Flight Safety Information August 9, 2013 - No. 164 In This Issue San Francisco Jet Crash Puts Focus on Rescue Perils Experts say stricter FAA rules for pilots too costly, won't improve safety Air crash survival improves at landing, lags elsewhere Military plane bursts into flames at Mogadishu airport NJ Man Faces Fine for Disrupting Airport Satellite Aviation Publishers releases Instrument Procedures Manual, 5th edition Passenger accused of attacking Miami-bound Russian flight crew Man hit in head by helicopter blade Think ARGUS PROS Graduate Research Survey 5th Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference & Exhibition (5th GHAC) San Francisco Jet Crash Puts Focus on Rescue Perils By MATTHEW L. WALD BOSTON - The firehouse near the end of Logan Airport's Runway 14 is home to the pride and joy of the airport's rescue and firefighting team: Engine 3, a 1,000-horsepower, four-wheel-drive behemoth with thermal imaging and a radar screen, its body painted a special color, Boston Lime Green. A special nozzle can release foam into the fuselage. Firefighters' portable stairs are often preferred to slides for evacuation. Acquired in 2010 for $1.3 million, Engine 3 will soon be joined by two more high-tech trucks as Logan plays catch-up with the challenges of fighting fires on today's bigger and more sophisticated planes. "When the bell rings, you've got to be ready," said Edward C. Freni, Logan's director of aviation. But fire trucks can present their own dangers, fire experts say. The crash of a Boeing 777 at San Francisco International on July 6, and the fact that one of the three passengers who died was run over by a fire truck, has drawn new attention to airport firefighting like the kind at Logan. Although there will not be a definitive explanation of how the passenger died until an investigation is completed by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is reviewing onboard videos, reports circulating among firefighters indicate that at San Francisco, one fire truck pulled up near the airplane's nose and started spraying foam. A second truck arrived later, forward of the right wing, and ran over the passenger, who was likely covered in foam. "They're responding with very large trucks capable of delivering 3,000 gallons of water with fire suppressant in a matter of a few seconds," said George Doughty, a former airport manager and former official at the Federal Aviation Administration. A passenger flat on the pavement could quickly be obscured by foam, he said, and "the risk of hitting a survivor is very real." A passenger could even be drowned, he said. Officials in San Francisco have not said whether the passenger, a 16-year-old Chinese girl, was still living at the time she was struck. Two other passengers on that Asiana flight were also killed. Presuming that trucks reach a burning plane without mishap, there are other snap judgments to be made, firefighters said. For example, some trucks carry a boom with a tip resembling a giant hypodermic needle that can penetrate the fuselage and squirt the fire-suppressing foam. The most likely use is on a cargo plane, but they could be used on a passenger plane, perhaps even before firefighters are sure that all the passengers have gotten out. Firefighters are trained to punch a hole near the crown of the fuselage, avoiding the overhead luggage bins and entering at an angle to reduce the chance of spearing a passenger. Quick action is essential, fire experts say, because modern planes like the Boeing 787 are increasingly made of carbon fiber, which burns faster than the traditional aluminum and produces more toxic smoke. In big crashes, firefighters have to handle multiple levels of chaos. "There is an active fire, debris on the runway and persons evacuating the aircraft," said Duane Kann, the fire chief at the Orlando airport. The driver might be alone, and the trucks have extra equipment, including a Forward-Looking Infra-Red camera, known as Flir, for finding fires in poor visibility. "There's the Flir, looking for hot spots, and he's listening to the radio," Chief Kann said. "There's a lot of things happening in the cab of that vehicle." Among the challenges, firefighters say, is dodging debris that could pop a tire and immobilize the fire truck. Airport firefighters are drilled on different models of airplanes and sometimes travel to distant airports to do so. Manufacturers like Boeing issue special instructions for each model and give the locations of critical items like batteries. Firefighting strategies also differ by the size of the plane. Larger aircraft are usually taller, with longer evacuation slides, so firefighters are trained to park their trucks further away to avoid interference. The F.A.A. requires fire equipment appropriate to the types of planes at an airport, but it does not specify staffing levels. In 2009, a United Nations aviation organization and the National Fire Protection Association began a campaign to impose such standards and require that crews be able to reach a crash scene in two