Flight Safety Information October 24, 2013 - No. 220 In This Issue Searchers recover midsection of downed airplane in Laos Spirit Airlines delays flights in Florida to check aircraft 2 Killed in Crash of Vintage Plane in Texas Swiss Say at Least 1 Dead in Crash of Fighter Jet Last patient from Asiana jet crash released from S.F. hospital UPS jet makes emergency landing in Louisville EASA Proposes A380 Fuselage Panel Checks Boston MedFlight Wins American Eurocopter Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award Think ARGUS PROS Honda Will Offer Financing - For Its New Jet Plane MIT to co-lead federal aviation environment center Alaska Aviation Legends: Rita Sholton, the queen of air cargo Searchers recover midsection of downed airplane in Laos BANGKOK (AP) - Investigators in Laos on Tuesday retrieved the midsection of a Lao Airlines passenger plane that crashed into the Mekong River a week ago, killing all 49 people on board, authorities said. The turboprop plane crashed last Wednesday during a heavy storm as it approached Pakse Airport in southern Laos. Lao aviation official Yakua Lopangkao said Tuesday that searchers used a crane to lift the middle of the fuselage from the river but believe the flight recorder is still underwater. He said the body of another victim was also recovered Tuesday. Officials say 44 bodies have been found. Strong currents and deep, muddy water have hampered the search. Back to Top Spirit Airlines delays flights in Florida to check aircraft FORT LAUDERDALE (AP) - Spirit Airlines says it delayed several flights at Fort Lauderdale International Airport following engine failure on an aircraft. Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said Thursday the Miramar-based airline is completing "a proactive and voluntary check" on aircraft as a precautionary measure following the engine failure on a flight last week. The work should be finished Thursday morning. Pinson says it takes about 45 minutes to check each aircraft but some flights are "experiencing significant delays." Passengers told Miami television stations they'd been given few details about the delays. Several passengers became unruly, prompting the Broward Sheriff's Office to respond to the terminal. A spokeswoman at the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta says the agency has no information about the delays. Delays included flights to New York and Los Angeles. Back to Top 2 Killed in Crash of Vintage Plane in Texas GALVESTON, Texas (AP) Two men have died after a vintage fighter plane crashed near Galveston. The Texas Department of Public Safety says 51-year-old pilot Keith Hibbett of Denton and his 66-year-old passenger John Stephen Busby, who was visiting from the United Kingdom, were killed in the crash Wednesday. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehmann says the captain of a charter boat notified authorities after seeing the P-51 Mustang crash in an area between Chocolate Bay and Galveston Bay. He says the plane went down in water some 4 feet deep. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston operated the plane. He says the pilot was not in contact with air traffic controllers when the crash happened. The cause of the crash is being investigated. Back to Top Swiss Say at Least 1 Dead in Crash of Fighter Jet The Swiss military is confirming the death of one member of the two-man crew from a crashed F/A-18 fighter jet. The Swiss Federal Department of Defense says searchers found the body near the crash site in central Switzerland, but it has not yet been identified. The other crew member remains missing. Its statement Thursday said the body had not yet been recovered because of difficult access at the crash site, but the flight data recorder also was found and would be recovered later in the day. The two-seater Swiss fighter jet went down in poor weather Wednesday afternoon near a military airport in Alpnachstad in the Lake Lucerne region, during a training mission with another one-seater F/A-18 that returned safely to the Meiringen air base in Bern canton (state). http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/report-fighter-jet-crashes-switzerland-20655946 Back to Top Last patient from Asiana jet crash released from S.F. hospital SAN FRANCISCO -- The last patient injured in the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 and treated at this city's trauma hospital has been released, 109 days after the Boeing 777 slammed into the runway at San Francisco International Airport. The July 6 crash occurred when the jetliner clipped a sea wall on approach to landing. The tail sheared off and 180 people were injured, about a half a dozen of them critically. Three teenage girls from China who were on their way to a Christian summer camp were killed -- one when she was run over by a firefighting vehicle while obscured by foam. At least one of the girls was ejected from the rear of the plane, and investigators said two flight attendants who were seated in the rear were also ejected through the tail gash. They survived. The woman released Tuesday from San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center in good condition was transferred to a Bay Area rehabilitation facility, hospital officials said in a statement Wednesday. Her family has asked that her name and location not be released. She suffered a spinal cord injury that resulted in paralysis, road burns over 30% of her body and severe intestinal injuries that prevented her from taking solid food for two months, and underwent about 30 surgeries, including neurosurgery, multiple abdominal procedures, extensive wound care and skin grafting, the hospital said. "This hospital saved her life," Dr. Margaret Knudson, chief of surgery, said in the statement. "She's one of the sickest patients I've ever cared for in my career. Our whole team breathed a big sigh of relief when she left." "She's a real save," added Knudson, who performed 21 of the surgeries. "She was smiling when she left. It was a beautiful sight." The hospital received 53 patients on the day of the crash and ultimately treated 67, among them 31 children. Stanford Hospital, in Palo Alto, treated an additional 55 patients. Another woman who had arrived in critical condition was also discharged in good condition to a rehabilitation facility on Sept. 22. On Friday, San Mateo County Dist. Atty. Stephen M. Wagstaffe announced no charges would be filed in connection with the death of Ye Meng Yuan, 16, who was alive on the tarmac when she was run over by a specialized aircraft rescue firefighting truck. After reviewing "numerous videos" and reports from coroner's officials, police officers, firefighters and other first responders, his office determined there was "no criminal culpability for any individual involved in the response to the airline crash." The National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the crash, which was caused when the Korean airliner came in for landing too low and too slow. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-asiana-airlines-crash-victim- 20131023,0,1953425.story#axzz2idk4uU33 Back to Top UPS jet makes emergency landing in Louisville LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Officials say a UPS jet has made a safe emergency landing after returning to Louisville International Airport just a few minutes after takeoff. UPS spokesman Mike Mangeot told The Courier-Journal that the crew reported a problem with the plane's hydraulic system. A pilot and copilot were on board the Airbus jet headed to Manchester, N.H. Louisville Regional Airport Authority spokeswoman Trish Burke said the crew called the problem into the Federal Aviation Administration tower just a few minutes after takeoff and about 25 miles from Louisville. The tower alerted airport emergency personnel. Burke said the plane landed around 4:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Mangeot said the plane will remain under inspection in a hangar until it's determined to be safe for flight. Back to Top EASA Proposes A380 Fuselage Panel Checks Airbus A380 operators are facing inspections of specific belly-area fuselage panels after loose panels were discovered on an in-service aircraft, says a draft European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) directive published today. EASA's proposed directive (PAD 13-159) would require detailed inspections around specific belly fairing frames at 1,200 total cycles or 240 cycles after a final rule's effective date. The checks, based on an Airbus service information sent out last week, would be required every 1,200 cycles going forward unless an Airbus- suggested modification is made. "During an A380 transit check, belly fairing (BF) panels 191HL and 191EL in the underwing area were found displaced out of fuselage contour and loose at the aft end of Frame (FR) 46," EASA explains. After removal of the BF panels, the BF FR 46 T-profile was found broken and the associated underwing spar found cracked." Airbus determined that the damage "was most likely caused by a combination of vibration in the area and a preload force, transmitted from the wing profile to the seal profile in the BF panel, which is dependent on the affected structure assembly tolerances," the agency says. EASA is accepting comments on the proposal through Nov. 15. http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_10_18_2013_p0-628261.xml Back to Top Boston MedFlight Wins American Eurocopter Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award Boston MedFlight was chosen from a record-tying list of 25 nominees. Virginia Beach, Va. (PRWEB) October 23, 2013 American Eurocopter is pleased to announce that Boston MedFlight has been awarded the 2013 Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award, after being chosen from a record-tying list of 25 nominees. Boston MedFlight Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Wedel was presented the award and $10,000 check by Jennifer Hardcastle, American Eurocopter Sales Manager, Air Medical Specialist, during the AMTC Annual Community Awards banquet Monday, Oct. 21. American Eurocopter created the Vision Zero Award in 2007 to promote and increase safety in the air medical industry. It recognizes a program that has demonstrated a commitment to aviation safety, spotlights specific safety initiatives and encourages programs to share their ideas so others in the industry may learn from