Safety News in Brief

Air Safety Week,  Feb 18, 2008  

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Date: 14-Feb
Incident: A GAO report has found that serious runway incidents increased
substantially in the last three months of 2007. Ten incidents were reported in
2007, compared with two in the same quarter of 2006. The total number of runway
incursions in 2007 was 370, a new record and a 12% increase from 2006.
Meanwhile, witnesses testifying before a House subcommittee said that the FAA is
taking steps to address the issue. Testifying before the House Subcommittee on
Aviation on February 13th, Hank Krakowski, the FAA's Air Traffic Organization's
chief operating officer, reviewed the agency's major initiatives to improve
runway safety, including the use of new technology. "...An aggressive and
effective FAA runway safety program has reduced the number of serious runway
incursions by 55 percent since 2001. In Fiscal Year 2007, we saw a 25 percent
reduction in serious runway incursions from 2006. There were 24 serious runway
incursions -- that's Category A and B incursions -- during 61 million aircraft
operations, a significant re

Date: 12-Feb
Incident: Retired chief air accident investigator Mr Ronald Chippendale, who led
the inquiry into Air New Zealand's Mt Erebus disaster, was killed this morning
after being struck by a car in Wellington New Zealand. Ron Chippendale was the
chief air accident investigator who reported on the DC10 crash on Mt Erebus in
1979. Mr Chippendale, 75, was returning to his Aotea home from his usual early
morning walk when he was struck by a car which went out of control. Mr
Chippendale began investigating aircraft accidents with the Royal New Zealand
Airforce before transferring to the Transport Ministry. He was appointed chief
investigator of accidents when the Transport Accident Investigation Commission
was set up in 1990. Chippendale led many high profile aircraft crash inquiries,
and in doing so became a familiar face in television clips of aircraft crash
scenes for almost a decade. During his eight years in the role, Chippendale led
investigations into more than 400 accidents and incidents, becoming a familiar
face in televi

Date: 10-Feb
Incident: A Thai-based committee responsible for investigating the cause of last
September's air crash in the southern Thai resort island of Phuket will now
begin working after the US government's National Transport Safety Board (NTSB)
said it was unable to find causes of the crash because so much of the ill-fated
plane were badly burned, a senior Transport Ministry official said Saturday.
Aviation Department director-general Wuthichai Singhamanee said the NTSB
recently notified his department saying that it was unable to determine the
cause of the accident because parts of the plane were destroyed by fire. The
NTSB had earlier requested the department to help to determine the cause of the
accident involving the One-Two-Go aircraft crash at Phuket International Airport
which killed 89 of the 130 persons on board. The accident occurred September 16
when the budget carrier which left Bangkok for Phuket came down hard on the
runway at Phuket airport amid heavy rain and strong crosswinds and skidded into
a wooded embankmen

Date: 10-Feb
Incident: Unofficially, investigators believe the crash-landing of a British
Airways Boeing 777 at Heathrow last month may have been caused by ice clogging
its fuel supply, according to a leaked memo to US regulators. The Air Accidents
Investigation Branch is examining whether water leaked into fuel tanks and froze
on the 101/2hour flight from Beijing. The discovery, if confirmed by laboratory
tests, may force airlines to review safeguards and integrity checks on fuel and
tanks before long-haul flights, when planes on some polar routes are exposed to
temperatures as low as -75C. Pilots say, however, that heating systems and
friction from air passing over the wings should keep the fuel warm. The BA jet
landed 1,000ft short of the runway after both engines failed. There were no
obvious computer malfunctions or problems with the engines, and tests on fuel
recovered from the jet and other planes that refueled in Beijing in the same
period show that it met specifications. Boeing said: "The 777 has been in
service for 12 yea

Date: 10-Feb
Incident: The FAA recently asked U.S. carriers that fly Boeing 777 aircraft to
comb through their engine logs to identify instances when engines were slow to
respond to pilot commands, or may have reduced thrust on their own. An internal
Federal Aviation Administration memo, referring to the crashed (and now written
off) BA 777 jet (G-YMMM) last month said "a maintenance message indicating
excessive water in the center tank was set during taxi on the two previous
flight legs, although it cleared itself both times." Water can be drained from
Boeing 777 fuel tanks only on the ground, so part of the puzzle is what BA's
mechanics did to ensure the fuel system wasn't contaminated (or whether they
were simply satisfied that it had "cleared itself"). United's routine procedures
call for removing excess water after every several hundred flight hours. British
investigators are focusing on whether ice crystals may have clogged the plane's
dual oil-cooler systems. The radiator-like devices use fuel flow from each of
the wing tank

Date: 9-Feb
Incident: A major upgrade of Australia's remote airports is underway, with the
Federal Government committing $1 million to improve safety and access to 25
airstrips across Australia. Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said the
Remote Aerodrome Safety Program was extremely important for country regions.
"People living in remote Australia deserve safe and well-maintained airstrips
because they are a vital link to food, medical supplies, mail and essential
personnel like teachers, doctors and nurses in remote Australia," the minister
said. The funding includes $250,000 to improve lighting and fencing at three
airports in Bourke Shire, in far western NSW, $50,500 for solar lighting at
Ramingining Aerodrome in the Northern Territory and almost $45,000 for fencing
at the King Island Aerodrome in Tasmania. The funding will improve safety and
help provide year-round, all-weather access for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
"Remote Australia is a crucial part of the Australian economy and injects
billions of dollars in agr

Date: 8-Feb
Incident: The FAA Runway Safety HF hand book from 2001. This booklet tells
pilots and controllers what they can do to help prevent runway incursions. It
alerts them to situations where extra vigilance is required. Example incidents
are included solely to highlight conditions that can lead even the most skilled
professionals into making life-threatening mistakes. tinyurl.com/2suh2s  Many
carriers are also directing pilots to review the ALPA/AOPA online Runway Safety
course. At: tinyurl.com/2n27x9

Date: 8-Feb
Incident: An FAA (AFS) initiative for reducing PD's (pilot deviations such as
runway incursions and level busts) is available at tinyurl.com/2zn4q2  (warning:
it's large - so it's a click and save to your hard-drive - not an "open online")

Date: 8-Feb
Incident: Israel's air force is considering giving its combat pilots Viagra to
improve their performance in the air. A recent study conducted by Israeli
doctors among mountain climbers in Africa found a link between erectile
dysfunction drugs and improved performance in high altitudes. The active
ingredient in the drugs was found to make climbers perform better in an
environment with less oxygen, which causes fatigue and dizziness. This has led
army doctors to consider giving jet fighter pilots -- who can fly at altitudes
of up to 50,000 feet the same drug, the report said. "The Viagra family of drugs
is considered effective in these conditions because when there is a long
shortage in oxygen it leads to high blood pressure in the lungs, and the drugs
help fight that," the report quoted military medical sources as saying.

Date: 8-Feb
Incident: Rapidly growing regional airlines have suffered a growing share of
crashes in recent years.Since 2003, there have been four fatal accidents out of
more than 24 million regional airline flights. There were no fatal accidents on
regionals in the five years prior to 2003. That's prompted several top aviation
experts and federal officials to call for upgraded safety programs. Regional
carriers had four fatal crashes that killed 85 people over the past five years,
according to federal data. Over the same period, one person died in a major
airline crash. Regional airlines with lesser-known names such as Mesa, Shuttle
America and Atlantic Southeast account for nearly half of all airline flights
and carry more than 20% of passengers. "This is where the accidents are
occurring," said NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt in a speech he delivered on
the subject. In December 1994, after the third fatal crash of the year involving
what were then known as "commuter airlines," Transportation Secretary Federico
Pena announced t

Date: 8-Feb
Incident: Two New Jersey senators said Thursday they would block President
Bush's choice to head the FAA, saying they are unhappy with the government's
handling of widespread flight delays that often begin in their East Coast
airspace. Democrats Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg said they would use a
procedural device called a "hold" to block the nomination of Robert Sturgell
from coming to the Senate floor for a vote. The move will not have any immediate
effect on the agency, because Sturgell is already the acting administrator, but
it reflects ongoing disputes between congressional Democrats and the
administration over the best way to solve the flight delays that have plagued
U.S. air travelers in the past year, as well as runway safety issues and air
controller staffing. The government has announced new limits for takeoffs and
landings at New York area airports, where many of the national delays begin. The
agency is also redesigning airspace routes, which angers some communities
worried about increased noise from

Date: 7-Feb
Incident: Rumor Control - the problems inherent in acquiring your old converted
freighters from one source.... 737F VH-XML has serious problem. Heard from the
QANTAS facility in Avalon, Victoria (S of Melbourne) that VH-XML has serious fwd
bulkhead cracking which has involved Boeing trying to sort it out. Understand
that rest of AAE 737F fleet may be subject to same inspection in an upcoming AD
which could ground them. With one of their last two 727's leaving the fleet next
week or so, AAE could well have a capacity problem - pity, as the old 727
workhorse is built like a tank (RIP VH-RMV).

Date: 6-Feb
Incident: An Icy Blast from the Past: (spurred by SWA Flt 438)
tinyurl.com/2jb6mf (imagery at tinyurl.com/2azp77) NTSB Safety Recommendation
Letter A-75-22, 23 & 24 Link : tinyurl.com/2vybq4   CF6-50 engine "Prolonged
Exposure to Icing", page 2   "During a General Electric engine icing
certification test and during a French A-300B icing test flight, fan blade tips
on CF6-50 engines were damaged.  The CF6-50 test engine was damaged when 12 Lbs,
of ice was released.  The ice had accumulated on the unheated fan spinner during
a hold pattern certification test at the Peebles Proving Ground.....  ".  French
authorities believed that ice shed from the fan spinner was responsible for the
damage to five fan blades in the left engine and two blades in the right
engine."

Date: 6-Feb
Incident: The FAA will deploy new air traffic tower simulators to 19 locations
around the country to help train thousands of new ATCO's in an operational
environment that is interactive and provides realistic scenarios. The new
simulators will be deployed over the next 18 months at the following towers:
John F. Kennedy (NY); Los Angeles; Oakland (CA); Washington Reagan National;
Dallas Fort-Worth; Atlanta; Denver; Philadelphia; Cincinnati; Cleveland; San
Antonio; Memphis (TN); Honolulu; Orlando (FL); Charlotte (NC); Minneapolis;
Boston; and Newport News (VA.). The FAA will install an additional six
simulators at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. "We're making sure that the
latest technology is part of the training regimen," said Bobby Sturgell, the
FAA's acting administrator. "Controlling traffic is a demanding job, and
experience tells us that real-life training scenarios make a critical
difference. Deploying simulators to such key locations as JFK will help us
maximize our training program." The FAA has been using to

Date: 5-Feb
Incident: Congress on Monday told the Government Accountability Office to use
its experts to analyze a NASA study on air safety. The review will allow the GAO
to compare rates of events reported by the pilots to information collected in
other ways by the Federal Aviation Administration. The NASA "NOAMS" study
involved interviews with pilots that covered numerous safety incidents.

Date: 5-Feb
Incident: Alaska's governor is proposing to provide low-interest loans to help
GA (general aviation) aircraft owners equip their aircraft with ADS-B (automatic
dependent surveillance-broadcast) equipment. According to the Alaska Journal of
Commerce, Governor Sarah Palin's initiative resulted from a letter
(tinyurl.com/2phojk) she received from the FAA asking for her support on the
equipage issue, and because a group of aviation industry officials approached
her and other state officials with a request for support. The program would
allow for about 400 ADS-B equipage loans, according to Greg Winegar, the
director of Alaska' Division of Investments. "We are using a figure of $15,000
for the hardware and installation at 4 percent interest. At that rate the annual
payment would be $1,480, or $122 monthly," Mr. Winegar said. The program will
have a sunset date of 2020 and money paid on the loans will go back into an
Alaskan revolving fund.

Date: 4-Feb
Incident: Back in 1972, a survey of thirty-four aircraft instrument repair
facilities in Los Angeles County was made to determine the degree of radiation
hazard associated with the use and/or handling of radium instruments and dials.
Facilities were visited by health physicists and the survey revealed a wide
range of findings relative to the use and handling of aircraft instruments
containing "glow in the dark" radium. Investigation included findings in
relation to number of personnel, quantity and type of radioactive instruments on
the premise, external radiation levels in work areas, amount of removable alpha
contamination and the nature of activity associated with radium dials. None of
the facilities had developed a program for the purpose of radiation safety,
while some were unaware that they had radioactive material on instruments on the
premises. It was concluded that seven of the thirty-four facilities surveyed had
sufficient radioactive material on the premises and used in such a manner to
require obtaining a C

Date: 4-Feb
Incident: Swedish airport officials prevented a Russian cargo plane from
departing after two of its crew members were found to be under the influence of
alcohol. The Antonov AN-12 aircraft was ordered to remain on the ground at Malmo
Airport, Sweden after tests determined that its radio operator and a flight
engineer were not fit to travel.

Date: 4-Feb
Incident: Company was Karair, a one-time charter subsidiary of Finnair, and they
had two A300's, with highest known utilization of the type, basically flying
non-stop between Finland and the Canary Islands, achieving about 18 hours
airborne per day per aircraft. At some point, it was discovered that there was a
huge chunk of ice floating in the fuel tank of one of the aircraft, as the
(thereby) condensed water never had time to melt, and thus had never been
drained from the system between its flights. The aircraft had actually been very
close to fuel starvation because of this. Of course, about 20 years have passed,
lessons had been learnt, and this could never happen again... yet about 10 years
ago Continental had an issue with their early 777s in that, during winter ops
from NWK (Newark Liberty), the fuel temp never climbed sufficiently to allow any
suspended/solid water to thaw and therefore be drained during normal routine
checks. Result was a very large, thick sheet of ice in the base of the fuel
tanks which would