Editorial

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    Will Boeing Switch to Electrical Inquiry?


    Here’s what is bothering me:

    It’s no secret how planes are tested before they are released, to the very extreme so how did this electrical problem issue by the testing? Is my favorite plane manufacturer taking short cuts in quality control?

    The Japan Boeing 787 Dreamliner was delivered on Dec. 20 and had only flown 169 flight hours and 22 flights when one of its two lithium ion batteries caught fire.

    Is the investigation going to turn from the battery to the problem referenced by the whistleblower?

    Battery found not at fault by Safety Investigators in JAPAN

    But is GS Yuasa really off the hook?

    Battery questions:

    • If the battery was too hot, why didn’t it burn up on hours 1-169?
    • If the battery failed, what caused it to catch fire on the 22nd flight? Why that flight?
    • If the battery (which is a backup system replacing post flight hydraulics) only operates on the ground and is only engaged on the ground, why are flights grounded? If the battery is only at use on the ground, is it an actual flight risk or a post-flight risk?
    • Is the solution going to be simply going to the other type of lithium ion battery (nickel metal-hydride technology), or will components or the whole system be replaced?
    • Was this simply a GS Yuasa quality control failure, a batch of bad batteries manufactured by GS Yuasa of Japan in September 2012?

    The entire 787 fleet is grounded. Replacing the battery system might be a “quick” fix but certification could last a year.

    A large format battery can generate heat faster than it dissipates.

    Is venting the battery and monitoring the vents a viable temporary solution that could keep the planes in the air until a system alternative has been certified within the year?

    The current batteries are “prone to spontaneous combustion due to ‘organic electrolyte which makes it volatile and flammable.'”

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    Thoughts about the Boeing Battery

    It’s no surprise that the FAA has no crystal ball and can’t tell us when the 787 is flying again.

    Is Boeing going to switch out Battery systems? Are they wasting time trying to qualify the problematic lithium-ion system they have when they could switch to a different technology? Is it cost prohibitive to switch systems temporarily while Boeing works the kinks out of a system they seem to want to keep?

    Cessna confirms that it intends to requalify lithium-ion batteries. It means that they are going to keep using them–but we do agree with their determination to REQUALIFY them. Let us not forget that Cessna issued an emergency recall of the CJ4+ Citation Jet lithium-ion batteries when they suffered a fire in late 2011. Their airworthiness directive required CJ4+ operators to replace the lithium-ion batteries within 10 flight hours. The company that produced the Cessna batteries, A123 Systems, went out of business. Maybe Cessna should go talk to Boeing about their findings.

    The investigation of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery that caught fire in Boston is that two things have been found:

    thermal runaway (a cycle where temperature goes up causing it to go up more) If the electrolyte catches on fire it can self-sustain.

    short-circuit (unintended contact of components and consequent accidental diversion of the current)

    The Boston event battery suffered both.

    Now the question is which one is the chicken, and which one is the egg. Which came first? And they still haven’t figured out why. And did both failed batteries come from the same batch of batteries?

    The lithium cobalt oxide battery chemistry Boeing uses is considered less safe than lithium manganese oxide and lithium iron phosphate chemistry.

    Was the whole battery system a mistake? It was, according to whistleblower Michael Leon who we mentioned in Battery Buzz wrote a report (2006) saying that the battery technology was risky and that substitute battery technology should be used on the 787.

    Now the NTSB is going to point fingers at the FAA for certifying what may be a problem.

    Video

    And video from the whistleblower:

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    Questioning Compliance and Public “solutions”

    I’m not an expert but there are aspects to this Lithium Ion battery story which concern me. I completely understand why these planes are grounded as this battery situation is examined, and applaud that solutions are being considered even as I write this. I cannot help but wonder what the actual time-frame will be. When I start wondering, I start asking —and quoting—the experts available to me and my company.

    The FAA maintains a database of Service Difficulty Reports (SDR’s) for US Registered airlines. There’s a long ignominious history recorded of fire and smoke events previously examined by the FAA in the unique category that the fires are hidden, i.e. in locations inaccessible or unknown to crew: mundane items the public never heard of–such as the built-in Halon 1301 trash receptacle extinguishers that failed to extinguish trash fires– were found and fixed or replaced. Battery ground cables have been known to arc (Northwest Airlines DC-10, March 1988), insulation blankets to burn (April of 1988, a Continental 737), overheated fluorescent light ballasts smoked (115 incidents way back in 1991).

