Flight Safety Information - October 21, 2021 No. 212 In This Issue : Incident: Jazz DH8D at Ottawa on Oct 15th 2021, unsafe cargo door : Incident: Canada B788 near Toronto on Oct 18th 2021, engine oil leak : Incident: Yakutia B738 at Naberezhnye Chelny on Oct 20th 2021, cabin did not pressurize : Incident: GOL B738 at Porto Seguro on Oct 19th 2021, smoke in cabin : NTSB recovers black boxes from plane that burned in Texas : Report: Instructional pilot didn't know plane hit helicopter in fatal Chandler crash : FAA releases report on increase in "unruly behavior" within the last year : 'Dangerous situations': Unions warn pilots to stay focused on flying, not vaccine mandates : Alaska Airlines denies a labor shortage is behind it reducing flights to Seattle, disputing a claim by a Kansas airport : Southern California Safety Institute Upcoming Courses Incident: Jazz DH8D at Ottawa on Oct 15th 2021, unsafe cargo door A Jazz de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration C-GJZK performing flight QK-8630 from Ottawa,ON to Halifax,NS (Canada) with 61 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Ottawa when the crew stopped the climb at 3000 feet reporting an unsafe cargo door indication. The aircraft returned to Ottawa for a safe landing about 15 minutes after departure. The Canadian TSB reported emergency services advised the cargo door latch on the luggage cargo compartment had popped out. http://avherald.com/h?article=4eef0359&opt=0 Incident: Canada B788 near Toronto on Oct 18th 2021, engine oil leak An Air Canada Boeing 787-8, registration C-GHPY performing flight AC-319 from Montreal,QC to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 245 people on board, was enroute at FL400 about 350nm northwest of Toronto,ON (Canada) when the crew received a low engine oil indication for the left hand engine (GEnx) and decided to divert to Toronto for a safe landing about 50 minutes later. The Canadian TSB reported maintenance found the left "engine oil cap lanyard trapped below cap preventing a good seal and allowing the engine oil to leak out under pressure." The area was cleaned and the oil quantity serviced. http://avherald.com/h?article=4eef0245&opt=0 Incident: Yakutia B738 at Naberezhnye Chelny on Oct 20th 2021, cabin did not pressurize A Yakutia Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration VQ-BMP performing flight R3-9664 from Naberezhnye Chelny to Barnaul (Russia), was climbing through about FL140 out of Naberezhnye Chelny when the crew stopped the climb and descended back to FL130 reporting a problem with the cabin pressure, the cabin not sealing properly. The aircraft returned to Naberezhnye Chelny for a safe landing about 25 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration VQ-BOY reached Barnaul with a delay of about 9 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4eeece1f&opt=0 Incident: GOL B738 at Porto Seguro on Oct 19th 2021, smoke in cabin A GOL Transportes Aereos Boeing 737-800, registration PR-GXT performing flight G3-1603 from Porto Seguro,BA to Sao Paulo Guarulhos,SP (Brazil) with 179 passengers and 7 crew, was in the initial climb out of Porto Seguro's runway 10 when the crew stopped the climb at about 2000 feet reporting smoke in the cabin and returned to Porto Seguro for a safe landing on runway 10 about 10 minutes after departure. Brazil's CENIPA rated the occurrence an incident, there were no injuries and no damage to the aircraft. The aircraft is still on the ground in Porto Seguro about 21 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4eeed07b&opt=0 NTSB recovers black boxes from plane that burned in Texas Federal accident investigators have recovered badly burned flight recorders and started interviewing people who were on board a jet that ran off a Texas runway during takeoff and burst into flames. The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that it expects to spend one to two weeks gathering evidence of the accident at Houston Executive Airport in Brookshire, Texas. Safety board member Michael Graham said investigators will look at the engines, maintenance records, performance of the pilots and other issues. The board expects to take 12 to 18 months to issue a final report and determine the cause of Tuesday's accident. Of keen interest: How all 21 people on board the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 escaped the fiery wreck, with only two of them suffering what Graham called minor injuries. “It is a big deal that we had no fatalities, and we want to know why so if something like this happens again, we hopefully have the recommendations in place to prevent it from being a fatality accident,” Graham told reporters. The passengers were headed to Boston to attend an American League Championship Series game between the Houston Astros and the Red Sox, according to the plane's owner, J. Alan Kent, who was on board. Passenger Cheryl McCaskill, of the Houston suburb of Cypress, told the Houston Chronicle that when the plane finally stopped, “Everyone went, ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!’ We jumped out on that inflatable thing and then everyone went, ’Get away!” The “black boxes” — recorders that measure the plane's performance and capture cockpit conversations — were on their way to the NTSB lab in Washington for analysis. At the crash site, investigators were going over the debris field and examining the engines. Graham said most of the plane's fuselage burned to the ground, while the tail section and engines were intact. He declined to speculate on why the plane couldn't stop sooner. There were 18 passengers, two pilots and a flight mechanic on board. It was not an airline or charter operation, so no flight attendant was required. The plane was registered to a Houston-area investment firm called 987 Investments LLC. According to state records, the plane's owner is Kent, the president and CEO of Flair Builders, a custom homebuilder that develops large-scale residential communities. The company said in a statement that it was grateful everyone survived and that it is cooperating with investigators. https://www.yahoo.com/news/ntsb-recovers-black-boxes-plane-215442364.html Report: Instructional pilot didn't know plane hit helicopter in fatal Chandler crash A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report shows were a plane and helicopter likely collided in the air on Oct. 1, 2021. The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary report on a fatal mid-air collision involving a small plane and a helicopter that killed two people the morning of Oct. 1. The report said the two aircrafts were flying in parallel traffic patterns at Chandler Municipal Airport and the pilots for both were communicating with the air traffic control tower. The report states that the airplane was cleared to land while the helicopter was "cleared for the option." As the plane prepared to land, a flight instructor who was in the plane with their student radioed the tower and said they felt and heard a loud bang and may have struck some birds, apparently unaware the plane had hit a helicopter. The instructor declared an emergency and had tower personnel check that the landing gear was properly extended before landing. The plane's left wing was descending during landing, and after landing the plane veered left, left the runway and came to a stop in a field. The report said witnesses spotted a downed helicopter about half a mile from the airport where first responders found the wreckage and a fire caused by the crash. The helicopter had also been operating as an instructional flight. Both people in the helicopter were dead, while neither of the plane's occupants suffered any injuries. The helicopter was operated by Quantum Helicopters and the plane by Flight Operations Academy, both flight schools, Chandler police previously said. The investigation into the collision was ongoing. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler-breaking/2021/10/20/report-pilot-unaware-of-hitting-helicopter-chandler-crash/6113731001/ FAA releases report on increase in "unruly behavior" within the last year But numbers are now on the decline WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The Federal Aviation Administration released a new report on Tuesday, showing an increase in unruly passengers within the last year. The agency saw the largest spike in January, but those numbers have since been on the decline. Back in January, the FAA was forced to change its policy when it comes to handling unruly passengers, because of that increase. There used to be a warning for passengers who were acting out on planes. But, they changed their procedure this year to start taking legal action immediately. In a press release, a spokesperson for the FAA said, "Passengers who interfere with, physically assault, or threaten to physically assault aircraft crew or anyone else on an aircraft face stiff penalties, including fines of up to $35,000 and imprisonment. This dangerous behavior can distract, disrupt, and threaten crewmembers’ safety functions." The report released on Tuesday by the FAA shows how many cases they've responded to. These are the national statistics since January of this year: • 4,837 Unruly Passenger Reports • 3,511 Mask-Related Incidents Reported • 5.8 reported unruly passenger incidents per 10,000 flights the week ending October 10, 2021 • 906 Investigations Initiated • 206 Enforcement Cases Initiated However, since the FAA started to crack down on these cases, the number of incidents has continued to decline. Passengers at Bradley International Airport were not surprised to hear about the numbers from the last year. “I like to expect people to do the right thing, assume good intent. But it doesn’t surprise me, the amount of anger that we see," said Patrick McNichols, from Connecticut. "There’s a lot more traveling and people are kind of cranky because of the pandemic, so I’m not surprised at all," said Katie Puza, of Southwick, Massachusetts. At Bradley, there was an incident just last month, where two unruly passengers from Connecticut were arrested and charged just last month. Desiree Goffe, 23, of New Britain and Kaylene Thalia Valentin, 21, from Meriden were arrested and charged with breach of peace and impairing the morals of a minor. The Connecticut State Police say the women screamed and cursed at two children (ages two and four) and their parents while on a flight. Police said it all started because the kids were kicking their seats. Both women were both released on a $5,000 bond. A spokesperson at Bradley said that incident is one of only a few incidents at the airport within the last year. Most, they say, are tied to aircraft incidents. But even then, the spokesperson said they are not seeing a major increase in unruly behavior at the airport. https://www.fox61.com/article/travel/faa-releases-report-on-increase-in-unruly-behavior-within-the-last-year/520-eaf62e26-ae72-42f5-a89f-606de6d3f900 'Dangerous situations': Unions warn pilots to stay focused on flying, not vaccine mandates Pilots at American and Southwest airlines are being warned to keep vaccine mandate issues out of the cockpit due to potential flight safety concerns. The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American's 14,000 pilots, sent a memo to members Tuesday about an increase in distractions due to looming deadlines to get vaccinated and sharply divided views on the topic. The subject line: "Distractions cannot affect safety.'' "We are seeing distractions in the flight deck that can create dangerous situations,'' the memo from the union's safety committee said. The number of pilots self-reporting vaccine mandate talk or concerns to the Federal Aviation Administration as a distraction on the job has spiked, union spokesman Dennis Tajer said. Tajer called the increase in reports to the FAA's Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) a "big, big deal.'' He likens the program to a "see something, say something'' report. "It doesn't mean an incident happened,'' he said. But it does mean