Safety News in Brief

Air Safety Week, Dec 10, 2007

Date: 6-Dec
Incident: The EASA Hosted Rotorcraft Safety Conference took place December 5-6
in Cologne. The conference gave an overview of current developments in the
fields of rulemaking and product safety, addressed different aspects of the
certification process and disseminated information about flight standards,
standardization inspections, design organization approvals, the Agency's
processes and the "Helicopter Safety Initiative". Aviation Safety Agency EASA
was set up by the EU in 2003 to promote the highest common standards of safety
and environmental protection in civil aviation. Based in Cologne, the Agency
currently employs some 330 experts and administrators from all over Europe.

Date: 5-Dec
Incident: FAA has released a Fact Sheet claiming a 2007 25% decrease in runway
incursions based upon various FAA initiatives including the "runway occupied"
warning system FAROS (under test at Long Beach) and Runway Status Lights (under
test at San Diego).. Other measures include pilot education, upgraded airport
markings and accelerated deployment of ASDE-X surface monitoring and warning
radars. The sheet is at tinyurl.com/2869m6. In a report (tinyurl.com/2f66vp)
released the same day by the Government Accountability Office, it's noted that
air traffic controller fatigue continues to be a matter of concern. As of May
2007, at least 20 percent of the controllers at 25 facilities, including towers
at some of the country's busiest airports, were regularly working six-day weeks.

Date: 5-Dec
Incident: In yet another defensive Fact Sheet, the FAA has addressed its
activity to ameliorate the contentious issues of controller staffing and
controller fatigue. Overtime, efficiency and early retirement issues are being
vigorously addressed. The FAA sees controller management of their own rest as
being a personal responsibility, but admits, in response to an NTSB wish, that
"an FAA workgroup is now reviewing controller work scheduling policies and
practices to determine whether changes are needed to minimize controller
fatigue". The Agency claims that "there is no apparent correlation between the
number of operational errors and an increase in controllers who are in
training". The Sheet is at tinyurl.com/yux7on

Date: 5-Dec
Incident: According to a United Nations estimate, flightcrews receive an average
of 70% more exposure to radiation than employees in the nuclear industry. Also
frequent fliers receive a high dose of radiation. Under EU law employers have a
legal obligation to keep an accurate account of the in-flight exposure of their
employees. Icelandair is one airline following this directive and is using
Globalog to calculate how much radiation each individual receives. Increased
competition is forcing airlines to optimise their production capacity and reduce
costs. Consequently, pilots and cabin crewmembers fly more hours than ever
before and new planes are designed to operate at higher altitudes where better
fuel economy can be achieved. At the cruising altitude of jetliners, the level
of cosmic radiation is between 60 to 200 times greater than at sea level.
Globalog is a fully automated system providing a minute-by-minute account of a
pilot, cabin crew member or frequent fliers' exposure to cosmic radiation along
any given fligh

Date: 5-Dec
Incident: In a report released 05 Dec, GAO investigators gave the FAA credit for
reducing runway safety incidents from a peak in 2001 but said "FAA's runway
safety efforts subsequently waned" as the number of incidents settled at a lower
level. In fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30, the incidents spiked to 370, or
6.05 runway incursions per 1 million air traffic control operations, almost
returning to 2001's 407 incursions and 6.1 rate. An incursion is any aircraft,
vehicle or person that goes where it shouldn't be. Even though serious
incursions, where a collision was narrowly averted, declined to a record low 24
in 2007 from 31 the year before, the report said they have remained high enough
ever since to represent a high risk of catastrophe. Report highlights are at
tinyurl.com/34ecmu

Date: 4-Dec
Incident: During a snow removal operation at Rochester airport, New York State,
a tractor struck and ruptured a gas-pipe. The resulting natural gas leak caused
the evacuation of the air traffic control tower. Because the gas pipe ruptured
on the wrong side of the emergency shut-off valve, the underground supply pipe
had to be clamped. A crew from Minnesota Energy used shovels and a backhoe to
reach the supply pipe and begin repairs, which were expected to take hours.
Firefighters detected an odor and low level of gas in the control tower, which
lead to the evacuation of the air traffic control staff. Air traffic control was
diverted to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, as is done when the
tower is closed daily from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., and all aircraft were notified to
follow the after-hours procedures. Within two hours, the tower was cleared and
reopened.

