air traffic congestion," and advised passengers transiting through Bangkok to ensure a minimum of 80 minutes to make their connections. Asked how long delays are now due to the runway repairs, an AOT representative told Southeast Asia Real Time that the average delay is approximately 20 minutes, but that inclement weather has also played a part. The International Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry, is not as upbeat. "With the airport capacity severely reduced, there is a huge potential for delays and disruptions to flights' operations, especially if there is bad weather," said Albert Tjoeng, a Singapore-based IATA spokesman. "So far delays experienced by airlines have been in the range of 30 to 40 minutes, but with the weekend peaks, we could see longer delays." Mr. Tjoeng said the runway repair work is indeed necessary. But he said airlines will be burdened with increased operational costs, such as the need to carry extra fuel for potential holding patterns or re-routing. He said airlines could lose customers or be forced to compensate fliers for disruptions. Suvarnabhumi lacks sufficient capacity, even though the facility is just six years old. It was built to handle 45 million passengers annually, and the AOT says some 48 million fliers passed through the facility in 2011. That number is expected to climb to 51 million this year. A $2 billion plan is under way to increase the airport's capacity to 60 million by 2017, with construction set to begin in mid-2015. On Tuesday, Thailand's cabinet approved a plan to revamp Bangkok's Don Mueang airport, the country's former international gateway, to alleviate congestion at Suvarnabhumi. Budget carriers and nonconnecting flights will be able to use the old airport on a voluntary basis beginning July 1. Despite Suvarnabhumi's continuing runway repairs, some passengers - at least for now - say most disruptions have been minor, especially when compared to the kinds of delays that are commonplace for travelers at overburdened American airports. Over a two-hour stretch on Sunday evening, a handful of flights were listed on arrival and departure boards as being delayed, with no particular airline or destination proving especially troublesome. Staff at several airline counters said affected flights were typically being held back for 20 to 30 minutes, with some representatives noting that arriving flights were more likely to be affected than departing ones. Business owner Marek Kazmierczak said his flight on Saturday from Sydney to Bangkok had arrived approximately 20 minutes late. Mr. Kazmierczak said he wasn't sure if this was due to the runway or some other factor. He said his flight departing on Sunday was listed as being on time. Thanakorn Paophongnguam, a Thai student, said his flight to Bangkok from the U.K. had been delayed one hour. But he said he thought this was due to rain, not the airport's closed runway. Mr. Thankakorn said that overall, he is fond of Suvarnabhumi. "It is compact, so everything is in one place," he said. He added that he had connected to Bangkok via New Delhi. At least "Suvarnabhumi is clean," he said. "That airport was dirtier." http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/06/20/bangkok-airport%C2%A0draws-new- complaints/ Back to Top W. Sac family injured in Woodland airplane crash A West Sacramento family was injured in a plane crash Sunday afternoon at the Watts- Woodland Airport. The crash happened around 12:45 p.m. at the Yolo County Airport-Watts Aviation on County Road 94B, about four miles west of Woodland, during a second attempt at a safe landing, according to Yolo County officials. Details could not be independently confirmed by The Democrat. However, News 10 of Sacramento reported the still-unidentified pilot tried to land the small Cessna 182 but had trouble. When the plane took off again, the plane crashed during the second attempt at the landing. The three people on board -- a mother, father and adult son -- suffered serious, but non- life threatening injuries, according to News 10. The three victims were transported to UC Davis Medical Center for treatment. When the plane crashed, it caught fire, which was put out by the victims and passers-by with an extinguisher, News 10 reported. The front part of the plane, including the front windows, were visibly burned when viewed Monday by Democrat staff. The engine housing was also badly damaged as was the landing gear. http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_20888464/w-sac-family-injured-woodland- airplane-crash Back to Top Qatar Airways world first to acquire stateof-the-art comprehensive aircraft recovery equipment Qatar Airways has enhanced its operations with the acquisition of comprehensive aircraft recovery equipment - the first airline in the world to own the complete state-of-the-art kit. There are just 11 complete kits globally, but parts within each kit are owned separately by individual airlines and airports worldwide. The full equipment is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. The Qatar Airways aircraft recovery kit is transportable and capable of recovering the world's largest passenger aircraft, Airbus A380, from incident sites anywhere in the world, in addition to any other aircraft types. At an investment of US$3.2 million, the equipment enables the airline's Doha hub to be capable of recovering equipment parts of any aircraft type following an incident which renders an aircraft non operational. Typical practice in the aviation industry calls for airline and airport operators to complete due diligence in removing an aircraft from a location where it has been damaged as a result of an accident. Qatar Airways recently tested each aspect of its newly-purchased equipment in an exercise that was a joint effort carried out by the airline, Qatar Aviation Services, Doha International Airport and observed by Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority and Qatari Air Force. Qatar Airways employs a dedicated team fully trained on the equipment, with an annual test exercise mandatory. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: "When we first looked to purchase a full end-to-end aircraft recovery kit, we evaluated what benefits the equipment would bring not only to Qatar Airways and Doha International Airport, but rather as an investment for the industry as a whole. "Obtaining the equipment, fully training an entire team on utilisation and conducting exercises, is a priority for the airline and also a commitment to our passengers globally." The capability to conduct aircraft recovery implementation is a requirement by airports worldwide. The equipment acquisition boosts the capabilities of Qatar Airways' quick application in an emergency response scenario. Developed by ResQtec, an industry authority on the highly specialised equipment, any airline requiring recovery service anywhere worldwide can benefit from the state-of-the- art recovery service owned by Qatar Airways, which is fully deployable anywhere in the world. "At a time when the aviation industry is witnessing a peak in travel, it is the duty and responsibility for the airline to balance response mechanisms that are in line with the renowned Five Star service which Qatar Airways delivers and is so proud of." The Doha-based comprehensive kit is the exclusive one in the world and is capable of recovering salvageable, disabled aircraft in the region or anywhere in the world. The recovery equipment acquisition also enables Qatar Airways to join the International Airlines Technical Pool (IATP), an organisation backed by industry body, International Air Transport Association. (IATA) The International Airlines Technical Pool (IATP) is a convention of airlines made up of over 100 member airlines. In the spirit of co-operation, members of the aviation industry gather twice yearly to discuss sharing of resources, reducing costs, while improving operating efficiency. Under its auspices, members share aircraft recovery kits, aircraft parts and tooling, ground handling equipment and manpower/facilities. In preparation for the opening of the New Doha International Airport (NDIA), which has been specifically designed to accommodate the A380, the availability of the kit comes as a boost to the highly technically advanced operations of the new airport. NDIA, scheduled to open at the end of the year, is being built at a cost of over US $15.5 billion with an initial capacity of 28 million passengers a year, rising to over 50 million once fully developed beyond 2015. The new airport will incorporate a total of 41 wide body aircraft contact gates, together with over 40,000 square metres of space devoted to retail facilities, passenger lounges, and multi-story short-term and long-term parking. Other features will include a new Emiri (royal) Terminal complex for VIP flights with additional hardstands, cargo terminal buildings, aircraft hangars and associated airline and airport ancillary features. The complex will also include two hotels within the terminal for the convenience of transfer passengers. http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/49987-Qatar-Airways-world-first-to- acquire-stateof-the-art-comprehensive-aircraft-recovery-equipment Back to Top Iridium plans global air traffic surveillance McLean-based satellite communications company Iridium Communications Inc. plans a satellite-based air traffic monitoring service it says will improve air safety and save airlines billions of dollars in fuel costs. Iridium is partnering with Canadian air navigation services provider NAV Canada to form Aireon LLC. NAV Canada will also be Aireon's first customer. Aireon will be able to monitor air traffic from satellites globally, even over oceans and remote regions where current ground-based radar air traffic monitoring is not available. It will use a network of new satellites Iridium is scheduled to begin deploying in 2015, with the Aireon service fully available by 2017, it says. For airlines, it will mean saving substantial fuel and time on oceanic routes from more flexible routing and more efficient use of airspace, Iridium says. It estimates airlines will save $6 billion to $8 billion in fuel costs over the first 12 years the system is in use. Aireon will be headquartered in McLean. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2012/06/19/iridium-plans-global-air- traffic.html Back to Top Back to Top FAA, NASA Sign Commercial Space Travel Agreement The FAA and NASA have worked out an agreement covering who will be in charge of licensing and public safety for private-sector spacecraft lifting off and landing inside the borders of the United States. The agreement puts the FAA in charge of any crew-carrying spacecraft that launches and lands in the U.S., but also requires the space agency's additional signoff for crew safety and on any missions it's paying for. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the two agencies this month establishes an official policy for operational missions to the International Space Station and into low-earth orbit. Commercial providers will be required to obtain a license from the FAA for such missions, while crew safety and mission assurance will be NASA's responsibility. The agreement is in line with a Congressional mandate that calls for the FAA to regulate spacecraft to protect public safety, while letting companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic to fly private passengers at their own risk. As it stands now, the FAA's role is limited to the launch and re-entry itself. After 2015, when the first space tourist companies could be ready to start transporting paying passengers into orbit, the government's role might change. NASA has been paying four companies - Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX - more than $400 million to develop spaceships to ferry U.S. astronauts to the ISS. NASA is expected to announce soon which companies will be involved in the next phase of the commercial crew program. "This important agreement between the FAA and NASA will advance our shared goals in commercial space travel," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "Working together, we will assure clear, consistent standards for the industry." http://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-nasa-sign-commercial-space-travel-agreement Back to Top Rare WWII Junkers Ju 88 Pulled Up From Baltic Sea Floor After lying on the bottom of the Baltic Sea for more than half a century, the wreckage of a rare Junkers Ju 88 is being brought to the surface by a group of German military divers. The wreckage, located just off the coast of the German island of Rugen, was first found in the 1990s by a fisherman approximately 60 feet below the surface. After recovering small parts of the aircraft earlier in the week, experts initially thought the aircraft was a Stuka, a single engine dive-bomber known for the particularly striking noise it emits during power dives. But on Friday, the German Military Historical Museum announced that they now realize the wreckage is that of the Ju 88. What they initially thought was the whole wing with an engine in the middle, turned out to be just one side of the larger Junkers Ju 88. The Junkers Ju 88 is a versatile, multi-role aircraft that was manufactured in greater numbers than any other German twin-engine aircraft during World War II. While more than 16,000 were produced, only a few remain in existence worldwide. While historians have identified the aircraft model, questions surrounding who was flying it and why it crashed remain unanswered. The recovery group hopes that the parts of aircraft brought to the surface this week, as well as human remains found at the site, will help answer those questions. For now, the dive team is finished hoisting pieces of the aircraft to the surface. The majority of the aircraft still lies submerged at the bottom of the Baltic though, and participants say they hope to come back to the site in the future to recover what's left of it. http://www.flyingmag.com/news/rare-wwii-junkers-ju-88-pulled-baltic-sea-floor Back to Top Secret Space Plane Lands at Vandenberg After spending 15 months in orbit conducting classified missions, the Air Force's unmanned X-37B space plane made its way back to Earth over the weekend, touching down at Vandenberg Air Force Base early Saturday morning. The landing marks the second arrival of the secret space plane - a craft first initiated by NASA in 1999 - at the California base in the past few years. The first was made in 2010, when the first X-37B orbiter touched down after covering 91 million miles in orbit over the course of seven months. While the landing brings the spacecraft's second and longest orbital mission to a close, speculation regarding what exactly the space plane has been up to over the past 15 months is likely to continue well into the months to come. Air Force officials have stressed the aircraft's mission is to make headway in the realm of reusable spacecraft technology, but experts believe the spacecraft's low orbit and large pick-up sized payload bay may hint at other, reconnaissance-related efforts. The X-37B's latest mission - which was recently called a "spectacular success" by a top Air Force commander - was originally slated to last only 9 months, before being extended to nearly twice that. "With the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, the X-37B OTV program brings a singular capability to space technology development," said X-37B program manager Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre in a recent press release. "The return capability allows the Air Force to test new technologies without the same risk commitment faced by other programs." As one X-37B winds down from orbit, Air Force engineers are readying the other X-37B vehicle for its second launch, scheduled to occur in the fall. Earlier this year, Boeing engineers hinted that a manned version of the X-37B space plane, resembling the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle originally designed by Scaled Composites, might be in the works. http://www.flyingmag.com/news/video-secret-space-plane-lands-vandenberg Back to Top Wearable Gadgets Upset F.A.A. Curbs on Devices Pity the poor flight attendant. They didn't sign up for this: millions of petulant airline passengers surreptitiously reading digital