Flight Safety Information July 6, 2012 - No. 137 In This Issue Investigators outline key moments during Air France Flight 447's fatal 2009 journey Superjet crash to overshadow Russia's Farnborough China raises airport security after failed hijacking Windshield crack forces flight to return to Ariz FAA plans greater role in LSA certification ARGUS PROS Aviation Auditing Virgin Galactic Spaceship To Make Farnborough Debut Graduate Research Survey Investigators outline key moments during Air France Flight 447's fatal 2009 journey (AP) Three years after France's worst air crash, government investigators on Thursday released a final report on the accident that paints a vivid picture of pilots who, confused by faulty air-speed data during a thunderstorm, struggled to save the jet but wound up causing it to stall and plunge into the Atlantic Ocean. All 228 people aboard were killed. Key moments of the flight as outlined in the final report by the French air accident investigation agency: May 31, 2009 10 p.m. GMT- 216 passengers and 12 crew members - including three pilots - have boarded the Air France flight 447 in Rio de Janeiro. The computers of the Airbus A330 have been programmed for the flight to Paris. 10:29 p.m.- Flight 447 takes off. A co-pilot, rather than the captain, is flying. June 1, 2009 Midnight- The plane is cruising at 35,000 feet. The autopilot and autothrust are on. 1:35 a.m.- The plane makes its last radio contact with Brazilian air traffic control. Attempts to make contact with air traffic control in Dakar, Senegal, fail. 1:45 a.m. - The plane enters a slightly turbulent zone. A co-pilot notes that they are "entering the cloud layer" and that it would have been better if they had been able to climb higher. 2 a.m. - The captain attends a briefing between the two co-pilots. The turbulence has stopped, but the pilots anticipate more ahead. The captain then leaves the cockpit. 2:10 a.m. and 5 seconds - The autopilot and then the autothrust suddenly disconnect. The co-pilot flying the plane says, "I have the controls." As the plane begins to roll right, he points the noise up while trying at the same time to counter the roll. A stall warning is triggered briefly twice. Data retrieved by crash investigators indicates that speed information visible to pilots on the left cockpit display erroneously shows the speed has dropped sharply from 275 knots to 60 knots - too slow a speed to fly. That's also what's displayed on a standby instrument system. The information on the right cockpit display is unknown. The crew doesn't disconnect the flight director - the computer system that manages flight information - in order to fly manually. Flying manually and continuing to fly levelly in the same direction at the same speed would have been the correct response, safety experts would say later. 2:10 a.m. and 16 seconds - The co-pilot not flying says, "We've lost the speeds." The pilot flying struggles to keep the plane from rolling while sharply increasing its pitch upwards. The plane's computers spit out warning messages, which the pilot not flying reads out in a disorganized manner. He says the plane is climbing and several times asks the pilot flying to descend. If a plane is about to stall, pilots are supposed to point the aircraft downward to pick up speed in order to regain control. The pilot flying makes several nose-down inputs that decrease the up angle of the plane and its climbing speed, but the plane - then at about 37,000 feet - continues to climb. 2:10 a.m. and 36 second - The speed information on the left cockpit flight display becomes valid again, showing a speed of 223 knots, although the speed on the standby system is still erroneous. The plane has lost about 50 knots since the autopilot disconnected and the plane began to climb. The speed on the left side was incorrect for 29 seconds. The plane appears to briefly level off and stop rolling, but then begins to climb again. 2:10 a.m. and 50 seconds - The pilot not flying calls the captain several times. As he calls, the stall warning is triggered again and continues to sound. The pilot flying makes more nose-up inputs. Airspeed drops to 185 knots and is displayed correctly on both the left, right and standby cockpit displays. 2:11 a.m. and 37 seconds - The pilot who had not been flying the plane takes the controls with little warning, but the pilot who had been flying almost immediately takes back control. A few seconds later the captain re-enters the cockpit. All recorded speeds become invalid and the stall warning stops after having sounded continuously for 54 seconds. The pilot flying makes another nose-up input, which lasts about 30 seconds. 2:12 a.m. and 2 seconds - The pilot flying says, "I have no more displays," while the pilot not flying says, "We have no valid indications." About 15 seconds later, the pilot flying then tries to point the nose down. The angle at which the plane is pointed begins to lower, the speed information becomes valid on the displays again and the stall warnings begin to sound again. 2:13 a.m. and 32 seconds - The pilot flying notes that the plane is losing altitude. Fifteen seconds later, both he and the other co-pilot simultaneously try to send flight instructions to the plane's computers. The pilot flying then tells the other co-pilot, "Go ahead, you have the controls." 