Flight Safety Information September 23, 2013 - No. 196 In This Issue U.S. Navy helicopter crashes; search on for 5 crew. Virgin aircraft 'slammed on brakes' after takeoff aborted, reports claim Snake Grounds Jet With 370 Passengers Police Seize 1.3 Tons Cocaine From Air France Jet United pilots ponder whether to fly again Expats to pilot domestic airlines for 3 more years (India) 300 grounded Chinese pilots slapped with huge fees for resignation Think ARGUS PROS Allegiant delays, cancels flights to check MD-80s American Airlines plane evacuated after passenger leaves cabin at Lindbergh Field FAA upgrades Ukraine's safety rating Watch for: AVIATION MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING EXCHANGE U.S. Navy helicopter crashes; search on for 5 crew MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - The U.S. Navy says a helicopter has crashed in the Red Sea and a search is underway for five crew members aboard. A statement from the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says the MH-60S Knighthawk went down Sunday in the central Red Sea while operating with the destroyer USS William P. Lawrence. The Navy says an investigation is underway, but there was no hostile activity involved. Search teams included aircraft and small boats. Back to Top Virgin aircraft 'slammed on brakes' after takeoff aborted, reports claim Canberra airport incident raises concern after near miss between two Qantas planes near Adelaide Virgin Australia has rejected claims of a near-miss at Canberra airport. A Virgin Australia plane was ordered to abort a takeoff from Canberra airport on Monday morning to avoid another aircraft coming in to land but authorities and the airline have played down reports the pilot "slammed on the brakes." The Virgin Australia flight from Canberra to Sydney was given clearance for takeoff, but a few moments into its taxi on the runway, air traffic control cancelled the clearance due to another plane coming in to land. Graham Matthews, a passenger on the flight, told Guardian Australia that despite catching around 200 flights a year he'd never seen anything like this happen before. "We were a few seconds into the takeoff run on the north-south main runway when the plane powered down and the brakes went on," said Matthews. "Those of us on the left side of the plane saw a light plane cross up ahead on the east west runway, having just landed. "The pilot says 'clearance for take off was cancelled'. Then we turned around to reposition for take off." "Everyone on the plane was very happy when we landed in Sydney." Air traffic control and Virgin Australia said that other reports of a near-miss were "inaccurate" and that "no such thing occurred". A spokeswoman for Virgin told Guardian Australia they had contacted the aircraft's pilot after reports that he "slammed on the brakes". The spokeswoman said the pilot reported that the plane was taxiing slowly at a speed of about 10 to 20km/h when air traffic control radioed and said: "Actually, stop, because we've decided we'll let this other aircraft land first and then you can take off." "He said he applied slow braking pressure, but when they do that sometimes there's a noise from the engine as the gear changes and that tends to alarm passengers a bit, but it certainly wasn't the slamming on of the brakes," she said. Airservices Australia, the organisation that provides air traffic control, said it was a routine safety precaution, which occurred because the Virgin flight took longer than expected to taxi out to the runway. The plane had begun to move forward for takeoff when it was told to stop. "The Virgin aircraft was reissued with a clearance just a few minutes later, and then it was safe for it to take off," an Airservices spokesman told Guardian Australia. "Obviously you want to keep the planes a certain number of minutes apart. And once it encroaches even slightly, air traffic control err on the side of safety. This is air traffic control doing exactly what it should do." Both the Airservices spokesman and the Virgin spokeswoman said they suspected there was more interest in the incident because of the near miss in mid-air between two Qantas planes on Friday. The planes were flying in opposite directions near Adelaide when one was given permission from air traffic control to climb to higher airspace, resulting in the aircraft breaching the minimum separation zone between it and the other aircraft. An investigation is under way and one air traffic controller has since been stood down. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/virgin-aborted-takeoff-canberra Back to Top Snake Grounds Jet With 370 Passengers CANBERRA, Australia (AP) A tiny exotic snake was found on a Qantas Boeing 747 airliner, leading to 370 passengers being grounded in Sydney overnight, the airline said Monday. Staff found the 20-centimeter (8-inch) Mandarin Rat Snake in the passenger cabin near the door late Sunday before passengers were due to board the flight bound for Tokyo from Sydney International Airport, Qantas said in a statement. Australia's flagship airline said passengers were given hotel rooms overnight and left Sydney on a replacement plane Monday morning. Qantas said the original jet would be fumigated before returning to service in case there were other snakes on board. The snake was taken by quarantine officials for analysis. The Agriculture Department said the snake, a species that grows