    Here’s an example of why I am concerned:
    At least twenty-nine fires have been identified as being ignited by electrical short circuits in/from flammable acoustic blankets. One of these flammable circuit types that was identified back in a 1991 report is permitted in Boeing products until 2016.

    When the solution to the battery problem is determined, what time frame will the Airworthiness Directives require? Will compliance be to exchange, replace or modify the battery system or to put it off till later? ADs are issued with overly generous compliance times in years.

    Will a temporary measure be taken along with a compliance date set years from now?

    Regardless of whether the bottom-line business of aviation is wrestling with the expense of safety, a dicey potential fire starter component is a problem that should be addressed.

    If the Dreamliner is going to be in service for the next 40 years, an issue causing a component to cause a fire should not be covered with 40 years of bandaids. It should be fixed now.

  • One Flyer’s Opinion on lithium ion batteries

    Airbus is planning on using the same lithium ion batteries the A350 as the Dreamliner is using (remember those batteries that have gotten Boeing in hot water?) but they’re not changing anything.

    At Airbus’s annual commercial results presentation Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier said “we are confident our design is robust” and “don’t see any reason to change.”

    Apparently the billions in extra costs that Airbus has racked up has been due to everything but the batteries.

    Personally, I don’t know, and I don’t care. At least, I only care in so much as the planes can fly, and are safe safe safe. The competition is great as long as it makes the planes safer. NOT so great when competition pushes these aircraft giants start cut cut cutting edges so they can cut costs so they can secure bragging rights.

    If some additional testing needs to be done on the A350 due to lithium ion batteries, DO THE TESTS. Better safe than sorry. When your planes crash or burn and kill people, you can’t give back their lives.

    Can we please stop measuring our belts boys, and concentrate on safety? That’s what we frequent fliers want most of all.

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    The NTSB Sends Two Alerts on the 787 Post Flight Fire in Boston

    First, it does appear that there were two different 787 events at Logan. One was a fire that came about due to overheating and explosion of a battery in a lower bay. Both of the reports below refer to the same event, which grounded the plane. The second event was either a fuel leak or overfueling, which only delayed and did not cancel a different flight four hours while the problem was fixed.

    My criticism is that it APPEARS we are moving too quickly because what is surfacing are minor events that could lead to major events. A battery fire could cause a plane crash, especially on a transatlantic flight. I would like to feel confident that Boeing will easily handle any battery or electrical problem as one of those new plane new plane glitches that one might consider teething. And if this problem “dogs” Boeing shares (as one headline indicates), then better that it dog shares than kill 400 people.

    Here are the NTSB press releases regarding the Dreamliner Battery Fire. The first one…

    NTSB INVESTIGATORS LOOKING INTO BOEING 787 SMOKE EVENT IN BOSTON

    Jan. 7, 2013
    WASHINGTON– Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are gathering information regarding reports of smoke aboard a Boeing 787 at Boston’s Logan Airport today.

    The Japan Airlines 787 was on the ground and empty of passengers at the time of the incident.

    The NTSB has dispatched an investigator to Boston. Based on a review of the factual information gathered, the NTSB will determine the extent of its investigation.

    and the second one…

    NTSB PROVIDES INVESTIGATIVE UPDATE ON BOEING 787 FIRE INCIDENT IN BOSTON

    Jan. 8, 2013
    WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board today released an update on its formal investigation of Monday’s fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 at Logan International Airport in Boston. There were no passengers or crew on board at the time. One firefighter received minor injuries.

    In addition to an investigator already on scene who visually inspected the airplane last night, the NTSB has sent two additional investigators to Boston and formed investigative groups to look at airworthiness and fire and airport emergency response. Senior Air Safety Investigator David Helson has been designated as the investigator-in-charge.

    Parties to the investigation are the Federal Aviation Administration and The Boeing Company. In addition, the Japan Transport Safety Board has appointed an accredited representative and Japan Airlines will assist the JTSB as technical advisors.

    Initial investigative findings include:

    • The NTSB investigator on scene found that the auxiliary power unit battery had severe fire damage. Thermal damage to the surrounding structure and components is confined to the area immediately near the APU battery rack (within about 20 inches) in the aft electronics bay.

    • Preliminary reports from Japan Airlines representatives indicate that airplane maintenance and cleaning personnel were on the airplane with the APU in operation just prior to the detection of smoke in the cabin and that Boston Logan Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting were contacted.

    • Rescue and fire personnel and equipment responded to the airplane and detected a fire in the electronics and equipment bay near the APU battery box. Initial reports indicate that the fire was extinguished about 40 minutes after arrival of the first rescue and fire personnel. One firefighter received minor injuries.

    Here is the 2nd NTSB Press Release:

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    Boeing 787 Smokes Battery in Boston


    On January 7, 2013, a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner Japan-Boston had already landed in Boston, and all 184 passengers had safely disembarked when smoke filled the cabin.

    A fire was found in a battery aboard the plane. Boston Firefighters arrived at 10:40 a.m. and put out the fire.

    Passengers were provided alternative transportation and overnight accommodations.

    Electrical issues in the avionics bay where the battery is located are a known issue in this type of plane, which uses electrical motors instead of hydraulics in certain areas. The auxiliary battery in the compartment kicks in after the engine kicks off. That’s what happened on test flights, and from what I have heard, that is what happened here.

    In George’s Point of View

    Let’s slow down with this great plane. Let’s get the kinks out of it before we put humans on too many of these Dreamliners. Let them stay Dreamliner and not become Nightmareliners. United is starting service but are these planes really ready? There have been engine problems and some spooky events. We don’t read too much about them, but I know they have occurred. I love this plane, I want to fly all over the world in it, and if I live long enough, I will, but, is it ready?

    According to the NTSB report below, the NTSB seems to agree with me that incidents like this warrant investigation.

    Press Release
    WASHINGTON– Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are gathering information regarding reports of smoke aboard a Boeing 787 at Boston’s Logan Airport today.

    The Japan Airlines 787 was on the ground and empty of passengers at the time of the incident.

    The NTSB has dispatched an investigator to Boston. Based on a review of the factual information gathered, the NTSB will determine the extent of its investigation.
    Video Below

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    Dana Air Returns to the Sky


    Dana Air is returning to “service” six months after killing 153 in the notorious crash on Sunday, 3 June 2012. Dana Air Flight 992 crashed into two Lagos buildings. Poor maintenance and bad aviation safety practices led that Dana Air MD-83 to a dual engine failure that killed 153 aboard, 10 on the ground and caused many other injuries (on the ground.)

    We might ask why Dana Air is returning to so-called service when it had the highest number of aviation fatalities in 2012 and the world’s highest McDonnell Douglas MD-83 death toll.

    Should they really be offering flights when they have not explained away the cause of the Dana Air Crash? Perhaps they will keep flying until their remaining five McDonnell Douglas MD-83 have crashed, people grow more sense than to choose Dana Air on flights between Lagos and Abuja or LENDERS and LEASEHOLDERS choose to write better safety controls in their contracts.

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    @JetBlue #LoveforNoah Lights the World

    Too fast for Sunday delivery of USPS, UPS or Fed Ex.

    If you ask Victoria Haller which is the better airline, she’ll tell you it is JetBlue. That’s because she’s the aunt of Noah Pozner, one of the victims of the massacre in Newtown Connecticut; and when a friend tweeted airlines asking if one could get family letters to Connecticut in time for Noah’s funeral so family letters (including that of Victoria’s five year old son) could be buried with his cousin Noah, JetBlue stepped up. Jetblue called back and made it happen. The letters went from Aunt Victoria to JetBlue flight attendant Craig M. to flight attendants Trisha and Heather.

    The letters made it from Seattle to Connecticut in time for the 1 p.m. funeral.

    All of this was tracked on Twitter (search the hashtag #LoveforNoah), Huffington Post, MSN, UPN, Jspace, etc…

    It does the world good to hear of your kindness. When someone takes an extra step, goes beyond, it reminds us that businesses are not made of steel and ink and the bottom line; they are built of human beings. We are all human, and sometimes we are all we have. JetBlue is an example to us all. A simple act of kindness. A light in the darkness. Thank you.

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    ATR De-Icing


    Ice is the friend of no plane.

    But there was no excuse for the icing problem on the UTAir flight that we are calling the Tyumen crash.

    On that flight, both Pratt & Whitney Canada PW124 engines were operating till impact. The plane reached 690 feet and banked 35 degrees to the right, then rolled left banking at 50 degrees, demonstrating instability in the roll axis. Why? Ice.

    The ATR 72 had a decent safety record until the 1993 icing incident that caused a fatal crash. This problem was handled by Avions de Transport Regional, the planes designers, by adapting the icing characteristics of the aircraft. They added icing boot extensions to the wing leading edges. (A deicing boot is a ice protection system installed on aircraft surfaces to permit a mechanical deicing in flight.)

    The UTAIr 72 was not de-iced at Tyumen before the fatal flight. There’s not much benefit to adding a safety feature if it is ignored.

    The ATR 72-210 is equipped with PW 127 engines with a maximum certified takeoff rating of 2750 SHP, and a normal power rating of 2475 SHP. The ATR 72 employs a four bladed propeller. The engine has a reduction gearbox assembly . Because the ATR 72-210 is “stretched” ( much longer than the 42s) ATR 42 pilots are warned about taking off an ATR 72 with too excessive a takeoff pitch angle, which would cause the tail would strike the runway. The ATR 72 has a maximum takeoff weight of 47,465 lbs., and carries 11,020 lbs. of fuel. The engine noise and vibration from the props can get uncomfortable.

    Most pilots would not need to be reminded that de-icing is essential when the conditions for ice are likely.

    The NTSB has investigated fifty icing accidents and 202 fatalities from 1998 to 2007. We might be able to conjecture that at least some of these incidents would not have happened if the planes had been properly de-iced to begin with, though for some this is too simplistic an assumption.

    There were fatal consequences to ATRs which ignored de-icing as demonstrated by the UTair ATR 72 that crashed after taking off from Tyumen in Siberia, killing 31 and mangling 12.

    After the disaster, UTAir said that all UTAir planes would henceforth have mandatory de-icing, a change from allowing the pilot to decide whether or not to deice.

    Icing has also been determined as the as cause of two earlier fatal ATR 72 crashes:

    • -Aerocaribbean Flight 883 crashed near Sancti Spiritus November 2010 killing 68 when the plane encountered extreme meteorological conditions that caused it to ice up at 6,100 meters.
    • -American Eagle Flight 4184 crashed killing 68 when in a holding pattern over Chicago encountering a supercooled cloud and rain causing ice which had built up on the wings.

    Icing can take place in a temperature band from minus 12 to plus 4 Celsius.

    We have seen a dozen ATR 72 accidents caused by other events:

    • July 2011-The Eurolot ATR 72 collided with a baggage truck in Warszawa-Frédéric Chopin Airport in Poland.
    • Nov 2009-The Kingfisher ATR 72 skidded off the runway on landing at Mumbai-Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in India.
    • August 2009-The Bangkok Airways ATR 72 that skidded off the runway and struck the Koh Samui Airport ATC tower in Thailand.
    • Feb 2008-The Air Bagan ATR 72 that skidded off the runway on takeoff from Putao Airport in Myanmar.
    • July 2007-The Jet Airways ATR 72 made a heavy landing before the mid-point of the runway and bounced a couple of times before going off the runway at Indore Airport, India.
    • March 2006-The Air Deccan ATR 72 that made a landing at Bangalore Airport that was so hard, the new plane had to be sold as spare parts.
    • Aug 2005-The Tuninter ATR 72 ran out of fuel, both engines quit and the plane ditched in the sea killing 16.
    • March 2004-The American Eagle ATR 72 that made a bounced landing before skidded off the runway injuring 13 while landing at Luis Munoz International Airport, Puerto Rico.
    • Dec 2002-The Transasia Airways cargo flight that crashed into the ocean killing 2 crew.
    • Jan 1995-The cargo ATR 72 that crashed in Taiwan killing 4 crew.
    • Dec 1994-The Air Gabon ATR 72 skidded off the runway and struck trees while landing at Oyem Airport.
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    Foreign Airliner Leasing & Financing Un-Deserving Operators

    Arik Air Ltd., and Aero Contractors Co. of Nigeria Ltd., Nigeria’s top two airlines, have been banned from getting loans by Nigeria’s Central Bank due to the massive debt they have accrued. Arik Air owes Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria more than $534 million. Aero Contractors owes more than $203 million. A bank that loans money to these airlines will face “serious fines from the government.” Air Nigeria recently collapsed owing crew a debt of four months’ pay, in addition to $175 million in loans to Nicon Investments Ltd..

    Only three Nigerian airlines remain in operation. Arik Air has not published a date when it will resume flying.

    Officially, according to the BBC, the carrier resumed domestic flights on Sunday Sept 24. However we did get anonymous input from Monrovia that as of Saturday, Sept 22nd, Arik Air was flying.

    In George’s Point of View

    Before making a loan, banks need to look past the uncertainties in airline survival, aircraft value, interest rates and the airline’s credit worthiness.

    This is what the aircraft leasing companies should do:

    Stop leasing planes to operators that are careless in their maintenance and pilot training.

    Leasing companies should not look only at credit worthiness. Yes, that is one factor, but it is only part of the picture. Leasing companies must also make judgements based on the history of the airline operator performance, and maintenance.

    If credit and performance history all checks out, the oversight is not over. The leasing company should monitor every single plane they have leased out to foreign operators.

    If monitoring reveals any problems whatsoever, that pilots are not being trained, that they are not getting enough sleep, that the operator or aircraft goes on a black list, that the operator is shown to be negligent in any way, then the lessor should endeavor immediately to pickup/repossess that plane.

    Maintaining every aspect of the plane’s maintenance, flight operations, crew resource management, and crew training is as crucial to the contract agreement as payments. Failure to keep everything up to date is as much a breach of contract and cause for action as is failure to pay.

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    TAM 2012

    Let me give you a little history. On July 17 2007, five years ago, a Tam Airbus failed its landing at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport and stole a hundred and ninety-nine lives. There were 199 families crushed by this disaster, families crushed but not broken; who were shattered, but not weakened; who were reduced in number but not heart. They were typical families—just mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. One day they had been just like you and me, going about their daily lives and then on July 17, 2007, their lives were permanently disrupted.  They were ordinary families, and they responded in a way that plane crash victim’s families sometimes do, and that is join a group. Something in the chemistry of the group made them extraordinary.  Where alone, they were shattered, together, they were mended; where they were once weakened, together they were powerful. They bonded with each other. It is not that these bonds in any way replaced those who were lost.  It is simply that their complex shared feelings of loss, grief and anger united them, made them siblings in a kindred battle; recalibrated their lives; recast them in new roles that would allow them to band together to form a fellowship of righteousness. Their kinship was born of innocent blood spilled by carelessness and negligence gave them the right and responsibility and ability to fight carelessness and negligence in aviation. The alliance gave…gives them strength to reform —and keep reforming—aviation in Brazil.

    In 2007, I interviewed the families of Tam Flight 3054, came to know all of them. I did more than hear and document their stories and learn their pain. I came to know and respect them as individuals. Their case in court ultimately triumphed; but they did not rest on their laurels.  My experience with Tam Flight 3054 was how I cam to know the group. ABRAPAVAA has continued to fight for the victims of air accidents. I have never lost contact with them.

    So, although I am currently abroad working on the case of a crash that occurred off the southern coast of Africa, I was not surprised to find an email from the president of ABRAPAVAA. Sandra, President of the Brazilian Association of Relatives and Friends of Victims of Air Accidents herself lost her husband in a 1994 accident that killed 99.


    The Brazilian group continues to be a watchdog over Brazilian aviation.  Sandra wrote me over a matter of concern that Tam is again putting passengers at risk. Tam and Chile’s LAN Airlines merged to form LATAM Airlines Group; TAM Linhas Aéreas completed the merger on June 22. The merger forms the largest airline in Brazil. Though it is under new ownership, it seems to be repeating an old story of poor maintenance. 

    ABRAPAVAA is worried about the lack of maintenance, the risk that passengers are exposed to on every flight (lack of maintenance, ongoing unrepaired vibration problems, casual rather than immediate repairs of bird strike damage) and what makes this worse is that many of these problems are not officially reported but merely passed on word of mouth. When the flight crew just mentions problems to the mechanics, where is the paper trail? Where are the checks? Where are the failsafes? 

    ABRAPAVAA fears that ignoring LATAM problems will lead to more fatal events. They wish to be proactive and find a way to get ANAC (Brazils oversight agency) to be on the alert, and monitor LATAM’s critical maintenance situations, but ANAC seems to be closing their eyes to the whole issue.  

    To take no initiative will result in loss of life. What can be done?  That is a good question.

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    Dana Air: Pursuit of the Public Good

    Look in a courtroom and you will see that the trajectory of a case is not a straight line, but rather, one that bounces back and forth between the actions of the interested parties. It is not unlike a game of tennis, except that the ball of justice does not bounce back and forth but rather is angled inexorably toward justice (or injustice) rather than gravity.

    Nowhere is this more true than in the Dana Air case. Some people question why the suspension of Dana Air’s operating license has been lifted. The airline has begun the re-certification process.

    The court may well be in pursuit of justice; but the specifics of the accident and the disposition of the interests of the victims and the offended families should not be waylaid by a false move, a wrong move, a defensive move by interested (or disinterested parties.) This is not a chess match. A case with so many powerful parties involved may play deep in strategies, but we should never forget, it is not a game. The lawsuit is all too real—as real as the thoughtless and preventable annihilation of one hundred and fifty-nine souls. These people need not have died. But they did.

    The court may well be in pursuit of justice; but the Dana Air case is more than an opportunity to escape through, manipulate, reveal or sew up loopholes. Laws exist for the purpose of establishing justice. We should not sit quietly as law is manipulated in the court or government’s own interest. The failure of law is a dam that blocks the flow of social progress. It is a double tragedy when the legal minds involved in a case pursue the escape route of loopholes in the name of self-interest rather than keeping the high purpose of seeking justice for the victims.

    These truths are evident:

    Dana Airline must operate professionally and within the highest safety parameters or it should not fly at all.

    The victims and the families need full disclosure.

    The growth and development of the workings of Nigerian investigation, legal proceedings, allocations of rights and responsibilities must continue, must improve, must be refined; but in the course of that development, the court must not ever lose sight of its responsibility to find justice for people who died simply because they bought airline tickets, or were in exactly the wrong place when a plane fell fro the sky.

    I have not sat in the courtroom and heard every day the words of Captain Dele Ore. I do not know how valid is the coroner’s inquest. I only know that it is a judicial miscarriage for the court to permit the victim’s justice to be hijacked by mistakes in law, governmental evasion of responsibility, flawed forensics, loopholes, legal trickery or even those with a higher purpose of closing the loopholes for future cases. It can never be forgotten that lives were lost that should not have been. Irreparable damage has been done to individuals and families. The intent of the case is not to try the system (though indeed every case does try the system) but rather to find justice for the injured parties.

  • A Question about Automated Flight-It’s all in the Touch

    Back in the days, cars all had manual transmissions. Fast forward through technology and voila, automated transmissions. Like Airbuses and Boeings, the degree of automation—the amount of kick in the stick—affects how one drives. The steering sensitivity of the Aston Martin DB9 varies from the Ford Focus which varies from the Maserati GranTurismo, and on and on.

    Is the car operating with a manual transmission, souped up power steering or somewhere in between? If you drive a car, you know the answer by feel. It is through touch, experience and handling that car that you learn how it stops and starts, how it corners, how it takes a hill, or if it is sputtering under pressure and why. The vehicle is unique. Your hands on operation informs you, deliberates with you, engages your senses as part of a machine so you know its paces–the height and depth and breadth it will reach. But even in a car you know backwards and forwards, if you’re on the road with the autopilot on, distant, not communinicating, letting the machine turn over on its own, when you take control again, it can take a measurable length of time for your response to kick in from passive to active. And that’s just braking on a highway.

    I believe that stands true for a lot of our daily gizmos.

    I believe this autopilot/manual distance between car and driver stands true for plane and pilot.

    Take the infamous Air France Flight 447, when the Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, lost in international waters, and eventually after Herculean effort, found. The ill-trained pilots lost track of what was going on, exacerbating what should have been a minor hiccup into disaster. We know there was an investigation, and hopefully it is still ongoing. I really hope it is ongoing because problems are ongoing. In July, an Air France Bordeaux to Paris flight in July nearly stalled. The near stall makes me wonder about Air France pilots, maybe all post eighties pilots. I’ll let pilots talk about the details of the stall, if they want to discuss it; but I am trying to focus on the bigger picture.

    My pilots tell me that these days, their primary cockpit activity is monitoring instrumentation.

    I would postulate that drivers drive hands-on, and so should pilots. Flying requires reflexes. Too much automation insulates the pilot from developing and practicing “pilotry”. We all know that sports stars become the best in their field because of the doctrine of practice practice practice makes perfect perfect perfect. But pilots do a lot of sitting back and monitoring when they could be practicing.

    Are pilots losing touch? Is there a wholesale lack of connection between plane and pilot caused by automation?

    I fear passive monitoring rather than active flying is guilty of dulling the reflexes which make a pilot a superstar. Are all pilots actually learning how to fly? or just how to monitor?

    Is there a solution? You tell me.

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    Remembering Air Blue Flight 202

    used
    On July 28, 2010, families waited for their loved ones at Benazir Bhutto International Airport. An accident happened, and they never disembarked. That was the day exactly two years ago that 152 people aboard Air Blue flight 202 lost their lives crashing into the Margalla Hills.

    There is not much good that can be said of a tragedy like this. The memory is burned like a brand into the hearts of family members, beginning a nightmare of chaos and confusion, of grief and shock that never ends. Some of the families learned right away, might even have heard the impact, saw the smoke, heard the crash. Some of the families were waiting at home, and learned later of their loss. All of them waited for loved ones who would never come home again. Some of them feel like they are still waiting, still listening for a footstep they will never hear again.

    They may have heard that the plane had made 13,500 flights. They might have asked themselves why was it not 13,501 flights? Why not 13,499? If the plane had made one more or one fewer flight, their loved ones would not have been aboard. They have asked themselves a thousand questions, wondering what happened in the cockpit, and why. They may have learned terms like CRM (cockpit resource management), which is a way the flight crew is trained to communicate more effectively amongst themselves, leading to better outcomes. The CRM aboard flight 202 was not what it should have been.

    They have found that official reports say how something happened. But they do not answer the questions in a human soul asking why their beloved——father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, child——had to die.

    Now that two years have passed, the families have had two years to accustom themselves to their loss. Two years seems so long, and yet it is hardly time enough to process a loss that is forever. And while it is true that the accident is the beginning of a tragedy that has no ending, the nightmare does fade.

    But this is what I have learned, after seeing so many tragic accidents. It takes time. In the beginning, the families make it through one day at a time. Time helps to ease the pain, and allows family members again learn to feel the sun, and not feel guilty for it; it takes time to learn the survival skill of illuminating the dark with sweet memories without feeling the grief; it takes time to find beauty in the world again. It takes time to relearn how to laugh, and not feel guilty for laughing.

    This is the job of the survivors. To continue. To live on. We grow stronger every day. When it comes down to it, we are all survivors. Maybe we have not all lost loved ones in a plane crash, but we have all loved and lost. And this is my message: Our survival is nothing to feel guilty for; it is our responsibility. It is a precious gift. Let us hold tight to the hands that are still here, and share the love. In every new moment of our lives, we do not walk alone. When we see a new sunset or sunrise, when we hear the laughter of a child, when we begin to see the vivid colors of life again, we do not see or feel these things alone. We carry with us the spirits of those we love.

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    2012: Tam Remembered

    It is again mid July. Inevitably, in mid July, my thoughts turn toward Tam 3054. On July 17 2007, five years ago, a Tam Airbus failed its landing at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport and stole a hundred and ninety-nine lives. The casualties always number greater than those who died. Each of the 199 touched had families; and each family exponentially touches countless others. I came to know each of the families, and I loved them. I learned from them, especially from their strength in the face of adversity. What I think of too, is how that accident changed me, how I learned from the families left behind to pick up the pieces and move on.

    On this day, I want to remember these families, their grace, and their lost loved ones. We cannot forget that in their passing, a hole was left in the world.