Date: 4-Dec
Incident: The NTSB is recommending that all cargo planes install fire-
suppression systems because of a cargo jet fire last year at Philadelphia
International Airport. A UPS DC8 cargo jet made an emergency landing at
Philadelphia airport on 07 Feb 06. The crew escaped with minor injuries but the
aircraft was heavily damaged. The fire appeared to have started in containers
holding lithium batteries used in laptop computers.

Date: 4-Dec
Incident: Data from the UK CAA's Mandatory Occurrence Reporting System (MOR) has
been analyzed and forms the basis of a report on the underlying causes of
maintenance error in airliner servicings. The data shows that the vast majority
of MORs are related to Equipment and Furnishings, escape slides in particular.
The study concluded that the number of maintenance related MORs as a percentage
of the total number of MORs submitted to the CAA appears to have decreased
steadily from 2000 to 2005. This is being optimistically attributed to the
extensive efforts of the CAA to promote human factors awareness training,
guidance and policy within the industry. Recommendations include improving the
consistency and comprehensiveness of data captured to facilitate future trend
analysis, and identification of maintenance traps. The Report is at
tinyurl.com/2q6gv4

Date: 4-Dec
Incident: An Air France plane that crashed at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson
International Airport in 2005 came in too fast and landed almost halfway down
the 9000ft runway, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said yesterday. "A
combination of a wet and slippery runway and crosswinds meant the aircraft
simply ran out of room." The board released its final investigation report into
the crash in Toronto on Wednesday. "The aircraft approached Toronto in a severe
and rapidly changing thunderstorm with shifting winds and limited visibility.
Arriving from Paris, the plane had 297 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
All escaped down emergency chutes and nobody died. All that remained of the
plane was a charred and twisted mess.

Date: 4-Dec
Incident: Boston's Logan Airport lost primary communication with pilots of
incoming flights for about two hours Tuesday, forcing 2 dozen flights to ground.
A technician working on cables on the 19th floor of the airport tower
accidentally cut the wrong cable around 11 a.m.  This cut off the primary radio
frequencies, which are used to communicate with pilots.  ATC switched over to
backup systems and was then able to talk with pilots through that backup system.
The primary frequencies were restored just over two hours later, although
permanent repairs still need to be made. The incident fortunately happened
during a light time for air traffic.  However, because 2 dozen inbound flights
were forced to ground for about 30 minutes, flights were delayed throughout the
day.

Date: 4-Dec
Incident: Soon after a Nationwide 737-200 physically shed its right engine on
takeoff, the South African CAA grounded the airline, citing suspect and
untraceable parts. Fatigue failure of aft cone bolts has been attributed to a
number of engine-separation incidents involving 737-200s - among them a US Air
aircraft at Deptford in December 1987, a United Airlines jet at Chicago in
January 1989, and a Delta Air Lines aircraft at Dallas in January 1992. All
three lost their right-hand engines on take-off. Nationwide now says that a
preliminary examination from the metallurgical department of the University of
Pretoria has found a "recent fatigue crack" was what led to the failure of the
aft primary engine mount on a 737 departing Cape Town on 7 November. The
aircraft lost the right engine but returned safely to the airport. Compounding
the perplexity, only a week before the CAA grounded all 17 aircraft belonging to
Nationwide Airlines for safety reasons, airlines lobby group, the International
Air Transport Association (IA

Date: 3-Dec
Incident: Are the right accidents being investigated? Are resources being spent
where most can be learned? Is the NTSB stuck in a rut? In FY 07, there were
1,946 reports issued by the NTSB (versus 1,851 in FY 06). This doesn't account
for occurrences which were up- or down-graded from one category to another or
those with restricted information. Of the 1946 FY 07 reports, 204, or 10%, were
full blown field investigations (206 and 11% in FY 06). 653, or 35%, were
limited investigations, usually delegated to the FAA (585 and 32% in FY 06).
838, or 43%, were data collection investigations, usually referred to as DIY
investigations (807 and 44% in FY 06). 191, or 10%, were foreign, public use or
"other" types of investigations (207 and 11% in FY 06) Here's the shocker - only
60 mishaps (or 3% of the investigations) were incidents (46 and 2% in FY 06).
See the original Mark Goodrich article examining this proposition at
tinyurl.com/2tpc2f

Date: 3-Dec
Incident: Vertical Power, developer of innovative solid-state switching systems
has launched VP-100. It uses microprocessors and solid-state switches to provide
advanced electrical system features, circuit protection, simplified aircraft
wiring, and the ability to eliminate dozens of wire-bundles, modules, circuit
breakers, fuses and switches typically found in today's aircraft. The VP-100 is
designed to be very fault tolerant and allows the designer to incorporate
numerous backups if desired to eliminate any single-point failures. It requires
single wire-runs from the VP-100 to each electrical device such as a radio,
transponder, landing light, flap motor, or battery contactor. Switches, circuit
breakers, diodes, mechanical relays, complex bus architectures, and various
modules are mostly eliminated. The VP-100 provides visual alerts when a circuit
fault occurs, including protection for runaway trims, short circuits, over-
current, over-voltage, and under-voltage conditions. It also has a wireless
remote control capabi

Date: 3-Dec
Incident: Australia's ATSB has declared Spatial disorientation (SD) to be an
ever-present risk to aviation but points out that there are many steps that can
be taken to minimize the risk of disorientation/vertigo occurring or leading to
an accident. The Report, commissioned by the ATSB is at tinyurl.com/2ldwhw. Some
high profile accidents involving unrecognized or incapacitating SD were: Air
India 747 out of Bombay Gulf Air 320 into Bahrain  Flash Airlines 737 out of
Sharm el Sheikh Korean Airlines 747F out of Stansted  Armavia 320 into
Adler/Stochi John Kennedy approaching Martha's Vineyard

Date: 3-Dec
Incident: A team of World Bank officials has arrived in Nigeria to perform
oversight function on the N6-billion ($46.65-million) given to the Nigerian
aviation industry. The World Bank had earlier approved an International
Development Association (IDA) credit of $46.65-million for Nigeria under the
West and Central Africa Air Transport Safety and Security project. The project
is to create a safe and secure environment for air transport in West and Central
Africa (WCA) that will enable African airlines to competitively access regional
and worldwide markets to support sustainable economic growth region-wide. The
Bank has initiated a second phase, designed to help Nigeria address serious
lapses in aviation security and safety following three fatal crashes of
passenger airliners in 2005 and 2006. The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria,
the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology are the four aviation agencies
that will benefit from project

Date: 3-Dec
Incident: NTSB wants the FAA to require air carriers to revise their cabin crew
training manuals and programs to ensure that the manuals and programs state that
a door must remain open while the air conditioning (A/C) cart is connected,
advise that the A/C cart can pressurize the airplane on the ground if all doors
are closed, and warn about the dangers of opening any door while the air
conditioning cart is supplying conditioned (cooled or heated) air to the cabin.
Doors can open explosively once the cabin becomes pressurized and eject door-
openers out onto the tarmac.

Date: 2-Dec
Incident: Africa has recorded the highest rate of accidents this year compared
to other continents, the International Air Transport Association has said. The
continent's accident rate increased from 4.31 to 6.04 per million flights. In an
effort to make air travel safer, IATA is now looking at opening an office in
Nigeria. IATA has an ultimate goal of zero accidents with an interim target to
reduce the industry rate to 0.49 accidents per million flights in 2008, a 25 per
cent improvement. IATA's head, CEO Giovanni Bisignani, has also called for the
pilot retirement age to be increased to 65 years as this would help meet the
demand and address the fall-short in experience levels on the continent.

Date: 30-Nov
Incident: An Australian study suggests that pilots suffering from depression,
and who take medication are no more likely to crash or make errors than others
in the cockpit But the report's writers also suggest that too few may be taking
the drugs. This proposition was put to the test by comparing accident rates of
medicated and non-medicated pilots. It found no statistical difference in their
safety record. The study used Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) records
between 1993 and 2004, and compared the 481 pilots who reported medication use
with the same number of pilots who did not take medication. Each group had a
total of five accidents, defined as serious injury, death or major aircraft
damage during the period. The medicated pilots had 18 incidents of pilot error
reported to CASA, while the other group had 15, an insignificant difference. The
reluctance to medicate was associated with the stigma of using drugs to control
what was perceived to be a psychiatric condition.