Flight Safety Information January 2, 2013 - No. 002 In This Issue Taxiing Plane Clips Parked Jet at Fla. Airport Tu-204 directive warns pilots to check thrust-reverse status Kenyan Airways flight makes emergency landing in Sudan Passenger Steals $238,000 Via Airplane Toilet Bahrain Civil Aviation's Air Navigation Directorate Obtains ISO9001:2008 Quality Certification Kingfisher Airlines loses flying permit (India) Aviation Safety Experts Reach Out to Brazilian Prosecutors PROS IOSA Audit Experts Airlines for America Commends Senate Confirmation of Michael P. Huerta as Administrator of the FAA Israel to host hundreds of foreign fighter pilots in largest ever multinational exercise Nigerian carriers grounded by debt and poor safety Antigua Signs MoU on Aviation Air Methods Orders 42 New Aircraft Taxiing Plane Clips Parked Jet at Fla. Airport FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. January 1, 2013 (AP) Authorities say no one was injured when two airplanes got into a sort of fender-bender at a Florida airport. Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue says a taxiing Spirit Airlines Airbus A-320 clipped a US Airways Airbus A-320. The US Airways jet was parked Monday night in a remote area away from the gate at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson says a flight from Atlanta was taxiing to its gate when its left wing clipped the parked plane. Pinson says all 162 passengers on board got off at the gate as normal, and the plane returned to service. Authorities say the US Airways aircraft was left with a gash in its tail section. Firefighters were called to the scene, but there was no fuel leak from either aircraft. Back to Top Tu-204 directive warns pilots to check thrust-reverse status Russian authorities have ordered immediate action by Tupolev Tu-204 operators in the wake of two runway overruns by Red Wings aircraft, including the fatal accident at Moscow Vnukovo. Federal aviation authority Rosaviatsia has issued an airworthiness directive highlighting the 29 December crash at Vnukovo - in which five crew members were killed - and an incident on 21 December during which another Red Wings Tu-204 rolled beyond the end of the runway while landing at Novosibirsk. Rosaviatsia says Tupolev has developed a technical response for Tu-204 and Tu-214 twinjets, powered by Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines, which centres on lubricating mechanisms linked to limit- switches on the landing-gear, notably during low-temperature operations. But the authority has also ordered a temporary amendment to the aircraft operating manual regarding the operation of thrust-reversers on the type. It points out that the crew should check for an early indication that the reverser system is operating correctly. After touchdown, with the throttle reduced to idle and the spoilers deployed, the thrust-reverse control lever should normally be moved, over the course of 1-2s, initially to the 'small reverse' position. The engine instrument panel should indicate, in yellow text, that the thrust-reverse lock has opened and then - with the symbol 'REV' in green text - that the reverser is active, says the manual. Once the crew has confirmed this, and the correct alignment with the runway, the nose should be lowered and maximum reverse-thrust engaged. When the speed has reduced to 70-75kt (130- 140km/h) the crew should restore the reverser control to the 'small reverse' position and, at about 25kt, disengage it. But the operating manual specifically warns the crew to check that the reverser is active, with the presence of the green 'REV' indication, before committing to maximum reverse thrust. If the indication does not appear after the control lever has been moved to the 'small reverse' position, the warning says, the pilots should "immediately" disengage the lever and continue the roll-out without reverse thrust. The Novosibirsk incident involved a Red Wings Tu-204 registered RA-64049, which had arrived after flight WZ123 from Moscow Vnukovo. Red Wings' flight WZ9268, a ferry service from Pardubice, had been operated by another Tu-204 (RA-64047) and was carrying just eight crew members when it overran at Vnukovo. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/tu-204-directive-warns-pilots-to-check-thrust-reverse- status-380606/ Back to Top Kenyan Airways flight makes emergency landing in Sudan KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Kenyan Airways plane with 56 passengers on board made an emergency landing in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, after an engine caught fire, witnesses said on Wednesday. Nobody was hurt, but the incident on Tuesday night left passengers stranded in a country difficult for travel because credit cards do not work in Sudan due to U.S. trade sanctions. Banks change dollars only at a very unfavourable exchange rate compared with the dominant black market. The Cairo-bound Boeing 737-700 took off in Khartoum after a regular stopover following a flight from Nairobi. But it had to return to the Sudanese capital after 20 minutes, three passengers on board flight KQ 320 told Reuters. "An engine caught fire and the plane suddenly lost much altitude. The pilot made a sharp turn and returned to Khartoum," said Souhair Mohamed Hawala, an Egyptian passenger. "There was panic on board. People were crying or praying." Other passengers showed what they said were pictures from the damaged wing and engine of the plane. A Kenyan Airways