2:14 a.m. and 17 seconds - A crash warning system begins to continuously sound, first alerting "sink rate, sink rate" and then "pull up, pull up." 2:14 a.m. and 28 seconds - The crash warnings stop. The plane slams into the ocean belly first. Back to Top Superjet crash to overshadow Russia's Farnborough MOSCOW, July 5 (Reuters) - Russia will remind the world of its air power history at the Farnborough Air Show next week as it battles to shift attention from the fatal crash of a new Superjet 100 plane, a disaster that could stall efforts to revive its aviation industry. Crowds at the flagship industry event are expected to be wowed by a display from a pair of Russian Su-27 'Flanker' fighter jets - planes that came to symbolise the might of the Soviet Union and remain a favourite of enthusiasts for their spectacular stunts. Yakovlev Yak-130 fighters will also be flying and on static display, despite controversial reports that nearly 40 are bound for civil war-torn Syria, while a pavilion will be dedicated to Russia's in-development MS-21 passenger aircraft. Yet interest is bound to centre on the fate of the Superjet 100 - the first civil plane to be built by Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union and the subject of an ongoing investigation following a crash in Indonesia that killed 45 people. Indonesian authorities are looking into the causes of the crash and particularly if it was down to pilot error or technical failures. If the latter, it could wipe out demand for the mid-size Superjet and perhaps the MS-21 as well, due to come on to the market in 2017. VERY DIPLOMATIC Russia's state aviation holding company United Aviation Corporation (UAC) is desperate for the incident to be blamed on pilot error, taking the heat off Russian plane manufacturing. That verdict would echo a report published on Thursday into the Air France Rio-Paris crash that killed 228 people in 2009. Investigators blamed the incident on a combination of pilot error and faulty speed sensors. "They (Superjet) will be very diplomatic about the accident and say they cannot say anything while the investigation is underway," said David Learmount, safety and operations editor at Flight Global, commenting on how parent group Superjet International would conduct business at Farnborough. "They (the investigators) have not at this point found anything wrong with it - it was a new aeroplane and modern aeroplanes have never been safer ... When aeroplanes crash it is people that do it," he added. Superjet International - a joint venture between Russia's Sukhoi and a division of Italy's Finmeccanica - is considering displaying a grounded Superjet 100 at Farnborough and will continue the task of drumming up orders for the plane - which has yet to be picked up by mainstream Western carriers. "You move forward aggressively, that's all you can do. The investigation will show that it is not the product - it was properly certified. They will say (to potential buyers) 'carry on and buy the plane'," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at U.S.-based Teal Group. The Superjet 100 is at the heart of Russian plans to revive its aviation industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union starved it of cash in the early 1990s. Its military aircraft and helicopters have also received a sharp upturn in investment alongside the civil arm. President Vladimir Putin witnessed a demonstration of the Superjet 100 at the Paris Air Show last year, while the MS-21 is hoped to beat the next generation of Boeing and Airbus planes in terms of timing and price. But this would count for little if customers and flyers did not trust the Russian plane to remain in the sky. Russian aircraft have been involved in a spate of commercial accidents in recent years, though most have involved aging Soviet models. EVERYTHING OK? Wreckage of the Superjet 100 was found strewn across a mountain slope in West Java, Indonesia, having lost contact with air traffic control during a demonstration flight on May 9. Russian fears about the outcome of the investigation have been evident in its early stages, with local media in south-east Asia reporting the Indonesian government turned down a request to send the Flight Data Recorder - also known as the black box - back to Russia. Russian tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda then reported the United States had brought down the aircraft in an act of industrial sabotage - the latest in a series of recent claims and counter-claims that have soured U.S.-Russia relations. Initial findings published by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) have included recommendations for improved preparation and training for demonstration flights, but stopped short of telling operators of the Superjet such as Russian airline Aeroflot to ground aircraft. "It is too early to pass judgement (on the causes of the crash). The investigation is ongoing. (But) the recommendations give a hint that everything was OK with the aeroplane," said a spokeswoman for Russia's UAC, which includes Superjet manufacturer Sukhoi. The doomed Superjet flight was one of a series of demonstrations across Asia intended to seek new buyers for the plane, which has won orders from Indonesia's Kartika airlines and Sky Aviation. Neither carrier has yet cancelled or delayed its order, according to local media reports. "(The Superjet) had not planned to fly in a mountainous zone - the flight was supposed to be performed in 20 miles near the airport. The pilot exceeded the zone .. 