minutes. But a National Academy of Sciences panel that studied the idea said that it would cost $2.8 billion to set up and $1.3 billion a year thereafter. Reviewing government reports of accidents from January 1997 to December 2007, the study found that the tougher standards "may have made a difference in the outcome for at most one individual." The philosophy at Logan is to be prepared for the worst but to respond proportionately. In January after an American Airlines MD-80 landed with a wheel on fire, the rescue crew, using thermal imaging and communicating with the cockpit crew over a special channel, persuaded the captain not to use the emergency chutes and to wait for a truck with attached stairs to pull up. "We averted a needless evacuation," said Robert J. Donahue Jr., the fire chief. Whenever the slides are used, he said, "at least 10 percent of the passenger load is going to be injured, some very seriously." The accidents do not have to be dramatic to require high-tech tools. Again, in January at Logan, a mechanic smelled smoke on a Japan Airlines 787 parked at a gate. Firefighters went quickly to the electronics bay, but it was so filled with smoke that they had to use a thermal imaging camera to find the source, a lithium-ion battery that had caught fire. Much of the work of airport firefighters remains everyday calls. At the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Mich., Robert W. Benstein, the public safety and operations director, said that the firefighters were also emergency medical technicians. "Seventy percent of our calls are probably medical-related," Mr. Benstein said. "Somebody tips over luggage in the terminal, or spills hot coffee on themselves, or there's a car accident." The San Francisco accident and Engine 3 notwithstanding, crashes at airports are still so rare that firefighters say they try to prepare themselves for the real thing by watching crash videos on YouTube. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/us/san-francisco-jet-crash-puts-focus-on-rescue- perils.html?_r=0 Back to Top Experts say stricter FAA rules for pilots too costly, won't improve safety Student pilot Zach Sargent walks past a plane Thursday at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. He estimates his education will cost at least $250,000 under the FAA's tougher rules. "A lot of students are pulling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans" to pay off flight school, he said. Tougher commercial pilot training rules that took effect this month will make America's skies safer, federal officials say, but aviation experts and veteran pilots argue that the costly changes are overreaching, off-target and creating crew shortages, all while doing little to improve safety. The changes, which affect regional carriers and increase the minimum flight time required to be a co-pilot from 250 to 1,500 hours, came in response to a 2009 plane crash in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 50 people. The Federal Aviation Administration argues that the tougher qualifications for co-pilots, or first officers, will ensure that pilots have a stronger foundation of aeronautical knowledge and the proper experience to fly for an airline and to fly specific airplane models to which they are assigned. Independent experts and pilots, however, say skilled aviators are the product of a rigorous, high-quality training program, not the number of hours they log in the cockpit. "I used to think that flight time was a measure of everything," said Bill Parrot, a retired American Airlines captain who teaches aviation at Lewis University in Romeoville. "I flew with a guy with 10,000 hours in the military who scared the hell out of me. It was a reality check. "Flight time can mean you survived this far based on luck," he said. "It does not equate to proficiency and certainly not to professionalism." The pilot shortage resulting from the new rules has prompted some regional carriers, which pay among the lowest pilot salaries in the industry, to offer signing bonuses of $5,000 to $10,000 to the shrinking pool of job-seekers who meet the new minimum standards, airline officials said. Despite the mandated extra hours, those new hires still might not be ready or possess the aptitude - or as aviators might say, the "right stuff" - to become professional flying aces, according to veteran airline pilots, airline flight instructors and pilot career counselors. The shortage also comes as many senior pilots working at major airlines are reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65. The retirement wave will open up spaces for captains at regional airlines to cross over to work at major airlines and, in turn, create more openings for captains and first officers at regional airlines, officials said. One reason for the shortage is the exorbitant cost facing aspiring pilots, many of whom earn a starting salary of $20,000 to $25,000, sometimes less. Zach Sargent, 21, a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., estimated his education will cost at least $250,000 to complete under the new FAA rules. The old regimen could cost many trainees $50,000 to $80,000. The reason he can pursue his career dream is that his grandfather paid for it, he said. "I got extremely lucky, but a lot of students are pulling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans in order to pay it off," said Sargent, of Santa Rosa, Calif., who has accrued about 600 flight hours. Even with reduced requirements of 1,000 hours for college-educated pilots, the FAA is still "making it a longer process than it was" when he started his flight education, Sargent said while attending the AirVenture air show last week in Oshkosh, Wis. "But I guess you can say that, with more experience, it is a little safer." Pilots-in-training face the added costs at a time when the industry is ramping up hiring. In the wake of very limited pilot hiring by major airlines over the last five years, United Airlines has slowly increased its hiring, and American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have announced that they will restart hiring in the fall. According to some projections, as many as 10,000 pilots a year could be hired to keep pace with attrition and meet service expansion plans. A recent study by the University of North Dakota said major airlines will need to hire about 60,000 pilots by 2025. Compounding the industry's hiring challenge will be a new FAA safety rule taking effect next year that requires more rest time for commercial pilots, to counter chronic fatigue that imperils safety. But it will accelerate the need for even more pilots. The FAA's enhanced pilot requirements, which the agency estimates will cost the industry and pilots $6.4 billion, took three years to finalize and were challenged by the airline industry and pilot unions much of the way. The requirements will "help mitigate the risk of a first officer transitioning to captain before he or she is ready," FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker said at a recent meeting of the Air Line Pilots Association in Washington. Under the changes, first officers are required to hold an airline transport pilot certificate, which reflects the 1,500-hour requirement. First officers were previously required to have only a commercial pilot certificate, which required 250 hours of flight time. Many safety experts question the wisdom of raising flight-time requirements, which was the outgrowth of a congressional order in 2010, in response to the 2009 Buffalo crash. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-airline-pilot-training- 20130809,0,2659506.story Back to Top Air crash survival improves at landing, lags elsewhere The wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 lies on the ground after it crashed at the San Francisco International Airport. More passengers are surviving fatal airline accidents that occur during landing, a new USA TODAY study shows. Of 1,266 fatal accidents worldwide since 1970, 9% occurred during landing. In those accidents. 39% of the passengers and flight crew survived during the 1970s, compared with 67% or more in subsequent decades. The cause of the Asiana Flight 214 crash last month at San Francisco International Airport is still under investigation. In that accident, the plane's tail section struck a sea wall during landing, causing the plane to split apart. Ultimately, three passengers died and 304 survived. More recently, 10 people were injured but all survived on July 22 when the landing gear of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 jet collapsed while landing at New York's La Guardia Airport. USA TODAY's exclusive study - which analyzed Aviation Safety Network fatal accident data from 1970 through July 10, 2013, for aircraft with 12 seats or more - indicates that safety improvements in recent decades have saved lives during landing accidents. The Aviation Safety Network gathers accident data for the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Flight Safety Foundation. The study also shows, however, that most fatal airline accidents happen during other flight phases, and survival rates during those stages have actually worsened. In the 1970s, 22% survived, compared with 15% from 2000 through 2009. The Federal Aviation Administration says it has improved accident survivability during the past three decades by requiring airlines to make aircraft safety improvements, such as bathroom smoke detectors, safer seats, better access to exits and less flammable cabin materials. Other countries have required similar safety advances. Fatal accidents are rare. U.S. airlines operate more than 9 million flights annually and, according to the study, were involved in five fatal accidents from 2008 through July 10, 2013. Former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall reviewed the study data and agreed with USA TODAY's conclusions. The data show "it's important" that the aviation industry "continues to work to increase survivability," he said. The FAA and the NTSB, which investigates accidents, would not comment on the USA TODAY study. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/usatoday/article/2613677 Back to Top Military plane bursts into flames at Mogadishu airport * Aircraft was carrying ammunition * Ethiopia supporting fight against Islamist militants MOGADISHU, Aug 9 (Reuters) - An Ethiopian military aircraft carrying ammunition crash- landed at Mogadishu's international airport on Friday, bursting into flames and killing four of the six crew members. The Soviet-made Antonov 24 plane got into trouble in the air and then missed the runway, hurtling into the ground shortly after 0400 GMT and setting off the ammunition. Ethiopian troops are supporting Somalia's fight against al Qaeda-linked militants in the Horn of Africa country, although they are not part of an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force. There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia's foreign ministry. "We can hear explosions as it burns. It is burning like hell," said one security source at the airport. After the fire was put out, only a blackened shell of the plane remained. The AU peacekeeping force, known as AMISOM, said in a statement four crew members were killed and two were in hospital. It was unclear what ammunition the plane was carrying and where it was headed. A convoy of empty Somali military trucks had earlier been seen at the airport. In March, the U.N. Security Council partially lifted a decades-old arms embargo for one year to help the government buy light weapons to strengthen its military to fight the Islamist rebel group, al Shabaab. AMISOM said the airport, home to a growing number of passenger flights since African troops and Somali government forces flushed al Shabaab rebels from their bases in the capital two years ago, would resume operations shortly. It gave no details on what caused the plane to crash. Military aircraft regularly land at the city's airport, which also serves as the headquarters for the AU peacekeepers. Ethiopia sent forces inside Somalia in 2011 to open up a new front in the military campaign to crush the al Shabaab insurgents and end their six-year fight to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law on the country. The Addis Ababa government is, though, frustrated by the slow pace at which the 17,700-strong AU force and Somali troops have backfilled areas liberated from al Shabaab. Earlier this year Ethiopia threatened to pull its soldiers out. Somalia's aviation record is among the worst on a continent which has a history of plane disasters. Until recently, the carcass of another Russian-made cargo plane lay tilted on its belly near the passenger terminal of Mogadishu's airport. Back to Top NJ Man Faces Fine for Disrupting Airport Satellite NEWARK, N.J. August 9, 2013 (AP) - A New Jersey man faces tens of thousands of dollars in fines after regulators say he interfered with a satellite system at one of the nation's busiest airports while masking his whereabouts from his employer. The Federal Communications Commission says Gary Bojczak admitted he installed a jamming device in his company-owned pickup to thwart his employer's GPS. The FCC says the jamming device interfered with a satellite system that enhanced navigation signals that used GPS data to aid aircraft approaching, departing and on the ground at Newark Liberty International Airport. Officials say Bojczak surrendered the jamming device after his vehicle was stopped at the airport in 2012. His faces nearly $32,000 in fines after the FCC found he unlawfully operated an illegal GPS jammer and interfered with authorized communications. Back to Top Aviation Publishers releases Instrument Procedures Manual, 5th edition Aviation Publishers is pleased to announce the release of its new, and highly anticipated, Instrument Procedures Manual, 5th Edition, also well known as the IPM. This latest edition of this established Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) textbook is a significant upgrade over the previous edition, which was last updated in the 1990s. It is written to provide both students, as well as experienced pilot professionals, with information on today's aircraft, satellite and ground-based instrument systems, departure, en route and approach procedures, and air traffic control regulations. In addition, this new IPM includes new chapters on pilot performance, automation and technology, and international procedures. Every phase of flight, from pre-flight to landing, is discussed in terms of a safe and efficient IFR operation. Nine chapters make up the bulk of this new edition of this title. They are: Chapter 1 Physiological Factors Related to IFR Flight; Chapter 2 Pilot Performance & Instrument Flight; Chapter 3 Instrumentation & Navigation Systems; Chapter 4 Instrument Flight Techniques; Chapter 5 Air Traffic Services; Chapter 6 IFR Flight Procedures; Chapter 7 Automation & Technology; Chapter 8 International Procedures; Chapter 9 Rotor Wing. This new IPM also contains seven appendices, and a very thorough index. Those familiar with previous editions of the IPM will notice the entirely new "look" to the interior of the publication. While limited material, and some graphical elements, from the last edition have been carried over that remain valid in the up-to-date world of IFR flying, a huge effort has been put forth to enhance the appearance and content of this new version. Containing content that is new as of this year's publication date, it is safe to say that this new IPM 5th Edition is likely the most current textbook of its kind in the aviation world today. The author of this IPM 5th Edition is David Holland who, in the 1990s and under contract to Transport Canada, authored the last version of this title. Holland's experience is boundless: he has amassed over 15,000 hours in his 30+ years in aviation. He is an Airbus A330 Captain, and an Airbus Check Captain, at Air Canada. He is a Transport Canada Pilot Examiner, and a Transport Canada Inspector. He served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Captain and Instructor on C130 Hercules aircraft. And, he is president of Aerosolutions, a consultancy in professional aviation training. As with all of Aviation Publishers' publications, colour appears throughout this new IPM. The standard styles that appear throughout all Aviation Publishers' books have also been applied throughout the new IPM. Page-count for the new IPM is now at 288 pages. The book's retail price is $89.95. Copies of this title are now available from Aviation Publishers' distributors, all of which can be found at http://aviationpublishers.com/buying-our-books/ . Long considered the authoritative textbook on instrument flying, this IPM will be crucial, and necessary, reading for every serious professional pilot, be they student or experienced professional. Aviation Publishers is pleased to now include this important title in its portfolio of textbooks. For additional information, please contact any one of Aviation Publishers' distributors, or contact Aviation Publishers at 613.244.8280, or via email at gpeppler@aviationpublishers.com http://skiesmag.com/news/articles/19616-aviation-publishers-releases-instrument- procedures-manual-5t.html Back to Top Passenger accused of attacking Miami-bound Russian flight crew A South Florida man faces up to 20 years in federal prison after he was accused of assaulting passengers and crew members on a Miami-bound flight from Russia last week. A federal air marshal said Pavel Nesvat had to be physically restrained by flight attendants after he hit fellow passengers and crew members, "inappropriately" touched and grabbed a female passenger sitting next to him and approached the plane's cockpit while wearing a backpack. Special Agent Joel Beck said in his Aug. 2 criminal complaint that Nesvat's tantrum happened about five hours into the flight aboard a Transaero Airlines 747. Beck works for the Transportation Security Administration and is assigned to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force at the Miami International Airport. According to Beck's report: Nesvat began throwing ice cream jars at other passengers and hitting them. When a flight attendant told him to sit down and stop his attack, he groped a female passenger next to him. He then attacked two flight attendants by "physically assaulting them and pulling their ears." When Nesvat put on his backpack and approached the front of the plane, a flight attendant stopped him. She said Nesvat "was unable to answer questions about his intentions for moving forward," Beck wrote. He continued to "aggressively fight with one of the flight attendants "who was in fear of becoming seriously injured." Several flight attendants had to subdue Nesvat in his seatbelt. "Nesvat attacked the flight attendants while they attempted to secure him in his seat," Beck wrote. The jet's captain heard the fighting and requested law enforcement officers meet the plane when it landed at Miami International Airport. U.S. District Court Judge William Turnoff set Nesvat's bond at $200,000. He was arrested on a charge of interfering with a flight crew, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 15. It's not clear where Nesvat lives. Beck, who did not return phone calls for this report, said in the complaint that Nesvat has dual U.S. and Russian citizenship. Nesvat's attorney, Filipe Jaramillo, referred questions to his boss, Jason Kreiss, who did not return a phone call message. http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/09/3552136/passenger-accused-of- attacking.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top Man hit in head by helicopter blade A man is recovering in an Edmonton hospital after being struck in the head by a helicopter blade in northern Saskatchewan Tuesday. The man was working as a subcontractor for a company called Discovery International Geophysics, which was doing seismic surveying near Forest Lake, about 170 kilometres north of La Loche. Forrest Lake Saskatchewan Several employees were being flown to the area by helicopter Tuesday morning. After the helicopter landed at about 10:30 a.m. CST the man got out, removed his gear, and walked to the front of the helicopter. That's where he was struck by the rotor blade. The helicopter took off to get help, while the other two passengers stayed with the man and administered first aid. "He was unconscious for a while, and he was not breathing for a while," said Dennis Woods, president of Discovery International Geophysics. "They, with great due diligence, and everything else, they basically saved his life." The man suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital in Edmonton. Officials from the company and some people who know the man said he was recovering well and doing much better. "He is doing fairly good right now from talking to the wife and some other people as well that are with him," said Teddy Clark, the owner of Big Bear Contracting, a company the injured man had worked for in the past. "He's amazingly going into recovery mode." The Transportation Safety Board said the front skids of the helicopter may have sunk down into the soft ground causing it to be lower than it normally would have been. The incident is under review. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/08/08/sk-helicopter- accident.html Back to Top Back to Top Graduate Research Survey: Commercial Airline Pilot Informal Learning Survey Request for Participant's, The Federal Aviation Administration's 2010 Call to Action recognized that current pilot training practices may need to be modified or changed. The one-size fits all approach to pilot training may no longer be sufficient in today's aviation environment. While there have been numerous studies on commercial airline pilots' formal learning, little is known about pilots informal learning activities, perceptions of informal learning, and opinions on how airlines should support informal learning. This study intends to answer those questions. If you are currently US part 121 commercial airline pilot, please take a few minutes to let us know how you learn outside of the training center. The survey is anonymous and should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Click here to access the survey, or you can paste the link into your browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FMDFJRM Please note that the results of the study will be aggregated and will be available upon request at the conclusion of the study. For more information, or to receive a paper copy of the survey, please contact the researcher below. Thank you for your time. Kevin Corns Principle Investigator Capella University kcorns2@capellauniversity.edu Back to Top 5th Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference & Exhibition (5th GHAC) Dear Colleagues: Greetings from the World Food Programme the Largest Organization fighting Hunger worldwide The World Food Programme (WFP) is pleased to invite you to the 5th Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference & Exhibition (5th GHAC) on 9-11 October 2013 at the Four Seasons Hotel & Resort, Marrakesh-Morocco. The GHAC, which has become an annual global event, aims at assembling elite aviation innovators, decision-makers and accountable managers to discuss a broad spectrum of pressing aviation safety concerns affecting humanitarian air operations and emerging trends in the Aviation industry. As the largest humanitarian agency fighting global hunger, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is one of WFP's projects and the GHAC is spearheaded by WFP Aviation Safety Unit in coordination with WFP Aviation Service. The Conference has been supported by several Civil Aviation Authorities, national and international organizations, United Nations agencies, humanitarian organizations and various air operators. Particularly, the 5th GHAC will be under the auspices of the Government of Morocco and supported by Morocco's Directorate of Civil Aeronautics, Royal Air Maroc, United Arab Emirates Civil Aviation Authority, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the United States Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) and the Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA), among others. As a mean to encourage participation and reduce financial burden on organizations, the event will be Free of Charge to all participants. Additionally, there will be an opportunity for large exhibition spaces. Interested organizations for exhibition should please contact sharjah.asu@wfp.org For more information and registration, please visit the conference's website at: www.annualghac.com We look forward to seeing you at the conference in our collective quest to promote aviation safety worldwide. Best Regards, Samir Sajet Regional Aviation Safety Officer, UAE World Food Programme Tel. Office Sharjah +971 (6) 557-4799 Fax Office Sharjah +971 (6) 557-4796 Mobile +971 (0) 50-656-1019 Email: samir.sajet@wfp.org Sharjah Airport Freezone, Building Y1 Office 84 P.O.Box: 120390 Sharjah, United Arab Emirates , UTC +4 Safety Works When People Work Together! Curt Lewis