official said the plane had returned with an unspecified "engine problem" and needed to be repaired in Sudan. "We don't know the cause yet," he said, adding passengers would be booked on the airline's next flight out of Sudan after 24 hours. Back to Top Passenger Steals $238,000 Via Airplane Toilet POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe - An ingenious thief swiped almost $250,000 on a flight in the Caribbean after sneaking into the cash-laden cargo hold via the restroom, police said Thursday. A Brink's security employee placed three sacks of cash containing a total $1.6 million in the hold of the Air Antilles plane before it headed from the French island of Guadeloupe to the Franco- Dutch island of Saint Martin. The security guard took his seat on the ATR-42 turboprop plane but when the flight landed 40 minutes later it was discovered that $238,000 was missing from the sacks. Police are seeking a man who complained he felt ill and spent most of the journey in the lavatory. In fact, he was removing panels to gain access to the hold in the rear of the plane. Shortly before landing, the unnamed man -- who was traveling with a woman who appeared concerned about his health -- asked a flight attendant for an ambulance to meet him on the tarmac, witnesses said. When the ambulance arrived, the man said he felt suddenly better and walked out of the airport without having to go through the normal security checks and disappeared, police said. Cleaners who found bundles of notes in the lavatory raised the alarm. The woman traveling with him was questioned in the baggage arrival hall but did not have any of the missing money. http://www.foxnews.com/travel/ Back to Top Bahrain Civil Aviation's Air Navigation Directorate Obtains ISO9001:2008 Quality Certification Manama, Jan. 2. (BNA) -- The Civil Aviation Affairs at the Ministry of Transportation announced today that the Air Navigation Directorate has successfully passed the external audit of its quality management system according to the ISO9001:2008 certification requirement, which was conducted in March 2012. This milestone was achieved following the Cabinet directives for all directorates at the Civil Aviation Affairs to conform to ISO9001:2008 certification requirements. The audit was carried out by the Lloyds Register of Quality Assurance. The results of the audit were extremely positive, reflecting the commitment by all employees to quality and the achievement of the highest performance levels. Based on the audit, Lloyds issued the ISO certificate. To ensure the application of the highest international standards, the Strategic Planning and Quality Assurance Directorate supervised the certification stages and facilitated the Air Navigation Directorate to fulfill all the requirements. All the directorates at the Civil Aviation Affairs have obtained ISO9001:2008, and their certification is reviewed and evaluated regularly by specialized leading international companies to ensure that they maintain the same standards of quality. According to Lloyds' register, Bahrain's Civil Aviation Affairs is the second government authority in the world to obtain ISO9001:2008, whereby all the directorates of the Civil Aviation Affairs have met the required standards in their operations and the services they provide. H.E Minister of Transportation Mr. Ahmed Bin Ahmed Mohammed received the ISO certificate from Lloyd's Area General Manager Mr. Basem Obaid. http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/540210 Back to Top Kingfisher Airlines loses flying permit (India) Cash-strapped Indian airline must pay employees in order to renew operations (CNN) Kingfisher Airlines has a debt of US$2.5 billion..It's been a terrible week for Kingfisher Airlines. The Indian airline lost its flying license on Monday, and was told by the Indian government's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to pay employees' their past-due salaries in order to resume operations. The Mumbai-based carrier has not operated a single flight since its engineers and pilots went on strike in October 2012. The Economic Times reported in November that the airline had not paid most of its 4,000 employees since May. Kingfisher Airlines filed a third revival plan to the DGCA on Christmas Eve in an effort to save its license, but received a stern list of preconditions from unimpressed officials on December 29. The company has a debt of US$2.5 billion. "Despite the impending expiry of its License tonight, there is no cause for concern as the regulations permit License renewal within two years of expiry," the airline said in an optimistic statement released on December 31. "Kingfisher Airlines is confident of securing approval from the DGCA on the restart plan, License approval and reinstatement of its AOP." In December, Kingfisher Airlines confirmed that it was in talks with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways for an equity investment in the company following the Indian government's relaxed restrictions on foreign ownership. Aviation Week reported that Etihad was also negotiating a deal with Kingfisher Airlines' local competitor Jet Airways. Back to Top Aviation Safety Experts Reach Out to Brazilian Prosecutors Brazilian federal judge Marcelo Honorato Against the bitter aftermath of the 2006 midair between a Legacy 600 and a Gol 737 over the Amazon jungle that was fatal for all aboard the jetliner, Brazilian safety experts recently set out to show the nation's