'Why' is for the investigation to look into," the UAC spokeswoman said. The captain of the plane was Alexander Yablontsev, who was the pilot for the first test Superjet flight in May 2008, according to Russian agency Inter-Tass. Back to Top China raises airport security after failed hijacking Beijing -- The western region of Xinjiang has increased security measures at all 16 of its airports after a failed hijacking attempt, the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, said Thursday. Late Wednesday, a news website run by the Xinjiang government announced that Zhang Chunxian, the regional party chief, had visited antiterrorism security forces earlier that day. Both reports in the state-run media were intended to show a boost in security after what Chinese officials said was an attempted hijacking of a Tianjin Airlines flight last Friday after it took off from the city of Hotan, in southern Xinjiang. The details of the event are murky. Chinese news organizations have quoted police officers and witnesses as saying that six men tried to hijack the airplane but were subdued by passengers and a group of policemen who happened to be on the plane. The news accounts said the men disassembled a crutch into metal rods and tried to use those to break into the cockpit. But Ethnic Uighur exiles who criticize the Chinese government for repressing Uighurs in Xinjiang have said the story of the hijacking could be fictitious. The new security measures announced Thursday include requiring disabled passengers to present hospital-issued certificates if they want to bring crutches on a plane. Passengers flying from the city of Kashgar, which is near Hotan, must check crutches and wheelchairs as baggage. http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/China-raises-airport-security-after-failed- 3687358.php Back to Top Windshield crack forces flight to return to Ariz. (AP)-- A United Airlines flight bound for Houston had to return to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport because of a cracked windshield. Federal Aviation Administration officials say the pilot declared an emergency and Flight 1138 landed without incident at Sky Harbor about 10:30 a.m. Thursday. It wasn't immediately clear how long the Boeing 737 had been in flight before the windshield cracked. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says officials haven't yet determined what caused the crack. He says none of the 119 people aboard reported any injuries. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/05/4612425/windshield-crack-forces- flight.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top FAA plans greater role in LSA certification The FAA is requesting comments on a plan to increase the agency's involvement in special light sport aircraft (SLSA) certification. In issuing airworthiness certificates for SLSAs, the FAA relies on a manufacturer's Statement of Compliance, which asserts that it meets the provisions of industry- developed consensus standards. Manufacturers should be prepared to demonstrate that compliance to the FAA-and, if they cannot, could no longer be considered an SLSA manufacturer, the FAA said in a notice of policy published June 28. The light sport rule, published in 2004, established procedures for LSA manufacturers to conform with industry consensus standards--a path that was intended to ensure safety while reducing the cost and regulatory burden of more extensive FAA oversight. But an FAA assessment of SLSA manufacturers in 2008 and 2009 found that "the majority of the manufacturing facilities evaluated could not fully substantiate that the aircraft for which they had issued Statements of Compliance did, in fact, meet the consensus standards" they were affirming they met, according to the notice. "The FAA has determined that its original policy of reliance on manufacturers' Statements of Compliance for the issuance of airworthiness certificates for SLSA under the provisions of § 21.190 should be reconsidered and that more FAA involvement in the airworthiness certification process for SLSA is warranted," it said. The notice laid out the requirements for a Statement of Compliance and directed LSA manufacturers to an online resource to help ensure they are in compliance. The notice applies to domestic manufacturers as well as aircraft manufactured outside the United States; the FAA said it found anomalies involving foreign-manufactured aircraft in its recent assessment, and noted that it does not consider a U.S. person who assembles an aircraft manufactured in another country to be the manufacturer of the aircraft. FAA has previously said it will begin audits of SLSA manufacturers in an effort to ensure all are adhering to established standards. AOPA is evaluating the new policy notice and plans to comment, with an eye toward balancing the need for ensuring consumers' interest while preserving the limited oversight role the FAA exercises in light sport aircraft. The FAA is accepting comments on the notice through July 30. http://www.aopa.org/advocacy/articles/2012/120705faa-plans-greater-role-in-lsa- certification.html Back to Top Back to Top Virgin Galactic Spaceship To Make Farnborough Debut Sub-Orbital Craft Could Be Carrying Its First Passengers Into Orbit Next Year FARNBOROUGH, England (CNN) -- As one of the world's leading aviation marketplaces, the Farnborough International Airshow is usually an opportunity for airline executives to reach for their checkbooks. This year some might also be reaching for the stars. For six days from July 9, the airshow, will transform a small town to the west of London into a major aviation hub, attracting 250,000 visitors with its unique mix of big business and aerial entertainment. With the UK and other major