Travel Safety Update

For more safety & security news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Aug 28, 2006

Pilots, lawmakers raise concerns about UAVs. Some pilots and lawmakers worry that the growing number of drone planes flying in the U.S. could compromise flight safety. Some large unmanned aerial vehicles are allowed to enter civilian airspace, and President George W. Bush supports using them for border patrol. Aug 27, 2006

British Airways

British Airways US Flight Diverted Over Smoke Alert. A British Airways flight on its way from London's Heathrow Airport to Denver was diverted to Iceland on Saturday after smoke started pouring from an oven in the aircraft's rear galley. The captain called a mayday alert as a caution and the flight was diverted to Keflavik Airport, where it landed safely and all 269 passengers were disembarked. Johannes Hardarson, duty officer for Keflavik airport police, said the plane was refueling in preparation to resume its original route. Aug 27, 2006

Comair, Bombardier

Kentucky Plane Crash - 49 Dead. A small airliner carrying at least 50 people crashed and burst into flames on Sunday shortly after taking off from Lexington's Blue Grass Airport, killing all but one on board, officials said. The plane was carrying 47 passengers and a three person crew but may also have been carrying an off-duty crew member. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash of Comair Flight 5191, which was bound for Atlanta, though visibility was good and it was not raining at the time, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. Local media said the plane, a Bombardier Canadair CRJ-100 jet that seats 52 passengers, may have departed from a runway that was too short -- half the length of the airport's longest 7,000-foot runway. There was no indication that terrorism was involved, a US Transportation Security Administration official said. One man survived and was in critical condition, a University of Kentucky Hospital spokesman said. It was not immediately known if the survivor was a passenger or a crew member. The local coroner, Gary Ginn, said the fire burned "very hot." All the bodies had been removed, he said. A Federal Aviation Administration official said the plane crashed in a farm field in rugged terrain and the fuselage was largely intact. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the crash investigation. Flights resumed at Lexington's 64-year-old airport, which serves half a dozen carriers, about four hours after the crash. Kentucky officials were on hand at a staging area at the adjacent Keeneland Race Course trying to determine if state workers might have been on board the flight. Aug 27, 2006

Pulkovo Airlines, Tupolev

Pulkovo Airlines Tu-154M's flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered yesterday by workers sifting through the debris of Tuesday's crash near Donetsk in Ukraine that killed 170 passengers and crew "Both recorders seem to be in satisfactory condition," Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said, adding that the devices will be sent to Moscow for examination. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko initiated a criminal probe into the crash to determine whether safety violations occurred. The Pulkovo Airlines Tu-154M en route from Anapa to St. Petersburg carrying 160 passengers and 10 crew crashed yesterday in Ukraine, killing all aboard.The crash was the third and deadliest in the region in less than four months, following the Armavia A320 accident in May and the S7 Airlines A310-300 overrun at Irkutsk last month. The Pulkovo pilots sent a distress signal about 2 min. before the Tu-154 disappeared from ATC radar around 2:30 p.m. local time, Russian authorities said. The crash occurred 30 mi. north of Donetsk and reports from the area described a fiery scene as rescue workers attempted to recover bodies from wreckage shrouded by heavy smoke. "The plane crashed and burned in a field," reported Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, which noted it was the third worst Tu-154 accident in terms of fatalities and the worst-ever aircraft crash on Ukraine soil. Aug 23, 2006

Pulkovo Airlines, Tupolev

Pulkovo Tu-154M aircraft that crashed was built in 1991 and had amassed 8,643 hr. and 4,782 cycles, according to Ascend's CASE database. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a commission established to probe the accident. The last major airline crash in Ukraine also involved a Tu-154; in October 2001, a then-Siberia Airlines Tu-154 en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk was hit mistakenly by a Ukrainian missile, killing 78 passengers and crew. Aug 23, 2006

Pulkovo Airlines, Tupolev

Reports of possible causes varied on the Pulkovo Tu-154M crash. Officials in Ukraine said a fire had broken out onboard. In Russia, authorities said the plane had encountered severe turbulence caused by stormy weather and dismissed terrorism as a possibility. Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesperson Irina Andrianova was quoted widely as saying the Tu-154 "most likely was hit by lightning." There were no other confirmations of that assertion. Aug 23, 2006