prosecutors and judges that criminalizing aircraft accidents will never improve aviation safety. During the five-day course, "The Role of the Judiciary in Flight Safety," more than 100 judges, prosecutors, military officers, safety investigators and legal professionals gathered in Brasília to learn the difference between aviation safety and police investigations, and the dangers posed both to safety and to justice by the misuse of accident safety reports. The course offered different theoretical perspectives on aviation safety, and an inside look at practice with a day at Cenipa, the Air Force's Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Aviation Accidents, and another at the Brazilian Federal Police's crime lab, hearing how police investigate accidents for the legal system. The course is the idea of Brazilian federal judge Marcelo Honorato, who as an Air Force officer had been a general aviation accident investigator. "His double role as judge and safety investigator has been important and useful for Cenipa," general Luís Roberto do Carmo Lourenço, head of Cenipa, told AIN. STM minister and air force lieutenant general William de Oliveira Barros said in his keynote speech, "The purpose of this meeting is so you gentlemen know that, even though there must be an inquiry after an airplane accident, especially a fatal accident, you can't confuse one with the other. A safety investigation is not a criminal investigation." "There's a risk when only information from an [aviation safety] report is used, because then people can be condemned who sometimes have no direct relationship with the accident or who were mentioned only in a hypothesis," Honorato warned. Another common judicial misconception, he said, is that a safety recommendation can be taken as proof that the recipient is to blame. He also told the judges and prosecutors that a separate criminal investigation can provide the kind of sound data on which a conviction can be based. Protected Data "'Criminalization of aviation accidents' is a phrase with the power to leverage disagreement between the aviation and legal communities," said Federal Police (PF) inspector Rubens Maleiner, before listing where police and aviation specialists differ on what evidence should be accessible to the courts. The major disagreement was cockpit voice recordings and tapes of exchanges between ATC and pilots. "The radio channels are open and anyone can listen to them... So why are ATC communications protected by the Chicago Convention?" Maleiner asked. One of the PF's four Cenipa-trained accident investigators, Guilherme Nobel Conti, told of investigating the 2007 crash of a Learjet with a fuel imbalance in São Paulo. To see if the fuel pump was operating, investigators compared background noises on the cockpit voice tape to reference recordings of the model's fuel pump. The conference's emphasis was on avoiding the criminalization (or the misuse in civil court) of the safety investigation, especially confidential interviews and safety recommendations. Raw factual data is shared, but Cenipa and the police were told they should interpret the data separately. "The course clarified the lines between Cenipa and Federal Police investigations," Juliana de A. Paulinyi Dias, one of Embraer's three internal aviation safety lawyers, told AIN. Aviation and police experts agreed, for example, on the sharing of flight data recorder information. The proper procedure would be for Cenipa to read the black-box data, then pass it to the police lab to do the same. But the police don't have the expensive equipment needed, so instead they ask Cenipa for the raw data. Cenipa refuses, the police get a court order, and Annex 13 is respected. All who spoke agreed on another even more important goal: protecting voluntary testimony in safety investigations from use in court or in administrative proceedings. In fact, the Chamber of Deputies recently passed bill PL 2453/07, which would give the force of law to confidentiality. Judges and prosecutors were told that if the confidentiality of voluntary testimony is not respected, those involved in future investigations won't speak up, affecting safety. This is not universally understood and embraced by the Brazilian legal community: at a debate in June AIN heard several ranking São Paulo prosecutors cite laws, precedents and the Constitution to prove that no information can be kept from a prosecutor who asks for it. Those prosecuters left the room before the safety experts spoke. Honorato proposed a legal foundation for confidentiality: "The court system protects a number of legal goods, the greatest of which is human life. If needful to protect that greatest good, lesser purposes such as punishment can be set aside." This is the third time Honorato has administered the course, and ICAO will be sending observers to the next, still unscheduled, edition of this unique effort to explain the workings of the aviation safety system to those in the court system. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2013-01-02/aviation-safety- experts-reach-out-brazilian-prosecutors Back to Top Back to Top Airlines for America Commends Senate Confirmation of Michael P. Huerta as Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, applauded the U.S. Senate's confirmation of Michael P. Huerta as Federal Aviation Administration Administrator. " Michael Huerta 's proven leadership and clear grasp of the imperatives of NextGen make him the right choice to continue leading the FAA, and we applaud the members of the U.S. Senate for taking this decisive action on his confirmation," said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio . "Administrator Huerta's commitment to safety and improved efficiency of our nation's airspace will benefit the traveling public and ensure we continue to build a more vibrant aviation industry that is so important to our nation's economy and workforce." ABOUT A4A Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and more than 10 million U.S. jobs. A4A airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For more information about the airline industry, visit www.airlines.org and follow us on Twitter @airlinesdotorg. SOURCE Airlines for America PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1xQNI) Back to Top Israel to host hundreds of foreign fighter pilots in largest ever multinational exercise Air forces will learn from each other and practice flying alongside each other, TV report says A formation of IAF Lockheed Martin F-16s Hundreds of foreign pilots are scheduled to arrive in Israel for the largest-ever multinational training session to be held in the country, Channel 2 TV reported on Tuesday evening. The air forces would share theoretical information with each other and pilots would practice flying wing-to- wing with each other. The names of countries set to partake in the joint exercise were under wraps. Israel has held multiple exercises with other armies, and, in recent years, the Israel Air Force flew alongside foreign pilots in training runs in Greece, Hungry, Cyprus and Italy. Israel can offer a great training ground - including low-altitude flying and drop zones for live ammo - for pilots from all over the world, Lt.-Col. Assaf told the channel. Speaking with a helmet on his head to cover his face, and without revealing his family name, Assaf - one of the planning officers - described the benefits foreign air forces derivded when training in Israel. Israel's knowledge of weapon systems owned by various Arab countries, and its years of experience, were of great value to its allies, the pilot said. http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-host-hundreds-of-fighter-pilots-in-large-exercise/ Back to Top Nigerian carriers grounded by debt and poor safety Arik Air was grounded briefly in September, 2012 by an aviation union protest about alleged N18bn debts. Now it's scooping up Air Nigeria's former clients After shock revelations by a former Air Nigeria finance director, the airline closed its operations in September. The country's other top airlines have racked up such huge debts only a government bailout can save them. Visitors to Lagos's Murtala Muhammed International Airport will have noticed a buzz of construction work this year. A herd of cranes cluster on the skyline and 'Work in progress' signs adorn the peeling walls of the airport, which served 2.4 million passengers last year but has had no major upgrades for more than three decades. The flurry of activity is part of a push by aviation minister Stella Oduah to establish modern airports in Nigeria. In its new-found zeal, the government has embarked on a project to up- grade all 11 state-run airports simultaneously. Behind the buzz, the aviation sector is in crisis. Regulators grounded five of Nigeria's nine domestic carriers this year amid safety concerns. "What is required for aviation in Nigeria is for the government to focus more on safety policy and then allow the private sector to bring in the money for infrastructure," a Lagos-based financial analyst says. "Instead, they have a band- aid approach to the problem." In the quarter since June, domestic ticket sales plummeted by a third as shaken passengers opted to go by road, according to the aviation ministry. Both travellers and airlines have been counting the financial cost as just 30,000km of paved roads span a landmass covering almost 1bn km2. Ministers and government officials shun commercial flights. Weary Nigerians joke that that internal flights will arrive as scheduled on the dot - 24 hours later. Private jet purchases are up 7.5% this year, according to ministry statistics. The disintegration of the aviation sector began in April, when John Nnorom, a former finance director of Air Nigeria, resigned. In an open resignation letter, he called the international airline's 11-strong fleet "flying coffins". An entirely avoidable major plane crash was waiting to happen, Nnorom warned. "Before you have a plane crash, there must be symptoms. I told the ministry of aviation that there are symptoms enough to give you sleepless nights," Nnorom said. His former boss, Air Nigeria chairman Jimoh Ibrahim, was not impressed. A Dana Air plane hurtled into a Lagos slum on 3 June. A day earlier, a Nigerian cargo plane crashed in lashing rain in Ac- cra, Ghana. The two accidents left 173 people dead. Oduah has allowed Dana to fly again while an investigation into the crash is underway. Rotten at the core Since then, attention has turned to the government's safety policies. Into the void sparked by the shock and search for answers, whistle-blowers have unveiled a litany of financial misdeeds that suggests a sector rotten at the core. Air Nigeria, the flagship international carrier abandoned by Virgin boss Richard Branson in June 2010, has undergone a very high-profile meltdown. After officials grounded the fleet citing safety concerns in June, Ibrahim resigned "temporarily" in September. Air Nigeria closed down its operations on 10 September, citing "staff disloyalty and environmental challenges". The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority had already suspended the company in June because of concerns about its finances. "We could not afford to pay for the changing of the engines. We were sending aircraft from Nigeria to Egypt and other countries, only for the engine in the one we were sending to be dis- mantled and fixed in another one that had been on the ground for one year," Nnorom said. The politically connected Ibrahim has come out fighting vigorously. Ibrahim told The Africa Report he reduced debts left by Branson from N275bn to N222bn, while funds withdrawn from the intervention fund were managed by United Bank for Africa on behalf of Air Nigeria. He dismissed strikes by members of staff who had not been paid for five months at the time of his resignation as "unprofessional". Ibrahim said: "I never touched a single kobo [penny]. Air Nigeria is a member of IATA [International Air Transport Association], so to insult my management is to insult the IATA." The top three carriers - Arik Air, Aero Contractors and Air Nigeria - racked up debts of N85.5bn between them, a Senate committee hearing revealed in June. The demise of Air Nigeria has left Arik Air and Aero Contractors establishing a duopoly in the sector. Officials say the government is planning a new fund of between N300bn and N500bn ($1.8-$3bn) that will allow for the purchase of new aircraft. "Whereas in the past the fund was accessed to pay off debts, this time it will be for the technical side, that is to say maintenance and safety," says Oche Victor Elias, a technical adviser to the aviation ministry. Other sweeteners include an abolition of taxes on the import of spare parts. The government also plans to promote cargo flights along similar lines to a Kenyan model that allowed the country to double its cargo industry in three years. Terminal illness A lack of coherent strategy has left many scratching their heads. The Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 for domestic flights, funded entirely by private investors, is a case in point. "Granted, it has issues but that was because the financing was poorly structured and the government reneged on many of the concessions that would have made it bankable, including Arik refusing to use it," says an official involved in drawing up the feasibility study. There are already signs of Nigeria losing out. FastJet, founded by easyJet's Stelios Haji-Ionnaou and modelled on the European low-cost airline, aims to carry 12 million passengers annually, up from 500,000 at present. Courting oil and mining companies is at the heart of its growth strategy, but officials say it will - for now - give Africa's oil giant a wide berth. Instead, bases will be es- tablished in Kenya, Ghana, An- gola and Tanzania? http://www.theafricareport.com/20130102501822334/west-africa/nigerian-carriers-grounded-by- debt-and-poor-safety-501822334.html Back to Top Antigua Signs MoU on Aviation Antigua and Barbuda has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Civil Aviation Organization. The memorandum covers regulations stipulated by the IACO's Universal Safety Audit Programme on its Continuous Monitoring Approach. It covers the responsibilities of member states in providing information in a "transparent manner" and other issues. "The ongoing relationship between Antigua and Barbuda and the ICAO signifies the importance of maintaining optimum levels of safety and security for our nationals and our country that is heavily dependent upon tourism," said Civil Aviation Minister John Maginley. "We are committed and will continue to strive to meet all aviation safety standards in a manner that is consistent with international regulations." The objectives of the programme are to promote global aviation safety through auditing contracting states on a regular basis. Peter Abraham is the oversight officer responsible for safety and security issues within the Ministry of Civil Aviation. http://www.caribjournal.com/2013/01/01/antigua-signs-mou-on-aviation/ Back to Top Air Methods Orders 42 New Aircraft Delivery of the aircraft will start in 2013 and continue into 2015. Air Methods Corp.,the global leader in air medical transportation, has entered into agreements to purchase 20 Bell 407s, 10 Eurocopter EC130s, six Eurocopter AS350s, and six Eurocopter EC135s. These new aircraft will directly support Air Methods' commitment to maintaining a modern air medical fleet as well as future growth opportunities. Delivery of the aircraft will start in 2013 and continue into 2015. "Air Methods continues to devote financial resources to improve the quality and safety of our services and these new aircraft will have a direct and immediate impact on that commitment," says Aaron Todd, CEO, Air Methods. "Maintaining a modern fleet with leading-edge performance and safety technologies has been and will continue to be a focus. These four airframes have a proven combination of safety, performance and reliability and are outstanding platforms for our mission profile." The installation of the medical interior and cockpit avionics is expected to be completed by the company's internal United Rotorcraft Division. The design of the United Rotorcraft medical interiors ensures clinicians can provide critical life-saving care to patients. http://www.onlineamd.com/air-methods-orders-aircraft-1213.aspx Curt Lewis