to an average 1.2 meters (4 feet), had been euthanized, "as exotic reptiles of this kind can harbor pests and diseases not present in Australia." The department said the snake had arrived aboard the jet in a flight a day earlier from Singapore. "The Department of Agriculture is looking into how the snake came to be on the plane, but isn't able to speculate at this time," it said in a statement. The mildly venomous Asian snake was about the width of a pencil and did not pose a threat to humans, but it had the potential to cause ecological havoc in the Australian environment if it had escaped the plane with a mate, Canberra Reptile Zoo herpetologist Peter Child said. While snakes rarely pose aviation hazards, a 3-meter (10-foot) python in January clung to the wing of a Qantas flight from the northeast coast city of Cairns to Papua New Guinea. The python died during the flight but was still attached to the wing when the two-hour flight ended in the national capital Port Moresby. Back to Top Police Seize 1.3 Tons Cocaine From Air France Jet French police seized 1.3 metric tons (2,866 pounds) of pure cocaine carried on an Air France passenger plane from Caracas as well as 400 kilograms (881 pounds) transported by truck, Journal Du Dimanche reported, citing comments by prosecutors in Nanterre yesterday. Prosecutors held a press conference in the Paris suburb, at which France's Interior Minister Manuel Valls was present, to discuss the haul, an Interior Ministry spokesman said by phone today. He declined to confirm details reported by the newspaper, referring calls to prosecutors, who couldn't immediately be reached. "Air France is cooperating closely with the Interior Ministry, which has requested maximum confidentiality in this investigation," airline spokesman Herve Erschler said by telephone today. An internal investigation is also under way, he said. The contraband, confiscated on Sept. 11, was stored in 31 suitcases checked in by passengers who didn't board the plane, Journal Du Dimanche reported. The second seizure was from a truck destined for Luxembourg from the eastern part of France, the newspaper said. The drugs were seized after an investigation by French judicial police collaborating with their Spanish, British and Dutch counterparts that was under way for several weeks, according to the report. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-22/police-seize-1-3-tons-cocaine-from-air-france-jet-dimanche- says.html Back to Top United pilots ponder whether to fly again After two furloughs, Matt Foster ended up in Iraq training the Iraqi air force. For more than a decade, thousands of United Airlines pilots have been furloughed, forced to pursue second- choice careers as nurses, home inspectors, travel agents, sales representatives and computer programmers. But eventually, they get recalled. And when that day comes, they have to decide: return or move on with the life they've made in the interim? Since 2001, Chicago-based United has laid off planeloads of pilots-some more than once and many for years at a time. After 9-11, when two of the four hijacked airplanes were United's, passenger traffic dropped precipitously. The company lost $2.1 billion that year, the largest loss ever by a single carrier, according to published reports. In the three years that followed, United filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and shed 2,172 pilots. In 2008, as the economy collapsed and fuel prices surged, the ranks were slashed again, this time by 1,437. In the following years, after a merger with Continental Airlines, some pilots were asked back. Then, in early September, United did something that surprised even industry veterans. The airline, now known as United Continental Holdings Inc., announced that it was recalling the last of nearly 600 pilots still on furlough. "It's bittersweet to see these recalls," says Jim Bowers, 41, a twice-furloughed United pilot. Mr. Bowers works as a product marketing manager at L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., a military contractor based in New York. "My heart is still onboard those airplanes, but my mind has not come over to that feeling yet." Mr. Bowers bypassed his recall thanks to new terms allowing pilots to pass on recalls for up to 10 years after their furlough date. After furloughs, Christian Jimenez, left, worked many jobs, including a stint as a travel agent. Jason Tabor, right, moved his family to Lima, Peru. "Pilots have been through hell and back since 9-11," says Joe Schwieterman, a transportation expert who heads the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University and a former strategic- planning specialist at United. "Their loyalty to the company is a fraction of what it once was." SPECIFIC SKILLS Still, after years spent accruing hours of flight time and climbing the ranks, walking away from a "dream job" as a United Airlines pilot and reinventing oneself is not easy. It's especially difficult when the job has an average salary of $150,000 a year while working around 15 days a month. "Starting over is a really tough pill to swallow," says Kit Darby, a retired United pilot and president of Peachtree City, Ga.