New Mexico Following Alaska’s Financial Precedent


Think of all of the agencies maintaining their own fleets.

Sarah Palin sold Alaska’s state jet. Florida sold a Cessa Citation Bravo, and Michigan sold three planes. Now New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez fulfilled her campaign promise to sell the New Mexico’s business jet.

New Mexico purchased the Cessna Citation Bravo in 2005 for 5.5 million and now sold it to a couple in Alaska, trading an annual $500,000 bill for 2.51 million in one-time income. New Mexico still has two planes: a 2006 Beechcraft King Air and a 1983 Gulfstream Turbo Commander, both five-seat turboprops.

We suspect pilots are on the fence about this, as a state-owned “personal air taxi” offers some kind of part or full-time employment for maintainers and pilots. The jet cost New Mexico $500,000 annually in maintenance and fuel. How much will alternatives cost? (The state’s twin-engine King Air costs half as much to operate as the jet.)

Not maintaining a state business jet (at $2,852 per hour) does leave cost effective alternatives such as commercial flight, chartered flight or alternative transport via automobile or rail.

Are there agencies which have their own State Bus? or perhaps a Nissan LEAF, ForTwo, or Prius?

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    Qantas A380 Engine Disintegration Far More Serious

    Rolls said in a statement that the failure was confined to a specific component in the turbine area of the engine. This caused an oil fire. The British company added that it would replace the faulty part. Safety continues to be Rolls-Royce’s highest priority. See their statement

    Qantas is grounding its Airbus A380 superjumbos until further notice, and Singapore Airlines is grounding 3 of its A380s. EASA is calling for inspections. See the directive.

    What Happened
    The cause of the Rolls Royce engine failure has been pinned down to a faulty bearing box, the underlying cause of the oil leak. The bearings allow the drive shaft to move. The leaking bearing box dripped oil into the QANTAS A380 whose engine exploded (uncontained) into the wing, and dropping its turbine onto a house in Batam. The wing damage included electrical cables and hydraulic lines inside the wing, so that pilots were dealing with hydraulic damage (inability to close the landing gear doors), and electrical damage (trouble shutting down the engine beside the damaged one.)

    The Qantas meltdown is one of at least five documented A380 engine malfunctions.

    • Qantas A388 near Singapore on Nov 4th 2010
    • Lufthansa A388 near Frankfurt on Aug 6th 2010, engine shut down in flight
    • Emirates A388 near Zurich on Jul 13th 2010, engine shut down in flight
    • Singapore A388 near Krakow on Sep 27th 2009, engine shut down in flight
    • Singapore A388 near London on May 25th 2009, engine failure

    Newer Trent 900 engines have a different bearing box. Although the new box promises to eliminate the problem, newer models also have system software to shut down the engine before the leak causes a meltdown similar to the QANTAS A380 event over Singapore.

    George’s Point of View

    Although one might say that regulators did not adequately check the engine before approving it for commercial use, I think of Boeing’s response to its recent 787 test flight, and I point out that no one made Boeing step back and pull the 787 back on to the drawing board for more tests and adjustments. Boeing did that, because such remediation is what testing is all about. It is part and parcel of the paradigm of safety in design. It is up to each manufacturer that every item off of their assembly lines be as well designed and as safe as humanly possible. This includes fixing design flaws as soon as they are known. So I wonder, if newer Trent 900 engines have an improved bearing box, this of course begs the question why the older ones were not replaced.

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    Comoros Black boxes found


    View larger photo here
    Contact photographer Iam Lim
    What: Yemenia Air Airbus 310 flight 626 lost at sea en route to Moroni

    George’s Point of View

    What an amazing coincidence…that the news that the black boxes from the Comoros crash are recovered crosses the internet on practically the same day that they throw in the towel for the search for the Air France black boxes.

    But the news is out:

    They were detected on July 23rd and now, Comores Officials have reported on Aug 28th, that both black boxes have been recovered.

    I am delighted with the wonderful news and am as excited as everyone to learn what’s inside. Now maybe they can re-allocate their resources to recommence the search for the black boxes of Air France Flight 447.

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    Yemenia Spotless Record? Really?

    I glance at a lot of news sites, mostly skimming just to make sure the facts are the same across the board, and I don’t usually stop and make comments about one particular site, or other. I’m usually focused on the message, not the messenger.

    But once in a while, I come across erroneous content.

    What should I do when I come across a site that posts an article that says up till the crash in the Comoros, Yemenia Airlines had an unblemished record?

    What world is that staff reporter living in? Who gave them that information? Because it’s wrong.

    Today’s Yemenia was formerly Yemen Airlines and Yemen Arab Airlines and Yemen Airways. (There may be more DBA names I’m leaving out.)

    This airline, rebranded over and over, has had at least 11 crashes and a couple of hijackings thrown in (1973 and 1975.) Just take a look at the actual record.

    And there were EU Safety sanctions in JUL 2008: EU safety action (Safety deficiencies noted by ramp inspections in several countries; Yemenia took corrective actions.); on JUL 2009: EU safety action (The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended the maintenance organisation approval EASA.145.0177 issued to Yemenia Yemen Airways, due to unresolved safety deficiencies.) On JUL 2009: EU safety action (The authorities of France suspended the certificates of airworthiness of the aircraft of type Airbus A310 registered in France (F-OHPR and F-OHPS) and operated by the carrier.) On NOV 2009: EU safety action (Member States will verify systematically the effective compliance of Yemenia with the relevant safety standards through the prioritisation of ramp inspections to be carried out on aircraft of this carrier.)

    The EU is right to be so demanding. Yemenia Airlines has a dangerous record, no matter what the airline is called. Lack of safety is the reason the airline has been on the EU blacklist. Don’t the people of Yemen deserve a safe carrier?

    (See below)

    Hijacks first:

    • 14-SEP-1994——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia—— Boeing 737-2R4C Hijacker(s) demanded to be taken to Saudi Arabia. Duration of the hijacking: less than 1 day.

    • 25 August 1973——a Yemen Airlines Douglas DC-6 was hijacked during a passenger flight from Ta’izz to Asmara. The perpetrator forced the pilots to divert the aircraft with fifteen other passenger and six crew members on board to Kuwait Airport, for which a refueling stop at Djibouti Airport turned out to be necessary. In Kuwait, the hijacker surrendered to local police forces.

    • 23 February 1975——a Yemen Airlines DC-3 was hijacked during a flight from Al Hudaydah to Sana’a and forced to land at an airport in Saudi Arabia. There, the aircraft was stormed and the perpetrator overpowered.

    • 27-AUG-1993——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— Boeing 737-2R4C An Alyemda Boeing 737 aircraft was hijacked during a domestic flight from Riyan Airport (RIY) to Al Ghaydah Airport The hijacker, a Yemeni soldier who reportedly was armed with a handgun and a hand grenade, demanded to be taken to either Kuwait or Oman. The pilot convinced the hijacker that a refueling stop was necessary.

    • 20-JAN-1983——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— Boeing 707-300 Three hijackers forced the aircraft to land at Djibouti. After the aircraft landed a gun battle erupted inside the aircraft and two passengers were reportedly wounded. The hijackers subsequently surrendered and were taken Into custody by Djibouti authorities. The hijackers were convicted of air piracy in Djibouti and reportedly sentenced to six months In prison. This was suspended.

    • 22-AUG-1972——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— Douglas DC-6 Three passengers hijacked the Alyemda plane en route between Beirut (BEY) and Cairo. The flight diverted to Nicosia (NIC), Cyprus. The hijackers said that they belonged to a group named the Eagles of National Unity in South Yemen. After a three hour refueling stop the airplane continued to Benghazi (BEN), Libya. The hijackers surrendered to Libyan authorities.

    • 15-AUG-1985——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— Boeing 707-336C Climbing through FL230, water inadvertently spilled on the autopilot panel and the crew had to disengage the autopilot because the stabilizer trim wheel started to rotate. Control was lost as the plane pitched up and down. Control was regained at 1000 feet and an emergency landing was carried out at Aden.

    • 09-MAY-1982——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— DHC-7-103 A Dash 7 passenger plane, operated by Alyemda, crashed into the sea some 2 km from the Aden International Airport (ADE), Yemen. Of the 49 occupants, 23 were killed. The pilot had reported the runway in sight at a distance of 9 nautical miles (17 km) and was cleared to report on final for runway 26. The wind was reported 240 degrees at 5 knots. The aircraft reported short final, was sighted by the tower and cleared to land, then lost altitude andcrashed in the sea.

    • 26-JAN-1982——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)——The Boeing 707 was flying a cargo of military supplies from Libya to Damascus when it was attacked by an Iraqi or Israeli fighter plane. The crippled freighter managed to land at Damascus, but was considered damaged beyond repair.

    • 01-MAR-1977——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— Douglas C-47A-25-DK 7O-ABF Crashed into the sea off Aden. 19 fatalities, 19 aboard

    • 17-SEP-1975——Alyemda (Merged with Yemenia)—— Douglas DC-3 Nose, front fuselage and propellers where damaged following a heavy landing. Aviation News reported the accident happened on Sept. 16

    • 3 November 1958——a Yemen Airlines Douglas C-47 Skytrain #YE-AAB crashed near in Italy, killing eight people on board. The aircraft had been on a flight from Rome Ciampino Airport to Yemen with a planned stopover at Belgrade, carrying the Yemenite Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

    • 19 March 1969——a Yemen Airlines C-47 (registered 4W-AAS) crashed near Ta’izz during a post-maintenance test flight, killing the four occupants. It turned out that the elevator of the aircraft did work properly. Repair work had been done on that part, because it had been damaged some days earlier in a ground collision.

    • 16 September 1971——a Yemen Airlines C-47 (registered 4W-ABI) crashed near Rajince, Serbia when it encountered severe icing conditions, killing the five people on board. The aircraft had been on a multi-stopover flight from Yemen to Europe and had just departed Belgrade Airport.

    • 1 November 1972——a Yemen Airlines Douglas DC-3 (registered 4W-ABJ) was destroyed in a crash-landing at an airfield near Beihan.

    • 13 December 1973——a Yemen Airlines DC-3 (registered 4W-ABR) crashed near Ta’izz.

    • 14 November 1978——a Yemen Airlines C-47 (registered 4W-ABY) was damaged beyond repair in a heavy landing at an airfield near Ma’rib.

    • 26 June 2000——a Yemenia Boeing 737-200C, registered 7O-ACQ, was damaged beyond repair when it veered off the runway upon landing at Khartoum International Airport following a cargo flight from Yemen. Despite their plans to carry out a runway 36 approach, the crew landed straight-in on runway 18. The aircraft departed the side of the runway. The nose gear collapsed as it contacted obstructions.

    • 21 January 2001——a Yemenia Flight 448, a Boeing 727-200 with 91 passengers and 10 crew on board, was hijacked 15 minutes into a flight from Sana’a to Ta’izz by an Iraqi man. The plane was forced to land at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, where the perpetrator was overpowered by the crew.

    • 1 August 2001——a Yemenia Boeing 727-200 (registered 7O-ACW) was damaged beyond economic repair when it overran the runway upon landing at Asmara International Airport following a flight from Sana’a with 107 passengers and four crew on board, none of whom were significantly injured.

    • 30 June 2009——a Yemenia Flight 626 from Sana’a to Moroni, Comoros crashed into the sea shortly before landing. Of the 142 passengers and eleven crew that had been on the Airbus A310-300 with the registration 7O-ADJ,[23] only a 12-year-old girl, Bahia Bakari, was recovered, alive and conscious, although suffering from extreme tiredness and hypothermia, cuts to her face and a fractured collar-bone.

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    Notes on Air France Flight 447: Thoughts on the CVR Facts

    So there you have it: the short version of the investigation’s reading of the Cockpit Voice recorder.
    If you missed it, we have posted it here in this blog in it’s entirety:

    https://airflightdisaster.com/?p=17147

    If you don’t like the visual rendition, you can click at the bottom for the .pdf.

    The problems seem to begin at 2 h 08 min 07; then at 2 h 10 min 05 autopilot & auto thrust disengages. The pilots note that the speeds do not agree,( which means the speeds are incorrect, and it is an indication that pitot tubes are malfunctioning. Around this time, ACARS sent a PITOT error message, which was not mentioned in the CVR summary.) The PIC (captain) re-enters at 2 h 11 min 40 and it is all downhill from there.

    As far as we can tell, everything in the cockpit voice recorder still indicates that the main cause for this crash is Thales defective pitot tubes which froze over and sent incorrect data back. How could anyone make correct decisions without knowing the speed at which the plane was traveling? How would the pilots have discerned when the incoming data was faulty and which of it—if any—was correct?

    Based on the pilots’ response to the stall, we can also reiterate points made at the February 24 hearing, where Justice Zimmerman pointed out a lack of training for pilots on how to respond to a catastrophic failure. Shouldn’t pilots (and not just the PIC) be trained in this procedure to the point that the correct corrective response is second nature? The time to try to figure out how to respond is not during the catastrophe, with 228 lives hanging in the balance.

    There does not appear to be an emergency procedure from the manufacturer. (This was also noted in the February hearing by Justice Zimmerman.)

    It appears that the plane stalled, and that could not be corrected in time to prevent the catastrophe.

    So now, all eyes will turn to the DVR, which will hopefully help decode what happened mechanically in the stall.

    And I do have questions about the notation, which seems to imply that even if autopilot is not online, some (background?) processes continue to be determined by digital input, which may be faulty.
    When the measured speeds are below 60 kt, the measured angle of attack values are considered invalid and are not taken into account by the systems. When they are below 30 kt, the speed values themselves are considered invalid. (Or I am misreading the data and the fact of unrecoverability is due to other system factors. It does appear that the Flight Control System is unwieldy or badly conceived.)

    It seems to me as a layman, that this is a fly-by-wire conundrum. If the plane is in crisis, but it is logically disregarding the correct input when it is beyond a “safe or logical” range, then how can it be corrected, if there are no manual controls? (Not to mention no emergency procedures to fall back on.)

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    A word to #MH370 Families on the limitation of words

    In George’s Point of View

    A word to the families on the limitation of words.

    Pain has an end, but love interrupted has no end.

    If I could hold your hand, I would. Physics won’t let me reach through the page to hold your hand. I can not reach though the screen. I cannot whisper in the ear of all the families that I am here for you, even though here means a world away.

    If there is a time for all things, then now is the time to cry. Cry till all the tears are gone; then tomorrow there will be one less tear to cry, and the following day, one less. Until nothing is left but the rainbow of memory.

    The outpouring of empathy crosses nations. All the others who have known loss are sharing your grief. Grief is not one of those weights reduced by the number of shoulders bearing it. There is no way out from under grief—the only cure is living through it into the time of healing. So whatever it takes to choose life, let the healing begin. I know these words are less consolation than a kind touch, less than someone sitting beside you, holding your hand, providing a shoulder, an ear, a heart. You need not be desolate, alone, circling in on yourself. Mend what can be mended. When you need to speak, offer an ear. When you need help, offer a hand. Remember, this too shall pass. Remember what was good and celebrate it. Remember what was real, and let all else fall away. Let your heart be lifted. Let it be lighter from this moment on.

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    Update: CRJ Gear Foulup at JFK, Atlanta, Philadelphia, O’Hare, et al.

    What: Atlantic Southeast/Delta Airlines Canadair CRJ-900 en route from Atlanta to White Plains, New York
    Where: New York
    When: Sept 25 2010 8:20 pm
    Who: 60 passengers 4 crew

    The fifth + landing gear failure in the US in five years has launched an engineering investigation of Bombardier’s CRJ landing gear. The objective of the investigation is to determine if there is a connection between all of the gear failures.

    • SkyWest CRJ200, operating under a code-share with AirTran as Flight 3074 from Omaha, Neb., made an emergency landing with one gear retracted at Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport (Sept 28 2010)
    • Atlantic Southeast Airlines Bombardier CRJ900 at JFK landing gear up (September 25 2010)
    • SkyWest Airlines Flight 6467 CRJ200 couldn’t extend its nose landing gear on approach to Ontario (Calif.) International Airport. (May 23 2010)
    • Atlantic Southeast jet–a 50-seat CRJ200–couldn’t fully extend its left main landing gear, but again, managed to land safely at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. (June 11 2009)
    • Air Wisconsin CRJ200 on a flight from Norfolk, Virginia landed at Philadelphia International Airport with its left main gear retracted. (Dec 14 2008) The prelim. NTSB indicates that mechanics attached the upper attachment bolt for the left main landing gear uplock assembly to the airplane structure only, rather than both the structure and the uplock mechanism as called for in the design
    • CRJ700 operated by Mesa Airlines received an unsafe gear indication for the left main gear as it approached for landing in South Bend, Ind. The crew declared an emergency and returned to land with the left main gear still retracted on Runway 28 at O’Hare. (Dec 15 2008) The investigation found that improper positioning of the inboard main landing gear door during rigging caused premature wear of parts that eventually restricted the movement of the door during its extension.
    • South Africa Express CRJ200 gear up landing on flight from Cape Town to Windhoek, Namibia( April 17 2010).

    Saturday the landing gear of a CRJ failed, resulting in a dramatic landing at JFK. The dragging wing created a “shower of sparks” during the landing.

    George’s Point of View

    How many times is enough?

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