Safety News In Brief

Air Safety Week, July 23, 2007

Security camera videos of the Congonhas overrun landing crash of a TAM A320 can be viewed at tinyurl.com/2gw7xy

Video of an A320 landing Congonhas 17R is at tinyurl.com/2lq7dl [and an accident depiction animation is at tinyurl.com/2rp94n ]

Date: 17-Jul
Incident: Saudi Arabia's General Authority on Civil Aviation (GACA) has written
to Indonesia's transport ministry warning of a possible ban since GACA normally
subscribes to EU aviation policy parameters. However, because of strong ties
between both countries, GACA has suggested a mutual exploration of options and
for Indonesia to elucidate their current safety situation and plans. Each year
about a half million Indonesians travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the Muslim
hajj pilgrimage.

Date: 16-Jul
Incident: In February, a local judge banned the use of Brazil's Congonhas
airport by Fokker 100, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737/700 jetliners on safety
grounds, but the ruling was promptly overturned by an appeals court. See ASW
Report www.aviationtoday.com/asw/topstories/8542.html). It is now the site of
Brazil's worst ever airline accident (202 dead) and the world's worst A320
accident.

Date: 14-Jul
Incident: Following a series of accidents involving low-time solo pilots, the
UK's AAIB is recommending that student pilots on solo flights be identified by a
distinctive call sign prefix so that fellow pilots and ATC can accord priority
and ease their burden. A 15hr student on his 2nd solo flight died at Southend on
19 July when he was suddenly ordered to turn left and climb to circuit height -
merely as an ATC measure to smooth traffic flow. The AAIB considers that the
late go-round taxed his limited abilities and experience... leading to an
inadvertent stall at low power and at low level. In many respects this is a
wheel that has been reinvented many times previously. See tinyurl.com/39mp5q

Date: 13-Jul
Incident: Two FAA employees have accused the FAA of covering up mistakes by air
traffic controllers at one of the nation's busiest airports and sometimes
shifting the blame onto pilots. The problems at Dallas-Fort Worth International
Airport included planes that became too proximate and a controller who did not
notify his colleague when a plane was cleared for takeoff. The suggestion is
that such deceitful ATC practices might extend to other parts of the country.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) last week directed DOT Secretary Mary
Peters to investigate the allegations.

Date: 12-Jul
Incident: Medium performance twins and singles are now being offered a choice of
anti/de-icing systems based upon novel electric and fluid-based concepts. For
primary flight surfaces (wing and tail), there is the "weeping wing". This
involves a calibrated leak of a glycol-based fluid through microscopic holes in
leading edges, with a separate centrifugal dispersion across propellers. The
all-electric EVADE system uses a graphite thermafoil technology wherein a rapid
temperature rise controls abrupt "shedding" cycles, successfully eliminating the
phenomenon of melt, runback and refreeze. (see tinyurl.com/2zljvv)

Date: 11-Jul
Incident: A new seat-belt technology has made it plausible (but not yet
possible) for passengers to be seated inside-facing sofas in business jets for
takeoff and landing. FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute has been examining
the feasibility of inflatable shoulder restraints made by Amsafe as a side-
sitting solution. Neck injury criteria used in motor-vehicle rules can be met
using Amsafe devices. Advanced restraint rules approved by the FAA will likely
be predicated upon individual seat designs.

Date: 10-Jul
Incident: FAA officials are adopting the position that pilots kept aware of
their positions relative to other airplanes are less likely to be involved in
runway incursions, and better equipped to react appropriately. After years of
discouraging and untimely results from Tower-based systems such as AMASS ground
radar, the agency is actively encouraging avionics manufacturers to come up with
a hardware solution that can be installed in individual planes and warn pilots
and ATC simultaneously of impending conflicts. Honeywell and Sensis are
presently collaborating on a "real-time runway incursion cockpit advisory
capability" that will send clear automated advisories of potential collisions
directly to the cockpit and simultaneously to air traffic control.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]