Flight Safety Information August 6, 2012 - No. 159 In This Issue Chilling Account of Near-Miss Qantas suspends pilot who tested positive to alcohol before Australian flight CAAP: Air safety upgrade may take time Near miss in the air over NT (AUstralia) Bee swarm holds back Delta Air Lines flight in Pittsburgh Helicopter in San Antonio lands on mattresses PRISM Certification Support Indonesian airlines booming, but are they safe? To protect airplane pilots, Sen. Charles Schumer wants restrictions on sales of powerful laser point NTSB TRAINING CENTER - Course: MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS FOLLOWING AN AIRCRAFT Invitation to the 4th Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference Chilling Account of Near-Miss Close Call of Military Plane, American Airlines Jet Highlights Air Traffic Lapses By ANDY PASZTOR (WSJ) Federal investigators released alarming details about controller errors that nearly caused a midair collision last year between a heavily loaded American Airlines jet and a military cargo plane off the East Coast, highlighting problems at New York's premier traffic-control facility. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board disclosed mistakes and miscommunications by air-traffic controllers, ending with the two big planes speeding on converging courses in the dark off the coast of New York. The jets, both at 22,000 feet, barreled directly toward each other for at least a minute without pilots seeing the other aircraft or realizing the extent of the danger. At one point, controllers watched helplessly as alarms sounded in the cockpit of the Boeing 777, which had more than 250 people aboard, after a distracted controller lost track of the passenger plane while giving directions to another jet, according to the NTSB report, released last week. The cargo plane's wing tip passed about 2,000 feet to the left of the passenger jet-a distance of just 10 times the width of the Boeing 777. The planes normally should have been spaced at least 1,000 feet apart vertically and several miles laterally. A catastrophe was averted, according to the report, when onboard collision-avoidance systems prompted the American Airlines crew to make three separate evasive maneuvers in a matter of seconds. Safety experts consider the January 2011 incident significantly more serious than many other midair close calls that recently received public attention, including an incident last week that put three commuter planes too close to each other near Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The incident is particularly worrisome, said government and industry experts, because the lapses occurred at what is regarded as one of the Federal Aviation Administration's premier traffic control facilities, staffed by some of the most experienced controllers. The New York-area center guides planes through arguably the country's most complex and busiest airspace. The incident follows about a dozen scary midair close calls investigated by the safety board over the past two years. They included a US Airways jet with 138 people aboard that missed a Boeing 747 cargo jet by 100 feet vertically and one-third of a mile horizontally over Anchorage; and a packed United Airlines 777 taking off from San Francisco International Airport whose safety zone suddenly was penetrated by a single- engine propeller plane. Safety board officials and outside experts believe such events partly reflect the strains of confronting heavy traffic, as well as controllers who were inadequately trained or worn out by extensive overtime. Total controller errors reported by the FAA last year were about 80% higher than in 2007, though that includes mishaps on the ground and reflects more voluntary reports of lapses by controllers. Nonetheless, by nearly all measures U.S. air travel is safer than ever, and statistically the most dangerous portions of a trip are those spent taxiing to and from the gate. Total slip-ups by controllers nationwide stood at about 1,900 for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2011, basically flat compared with 2010. The new report comes three months after a government watchdog substantiated allegations that FAA managers were slow to respond to safety complaints by controllers responsible for New York's traffic corridor as well as other regions. Management of the New York center was revamped in 2011. The near-collision also highlights coordination lapses as the Boeing 777 was passed from one controller to another during a climb to the southeast. The cargo jet, descending to the northwest, was communicating with a different controller handling a different sector of air space. Safety experts believe the dangers from such errors are likely to increase as air traffic grows and the FAA consolidates facilities to transition to a new, satellite-based control system. On Saturday, the FAA said the incident, which occurred about 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2011, some 88 miles east of New York City over the Atlantic, was serious enough to prompt procedural and other changes at the traffic-control center that handled the flights, especially tracking planes as they move among sectors. According to the safety board's report, a shocked traffic-control supervisor watched images of the two