Flight Safety Information May 9, 2016 - No. 090 In This Issue Small Plane Crash Lands Atop Roof Of Building In Pomona Flight instructor killed in North Little Rock plane crash Flight crew punished after failed landing Plane's landing gear damaged during emergency stop after another aircraft crosses runway Battery fire grounds V Air plane Plane skids off runway in wet weather as passengers describe 'heavy turbulence' minutes before landing Russian Military Involved In Shooting Down Flight MH17, Researchers Say World's worst airline, North Korea's oddball Air Koryo, is still in business Call for Nominations For 2016 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award PhD Research Request Small Plane Crash Lands Atop Roof Of Building In Pomona POMONA (CBSLA.com) - Firefighters say a plane with up to two people on board has crash landed atop a building in Pomona. The Los Angeles County Fire Department says a call came out at 4:40 p.m. Sunday of a plane that landed on the roof of a building at 901 Corporate Center Drive in Pomona. The department said one person was being transported to the hospital. The extent of that person's injuries was not known. The cause of the crash was under investigation, though officials report that the pilot said the plane lost power. http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/05/08/small-plane-crashes-atop-building-in- pomona-injuries-unknown/ Back to Top Flight instructor killed in North Little Rock plane crash North Little Rock police on Friday identified the man who died in a small plane crash at the North Little Rock Municipal Airport on Thursday and the National Guardsman he was training. Doyle Reynolds, 56, of Jefferson was killed in the accident while he was conducting a "check-ride," or flight-training session, with Daniel Shure, 30, who was flying the aircraft at the time of the crash to obtain his air transportation license -- the highest-level pilot license under Federal Aviation Administration regulations. The North Little Rock Fire Department said Shure, of Benton, Wash., had nonlife- threatening burns and was taken to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for treatment Thursday. Reynolds was a designated check airman and certified to pilot multi-engine aircraft for transport and single-engine aircraft for commercial purposes, according to the FAA registry. He was also a certified flight instructor with a 2014-issued license that expires May 31 of this year. Harry Barrett, the owner of Barrett Aviation at the North Little Rock airport, said Reynolds was known for years by people who worked at the airport, though it had been awhile since he was known to do so-called check-rides there. The Cessna 310 twin-engine aircraft -- a 1961 model -- was frequently rented out for training, Barrett said, and had seen heavy use in the past six months. "Those airplanes are kept up and mechanics inspected every year -- in this case, every 100 hours," Barrett said. "It was a very capable aircraft." Shure is a Nevada-based National Guardsman and pilot in the process of getting a commercial airline pilot's license, said Nicholas Franke, who is a part-owner of the aircraft. The pilots planned on departing and returning to the airport as part of the training exercise. A police report quoted one witness who watched the plane leave the runway and "looked to not have enough power," before it turned back and crashed. The witness then called 911 and ran to the scene and made contact with Shure, who was attempting to provide help to Reynolds. Two other witnesses told police that when they arrived it was apparent that Reynolds could not be helped, so they instead provided Shure with aid. The report lists another witness who observed the plane flying at a low speed before making a sharp turn without the landing gear engaged. He then lost sight of it and saw the smoke. The National Transportation Safety Board began its investigation Friday morning. A spokesman for the board said that all parts of the aircraft have been recovered. The aircraft's engine and propellers will be examined in order to determine whether they functioned properly. The spokesman said that investigators are expected to finish Sunday and release a preliminary report detailing the crash's cause in the next two weeks. A full report will be released by the board in about a year, the spokesman said. At the airport's administration office, airport Director Clay Rogers said it was the first fatality in his five years as director. And North Little Rock Fire Chief John Pflasterer said Thursday that it's the first major aircraft accident in roughly 20 years. But, Rogers said, pilots who regularly fly at the airport were taking the accident in stride. "Pilots and the people that love aviation know the risks," Rogers said. "That thrill is the part of the appeal." http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/may/07/flight-instructor-killed-in-nlr-plane-c- 1/ Back to Top Flight crew punished after failed landing China's civil aviation authority revoked the licenses of two captains and suspended an assistant captain with China Eastern Airlines' Sichuan branch, after a landing accident that nearly caused a plane crash, officials said yesterday. Flights on the branch's new highland routes were suspended along with its applications for new routes, charter flights and additional flights, the Civil Aviation Administration told Shanghai-headquartered China Eastern in a meeting. The administration also fined the branch 50,000 yuan (US$7,700) because the crew of Flight MU5443 from Chengdu to Kangding in Sichuan Province lied to administration investigators after the accident. The Airbus 319 aircraft suffered damage to its tail and tires when it failed to land at the airport in Kangding in bad weather conditions on May 1. After missing the approach, the aircraft flew back to Chengdu airport, according to a primary investigation with the administration. The landing failure could have resulted in a serious plane crash, the administration said, adding that the pilot hit the ground too hard at too high a speed under bad weather conditions. The administration also pointed out that the co-pilot was resting in the cabin during the landing and the assistant captain sitting in the cockpit was not qualified to land at the 4,200-meter-high airport. Carriers operating on the high-altitude route must have two captains on duty, according to regulations. The crew also violated aviation regulations when they failed to tell passengers to use their oxygen masks when the aircraft was flying at an altitude of over 3 kilometers. During the investigation, crew members lied about the damage to the aircraft, the administration said, adding that the chief flight attendant lied about the secondary captain being in the cockpit during the landing. "The airline must solve the problem," Li Jian, deputy director of the administration, told China Eastern. The carrier assured the administration that the general manager and party secretary of the carrier would be held responsible and sacked if such an incident ever occurred again. http://www.china.org.cn/china/2016-05/09/content_38409809.htm Back to Top Plane's landing gear damaged during emergency stop after another aircraft crosses runway The Singapore Airlines Boeing flight to San Francisco was accelerating for takeoff at Seoul Incheon Airport in South Korea when a Korean Air Airbus flight to Saint Petersburg, Russia, unexpectedly taxied onto the runway A passenger plane damaged its landing gear when it made an emergency stop during take-off after another jet moved onto the runway. The Singapore Airlines Boeing flight to San Francisco was accelerating for takeoff at Seoul Incheon Airport in South Korea when a Korean Air Airbus flight to Saint Petersburg, Russia, unexpectedly taxied onto the runway. The Singapore Airlines plane, which had 186 people on board, was travelling at 120mph when it made the emergency stop, shredding the tyres and disabling the aircraft. After repairs it took off again about 19 hours after the accident. The Korean Air flight was diverted back to the apron and left an hour and a half after the incident, according to the Aviation Herald . http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/planes-landing-gear-damaged-during- 7928326 Back to Top Battery fire grounds V Air plane A fire broke out in the cabin of a V Air passenger liner bound for Japan on Friday night after a portable battery in a passenger's carry-on luggage spontaneously caught fire in the first incident of its kind affecting a Taiwanese air carrier, the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) said yesterday. "This was the first incident of a mobile device power source triggering a fire on a domestic airliner in flight," council executive director Thomas Wang (???) said. He said that between 1991 and last year there have been more than 170 incidents involving lithium battery explosions on commercial aircraft worldwide, but this was the first case involving a Taiwanese air carrier. "The council plans to investigate the case," he said. The device in question was a lithium battery made in China, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said, adding that it was not immediately clear what type of electronic device it was used to power. Wang said that the battery did not catch fire because it was on an aircraft in flight, and it would have caught fire even if it had not been brought onto the plane. There have been discussions on whether mobile power sources should be allowed on airplanes, he said, but cell phones also have lithium batteries and "the possibility of banning them is not high." Current practice among the world's airlines is that mobile power sources - as long as they are kept in carry-on luggage - can be brought aboard aircraft, he said. Flight ZV252 took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for Haneda Airport at 10:26pm on Friday. The fire was put out shortly after it began, and the battery was placed in a bucket of water to ensure that it would not reignite. All the aircraft's 161 passengers and crew members were unharmed in the incident. Due to safety concerns, the captain flew the aircraft back to Taoyuan airport. The aircraft arrived at the airport at 11:21pm and was confirmed not to have been damaged. The budget air carrier, in consideration of the lingering smell of smoke, arranged for the passengers to take another flight, which left at 12:30am yesterday. The airline said that the council had confirmed the safety of the aircraft before it was put back into service yesterday. When the crew members return to Taiwan, they will be questioned so that officials can learn more about the fire, the council said. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/05/08/2003645785 Back to Top Plane skids off runway in wet weather as passengers describe 'heavy turbulence' minutes before landing A plane carrying 66 passengers skidded off the runway while trying to land in wet weather in India, with one person on board describing how it felt like the plane was 'thrown to the ground.' The Jet Airways flight, that had earlier set out from Delhi, ended up in the grass at Indore Airport as rain lashed the runway. The 66 passengers, as well as four flight crew, were safely escorted off the aircraft and into the terminal building. There are no reported injuries. The runway was temporarily closed last night (Saturday) while the plane was moved from the grass and into a hangar. Pankaj Agrawal, who was a passenger on the flight said that the plane banked left and then right on the hard landing, before coming to a stop adjacent to the runway. Speaking to the Times of India, Mr Agrawal said: 'Minutes before landing, we experienced heavy turbulence. When the plane landed on the wet tarmac, it felt as if it was thrown on the ground. 