Flight Safety Information July 23, 2012 - No. 149 In This Issue U.S. fighter jet pilot rescued after crash off Japan coast Giant jet lands at wrong, tiny airport Pilots arrive en masse by aircraft type at Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture India's civil aviation industry risks safety downgrade, warns report ARGUS PROS Aviation Auditing 4 OK after plane equipped with parachute goes down Will China Build 82 Unneeded Airports By 2015? You Betcha EASA Mandates Fuel Tank Work For A318s, A319s, A320s Congressional panel, GAO report fault Homeland Security for 'weaknesses' in flight school rules U.S. fighter jet pilot rescued after crash off Japan coast TOKYO (Reuters) - The pilot of a U.S. fighter jet that crashed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of northeastern Japan on Sunday has been rescued, Japan's Coast Guard said, six hours after the aircraft went down. The pilot, whose name was not disclosed, was placed safely on a U.S. container ship in the region around 6 p.m. (0400 EDT), according to the coast guard, one of several agencies that sent vessels to assist in the rescue. The F-16 Fighter Falcon went down some 200 miles northeast of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, according to an earlier statement by the U.S. Air Force. The U.S. Air Force said it was still preparing a statement containing details about the pilot's rescue. It had said earlier that the pilot took off from Misawa Air Base in Aomori at about 11:30 headed for North America. It said the cause of the crash was under investigation. The crash coincides with heated debate over plans to deploy a U.S. military hybrid helicopter-plane with a troubled safety record in Japan from October, part of an effort to upgrade Japan's ageing fleet. The MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft is expected to arrive at the U.S. Marines' Iwakuni Air Station on Monday. Some residents are opposed to the aircraft following crashes in Morocco and Florida in recent months. Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying that the F-16 crash should not influence discussion about deploying the Osprey: "They are completely different matters," Okada said. Back to Top Giant jet lands at wrong, tiny airport (CNN/WFLA) - A massive C-17 landed at the wrong Tampa airport. MacDill Air Force Base is where it was supposed to land. Instead it came to a screeching halt on Davis Island's airport four miles away. "MacDill's air strip is 11,000 foot long. This one's only 3,400 so it's almost triple the length over there," said witness Ryan Gucwa. "The thrust reversers went on full blast. It was sound-deafening and there was rubber coming from the tires. And he stopped just about 10 feet short of the end of the runway," said witness Don Sipola. The Air Force is investigating to see if it was pilot error or not. http://www.wlfi.com/dpps/lifestyles/must_see_video/giant-jet-lands-at-wrong-tiny- airport-ob12-jgr_4246557 Back to Top Pilots arrive en masse by aircraft type at Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture OSHKOSH, Wis.(AP) - The fields around the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture have become a sea of Cessnas, Bonanzas, Piper Cubs and Mooneys. While more than a half million people are expected to visit the EAA convention at Oshkosh this week, about 10,000 pilots will arrive in airplanes, many flying in together grouped by the type of aircraft. Because the aircraft that arrive together are parked together, the pilots of a particular make of aircraft began organizing en masse fly-ins to the convention. One-hundred-16 Bonanzas arrived in a group and landed in 14 minutes over the weekend, then 50 Cessnas, 35 in the Mooney caravan and 75 Piper Cubs. Pilots tell the Oshkosh Northwestern (http://oshko.sh/LIHJlN ) it's the camaraderie of their group that keeps them coming back year after year. ___ Information from: Oshkosh Northwestern, http://www.thenorthwestern.com Back to Top India's civil aviation industry risks safety downgrade, warns report India faces the possibility of a downgrade of its aviation safety system by the US if it does not take urgent steps to strengthen institutions like the civil aviation regulator to meet the challenges of a fast-growing air traffic, an aviation consultancy group has said. "In the last two years alone domestic traffic has grown by 36 per cent and international by 19 per cent. However, there has been virtually no increase in resources at the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) so under-staffing is once again a major concern. FAA could once again threaten to downgrade India to Category-II," the Sydney-based aviation consultancy, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), said in a study. In 2009, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), concerned by what it considered to be gross under-staffing of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), had threatened to downgrade India to Category-II status. However, swift steps on recruitment and promises for more time-bound measures led India to pass the FAA audit and retain its Category-I status that is on a par with developed nations. The CAPA report pointed out that since 2009, there have been a number of changes in key positions in the Civil Aviation Ministry, including the DGCA, and "the momentum was lost". The study came soon after E K Bharat Bhushan was removed abruptly as the aviation regulator and replaced by a Joint Secretary in the Ministry, Prashant Sukul. CAPA also observed "it is disappointing to note that the focus on safety which emerged in the aftermath of the Mangalore accident in May 2010 has evaporated". Terming the safety report card "dismal", it said the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council, set up to suggest steps to boost aviation safety, did not meet for a year, while incident and operational data analysis was "poor" Despite announcements, an independent accident investigation bureau or a safety board was yet to be established, the CAPA report said. A concerted effort to restructure the DGCA "appears to be on hold pending establishment of a new independent regulator" in the form of a Civil Aviation Authority with more financial and functional autonomy, it said. "As a result of these issues, regulatory oversight is weak which in a growing market increases near-term safety risks and CAPA believes that such concerns could lead to India once again being faced with the possibility of a downgrade by the FAA," the report said. CAPA also recommended that long-term institutional strengthening of the DGCA organisation should be accorded the highest priority. Though over 130 officers were in the process of being recruited, the major task would be to train them up to the required levels of expertise, it said. "CAPA believes the weakness of the DGCA is one of the most critical issues for India's industry in FY13. Safety is paramount and without an independent and capable regulator India will not be able to achieve the standards which it must aim for," the report said. http://profit.ndtv.com/News/Article/india-s-civil-aviation-industry-risks-safety- downgrade-warns-report-308207 Back to Top Back to Top 4 OK after plane equipped with parachute goes down This single-engine Cirrus plane landed in some trees Sunday evening after the engine shut down and a parachute deployed. No one was hurt in the incident PICKENS, S.C.(AP) -- An official says four occupants of a small airplane escaped serious injury when the plane's engine stalled and the pilot deployed a parachute that brought the craft safely into a stand of trees in northwestern South Carolina. Pickens County Sheriff's Capt. Keith Galloway said it happened about 5 p.m. Sunday. He said the plane had taken off from another state and happened to be near Pickens County's airport when the engine quit. The pilot sought to land there, but the plane parachuted down about a mile and a half away. Galloway said the craft came to rest about 15 to 20 feet up in a stand of trees. Multiple emergency response agencies helped free the occupants. Galloway said they were checked by medical personnel, but there were no life-threatening injuries. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/22/4650056/4-ok-after-plane- equipped-with.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top Will China Build 82 Unneeded Airports By 2015? You Betcha. (FORBES) On Friday, Li Jiaxiang, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, announced his country will build 82 new airports and expand 101 existing ones during the current five-year plan, the 12th, which ends in 2015. By then, China will have 230 airports, up from the current 182, according to Huang Min, director of infrastructure at the National Development and Reform Commission. Most of the new facilities will be feeder airports in the central and western portions of the country. About 80% of the population will be within 100 kilometers of an airport by the middle of this decade. Additional building is projected to increase that percentage nine points by 2020. Does China need all these new airports? Beijing justifies the ambitious building program on several grounds. State media, for instance, points to the aviation industry's three decades of double-digit growth and suggests that is just the beginning. China's aviation market, according to central government officials, has the biggest potential for expansion in the world. State media notes that, in comparison, the U.S. has 19,000 airports. Li Jiaxiang on Friday said even Brazil and South Africa have more of them than China. And China's airports are a booming industry. Last year, they earned 4.6 billion yuan according to Mr. Li. Sounds compelling, doesn't it? The case gets stronger still when Li, citing a Ministry of Finance estimate, said an airport can produce output eight times its cost for a local economy. As this projection indicates, the announcement of the airport-building program was all about the economy. Li can tell us the State Council this month highlighted civil aviation as "a national strategic industry," but that appears to be merely a justification for officials to spend central government cash. In reality, the case for more airports is not as clear as Beijing makes it out to be. For one thing, many of China's airports are sinkholes. Last year, about 130 of them lost more than 2 billion yuan. Chinese officials last week made the argument that these facilities were money losers because China had too few of them, not too many. "It's like planting trees," said CAAC's Li. "One tree will die, but if you plant more, it will become a forest, and the trees will grow higher and higher." The imagery does not make sense, but his concrete example was helpful. He noted all 12 regional airports in Yunnan province were profitable due to the "network effect." Building a network is logical if the traffic will support it. Yet despite what Chinese leaders tell us, the aviation market with the most potential is India's. India is both less developed than China and is projected to have at least a half billion more people by the middle of this century. The Chinese population, on the other hand, will level off somewhere between 2025 and 2020, and the size of China's workforce could peak as early as next year. Worse, the Chinese economy is in a downswing that looks like it will last decades-think Japan's recent trajectory as the best case for China-and Chinese per capita income is still low-21,810 yuan for urban residents and 6,977 yuan for their rural counterparts according to official statistics for last year. The aviation market may not be there for Beijing, which has based its projections on an ever-expanding economy. "The plan must consider future development space and not waste money on useless infrastructure," Li Jiaxiang said on Friday. Unfortunately, China's recent record on adding airports is mixed. Chinese airlines, for instance, are concerned about what will surely be the biggest project in the country, the plan to build a second airport in Beijing. The new one is slated for a patch of land at least 50 kilometers away from the Capital International Airport. Airline consultants point out that the government should instead be planning to expand the existing one, instead of building a sprawling facility on the other side of town, near Hebei province. The reason? Airlines fear they will be forced to operate from both airports, thereby increasing costs and reducing flexibility. That's exactly what happens in Shanghai, where Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines has had to fly out of both Hongqiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport since 1999. The original plan was to close the decrepit Hongqiao when Pudong was opened, but local officials convinced Beijing to allow them to not only keep Hongqiao but also significantly expand it as well. Shanghai, for no good reason, has replicated New York's inefficient Kennedy-LaGuardia arrangement, essentially because building-crazy officials took over from technocratic planners. And now, the same dynamic is beginning to occur in Beijing. The latest airport-building binge is bound to waste central government and local money, but most officials probably see that