planes merge into one on a radar screen. She recalled seeing them "pass right over each other." The instant the crisis passed, the report says, a pilot on the American Airlines jet snapped at controllers over the radio: "That guy passed us now and that was not good." The captain of the American flight, bound for São Paulo, Brazil, later filed a written report recalling that on his instruments, the other plane's location initially "appeared to be on the nose of the aircraft." The four-engine C-17 cargo plane had completed aerial refueling and, along with another C-17, was descending in formation toward McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst military base in New Jersey. The cargo planes didn't take any evasive action, and all three jets landed safely at their destinations. According to the report, the controller handling the passenger jet failed to comply with requests from a colleague to stop it from climbing above 20,000 feet, and then again above 21,000 feet. The controller talking with the jet's crew was distracted by reading back lengthy flight instructions to another aircraft in his sector, the report says. The FAA declined to say whether any controller or manager was disciplined over the controller slip-ups, the details of which weren't reported previously. American Airlines said it had no comment. Last year's emergency, according to the report, stemmed partly from the fact that the passenger plane remained in communication with one controller when it already had passed into a new sector handled by another controller transmitting on a different radio frequency. The controllers used telephones to speak with each other to try to coordinate their instructions, but the report indicates confusion set in and automated collision warnings went off in the center. One controller interviewed by safety board investigators, however, indicated controllers tend to ignore such facility alerts because they occur frequently due to the complexity and amount of traffic they handle. In response to questions, the FAA said over the weekend it quickly took a number of corrective actions. "All front-line managers reviewed the radar replay of the events" and ordered extra staff training focusing on "hazards associated with aircraft in conflict" as they cross different sectors and pass from one controller to the next, according to the FAA. Back to Top Qantas suspends pilot who tested positive to alcohol before Australian flight CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia's air safety regulator says Qantas Airways Ltd. has suspended a pilot for attempting to fly while under the influence of alcohol. Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said Monday the woman exceeded the limit for pilots of 0.02 percent alcohol in the blood in a test last week. Gibson said he did not know her blood-alcohol reading. The blood-alcohol limit for driving in Australia is 0.05 percent. Australian Associated Press reported the pilot was detected last Monday as she was about to fly a Boeing 767-300 from Sydney to Brisbane. Gibson said 45 pilots had exceeded the alcohol limit in 51,000 tests in Australia since 2008. Back to Top CAAP: Air safety upgrade may take time The Philippines' aviation industry may have to wait a little longer before the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restores the country's Category 1 status, a rating that would certify that it had fully complied with international air safety standards. Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General William Hotchkiss III gave no specific time period for the restoration of the category upgrade when he talked with reporters last week. "There are still a lot of challenges. These are still under assessment," Hotchkiss, appointed CAAP chief a month ago, said about the government's Category 1 restoration campaign with the FAA. The retired general, in an earlier interview, said he expected "some good news" for the air transportation industry by the holiday season, adding that the President himself did not give a target date for the restoration of the Category 1 status. Two concerns unresolved Hotchkiss had said only two of the 22 "actionable" items identified by the FAA as safety concerns remain unresolved by CAAP. These were the lack of qualified safety personnel and the lack of an integrated electronic system to modernize the sector's database. More tourists, investors The CAAP has decided to prioritize preparations for an audit by a team from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which had tagged the Philippines as a "significant safety concern" in 2009. Hotchkiss said that passing the ICAO audit would boost the CAAP's chances at securing Category 1 status from the FAA. It will be recalled that in 2008, the FAA downgraded the Philippines to Category 2 status for failing to comply with international safety standards. As a result, the country's national carrier, Philippine Airlines, was unable to expand its operations in the United States. In 2010, the European Union (EU) also banned Philippine aircraft from flying to Europe. The Aquino administration has been trying hard to resolve the ICAO, FAA and EU certification problems so the country could receive more tourists and foreign investors. The ICAO audit team is scheduled to arrive in October. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/46481/caap-air-safety-upgrade-may-take-time Back to Top Near miss in the air over NT (AUstralia) A failure in air traffic control planning left two airliners on a collision course over the Northern Territory with just minutes to spare, the latest air safety investigation reveals. A Qantas 737 and an Air China A330 were on converging flight paths and flying at the same altitude when, during a handover between air traffic controllers, there was no plan established to keep the airliners from flying into each other. On April 6, the Qantas plane was flying from Sydney to Darwin, while the Air China plane was heading from Melbourne to Shanghai. Both aircraft were flying at 36,000 feet, with their paths set to converge over Tindal in the Northern Territory at 1.44pm local time. Advertisement As the Air China plane approached the Tindal airspace its crew radioed air traffic controllers at Brisbane to report their position. A minute later, one air traffic controller handed over to a colleague, in the middle of which the Qantas crew radioed in their position, acknowledged by the first controller and listened into by the second. But that's as far as it went. The two airliners "were on converging tracks at the same flight level [altitude] and the controller had not established a plan to ensure separation would be maintained", investigators said. At 1.42pm - two minutes before the planes were set to collide over Tindal - an alarm went off on the controller's screen, warning the planes were just 5 nautical miles (9km) apart, at the same altitude, and closing. The official minimum safe distance between the aircraft should have been 5nm horizontally and 1000 feet vertically. Realising what triggered the alert, the controller immediately instructed the Qantas airliner to climb 1000 feet, and the Air China pilots to descend 1000 feet. By the time there was 1000 vertical feet of air between them, the distance between them had shrunk to 3.5nm (6.5km), and the clock was showing 1.43pm - a minute to spare. It's the latest official report into an air traffic control failure. On Tuesday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau reported on a close encounter between James Packer's Crown Casino Gulfstream business jet and a Virgin airliner over NSW last October. Aviation safety campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon said he is seeking an urgent meeting with Airservices Australia chairman Angus Houston over the spate of the near misses and rumoured cutbacks to staff training. "Enough is enough. Airservices Australia seems to be missing the point that these near misses indicate how deep the problems run in the management of Australia's air traffic control," Senator Xenophon said. "We shouldn't be waiting for a disaster to happen before we ask for answers." Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/near-miss-in-the-air-over-nt-20120803- 23k31.html#ixzz22lizkHjQ Back to Top Bee swarm holds back Delta Air Lines flight in Pittsburgh A swarm of honeybees are seen gathered on the trailing edge wing of a Delta Connection plane parked at Pittsburgh International Airport. They were eventually removed by a professional beekeeper, but the bee invasion delayed the flight. A swarm of migrating honeybees gathered last Wednesday on the wing of a Delta Connection commuter jet from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) to JFK in New York, operating as Flight DL-6202, causing about a 47 minute delay until the protected insects could be safely removed, as reported on Friday, August 3, 2012 by ABC News, the Daily Mail, NYC Aviation, and other media sources. It was at least the fourth incident this year that nesting bees had to be removed from a parked plane at the airport. Stephen Repasky, a professional beekeeper with Meadow Sweet Apiaries used a soft bristle brush and his bare hands to gently sweep the docile creatures into containers for later release. He reported that only one of his assistants received a sting. The bees settled on the aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ700 Regional Jet operated for Delta by GoJet Airlines (G7), as the plane was being refueled, as seen in the attached photo which accompanies this report. Passengers aboard the 78-seat aircraft had a front row seat to the bee removal operation, which according to airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny, created more of a fascination than an annoyance. Many travelers used their cell phones to capture video images of the insects, which were eventually transferred to Mr. Repasky's back yard in Dormont, Pa. The beekeeper explained the phenomena as simply a method of avoiding crowded living conditions, saying "When a colony of honeybees swarm, it's nature's way of dividing on a large scale. So, the old queen takes off with half the colony and they go looking for a new place to set up residence. Specifically, the airport authority have gone to great lengths to make sure that honeybees receive special attention." Bees are a protected species and cannot be legally destroyed. Instead, when they become uninvited guests, they must be gently removed to another location. That provides employment opportunities for many professional beekeepers, as well as giving