-based Kit Darby Aviation Consulting. "And pilots don't necessarily have transferable skills. They are not salesmen. They are not teachers. In general, a lot of them don't have work experience in other areas." After his second furlough in 2009, Mr. Bowers went on unemployment. He spent months agonizing over whether to move his family of four halfway around the world so he could fly for overseas carriers like Korean Air or China Airlines. Then, he was approached by L-3 Communications to become a marketing manager for traffic and terrain collision avoidance systems aboard jetliners. He felt lucky to have a job and even admits that it was nice to go to the bathroom without asking for permission. But sitting in an office, with no scent of jet fuel or engine thrum, felt foreign to him. "To have the rush of moving 600 miles an hour to moving zero is a major change," he says. Matt Foster, 49, joined United in 2000. Three years later, he was furloughed. To support a family of seven, he started a home inspection business and worked as a military reservist and Air Force Academy instructor. Mr. Foster was recalled and eventually returned to United in spring 2008, only to be furloughed again that December. He took a job in Los Angeles working at an aircraft modification service. But the long hours and a brutal commute from his home in Colorado Springs, Colo., led him back to active duty in 2009. Eight months later, he was stationed in Iraq, training the Iraqi air force. It was a far cry from his United job, where the biggest obstacles were weather and maintenance issues. In October 2012, he took the recall from Continental. "Nobody's shooting at me," he says. "It's a whole lot less stressful." When Jason Tabor, 35, was furloughed in 2008 only months after being hired at United, he sold aviation insurance and worked as a pilot for a couple of jet charter services. When a businessman in Peru wanted an American pilot to fly his private jet, Mr. Tabor moved his family to Lima. "I was concentrating on taking care of my wife and children and trying to draw on what other skills I had," he says. 'ANGER ISSUES' For many pilots the stresses of being jobless with a hyperspecific skill set in a bad economy lead to other problems. "There were a lot of people who dealt with anger issues and depression and symptoms of losing the dream job," says Christian Jimenez, 42, a twice-furloughed United pilot who did everything from becoming a travel agent to working as a bilingual customer service representative at Fort Worth, Texas-based Lockheed Martin Corp. He also flew for a regional airline, making $28 an hour, compared with the $89 he made at United. "People got divorced. Some people went into deep depression. Some committed suicide." "For pilots, a lot of the persona is what we do," says Todd Coomans. The furloughs "became too much for some," and he admits being furloughed "definitely played a part" in his divorce. "For pilots, a lot of the persona is what we do. (The furlough) did become too much for some," says J. Todd Coomans, a twice-furloughed pilot and the furlough coordinator at the United Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association. Mr. Coomans acknowledges that being furloughed "definitely played a part" in his 2006 divorce. After 11 years of counseling pilots, Mr. Coomans has seen them make the transition to everything from lawyers to nurses. Mr. Coomans himself spent six months as a part-time floor rep at Home Depot. "Sadly, the furloughs have made this more of a job than a career," he says. Still, a year ago he was among the 650 pilots who took the opportunity from Continental. Despite understandable wariness, many think the outlook is bright. In September, United completed the final step of its merger by integrating the two airlines' seniority lists. And because of mandatory retirements, the airline will lose more than 2,000 pilots over the next five years. "When the furlough numbers go down, the next thing they are going to do is hire," Mr. Darby says. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130921/ISSUE01/309219981/united-pilots-ponder-whether-to-fly- again Back to Top Expats to pilot domestic airlines for 3 more years (India) Mumbai - Expat pilots may continue to fly Indian aircraft despite the gover nment's repeated attempts to increase employment opportunities for local pilots. On Friday, the civil aviation ministry permitted domestic carriers an additional three years to engage foreign pilots. According to the circular issued by the DGCA, scheduled airlines could use expat commanders up to December 2016. Earlier, the safety regulator had given airlines time till the end of 2013 to phase out expat pilots. Air safety experts blamed airlines' failure to convert copilots into commanders for this extension. "It clearly indicates that, despite several warnings, airlines failed to produce enough commanders," said Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a member of the government-appointed Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC). He added that the government should stop issuing circulars if it fails to implement them. Till December 2012, India had 340 expat pilots, down from 526 in 2011. Jet Airways had the highest number of expat pilots (93). The move will further narrow prospects of around 4,000 unemployed pilots in India. "There seems to be a nexus with expat pilot-placement agencies and airlines, and the government is turning a blind eye to this," said an Airbus A320 commander, who is currently unemployed. This is not the first time that the government has extended its deadline. It first set July 2010 as the deadline to phase out expat pilots, revised it by a