European markets wallowing in recession or serious debt problems, industry experts warn the show -- now in its 64th year -- could lack some of the sparkle of its predecessors. Billions of dollars are still expected to change hands as passenger jets, cargo planes, fighter jets and unmanned drones are snapped up. But with no traditional aviation launches or announcements scheduled, the main attraction will be a spacecraft. A version of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo -- a two-pilot, six-passenger craft capable of sub-orbital travel -- is scheduled to make its European debut at the show. Reports suggest Virgin boss Richard Branson will use the event to reveal design changes to the craft, which could be carrying its first passengers into orbit next year. So far 500 people -- including movie star Ashton Kutcher -- have signed up for a $200,000 flight. Branson may also announce that Virgin Galactic is reviving plans for a satellite-launching service, possibly spurred on by the commercial SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which successfully docked with the International Space Station earlier this year. With 1,400 aviation companies from 40 different countries attending the show, conventional air travel will remain the overall focus -- but don't expect too many surprises. "This year won't be a show for aircraft debuts or actual hardware that we'll be seeing for the first time," Murdo Morrison, editor of Flight International magazine, told CNN. "There's nothing there which will be new and terribly exciting. It will be more about the business." And business is likely to be brisk. Major manufacturers can expect to take significant bookings for their newest aircraft. Airbus will be touting its A380 superjumbo while rival Boeing will be seeking orders for its giant 747-8 and its super-efficient 787 Dreamliner. In 2010, Farnborough witnessed sales of 157 Boeing and 133 Airbus aircraft. Among these was an $9.1 billion order from Dubai-based Emirates for 30 Boeing 777s. In total, orders worth $47 billion were placed. However, says Morrison, overall sales this year may suffer because of the squeeze that the economic downturn is putting on European civil and defense aviation budgets, which usually account for a major slice of the trade at Farnborough. This, he says, is doing little to help the airshow maintain its relevance at a time when the difficulties of holding a major aviation event near London are making it less viable. U.S. defense giant Northrup Grumman is among several big names missing from this year's show. "Farnborough remains an important platform for the industry to meet, for the supply chain to get together and for the companies to meet their customers," he said. "It's also still an important platform for companies to make media announcements. "But on the negative side, its a big, costly show and some of the logistics are challenging, particularly for those people staying and traveling from London. "It also struggles a little bit against some of the more niche competitors aimed at smaller parts of the industry. And it struggles because Europe is not a growth market -- the growth markets are Asia, South America, the Middle East and even Africa." In addition to a glimpse of the Virgin Galactic exhibition, those who do brave the traffic congestion and unpredictable British summer weather will also be rewarded with the noisy aerial displays that are a trademark of the Farnborough show. These will include an appearance by a Qatar-outfitted Boeing 787 Dreamliner -- the first time the much-delayed flagship has appeared in airline livery. Unconfirmed reports suggest the 787 may make a fly-past, ending Boeing's long absence from aerial display at Farnborough. Says Morrison, the displays at Farnborough (which opens up to the public for its final two days) often prove to be a distraction from the business side of the show, but they are also a key attraction. Among those wowing spectators with their aerial agility will be the Royal Air Force Red Arrows squadron, the Breitling Jet team, the Blades, RedHawks and Breitling Wingwalkers. "It's really two shows. During the week it's a trade exhibition and at the weekend it is more about showing aviation to the public. This shows UK taxpayers what their money is being spent on and it engages young people in a possible aerospace career -- so there is a plus side," he added. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/technology/31251629/detail.html Back to Top Graduate Research Survey If you are a professional pilot, you are eligible and invited to take this short survey. Commercial (Professional) Pilot Career Outlook Survey This 25 question survey will be used to collect data for my Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate capstone course research project. Using data from this survey and other sources, I hope to analyze the need for a more strategic means of commercial pilot selection, development, staff level, and staff distribution. The goal of my project is to apply supply chain management strategies to commercial pilot human resource management. Data collected from this survey will be used for educational purposes only and individual respondents survey results will be kept confidential. Here is a link to the survey. http://kwiksurveys.com?u=Commercialpilotoutlook Any questions or comments regarding this survey may be directed to Nick Ohman at ohmann@my.erau.edu Thank you for taking the time to complete my survey! Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC