Air Safety
What: US Airways Bombardier CRJ900 regional jet en route from Edmonton, Canada, to Phoenix, Arizona.
Where: Diverted to Salt Lake City –Salt Lake City International Airport
When: 10:20 am
Who: 86 passengers and three crew members transferred to other flights to Phoenix
Why: Diverted due to a crack in the front windshield.
What: RAAF Hercules during a training flight
Where: near Richmond, north-west of Sydney
When: Monday about 8.25pm (AEST)
Who: No injuries
Why: crew detected a fault with the nose-wheel–an “unusual” fault prompted an emergency landing. At 8.55pm the crew put in a mayday call but landed safely at the Richmond Base 20 minutes later. Subsequently, all 24 of the RAAF’s Hercules planes were grounded
65-year-old Robert Kadera wasn’t drunk on March 1 when he landed his single-engine ski plane onto the seventh fairway at Marriott’s Lincolnshire Resort, but the judge is holding him accountable for the landing because it was deliberate; it was not an emergency landing; it was deliberate effort to keep his son from being late to a tennis lesson.
The only way to hurt big business is through the pocket book. When you hit them there, they eventually come around to doing what is right.
After this California wrongful death lawsuit verdict, my bet is that SDG&E will develop a belated conscience and will install safety devices or ball markers to help prevent this type of disaster.
So we are offering congratulations to the jurors for using their voices; and congratulations to the families. No amount of money is going to bring back those precious four lives, or ever ease the pain of their families, but, at the very least we can hope that the families will have some comfort that a small measure of justice has been served.
Should cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders be required for use in helicopters and light aircraft?
Anyone following the rash of helicopter and light aircraft crash and forced landing reports would agree that greater safety rules should be put in place, as well as greater use of the technology which makes such things safer, as well as tracking causes. More rules and regulations may or may not make these crafts safer. After all, it is still up to the pilot’s judgement and the quality of the craft, as well as craft maintenance. But certainly, because the technology exists to keep track of flight data, it should certainly be required, even if it should be retrofitted.
See the July press release below:
June 30, 2008 >
Contact: Alison Duquette
Phone: (202) 267-3883
Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) operations are unique due to the emergency nature of the mission. In August 2004, the FAA initiated a new government and industry partnership to improve the safety culture at HEMS operators and recommend short-and long-term strategies for reducing accidents. While the FAA has not ruled out proposing new or changing existing rules, the agency has prompted significant short-term safety gains that do not require rulemaking. The FAA’s immediate focus is:
There are approx. 750 emergency medical service helicopters operating today, most of which operate under Part 135 rules. HEMS operators may ferry or reposition helicopters (without passengers/patients) under Part 91.
The number of accidents nearly doubled between the mid-1990s and the HEMS industry’s rapid growth period from 2000 to 2004. There were nine accidents in 1998, compared with 15 in 2004. There were a total of 83 accidents from 1998 through mid-2004. The main causes were controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), inadvertent operation into instrument meteorological conditions and pilot spatial disorientation/lack of situational awareness in night operations. Safety improvements were needed.
The FAA inspects HEMS operators, but is prompting changes beyond inspection and surveillance. Rather, the FAA is moving to a risk-based system that includes the initiatives outlined below which focus on the leading causes of the HEMS accidents.
In March 2006, the FAA and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research hosted a weather summit in Boulder, Colorado to identify the HEMS-specific issues related to weather products and services. Attendees explored possible regulatory improvements, weather product enhancements, and operational fixes specific to HEMS operations. Attendees included the National Weather Service, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Helicopter Association International, American Helicopter Society International, Association of Air Medical Services, National EMS Pilots Association, National Association of Air Medical Communications Specialists, manufacturers, and many operators.
As a result, the FAA funded the development and implementation of a graphical flight planning tool for ceiling and visibility assessment along direct flights in areas with limited available surface observations capability. Its use improves the quality of go/no-go decisions for HEMS operators. The tool was fielded in November 2006. The response from the users continues to be very favorable (Notice 8000.333, HEMS use of the aviation digital data service experimental HEMS tool).
The FAA has a solid record of facilitating safety improvements and new technologies for EMS helicopters, including certification of Night Vision Goggles (NVGs). Since 1994, the FAA has worked 28 projects or design approvals called Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) for installation of NVGs on helicopters. This number includes EMS, law enforcement and other types of helicopter operations. Of the 28 projects, the FAA has approved approx. 15 NVGs STC’s for EMS helicopters. The FAA initiated and wrote (in coordination with RTCA) the minimum standards for NVGs/cockpit lighting.
Technical Standard Order (TSO) C164 was published on September 30, 2004 referencing RTCA document DO 275 Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS), published October 12, 2001. The FAA has hosted workshops to help applicants work with the FAA to obtain NVG certification. One set of NVGs costs approx. $7,000 and an operator must carry multiple sets per flight. Certification is just one step. The operator must also have an FAA-approved training program for using NVGs.
The FAA has revised the NVG guidance in the Operations Inspectors Handbook, Order 8900.1. Produced using considerable industry input, the revision includes the establishment of a cadre of NVG national resource inspectors (Notice 8000.349, Night Vision Imaging Systems).
Flight Data Recorders (FDRs) are not required for HEMS operations. FDRs offer value in any accident investigation by providing information on aircraft system status, flight path and attitude. The weight and cost of FDR systems are factors. Research and development is required to determine the appropriate standards for FDR data and survivability in the helicopter environment, which typically involves substantially lower speeds and altitudes than airplanes. Funds are currently best invested in preventive training.
However, the FAA is studying alternatives to expensive and heavy airliner-style FDRs, especially in light of the relatively low-impact forces in most helicopter accidents. By establishing a standard appropriate to the helicopter flight envelope, the FAA may be able to make meaningful future FDR rulemaking efforts.
The FAA supports the voluntary implementation of Terrain Awareness Warning Systems (TAWS) and did consider the possibility of including rotorcraft in the TAWS rulemaking process. Through this process, however, the FAA concluded that there are a number of issues unique to VFR helicopter operations that must be resolved before the FAA considers mandating the use of TAWS in this area, such as modification of the standards used for these systems. For example, helicopters typically operate at lower altitudes so TAWS could potentially generate false alerts and “nuisance” warnings that could negatively impact the crew’s response to a valid alert. TAWS application to HEMS would require study of TAWS interoperability within the lower altitude HEMS environment, and possibly a modification of TAWS system standards.
At the FAA’s request, RTCA, Inc. established a Special Committee (SC-212) to develop H-TAWS standards for use in future FAA rulemaking projects. The final report was delivered to RTCA in March 2008. Those standards are being reviewed by the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service for the development of an HTAWS technical standards order.
Not only did the flight attendant fire to paper towels in the bathroom because he didn’t want to work that flight, he had done the same thing 5 weeks earlier; and then skipped out on his Federal trial in Fargo, N.D.
Luckily none of the 72 passengers and four crew members (including himself) were injured in the fire.
So now there is a warrant for the arrest of Eder Rojas, 19.
The British Airways Boeing 777 crashed on Jan. 17, 2008, in icy weather with 136 travelers and 16 crew members aboard.
The reason why it crashed is that the flow of fuel to both of the plane’s engines was cut off by ice that accumulated on prior flights in cold air at high altitudes. The plane was flying at minus 29 degrees Fahrenheit over Siberia.
These are the significant just-released details behind the FAA’s move to adopt new safety rules (Pilot procedures and in-flight throttle settings) regarding planes flying in cold weather. Fuel systems might even be changed to adapt to the problem of water (which accumulates in fuel) freezing inside the fuel system.
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
Blame it on better training.
Blame what? The good news that mishaps due to pilots’ poor decision-making declined 71 percent 1983 and 2002.
Thanks to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for doing the research that says that though the overall rate of airline accidents remained stable during that period, the proportion of mishaps involving overall pilot error has decreased 40 per cent.
The study’s lead author, Susan P. Baker says, “A 40 percent decline in pilot error-related mishaps is very impressive. Pilot error has long been considered the most prominent contributor to aviation crashes. Trends indicate that great progress has been made to improve the decision-making of pilots and coordination between the aircraft’s crew members. However, the improvements have not led to an overall decline in mishaps. The increase in mishaps while aircraft are not moving may require special attention.”
Read more about Baker’s study in Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine.
The Tam Air Crash in Sao Paulo has made a top ten disaster list.
#2. Brazil Plane Crash – Aviators call São Paolo’s Congonhas Airport “the aircraft carrier,” because landing on its notoriously short runway, surrounded by densely populated residential areas, is as touchy as trying to put down on the deck of a ship at sea. Though a Brazilian court had banned large jets from the airport in February, citing safety concerns, the ban was later overturned. On July 17, the pilot of TAM Airlines Flight JJ3054, tried to land at Congonhas, but realizing he wouldn’t be able to stop in time on the rain-slicked tarmac, tried to take off again. He failed. The Airbus A320 skidded across a road, smashed into a gas station and then into a building owned by the airline. The ensuing fireball killed all 186 people on the plane and 13 more on the ground, making this the worst air disaster in Brazilian history.
São Paulo-based BRA suspended all operations as it struggles to find financing. Currently Brazil is left with TAM and Gol/Varig, both of which have had their own issues.
Officials of Reali were not immediately available for comment on the crash of the Learjet 35 on Sunday. It was raining at the time, but not badly; the cause of the crash is unknown.
The private jet can carry up to 10 passengers. The first three victims identified were not passengers.
Reali Taxi Aero’s small executive Learjet 35 took off in the rain at 14:10 local from Campo de Marte Airport in Sao Paulo and crashed into a house in the Casa Verde neighborhood half a kilometre from the runway after taking off. Eight people died; the bodies of four men, three women and a baby were found in the plane wreckage.
Three others were rescued, including Claudia Lima Fernandes, 30,who was badly burned, and an 11 year old girl.
Other neighborhood houses had to be evacuated and are being evaluated for safety.
Witnesses said that the jet, which took off from Campo de Marte for Rio de Janeiro, ploughed nose first into the houses when it seemed to attempt a return to the airport.
This was Sao Paulo’s second large air tragedy this year. On July 17, a TAM Airbus crashed while landing at the Congonhas airport, killing 199 people.
São Paulo is known for its large helicopter fleet. Businessmen often fly the vast city by helicopter to avoid traffic and security threats .However last Monday three helicopters crashed in Sao Paulo in two hours.
Three people died. Five days earlier, after having mechanical problems, an air force plane crashed north of Sao Paulo, There were no casualties.
At a press conference Oct 31 in BrasÃlia, Board Chairman Milton Zuanazzi, the last remaining member of ANAC’s former board of directors of the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) announced his resignation from the board.
Zuanazz based his decision on claims that the National Civil Aviation Agency was the “scapegoat†for Brazil’s current air crisis.
He said publicly that he “would not like to work†with Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, a position which is certainly understandable since Jobim has been trying to remove him since July.
He delayed his resignation to the current time to allow Jobim to find new directors. Zuanazzi says that Jobim is not well-informed about Brazil’s aviation system, and classifies some of his proposals as “reckless.” The last straw was Defense Minister Nelson Jobim’s proposal to increase the required distance between airplane seats. Doing so would force carriers to raise fares, Zuanazzi said.
One wonders how raising the distance between airplane seats will increase the safety factor, which is at the root of the whole aviation problem in Brazil.
Zuanazz recommends Civil Aviation Secretary Solange Paiva Vieira to be his replacement.
Fifa, football’s world governing body has awarded the 2014 tournament to Brazil–a brave move, considering that Brazil’s justice ministry has recorded 150 murders per day in Brazil, and the state of Brazil’s aviation industry is less than stellar.
Currently it only takes a brief thunderstorm in Sao Paulo to knock out Brazil’s domestic air system. Congonhas airport must shut during storms, which has a domino effect.
Two major crashes occurred in the past 13 months:
Gol-In September last year- 155 people died when a Boeing 737-800 operated by domestic company Gol collided with an executive jet
Tam-In July,- 187 people were killed when an Airbus A320 overshot the runway at Congonhas.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is quoted as saying “Our aviation system, in spite of the investments we have made in expansion and modernisation, is passing through difficulties.”
An overland journey from Rio de Janeiro to Manaus takes 60 hours on a bus to Belem, followed by several days on a boat down the Amazon river. There is no astrobus.
With July’s fatal crash and a year of turmoil in the Brazilian airline sector, it has been a tough year for Brazil’s TAM Linhas Aéreas. Following months of air traffic controller strikes, airport delays and flight cancellations, one of Tam’s Airbus A320s overran the runway at São Paulo Congonhas airport in a catastrophe that claimed 199 lives.
TAM president Marco Antonio Bologna has been feeling the brunt of Brazil’s favorite blame game: “who is responsible?” Bologna is reluctant to discuss the accident other than to describe the measures taken by TAM to assist the victims’ families.
What did cause the crash?
Brazil’s aviation industry continues on in a climate of fear and mistrust.
Brazil’s air traffic control problem did not begin in July when a TAM Linhas Aereas SA Airbus crashed into a warehouse in Sao Paulo, killing 199 people. There was another crash the year before, a crash which led to a criminal investigation.
The criminal investigation relates to this event: the mid-air collision between a GOL Boeing 737-800 and an Embraer Legacy executive jet last year The Boeing crashed into the Amazon jungle, killing all 154 people onboard. The business jet landed safely.
The International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations claims that “The bottom line is they’ve got the cart in front of the horse on this. If they’re serious about improving air safety in Brazil, they’ve got to wait for the (technical) report and swiftly apply any recommendations made by it.”
IFALPA is asking the Brazilian government to suspend the legislative inquiry and the Justice Ministry to adjourn criminal proceedings.”
Joseph Lepore of Bay Shore, New York, and Jan Paladino of Westhampton Beach, New York are the Legacy’s two American pilots. Additionally four Brazilian controllers face charges in the criminal case in connection with the accident.
The probe by Brazil’s air accident investigation body has yet to publish its findings.
The pilots’ association claims that “A Federal Police investigation running in parallel with the independent accident investigation … risks obscuring the benefits of a proper investigation.” The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers also criticizes the police probe.
U.S. and Brazilian officials say the Legacy’s transponder and its collision-avoidance system were not functioning at the time of the crash, and that this went unnoticed by its American pilots. However, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration warns that pilots flying Embraer Legacy executive jets can accidentally switch off the transponder when placing their feet on a footrest under the instrument panel. The pilot’s left shoe can touch the switch controlling both instruments and accidentally switch them into “standby” mode.
According to Brazil’s Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, critics are “playing politics” when they disparage the state of Brazil’s aviation industry, in which occured in the past year, the crash of a Gol jetliner over the Amazon in which 154 people died, and July’s disaster when an Airbus crashed into a warehouse in Sao Paulo killing 199 people.
Nevertheless, during a seminar in the United States, the President of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers, Marc Baumgartner criticized the Brazilian Air Force which oversees Brazil’s air traffic control system for trying to punish the controllers. “The Brazilian Air Force invested lots of energy to arrest and prosecute its own workers but none to fix its (air traffic control) system.” He also said that “it’s a question of time before a new air accident happens again in Brazil.”
So far, a military court has declined to indict five Brazilian air traffic controllers for the GOL crash. Two American pilots face charges in a civilian criminal court in connection with the same crash. A Congressional commission report supports the indictment of pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino.
Just before TAM Airlines Flight 3054 skidded off a runway and exploded as it slammed into a building, pilots screamed, “Slow down!†and “Turn, turn, turn!†as recorded by flight recorder transcripts disclosed Wednesday.
If the congressional commission investigating air safety find that mechanical failure or pilot error contributed to the accident in São Paulo, that conclusion would take some heat off a government widely blamed for failing to improve the challenging runway. Pilots worldwide liken landing on it to landing on an aircraft carrier.
According to the tapes, pilots were unable to activate the spoilers, aerodynamic brakes on the Airbus A320’s wings, as they touched down on the short, rain-slicked runway at Congonhas airport, according to the transcripts.
The pilot, Kleyber Lima, 54, said “Only one reverser — spoiler nothing,†in the transcript, the first indication that something was wrong. The co-pilot, Henrique Stephanini Di Sacco, 54, says: “Look at that. Slow down, slow down.†Mr. Lima replies: “I can’t. I can’t. Oh my God! Oh my God!†Mr. Di Sacco’s last words are: “Go! Go! Turn! Turn! Turn!â€
The recording ends with screams and a woman’s voice, followed by an explosion.
The July 17 crash killed all 187 people aboard the jetliner and 12 people on the ground.
One of the two thrust reversers used to slow planes during landings, was inoperative. The airport’s runway is so short that pilots are warned to abort landings if they make any errors while touching down. TAM’s press office declined comment until the investigation is finished.
Airbus spokeswoman, Barbara Kracht, said the aircraft manufacturer could not comment on the investigation, citing international aviation rules.
Defense Minister Nelson Jobim announced plans to for an escape area at the end of the notorious Congonhas runway and limits on operations in wet conditions.
Proposed rules would restrict destinations to a 620-mile radius of the Congonhas airport; it would also bar connecting flights
Plans include limiting the number of passengers, and restricting takeoffs/landings to 33 hourly, and cutting passenger capacity from 5,100 per hour to 4,700.
Operations at Brazil’s busiest airport were reviewed after an airliner ran off the runway and crashed into a building on July 17, the deadliest air accident in the country’s history. The 620-mile limit would eliminate tourist destinations in the northeast. One wonders if they are deliberately targeting the American market.
For Immediate Release
Sept 20, 2007
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Brazil’s civil aviation regulator proposed restricting flights at the nation’s busiest airport on Thursday, hoping to improve safety at the site of the nation’s deadliest plane crash.
The rules proposed by the Civil Aviation Authority would restrict destinations to a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) radius of the Congonhas airport and would bar connecting flights from the airport.
The Defense Ministry will now assess the report, and Defense Minister Nelson Jobim announced separately that authorities will decide within one month the precise location for construction of a third runway at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport.
Guarulhos handled mostly international flights before the July 17 crash at Congonhas, but many domestic flights were transferred there after the crash, prompting officials to revive a long dormant plan for the extra runway.
As many as 5,000 families living near Guarulhos may have to be relocated to make way for the runway, depending on the location selected, Brazil’s Agencia Estado news service said.
The proposals grow out of a review of operations at Congonhas following the crash in which a TAM airliner ran off the runway and slammed into a building two months ago, killing 199 people.
Officials have not determined a cause, but many experts have said that Congonhas’ main runway is too short and that the airport _ Brazil’s busiest _ handles far too many flights.
The 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) limit would let airlines fly to key destinations such as Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and cities in southern Brazil, but not to tourist destinations in the northeast.
TAM Linhas Aeras SA and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes _ Brazil’s two largest airlines _ previously used Congonhas as a major hub, but are now reorganizing operations.
The regulators also proposed limiting the number of passengers aboard flights, and restricting takeoffs and landings to 33 per hour at Congonhas, cutting overall passenger capacity at the airport to 4,700 per hour from 5,100 per hour.
Jobim, whose ministry oversees Brazilian civil aviation, earlier announced plans to for an escape area at the end of the runway and limits on operations in wet conditions.
Brazilian officials have yet to agree on exactly what caused a TAM airliner to skid off the rain-slicked runway at Congonhas on July 17, killing all 187 aboard and 12 on the ground. Critics claim the runway is too short and lacks grooves to prevent skidding during wet weather.
Mountains increase the risks at airports in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Quito, Ecuador.
Birds pose problems at airports in Panama City; Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Barranquilla, Colombia. A single bird sucked into an engine can down a plane.
Six hundred vultures have closed Barranquilla’s airport for two hours daily since June 19, Illegal dumping by squatters around the airport attracts the birds.
Peter Cerda, a Miami-based specialist in air safety said, ”We don’t have any airport in the region that we consider to be unsafe, including Congonhas,”
Mexico City already has modernized approach and departure procedures, allowing airliners to shave a few minutes off flights, and it is getting a new terminal later this year that will increase gates from 33 to 59. But air traffic there will remain congested because the airport’s two runways are too close together to permit simultaneous use.
A similar plan in Brazil has yet to get under way.
Interested in more about the Airbus? Airbus Flight Crew Training Manual.pdf
Three ANAC directors ( Denise Abreu, Jorge Luiz Veloso and Leur Lomanto) have resigned, leading ANAC ( Brazil’s National Civil Aeronautics Agency) to claim that the country’s aeronautic crisis has been overcome–a political move laying the blame of the entire system on the heads of three individuals.
President Lula told local radio that “problems still exist at the airports.” Statistics show that 11 percent of flights, 20 percent of which were canceled, were delayed during the holidays on Independence Day.
ANAC claims that problems began in Sept. 2006, when a GOL plane crashed in Mato Gross, killing 154, but the problem stems from a much earlier budget cut. The air disaster merely drew attention to the growing problem. The underfunded Brazilian air system has suffered from cutbacks and lowered standards across the board. Planes have been out of service for maintenance, and the airline Varig stopped flying.
When overworked traffic controllers stated their demands, a group of them was transferred from Air Defense to Civil Aviation.
After the TAM plane crash in July, killing 200 people, the Congonhas runway (known for its abbreviated length) in Sao Paulo was closed for resurfacing.
Replacements for Denise Abreu, Jorge Luiz Veloso and Leur Lomanto, have not been selected.
