Flight Safety Information February 5, 2014 - No. 026 In This Issue U.S. downgrade to hit all Indian airlines: CAPA Plane crashes at Deer Valley Airport Audio from air traffic control tower from UPS Cargo Plane crash released by FAA Save the Date: 6th Annual Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, TX Delta recalls all furloughed pilots, plans to add more $8B earmarked for big upgrade of NY airports Regulator Has Issues With Superjet Safety Work Wanted: FAA hiring, but it's challenging work PRISM SMS Calls for Application for The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship Aviation ministry pushes for new sector regulator Call For Papers How low can you go? What aircraft endure during cold weather testing Japan wants kamikaze pilots' wartime letters to be part of Unesco world heritage list U.S. downgrade to hit all Indian airlines: CAPA It will result in all Indian airlines witnessing cost escalation due to enhanced risk pro?le The decision of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to downgrade India to Category 2 under its International Aviation Safety Assessment programme will have cascading effect on Indian carriers though Air India and Jet Airways, which fly to the U.S, would be affected immediately. Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has come out with an exhaustive report stating that the downgrade will result in all Indian airlines witnessing cost escalation due to enhanced risk profile. "All Indian carriers could potentially suffer from higher lease rates, more stringent maintenance covenants, and increased insurance premiums as a result of a perceived increase in risks," said Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia, CAPA. "The possibility exists that other jurisdictions (countries) may raise their own concerns about safety oversight in India (after the FAA action), which could have a much greater impact on Indian carriers," he added. According to CAPA's report, the proposed Tata-SIA venture, though may be allowed to fly international immediately after its launch, cannot operate flights to the U.S. due to the downgrade. "An opportunity was emerging for a well funded, premium Indian carrier such as Tata-SIA operating non- stop services to global destinations. "The U.S. would surely have been an important component of those network plans," CAPA said, adding that it might take many years for Indian [carriers] to achieve Category 1 status. According to CAPA, the downgrade highlights deep systemic flaws in India's aviation safety oversight. It wanted the government to come out with a white paper to identify the problems. "The downgrade is a matter which rests solely at the government's door. "The FAA action will force one to recognise India's regulatory shortcomings. Restoration of India's aviation credibility is a serious goal," CAPA said. It wanted the aviation regulator DGCA to be strengthened immediately to address the safety concerns. "An urgent, comprehensive and independent white paper on the state of aviation safety is critical to understand the depth of the problem. Only then, can appropriate long-term solutions be developed," said CAPA. http://www.thehindu.com/business/us-downgrade-to-hit-all-indian-airlines-capa/article5653620.ece Back to Top Plane crashes at Deer Valley Airport PHOENIX -- Only minor injuries were reported after a small plane crashed and caught fire at Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix late Tuesday morning. According to Ian Gregor with the Federal Aviation Administration, a single-engine Piper PA28 crashed on the east end of the airport near Seventh Street and Deer Valley Road at approximately 11:30 a.m. The plane became fully engulfed in flames after crashing. Firefighters responded and doused the flames. Gregor said it was an instructional flight and the accident occurred while the pilot was practicing touch- and-go maneuvers. A touch-and-go is a common procedure in which the pilot lands, continues rolling and takes off again. Gregor said local authorities reported that there were three people from TransPac Aviation Academy on board the plane. They said one person suffered a minor injury and the other two were not injured. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. "The pilot, whoever it was, did a fantastic job, in my opinion," said Barry Caraway, a pilot at Deer Valley, who is familiar with the type of Piper which crashed. "This is a very difficult plane to get in and out of. There's only one door, and the pilot doesn't have his own door," said Caraway. Witnesses heard the plane sputtering and said it appeared to be having engine problems before it crashed and caught fire. "From what I understand, one of the guys went back and was able to get the guy in the back seat out, which was a heroic event because the plane was burning at that time," said Caraway. According to the FAA, TransPac Aviation Academy has a record of at least 20 prior incidents or accidents since receiving its flight school certificate in 2007. Three involved fatalities. There is also a record of a violation in 2009 involving quality of training. A correction letter was issued, which is on the low end of the enforcement scale, according to a spokesman for the FAA. TransPac declined to comment on the past accident. Deer Valley Airport is considered one of the busiest general aviation airports in the nation. Statement from TransPac Aviation Academy: "One of TransPac Aviation Academy's aircraft landed off runway near 7th Street and Deer Valley Road this afternoon. "All three crew members evacuated the aircraft safely with only very minor injuries. The aircraft apparently suffered significant damage. "TransPac is cooperating in full with the FAA and NTSB as they complete their normal investigation. However, Stephen Goddard, President & CEO, would like to acknowledge the fine job our crew members did in safely executing an emergency landing - something we practice and prepare for each and every day. "The safety and security of our instructors and students is TransPac's highest priority." http://www.azfamily.com/news/Plane-crashes-at-Deer-Valley-Airport-243541231.html Back to Top Audio from air traffic control tower from UPS Cargo Plane crash released by FAA BIRMINGHAM, AL - Nearly six months after the fatal UPS plane crash, audio from the air traffic control tower has been released. In the 14-minute audio clip, seven distinct voices can be heard. They include the person in the tower guiding the flight in, as well as co-pilot Shanda Fanning before she and pilot Cerea Beal Jr. were killed. [LISTEN TO THE AUDIO -- Note that there are periods of silence included.] The other voices are folks on the ground who are airport authority employees and the Alabama Air National Guard Fire Station. [READ TRANSCRIPT HERE] http://www.alabamas13.com/story/24634384/audio-from-air-traffic-control-tower-from-ups-cargo-plane- crash-released-by-faa Back to Top Back to Top Delta recalls all furloughed pilots, plans to add more A report in the Wall Street Journal about the ongoing pilot shortage says not only has Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) recalled all of its furloughed pilots who want to return, the airline plans to add about 50 pilots a month "through early this year" and then take 20 a month through September. The WSJ adds the shortage of qualified pilots has hit U.S. airlines sooner and more severely than expected, leading the airlines to accelerate hiring and cut some service. The shortage is attributed to both a long-anticipated wave of pilot retirements and new rules that require an increase in training for new pilots and more rest for existing pilots at passenger airlines. http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2014/02/delta-recalls-all-furloughed-pilots.html Back to Top $8B earmarked for big upgrade of NY airports The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unveiled a $27.6 billion capital budget Tuesday morning, outlining its spending for the next 10 years. Top officials at the bi-state agency said the spending plan reflects a refocus on transit and related infrastructure. Headlining the spending are improvements to the region's airports, which are often ranked among the worst in the entire nation. The Port Authority is earmarking $8 billion for the biggest slate of improvements to the region's three airports in decades. Those include the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport's main terminal building, the demolition of Terminal 3 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and a more than $1 billion extension of the PATH train to connect with the Air Train servicing Newark Liberty Airport. Officials also said that the agency would move to modernize Newark beginning in five years. "This is probably the biggest investment in airports ever," said Scott Rechler, the vice chairman of the board of the Port Authoirty and one of the chief overseers of the new capital plan. The Port Authority also set aside a $5 billion to finish the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, a project that has already cost the authority more than $10 billion. Mr. Rechler and other officials highlighted, however, how the $1.4 billion sale of the site's retail space and a more than $800 million deal to bring an observation deck to the top of One World Trade Center, have offset some of the expenses slightly for the agency at the site. Officials said that for the first time the agency's budget would include annual formal monitoring of the agency's spending capacity coupled with an evaluation of how any changes to Port Authority revenue should impact its capital spending agenda. That change appeared to be a nod to the downturn, when the authority's toll and fare revenue dropped precipitiously and the Port Authority was forced to make unscripted cuts to spending. "We took the time to make sure we understand where the capacity was and were being responsible from a financial standpoint," Mr. Rechler said. "This gives us the ability to re-evaluate on a regular basis and make determinations whether we have the capacity to continue with projects and make sure we're reserving our spending for our priorities." The Port Authority capital budget is one of the largest pipelines of government infrastructure dollars in the region. "It will generate $7.3 billion in wages and 125,000 jobs," Patrick Foye, the Port Authority's executive director said of the capital budget. "This could really move the jobs needle." The authority will spend nearly $13 billion maintaining in a state of good repair its bridges and tunnels. Projects there includes billions of dollars to rehabilitate the Lincoln Tunnel vehicular helix and to replace suspension cables on the George Washington Bridge. Among the other capital projects in the budget is a rebuilding of the Goethals Bridge, and a raising of the Bayonne Bridge from 150 feet to 250 feet while simultaneously keeping the link open to traffic. More than $3 billion will also be spent on the PATH system. According to Deborah Gramiccioni the newly appointed deputy executive director at the Port Authority, the PATH work will include signal replacement and work to begin installing an automatic train control system as well as the refurbishments of the Harrison and Grove Street New Jersey PATH stations. The spending plan was outlined in a Port Authority committee on capital planning, execution and asset management on Tuesday morning. The plan will be delivered to the Port Authority's board on Thursday for approval. "The Port Authority needs to make airports the number one