them. The competition is judged by an industry committee. "Boston MedFlight is committed to safety from top to bottom," said Anthony DiNota, American Eurocopter Vice President of Commercial Sales, Marketing, Customer Support and Training. "In sharing its best practices, Boston MedFlight sets a great example for the industry." Boston MedFlight is a not-for-profit organization providing critical care transport service to more than 2,700 patients a year using state-of-the-art air and ground vehicles and medical equipment, and has transported more than 52,000 critical patients since its founding in 1985. Boston MedFlight is financially supported in part by a consortium of Boston hospitals including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Tufts Medical Center. "Boston MedFlight has a long commitment to sharing practices and collaborating to improve safety throughout the community," said Charles Blathras, Chief Operations Manager and Critical Care Transport Specialist for Boston MedFlight. "We have already developed regional best practices in conjunction with the other rotary wing programs in the New England area and any of our individual or regional best practices can be adopted by other programs, or by the industry. "We have, in similar fashion, learned much from the experiences of others," Blathras said. "The $10,000 award will assist in further development of our adverse events reporting and tracking structure, supporting our belief that data can be the key to good decision-making, and that reporting, communication, and loop closure are the keys to a robust safety system." Boston MedFlight utilizes a variety of innovative safety initiatives that are representative of the Vision Zero goal, including a GPS approach infrastructure under development within the hospital network. Boston MedFlight requires that its pilots attend IFR and emergency procedures training with Flight Safety, ensuring they have experience with IFR operations. It also requires all crewmembers to be trained using night vision goggles. Boston MedFlight aircraft are equipped with Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance Systems, Ground Proximity Warning Systems and flight data recording systems. Its pilots are ATP-rated, the highest certification level available. All air transport programs and operators that are members of the Association of Air Medical Service (AAMS) are eligible to apply for the Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award. The 2013 Blue Ribbon Committee members that judged the competition included: Chairman Bill Bryant President of Sierra Health Group; Denise Landis, Program Director for University of Michigan Survival Flight; Eileen Frazer, Executive Director of CAMTS; Ed MacDonald, Chairman of AMSAC; Chris Eastlee, President, Air Medical Operators Association; Gerry Pagano, Director of Operations, Health Care District of Palm Beach County's Trauma Hawk Aeromedical Program; Jason Schwebach, Assistant Vice President at Carolinas Healthcare System; and Lindsay Cunningham, Senior Manager of Aviation Safety, American Eurocopter. For more information about the Vision Zero program and the American Eurocopter Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award, visit the Association of Air Medical Services website at http://www.aams.org. About American Eurocopter American Eurocopter is the U.S. affiliate of Eurocopter, the largest helicopter manufacturer in the world, and a subsidiary of EADS North America Holdings, the North American operations of EADS, a world leader in aerospace, defense and related services. American Eurocopter is a helicopter manufacturer and markets, sells and supports the broadest range of civil and parapublic helicopters offered by any manufacturer. The product line represents the most cost-effective, technologically-advanced helicopters, ranging from light single to heavy twin aircraft, serving all markets and missions. American Eurocopter's headquarters and main facility are in Grand Prairie, Texas with a large manufacturing and production facility in Columbus, Miss. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11261657.htm Back to Top Back to Top Honda Will Offer Financing - For Its New Jet Plane Honda's jet during extreme wet-weather testing. People interested in acquiring Honda Motor Co.7267.TO +0.65%'s coming HondaJet airplane will be able to finance it through the company, as if they were buying a Honda Accord sedan. The car-maker-turned plane maker said it will offer financing in the U.S. through its American Honda Finance Corp unit when it begins selling its first jet aircraft as soon as the end of next year. The financing program reflects the pending start of full production of the HondaJet, a small twin-engine aircraft designed for business and personal use. Honda said it has six production models of the plane on the assembly line now and is close to finishing the first of them. The $4.5 million, 489-mph HondaJet is set to arrive on the market with a crop of small jets from established plane makers including Cessna, Embraer and Cirrus. These planes, designed to carry five to seven people, are meant to handle a range of trips that are often taken by car or on commercial airlines. To some degree, Honda and other companies are betting on new customers who wish to avoid the hassles and hazards of driving or using scheduled airlines. Honda said it will provide additional details on this financing program early next year and plans to begin delivering the jets to customers in late 2014 or early 2015. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/23/honda-will-offer-financing-for-its-new-jet-plane/ Back to Top MIT to co-lead federal aviation environment center AeroAstro labs will research sustainable aviation solutions for the FAA. AeroAstro Professor R. John Hansman will head the Air Transportation Center of Excellence for the Environment and Alternate Jet Fuels MIT program office. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently named MIT as a co-leader of its new Air Transportation Center of Excellence (COE) for alternate jet fuels and the environment. The MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics' International Center for Air Transportation (ICAT) and Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment (LAE) will lead the COE's research in meeting the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System aviation environmental impact goals. Washington State University will co-lead the COE, concentrating on alternative-fuels research. ICAT director R. John Hansman will head the COE program office at MIT. ICAT will focus on environmentally efficient operations. LAE, under the direction of assistant professor Steven Barrett, will research aviation's broad environmental impact. "This center will be an important contributor to developing sustainable approaches to aviation," says Hansman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics. "And, sustainability is one of the most important things we can do to strengthen the future of air transportation. In this new Center of Excellence, the FAA has assembled an exceptional team combining expertise in all important aspects of the challenge." MIT and Washington State will coordinate the efforts of all 16 COE research partners, which include Boston University, Oregon State University, Purdue University, the University of Dayton, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, the University of Hawaii, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Tennessee. The FAA's COE program is a cost-sharing research partnership among academia, industry and the federal government. The FAA anticipates providing the COE with $4 million annually during the center's 10-year lifespan. The selected university members have nationally recognized environmental and aviation-related education programs. The schools' leading engineering and science faculty will perform the research with substantial engagement of graduate and undergraduate students, as well as postdocs. "The FAA continues its goal to improve national airspace system energy efficiency by at least two percent per year, and to develop and deploy alternative jet fuels for commercial aviation, with a target of one billion gallons of alternate jet fuel in use by 2018," FAA administrator Michael Huerta says. "This Center of Excellence is a valuable tool to provide the critical data we need to reach these goals." The FAA has established other centers of excellence, involving more than 75 universities, which focus on research and education in a number of other topical areas, including commercial space transportation, aircraft noise and aviation emissions mitigation, and airport pavement and technology. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/mit-to-co-lead-federal-aviation-environment-center.html Back to Top Alaska Aviation Legends: Rita Sholton, the queen of air cargo Alaska aviation legend Rita Sholton next to her first plane in 1946. Photo: Courtesy of Rob Stapleton Rita Sholton, known as the first and only woman president and chief executive officer of an all-freight airline operating above the Arctic Circle, was a pioneer in bringing the Alaska air-cargo industry from propeller-driven aircraft into the jet age. While Rita credits her late husband, Bobby Sholton, for starting the business that eventually became Northern Air Cargo, she managed the business for decades, eventually expanding to nearly 300 employees before the company was sold in 2006. "Bobby had a vision of the need (for cargo being flown for Alaskans)," she said in the July 1992 issue of Air Classics magazine. "We made a lot of friends in rural Alaska, and they had the need for our services. It was more like we were one big family," says Rita today. Before coming to Alaska in 1957, Rita worked in San Francisco as a Girl Friday. Once in Anchorage, she was employed as a vocational counselor for the Territory of Alaska, a fact not many can claim and one for which she is proud. Rita later met Sholton and they were married in 1960. At that time, Sholton and his partner, Maury Carlson, were operating two C-82 Boxcar aircraft, hauling supplies and oversized freight for the mining industry and for construction of villages as well as the Distant Early Warning sites (DEW Line) in remote Alaska. But one of Rita's finest memories about the business is when Bobby found and purchased a DC-6 that had previously been owned