Flight Safety Information July 19, 2013 - No. 149 In This Issue Dreamliner returns to Boston for maintenance Jet Returns to Houston With Engine Trouble American jet request to land at Alliance causes brief stir on the ground Why so few Alaska airplane 'black box' recorders? Patients become too heavy for medical emergency helicopters Air India risking flight safety by altering operating norms for A320: Pilots U.S. aviation chief defends NextGen progress as funding cuts loom Saudi Airlines defends ban on Israeli passengers 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, July 23-24, 2013 Think ARGUS PROS GE Profit Beats Estimates as Jet Engines Buoy Backlog We need more female pilots: Column Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines to hire 300 pilots Dreamliner returns to Boston for maintenance BOSTON (AP) - A Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo's Narita Airport returned to Boston's Logan Airport on Thursday because of a possible fuel pump issue on the Boeing 787 aircraft. It's the latest trouble for the new Dreamliner aircraft after a lithium ion battery problem grounded the fleet in January and a fire erupted on an empty Ethiopian Airlines plane parked at Britain's Heathrow Airport last week. Flight 007 returned to Boston ''as a standard precautionary measure'' to check out a maintenance message indicator showing the possible fuel pump problem and landed safely, Japan Airlines spokeswoman Carol Anderson said. The pilot didn't declare an emergency, and the aircraft burned off fuel before landing, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Sarlac said. The plane left for Tokyo just before 1 p.m. Thursday for a flight of nearly 14 hours. It returned just before 6:30 p.m. One of two battery fires that grounded the 787s for three months broke out on a Japan Airlines plane at Logan in January after passengers had exited. The next day, another Japan Airlines 787 leaked 40 gallons of fuel at Logan. The airline said an open valve caused a tank to overflow through a vent. The 787 is the newest and highest-profile plane from Chicago-based Boeing Co., which has said it stands behind its safety and overall integrity. The 787 is assembled at Boeing plants in Everett, Wash., and North Charleston, S.C. Back to Top Jet Returns to Houston With Engine Trouble HOUSTON July 19, 2013 (AP) - A United Airlines jet headed to Amsterdam returned to Houston shortly after takeoff after problems were reported with one of its two engines. United Flight 58 left Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport about 3:30 p.m. CDT Thursday. A statement from the airline says the Boeing 777 landed safely in Houston at 5:13 p.m. None of the 223 passengers and 15 crew members was injured. United said passengers were to be booked on another airline while maintenance workers examine the aircraft. The Chicago-based airline has a hub in Houston. A Boeing 777 was involved in the July 6 crash in San Francisco of an Asiana flight from Seoul, South Korea. Three people were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board says it has found no mechanical or computer problems with the plane. Back to Top American jet request to land at Alliance causes brief stir on the ground FORT WORTH - Emergency ground crews were briefly scrambled Thursday when the crew of an American Airlines jet, thinking the plane was low on fuel, asked to land at Alliance Airport, officials said. The airport received a "call ahead for fuel" for a passenger aircraft, said Mercedes Bolen, a spokeswoman for Alliance Airport. But soon the request was cancelled. The plane had enough fuel to make it to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Bolen said. MedStar Ambulance was asked to send a unit to Alliance when the plane with 141 passengers aboard was diverted, said spokesman Matt Zavadsky. "We started a unit toward the airport," he said. "But we called it off within a couple of minutes, because the tower called us back and said the plane was going on to D/FW." Elizabeth Cory, an FAA spokeswoman, said the plane was American Airlines flight 1421 from Tampa, Fla., to D/FW. The flight landed safely at D/FW at 4:15 p.m., said American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller. The pilot called for an emergency landing "to ensure a prompt landing," he said. http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/07/18/5011578/american-jet-request-to-land- at.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top Why so few Alaska airplane 'black box' recorders? Why no "black box" in the de Havilland Otter plane crash that killed 10 in Alaska? Or in most Alaska plane crashes, for that matter? NTSB Questions were raised in recent press conferences with the NTSB concerning the lack of a so-called "black box" in the de Havilland Otter that crashed July 7 in Soldotna, Alaska, killing the pilot and all nine passengers. The black box has attained an almost mythic quality in aircraft crash investigation, but the truth -- and why so few of them are used in Alaska -- is far more mundane. In fact, there are two boxes for investigators. The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) is generally located in an aircraft's tail section and collects instructions sent to any electronic systems onboard. (Usually for 17-25 hours in a continuous loop.) It records aircraft performance parameters such as the airspeed, flight control positions, elevator and rudder inputs, etc. For example, the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 FDR included more than 1,400 parameters, collected over the length of the entire flight, according to the NTSB. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) is the second box and it records the audio environment within the flight deck (or cockpit). It covers four channels and depending on the model, holds as much as two hours of transmissions. The CVR is how investigators know what the flight crew members have said to each other as well as other aircraft and controlling authorities whom they may have communicated with prior to a an accident. In the U.S. there are different federal regulations governing the requirements for FDRs and CVRs. Determining if an aircraft must carry them is based on on such factors as: Aircraft weight Engine type Number of passenger seats Requirement of a two-person flight crew Year an aircraft was manufactured Further, while CVRs are required on some aircraft, FDRs might not be (thus an aircraft could have one type of device but not another). Older or so-called "legacy" aircraft, common in Alaska, are generally exempt from the regulations due to date of manufacture. A new type of data recording technology, which is an affordable possibility for air carriers or manufacturers that seek to utilize monitoring equipment for their own analysis and safety purposes, is the Flight Data Monitoring device (FDM). This equipment not only monitors basic aircraft information such as attitude and airspeed but also captures images of the instrument panel and audio in the cockpit. One such FDM device jointly developed between Appareo and Eurocopter is now installed in all new Eurocopter B2 and B3 helicopters, such as the American Eurocopter A-Star 350B3e unveiled recently by Alaska State Troopers. It also was on-board the AS-350 B3 that crashed in March near Talkeetna killing two Alaska State Troopers and their passenger. According to NTSB principle investigator Clint Johnson, the Talkeetna crash is the first in the country to be "image captured" with this equipment and the data is proving to be "considerably useful" in the accident investigation. The first prototype of a FDR/CVR was developed by Australian David Warren in 1956. His father was killed in a plane crash in 1934 over Bass Strait leaving only an oil slick and no clues as to its cause. Warren developed a passion for electronics and a desire to uncover the secrets of aircraft accidents in the wake of his father's death. Australia was the first country to make cockpit voice recording required. Read more about him here. The term "black box" is used as a metaphor in science and technology for a device whose inner workings are generally a mystery but output is extremely important. http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130716/why-so-few-alaska-airplane-black- box-recorders Back to Top Patients become too heavy for medical emergency helicopters An estimated 5,000 US patients requiring medical treatment are denied helicopter transport each year because they are too heavy or large to fit in an aircraft. To accommodate the nation's super-sized patients, emergency medical providers are now being forced to purchase larger helicopters and fixed-wing planes. More than two- thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, which has caused a dilemma for air transport providers. "It's an issue for sure," Craig Yale, vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, told NBC. "We can get to a scene and find that the patient is too heavy to be able to go." Emergency medical providers use helicopters in dire instances where a patient needs the fastest possible transportation to survive. But if a patient is too large or heavy to fit in the helicopter, they may not be able to receive the urgent care they need in a fast enough manner. About 5,000 obese patients are denied helicopter transportation each year in the US. In some cases, their weight or size exceeds the aircraft's capacity, but in other cases, these patients simply cannot fit through the doors. Even if heavy patients fit into the aircraft, their weight can sometimes prevent a helicopter from lifting off the ground. Transporting a patient that exceeds a helicopter's weight capacity can also pose a dangerous risk to all on board: a helicopter that crashed in New York's East River in October 2011 went down because it was over capacity by 250 pounds. "It is definitely becoming more of a problem," Dr. David Thomson, a professor of emergency medicine at East Carolina University, told NBC. "The whole spectrum of ER services, from flying to ground services, gets affected when you've got these huge folks." The ability for a helicopter to lift heavy patients also depends on the air density, and obese patients are more likely to weigh down the aircraft when the air becomes thinner during the summer months. "If you have a really hot, humid day, we can't lift nearly as much as on a day when it's cold and crisp," Thomson said. This spring, a 460-pound patient from Texas, a 444-pound patient from Arizona, and a 225-pount patient from Arizona were all too large to fit in a responding helicopter. The patients were suffering from breathing problems, severe abscesses and a flesh-eating bacterial infection, respectively. After emergency responders were unable to fit them in a helicopter, the patients had to travel by ambulance and their chances of survival were severely hindered. Some emergency helicopters are unable to carry patients weighing more than 250 pounds, and others are able to accommodate patients weighing up to 650 pounds. As a result, emergency medical providers have been forced to expand their fleets and purchase larger air ambulances, which can be costly. The Duke University Medical Center has recently purchased two large helicopters at the cost of $10 million each. And unless two-thirds of all Americans shed their extra weight, medical care providers will need to drop the extra cash to accommodate the growing girths. http://rt.com/usa/patients-obesity-helicopter-emergency-226/ Back to Top Air India risking flight safety by altering operating norms for A320: Pilots Mumbai: Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) today accused Air India of arbitrarily changing the flight operating procedures for narrow-body A320 aircraft, affecting flight safety. Air India has denied the allegations saying that the changed norms fully comply with all operating standards and do not in any way compromise air safety. "Without any detailed study and without ensuring adequacy of power, any alteration of the certification process is a gross violation of original certification of airworthiness and serious flight safety violation," said ICPA, the apex body of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots. "We would like to inform that even the manufacturer (Airbus) specifies that if the company decides to set all engines acceleration altitude to 800 ft and select a higher one-engine inoperative acceleration altitude, a detailed study needs to be performed by company's flight operations engineer," the ICPA said. The body alleged that Air India neither conducted any such study nor has it consulted any other department like flight safety and training prior to modifying the standard operating system. "Air India has also not notified the Director General of Civil Aviation on the modified procedure and has not received any approval for the same," the ICPA said. Meanwhile, rebutting the ICPA allegations, Air India said that safety of the aircraft, passengers and operations is paramount for the carrier. "Air India would like to reiterate with emphasis that safety of aircraft, passenger and operations is paramount at Air India. And the changes in flight operation procedures, notified by the airline recently, fully comply with all operating standards and do not in any way compromise air safety," the statement issued by Air India said. http://www.firstpost.com/business/air-india-risking-flight-safety-by-altering-operating- norms-for-a320-pilots-961093.html Back to Top U.S. aviation chief defends NextGen progress as funding cuts loom WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 17, 2013 7:19pm EDT (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday defended the "NextGen" program to modernize U.S. flight control systems, telling a government panel the effort has made progress despite delays and is "designed to be flexible." "Overall, NextGen is on track," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a House of Representatives aviation subcommittee. But an aviation industry group later responded that the expected cost and efficiency benefits from the program have so far not been widely realized. The FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System program was launched to switch flight control operations from radar to GPS-based technology, allowing more traffic and reducing flight delays. The program was set up to be implemented in stages between 2012 and 2025. Huerta said the program has had some successes, noting the deployment of 500 satellite systems at ground stations. Specific airports have already seen increases in air traffic and millions of dollars in savings, he said. "As of this very moment, air carriers that take advantage of precision routing get into and out of airports more quickly and efficiently, which reduces fuel use, saves money and decreases aircraft exhaust emissions," Huerta said in a prepared statement. However, several members of the subcommittee said organizational troubles within the FAA were delaying NextGen. "There are serious concerns regarding the FAA's ability to effectively and efficiently implement NextGen," said committee Chairman Frank LoBiondo. Calvin Scovel, the inspector general with the Department of Transportation, said government budget cuts, known as sequestration, had already halted some projects to ease congestion at U.S. airports. The FAA faces more cuts as well. Representative Rick Larsen noted that a proposed budget recently passed by the House Appropriations Committee is 22 percent less than requested and is the lowest capital funding since 2000. "At those funding levels, the agency would be required to restrain (NextGen) efforts greatly," Scovel noted. But Huerta said that while the proposed cuts may cause the latest programs under NextGen to be suspended and might cost up to 700,000 jobs by 2021, the program was "flexible" enough to adapt. "The industry and we have agreed that it would be prudent for us to have a clear sense of ... priorities," he said. The DOT's Scovel, however, said the technology had not been widely adopted and that delays and costs meant the program would cost "significantly more" than the planned $40 billion and could take 10 years longer than the original 2025 deadline. "I would urge the committee to hold the FAA's feet to the fire," Scovel said, suggesting the inspector general's office could be used to ensure the FAA meets its goals. Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, a trade organization that represents the commercial aviation industry, said in an email that the new procedures are not yet widely used. In some cases, airlines have invested in equipping planes with GPS, but have not been able to take full advantage of the modern technology, she said, adding FAA data shows that flight delays cost airlines and consumers about $31 billion annually. "To date, FAA has received adequate funding for NextGen," Medina said. "And it speaks to the fact that we need policies and procedures in place to enable us to use the equipment we have already invested in." Back to Top Saudi Airlines defends ban on Israeli passengers Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines Khalid al-Melhem responds to recent criticisms that his airline discriminates against Israelis and Jews. The director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, Khalid al-Melhem, responded to recent criticisms and threats to ban his airline from U.S. airports for allegedly violating federal law by "discriminating" against Israelis and Jews. He noted there is no political relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel. "If there is an absence of political relations between [Saudi Arabia] and any other country, we will not allow that country's citizens into the kingdom," Melhem told Saudi's Al-Watan newspaper. "[Diplomatic relations] also apply to transit passengers... in case the plane is delayed, the passenger will have to enter the country; and at that point, it would be very difficult to let him into [Saudi] if there are no diplomatic relations." Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines Khalid al-Melhem defends his airline's decision not to allow Israelis on board. Earlier this week, New York Public Advocate Bill de Blasio condemned the Saudi airline's decision not to allow Israelis on board and said that it was "racial discrimination." He warned that he would work to ensure the Saudi airlines does not land in American airports. "No city in the world has closer ties to Israel than we do, and yet Israeli citizens are being discriminated against right here at JFK [airport]. It's not only illegal; it's an affront to who we are," De Blasio said in remarks carried by local media. He added that he "will act to make sure they're excluded from United States airports, starting with JFK" if the airline does not change its policy. "We won't stop with just exposing these practices. We'll pursue this with authorities in Albany and in Washington until Israeli nationals' rights are respected." According to various reports, Blasio sent a letter to Melhem informing him that he has two options: either review his airline's policies or work in compliance with international aviation laws, which - the NY official added - do not tolerate discrimination. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/aviation-and-transport/2013/07/19/Saudi- airlines-responds-to-NY-official-s-racial-discrimination-criticisms.html Back to Top 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, July 23-24, 2013 Just under a month until the 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar in Dallas, July 23-24 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, from 8-5 each day. The seminar fee is $100. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. We have a great speaker lineup, entertaining venue and a chance to share best practices with your fellow professionals. FMI: http://www.signalcharlie.net/Seminar+2013 Registration: http://www.signalcharlie.net/Seminar+Registration+2013 Kent B. Lewis (850) 449-4841 www.signalcharlie.net Back to Top Back to Top GE Profit Beats Estimates as Jet Engines Buoy Backlog General Electric Co. (GE) reported a second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as demand for jet engines and oil-and-gas drilling equipment drove the order backlog to a record. Adjusted profit from continuing operations of 36 cents a share exceeded the 35-cent average of 13 analysts' projections compiled by Bloomberg. Earnings on that basis were $3.7 billion, down 8 percent from a year earlier, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said today in a statement. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt is investing in the aviation and oil and gas divisions, through purchases including Lufkin Industries Inc. and by opening factories, as he seeks to boost sales and profit from manufacturing and service operations. Profit margins at the industrial units are poised to keep expanding, he said today. "You're seeing a little faster growth in those businesses, and that's going to be a main focus on the industrial side and across the whole company," Christian Mayes, an Edward Jones & Co. analyst in St. Louis who has a hold rating on GE, said in a telephone interview. "Those are areas that have the most potential and where they're spending money on acquisitions." The shares rose 2.2 percent to $24.14 at 7:42 a.m. in New York before regular trading. GE's 13 percent year-to-date gain through yesterday trailed the 18 percent advance for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Segment Revenue Aviation sales climbed 9 percent, as did revenue for the oil and gas segment. GE Capital, the finance unit, reported sales of $11 billion, 3 percent less than a year earlier. The industrial backlog rose 3.2 percent to $223 billion. Total revenue fell 4 percent to $35.1 billion, GE said, trailing the $35.6 billion average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts. The profit margin at the industrial businesses grew 50 basis points, or 0.5 percentage point, in the quarter, GE said. Immelt has pledged to expand margins by 70 basis points this year. Operating earnings at the units grew 2 percent from the same period in 2012 to $3.8 billion. "We expect margin expansion to continue and segment profits to grow in the second half of the year," Immelt said in the statement. GE agreed to buy Lufkin Industries, a manufacturer of oil-field equipment, in April for about $3.3 billion. Its $4.3 billion acquisition of Avio SpA, an aerospace-parts maker that counts GE among its biggest customers, is scheduled to close in the third quarter, according to the statement. Counting pension costs and discontinued businesses, GE's net income rose 1 percent to $3.13 billion, or 30 cents a share, from $3.11 billion, or 29 cents, a year earlier. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-19/ge-profit-beats-estimates-as-jet-engines- buoy-backlog.html Back to Top We need more female pilots: Column By: Liza Mundy Women are sparse in the cockpit. Just 4 percent of aircraft pilots and flight engineers are female. In the wake of the Asiana crash, the official in charge of the investigation is Deborah Hersman. Our culture seems to have an easier time accepting women in leadership roles involving public safety. History is full of bold and charismatic aviatrixes:Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic;Bessie Coleman, the first African American to earn a pilot's license;Elinor Smith, the "Flying Flapper of Freeport," who in 1928, at the age of 17, became thefirst and only pilot to fly under New York City's four East River bridges, a stunt she did on a dare. To name just a few. Commercial airlines, however, are not similarly replete: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 4 percent of aircraft pilots and flight engineers are female, a figure that has not budged much over the decades. So it's striking that, in the wake of the July 6 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, the official in charge of the investigation is Deborah Hersman, indefatigable chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board. As she and her staff have investigated what caused a Boeing 777 to crash while landing in San Francisco, Hersman has delivered public briefings that are models of transparency, patience, and aviation knowhow. Her cool professionalism is a welcome rebuttal to a widespread lack of faith these days in public servants and in government generally. Hersman is no anomaly - the face of commercial aviation oversight at the federal level has often been female in recent decades. Marion Blakey, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, has headed both NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration. Her predecessor at FAA was Jane Garvey, a former director of Boston's Logan International. The person who initiated the nationwide shutdown of air traffic on 9/11 was Susan Baer, who at the time was the general manager of the Newark airport. Baer has run all three major airports in the New York area. As Amy Laboda, editor-in-chief of Aviation for Womenmagazine, points out, women have risen through the ranks to head some large regional air traffic control facilities. And while female names are largely absent from the ranks of major airline CEOs, women head three of the six top defense contractors. But why do women remain so scarce in the cockpit? Harvard economist Claudia Goldin, who has written extensively about formal barriers that kept women out of certain jobs during parts of the 20th century, told me in an email that "one of the great barriers to women in aviation was the training that the military gave to men." Many commercial airline pilots start out as fighter pilots, a job that only became open to women in 1993. All that time away from home is another barrier. "More than half of male pilots are divorced, and there's another half that have been divorced twice-it's a hard life for anybody who wants to have a family," says Amy Laboda. "I didn't become a pilot for those reasons." (Still, most flight attendants are female.) Sexism, alas, can't be excluded as a contributing cause. Viewer comments on YouTube videos of Deborah Hersman's briefings reveal not only geeky obsessions with technical aviation terms (and her mastery of them) but a focus on her looks. These give a glimmer of what it's like for any woman to spend hours shut up in a tight space with a male pilot or co-pilot who may not want her there. Our culture also seems to have an easier time accepting women in leadership roles involving public safety. The model here would be former Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole, who famously brought American cars the rear-window automobile brake lamp, known in her honor as the "Liddy Light." Women are more acceptable as leaders and enforcers when they adopt the quasi-maternal role of making sure we're safe and sound. But it would be good to see more women pilots in the captain's seat. Like all industries integral to our progress and well-being, the airline business needs to maximize the pool of talented professionals from which it draws. The next time I sit white-knuckled in my seat during a round of turbulence, I know whose voice I would want to hear over the loudspeaker telling me it's nothing to worry about: Deborah Hersman's. Then I might be inclined to believe it. Liza Mundy is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Our Culture. She wrote this for Zocalo Public Square. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/18/female-airline-pilots- column/2522375/ Back to Top Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines to hire 300 pilots ATLANTA (AP) - Delta Air Lines officials say the company will hire 300 pilots starting in November. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/13nfQHa ) reports that the development marks the first pilot hiring since 2010 for the Atlanta-based airline. Company officials say they'll add 50 pilots a month from November through early 2014, then about 20 a month through September 2014. Pilots who were previously furloughed will have first dibs on the positions, but not all are expected to return. Pilots from Delta Connection carriers Compass and Endeavor Air are expected to fill some of the positions, along with experienced pilots from elsewhere such as other regional carriers and the U.S. military. Back to Top Curt Lewis