priority in its 10 year capital plan," said Joseph Sitt, a real estate investor and chair of the airport advocacy group the Global Gateway Alliance. "We're pleased that the agency is taking the first step in that direction today." http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140204/REAL_ESTATE/140209958/-8b-earmarked-for-big- upgrade-of-ny-airports Back to Top Regulator Has Issues With Superjet Safety Aeroflot said Tuesday that it had taken delivery of its 6th Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner, while the country's air safety regulator expressed concerns about the model's safety. The Interstate Aviation Committee, or IAC, on Monday said on its website that it had notified the maker of the Superjet, United Aircraft Corporation, about "issues related to the safe operation of the RRJ-95B [Superjet 100]," RIA Novosti reported. The problems were uncovered during tests conducted in collaboration with the Federal Air Transport Agency and other agencies to investigate a "substantial increase in the number of incidents connected with the RRJ-95B." The IAC statement did not specify the issues identified in the tests. Another midrange jet liner, the Tupolev Tu-204, was even less fortunate. The IAC said it was considering suspending production of the aircraft over structural problems with its horizontal tail stabilizers. The Superjet 100 is built by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, owned by United Aircraft Corp., in cooperation with US and European partners to compete in the medium-haul airliner market. The plane entered into commercial service two years ago and can seat up to 110 passengers. In May 2012, one of the planes crashed into a mountainside in Indonesia during a promotional flight killing all 45 people on board. In July, a Superjet 100 made a belly-landing in Iceland when its landing gear failed to extend. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/regulator-has-issues-with-superjet-safety/493848.html Back to Top Work Wanted: FAA hiring, but it's challenging work The Employment and Training Administration recently announced that the Federal Aviation Administration is planning on hiring 3,000 air traffic controllers nationwide this year. The announcement appears, along with a digital employment and eligibility guide, at www.usajobs.gov. The FAA will also host an online recruiting event on Feb. 12, available to all online audiences. FAA recruiters will be available for live chats 12-4 p.m. EST. You can register for the recruiting event at faa.gov/jobs. http://jacksonville.com/business/2014-02-04/story/work-wanted-faa-hiring-its-challenging-work Back to Top Back to Top Calls for Application for The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship DEADLINE for filling application 15 April, 2014 The 2014 ISASI Seminar will be held in the Stamford Hotel in Glenelg, near Adelaide, Australia 13-16 October 2014. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS 2014 The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship (In memorial to all ISASI members who have died) Purpose: To encourage and assist college-level students interested in the field of aviation safety and aircraft occurrence investigation. Funding: The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship fund will be established through donations and will provide an annual allocation of funds for the scholarship if funds are available. Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled as full time students in a recognized (note ISASI recognized) education program, which includes courses in aircraft engineering and/or operations, aviation psychology, aviation safety and/or aircraft occurrence investigation, etc., with major or minor subjects that focus on aviation safety/investigation are eligible for the scholarship. A student who has received the annual ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship will not be eligible to apply for it again. Administration of the Fund: The President of ISASI will appoint a two person committee to be executors and administrators of the fund. The ISASI Treasurer will oversee all expenditures. The Scholarship Fund Committee will check that the education program is at a recognized school and applicable to the aims of the Society, assess the applications and determine the most suitable candidate. Donors and recipients will be advised if donations are made in honor of a particular individual. Annual Scholarship: Funded attendance at ISASI Annual Seminar An award of $2000 will be made to each student who wins the competitive writing requirement, meets the application requirements and will register for the ISASI annual seminar. The award will be used to cover costs for the seminar registration fees, travel, and lodging/meals expenses. Any expenses above and beyond the amount of the award will be borne by the recipient. ISASI will assist with coordination and control the expenditure of funds. In addition, the following are offered to the winner(s) of the scholarship. 1. A one year membership to ISASI 2. The Southern California Safety Institute (SCSI) offers tuition-free attendance to ANY regularly scheduled SCSI course to the winner of the ISASI Scholarship. This includes the two-week Aircraft Accident Investigator course or any other investigation courses. Travel to/from the course and accommodations are not included. More information at http://www.scsi-inc.com/ 3. The Transportation Safety Institute offers a tuition free course for the winner of the Scholarship. Travel to/from the course and accommodations are not included. More information is available at http://www.tsi.dot.gov/ 4. The Cranfield University Safety and Accident Investigation Centre offers tuition-free attendance at its 5-day Accident Investigation course which runs as part of its Masters Degree program at the Cranfield campus, 50 miles north of London, UK. Travel to/from the course and accommodation are not included. Further information is available from www.csaic.net/ Application requirements: 1. A full time student who meets the Eligibility requirement stated above and has been enrolled for a duration of one year 2. The student is to submit a 1000 (+/- 10%) word paper in English addressing "the challenges for air safety investigators" 3. The paper is to be the students own work and must be countersigned by the student's tutor/academic supervisor as authentic, original work 4. The papers will be judged on their content, original thinking, logic and clarity of expression 5. The essay and application must be submitted in a format that can be opened by Microsoft Word. 6. The student must complete the application form with their paper by April 15, 2014 and submit it to ISASI by mail, fax, or email to isasi@erols.com. ISASI contact information - Ann Schull, International Office Manager 107 E. Holly Avenue, Suite #11 Sterling, VA 20164 703 430 9668 (Main) 703 430-4970 (FAX) Some advice to those applying: 1. Late submissions are not advisable 2. Handwritten applications are not advisable 3. Make sure to include your email address as indicated above Application Form 2014 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship (In memorial to all ISASI members who have died) Name: Date: Address: Course enrolled for: Year /Subjects Studied: Academic Institute: Address: Email: Telephone number: Student Signature:_____________________________________________________________ Tutor/Academic Supervisor title and signature:________________________________________ 1000 Word Paper ""the challenges for air safety investigators" NOTE: Students who wish to apply for the scholarship should visit www.isasi.org or send email to isasi@erols.com. The ISASI office telephone number is 1-703-430-9668. Back to Top Aviation ministry pushes for new sector regulator NEW DELHI: The aviation ministry is preparing to introduce legislation in the upcoming session of Parliament to create a new aviation regulator to replace the current authority, a largely toothless body that has been hobbled by a serious staff shortage, after US regulators cut India's safety rating last week. The ministry has accepted recommendations of a panel of MPs to strengthen the proposed Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), by giving it autonomy to create technical posts such as flight operations inspectors without having to turn to the government, a top official of the ministry of civil aviation told ET on Tuesday. One of the main reasons for the downgrade by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was the failure of the current aviation regulator, directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) to hire on a permanent basis an adequate number of flight operations inspectors trained for specific aircraft models, according to the aviation ministry official. The FAA, which audited DGCA in September and December, also found DGCA wanting in training its airworthiness officers to conduct safety checks on aircraft models used by non- scheduled operators (private jets, helicopters, chartered flights etc.), it said. The FAA action was a major loss of face for India's aviation industry and a setback to the overseas expansion ambitions of Indian carriers. A day after the downgrade, two of the US airlines suspended marketing ties with Jet AirwaysBSE -2.36 %, India's second largest airline by passengers carried, which operates seven flights a week to the US. The draft Civil Aviation Authority Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha in August 2013 and the standing committee on transport, tourism and culture gave its recommendations in January. The US FAA's September 2013 audit had pointed to the lack of such technical officers in the DGCA. But a proposal to hire 75 new inspectors were cleared by the Cabinet only on January 20, a delay that meant India couldn't avert a downgrade. However while day-to-day functions of the current regulator, DGCA,will be subsumed by CAA, the chairman of the CAA will only be a part-time position. The everyday functioning of the new regulator will be overseen by the director-general of civil aviation, a post currently held by bureaucrat Prabhat Kumar. Further, despite the urgency created by the FAA downgrade, the decision to hire new inspectors could be delayed because the government has to revise the recruitment rules, according to the official."It is not clear how these vacant positions will be filled in the short-term given the shortage of skilled resources in the market," aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said in a report released on Tuesday. "Even with the best training programmes sufficient qualified inspectors cannot be created overnight especially when less than $1 million has been spent on training at the DGCA over the last five years." The ministry, the official said, is not averse to working with the US FAA to regain its air safety rating. However, it wants to complete work related to recruitment of officials and possibly have the Civil Aviation Authority in place before it writes to the US FAA for another audit to upgrade India. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/aviation- ministry-pushes-for-new-sector-regulator/articleshow/29871606.cms Back to Top Back to Top How low can you go? What aircraft endure during cold weather testing (CNN) -- Who in their right mind would swap the south of France for the Canadian Arctic in the middle of winter? A team of Airbus specialists testing the aircraft manufacturer's latest A350 XWB, that's who. Last week a team of engineers, mechanics and test pilots from the Toulouse-based company performed various extreme-weather trials on a test plane in Iqaluit, the capital of Canada's eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut. The ground and in-air tests included operating the aircraft in temperatures reaching down to -18 Fahrenheit (-28 degrees Celsius), thrust-reversed tests with snow and a local flight test. Like all new planes, the new model must be tested in extreme environmental condition, from freezing to intense heat. "Coming to an extreme place means we can break everything," Airbus' head of flight operations Pedro Dias told local reporters. Extreme cold affects various parts of an aircraft in different ways. Metals, such as steel and aluminum, contract at different rates. Lubricants may lose their viscosity, creating friction and wear issues for moving parts. Meanwhile plastic and rubber parts could become brittle. The cold-weather tests in Canada came only days after the MSN3 test plane completed high-altitude test in Bolivia. Next stop is Qatar for hot-weather testing. For years Iqaluit, located on Baffin Island, has marketed itself as "a premier cold-weather test site." Airbus have tested there since the 1990s, while the airport has also hosted other civilian and military aircraft makers such as Boeing, Dassault and Eurocopter to perform similar trials. But cold weather test sites also appear in unlikely places. In April 2010 Boeing chose McKinley Climatic Laboratory in Florida as the location for extreme-weather testing on its 787 Dreamliner. In a test chamber the aircraft was given a "cold soak" and exposed to temperatures as low as -45 degrees Fahrenheit (-42.7 degrees Celsius) for hours. Later, it had to endure temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius), also for hours. "These tests help us establish that our customers will get airplanes that work for them in all of the climates in which they operate around the globe (and in all seasons)," said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, in a press statement. But extreme-weather trials are also affected by unpredictability of Mother Nature. Initially scheduled for five days, Airbus' tests in Iqaluit were cut short, not because of an impending winter blizzard but because of a balmy temperature of -18 degrees Celsius -- too warm for the cold weather testing. http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/03/travel/plane-airbus-cold-weather-testing/ Back to Top Japan wants kamikaze pilots' wartime letters to be part of Unesco world heritage list Japan is pushing to have more than 300 letters written by its second-world-war kamikaze pilots enshrined as UN world heritage items - a move that will likely stir up further controversy about the country's wartime past and which has already elicited condemnation from Asian neighbours. The southern city where these suicide pilots were trained and based, Minamikyushu, has submitted these letters to the Unesco Memory of the World Programme, in the hope it will be listed next year as heritage items worthy of preservation along with the likes of the Gutenberg Bible and the diaries of Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Minamikyushu officials have translated into English 330 letters written by the aviators before they were sent on suicide missions where they would deliberately crash booby-trapped airplanes on Allied warships or other targets. Not many of the pilots' families are still alive. Minamikyushu Mayor Kanpei Shimoide told a news conference on Tuesday that the messages would help people think about the horrors of war ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of the world war next year, the Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported. The suicide notes were previously kept at the city's Chiran Peace Museum, among 14,000 other letters and poems written by the pilots. However, the Unesco submission has prompted a backlash from China and South Korea, which had been invaded or occupied by Japanese forces during the war. "At such a speed, you [Japan] are going to enlist the Yasukuni Shrine as a world heritage [site]. Could you be more shameless?" the state outlet China News Services wrote in its official microblog account. China Central Television, meanwhile, deemed the kamikaze special forces "notorious", in a Sina Weibo post that has been shared some 800 times and drawn 900 comments. Many Chinese netizens said the news left them "shocked" and "speechless with rage". Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se expressed Seoul's opposition to Japan's move to honour the wartime relics after the news conference, saying the suicide notes went against the basic ethics of a Unesco world heritage, Korea's Arirang TV reported. Unesco launched the Memory of the World Programme in 1992 to preserve valuable archives and documents all around the world. The current list of 300 registered items include Vasco da Gama's journals on his first expedition to India, golden lists of the Qing dynasty imperial examination and the Phoenician alphabet. To date, Japan has three registered items on the Memory of the World programme, namely the hand- written journal of statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga, the paintings and diaries of Sakubei Yamamoto, as well as archive materials from an inter-country mission during the Keicho era which Japan submitted together with Spain. Countries who wish to register must gain approval from Unesco's International Advisory Committee. Previously, Japan had sought to list Kyushu and Yamaguchi - where Koreans under Japan's colonial rule were forced to work in labour camps - as Unesco world heritage sites, Arirang TV reported. http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1421370/japan-wants-kamikaze-pilots-wartime-letters-be-part- unesco-world-heritage Curt Lewis