Flight Safety Information January 14, 2014 - No. 012 In This Issue Southwest jet safely leaves after landing at wrong Missouri airport Southwest pilots that landed jet at wrong airport removed from active duty NTSB Investigating Erroneous Airport Landing of Southwest Airlines Flight 4013 Medical Emergency Prompts Jet to Divert to Omaha GAGAN Certified for Aviation in India FAA Starts Working With Hobbyists To Draft Safety Guidelines For Model Aircraft And Drones Think ARGUS PROS New rules make it hard to find small-market pilots Industry Groups Blast FAA Policy on Flight Simulators At 100, Commercial Aviation Safer Than Ever: EASA Southwest jet safely leaves after landing at wrong Missouri airport A small crowd gathers at the M. Graham Clark Airport in Hollister, Mo., to see a Southwest Airlines jet that landed there by mistake. A Southwest Airlines jet that landed at the wrong Missouri airport successfully took off despite a short runway and was heading to an airport that can accommodate its size. The Boeing jet took off from the Taney County airport in Missouri without incident Monday afternoon. Airline officials said they didn't know why the craft, carrying 124 passengers and a crew of five, went to the smaller airport, which does not usually handle such large airplanes. It was supposed to have landed at Branson Airport, about seven miles away. The runways at the smaller field are about 3,700 feet long while the larger airport boasts runways that are more than 7,000 feet long. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are both investigating the incident. The pilots have been placed on paid leave pending the investigations, airline spokeswoman Brandy King said in an email to reporters. Southwest Flight 4013 left Chicago's Midway International Airport on Sunday bound for Branson Airport, then for Dallas. But the plane, a Boeing 737-700, landed instead at the Taney County airport, also known as M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport, according to a statement from the airline. The website Flightaware.com, which tracks flights, said the Southwest flight landed at 6:11 p.m. Sunday. It was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the high 50s at that time. The landing was made safely, but some of the passengers told reporters it was abrupt. "The landing was really abrupt and the pilot applied the brakes really strongly," Dallas attorney Scott Schieffer, who was on the flight, told WFAA-TV. "You could hear it and you could certainly feel it." The passengers were taken to the larger airport, where they were placed on a plane to complete their flight to Dallas. The landing Sunday was the second recent incident involving a large jet missing its assigned airport. In November, a Boeing 747 that was supposed to deliver parts to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., landed nine miles north at Col. James Jabara Airport. That plane had no passengers. http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-southwest-jet-safely-takes-off- after-mistaken-landing-in-mo-airport-20140113,0,922134.story#ixzz2qNABmoq3 Back to Top Southwest pilots that landed jet at wrong airport removed from active duty BRANSON, Mo. - The pilots of a Southwest Airlines jet that landed at the wrong airport Sunday evening in Branson have been removed from active flying as an investigation is underway. Flight 4013 took off from Chicago Midway Airport shortly before 5 p.m. and was scheduled to stop at Branson Airport near the Missouri resort town on its journey to Dallas. The Boeing 737 instead touched down at M. Graham Clark Airport near downtown Branson, about six miles north of Branson Airport, and where the runway is about half the length of the one at Branson Airport. While passengers were taken off the plane and transferred to another flight, the plane stayed at the airport overnight. Tony Molinaro, a spokesman for the central region of the Federal Aviation Agency, says the FAA is investigating the incident. "We are cooperating with authorities in this investigation," read a statement released by Southwest Airlines Monday morning. "We want to thank first responders and Branson Airport administrators for joining in the work with our ground operations staff to immediately take care of our customers and their baggage last night." The National Transportation Safety Board obtained flight data and cockpit voice recordings from the flight. The agency says the material will be sent to Washington, D.C. for analysis. Investigators will also interview the crew, according to a statement from the NTSB. Jason Blevins, who lives near Clark Airport, spotted the Southwest jet as it approached Sunday night. "It was so low you could see inside the cabin, and you could see individuals in the cabin," he said. "I thought, 'Wow, that's really, really awkward... he was probably about 150 feet above the trees." Dallas attorney Scott Schieffer was a passenger aboard Flight 4013. "We could smell the burnt rubber from the flight," he told News 8 by phone. "The landing was really abrupt, and the pilot applied the brakes really strongly. You could hear it, and you could certainly feel it... you lunged forward in your seat and thankfully, you had your seatbelt on." Schieffer said after landing, a crew member came on the intercom and said, "Welcome to Branson." A brief time later, there was another announcement: They were actually at the wrong Branson airport. After exiting the jet, Schieffer realized the plane landed at the end of the runway, just a few hundred feet from where it ends at a steep cliff. The website for M. Graham Clark Airport says its longest runway is 3,738 feet. Branson Airport's website says its runway is 7,140 feet long. Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said there were 124 passengers and five crew members on the flight. He characterized the landing as "uneventful." Passengers were taken by bus to the primary Branson airport to continue their journeys. Flight 4013 was originally scheduled to arrive at Dallas Love Field at 7:05 p.m. Sunday, the latest information was that passengers would get to Dallas shortly before midnight. Southwest Airlines issued refunds and travel credits to passengers. It's the second time in less than two months that a large jet has landed at the wrong airport. In November, a Boeing 747 that was supposed to deliver parts to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., landed 9 miles north at Col. James Jabara Airport. That plane was flown by a two-person crew and had no passengers. http://www.wfaa.com/news/national/Dallas-bound-Southwest-jet-lands-at-wrong- airport-239852951.html Back to Top NTSB Investigating Erroneous Airport Landing of Southwest Airlines Flight 4013 WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board announced today that it is investigating yesterday's incident involving a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 that landed at the wrong airport. At approximately 6:25 p.m. CST., Southwest Flight 4013, which was originally scheduled to land at Branson Airport in Missouri, erroneously landed at M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport instead. M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport is located in the town of Hollister, Mo. approximately six miles north of Branson. The airplane landed safety and there were no injuries reported at the time. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the airplane have been secured and are being brought back to Washington, DC for readout and analysis. In addition, NTSB investigators will conduct interviews with the Southwest crew this week. www.ntsb.gov Back to Top Medical Emergency Prompts Jet to Divert to Omaha Plane Diverts to Eppley An American Airlines passenger jet made an unexpected stop in Omaha Monday night due to a medical emergency on board. The flight was heading from Chicago to San Francisco when a passenger became ill and the jet had to land at Eppley. Extra emergency crews were sent out as the jet approached around 8:30. It was a precautionary measure due to the amount of fuel on the aircraft but the plane landed without incident. The passenger was transported to a hospital for treatment. http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/Medical-Emergency-Prompts-Jet-to-Divert-to- Omaha-240035721.html Back to Top GAGAN Certified for Aviation in India The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India certified on December 30 the GAGAN system to RNP0.1 (Required Navigation Performance 0.1 Nautical Mile) service level, according to The Hindu. Now aircraft equipped with Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) receivers will be able to use GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) signals in Indian airspace for en route navigation and non-precision approaches without vertical guidance. Mission control centers, along with associated uplink stations, have been set up at Kundalahalli in Bangalore. Another control center and uplink station are in Delhi. A top official of the AAI said one of the Reference Stations has been housed outside the premises of the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The reference stations pick up signals from the orbiting GPS satellites. The measurements are immediately passed on to the mission control centers that then work out the necessary corrections that must be made. Messages carrying those corrections are sent via the uplink stations to the satellites in geostationary orbit that have the GAGAN payload. The availability of the GAGAN signal in the country's air space will bridge the gap between European Union's European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and Japan's Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) coverage areas. The SBAS consists of 15 Indian Reference Stations, three Indian Navigation Land Uplink Stations, three Mission Control Centers, three Geo-Stationary Navigation Payload in C and L bands and with all the associated software and communication links. GAGAN will provide augmentation service for GPS over India, the Bay of Bengal, South East Asia and the Middle East expanding up to Africa. http://gpsworld.com/gagan-certified-for-aviation-in-india/ Back to Top FAA Starts Working With Hobbyists To Draft Safety Guidelines For Model Aircraft And Drones The FAA today announced that it is working with the Academy for Model Aeronautics (AMA), the largest organization for model aircraft enthusiasts in the U.S., to create safety guidelines for model aircraft and drones. Many model aircraft hobbyists already belong to the AMA or at least know about its guidelines (don't fly higher than 400 feet, don't fly within three miles of an airport, etc.). Recently, however, the advent of relatively affordable, easy-to-fly model aircraft - GPS- enabled quadcopters that can easily fly up to a thousand feet and even autonomous drones - has added a large number of new users. In addition, the FAA notes, some high- end model aircraft can now have wingspans over 20 feet and have multiple jet engines. Given that the FAA has started its work on integrating commercial drones into the national airspace system, working with enthusiasts to create safety guidelines for how they can safely fly is a sensible move. Many of the potential commercial drones, after all, are essentially the same machines that today's hobbyists play with. As part of the agreement between the FAA and AMA, the AMA will "establish and maintain a comprehensive safety program for its members, including guidelines for emerging technologies such as model UAS." Giant Model RC Airbus A340 Hausen am Albis 2013 Jetcat Power 4 Turbine While the FAA doesn't have authority to regulate model aircraft, it's clearly in the best interest for both organizations to work closely together. The AMA knows that it just takes somebody with a ready-to-fly drone who flies too close to an airport and hits a plane, or somebody who crashes a quadcopter into a group of people and hurts somebody to get the government to mandate regulations. Part of the AMA's mission is to work with the government to promote its members' mission. The organization says it has over 150,000 members. According to Jim Williams, the head of the FAA's UAS Integration Office, "Safe model UAS operations will help to ensure that this industry continues to grow and bring the joy of recreational or hobby flying to more people than ever before." COPTER MOBI - 2014 - NO FAKES! NO BIKES! Only Russian military technology! ))) http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/faa-starts-working-with-hobbyists-to-draft-safety- guidelines-for-model-aircraft-and-drones/ Back to Top Back to Top New rules make it hard to find small-market pilots NORTH PLATTE, Neb. - The airlines serving small markets in Nebraska and Iowa have had a hard time finding enough pilots since new rules took effect last year, so numerous flights have been canceled. The canceled flights create hassles for passengers, and could make it harder for small airports to qualify for federal subsidies. Airports must serve at least 10,000 passengers a year to qualify for the subsidies. Flight cancellations were common last year in North Platte and Scottsbluff, Neb., as well as Mason City, Iowa. "We're having a totally unacceptable number of cancellations every day, and monthly," North Platte Regional Airport Manager Mike Sharkey said. "And our employment's down to probably a twentieth of what they used to be. Right now we're experiencing just one flight a day." The new rules, which took effect in August, require co-pilots to log 1,500 flight hours before they can work for commercial airlines. The rules also requires co-pilots, which are also called first officers, to have a rating for the type of aircraft they fly, involving additional specific training and testing. Previously, co-pilots were only required to have 250 hours experience. Airline captains already were required to have at least 1,500 hours flight experience. By the time pilots accumulate 1,500 flight hours of experience, they often are hired away by major airlines. That makes it harder for regional airlines to hire enough pilots. The new regulations were required under a 2010 aviation safety law that passed after a regional airliner crashed near Buffalo, killing 50 people. The crash was blamed on pilot error. U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska said he thinks the Senate Commerce Committee should hold a hearing on these unintended consequences of the new rules. He said the problem could get much worse if small airports lose federal funding. "This is complicated. It is enormously difficult," Johanns said. "It's likely to get more serious if we can't get this turned around because it involves that 10,000-passenger rule." http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/01/13/new-rules-make-it-hard-to- find-small-market-pilots/4450437/ Back to Top Industry Groups Blast FAA Policy on Flight Simulators Industry groups are sounding alarms over a surprise change to the FAA's longstanding policy toward GA flight simulators that one organization says will diminish many pilots' ability to receive adequate training. In the policy reversal issued on January 2, the FAA said it plans to rescind all Letters of Authorization for general aviation flight simulators starting in 2015. The agency explained that many flight simulator approvals grandfathered under the LOA process have no expiration date and may not comply with new guidelines issued in 2008 covering approved Basic Aviation Training Devices (BATD) and Advanced Aviation Training Devices (AATD). The FAA has been issuing flight simulator LOAs for more than 30 years. GA simulators affected by the FAA policy change will include virtually all Personal Computer Aviation Training Devices (PCATD), Flight Training Devices (FTD) and some BATDs and AATDs. The change will limit pilots to the FAR Part 61.65(i) maximum of 10 hours of simulator time loggable toward an instrument rating. Some LOAs for GA simulators allow as many as 20 hours of simulator training to count toward an instrument rating. "This proposed policy change will take away much of the incentive for pilots to improve their skills in a better classroom than a noisy cockpit," said Doug Stewart, executive director of Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE), a group that is opposing the policy. SAFE is asking the FAA to abandon the proposed policy change, arguing that it will prevent pilots from gaining the safety benefits of simulator training. The FAA hasn't responded to the organization's request, but points out in its explanation of the change that simulator makers will be able to apply for new LOAs after January 1, 2015. http://www.flyingmag.com/news/industry-groups-blast-faa-policy-flight- simulators#RXRigzC8VgDFudOh.99 Back to Top At 100, Commercial Aviation Safer Than Ever: EASA Noting that 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of commercial aviation, the European Aviation Safety Agency also reports that commercial airlines compiled the best safety record in aviation history last year: Worldwide fatal accidents involving large commercial air transport aircraft were lower in 2013 than any other year in the last decade, with 17 accidents, compared with a yearly average of 27, and the number of fatalities worldwide in 2013 was 224, compared with a yearly average of 703 between 2003 and 2012. No fatal crashes took place during 2013 that involved large commercial air transport airplanes in EASA Member States, when airline operators performed approximately 6 million commercial air transport flights and carried more than 800 million passengers. "Europe continues to have one of the strongest safety records in the world, however, this positive picture cannot be taken for granted. As traffic over European skies and worldwide increases, we need to continue our efforts to maintain and even improve aviation safety," said Patrick Ky, EASA's executive director. Work continues on improving safety through the European Aviation Safety Plan, according to the agency, which will soon publish its Annual Safety Review for 2013. It is an overview of all major sectors of European aviation, including commercial air transport and general aviation. In the United States, board members of the National Transportation Safety Board will participate in a news conference Thursday, Jan. 16, to discuss their 2014 Most Wanted List of transportation safety improvements. The event will begin at 10 a.m. EST. The list in connection is being release in conjunction with the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. http://ohsonline.com/articles/2014/01/14/at-100-commercial-aviation-safer-than-ever- easa.aspx?admgarea=news Curt Lewis