books and magazines on their iPads or Kindles during takeoff and landing. The flight attendants' job was never easy. Glamorous once, at times rewarding. But now they have to stroll the aisles of a plane while it lingers at the gate or on the runway to ensure that people turn off their smartphones, computers or tablets - yes, "Off, not in Airplane Mode." The flight attendants are left to enforce the arcane rules of the Federal Aviation Administration, which mandate that people can't use electronic devices - with the strange exception of electric razors and audio recorders - from the moment a plane leaves the gate until it reaches 10,000 feet. This task is only going to become more complex for flight attendants as technology moves from your backpack or purse, to, well, you. Wearable computers on planes will be an enforcement nightmare. Take the trusty wristwatch. Sony just released a fancy new variation of the timepiece called the Smartwatch, which enables people to use Twitter, read e-mails and check the weather, all from their wrist. Are people going to be required to turn off their watches before takeoff and landing? Try enforcing that. There's the Pebble. It's the new computerized watch that displays data pulled in from an iPhone or Android phone. An Apple iPod Nano, covered by the rules, is already being used as a watch. A number of sensors like the Nike Fuelband and Jawbone Up that track your daily activity are worn on the wrist and send out signals. Wearable computing doesn't stop at your wrist, either. Google is racing to make its Project Glass glasses available to the public by next year. These are essentially a smartphone squished into a pair of glasses. They have a screen, camera and data connection in a band over the right lens. Will the F.A.A. expect the flight crew to check wrists and examine glasses? Stacy K. Martin, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represents more than 10,000 flight attendants, knows these gadgets are coming, but is not sure what he and others will be able to do about them. "We're not policemen. We're not going to be able to get anything done if we have to ask people if they're wearing sunglasses or computer glasses and if their watch is a computer," Mr. Martin said. "My hope is that we will get some relief from the F.A.A., but I don't expect them to step up and be prepared for these issues in a timely fashion. Technology is clearly 10 years ahead of the F.A.A." As I've written before, there is no proof that an iPad or Kindle in "Airplane Mode" can affect a plane's flight systems. If they could, pilots would not be able to use them in the cockpit, a rule that the F.A.A. approved this year. When I spoke to the F.A.A. late last year to ask why we couldn't use these devices during takeoff and landing, Les Dorr, a spokesman for the agency, told me "it's only really 10 minutes of time" that these devices can't be used. By my calculations over the last eight months, it's actually 51 minutes - my average time over 30 flights. If the F.A.A. continues to require this unnecessary ban, it won't be long before we can all read a book on our wrist or glasses, looking up on occasion to pity the poor flight attendant who has to try to stop us. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/disruptions-wearable-gadgets-upset-f-a-a-curbs-on-devices/ Back to Top 2012 First Annual FAA Flight Standards Asia-Pacific Meeting August 14-16, 2012 Long Beach, CA USA The FAA Flight Standards Service is initiating a meeting with the States from the Asia Pacific Region that will provide a unique opportunity to share information on our best practices in the safety oversight of operations and continuing airworthiness with civil aviation authorities in the Asia-Pacific Region. Continuing a tradition of other FAA international outreach activities, this meeting will provide a forum for aviation safety leaders to delve more deeply into the FAA Flight Standards Service activities as well as receive information on safety oversight topics key to the Region. The first two days of the meeting will be open to civil aviation authorities only. The authority only session will be followed by a half day industry session which will provide additional focus on topics related to air carrier operations into the United States. Mr. John Allen, the Director of the Flight Standards Service, will chair this event. Notional topics to be addressed include: International Aviation Safety Assessment Program Technical Review and Technical Assistance FAA requirements for Foreign Air Carrier Service into the United States International Aviation Safety Data Exchange (IASDEx) Ramp Inspection Data Sharing FAA Certification of Maintenance Repair Organizations Pilot Training and Fatigue Risk Management Update to Rulemaking Activities NextGen Safety Management System ICAO Support Initiatives Model Civil Aviation Regulations Government Safety Inspector Training Safety Inspector Training Profiles Work-Tracking System We are also soliciting additional topics of interest that you would like to have addressed at the meeting. Suggested topics can be sent to the contact listed below. Who Should Attend Government aviation standards, certification, operations, and maintenance personnel Industry Participation Half day session on August 16th open to industry representatives Contact For more information, contact: Daniel Chong (202) 385-8076 daniel.chong@faa.gov Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC