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Anniversary of Bhoja Air Crash

The anniversary of a plane crash is always a sad day;

It is a day few people recall if they didn’t lose someone;

It is a day remembered by children as the moment they found themselves orphaned–and mothers and fathers who found themselves without a child; and husbands and wives who found themselves widowed.

It is a day with consequences that reverberate through the lives of those affected like ripples in a pond–except that ripples in a pond eventually come to rest, and the victims of a crash will be victims forever.

We remember the day Bhoja Air crashed. It was en route from Karachi to Islamabad, with 121 passengers and 6 crew.

The owner of Bhoja Air remembers too, and the FIA is not likely to let him forget:

FIA Sindh Director Muazzam Jah Ansari said Bhoja Air owner Farooq Bhoja was taken into custody for questioning during the Bhoja Air plane crash and was released on Sunday after initial investigation.

Farooq Bhoja was not arrested. His office was raided and the FIA seized official documents.

Press Release Below:

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    NTSB investigative update on SC GEnx-1B engine failure


    September 27, 2012
    WASHINGTON – This is an update on the NTSB’s investigation into a July 28, 2012 incident involving a Boeing 787-8 airplane that experienced a loss of thrust in the right engine—a General Electric (GE) GEnx-1B turbofan – during a pre-first flight, low-speed taxi test at Charleston International Airport in Charleston, South Carolina. As reported in an earlier update, the investigation found that the forward end of the fan midshaft (FMS) fractured and separated. Examination of other pre-delivery engines revealed a second GEnx-1B engine with a cracked FMS that was installed on a 787-8 airplane that had not yet flown.

    The investigation is ongoing, and an initial inspection of all in-service GEnx engines has been completed. Most recently, on September 11, 2012, a Boeing 747-8F with GE GEnx-2B turbofan engines experienced a loss of power in the No. 1 engine during the takeoff roll at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, China. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is investigating this incident, and the NTSB is participating as the state of design and manufacture of the engine and aircraft. Any investigative updates regarding this incident will be provided by the CAAC.

    As part the CAAC’s investigation and in relation to the NTSB’s ongoing investigation of the July 28th engine failure, preliminary findings from the examination of the Shanghai incident engine revealed that the FMS was intact and showed no indications of cracking. The examination and teardown of that engine is continuing under the direction of the CAAC.

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    OIG: FAA Fulfilled AARA

    ACTION: FAA Fulfilled Most ARRA Requirements in Awarding Airport Grants Federal Aviation Administration Report Number AV-2011-053
    From: JeffreyB.Guzzetti Assistant Inspector General
    for Aviation and Special Program Audits

    February 17, 2011
    JA-10
    Memorandum
    On February 17, 2009, the President signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA),1 designating $1.1 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to invest in Airport Improvement Program (AIP) projects. These funds were intended for airport projects that could achieve several key goals, including investing in transportation infrastructure to provide long-term economic benefits, create jobs, and promote economic recovery. ARRA established tight timeframes for distributing and expending funds and emphasized preference for projects that could be completed in 2 years.

    In August 2009, we issued an advisory to the Office of the Secretary outlining our concerns with FAA’s process for awarding ARRA grants.2 We questioned the economic merit of some lower scoring projects and highlighted several ARRA recipients with grant management problems identified in prior single audit reports.3 Based on these preliminary findings, we initiated this audit to determine the extent to which FAA’s process for awarding ARRA grants complied with ARRA requirements and other associated guidance.4 We conducted this audit from September 2009 through December 2010 in accordance with government

    American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111–5 (2009). OIG Advisory Number AA-2009-003, “FAA’s Process for Awarding ARRA Airport Improvement Program Grants,” August 6, 2009. OIG reports are available on our website: www.oig.dot.gov. Single audit is a mechanism relied upon by Executive Branch agencies to oversee financial compliance and grant 4 assurances. For the purpose of this report, we define “requirements” as a collective term to refer to ARRA statutory requirements, Presidential direction, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and FAA guidance related to ARRA implementation.

    Read the entire PDF here

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    Buffalo: Haunting Questions

    George’s Point of View

    When it is all over, after the crash, after the investigation, after the finger-pointing, after all the intangible blame has been assigned to corporeal cause, and the reproachable have been reproached, it is important to remember that one of the objectives of a crash investigation is prevention.

    Accidents happen. It is a fact of life. Because accidents happen no matter what we do, it is crucial that we do everything possible to reduce their likelihood. When we hear contributing factors of the Buffalo New York crash included that one pilot’s training lacked the procedure of how to handle the particular crisis (how to “respond to a warning system designed to prevent the plane from going into a stall”), and that the co-pilot was sick, we need to look at every factor. We should recognize opportunities to make procedural changes that reduce the accident factor.

    I am sure that inclusion of this training is going to be the most obvious solution.

    Regardless of training, is anyone is considering that sending those pilots flying under the weather conditions of that night is a reckless policy that dumps administrative blame on pilots who can no longer defend themselves, and whose jobs are simply to follow orders?

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    Air France Moving Forward: Obfuscating the Issue and Consumer Politics

    George’s Point of View

    While we are waiting for news of where Air France Flight 447 disappeared to, somewhere in the ocean (and no one can really say with any great specificity anything more specific than somewhere between Rio de Janeiro and Paris France because everywhere they apparently believe it was, they looked, and it wasn’t) Air France is coming out with a report.

    An Air France assessment initiated by Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta in 2009 and performed by an international panel of eight aviation experts dubbed the Independent Safety Review Team is due to be released Jan 24, 2011.

    Its inception was timed, not too surprisingly, six months after the fatal crash, and although officially having nothing to do with the fatal event, its timing alone suggests an optimistic attempt on the part of Air France’s media team to counterbalance the lack of consumer confidence in the airline after they lost a whole plane and 228 lives.

    The report will cover training, technical and flight-safety issues, though the not-too-hidden agenda may be to reflect changes made since the crash of Air France Flight 447, (whose wreckage we all know has still not been located.) The report is a beginning of the “New Transparancy” proposed by Air France. There are people who would like to see that transparency extend to some old news, such as what is going on with the search for the wreckage of the worst accident in French aviation history.

    The last (02:10) ACARS transmission from Flight 477 contained a set of coordinates indicating the location as 2°59?N 30°35?W officially the last known position, (when the twelve warning messages with the same time code indicated autopilot and auto-thrust system had disengaged, TCAS was in fault mode, and flight mode changed from ‘normal law’ to ‘alternate law’) but one wonders if the instrumentation was already in disagreement at that point, i.e. if that location data could be as faulty as the frozen pitot tubes.

    So the report will be out today. The Assessment of Air France training, technical and flight-safety issues is bound to be a big event, but as the media and airline waves these initiatives in the public face, there are a lot of people still staring out to sea, looking for that lost wreckage, who won’t be distracted by any (see-here-look-at-this-news-see-how-much-we-are-improving) sleight of hand.

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    NTSB RELEASES 2009 AVIATION ACCIDENT STATST


    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 8, 2010

    NTSB RELEASES 2009 AVIATION ACCIDENT STATISTICS; ON-DEMAND ACCIDENTS AT LOWEST LEVEL IN LAST 20 YEARS

    Washington, D.C. – The National Transportation Safety Board today released preliminary aviation accident statistics for 2009 showing an overall decrease in U. S. civil aviation accidents that includes general aviation and on-demand Part 135 operations. In fact, on-demand Part 135 operations had the lowest number of accidents and fatal accidents for that type of air operation in the last 2 decades.

    The total number of U.S. civil aviation accidents decreased from 1,658 in 2008 to 1,551 in 2009. Total fatalities also showed a decrease from 566 to 534. The majority of these fatalities occurred in general aviation and scheduled Part 121 operations.

    General aviation accidents decreased from 1,566 in 2008 to 1,474 in 2009. There were 272 fatal general aviation accidents, down from 275 the year before. However, the accident rate increased to 7.20 per 100,000 flight hours in 2009 from 6.86 in 2008, due to the decrease in the number total of flight hours. Although fatalities decreased from 494 to 474, the fatal accident rate increased to from 1.21 to 1.33.

    Last year, one fatal accident occurred involving a scheduled Part 121 operator. On February 12, 2009, a Colgan Air, Inc., Bombardier DHC-8- 400, operating as Continental Connection flight 3407, crashed outside of Buffalo , New York, resulting in 50 fatalities.

    On-demand Part 135 operations reported 47 accidents in 2009, a decrease from 58 in 2008. Fatalities also decreased from 69 in 2008 to 17 in 2009. The accident rate decreased to 1.63 per 100,000 flight hours in 2009 from 1.81 in 2008.

    Tables 1-12 providing additional statistics are available at: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/Stats.htm

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    CASA Media Release – Pilots urged to keep Shoalhaven skies safe

    Shoalhaven pilots are being urged to attend an important air safety workshop next month.

    The workshop will give local pilots special training to improve their flying and safety skills.

    The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is holding the workshop to help make the skies over Nowra and the Shoalhaven even safer.

    Safety issues to be covered at the workshop include aircraft maintenance and new rules for flying at regional aerodromes. There will also be the opportunity for pilots to ask questions and raise issues about local flying.

    CASA’s Peter Gibson says the workshop is part of a national regional air safety campaign.

    “Giving pilots from the Shoalhaven extra training will lift their safety skills to even higher levels,” Mr Gibson says.

    “All pilots receive comprehensive training but this workshop means they will be even better equipped to fly safely at all times and deal with emergencies.

    “Nowra and the Shoalhaven have a good air safety record but accidents do happen and everyone in aviation must work hard to keep local skies safe.”

    The workshop is being held at the Albatross Aero Club Museum Building on Tuesday 1 February 2011, starting at 6:00pm.

    CASA is providing free refreshments for everyone on the night.

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