pilots voluntarily reported some level of preoccupation with vaccine mandates — whether for, against or indifferent — as a distraction, he said. Pilots must attach their names to the reports, which are designed to be informative, not punitive, he said. The union says another flight feedback system, using input from inflight auditors not affiliated with the airline, also confirms the increase in distractions. From vaccines to testing:What travelers need to know before the new US travel system on Nov. 8 'You feel lonely and left out':These fully vaccinated travelers want to visit the US. They may not be allowed in. Tajer said some distractions are to be expected during this "stressful'' time as some pilots fear losing their jobs soon if they don't get vaccinated. But he said its essential that pilots put those concerns aside and focus on their jobs. "It’s not a scolding message, it’s a reminder message,'' he said. "I hear you, I hear you on that (vaccine mandates), but let's get back to the (flight) checklist.'' The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) sent a similar alert to its pilots on Oct. 9, amid the airline's meltdown that some blamed on a pilot walkout over vaccine issues. The company and the union vehemently denied that was the cause but that didn't stop those who oppose vaccine mandates, including Sen. Ted Cruz, from cheering on the pilots all over social media. The memo to Southwest pilots acknowledged increased fatigue has been a distraction among pilots this year as travel surged and staffing levels couldn't keep up. The vaccine mandate announcement, it said, "only exacerbates'' the situation. "We are not here to debate the merits of the vaccine mandate. We are here to emphasize that the focus of each SWAPA pilot must be on operating the aircraft at the highest levels of safety in the industry,'' the union memo said. "There is absolutely nothing more important or sacred.' Like American's pilot union, Southwest's cited an increase in the ASAP reports to the FAA, as well as in other measures of distractions. "Recent ASAP reports have shown that distractions have entered the cockpit, impeded performance, and become contributing factors to many error chains,'' the memo said. "These distractions must be mitigated.'' The FAA said in a statement to USA TODAY that is aware of the pilot union concerns. "We take all reports seriously and will follow up through our well-established safety programs,'' the statement said. Airlines are subject to the vaccine mandate for federal contractors President Joe Biden announced in September because they carry government employees and U.S. mail and operate charter flights. Delta estimates federal contracts bring in "hundreds of millions'' in revenue every year. Major airlines are taking different approaches to adhering to the mandate and vaccinations in general. United is at the forefront, implementing an internal mandate a month before Biden's federal mandate. Instead of a mandate, Delta Air Lines plans to charge workers who refuse the vaccine $200 a month. American has told employees they risk being terminated if they don't get vaccinated by a looming deadline, while Southwest says it won't fire workers but hasn't said what will happen to those who aren't vaccinated. The airline, trying to keep the peace with workers, some of whom protested at the airline's headquarters earlier this week, has been encouraging workers to apply for exemptions. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/10/20/american-southwest-vaccine-mandates-unions-warn-pilot-distraction/6111129001/ Alaska Airlines denies a labor shortage is behind it reducing flights to Seattle, disputing a claim by a Kansas airport Wichita Airport said Alaska Airlines was cutting some flights to Seattle "due to labor shortages." Alaska has denied this, and said the flight reductions were "standard seasonal operation changes." The airline is operating two flights fewer from Wichita to Seattle each week in December. Alaska Airlines is operating fewer flights between Wichita, Kansas, and Seattle, Washington, for November and December. Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport said in an update earlier in October that this was "due to labor shortages," without elaborating - but Alaska denied the change was related to staffing in a statement to Insider. "This is part of standard seasonal operation changes and is not a reflection on staffing changes," a spokesperson said. The airline usually runs a flight from Wichita to Seattle every day, but it's cutting its Saturday flight in November and December as well as its Tuesday service in December, Wichita Airport said. Alaska's website shows that direct flights from Wichita to Seattle aren't available on these days. Seattle is the only route Alaska operates from Wichita Airport, and Alaska is the only airline with direct flights between the two cities. In August, just over 2,000 passengers flew from Wichita on Alaska flights. The US is suffering from a labor shortage that's hitting industries ranging from education and healthcare to trucking and restaurants. Record numbers of Americans have been quitting their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Airlines laid off workers or put them on extended leave when the pandemic brought travel to a halt. Travel has rebounded with the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine and the reopening of travel corridors, and airlines have been scrambling to get enough pilots, flight attendants, and support staff to meet surging demand. American Airlines canceled around 400 flights over a three-day period in June because of staffing shortages and maintenance issues. Spirit Airlines also canceled hundreds of flights in August due to a combination of bad weather, system outages, and staffing issues. Both sets of cancellations were exacerbated by factors beyond just understaffing, and flights were canceled with little notice. https://www.yahoo.com/news/alaska-airlines-cutting-november-december-082552016.html Curt Lewis