Flight Safety Information April 5, 2013 - No. 071 In This Issue 35 years later, man still trying to solve plane crash mystery Boeing opens new Everett Delivery Center Small plane crash in the Bahamas kills 3, including one Canadian Plane skids at 200mph nose-first along runway PROS IOSA Audit Experts FAA funded airport towers using 30-year-old data to justify costs Cambodia Tycoon To Launch New Airline With Philippine Flag Carrier 35 years later, man still trying to solve plane crash mystery Some 35 years ago, Arden Van Horssen was hunting near Augusta when through his binoculars he saw a flash of white on an opposite hillside. It ended up being the wreckage of a small airplane. When Van Horssen, a pilot himself, hiked to the crash site, he could tell the plane was upside down when it crashed into some large pine trees about 50 feet from the top of the mountain. However, other than the tips of the propeller being bent, the plane was almost unscathed. "There was no real big damage to anything," he said. "That plane landed beautifully upside down, almost like it was flown in there." And when he looked inside, the airplane appeared good as new. "The cockpit, it wasn't disturbed a bit," Van Horssen said. Nothing inside made it look like anyone had been injured. Even the upholstery remained untouched. "I thought, by God, these people who were in there walked away," he said. But Van Horssen never did find out exactly what happened to the plane's occupants, and he's wondered about it ever since. "My thought has been they could have walked away from that without any trouble," he said. "My instinct tells me they did." Van Horssen remembers a pile of bones, near the plane, but whether they were human bones he has no way of knowing. Even though its likely the plane's occupants survived the crash, they still would have faced challenges to get back to civilization. The plane crashed in grizzly bear country and if the passengers did hike out, they had a high-flowing river to cross. Before finding the wreckage, Van Horssen heard about a plane crash in the area. It was a family - two parents and two kids - flying from Great Falls to the west coast for Christmas. He thinks the plane crashed a year or two before he found it, likely the Christmas season of 1977 or '78. "We hadn't been looking for it," Van Horssen said of the wreckage. "When I found the plane it was completely by serendipity." Van Horssen, who was visiting Montana from his home in Minnesota, told the landowner whose property he was hunting on about the wreckage, but never heard any more about it. The land, known as the Hidden Valley Ranch, was owned by Art Weikum. LeRoy Weikum, Art's son, remembers hearing something about a plane crash on the property, but wasn't living in Montana at the time. "I remember there was a plane crash right behind the ranch," said Weikum, of Great Falls. "I don't know how many people were in it or even when it happened." He also doesn't remember the fate of the passengers and pilot. "I couldn't tell you if they did or didn't (survive)," he said. He does remember his father saying that after the wreckage was found and reported to authorities, it was hauled away. The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates every civil aviation accident in the United States, keeps an online database of plane crashes going back to 1963. None of the crashes in that database matches Van Horssen's memory of the time frame, location and aircraft. Van Horssen, now 95, has thought a lot about that plane crash since he found it probably in 1979, and has spent a lot of time wondering what happened to the family on board. He'd like to hike back to the crash site and take another look at whatever is left. "I was really considering going back out there this year," he said. But at 95, he's not sure he'd be able to make the trip. "I was a lot younger when I was doing that," said Van Horssen, who now lives in Arizona. "I'm still up and running around, but not very fast, I might add." Van Horssen would appreciate knowing the outcome of that crash. If you have an information or any memory of it, please call me, Erin Madison, at 791-1466 or email emadison@greatfallstribune.com. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20130404/LIFESTYLE0502/304040006/35- years-later-man-still-trying-solve-plane-crash-mystery Back to Top Boeing opens new Everett Delivery Center Boeing today opened its new expanded Everett Delivery Center (EDC), a world- class facility which will be the home of deliveries for the 747-8, 767, 777 and 787. The grand opening ceremony was attended by Boeing employees, customers and state dignitaries. "Boeing is producing market-leading commercial airplanes at its highest rates ever," said Pat Shanahan, senior vice president and general manager, Airplane Programs, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The new facility enables us to meet growing demands and continue doing what our team does