year, and later set 2013 as the deadline, said experts. "It is sad that the government does not care about young pilots," said a member of the Unemployed Pilots Welfare Association (WPWA), a Delhibased body. http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Expats-to-pilot-domestic-airlines-for-3-more- years/Article1-1125853.aspx Back to Top 300 grounded Chinese pilots slapped with huge fees for resignation A Chinese pilot in an Airbus 350 in France. Two to three hundred pilots in China are grounded because of contract disputes with their airline companies. The contracts are trying to keep pilots for life, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Weekly reports, citing former national airline pilot Zhao Hong. Zhao has been grounded over the past three years during his legal battle with his former employer, Air China. In the eyes of the general public, pilots are admired for their high salaries and high lifestyles, but pilots themselves feel trapped in an invisible "cage." For Zhao, the reason is simple: he wants to resign, but Air China rejected his application, thus leading to a lawsuit. A week ago, more than 180 pilots jointly submitted a public letter to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, calling for the abolition of restrictive regulations that have been followed for many years, and allowing them to freely choose their jobs. Over the past week, more than 100 pilots have joined the ranks, making the signatory list over 300-strong. Zhao, a pilot with nearly 20 years of experience, is one of the main sponsors for the letter. "When our life reaches a certain level, we will begin asking 'what's the value of life?'" he said. Zhao said his life as a pilot is like a machine, always working. Although he gets paid a monthly salary of more than 50,000 yuan (US$8,150), he eventually got tired of Air China. In Oct 2010, Zhao submitted his resignation, planning to take a rest for a while and then seek a more humane company. He wants to get out of the endless flying loop, spend more time with his family, travel and take photos. After failing to persuade Zhao to stay with the company, Air China demanded 3 million yuan (US$480,000) in compensation for training costs. Almost all pilots are asked for huge sums of money if they submit a resignation. One pilot even reported being slapped with 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million). More than 300 pilots delivered the public letter asking for freedom, but Chinese airlines are already neck-deep in debt after investing in aircraft to cope with the rapidly growing market in China. The market needs pilots. China has been a big buyer of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jets, with China Southern Airlines having ordered 10 aircraft, and other airlines such as Air China and Hainan Airlines having ordered more than 30. Boeing can only produce seven 787 jets a month. Boeing earlier this month projected that by 2032, China's aircraft fleet will triple current levels, driving traffic in China's aviation market to grow by nearly 7% a year on average. CAAC estimated that Chinese airlines plan to buy more than 350 aircraft in 2013. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20130922000053&cid=1103 Back to Top Back to Top Allegiant delays, cancels flights to check MD-80s LAS VEGAS (AP) - Allegiant Air officials said Friday that delays and cancelations could continue for several days as more than half of the airline's MD-80s remain grounded for overhauls of emergency slides like the ones deployed in an evacuation this week. The inflatable chutes worked properly Monday when smoke was reported in the cabin of an Allegiant MD-80 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, company officials said. An incident review, however, found that fleetwide maintenance hadn't complied with the slide manufacturer's recommendations. Taking the company's MD-80 aircraft out of service for inspections led to delays on at least 20 of Allegiant's 121 scheduled Friday flights, spokesman Brian Davis told reporters. Sixteen flights were rescheduled for Saturday and two Friday flights between Oakland, Calif., and Reno were canceled outright. Allegiant returned 18 aircraft to service, leaving most of its 52 MD-80s grounded, the company said in a statement Friday afternoon. Davis said the airline expected that passengers delayed Friday would reach their destinations by Saturday, a normally slow travel day. But travel on traditionally busy Sunday and Monday flights would be "operationally challenging." Allegiant expected to increase the number of MD-80 aircraft in service to 22 on Saturday, but that's still less than half its fleet. It also had six Boeing 757s and two Airbus A320s aircraft in the air, and chartered seven other aircraft to fill some scheduled routes. Disruptions could continue through the end of the month, Davis said. Davis didn't provide a tally of how many passengers were affected but said most would be compensated with discounts on future travel. Allegiant would also make hotel arrangements for travelers stranded overnight, he said. "We want our customers to know we take disruption of their travel plans very seriously," said Davis, spokesman for the airline and its parent company, Allegiant Travel Co. But he said safety of passengers and crew members was the company's top priority. No injuries were reported among the 144 passengers and six crew members on