Flight Safety Information - February 16, 2021 No. 034 In This Issue : Incident: UPS B744 at Louisville on Feb 15th 2021, taxiway excursion during line up : Incident: Lufthansa A359 near Boston on Feb 6th 2021, odour in cabin : Incident: Azul AT72 at Sao Paulo on Feb 2nd 2021, burning odour in cockpit : TWELVE YEARS AFTER COLGAN 3407, FAA STILL HASN’T IMPLEMENTED PILOT RECORDS DATABASE : Rogue FAA Employee Offered to ‘Commit Treason’ For China : Passenger says man tried to open cabin door in mid-flight : ERAU - Research Study Incident: UPS B744 at Louisville on Feb 15th 2021, taxiway excursion during line up A UPS United Parcel Service Boeing 747-400 freighter, registration N575UP performing flight 5X-1540 from Louisville,KY to Trenton Mc Guire Air Force Base,NJ (USA), was taxiing for departure and had been cleared to line up runway 35L via taxiway B, when the aircraft slid, the nose gear went off taxiway B at 18:22L (23:22Z). The crew reported "we are in the dirt" and advised, at least a portion of their wing was over the runway area already. The runway was closed. The airline reported the nose gear went off the paved surface into a connecting field. There was no damage to the aircraft, it was towed back onto the taxiway. The airport said, that although it was snowing at the time the taxiway was not considered that slick. http://avherald.com/h?article=4e31fb0a&opt=0 Incident: Lufthansa A359 near Boston on Feb 6th 2021, odour in cabin A Lufthansa Airbus A350-900, registration D-AIXJ performing flight LH-413 from Newark,NJ (USA) to Munich (Germany) with 41 people on board, was climbing to FL350 just about to reach the flight level about 10nm south of Boston,MA (USA) when the crew advised they had some smell in the back of the cabin and would like to maintain minimum speed (0.73 mach) to solve the smell issue. A few minutes later, about 25nm east of Boston, the crew advised they still had the smell in the cabin and decided to not continue their flight to destination but to return to Newark. They expected a normal landing, then requested to speed up the arrival in Newark so that they were able to get the passengers off at the gate as quickly as possible. Two passengers reported they felt headaches, cabin crew reported the smell was like tigerbalsam, not like smoke, something different to smoke. The crew again requested to make sure they had a gate to arrive there as quickly as possible and de-board the passengers. The aircraft landed safely on Newark's runway 22R about 80 minutes after departure and taxied to the gate. The aircraft remained on the ground in Newark until Feb 9th 2021, then departed for Munich again as flight LH-413. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH413/history/20210207/0150Z/KEWR/KEWR http://avherald.com/h?article=4e31afee&opt=0 Incident: Azul AT72 at Sao Paulo on Feb 2nd 2021, burning odour in cockpit An Azul Linhas Aereas Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration PR-AKA from Ribeirao Preto,SP to Sao Paulo Viracopos,SP (Brazil) with 66 passengers and 4 crew, was holding at Sao Paulo waiting for landing when the crew observed a burning odour in the cockpit. The crew declared emergency and landed safely on runway 15. Brazil's CENIPA reported the crew received a "AUDIO SEL CAPT" message after noticing the burning odour in the cockpit, declared emergency due to the volume of traffic and proceeded for an uneventful landing. The occurrence was rated an incident. The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 12 hours later. http://avherald.com/h?article=4e2f0cc4&opt=0 TWELVE YEARS AFTER COLGAN 3407, FAA STILL HASN’T IMPLEMENTED PILOT RECORDS DATABASE FEBRUARY 12, 2021 By Chairman Robert Sumwalt I grew up in the South, and people sometimes say we do things slowly in that part of the country. Whether there’s any validity to that claim, I can’t say with certainty. What I can say with great certainty, however, is that speed isn’t an attribute commonly associated with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), an agency within the US Department of Transportation. Below is a sad, but true, example of the glacial pace of the FAA’s rulemaking processes—even in the wake of a congressional mandate to get something done. Perhaps the new secretary of transportation can give a needed boost to this untenable situation. On this date 12 years ago—February 12, 2009—while on approach to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York, Colgan Air flight 3407, a Bombardier Q-400 turboprop, plunged from the sky. Fifty lives were lost, including that of a man who died when the turboprop crashed into his home. The NTSB’s year-long investigation revealed that, as the airplane slowed on approach, the captain became startled by the activation of the aircraft’s stall warning system. In response to something that should have been easily dealt with, the captain inappropriately manipulated the elevator controls, forcing the aircraft into its fateful dive. Our investigation found that the captain had a history of piloting performance deficiencies, including having failed several flight tests. Possibly more troubling, he concealed these performance deficiencies from Colgan when he applied for employment. The Colgan crash was the deadliest US airline disaster in the past 19 years. In response to this tragedy, the NTSB issued safety recommendations to the FAA to strengthen the way airlines ascertain a pilot applicant’s background, including requiring previous employers to disclose training records and records of any previous failures. Congress took note of these recommendations and included them in a bill signed into law in August 2010. This law required the FAA to establish a pilot records database (PRD), and stipulated that “before allowing an individual to begin service as a pilot, an air carrier shall access and evaluate . . . information pertaining to the individual from the pilot records database.” Items required to be entered into the PRD, and considered by hiring airlines, included “training, qualifications, proficiency, or professional competence of the individual, including comments and evaluations made by a check airman . . . any disciplinary action taken with respect to the individual that was not subsequently overturned; and any release from employment or resignation, termination, or disqualification with respect to employment.” Congress appropriated $6 million per year for the next 4 years to help facilitate creation of the PRD—a total of $24 million. The FAA’s response reminds me of my college’s football team—they get off to a good start, but after scoring on the opening drive, they have difficulty executing for the rest of the game. In early 2011, the FAA established an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to develop recommendations on the best way to implement the PRD. Despite the ARC completing its work and issuing a report to the FAA in July 2011—just 6 months after being tasked with developing recommendations—it wasn’t until September 2015 that the FAA began a phased approach to implementing the PRD. By July 2016, Congress had become impatient with the FAA’s lack of progress. After all, it had been 6 years since the FAA was required to create the PRD, and there was still no appreciable progress. Congress gave the FAA a new deadline: it mandated the PRD be in place by April 30, 2017. Unfortunately, April 30, 2017, came and went. Still no PRD. Meanwhile, 40 days after that deadline, a young pilot applied for employment at Atlas Air and was hired shortly thereafter. As with the Colgan Air captain, this pilot concealed his history of performance deficiencies, which deprived Atlas Air the opportunity to fully evaluate his aptitude and competency as a pilot. He struggled with training at Atlas, but after failing his check ride, he was retrained and passed. Tragically, on February 23, 2019, on what should have been a routine cargo flight from Miami to Houston, this pilot, like the Colgan Air captain, encountered something that startled him. He overreacted and put the Boeing 767 into a fatal dive. The commonalities between the Colgan Air crash and the Atlas Air crash are striking: Both pilots had a record of poor performance prior to their employment, both pilots concealed that information when applying for airline employment, and both pilots misapplied the flight controls following events they weren’t expecting. Events that should have been easily corrected. Events that, tragically, led to their aircraft plunging to the ground. Neither of these sad events was an isolated case. Including these two crashes, the NTSB has investigated 11 air carrier accidents over 3 decades in which pilots with a history of unsatisfactory performance were hired by an airline and then were later involved in an accident attributed to their poor piloting performance. After years of foot dragging, last March, the FAA provided its first visible indication of moving forward with the PRD, publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to give the public a glimpse of what the proposed rule may look like—10 years after Congress initially mandated it, and 3 years after the April 2017 deadline that Congress eventually imposed. The NPRM indicated that the PRD should be implemented sometime this year; however, the NPRM also proposes allowing a 2-year phase-in period. This puts complete implementation somewhere around a 2023 timeframe, assuming this proposed timeline holds. If that’s the case, we will finally have the PRD 14 years after the Colgan Air disaster, 13 years after Congress mandated it, 5 years after the deadline imposed by Congress, and 4 years after the Atlas Air crash. A crash is a tragedy. It’s even more tragic to see a similar crash happen again and again and not have the regulatory agency responsible for safeguarding the skies take corrective action in a reasonable timeframe. We’re past the point of reasonable, and the traveling public deserves better. https://safetycompass.wordpress.com/ Rogue FAA Employee Offered to ‘Commit Treason’ For China The staffer offered to commit “treason and espionage” in exchange for $27.7 million and a promise of asylum in Germany, France, or China. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee offered to commit “treason and espionage” in exchange for $27.7 million and a promise of asylum in Germany, France, or China, according to a plea agreement filed Feb. 10 in Washington, D.C. federal court. In a statement of offense attached to the plea, Brian J. Booth, who was assigned to the FAA’s Enforcement Division, admitted to disclosing U.S. secrets last year when he sent letters to the German, French, and Chinese embassies containing the names of pilots and mechanics who had been stripped of their operating certificates after being deemed security threats by the agency. Booth, 38, has worked as a legal assistant at the FAA since 2011, per FederalPay.org, and was responsible for sending out the revocation letters, the filing says. It is not clear if Booth is still on the federal payroll, but under the law, a conviction requires he be removed from his position. His court-appointed lawyer, Ubong Akpan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government’s affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Booth remains sealed, and a charging document filed in late January states only that Booth “did disclose in a manner not authorized by law, the identity of individuals who had their aircraft maintenance or piloting privileges revoked.” However, Booth’s recent plea reveals fresh details about his decidedly peculiar offense. Last July, Booth overnighted an envelope via FedEx to Emily Haber, Germany’s ambassador to the U.S., at the German embassy in Washington, the filing explains. The envelope contained a typewritten letter addressed to the “Director of Federal Intelligence Service,” which read: “I am an employee of the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington DC...The FAA and the Department of Homeland Security has been tracking a few suspicious people in the last three years ... These people are consider [sic] terrorists...The problem right now is that the United States government is not doing a thing about this. If the United States won’t do a thing about it, then I will! I have compiled a list of twenty five individuals and companies that are committing terrorist activities against your country! They work for the aviation industry. They are pilots and mechanics who do not go through security checks at airports...I have enclosed the list and the last page of information to pay me! I am selling this information. I am committing Treason and Espionage! I expect to be paid and to seek asylum to your country, no questions asked! The last page gives instructions on how to contact me and payment information.” The letter was signed with the initials “B.B.” It was accompanied by a handwritten list of the names and addresses of 25 people whose pilot or maintenance privileges had been revoked by the FAA, along with a demand for $27.7 million dollars as well as payment instructions. “Booth had access to the identity of these individuals because of the nature of his employment with the FAA,” the plea filing says. “The identity of the individuals was not publicly available, and Booth was not authorized to release their names. Similar letters were sent to the French Embassy and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.” According to the Department of Transportation, which oversees the FAA, the letter Booth sent to the Chinese embassy was returned to him. His girlfriend then opened it and contacted law enforcement after realizing what she was reading. Booth was arrested at his office at FAA headquarters on Dec. 7, and released on bail the same day. Initially charged with mail fraud, a felony that carries up to 20 years behind bars, Booth ultimately pleaded guilty to a disclosure of classified information, a lesser charge which only carries up to one year in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced in late April. https://www.thedailybeast.com/rogue-faa-employee-offered-to-commit-treason-for-china Passenger says man tried to open cabin door in mid-flight A passenger aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta was detained in Boston on Sunday after the plane landed at Logan Airport. Witness Mark French, who was aboard Flight 2349, said the man tried to open the main cabin door and hit a flight attendant. “I saw the stewardess in first-class, it seemed like she jumped back. I learned she had been hit," French told NewsCenter 5. "I stuck my head up and pulled off my headphones, and she was yelling, saying, ‘He’s trying to open the door.'” French said two officers wearing badges intervened. "They were having a hard time subduing him, so I jumped out of my seat. They were both saying, you know, 'We need a belt. We need something for handcuffs,'" French said. "I started yelling at the passengers, 'I need a belt!' Another lady in first class gave me her belt." Eventually, French said, the man was handcuffed with zip ties and held in the first seat on the plane. "Basically the remainder of the flight, he was just screaming, 'Let me out of here, this isn't my home,'" French said. Records show the flight landed in Boston at 3:57 p.m. and reached the gate at Terminal A about five minutes later. A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines confirmed that law enforcement met the flight at the gate, "due to a disruptive customer on board." The airline declined to provide additional details about the incident. French's photos show a state police vehicle waiting by the jet bridge and appear to show uniformed troopers came aboard the plane, presumably to take the passenger into custody. Massachusetts State Police spokesperson David Procopio said the agency was aware of an alleged assault on a flight attendant, but he said the FBI has jurisdiction over the investigation because it happened while the plane was in flight. The FBI declined to comment on the incident. A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency will investigate determine whether the passenger violated federal regulations that cover interference with the flight crew. https://www.wcvb.com/article/two-women-spread-joy-singing-for-others-every-day-during-pandemic/35516846 ERAU - Research Study Dear Pilot, You are being asked to participate in a research study of your opinions on urban air mobility. This study is expected to take approximately 10 minutes of your time. In order to participate, you must be at least 18 years old, a resident of the U.S., a certified pilot, and have piloted with the last 5 year. Participation in this study is voluntary, and you may choose to opt out of the study at any time. If you choose to opt out, your data will be immediately destroyed. We appreciate your consideration and time to complete our study. Please click on or copy and paste the URL below: https://forms.gle/PMY7C4fh9LL3VWUa9 For more information, please contact: Dr. Scott R. Winter scott.winter@erau.edu We appreciate your interest and participation! ISASI - 2021 ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship Are you a full-time student in a collegiate aviation program? Do you know a full-time student in the aeronautical/aerospace engineering, aviation operations, aviation psychology, aviation safety and/or aircraft occurrence investigation fields? Applications are now being accepted for the 2021 ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship! This award includes funded attendance at the ISASI Annual Seminar. An award of $2,000 will be made to the student(s) who meets the eligibility criteria and is chosen by the Scholarship Fund Committee based on the contents of the application package including an essay submission. The 2021 annual scholarship award will function a bit differently than past awards. This year the award includes funded attendance at the ISASI Virtual Annual Seminar. Additionally, all remaining funds from the scholarship award will be used to cover costs for the seminar registration fees, travel, and accommodation expenses for either the 2022 or 2023 in-person seminar. Please see eligibility requirements and an application attached. We look forward to receiving your applications and reviewing your essays! Thank you, ISASI Scholarship Fund Committee Application Form: https://tinyurl.com/11hf7onq Curt Lewis