best - exceed customer expectations." The 180,000 sq. ft. facility triples the amount of office, conference and delivery operations space as the old EDC and is designed to increase operational efficiencies. "I want to congratulate The Boeing Company and its hard-working employees on the new Everett Delivery Center. This facility shows the strength of the aerospace industry in Washington and is a sign that the state's long history with the company will continue to grow," said Governor Jay Inslee. "As production rates increase and the company looks to roll out new airplane derivatives in Washington, it is clear this facility is going to see a lot of use." The building features three floors dedicated to customers and the delivery experience. Amenities include a customer lounge, a Tully's cafe, over 20 conference rooms, four contract signing rooms and 35 offices to support resident customers and on-site delivery teams. The building's highlight, a customer event area, offers sweeping views the Olympic Mountains beyond the neighboring flightline and Paine Field. "Last year we delivered a record 183 airplanes and this new facility will help us continue to increase deliveries," said Tom Maxwell, Everett Delivery Center vice president. "The expanded space will also allow us to keep pace with customer demands." Seattle-based DLR Group created the "Embrace the Plane" design which features a unique, curved architecture. The design allows airplanes to pull up to the building and connect by custom boarding bridges, enhancing ease of customer travel. Construction led by Skanska began in March 2012. http://www.eturbonews.com/34172/boeing-opens-new-everett-delivery-center Back to Top Small plane crash in the Bahamas kills 3, including one Canadian A medical evacuation plane crashed early this morning in the Bahamas killing three people, including a Canadian citizen. Local authorities say the plane crashed as the pilot tried to make a night landing at a small airstrip. Police say the pilot was trying to land with the light of headlamps from two trucks driven up to the runway. The plane's wing hit one truck and it spewed fuel as it spun into the second, which exploded, killing three people inside. The pilot survived The victims were identified as Edith Collie, 81, her daughter, Enamae Collie, who was in her 30s, and her husband, Canadian citizen Tim Polowick. All the victims were residents of Mayaguana island. Sidney Collie, the elderly woman's son, said they were trying to make the night landing because one of his uncles needed to be airlifted to the capital of Nassau for medical reasons. Local night flying is banned on the smaller islands of the Bahamas, including Mayaguana, because airports do not have runway lights. http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/04/small-plane-crash-in-the-bahamas-kills-3- including-one-canadian/ Back to Top Plane skids at 200mph nose-first along runway A plane skidded along a runway nose first at 200mph when it's front landing wheel failed to deploy. The pilot and co-pilot were forced to carry out an emergency landing at Toowoomba airport in southern Queensland. The pair escaped unharmed after the drama on Wednesday morning, although they were shaken by the experience. The Beechcraft Baron 58 was returning to the Darling Downs city after dropping passengers at Hervey Bay on Queensland's Fraser coast, reported ABC. Pilot Mark Crampton explained that shortly after the plane took off, he heard a large bang and a clunk while retracting the nose gear. He said he turned to his co-pilot and said: 'That doesn't sound all that good.' Mr Crampton, who has been a pilot for about 18 months, realised they were in trouble when their control panel indicated there was something wrong with their landing gear. After three failed attempts they tried to deploy the wheel manually but it still did not lock into place. When ground observers confirmed the nose wheel had not been properly released the pair realised they would have to carry out an emergency landing. 'Even though I was extremely nervous it's amazing how the training kicks in,' explained Mr Crampton. The pair knew they had to come in as slow as possible and make sure they could keep the nose up as long as they could. They ran through the procedure in the log book between them and then came into land. Mr Crampton said that the sounds of the nose dragging along the runaway were 'pretty scary.' (See video here) The pair jumped out the plane as soon as it ground to a halt. 'When it happens your greatest fear is fire,' Mr Crampton explained. But he insisted the experience has not put him off taking to the skies. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304350/Plane-skids-runway-200mph- nose-landing-wheel-fails-deploy.html?ito=feeds-newsxml Back to Top Back to Top FAA funded airport towers using 30-year-old data to justify costs The government has been using 30-year-old data on aircraft collisions to justify the cost of operating control towers at small airports even though accident rates have improved significantly over that time. Had the Federal Aviation Administration used more current data, it's probable that some low-traffic airport towers operated by private contractors would no longer have met the agency's criteria for funding, industry officials said. But the FAA has long been under pressure from members of Congress to open new towers at airports in their states, not close them. The FAA began paying contractors to staff and operate towers at a handful of small airports after President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers in 1981. Today, there are 251 towers operated by private contractors at airports across the country at an average cost to the Federal Aviation Administration of about $500,000 a year each. Since the program began, only three contractor- operated towers have been shut down, according to a trade association for the companies that operate the towers. On Sunday, 24 of the towers are to be shut down, the first wave of 149 tower closures over the next several weeks that Obama administration officials have said are necessary to accommodate government-wide automatic spending cuts required by Congress. The decision to shut down the contractor-operated towers at this time is unrelated to the FAA's use of obsolete safety data to justify the contract tower program. In recent years, the program has cost about $140 million annually. In 1990, the FAA developed a complicated cost-benefit methodology for the tower program that relies on accident data from 1983 to 1986 to determine how many accidents would be averted and lives saved if an airport had controllers working onsite. As the years have passed, the FAA has updated some of the economic assumptions used in the methodology. The safety data, however, has never been updated. In 1983, there were 10.7 accidents for every 100,000 departures involving small planes, business jets and other non-airline flights in the U.S., according to the National Transportation Safety Board. By 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, that rate had dropped to 6.5 accidents per 100,000 departures. The commercial airline accident rate dropped from 0.42 per 100,000 departures to 0.34 per 100,000 over the same period. But those numbers mask a spectacular decline in fatalities. There have been no airline accident fatalities in the U.S. in more than four years, the longest period without fatalities since the dawn of the jet age half a century ago. "None of the formulas have been updated since 1990, despite a very significant change in the aviation operating environment and the general aviation and commercial accident rates," the FAA said in a statement Thursday in response to questions from The Associated Press. "The FAA is in the process of updating this policy." Agency officials offered no explanation for the oversight. In particular, the FAA didn't update its assumptions on the number of collisions between two aircraft on the ground or in the air that might be avoided through staffing control towers. Advances in aviation safety technology on planes have virtually eliminated collisions between commercial planes and reduced collisions between other types of aircraft. "The FAA methodology likely overestimates present-day collisions," the Congressional Research Service said in a recent report. Initially the cost-benefit ratios were to be recalculated every two years, but that didn't happen, said David A. Byers, an aviation professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a consultant to the companies that operate the towers. If they were recalculated now, some airports would certainly fall below the FAA threshold for funding, he said. Of the nation's 5,000 public airports, only about 10 percent have control towers. Those without towers generally have relatively few flights, and pilots coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves. The towers are prized by local communities as economic boosters, particularly in rural areas. Airlines are sometimes reluctant to schedule flights to airports where there are no air traffic controllers onsite. And flight schools generally prefer to locate at airports with towers so student pilots can practice communications procedures. Former Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., a critic of the contract tower program, said he refused to allow lawmakers to insert provisions into bills requiring the FAA to pay for new control towers at airports in their districts when he was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "We couldn't always stop it in all instances in the appropriations process, particularly when a bill comes from the Senate and it has a designation of funding for a particular tower," Oberstar said. Last month, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., repeatedly tried to hold up final passage of a bill to prevent