the MD-80 that was evacuated Monday before takeoff for Peoria, Ill. The Federal Aviation Administration learned about the maintenance issue while investigating the evacuation of Flight 436 and directed Allegiant to immediately inspect slides on its entire MD-80 fleet, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. Gregor said the FAA doesn't comment on pending investigations and he couldn't discuss possible sanctions against the airline. Davis said the airline decided to reinspect all of its MD-80 aircraft after officials found it wasn't complying with a 2007 recommendation by the manufacturer of the slides, Zodiac Aerospace, to overhaul all four inflatable chutes annually on aircraft older than 15 years. Allegiant had been maintaining the MD-80 slides according to an original three-year maintenance interval, the spokesman said. Davis said passengers affected by delays and cancellations would be compensated on a sliding scale ranging from a $100 voucher for future travel for a two-hour delay, to a ticket refund and a $200 credit for future travel if a flight was canceled. He promised updates on the company website, http://www.allegiantair.com, and a telephone information line, 702-505-8888. Allegiant has carved a profitable low-cost, no-frills niche in the airline industry with service to about 100 mostly small cities and vacation destinations including Florida, Las Vegas, Hawaii and the Phoenix area. It carried nearly 2.3 passengers in and out of McCarran airport in 2012. Base fares average less than $200, but additional fees for customer service, baggage handling and ticketing can add another 30 percent to the cost of travel. Allegiant reaps additional revenues from commissions on hotel rooms, rental cars, tours and theme park tickets. Davis on Friday denied any link between the failure to maintain aircraft evacuation slides and company cost- control efforts. "There was a disconnect between our maintenance program and the manufacturer requirement," he said. "Our program was not updated in 2007." Back to Top American Airlines plane evacuated after passenger leaves cabin at Lindbergh Field Federal authorities searching for man SAN DIEGO - An American Airlines flight had to be evacuated at Lindbergh Field Sunday morning after one of the passengers walked off the plane before takeoff. San Diego Harbor Police tell 10News the flight crew called them at about 7:50 a.m. after reports that a foreign national from Iraq walked off the plane shortly after boarding American Airlines Flight 66, which was bound for JFK airport in New York City. Officers evacuated the flight and brought police dogs onboard to search the airplane. Police said nothing suspicious was found. They said the man did not bring any carry-on luggage onboard with him. According to San Diego airport operations, the flight was delayed for an hour before it eventually took off. Why the man left the airplane remains a mystery. Harbor Police say the FBI and the TSA will likely track down the man to find out why he got off the airplane and left the airport. http://www.10news.com/news/american-airlines-plane-evacuated-after-passenger-leaves-cabin-at-lindbergh- field Back to Top FAA upgrades Ukraine's safety rating The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that Ukraine complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), based on the results of a July FAA review of Ukraine's civil aviation authority. Ukraine is now upgraded to Category 1 from the Category 2 safety rating the country received from the FAA in June 2005. Ukraine's civil aviation authority worked with the FAA on an action plan so that its safety oversight system fully complies with ICAO's standards and practices. A Category 1 rating means the country's civil aviation authority complies with ICAO standards. A Category 2 rating means a country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or that its civil aviation authority - equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters - is deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping or inspection procedures. With the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Category 1 rating, Ukraine's air carriers can add flights and service to the United States and carry the code of US carriers. With the Category 2 rating, a country's airlines are allowed to maintain existing service to the United States, but cannot establish new services. Ukraine currently does not provide service to the United States. As part of the FAA's IASA programme, the agency assesses the civil aviation authorities of all countries with air carriers that operate or have applied to fly to the United States and makes that information available to the public. The assessments determine whether or not foreign civil aviation authorities are meeting ICAO safety standards, not FAA regulations. In order to maintain a Category 1 rating, countries with air carriers that fly to the United States must adhere to the safety standards of ICAO, the United Nations' technical agency for aviation that establishes international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance. IASA information is at www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa/. http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2013/09/faa-upgrades-ukraines-safety-rating/ Back to Top AVIATION MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING EXCHANGE Published weekly on Wednesday. Curt Lewis