Flight Safety Information July 30, 2012 - No. 154 In This Issue Delta to shut down regional carrier Comair Boeing Dreamliner GE Engine Probed After Jet Spews Debris Aviation safety to be top priority for Arun Mishra, the new DGCA (India) Eight die in Beechcraft King Air crash in Brazil PRISM Certification Support Air safety personnel from around the world to meet in Sept EASA issues emergency AD on Trent 1000 engines FAA Gives Texas Company License for Reusable Rocket Launches Delta to shut down regional carrier Comair CINCINNATI (AP)-Delta Air Lines said Friday that it will close its shrunken, 35-year-old regional carrier Comair at the end of September as it switches more of its flying to bigger jets. Operating regional carriers has become more expensive while customers have been demanding roomier planes. Comair, which has slashed its fleet, flights and workforce in the last seven years, operates mostly 50-seat regional jets, which Delta doesn't want to fly any more. Delta, which is based in Atlanta, had about 500 of the 50-seaters in 2008 and plans to reduce that to 125 within two years. Most of that flying will be replaced by new 76-seat jets as well as the 117-seat Boeing 717s Delta is leasing from Southwest Airlines. Comair represents only about 1 percent of Delta's flying, so the closure won't result in significant changes to Delta's network. Delta also said it won't result in fewer flights out of Comair's base at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Besides Cincinnati, Comair also has hubs in Detroit and New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports. Comair was founded in 1977, flying three propeller-driven Piper Navajo aircraft. It started operating as Delta Connection in 1984. Comair helped pioneer the regional jet area when it began flying Bombardier CRJ regional jets in 1993. The regional airline is down to 290 flights a day and 1,700 employees. More than 1,000 of the Comair employees are in the Cincinnati/northern Kentucky region. Before entering bankruptcy in September 2005, Comair had more than 7,000 employees and 1,160 flights. Forty-nine people were killed when Comair Flight 5191 crashed Aug. 27, 2006, into a field near Blue Grass Airport in Lexington after trying to take off from a runway too short for commercial jets. The National Transportation Safety Board found the pilots failed to notice clues they were on the wrong runway Delta sold its other regional airlines-Compass and Mesaba-in 2010, and had said it was interested in selling Comair. Those carriers still run flights for Delta, as do several other companies. Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 4 cents to $9.45 in morning trading Friday. Back to Top Boeing Dreamliner GE Engine Probed After Jet Spews Debris Boeing Co. (BA), General Electric Co. (GE) and U.S. officials are investigating a malfunction that spewed metal debris from a GE engine on a 787 Dreamliner and caused an airport grass fire in South Carolina. Material was ejected from the back of the engine during preflight testing, Rick Kennedy, a GE spokesman, said yesterday. Julie O'Donnell, a Boeing spokeswoman, declined to comment, citing the inquiry into the July 28 mishap at the Charleston, South Carolina, airport. . The incident was the second in less than 10 days involving engines from GE and Rolls- Royce Holdings Plc (RR/) on Dreamliners. Japan's All Nippon (9202) Airways Co. pulled five 787s with Rolls-Royce engines from service on July 21 after the manufacturer found that some components had a shorter-than-expected service life. Boeing is "unaware of any operational issue that would present concerns about the continued safe operation of in- service 787s powered by GE engines," according to a statement from the Chicago-based planemaker. Japan Airlines Co., the only 787 operator that uses GE engines, is in contact with Boeing and GE and hasn't received a directive to check the engines, Sze Hunn Yap, a spokeswoman at the carrier, said in Tokyo today. JAL is operating the planes as scheduled, she said. 'Significant Issue' The jet involved in the episode is due to go to Air India Ltd. and is the first "significant issue" with GE's new GEnx engine, Kennedy said. About 100 of the units are in service and are performing well, he said. The National Transportation Safety Board and GE are working with Boeing to learn what went wrong. The fire occurred when debris from the plane fell onto the runway and into grass at the Charleston airport, said Becky Beaman, a spokeswoman for the facility. No one was hurt, she said. Two arriving flights were diverted and a departing Southwest Airlines Co. plane was delayed at the Charleston airport. The facility is served by five airlines, including United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines. Boeing's North Charleston factory is one of two assembly sites for the twin-engine 787, along with the company's wide- body plant in Everett, Washington. The Dreamliner is the world's first jetliner with a fuselage and wings built chiefly from composite materials. All Nippon and Japan Airlines are the only airlines flying the plane, which entered commercial service in late 2011 after more than three years of delays. Boeing designed the plane to fly long-haul routes while cutting fuel consumption. The 787 has become Boeing's fastest- selling new model ever, with 859 orders through June, according to the planemaker's website. All Nippon was the first carrier to fly the Dreamliner in commercial service. In September, United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) expects to start receiving 787s, which will make it the first U.S. airline to operate the jet. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-30/boeing-dreamliner-ge-engine-probed- after-jet-spews-debris.html Back to Top Aviation safety to be top priority for Arun Mishra, the new DGCA (India) New Delhi: Facing the threat of downgrading of the aviation safety net, the task is cut out for new DGCA chief Arun Mishra, who said his prime focus would be to take all measures to ensure safe and secure flying in India. UN-body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is scheduled to carry out a safety audit of the aviation regulator this year-end, even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) faces an acute staff shortage, adversely affecting its activities. Similar safety audits are also carried out on a regular basis by the International Air Transport Association and US Federal Aviation Administration. "Naturally, the top priority will be safety. All measures to further strengthen aviation safety will have to be taken. We also have staff shortage which has to be attended to," Mishra said soon after taking over the top DGCA post. He said the quarterly review of safety issues concerning airlines and their financial condition would continue as scheduled. The aviation regulator has, since the days of Mishra's predecessor E K Bharat Bhushan, been constantly monitoring the airlines to ensure that safety issues are not neglected due to the financial crunch they have been facing. A conference of the chiefs of civil aviation regulators of 36 countries of Asia-Pacific would be held in Delhi this October. The countries include Japan, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, Mishra said. The conference, which would be held for the first time in India, would find ways to strengthen international bilateral and multilateral cooperation and improve sharing of data and the best global practices on safety, he said. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-29/news/32923509_1_aviation- safety-safety-audit-civil-aviation Back to Top Eight die in Beechcraft King Air crash in Brazil This is the same aircraft, a Beechcraft B200 King Air, PR-DOC, which crashed on Saturday, July 28, 2012 while attempting to land in poor visibility at Juiz de Fora Airport in Brazil. A 2009 Beechcraft B200 King Air, tail number PR-DOC, owned by the Vilma Alimentos Company crashed in a remote wooded area while attempting to land in severe fog at Juiz de Fora Airport (JDF) in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais, Brazil on Saturday, July 28, 2012 at 7:45 a.m. local time, as reported by the Aviation Safety Network, Kathryn Aviation News, G1 Globo Comunicação Brazil, and other media sources. At least eight persons died in the accident, including the pilot, copilot, company president Domingos Costa, vice president of sales and marketing Cesar Tavares, and several directors. The officials were attending a business convention organized by the Federation of Industries of Minas Gerais. Initial reports indicate that the pilot had made three aborted attempts to land, but encountered problems because of poor visibility. The aircraft had taken off at 7:07 a.m. from Pampulha Airport (PLU) serving Belo Horizonte, the capital and largest city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (MG), located in the southeastern region of the country. Six fire trucks were deployed to the scene of the accident, where rescue workers retrieved the badly burned remains of 8 victims. The twin-engine aircraft apparently exploded on impact with the ground, leaving smouldering underbrush and charred trees, but very little evidence of the plane itself. The National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) will likely be the lead agency in investigating this fatal crash. An attached video clip which accompanies this report shows features of this aircraft. The Beechcraft B200 King Air is a highly successful twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation since 1972 at a unit cost of $5.24 to $7.57 million dollars per plane. A total of 1,157 planes were built as of the end of 2009. Depending on configuration, the aircraft can carry up to 13 passengers, and 1 or 2 pilots. The plane has maximum speed of 339 miles an hour, a cruising speed of 333 miles an hour, a stall speed of 86 miles an hour, a service ceiling of 35,000 feet, a rate of climb of 2,450 feet per minute, and a range of 2,075 miles. http://www.examiner.com/article/eight-die-beechcraft-king-air-crash-brazil Back to Top Back to Top Air safety personnel from around the world to meet in Sept Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnels (ATSEPs) from around the world will gather here in September to discuss issues and ways to make air travel more safe and efficient. Around 200 ATSEPs from across the globe would assemble here from September 10 to 14 for the 42nd IFATSEA General Assembly, which is being organised by CNS Officers' Guild. The International Federation of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Associations (IFATSEA) is a non-political body of the professional associations of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnels (ATSEPs) from around the world, of which CNS Officers' Guild is a member. "As we all know that aviation is a dynamic field. And new technologies replace the old to make the air navigation system and air travel more safe. This General Assembly would help our Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) personnel to know about latest developments and also discuss issues of our highly skilled profession," said Subit Kobiraj, General Secretary of CNS Officers' Guild. The Air traffic controllers and pilots use CNS facilities to manage air traffic movement. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) provides CNS services at all Indian airports, including privately operated ones and limited navigation services at defence airfields. "A CNS personnel has be technology savvy and ability to cope with physical, psychological stress. Our profession provides the opportunity to work in a dynamically developing field, along with strong future prospects but we have a common problems and issues also," said Shamsher Singh, president, CNS Officers' Guild. This is the first time that such an international gathering is taking place in India, he added. http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/air-safety-personnelaroundworld- to-meet-in-sept/37942/ Back to Top EASA issues emergency AD on Trent 1000 engines 25 July 2012 An All Nippon Boeing 787 with Trent 1000 engines The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency airworthiness directive, requiring replacement of specific gearbox assembly models on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. EASA reports that transfer gearbox (TGB) failures occurred during Trent 1000 engine testing. Engineering investigation determined that the crown wheel gear of the TGB had failed due to corrosion. The latter was the result of a change in a step of the manufacturing process. It was possible to identify a list of potentially affected gearbox assemblies. Therefor, an emergency AD was issued to require replacement of the affected gearbox assembly with a serviceable part. This AD also prohibits installation of an affected gearbox assembly. The Trent 1000 engines are known to be installed on, but not limited to Boeing 787 series aeroplanes. The only airline currently operating 787 planes with Trent 1000 engines is All Nippon Airways. By the time the emergency AD had been issued, July 25, All Nippon had already grounded five planes on July 22. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top FAA Gives Texas Company License for Reusable Rocket Launches The STIG A rocket built by Armadillo Aerospace roars skyward from New Mexico's Spaceport America on Dec. 4, 2011. SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Federal Aviation Administration issued a license today (July 26) to the private spaceflight company Armadillo Aerospace, a move that allows the firm to launch a new reusable rocket on short space missions. The reusable launch vehicle license was awarded to the Heath, Texas-based company Armadillo Aerospace, a firm founded by Doom computer game developer John Carmack, to launch commercial flights of an unmanned rocket called STIG B into suborbital space from a New Mexico spaceport. The first flight under the license is slated to launch in late August, company officials said. "We are hoping to launch 24 flights within a two-year period," said Neil Milburn, vice president of program management for Armadillo Aerospace, after receiving the FAA license at the NewSpace 2012 conference here today. The company has always maintained a goal of launching a rocket at least once a month, he added. George Nield, the FAA's associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said the license allows Armadillo Aerospace to launch STIG B missions for two years, until July 2014. With the license in hand, Armadillo Aerospace plans to launch commercial payloads into suborbital space on the STIG B rocket and return them to Earth. The company also hopes to serve NASA's suborbital rocket launch needs for the space agency's Flight Opportunities Program. The first mission, dubbed STIG B-1, could launch by Aug. 25 or 26. It will carry microgravity experiments for Purdue University and company Vega Space, Milburn said. Armadillo Aerospace's STIG-B rocket stands 35 feet tall (10.6 meters), is about 20 inches wide (51 centimeters) and uses liquid oxygen and ethanol for fuel. It is designed to launch 110-pound (50 kg) experiment payloads to an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers), experience three minutes of weightlessness, and then deploy a supersonic balloon parachute - called a ballute - to protect it as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere. A balloon-parachute recovery system was deployed during a Jan. 28, 2012 flight of an Armadillo Aerospace rocket. The rocket launches from a vertical pad at Spaceport America in New Mexico and is expected to use a GPS-guided steerable main parachute to slow its descent after re- entry. "The entire system is reusable," Milburn said. "We hope to be able to go launch again, if not in the same day, then within 24 hours. The goal is to reach a point where all we have to do is gas up and go." The first STIG B mission, however, will likely not lead to a quick turnaround, Milburn said. He expects company engineers will want to examine the rocket in detail to see how its components withstood the rigors of spaceflight. The upcoming STIG B rocket launch will come about seven months after Armadillo Aerospace's last launch of its previous rocket, the STIG A booster, in late January. That Jan. 28 test flight hit a snag when its ballute failed to work as expected and the spacecraft fell back to Earth. Milburn said Armadillo Aerospace has learned from that experience and will be able to continue to refine the STIG B rocket during its many anticipated flights. The lessons learned from the STIG B flights, he added, will help the company with its future vehicles as well. In addition to its unmanned commercial rocket launches, Armadillo Aerospace is developing a two-person space capsule to carry paying passengers into suborbital space. That vehicle will launch and land vertically, and is primarily expected to be used to for space tourist flights. Armadillo Aerospace is developing the spacecraft with Space Adventures, a Virginia- based company that is selling trips on the new vehicle for $102,000 a seat. But the passenger spaceship will come later. First, STIG B has to fly successfully. Milburn said that rocket testing - and not the FAA licensing process - has taken the most time. The STIG B rocket is currently in pieces awaiting final assembly, with its integration tests planned for its two experiment payloads. "We've still got a lot of work to do before we can launch," Milburn said. http://www.space.com/16782-private-reusable-launch-vehicle-armadillo-aerospace.html Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC