Flight Safety Information August 2, 2012 - No. 157 In This Issue 3 US Airways Commuter Jets Avoid Last-Second Collision Near Washington, D.C. San Antonio airport terminals reopened after bomb threat Crimes by Airport Screeners Aren't Tolerated, TSA Says Cessna Citation Accident (Spain) Finland issues report on two A330 engine bleed air system failure incidents PRISM Certification Support Airbus Powers Up Cockpit on Delayed A350 Passenger Jet Menzies Aviation buys flight support firm 3 US Airways Commuter Jets Avoid Last-Second Collision Near Washington, D.C. Three US Airways jets, carrying a total of 192 passengers and crew members, were reportedly taking off or landing at Washington's Reagan National Airport when they came within 12 seconds of a mid-air collision. The incident occurred Tuesday at about 2 p.m. when air traffic controllers put two departing commuter jets on a collision course with a third plane that was set to land, according to The Washington Post. All the flights reached their destination without mishap. The FAA confirmed overnight the near-miss to ABC News, stating, "The FAA is investigating the incident and will take appropriate action to address the miscommunication." US Airways released a statement, saying, "We are currently investigating and working with the FAA to determine what occurred. The safety of our customers and employees is always our top priority." Neither the FAA nor US Airways would provide additional information. With a storm approaching, air traffic controllers in Warrenton, Va., told the tower at Reagan National they were changing the direction in which planes were flying into and out of the airport to avoid shifting winds, according to the Post. Warrenton controllers communicated the plan to the tower at Reagan National. "The tower agreed, but they didn't pass it on to all the people they needed to pass it on to," a federal official told the newspaper. The official was familiar with the incident, but was not authorized to speak publicly. With the information not passed off, two planes were launched directly into the path of another flight that was landing. Controllers turned the inbound flight south, just 12 seconds from impact with the other planes, the Post reported. "Are you with me?" an air traffic control official at Reagan National was heard asking the pilot of the inbound flight. "We were cleared at the river there, what happened?" the pilot asked. "Stand by, we're trying to figure this out," the tower replied. "We really don't have enough fuel here for this. We have to get on the ground pretty quick," the pilot said. In 2011, an air traffic control person at Reagan National fell asleep on the job and failed to respond to pilots trying to land at the airport, according to The Washington Post. "We will always have human error," ABC News aviation analyst John Nance said, "but the air traffic control doesn't have money to build a high-tech system to alert folks when errors are made." http://abcnews.go.com/US/us-airways-commuter-jets-avoid-collision-washington- dc/story?id=16910493 Back to Top San Antonio airport terminals reopened after bomb threat SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The San Antonio International Airport was evacuated for about 90 minutes on Wednesday after a caller said three bombs were planted in a parking garage, but police did not find anything dangerous. "We have cleared all sections of the parking garage," San Antonio Police spokesman Sergeant Javier Salazar said. Police were on the scene investigating. The terminals were reopened around 4 p.m. local time. But airport officials said they believed it would take several hours for the flights to resume as scheduled because evacuated passengers have to go back through security. "A caller reported three vehicles in a lower level of the parking garage contained bombs," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. Bomb-sniffing dogs were sent to check the vehicles. While the two terminals were evacuated, air conditioned city buses were brought in to keep waiting passengers cool. Temperatures at the airport reached 100 F (38 C) on Tuesday. Airport spokesman Rich Johnson said about 1,000 people were evacuated, including employees and passengers waiting for flights. Back to Top Crimes by Airport Screeners Aren't Tolerated, TSA Says The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is policing itself and taking swift action in response to accusations of stealing, bribery and other criminal activity by employees, a top official told a House panel today. Questions about how effectively the TSA is screening its screeners have added to other embarrassments for the agency, including purchases of equipment that didn't work and checkpoint confrontations involving children, senior citizens and members of Congress. An April arrest of TSA employees at Los Angeles International Airport on drug trafficking charges marked the third case this year involving allegations that agency staff took bribes. Agents have also been accused of stealing iPads, cash and jewelry from luggage. "I'm not going to tolerate criminal conduct," TSA Deputy Administrator John Halinski said at a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing in Washington today. "I give you my word." Criminal incidents are rare among the agency's 52,000- employee workforce, Halinski told the Transportation Security subcommittee. The agency is working to strengthen hiring standards, training and management, and has established an office to investigate and discipline employees when needed, he said. Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers, who has held a series of hearings on the agency's performance, said he was concerned that the criminal reports are contributing to "TSA's shattered public image." The agency would be better off privatizing some of its workforce, he said. 'Gargantuan Bureaucracy' "They're just too focused on trying to manage this gargantuan bureaucracy," Rogers, an Alabama Republican, told reporters after the hearing. "This public lack of confidence is a real problem for them, and it's going to start manifesting itself in the Congress if they don't get it fixed." Fixing TSA's image is a priority, Halinski said. Of 600 million passengers screened a year, fewer than 60,000 complain of their treatment, he said. "Overall, most travelers have a positive experience," Halinski said. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-01/crimes-by-airport-screeners-aren-t- tolerated-tsa-says Back to Top Cessna Citation Accident (Spain) Date: 02-AUG-2012 Time: 0638 LT Type: Cessna Citation 500 Operator: Airnor Registration: EC-IBA C/n / msn: 500-0178 Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Santiago de Compostela Airport (SCQ) - Spain Phase: Approach Nature: Ambulance Departure airport: OVD Destination airport: SCQ Narrative: Aircraft carrying some organs for transplants crashed a few kilometers from the runway into a mountain during approach.Weather was fog. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Finland issues report on two A330 engine bleed air system failure incidents The Safety Investigation Authority, Finland published the final report of their investigation into two serious incidents involving Airbus A330 engine bleed air system failures. The first serious incident occurred on 11 December 2010, approximately 300 km northeast of the city of Arkhangelsk,. Russia. The aircraft, registration OH-LTO, was on a flight from Osaka, Japan to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Apart from the three crew members in the cockpit, the aircraft was empty. The second serious incident occurred south of Moscow on 22 December 2010. The aircraft, registration OH-LTS, was on a scheduled chartered flight from Krabi, Thailand to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. There were 286 passengers and 15 crew members onboard. Both aircraft experienced a loss of pressurisation due to dual engine bleed air system failures. The flight crews donned their emergency oxygen masks because of the decrease of cabin pressure. On OH-LTO the cabin emergency oxygen masks also deployed automatically. OH-LTO flight crew initiated an emergency descent from cruise level about five minutes after the loss of pressurisation and about two minutes after the excessive cabin altitude warning which is a master warning. OH-LTO diverted to Kuopio, its alternate aerodrome. OH-LTS flight crew initiated a rapid descent from cruise level about two minutes after the loss of pressurisation. Excessive cabin altitude warning came on during the descent after which the flight crew continued by an emergency descent. OH-LTS continued to Helsinki- Vantaa airport, its planned destination. Neither serious incident resulted in injuries to persons or damage to equipment. Both serious incidents were caused by malfunctioning of the engines' bleed regulated pressure transducers' (Pr). The malfunctioning was caused by freezing of water that had accumulated in the bleed regulated pressure transducers' pressure cell rooms, extremely confined by design. This being the case, the transducers provided faulty pressure information to bleed monitoring computers. Due to the erroneous information the computers closed both engines' bleed air systems which resulted loss of pressurisation in cabin, i.e. an increase in cabin air pressure altitude. The extremely cold air mass enroute during a long time period contributed to the fact that the water froze in the pressure cell rooms. Furthermore, the relatively rapidly increasing ambient temperatures enroute may have contributed to the engine's bleed air system faults. The investigation commission issued four safety recommendations. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was recommended to: 1) require that Airbus S.A.S. replace the pressure transducers on both engines of A330 aircraft with such transducers that function in conditions approved for the A330 fleet and 2) require that Airbus S.A.S. also include Dual Bleed Loss abnormal procedures in the A330 electronic centralized aircraft monitor action. EASA and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) were recommended to: 3) sufficiently lengthen the time recording capacity of cockpit voice recorders so as to cover the entire routing of the flight. Finally, Airbus S.A.S. was recommended to: 4) improve the procedures of promulgating its operational bulletins by distributing them via communications channels intended for operational divisions. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Back to Top Airbus Powers Up Cockpit on Delayed A350 Passenger Jet Airbus SAS said the cockpit of the first A350 passenger aircraft has been powered up for initial electrical testing as Europe's largest aircraftmaker struggles with building the long- range jet. The front section of the aircraft, which includes the cockpit, arrived this month in Toulouse in preparation for the start of full aircraft assembly in October. Power was applied to the front fuselage for the first time on July 23 and the cockpit displays were put under power four days later, Airbus said in an email. "The power-on acts as a dry-run for the ground tests that will take place later on the complete aircraft," said Martin Fendt, a spokesman for the Toulouse-based aircraft maker. "This allows us to check the quality and completeness of the nose fuselage." Airbus-parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. last week delayed the first flight of the A350, its competitor to Boeing Co. (BA) (BA)'s 787 and 777 long-range aircraft. The schedule change is driven by delays in building the composite wing. Drilling, that was due to be automated, is still being done by hand. The A350's first flight is now planned for June or July, with entry into service delayed three months to the second half of 2014. More tests of the front fuselage are scheduled to take place over the comings weeks, with a target of having the full aircraft under electric power this year, Airbus said in a statement. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-02/airbus-powers-up-cockpit-on-delayed- a350-passenger-jet Back to Top Menzies Aviation buys flight support firm Menzies said the deal would add three airports to its network and boost its position at Manchester Menzies Aviation has added three new airports to its UK ground handling network after buying regional company Flight Support. The John Menzies division said the move would add Aberdeen, Isle of Man and Guernsey airports to its portfolio. Flight Support, which handles about 34,000 turnarounds a year, was bought from Airbase Holdings Limited for £4.75m in cash. A further £500,000 will be payable over the next two years. Edinburgh-based Menzies said the acquisition would also further strengthen its position at Manchester Airport and increase existing relationships with Flybe, easyJet, Loganair, Aer Arran. The deal also brings new customers in CityJet and Blue Island. In July, Menzies announced it was to end its cargo operations at Glasgow, Birmingham, East Midlands and Manchester airports by the end of August. The company said it wanted to focus its UK cargo business on London Heathrow, as well as smaller operations in Aberdeen and Belfast. The company said the move would return its cargo business to profitability. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-19093226 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC