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Tag: <span>Air Safety</span>

FAA Aviation Safety Rating for Kenya

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration has announced that Kenya complies with international safety standards. Kenya has been granted a Category 1 rating under the International Aviation Safety Assessment program.

Kenya’s civil aviation authority meets International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards. With a Category 1 rating, Kenyan air carriers can secure FAA and DOT authority can establish service to the United States and carry the code of U.S. carriers.

The FAA had not previously assessed Kenya’s civil aviation authority for compliance with ICAO standards. The rating is based on a February, 2017 FAA assessment of the safety oversight provided by Kenya’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The agency assesses the civil aviation authorities of all countries with air carriers that have applied to fly to the United States, currently conduct operations to the United States, or participate in code sharing arrangements with U.S. partner airlines, and makes that information available to the public. The assessments determine if foreign civil aviation authorities meet ICAO safety standards, not FAA regulations.

To maintain a Category 1 rating, a country must adhere to ICAO safety standards, the United Nations’ technical agency for aviation that establishes international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance.

IASA information is posted at www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa/.


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Thai Carriers Face Flying Ban to US

Following a 5-day audit of Thailand’s aviation safety standards, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has pointed out several flaws that need to be addressed in order to continue flight service to the US.

The audit was conducted after Thailand’s DCA failed to address the concerns identified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) within the given 90-day period.

According to Thailand’s Transport Minister Prajin Juntong, the FAA has given them 65 days to fix the shortcomings and if they fail to do so, Thai carriers could face a ban on flying to the US.

The flaws identified by the FAA include shortage of qualified air safety inspectors and redundant inspection methods etc.


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Should Lithium Battery Transport be banned on Passenger jets?

The conversation about forbidding the transport of lithium metal batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft is based on fire risk these batteries present. Current fire control systems cannot suppress lithium metal battery fires, but the fears are that banning the transport will result in driving the shipment “underground.” What do you think should be done?


Read More
ICAO’s Dangerous Goods Panel Proposes Ban on Lithium Batteries in Passenger Planes


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ICAO’s Dangerous Goods Panel Proposes Ban on Lithium Batteries in Passenger Planes

ICAOA recent meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP), held in Montreal, discussed the proposal for banning lithium batteries as cargo in passenger air crafts.

According to the meeting report, the DGP agreed to prohibit lithium batteries in cargo, except those which are packed or contained in some equipment or are kept in the aircraft cabin by the passengers. The panel further proposed Jan. 1, 2015 as the effective date for start of prohibition.

The DGPs decision will be presented for final approval.from the Air Navigation Commission (ANC) in late April,

The report states that “the ANC may adopt the DGP’s decision but has within its prerogative, the option of amending/extending it…..The actual text of the decision, including associated consequential amendments, can be expected towards the end of May.”


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Business Jet India and SpanAir’s Planes Grounded for Violating Safety Norms

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India, grounded two business jets belonging to Business Jet India Private Limited and Span Air for violating safety norms during its safety audit of non-scheduled operators (NSOPs).

During the inspection of the Cessna aircraft belonging to Business Jets India, the aviation regulator found that the crew on-board were not properly trained in safety and emergency procedures. The log books and the operation manuals were outdated and the lavatory had unnecessary goods which is strictly prohibited. The Business Jets India Private Limited operates three Hawker 850 XP aircrafts in addition to the Cessna Citation CJ2 aircraft in and out of India. The company is a subsidiary of Singapore-based BJETS Private Limited. Tata group also has a stake in it.

Moreover, the aviation regulator also found some significant deficiencies in the Hawker 900XP aircraft registered VT-BKL with SpanAir. It was observed that the crew were not properly trained in safety and emergency procedures, the life vest had passed its expiry date and the operations manual and the route guides were outdated. SpanAir has four more aircrafts –a seven-seater Beech Super King Air B-200; a six-seater Premier 1A, Bell 407GX and Bell 420 helicopters.

IATA Releases 2013 Commercial Aviation Safety Performance Statistics

IATA-logoInternational Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the 2013 commercial aviation performance statistics.

According to IATA, more than 3 billion people enjoyed safe air travel last year, through 36.4 million flights. 81 air accidents happened throughout the year, out of which 16 were fatal. The total fatalities in commercial aviation accidents were 210, as compared to 414 in 2012.

Furthermore, the global Western-built jet accident rate for 2013 was 0.41 i.e. one accident per 2.4 million flights. The rate is 14.6% lower than the five year average of 0.48.

The Western-built jet hull loss rate for IATA members remained 0.30 in the year 2013, showing an improvement of 28.6% in the five year average rate of 0.32.

The Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Tony Tyler has urged the governments and the aviation industry to make combined efforts in order to ensure flight safety. He said that the MH370 case has highlighted the pitfalls in flight tracking technologies. The airline industry, its stakeholders and regulators should make efforts to avoid such accidents in future.


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Brazil jet thrust reverser ‘off’


This photograph was produced by Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency.Their website states: “O conteúdo deste site é publicado sob a licença Creative Commons Atribuição 2.5 Brasil”(This photo is published under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil)

The thrust reverser had been deactivated during maintenance checks, the airline confessed.

The reverser is used to help jets slow down on landing.

Tam Airlines insisted the deactivation was in accordance with proper procedures. However, nearly 200 people–passengers and crew–are dead.

Yet this was in accordance with proper procedures?

The airbus started to land at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport, and either aborted the landing or failed to slow down when the deactivated thrust reverser failed. The plane crossed the street, hit buildings and exploded.

Tam Airlines said the right thrust reverser was “deactivated” at the time of the accident. To quote them specifically:
“in conditions stipulated by the maintenance of the manufacturer Airbus and approved by [Brazil’s] National Civil Aviation Agency”.

Brazil’s Globo TV televised that a problem with the right thrust reverser had emerged four days prior to the crash.

The Airbus’s manual stipulates that ten days can lapse after a problem is first detected in an inspection and the plane can continue to operate in the meantime.

sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://www.aviation.com/ap_070721_thrustreverser.html


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The Cost of Cheap Air Travel

Hindsight is teaching Brazil some hard lessons. Some uncomfortable things are coming to light, like how the warning signs have been ignored. There’s a long trail of complaints about Brazilian aviation from the people in the system–(air traffic controllers, pilots, airport employees, etc.) that urgent major improvements were needed went ignored.

Airline safety relies on government-provided infrastructure. To put it simply, you can not skimp on airports. Things like long runways, grooved surfaces, overruns, planned SAFE approaches. Brazil dragging its feet is what killed nearly 200 people, no matter what the investigation says.

Airports need standards, and standards need to be enforced. Would the accident have happened on a longer runway that was properly surfaced? The pilots did NOT skid off the end of the runway. When they couldn’t stop, the pilots decided t get airborne again.

The mechanics of landing

When landing, a jet gets the main wheels onto the runway, which takes up 1000 or more feet of runway.

The pilot deploys the speed brake lever, then pulls the throttles into reverse thrust. This takes up runway at the rate of 200 feet per second.

So what happens when the jet brakes and the pilot realises it is too slick to stop? The pilot must get the engines back max power–was there adequate time and space for the Airbus to do this? Obviously not.

Are we following in Brazil’s footsteps?

The FAA is asking Congress to pawn off federal funding responsibilities for a national system through “user fees” (as our current FAA administrator has asked Congress to do).

Our amazing safety record comes from not skimping, not searching for cost-cutting measures. Will we continue to set the world safety standard or not? Only time will tell.

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