reporters a story on a light news day. Some humorists also made light of the situation, pointing out that honeybees are less of a threat than the dreaded snakes on a plane portrayed in a Hollywood film, or even an irate Alec Baldwin, after being bumped for playing Zynga's Words With Friends while his flight was still on the runway. Warmer weather is being cited as the reason for increased bee migrations, an increase of two to three times compared with last year. The most significant incident happened recently when upward of 30,000 bees landed on the Taxiway C at PIT, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh reported. http://www.examiner.com/article/bee-swarm-holds-back-delta-air-lines-flight-pittsburgh Back to Top Helicopter in San Antonio lands on mattresses SAN ANTONIO - Several mattresses piled on the ground have helped a medical helicopter with damaged gear make a safe landing in South Texas. Officials with PHI Air Medical say the patient and three crew members were uninjured in the emergency landing at San Antonio International Airport. PHI spokesman Brad Deutser says the helicopter early Sunday clipped a cellphone tower and lost one of its skids. The pilot then asked airport tower controllers for help in making a balanced landing. Firefighters grabbed several mattresses from their living area. Capt. Kevin Campbell says the helicopter landed on top of the mattresses, which were held steady by weights. Another medical helicopter then flew the patient to San Antonio Military Medical Center. Further details on the patient, who was transported from the Bryan area, weren't released. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57487166/helicopter-in-san-antonio-lands- on-mattresses/ Back to Top Back to Top Indonesian airlines booming, but are they safe? Lion Air is Indonesia's biggest domestic carrier, but the airline is still on the European Union's banned list over safety concerns. Sometime last year, the number of people flying domestically around Indonesia officially passed the number of people flying around Australia. And, while the Australian air travel market was moribund because of local economic conditions, Indonesia's was flying, growing at around 15 per cent a year - 60 million domestic passenger trips in 2011, compared with Australia's 54 million. The growth in international travel to and from Indonesia was even greater. Thousands of Australians are among those taking to the skies in Indonesia (more than 900,000 according to the latest figures), either on business or as holidaymakers exploring Bali and beyond on the archipelago. Yet, even though there are signs that the carnage of recent decades has begun to slow, it is still an extremely dangerous place to fly compared with Australia. The government of Indonesia unwittingly contributed to the death toll in 2001 when it removed many of the bureaucratic hurdles in the way of new airlines as it encouraged economic growth to lift the island nation out of poverty. "It's possible we concentrated more on developing the market (in 2001) and were not so focused on safety concerns," Hemi Pamuraharjo, the deputy director for scheduled flight services at the Indonesia Ministry of Transportation, told the New York Times last week. Nevertheless, domestic air travel is expected to double within five years, which worries industry analysts. If improvements in aviation and airports infrastructure don't keep pace with demand, "this growth ... will come to a halt," aviation analyst Shukor Yusof, of Standard & Poor, in Singapore, told the Times. The biggest airport in the country, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, was built to handle 22 million passengers. Last year, it served more than 50 million, and it is the fastest-growing airport in the world, according to the Airports Council International. Almost incredibly, Indonesia's largest domestic airline, low-cost carrier Lion Air, which harbours ambitions to fly to Australia, is still on the European Union's list of banned carriers, which are forbidden from using EU airspace. But Lion Air has all of its attention taken up just meeting internal demand. Lion was the launch customer for Boeing's biggest 737, the 200-seat -900 model, of which it is now the world's biggest operator with 68 in the fleet and another 334 to come from the factory over the next few years. Lion has about 40 per cent of the domestic market, while national carrier Garuda, which is more focused on international flying, has about 20 per cent. Indonesia AirAsia, the local subsidiary of the Malaysian low-cost giant, is set to become the country's No.3 domestic carrier, following its decision last month to buy local carrier Batavia Airlines. Indonesia AirAsia, Batavia, Garuda* and Mandala Airlines - recently taken over by Singapore's Tiger Airways - are among the handful of local carriers that have been taken off the EU banned list because of their compliance with EU safety standards after passing searching international audits. All are rapidly expanding to take advantage of a middle class that has grown rapidly in the last eight years, to 130 million from 80 million. The World Bank estimates that, in the next 20 years, the Indonesian middle class with enough disposable income to buy air travel will grow from 130 million people to more than 240 million. And, despite the creaking infrastructure - the system is so decrepit that local music radio stations still reportedly interfere with air traffic control frequencies - there will be more than a sprinkling of Australians among them. *Garuda was voted the world's best regional airline in last month's world airline awards Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/blogs/travellers-check/indonesian- airlines-booming-but-are-they-safe-20120806-23p23.html#ixzz22lhtHxTS Back to Top To protect airplane pilots, Sen. Charles Schumer wants restrictions on sales of powerful laser pointers ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - After pilots were targeted by electronic laser pointers from the ground, a senator is targeting the devices. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is writing federal regulators in a letter released today to crackdown on the use of the pointers outside of their intended use in office presentations. Schumer says the power light beams shown to be a problem for pilots when the lasers were pointed at them 5,000 feet away. The Democrat is focusing on the most powerful laser pointers that are being sold online. He wants to require most pointers to be sold at a lower strength and restrict the sale of the most powerful lasers. Schumer also wants the Food and Drug Administration to require warning labels making it clear that directing lasers at aircraft is a federal offense. Back to Top NTSB TRAINING CENTER - Course ____________________ MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS FOLLOWING AN AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT October 25-26, 2012 NTSB Training Center, Ashburn, VA Tuition: $852 (Early Bird Discount: $802 for registrations received by October 8) CEUs: 1.3 DESCRIPTION The course will teach participants what to expect in the days immediately following an aviation disaster and how they can prepare for their role with the media. OVERVIEW * How the National Transportation Safety Board organizes an accident site and what can be expected in the days after an aviation disaster from the NTSB, FAA, other federal agencies, airline, airport, media and local community * Strategies for airline and airport staff to proactively manage the communication process throughout the on-scene phase of the investigation * How the NTSB public affairs officers coordinate press conferences and release of accident information and what information the spokespersons from the airport and airline will be responsible to provide to the media * Making provisions for and communicating with family members of those involved in the accident * Questions and requests likely encountered from the airlines, airport staff, family members, disaster relief agencies, local officials and others PERFORMANCE RESULTS Upon completion of this course the participant will be able to: * Be better prepared to respond to a major aviation disaster involving a flight departing from or destined for participant's airport * Demonstrate greater confidence in fielding on-scene questions about the many aspects of the investigation and its participants, including what types of specific information may be requested * Identify the appropriate Public Affairs roles for the various organizations involved in an accident investigation. * Be more productive in the first few hours after an aviation disaster by understanding which tasks are most important and why * Perform job responsibilities more professionally and with greater confidence given the knowledge and tools to manage the airport communications aspect of a major aviation disaster COMMENTS FROM PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS "A must for people in the industry." - participant from a U.S. airline "Best two professional days I have ever spent. Very Beneficial. Provided real-life examples of guidelines of what can and can not be said." - participant from a state transportation department "Provided great insight into the role of print, wire, and live media in disseminating accurate and valid information free of spin and speculation." - participant from business aviation "Very good information for those who have never been through a major accident." - participant from a U.S. airport "As a corporate communications manager, the information is invaluable." - participant from a U.S. airline See more comments and a complete list of the 219 organizations from 28 countries that have sent staff to this training: http://www.ntsb.gov/TC/CourseInfo/PA302comments.htm Complete course description and registration information>>> http://www.ntsb.gov/trainingcenter/CourseInfo/2012-Courses/PA302_2012.html List of area hotels and restaurants>>> http://www.ntsb.gov/TC/facilityloc.htm GROUP TRAINING NOW AVAILABLE: Do you have 10 or more people in your organization that could benefit from this training? If so, it may be more cost-effective to have the course come to you. A one-day version of this course is now available and can be customized and delivered at any location. See the course description for more details: http://www.ntsb.gov/TC/CourseInfo/2011-Courses/PA303_2011.html MORE INFORMATION Web: http://www.ntsb.gov/TC/TrainingCenter.htm E-mail: TrainingCenter@ntsb.gov Phone: 571-223-3900 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC