Safety News in Brief

Attendees at the 13th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology in New Orleans last week heard about a better way to forecast clear- air turbulence, based on "spontaneous imbalance theory." The new technique is more consistently successful than current methods, and improves on an earlier method developed by meteorologist Donald McCann. He and his team of weather researchers have developed algorithms to reliably predict turbulence in the upper levels. His expositions are to be found at: tinyurl.com/2wngrf

Date: 24-Jan
Incident: Air Canada this day sent C-GAUN, the 767 known as the Gimli Glider, on
a retirement jaunt to Tucson Arizona where it will be parked in the desert. The
jet became a cause celebre in 1983 after a fuel uplift conversion calculation
error and some unserviceable gages saw it flameout enroute and end up being
successfully force-landed at Gimli. Gimli was an ex-auxiliary training runway
that had been converted into a car-racing drag strip. The glider's two pilots
(Mr. Pearson, age 72 and Mr. Quintal) accompanied the jet to its final resting
place as guests of Air Canada. Those unfamiliar with the legendary tale can
check here: tinyurl.com/2t877u

Date: 24-Jan
Incident: NTSB issued a Safety Alert to suggest ways for general aviation pilots
to avoid controlled flight into terrain accidents during night visual
conditions. The Safety Alert cited 6 accidents investigated in a recent 3-year
period in which aircraft collided with terrain while either climbing shortly
after takeoff or descending for an approach. The Board noted in the Alert that
the pilots and air traffic controllers involved all appeared to have been
unaware that the aircraft were endangered by proximate or approaching terrain.
The Alert advocates increased altitude and position awareness by pilots - as
well as enhanced preflight examination of relevant terrain affecting their route
of flight. ( tinyurl.com/2lgvuf )

Date: 23-Jan
Incident: Scandinavian airline SAS has detected a design error in a landing gear
valve in the majority (i.e. 63%) of its grounded Dash 8 Q400 fleet. SAS has said
it wants compensation of around 500 million Swedish crowns ($77 million) from
Bombardier. The Danish Accident Investigation Board had previously concluded
that a construction error in the actuators was the cause of the first two
accidents involving the Dash 8 Q400. The first SAS Q400 crash-landed in
September in Denmark. Another crashed the same month in Lithuania (see
tinyurl.com/yp62d4). The Accident Investigation Board has not presented any
conclusion on the reason behind the third accident, but had, in a provisional
report, stated that the most likely reason was that an O-Ring came loose from
the solenoid sequence valve (SSV), allowing the O-Ring to "migrate" through the
system and that the hydraulics retraction/extension actuator restrictor valve
was then blocked by that displaced O-Ring seal. The SSV valve has been
determined to have a construction error

Date: 23-Jan
Incident: A 2nd UK AAIB interim factual report has revealed that both engines on
Flt BA038 that crashed at Heathrow were operating but that they were
unresponsive to thrust commands. This has redirected attention to the common
denominators of fuel-flow paths and the reference air and fuel pressures that
determine FADEC fuel scheduling of the EEC (i.e. engine computer). Earlier AD's
had warned of the possibility of simultaneous fuel-ice FADEC related loss of
thrust outcomes on GE engines, but with no mention of this possibility on BA's
Trent 800's. The article at tinyurl.com/2nx3ym locates NPRM debate comments
suggesting that this may have been an inadvertent or unwise omission. Also see
tinyurl.com/yr6w89 - being a new release 25 Jan 08 FAA AD on Boeing model 777-
200 and -300 series airplanes equipped with Rolls-Royce RB211-TRENT 800 series
engines (2008-02-05)  quote: " To prevent internal engine damage due to ice
accumulation and shedding, which could cause a shutdown of both engines, and
result in a forced landing o

Date: 23-Jan
Incident: Korea's Construction and Transport Ministry is bruiting about its
"record" of no casualties since 1999. In the 1990's Korean airlines were
averaging one major accident a year. In response to an ICAO recommendation for
introduction of Safety Management Systems (SMS) at organizational levels by Jan
2009, in May 2007 the Korean Aviation Safety System was cranked up by the
Ministry. It requires each aviation organization to manage its own internal
risks and audits their compliance. This SMS imposition includes Airport
managements and Air Traffic Control. As an early warning system on trends, and
to vet reporting for honest disclosures, the Ministry will be publicly releasing
report cards on its airlines' safety each six months. "If you think safety is
expensive, try bad PR". It's a subtle variation on a classic aviation safety
rejoinder theme.

Date: 22-Jan
Incident: India has entered into complex negotiations with the EU and US for
ratification and endorsement of Indian aviation products. Such technical
agreements avoid the major export/import deterrent of recertification costs and
are in place already (but awaiting ratification) with Russia, Chile and Israel.
However any such pact with India "is likely to take five or six years to
implement", says R P Sahi, joint director general of India's Directorate General
of Civil Aviation. Teams from American and European regulatory authorities have
already visited the Bangalore-headquartered Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
and have also audited DGCA's books as part of the vetting process.

Date: 21-Jan
Incident: According to the DoT Inspector General, the FAA should move on from
the trial and test phase of the Runway Status Light System at Dallas-Fort Worth
and start deploying the technology at high incursion threat airports across the
country. His finding, published at tinyurl.com/36gjep, is based upon nil
dissenting endorsements from pilots and controllers thus far exposed to the
system. The challenges that remain include maturing the prototype to interface
with different radar systems at other airports., equipping ground vehicles with
transponders and accelerating the introduction to service of the ASDE-X ground
radars, a complementary part of the system. These are the attractive and
essential attributes of RWSL, according to DoTIG: It gives timely warnings of
potential conflicts. It promptly and clearly indicates to pilots and vehicle
operators when it is unsafe for aircraft to enter or cross a runway or to
commence take-off. Its information is automated. It provides this information at
all times without human in

Date: 21-Jan
Incident: Indonesia has not yet made enough progress at improving air safety for
the European Union to lift a ban on the Southeast Asian nation's airlines, the
EU's air safety chief said on Monday during a Conference in Bandung. A string of
deadly disasters involving Indonesian airlines in recent years has raised
questions about safety standards and led to the European ban last June on all 51
of the country's airlines, including national carrier Garuda. Garuda, which
stopped flying to Amsterdam in 2004 because the route was not profitable, wants
to fly to Europe again to benefit from a recovery in tourism. A report on budget
carrier Adam Air's 737 crash into the sea off Sulawesi island in January is
still awaited. Meanwhile prosecution of the Garuda pilot who crashed in
Yogyakarta last year is being hindered by the Indonesian Air Force blocking
access to the air traffic controllers who supervised the landing. Police have to
wind up their investigation this month, but have not been able to interview the
controllers. The

Date: 21-Jan
Incident: The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which operates five twin-
engined Dornier 328-100 turboprops for Coast Guard SAR duties, is having to
defend the Dornier's poor record of availability. Australian Transport Safety
Bureau records show the $200million fleet of props was involved in half a dozen
mid-air mechanical incidents last year, including four engine failures. In other
incidents one of the Dorniers had to land immediately after taking off from
Perth airport after smoke was seen coming out of the aircraft's right side and
yet another failed to respond to an emergency, having suffered a mechanical
failure. The Dorniers are equipped with the latest radar, night-search equipment
and satellite technology, but now need modifications to their doors that require
each of the five to be withdrawn in turn from service. AMSA admit the fleet,
acquired in 2005, is being "backed up" by the charter aircraft type that it
replaced. The contract to provide and fly the five Dorniers is worth
$196.5million to AeroRescue

Date: 20-Jan
Incident: Robin Hood, Men in Tights was a box office hit, but now.... Sixty
QANTAS pilots and some selected pax have joined a band of merry men trialing a
tights theory for Australian Researchers. They're claiming benefits for full-
length nylon and spandex hosiery on the ankle swelling suffered by 90 per cent
of long-distance air travelers. The tights address a fluid build-up condition
known as ankle oedema. Lower-leg socks are known to relieve the problem, but
exercise physiologist Stephen Lambert wanted to see whether the graduated
compression tights used to help athletes recover from strenuous competition
could also help. The study, funded by a tights manufacturer, is published in the
latest Medical Journal of Australia. Thus far, subjects wearing tights report
they've had a 60 per cent improvement in their leg pain rating at the end of the
flight, a 50 per cent improvement in their leg discomfort rating and a 45 per
cent improvement in their leg swelling rating," says Dr Lambert, from Westmead
Hospital in Sydney. "

Date: 20-Jan
Incident: A Continental Airlines Boeing 737 and a Continental Express Embraer
145 were involved in an airprox near Newark, NJ on January 16. It's now emerged
that an air traffic controller at the New York TRACON switched the Continental
Express crew to the frequency for nearby Teterboro Airport instead of Newark
Airport.  As a result, Newark TWR was temporarily unable to contact the crew as
both planes approached Newark. The planes were 600 feet apart in altitude, much
closer than the minimum required vertical separation of 1,000 feet. The FAA is
investigating the near miss, which occurred at 1410L between Continental Flight
536 arriving from Phoenix and the Embraer (Continental Express Flight 2614)
arriving from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Date: 19-Jan
Incident: When he returned to his native Russia in November after serving two-
thirds of his sentence in a Swiss jail for stabbing a man to death, Vitaly
Kaloyev was given a hero's welcome and a senior post in his native region - just
months after his release from prison. Kaloyev stabbed to death Swiss air traffic
controller Peter Nielsen, who was on duty the night in 2002 when a jet carrying
mostly Russian children collided with a DHL cargo plane in Swiss air space.
Kaloyev's wife and children were among those killed. Kaloyev is an engineer by
trade and will work as deputy construction minister in the North Ossetia region
in southern Russia.

Date: 18-Jan
Incident: When Air Canada Flt 190 hit a rough patch and instantly dropped
1000feet on 10 Jan, injuring ten onboard, the captain referred to it in a PA as
"a flight control" problem. Later, pundits pointed out that they were over a
tall mountain chain and suggested orographic wave turbulence. An ATC man has now
weighed in with the news that a United airliner (believed to be a 747) about
10kms ahead was likely laying a sordid trail of messy air at Flight Level 350
for the following Air Canada Airbus. In Vancouver, safety board spokesman Bill
Yearwood said aircraft must be eight kilometers apart or 300 meters above or
below another proximate aircraft. We're wondering whether the A380 will be
sowing similar destruction in its wake whenever the stability index is such that
wake turbulence is sustained instead of quickly dissipating.

Date: 16-Jan
Incident: After initially declaring it a non-event, the FAA is re-examining a
runway incursion incident at Lindbergh Field (San Diego International Airport).
Around 6 p.m., after a corporate jet - a British-made Hawker Siddeley - landed
at Lindbergh and prepared to taxi off the runway, the controller cleared
Southwest flight 1626 - bound for Las Vegas - for takeoff. The 737 rotated
whilst the smaller jet's tail still overhung the runway.... due to a brief
mechanical problem. Melvin Davis, a San Diego-area chapter president with the
ATC Union NATCA, claims controller fatigue, brought on by long hours, was a
contributing factor in the 16 Jan incident. He said the Lindbergh controller who
was involved, a seasoned employee in his 50s, had been working six days a week.

Date: 16-Jan
Incident: There was a close call last week at Palm Beach International Airport,
the FAA said Tuesday. About 10:35 a.m. Saturday, controllers told a departing
Citation X business jet to line up and hold at the end of a runway, FAA
spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. Instead it began its takeoff roll as a Cessna
152 trainer conducting "touch and go" practice was approaching. Controllers saw
the Citation start to take off and ordered it to make an immediate right turn;
it went below and behind the landing Cessna 152. The Cessna Citation is
registered to Lifestyle Aviation of Coburg, Oregon.

Date: 13-Jan
Incident: Because of limitations of recorded parameters and the arcane nature of
the glitch, UKAAIB investigators were unable to pin down the exact cause of a
major electrical failure aboard a BA A319 enroute to Budapest from Heathrow in
2005. They were able to say that a CCTV camera would have recorded essential
data and that the circumstances of the BA incident bore a strong resemblance to
an electrical failure on board an EasyJet A319 in September 2006 - which also
became the subject of a AAIB investigation. However some other alarming facts
emerged. a. BA pilots are not trained in standby instrument flying (the A319 has
a centrally located STBY attitude indicator that is slightly closer to the
captain but well out of his normal scan pattern). b.  Minimum equipment lists
allow crews to fly without a serviceable STBY RMI (i.e. compass) c.  Whether or
not a standby attitude indicator would've been available to the crew of G-EUOB
depended upon the modification status of the airplane. d.  The AAIB only became
aware of t

Date: 5-Jan
Incident: A pilot and passenger in a Slipstream Genesis, a fabric and fiberglass
two-seater, turned in the 208th save by a Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS)
aircraft parachute on 05 Jan. A probable control surface failure led to the
chute deployment just a few hundred feet above ground level in a vertical dive.
The pilot suffered minor cuts and bruises after being assisted from the treetops
by onlookers. He owes his good fortune to the BRS and his wife, who insisted
that he should add the potential lifesaver to his homebuilt's design.

Date: 3-Jan
Incident: a. If you've ever wondered at what point a pilot swallows his pride
and admits defeat, this series of shots might assist your understanding:
tinyurl.com/ysklb2  b. Anybody needing convincing that the next runway collision
isn't far off at all, just needs to watch the videos at:  tinyurl.com/3aawm6
and  tinyurl.com/2wyvvz (United 1448 Runway Incursion at Francis Green Airport,
RI)

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