by billionaire Howard Hughes. The aircraft she affectionately calls "80 Bravo" had fewer than 10 flight hours on it and was in immaculate condition. Sholton purchased the aircraft for $250,000 for use during the build-up of rural Alaska. This aircraft seemed perfect for use in Alaska, as it was built to use gravel runways, was very sturdy, and had long-range capabilities. Hauling horses, cows, vehicles, pipe and mail, the distinctive sound of the Pratt & Whitney R2800 engines could be heard lumbering across the tundra day and night delivering cargo throughout Alaska's 365 million acres and along 42,000 miles of coastline. The first DC-6 was put into service in 1969 -- a wise decision for that era due to its 28,000-pound payload and short-field take off ability. The Northern Air Cargo fleet eventually consisted of 14 DC-6 aircraft before transitioning to Boeing 727-200 jets. A new face as Northern Air Cargo CEO Sholton had been ill since 1975 but continued operating the company, buying out his partner Maury Carlson in 1981. Unfortunatel, Sholton died Dec. 16, 1982, leaving Rita and the family to run the company. Rita, having been a homemaker and caregiver to three children since her marriage, was suddenly left with the responsibility of a large airline. Prior to Bobby's death, Rita said he had placed very competent and experienced people in the company. At that time there were about 75 people on the payroll, and Rita proceeded into Northern Air Cargo's next phase. Due to FAA regulations and questionable usefulness, the C-82 Boxcars were eventually retired in 1983 after flying 29 years and logging nearly 30,000 flight hours. The airline operated the Boxcars with only a few incidents and no major accidents. As Rita became more engaged in the business, she was a full-time presence as president and CEO. During this era, more DC-6s -- including two swing-tail DC-6s -- were added to the fleet. Updating and company growth in the 1990s incorporated the use of a turboprop ATR and Boeing 727s as the DC-6s aged and timed out. During the late 1990s and mid-2000s, the three Sholton children continued the legacy of their father, with sons Adam and Paul acting as a pilot and house counsel, respectively, and daughter Mary as president. During this time a suitor surfaced to buy the company. Saltchuk, a privately owned company, eventually bought Northern Air Cargo in 2006. "I was very happy that Saltchuk became interested," says Rita. At the time of the sale, Northern Air Cargo had nearly 300 employees and continues to grow to this day. "It was very emotional to sell a 50-year-old company, but the family is proud to have a buyer who will carry on the tradition of serving the people of Alaska as well as growing outside of the state," she reflects. Work hard, play hard But Rita's interest in her family and its growth were always on her mind, also. To ease the pressures of business, Rita became an avid hunter. Her many trips to Africa, where she has hunted on safari on numerous occasions, are evident in her home and shared with the family. Having made seven trips total to Africa, Rita enjoys learning about the country and is not afraid to travel abroad. Once, on a trip out of Alaska, Rita took a hint from the film "Out of Africa." While Rita took up flying when she was 16 in an Aeronica Champion, in which she soloed, the former airline executive now owns a British-manufactured, Massachusetts-built deHavilland Gypsy Moth, purchased on a trip to England. "We were visiting friends with homes in the countryside of England," Rita says. "They collected antique cars and aircraft and we would go for a drive or flight because that is what they loved doing. That's when I ran across the Gypsy Moth. I fell in love with the aircraft. So I called Mary and asked her to help me make the arrangements to purchase it and have it shipped to Alaska." The aircraft was shipped via container to Anchorage where it was assembled by an English mechanic. The biplane is kept at a location in the Mat-Su Valley and flown at family holiday gatherings. The Gypsy Moth is the same type of aircraft flown by actor Robert Redford in the film "Out of Africa", produced by Sydney Pollack and based on a book of the same title by Isak Dinesen. Rita says that her aircraft was also used in an African-themed film. Today Sholton enjoys her family, which includes four grandchildren, who love to raid her candy dishes. Despite all of this octogenarian's accomplishments, she says the one thing that she would love to do is to learn how to operate the Bobcat aircraft owned by her son Adam and his wife Brigitte. Mrs. Sholton's part in the history of Northern Air Cargo is epic, and just as valuable as the Bush pilots of the golden era. Her accomplishments are well known among her peers. The Sholton name will long be remembered as testimony to the services Northern Air Cargo still provides. For more on Sholton and other Alaska aviation legends, consider attending a banquet, to be held in their honor on Nov. 1. For more information, check out the Alaska Air Carriers Association website. http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20131022/alaska-aviation-legends-rita-sholton-queen-air-cargo Curt Lewis