as an advantage. It's all about stimulating the economy, no matter how inconvenient that will be for the airlines and their passengers. Back to Top EASA Mandates Fuel Tank Work For A318s, A319s, A320s EASA issued an airworthiness directive (2012-0133) mandating installation of ground fault interrupters (GFI) on Airbus A318, A319, and A320 center fuel tank pump control systems as part of the industry-wide effort to minimize fuel tank flammability risk. Says the regulator: EASA have determined that the electrical power supply circuits of certain fuel pumps, installed on A320 family aeroplanes, for which the canisters become uncovered during normal operation, could, under certain conditions, create an ignition source in the tank vapour space. The directive, effective August 1, gives operators 48 months (or until August 1, 2016) to make the modifications. Airbus issued a service bulletin on the GFI kits in March. EasyJet, which has about 200 affected aircraft, asked EASA for a 72-month compliance window so the carrier could more easily work the modifications into its Airbus maintenance program. EasyJet's "equalized check" program includes an intermediate visit every 72 months; the carrier said this check would be the most logical for accomplishing the work. EASA, saying the issue's risk assessment "does not support a threshold/interval extension," declined the request. http://www.aviationweek.com/ Back to Top Congressional panel, GAO report fault Homeland Security for 'weaknesses' in flight school rules WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security officials need to do a better job in performing background checks on students enrolling in flight schools across the country, according to a government report released Wednesday that indicates continuing failures by federal authorities in preventing those in the country illegally from acquiring training that some worry could lead to another terrorist attack. The report by the Government Accountability Office also sheds more light on the 2010 federal investigation that led to the arrest of the owner of a Stow flight school whose facility had trained dozens of foreign nationals -- including at least eight who, like the school's owner, was in the United States illegally. The report was unveiled before a session of a transportation security subpanel of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Committee members from both sides of the aisle expressed alarm over the slow pace of enacting tougher rules at flight schools and the lack of coordination among federal agencies in preventing possible terrorists from acquiring flight training. Indeed, the panel members expressed concern that the government wasn't doing enough to prevent potential terrorists from obtaining flight training, regardless if they are foreign nationals or US citizens. "Today's hearing is a sobering reminder that we cannot afford to let down our guard or become complacent about security," said the committee's chairman, Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama. "The GAO's finding is clear," he said. "Not all foreign nationals who train to fly inside the United States have been properly vetted." He called the GAO's findings "extremely disturbing." The title of the hearing was certainly provocative: "A Decade After 9/11 Could American Flight Schools Still Unknowingly Be Training Terrorists?" The terrorists who commandeered the four US commercial jetliners on Sept. 11, 2001, including two that took off from Logan airport and later slammed into the World Trade Center towers, learned to fly at schools in Florida, Minnesota, and Arizona. Based on its investigation, including a review of the Boston-area flight school, the GAO urged the Transportation Security Administration and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assign responsibility for drafting a road map, with steps and time frames, to improve coordination between the two agencies, both housed under the Department of Homeland Security. The Massachusetts case exposed the shortcomings of the Alien Flight Student Program in screening out those in the country illegally from taking part in the program, said Stephen Lord, the GAO expert on homeland security and justice issues, during his presentation to the committee. Homeland Security officials acknowledged that no such checks are made when students enroll in the program, but are usuallly conducted during the issuance of licenses. By that time, the potential harm has been done, according to Representative Bennie G. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi. From January 2006 to September 2011, the GAO said there were 25,599 foreign nationals who applied for pilots' licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration after completing flight training at US schools. Representatives from both agencies told the committee that progress was already being made to improve their ability to detect the immigration status of those applying for pilots' licenses. But a review by the GAO showed that not all of those foreign nationals were registered, as required, in the Alien Flight Student Program, which is supposed to vet students for security threats. Thompson said the government needs to widen its net to include not only foreigners but US citizens with nefarious intent. "The last individual to fly a plane into a building and kill innocent civilians in this country was not a foreign national or Islamist extremist," Thompson said. "It was a United States citizen with an extremist and violent ideology regarding the Internal Revenue Service." Thompson was referring to the 2010 incident in Texas in which a disgruntled 53-year-old man flew his small plane into a seven-story building housing an IRS office. Other members were particularly troubled by the admission from Homeland Security officials that despite rules put in place after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks people on the government's "no-fly" list aren't being screened out from enrolling in a flight schools. "We have cancer patients, Iraq war veterans, Nobel Peace Prize winners all forced to undergo rigorous security checks before getting on an airplane," said Rogers. "At the same time, there are foreign nationals in the US training to fly, just like Mohamed Atta and the other 9/11 hijackers did, and not all of them are necessarily getting a security background check." http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/07/18/congressional-panel-gao- report-fault-homeland-security-for-weaknesses-flight-school- rules/nrdBdAyKqi0Qqz2FwX6WBI/story.html Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC