Flight Safety Information October 25, 2012 - No. 215 In This Issue Business-Jet Crashes Outpace Commercial US Airways fined $354,500 over jet fuel pump Gearbox component failure to blame for latest EC225 ditching Student accused of shining laser at police chopper Unlocked fin likely brought down X-51A in August crash Panama Drops Money Laundering Case Against US Pilots PROS IOSA Audit Experts Delta to Retire Jets Under Plan for $1 Billion in Savings American Airlines plans to hire 2,500 pilots over 5 years as it ramps up int'l flying North Korea's Air Koryo Opens Online Booking New USAF website for proactive safety Aviation Research Survey Business-Jet Crashes Outpace Commercial By ANDY PASZTOR SANTIAGO, Chile (WSJ)-The number of accidents involving business jets and turboprops world-wide is more than five times that of commercial jets this year, highlighting the challenges facing accident-prevention experts in improving safety for private and charter aviation. Through nearly 10 months of 2012, more than 140 people have died in crashes in eight business jets and 13 commercially operated propeller aircraft, or turboprops, says the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group. Only four accidents involving major passenger jets have been recorded world-wide, a record low rate of one crash per roughly 10 million flights over the period (there were 14 such jet crashes last year). Still, those crashes, which each involved more passengers, killed more than 320 people. The data, presented at a global aviation-safety conference in Santiago, Chile, this week mark "the first year since I've been doing this presentation there were more business jet accidents than world-wide [passenger] jet accidents," said Jim Burin, the foundation's director of technical programs. The foundation has been compiling the report for 13 years. Safety experts say the data mean more effort should be shifted to upgrading training, maintenance and government oversight at the lower end of commercial aviation in order to improve the segment's safety. Those efforts are particularly needed in the developing world, where airports are less advanced and air-traffic control systems are less reliable, experts said. The ICAO, a United Nations body responsible for overseeing aviation safety, places more emphasis on regularly scheduled jets than smaller flights, said Nancy Graham, a senior official of the International Civil Aviation Organization. "Perhaps we need to adjust our focus," she said. Apart from the sheer number of accidents, safety experts increasingly say turboprops, which carry fewer passengers and weigh a fraction of Airbus or Boeing BA -0.15%jets, support the vast majority of business activity in parts of the developing world, raising the probability an accident will involve a smaller plane. Propeller-powered planes often transport employees and material for mining firms, oil drilling operations and other natural-resource companies to remote regions. Traditionally, such flights have been conducted under less local and international scrutiny that those of bigger passenger jets Critics say extra attention to turboprops is long overdue. Compared with jet fleets, "those planes typically have less experienced pilots, their flight simulators are not as advanced and they don't have the same level of automation" or onboard safety protections, according to Dai Whittingham, chief executive of the UK Flight Safety Committee, which helps airlines, pilots and government agencies share safety information. With crash rates for passenger jets improving dramatically, "the average person automatically assumes the other parts of aviation are equally safe," according to Kevin Hiatt, chief operating officer of the safety committee. But the rise in smaller-plane crashes "sort of crept up on us," he said. So now the foundation and its supporters "will look deeper into the issue to identify trends and relevant factors." The active fleet of business jets and turboprops together basically equals the roughly 20,000 Western-built jets currently in service worldwide, according to the foundation's updated analysis. Between 2007 and 2011, on average there were nearly 16 passenger jet crashes annually. With only four jet accidents through this week and slightly more than two months until the end of the year, Mr. Burin said 2012 appears headed to set a new safety standard for jetliners. Back to Top US Airways fined $354,500 over jet fuel pump The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $354,500 civil penalty against US Airways Inc. for operating a jet on hundreds of flights without completing required testing on a new fuel pump. The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline has 30 days to respond to the proposed fine. The FAA and the airline can reach an agreement over the alleged violation or settle the issue in civil court. The federal agency said the airline operated a Boeing 757 jet on 916 flights after replacing a leaking engine fuel pump on Aug. 3, 2010. But the FAA said the airline failed to carry out federally required tests and inspections before the airline began to carry passengers. The plane flew between Aug. 3 and Dec. 3, 2010, with the new fuel pump without performing the tests and inspection, the FAA said. A spokeswoman for the airline said it operated the airline in compliance with FAA rules and plans to respond to the proposed fine soon. http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-us-airways-fined-20121024,0,5164760.story Back to Top Gearbox component failure to blame for latest EC225 ditching Initial investigations into the 22 October ditching in the North Sea of a Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma show strong similarities to an earlier controlled ditching involving the same aircraft type in May this year, with the failure of a critical gearbox component again the trigger for the incident. A special bulletin compiled by the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch says the aircraft, a 2007-built airframe (G-CHCN) operated by CHC Scotia, was put down 32nm (59km) southwest of Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands on a routine flight from Aberdeen with 17 passengers and two crew on board. The bulletin says that the crew ditched the aircraft following a warning that the main gearbox lubrication system had failed. An attempt to operate the emergency system was met with a similar failure warning, it says. The AAIB report notes that the 10 May incident, involving another EC225 (G-REDW), operated by Bond Offshore Helicopters, also featured the loss of the main gearbox lubrication system following a complete failure of the bevel gear vertical shaft and subsequent indications of failure in the back-up lubrication system. However, the latest AAIB bulletin into the event, issued on 17 October, concluded that the emergency system had been operating correctly but had given a "false warning" of failure. It had mandated Eurocopter to review the design of the system to ensure the system provides correct information to pilots. A preliminary examination of the main gearbox on G-CHCN, showed, as with G-REDW, a 360? circumferential crack on the bevel gear vertical shaft, says the AAIB. This meant the gears that operate the main oil pump were no longer being driven. An EASA airworthiness directive (AD) issued following the May ditching issued monitoring requirements on helicopters fitted with bevel gear vertical shafts of a certain age or serial number. However, it notes: "The vertical shaft fitted to G-CHCN was not within the applicability of the AD." In fact, two Vibration Health Monitoring sensors - on the bevel gear and the oil pump wheels - had both shown exceedences of alert thresholds in the two sectors flown immediately prior to the critical journey on the day of the accident, says the report. However, as the airframe fell outside of the AD, the operator was not required to download the data at that time. EASA and Eurocopter are reviewing the requirements to widen the applicability of the AD, the AAIB says. The three main operators of helicopters in the North Sea - CHC, Bond and Bristow - all grounded their EC225 and AS332L fleets following the incident. As of 25 October the flight restriction was still in place. Eurocopter says: "The current investigation will allow us to better understand the exact circumstances surrounding the incident and to provide our customers with the necessary information and explanations that will enable a resumption of safe operations." http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/gearbox-component-failure-to-blame-for-latest-ec225-ditching- 378077/ Back to Top Student accused of shining laser at police chopper Louisville police Officer Carey Hirtzel, foreground, talks to reporters on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, about the laser light that briefly disoriented him while he was flying a police helicopter early last Sunday in Louisville, Ky. A University of Louisville student has been charged with two felony counts of wanton endangerment in the incident. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Authorities said Wednesday they tracked down a college student accused of shining a laser into a police helicopter, disorienting the pilot momentarily as he turned the aircraft away from the blinding light beam. Jeffry Ledington, 19, a University of Louisville student, is charged with two felony counts of wanton endangerment for what authorities consider a deadly serious matter, not a prank. "The whole cockpit lit up green," said Louisville police Officer Carey Hirtzel, one of two people aboard the helicopter early Sunday. "(I) couldn't really see anything but green as we were coming around, immediately averted my eyes and continued ... to turn away from the laser." The aircraft was hit two more times with the intense light, he said. "We were able to hone in on the building and fly directly to it to find out who was using the laser," Hirtzel said. Ledington was arrested at his dorm on campus shortly after shining the laser, police said. Ledington has pleaded not guilty and a pretrial conference is scheduled for Nov. 1. Court records did not list a defense attorney. The laser pointer was about 10 inches long and about as big around as a thumb, Hirtzel said. It was the second time in the past couple of years that a Louisville police helicopter crew has been in the crosshairs of a laser. Officer Bryan Arnold said he and his partner were temporarily blinded when their cockpit was engulfed in green laser light in July 2011. "It will get in there and reflect and bounce around, and it's a washout of seeing anything," he said Wednesday. "It's pretty intense." Authorities said what some consider a prank is a serious offense that's become more common nationwide. "It's all fun and games until you shine a laser at a helicopter and we're landing in your front yard and we're going to lock you up. Because that's going to happen," Arnold said. Federal Aviation Administration points to a substantial increase in the number of people pointing lasers at aircraft cockpits in recent years. This year, there have been more than 2,740 such problems reported to the FAA, up from fewer than 300 in 2005. There hasn't been an air crash so far this year caused by laser light, according to FAA. "We will not hesitate to take tough action against anyone who threatens the safety of our passengers, pilots and air transportation system," the FAA said in a statement Wednesday. "Shining a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft is not a joke. These lasers can temporarily blind a pilot and make it impossible to safely land." The surge in the problem resulted in a new federal law that specifically makes it illegal to aim a laser pointer at aircraft, authorities said. Convictions under the law carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 law. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dyke said state officials haven't yet presented Ledington's case to federal authorities for possible prosecution under the new federal law. "If they do, we'll take a look at it," he said. Back to Top Unlocked fin likely brought down X-51A in August crash The flight failed due to aerodynamic problems caused when a fin became unlocked, sending the experimental aircraft into a corkscrew. A fourth X-51A flight will likely take place next year. The X-51A Waverider is meant to demonstrate hypersonic flight. Powered by a Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne SJY61 scramjet engine, it is designed to ride on its own shockwave and accelerate to about Mach 6. The U.S. Air Force today revealed the likely cause of the August crash of the third X-51A test The U.S. Air Force said today that an experimental test in August of its hypersonic X-51A Waverider failed due to a fin inadvertently unlocking and sending the aircraft into a corkscrew that ended in a crash into the Pacific Ocean. At the time, the Air Force said only that the August flight had ended with the crash, but didn't reveal what had been at fault. But in a conference call today, X-51A program manager Charlie Brink explained what he and his colleagues have learned over a couple of months of investigation. The August flight was the third of four tests of the $260 million experimental aircraft program -- which is meant to examine the viability of so-called scramjet engine technology, which the military hopes may one day result in hypersonic weaponry such as ultra-fast cruise missiles, reconnaissance vehicles, or even more efficient ways to get into space than ever before. It had conducted two previous tests, both of which produced useful data, Brink said, but neither of which were fully successful. Now, with a better -- albeit not yet complete -- understanding of what went wrong during the third test, the Air Force and its partners at Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne are readying the fourth and final X-51A test. Brink said that flight would likely take place in late spring or early summer of next year. The X-51A is called the Waverider because of an element of the plane's expected flight performance: once it hits the right velocity, it essentially surfs its own shockwave. To the Air Force, the aircraft isn't a prototype for any individual weapons system, but rather is a technology demonstrator. Two years ago, the Air Force sent up an X-51A which briefly made it to the edge of hypersonic flight, hitting "approximately Mach 5, nearly 3,400 miles per hour," according to an Air Force fact sheet. The X-51A flew at that speed for about 200 seconds, although it was only able to send back normal telemetry data for 140 seconds before losing acceleration and thrust and having to be destroyed by ground controllers after some sort of "anomaly." Afterwards, the military said the X-51A actually hit Mach 4.88 In order to make a hypersonic flight, the X-51 is tucked under a B-52's wing. Then, the total assembly "stack," which is about 25 feet long and which weighs about 4,000 pounds, is dropped at 50,000 feet. At that point, a rocket booster kicks in, sending the aircraft to about Mach 4.5. Then the booster is dropped, and the X-51-A's Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne scramjet engine takes over. That engine is made to burn oxygen from the atmosphere mixed with a small amount of jet fuel. Third flight According to Brink, August's third flight of the X-51A started as planned. It was dropped from the B-52 and after about four seconds, its booster lit, taking the aircraft up to a speed of about Mach 4.8. At about 15.5 seconds after being dropped from the mother ship, however, the assembly's upper right actuator, which like its three other actuators, was supposed to be stowed, locked, and unpowered, came loose. Though it was still unpowered, over the course of about two-tenths of a second, the assembly pitched up and moved from a zero-angle of attack to having its full trailing edge pointing down. With the stack's aerodynamics now off-kilter, the entire assembly "started to do a whole corkscrew," Brink said, causing it to crash. Unfortunately, because the crash happened prior to putting fuel into and lighting the scramjet engine, the Air Force was not able to conduct the planned propulsion experiment, Brink said. Although it is not known for certain what caused the actuator to become unlocked, Brink explained that investigators are fairly certain that neither a software nor a power problem were to blame. "What we're honing in on," Brink said, "is that there are indications that it looked like it could have been caused by a random vibration issue" affecting the mechanism that locks the actuator. He suggested that in order to understand what happened, it could be informative to imagine the aerodynamic forces that destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge -- known as "Galloping Gertie" -- in 1940. "It looks like the second bending mode of the stack, the frequency that occurs," Brink explained, was "very close to the response of the spring-loaded mechanism that holds the lock on the second" actuator. Brink added that he and his team are currently conducting vibration testing, and that while their suspicions are not yet "conclusive," it is "looking more and more like that's the cause" of the accident. As a result, Brink said that during the fourth test next year, it's likely that engineers will power up the actuators within one or two seconds after dropping the X-51A from the B-52 rather than waiting longer. That would unlock those fins earlier, he said, and could allow the aircraft to fly freely without unexpected aerodynamic pressures. "That would be the most simple solution we could implement," Brink said. He added that he expects the investigation into the cause of the August accident to be concluded by Christmas. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57539360-235/unlocked-fin-likely-brought-down-x-51a-in-august- crash/ Back to Top Panama Drops Money Laundering Case Against US Pilots HOUSTON (AP) - Two charter pilots from Texas who were arrested in Panama on suspicion of money laundering are heading home for good. American Jet International spokesman Bruce Hicks says Carl Moody and Kenneth Chonoski will return to Houston Wednesday afternoon. Neither was ever charged with any crime. Moody and Chonoski were detained after landing in Panama in May 2011. Inspectors said they found $2.3 million in the bags of one of their passengers, a Honduran traveler. Hicks says a judge in Panama City dismissed the case against them last Thursday. He says a prosecutor determined they are innocent. Panama authorities imprisoned then freed the pilots, but ordered them to remain in the country pending an investigation. They were allowed to return to the U.S. twice to renew their pilot's licenses. Back to Top Back to Top Delta to Retire Jets Under Plan for $1 Billion in Savings Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) will pare costs by $1 billion, in part by retiring older jets, and trim fourth- quarter capacity as much as 3 percent after expenses increased at the world's second-largest carrier. The capacity cut will be in a range of 1 percent to 3 percent, with the deepest pullback on international routes, Atlanta-based Delta said today in a statement. Third-quarter profit excluding some items was 90 cents a share, trailing the 91-cent average of 17 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding fuel, the cost to fly each seat a mile rose 5.6 percent last quarter for Delta Air Lines Inc.'s consolidated operations, which consist of its main jet flights and its regional business. . "We will generate significant savings starting in the second half of 2013," Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said today on a conference call with analysts and investors. The changes are "not easy and will take some time and upfront costs to implement." The biggest piece of the savings plan comes from getting rid of aging aircraft on U.S. routes and replacing 50- seat jets with larger models, Jacobson said. Trading out the small planes for used Boeing Co. (BA) 717s being bought from Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and new Boeing 737-900ERs will reduce operating costs and put higher-fare business-class seats on more of Delta's fleet. Delta is also in discussions with Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B) and Embraer SA (EMBR3) to buy about 70 76-set regional jets, Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said on the call. Delta plans to make a decision on an order by year's end, he said. Maintenance, Technology The other major parts of the cost reduction plan call for paring maintenance expenses and making technology improvements that will lower payments to vendors and drive more customers to Delta's reservations website to book flights because that's the cheapest way to distribute tickets, Jacobson said. Delta slid 1.1 percent to $10.04 at the close in New York. That pared the shares' year-to-date advance to 24 percent, which was still good enough to rank third in the 10-carrier Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index. "There's no growth, and you need growth to offset cost inflation," said Savanthi Syth, a Raymond James & Associates Inc. analyst in St. Petersburg, Florida. She rates Delta stock as outperform. "The cost-cutting initiative is less related to demand. There's an expectation here that you're not going to see rapid growth anywhere." The airline's fleet consisted of 775 planes, with an average age of 15.6 years, at the end of 2011, according to a regulatory filing. That compared with an average of 11 years among 12 North American carriers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Jets at United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL), the world's largest airline, averaged 12.4 years of age, the data show. Pilot Contract Delta would add the new regional jets under a new pilot contract that allows for more of those smaller models, Anderson said. Delta joins Southwest in efforts to reduce expenses after the Dallas-based carrier said last week it plans spending cuts of at least $100 million to blunt costs that are outpacing sales gains. Excluding fuel, Delta's cost to fly each seat a mile rose 5.6 percent last quarter for its consolidated operations, which consist of its main jet flights and its regional business. Salary and wage expenses, Delta's second- largest after fuel, climbed 7.7 percent, and maintenance jumped 15 percent. Third-quarter net income jumped to $1.05 billion, or $1.23 a share, from $549 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier. Delta said the one-time items in the quarter included a $440 million gain on fuel hedge accounting and charges for trimming jobs, trading airport slots and shutting the Comair regional unit. Delta charged more for tickets to mute the impact from a 1.2 percent decrease in miles flown by paying passengers across its network. Revenue rose 1.1 percent to $9.92 billion, lagging behind the $9.97 billion average projected by analysts. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-24/delta-sees-fourth-quarter-capacity-cut-up-to-3-as-traffic- drops.html Back to Top American Airlines plans to hire 2,500 pilots over 5 years as it ramps up int'l flying DALLAS (AP) - The CEO of American Airlines said the company expects to hire 2,500 pilots over the next five years as it ramps up international flights. "The new American will be doing even more international flying, providing greater opportunities for career advancement and increased income for our people," AMR Corp. CEO Thomas Horton said Wednesday in a letter to employees. AMR is American's parent company. American currently has about 8,000 active pilots. Horton's letter was issued the same day that American announced it would start new international routes next year. American, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, seeks to capitalize on growth in international travel, especially among high-fare corporate travelers. airline wants to show that it can grow on its own, while US Airways is pushing for a merger as the only way for both to compete against larger rivals United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. While the airline plans to hire more pilots, it's lost more staff than it wants to bring on. The company had 14,000 pilots in early 2001 after buying TWA, according to Gregg Overman, a spokesman for the pilots' union, the Allied Pilots Association. International routes are high-paying jobs, so that's welcome," Overman said of Horton's promise of new jobs. "Forecasts of growth are better than forecasts that the airline will shrink, but (Horton's prediction) would just be making up a bit of that lost ground" since 2001. Overman said American has 650 pilots on furlough who would be rehired first and 500 to 600 pilots who are expected to hit the mandatory retirement age of 65 by 2020. Here are some new international routes announced Wednesday that the company is banking on for growth. - Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Lima, Peru, beginning April 2. American already flies between Miami and Lima. - DFW to Seoul, beginning May 9. - Chicago to Dusseldorf, Germany, starting April 11. - New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Dublin, starting June 12. chief commercial officer, Virasb Vahidi, said the routes should appeal to business travelers and strengthen ties with partner airlines such as Japan Airlines and British Airways. American will also add domestic flights using regional jets that are smaller than the planes typically operated by American. Those routes, starting Feb. 14, will include: - DFW and Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Columbia, Mo. - DFW to Beaumont, Texas. - DFW to Fargo, N.D. American currently flies to Fargo from O'Hare. American said it would begin selling tickets for the new flights on Nov. 4. Back to Top North Korea's Air Koryo Opens Online Booking The world's only one star airline, North Korea's Air Koryo, has joined the Internet age with an online booking service, offering flights to and from the isolated state to Beijing and Shenyang in China as well as Vladivostok in Russia. The site says it started operations in August and promises "a convenient reservation... day and night". Air Koryo is the only airline ranked as a one-star service by Skytrax global airline ranking, a rating that represents "very poor quality performance". The airline uses mainly Russian-built Tupolev aircraft on its international flights although older, Soviet-era aircraft are also still used domestically. Few North Koreans are allowed to travel outside their impoverished state. North Korea expert Leonid Petrov was quoted on North Korea-watching NK News as saying: "Clearly, this website is created with the purpose to impress the people who have never thought of travelling to Pyongyang". A business class flight to Beijing was listed online at a price of USD$374, a lot for a country where annual gross domestic product per capita is estimated at USD$1,800. http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1351077301.html Back to Top New USAF website for proactive safety Greetings from the USAF Safety Center. We have just launched a new website dedicated to proactive aviation safety that may interest you. Here's the news release: http://www.afsec.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123323288 The pages contain a philosophical overview and descriptions of our three leading proactive programs (FOQA/ASAP/LOSA), plus an explanation of how they fit into human factors. Please take a minute to visit our pages. Click on the "Proactive Aviation Safety" icon on the right-side of the AFSEC website under Safety Center Links: http://www.afsec.af.mil/ Proactive Aviation Safety (MFOQA, ASAP, LOSA) HQ U.S. Air Force Safety Center (AFSEC) Kirtland AFB, NM Back to Top Aviation Research Survey This research, Impact on Aviation Safety due to Cultural Differences between East and West, is granted by National Science Council, Taiwan (101-2918-I-156-001). The main purpose of this research is to investigate pilots' perception on three key elements of Safety Culture, i.e., Just Culture, Reporting Culture, and Learning Culture, plus their opinions on Cultural differences between east and west in commercial aviation. Department of Tourism Information, Aletheia University Assistant Prof., Meng-Yuan Liao Survey Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDFDUF9JV1pheUxMcUVoSkEtZW92WFE6MQ Curt Lewis