a government shutdown as he tried unsuccessfully to persuade Democrats to allow a vote on his plan for erasing most of the planned closures of towers operated contract controllers. Next week, Moran and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., plan to introduce a bill to require the FAA to resume operations at the 24 towers scheduled for closure on Sunday and to prohibit the agency from shutting down any more towers after that. The measure has the support of the American Association of Airport Executives and its affiliate organization, the U.S. Contract Tower Association, which represent the companies that operate contract towers. The associations filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday seeking to block the FAA from taking action. Several airports around the country also have filed their own suits. The suit contends that the FAA didn't follow its own procedures for shutting down the airport towers, and unfairly targeted the program for an outsized share of the more than $600 million the agency is required to trim from its budget by the end of September. "The administration has decided to make tower closures the poster child of sequestration (automatic spending cuts)," J. Spencer Dickerson, executive director of the contract tower association said. "We believe there are other ways they could have skinned this cat." But Oberstar said regional air traffic control facilities can handle most of needs of aircraft arriving and departing small airports. "The hoopla about 149 towers being cut I think is misplaced," he said. "I'm rather skeptical about those crying wolf." Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a joint statement Thursday that the FAA is conducting "a robust safety review and monitoring process to identify any hazards, and develop appropriate risk mitigations" associated with the tower closures. "While we make difficult budget decisions, safety is not up for negotiation," the statement said. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/05/faa-funded-airport-towers-using-30- year-old-data/ Back to Top Cambodia Tycoon To Launch New Airline With Philippine Flag Carrier Cambodian tycoon Kith Meng, who runs banking-to-telecoms conglomerate Royal Group, is teaming up with Philippine Airlines (PAL) to launch a new carrier later this year. In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, San Miguel, the part-owner of flag carrier PAL, along with billionaire Lucio Tan, confirmed the joint venture, in which PAL will hold 49%. The news was first reported Wednesday by the Philippine press. The new airline will be called Cambodia Airlines, not to be confused with state-owned Cambodia Angkor Air. A handful of private carriers also ply Cambodia's skies, but the market is dominated by regional carriers, mostly flying in from neighbouring Bangkok. A Cambodian startup would need to offer new routes or attractive discounts to compete with carriers like AirAsia and Bangkok Airways. San Miguel gave no details of how PAL would be involved in the new airline's launch. San Miguel acquired 49% of debt-ridden PAL last year; Tan holds the majority share. Under new ownership, PAL has finally begun to upgrade its fleet and turn around its poor image. Australian-educated Kith Meng got his start supplying UN peacekeepers in Cambodia after 1991 and later obtained a wireless telecoms license before diversifying into property and media. His Royal Group also runs a joint venture bank with Australia's ANZ Bank. But his reputation, like that of Prime Minister Hun Sen, his erstwhile patron, is tarnished by allegations of thuggish behaviour, as described in this 2008 FORBES profile. His swaggering style sets him apart from more low-key businesspeople who have emerged since the 1990s rebuilding of war-shattered Cambodia. As the economy has grown, a new class of tycoons has emerged. In a leaked U.S. cable from 2007 that listed the players, Kith Meng was dubbed 'Mr Rough Stuff'. How this translates into running an airline remains to be seen. But political connections should come in handy when it comes to securing land rights, as well as cross-promotions via his media assets. Cambodia Airlines is only the latest sign of bullishness in Southeast Asian air travel. Indonesia's largest carrier Lion Air surprised the market last month by ordering 234 Airbus aircraft, only a year after a deal with Boeing for a similar fleet expansion. AirAsia, run by Malaysian billionaire Tony Fernandes is also expanding rapidly in the region and is expected to guard its turf fiercely against Lion Air, which is privately held. By some estimates, over 1,000 new aircraft could be deployed in Southeast Asia over the next decade, testing the region's spending power and putting airlines into a potential tailspin if economic growth slows. http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2013/04/04/cambodia-tycoon-to- launch-new-airline-with-philippine-flag-carrier/ Curt Lewis