'The airline authorities informed us that the right wing of the plane was badly damaged due to the landing.' Passengers were instructed to leave their hand luggage behind as they were moved off the plane. These were then delivered into the terminal after an hour. The airline posted a statement on their Twitter page shortly after the incident, saying: 'Jet Airways flight 9W 2793 from Delhi to Indore, had departed the paved surface after landing. 'All 66 guests and four crew aboard have been deplaned safely and taken to the terminal building. 'Inspection of our aircraft at Indore is in progress. Our teams are working to move the aircraft on to the tarmac.' Last week MailOnline reported how passengers were evacuated from a Turkish Airlines aircraft after it skidded off the runway during landing at Kosovo's only airport. The plane reportedly had 143 passengers including several children and eight crew from Istanbul on board when the accident happened in the country's capital Pristina. Local media has released images of the Turkish Airlines jet parked on a grassy area next to the runway. Writing on social media, one of the passengers said: 'Thank God we were saved from a tragedy.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3579653/It-felt-thrown-ground- Plane-skids-runway-wet-weather-passengers-heavy-turbulence-minutes-landing.html Back to Top Russian Military Involved In Shooting Down Flight MH17, Researchers Say Russian officials are trying to discredit a new report that implicates the Russian military in the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17. Nearly two years ago, that attack in the skies over eastern Ukraine killed 298 people. The latest report comes from a U.K.-based organization called Bellingcat, which bills itself as a group of citizen investigative journalists. Much of their work is done by volunteers, who sift through open source information on the web, using social media and satellite imagery. The group was launched with a crowd-funding campaign, and says it now receives a grant from Google. Bellingcat has focused on a number of big stories such as the war in Syria and the terror attacks in Paris. The team has been interested in the MH17 case ever since the plane was shot down in July 2014. Early on, the group found photographs of an anti-aircraft missile launcher that were taken in eastern Ukraine on the day the plane was shot down. Eliot Higgins, one of the founders of Bellingcat, says his group linked the missile launcher, called a Buk, to the Russian 53rd air defense brigade. That unit is stationed in the Russian city of Kursk, not far from the Ukrainian border. "We discovered quite quickly that the soldiers there were using a lot of social media, posting photographs of each other, posting photographs of the base," Higgins says. The photographs included pictures of their equipment, such as their Buk missile launchers. The launcher that was believed to have shot down the Malaysian airliner had an identification number that was partly worn away, but the researchers were able to pick out other unique characteristics. They included a dent in the side of the launcher and even the pattern formed by soot around the exhaust pipe. "We looked at all these details and we were able to establish the number of the missile launcher, which was 332," Higgins says. In other words, Bellingcat is saying that MH17 was shot down by a specific Russian missile launcher that was documented to be in eastern Ukraine at the time. Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, dismissed the Bellingcat report. She says it was the work of amateurs who ignored the information put forward by Russian experts and professionals. Zakharova says the motives behind it are sinister. "We consider this whole campaign to be an attempt by certain destructive forces to demonize Russia by creating an image in the mass consciousness that's very far from reality." Eliot Higgins says much of the information provided by the Russian experts has been refuted. He says there's a simple reason why Russia has been so adamant in rejecting any suggestion its troops were involved in the shoot-down. Russia has continually denied it ever sent any troops or equipment across the border into Ukraine, Higgins says, because "to admit that they were responsible for MH17 is not only admitting to the murder of 298 people, but also admitting that they were lying for months and months to their own countrypeople." The Safety Board in the Netherlands, where the flight originated, recently completed its investigation, saying the plane was most likely shot down by a Buk missile, originating from territory controlled by the Russian-backed separatists. Dutch police are now conducting a criminal investigation into the attack, which may finally determine who fired the missile. http://www.npr.org/2016/05/07/477168263/russian-military-involved-in-shooting-down- flight-mh17-researchers-say Back to Top World's worst airline, North Korea's oddball Air Koryo, is still in business The worst airline in the world flies regularly to only four or five destinations, departing from the despotic nation of North Korea. Air Koryo, the state-run Korean airline, rates as the only 1-star carrier on flight consultancy firm SkyTrax. Much-maligned airlines like Spirit Airlines and RyanAir at least earn two stars, putting them on the same playing field as Iran Air and Cubana Air. While Air Koryo stands alone - at the bottom - the issues with the North Korean airline stems more from comfort than safety. Although passengers complain about flight attendants skipping safety instructions or condensation from cooling systems splashing on seats, Air Koryo's only known fatal accident occurred in 1983. Still, the enigmatic airline founded in 1955 has some clear downsides. The Associated Press described Air Koryo as the world's quirkiest airline in 2014, and the quirks were not exactly pleasant: In-flight entertainment is usually limited to the popular Moranbong Band girl group singing patriotic odes to the leader. Or North Korean cartoons, shown on drop-down screens attached to the cabin ceilings. On the less than two-hour hop from Beijing, there is a meal of sorts. It resembles a hamburger. It helps that Air Koryo updated its Russian-made fleet in 2010 with new Tupolev 204 aircrafts after the European Union banned the airline in 2006 for "serious and repeated safety deficiencies." The Russian planes are not known for amenity. North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un also commissioned a makeover for Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport that was completed in 2015. Unlike his father, Kim Jong-Il, who was afraid of flying, his son has an interest in aircraft. The airline run by the hermit nation known for nuclear threats and human rights abuses doesn't get out much. Air Koryo has regular routes to two cities in China, Vladivostok in Russia, and Bangkok. The enigmatic airline inside the secretive country also has a no- photography policy on flights. But apparently, as seen in the gallery, those restrictions can be relaxed depending on the flight. http://www.chron.com/news/strange-weird/article/Take-flight-on-the-world-s-worst- airline-North-7403844.php Back to Top Call for Nominations For 2016 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) are now accepting nominations for the 2016 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, honoring a leader in aviation safety. The award will be presented during the 69th Annual International Air Safety Summit, taking place Nov. 14-16 in Dubai, UAE. Presented since 1956, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award recognizes notable achievement in the field of civil or military aviation safety in method, design, invention, study or other improvement. The award's recipient is selected for a "significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions," and a "significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities." Mechanics, engineers and others outside of top administrative or research positions should be especially considered. The contribution need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition. Nominations that were not selected as past winners of the Award can be submitted one additional time for consideration. Please note that self-nominations will not be considered. The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award's story dates back 70 years. On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed into the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In the years following, her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr., established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her honor. The Award Board, composed of leaders in the field of aviation, meets in June of each year to conduct a final review of nominees and selection of the current year's recipient. Please help us honor this year's most deserving recipient. Nominations, including a 1-2- page narrative, can be submitted via the Laura Taber Barbour Foundation website at http://ltbaward.org/the-award/nomination-form/ or the Flight Safety Foundation website at http://flightsafety.org/aviation-awards/laura-taber-barbour-air-safety-award. Nominations will be accepted until June 1, 2016. For more information, including a complete history of Award recipients, see www.ltbaward.com. ABOUT THE LAURA TABER BARBOUR AIR SAFETY AWARD: The Award was established in 1956 through early association with the Flight Safety Foundation and from its founding has enjoyed a rich history of Award Board members, nominees and Award recipients. In 2013, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed from members of the Award Board, the aviation community and the Barbour family. As the foundation plans to broaden the scope of its intent, with great purpose, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to spotlight those champions who pioneer breakthroughs in flight safety. Back to Top PhD Research Request Helicopter Pilots, This is a request for you to participate in a research study for my doctoral degree. The purpose is to study the relationship between safety management systems, incidents and accidents, and company performance for small helicopter companies with less than 5 aircraft and in the last 10 years. This research is in conjunction with safety efforts by the US Helicopter Safety Team and the Helicopter Association International. There are series of questions regarding safety management systems, incidents and accidents, and company performance. To participate, you must be between age 21 to 60, had some aircrew experience with any type of small civil helicopter organization (5 aircraft and under) and in the United States in last 10 years. Current helicopter student pilots can participate. Please follow the link below and fill but if you start, please finish the survey. It will only take about 12 minutes to complete. The survey does not include any identifiable data about the crewmember, places of employment, or OEM. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5VPCZZ5 Thank you very much for your participation! Principal Investigator Scott Burgess Doctoral student at Northcentral University S.Burgess4793@email.ncu.edu Curt Lewis