    I hope that the families—my well remembered friends—have overflowed the holes in their lives with something else. Five years of life. I hope they have taken the opportunity to fill to capacity these last five years with a life well lived. What does that mean? A life lived to the fullest. It’s the good and bad and everything in between. I hope that this well-lived life has lit their dark spaces with light, and packed the emptiness with new memories, each to be revisited, like the pages of a beloved book.

    We are all each a harp of many strings, each string struck by memories that play one and many notes. The threads of our lives stretch from the past to future, distant anchors never seen and never known. Each day brings us a chorus of new, and distinct notes. Let us lose all regret, and only joy in the harmony of our histories and our tomorrows. It is the wholeness of these notes that is the music of our lives.

    I hope that in filling the hole with new life, that my friends can now painlessly cast the net into their past. I hope they have learned to embrace the roses in December. Memories are for us to cherish, each one a forever jewel in itself. Memories are a constant gift of joy that is never lost; and as we can remember with poignant joy the roses of summer in December, we can remember our lost loved ones in July. I do not smile because I have forgotten. I smile because I remember.

  • |

    Aviation Fatigue Regulation should Obey the Law of Common Sense


    In George’s Point of View

    I noticed today that Bloomberg’s Andre Zajac posted an article referencing William Voss, chief executive officer of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Flight Safety Foundation, who said “If anyone wants to advance safety through regulation, it can’t be done without further loss of life.”

    The point he was making is in reference the peculiar mechanism of aviation safety law.

    To go into effect, an aviation safety law must pass a cost-benefit analysis. This analysis is based on how much benefits outweigh cost (i.e. the cost of human lives). Where the problem occurs the recent fatigue rules exempt freight carriers. All-cargo operations are not required to abide by part rule p. 5-6, 15, 259. This is why IPA filed a Petition for Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in order to challenge FAA?s exclusion of cargo operations from the final flight and duty time rule.

    Although the “FAA generally acknowledges that “factors that lead to fatigue are universal” (Rule p. 259) and that night-time operations (during pilots circadian lows) and operations that cross multiple time zones warrant stricter measures to guard against fatigue” cargo carriers are exempt.”

    Surely the FAA realizes that cargo pilots get just as tired as commercial jet pilots–perhaps more so because so many cargo flights are overnight flights.

    Does it really make sense to exempt all-cargo carrier pilots from fatigue regulations for financial reasons? Shouldn’t a rule governing pilot safety cover all pilots? Is an Airbus, Fokker, Antonov, Boeing 737 or 747 less destructive if it falls from the sky if it only has a payload and crew but no passengers?

    IPA Points.pdf

    Flight Member Duty Requirements.pdf

    FRMP Checklist.pdf

  • | |

    Fuss over Nothing Desensitizes: Bomb cries wolf

    What: Air Mauritius A340 en route from Melbourne to Perth
    Where: Melbourne
    When: May 22, 2012, 2.55pm
    Who: 181 passengers, 13 crew
    Why: While flying north of Millicent, a soft drink can with a spelling similar to BOMB was found on a drink tray. Initially police said the can was wrapped with paper apparently scribed with the word “bomb” and taped with masking tape; but later it was revealed the mixup concerned foreign lettering directly on the can.

    Pilots returned to Melbourne and made an emergency landing. Passengers were questioned about the can, then were provided overnight accommodations in Melbourne.

    At 11.30am after the aircraft was cleared, the passengers were able to board the plane and continue their flight.

    In George’s Point of View


    My concern here is that a rash of fake bomb scares could precede an event. Paranoia vs Vigilance. Foolish or not?

  • | | |

    The Investigation of Sukhoi Superjet’s Crash holds Answers to Many Questions


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Egor Naumenko

    Today I read an article saying that the SuperJet that crashed on a promotional flight boils down to one question: pilot or plane? I have to disagree. It is not that simple. It takes a lot of coordinating systems to get a plane in the air, and it usually takes more than one error to take a plane down.

    If there is a problem with the plane, it is most likely the investigation will reveal it, and anything that comes out before the investigation is just speculation. (How much of the investigation will be made public often depends on the transparency policies of government, however.) So I am speculating here.

    Russian Aviation does have a lot riding on the success of this entry into the global aviation marketplace so we know it’s not a paper airplane they folded together in ten seconds or as many months. We suspect that the quality of the teams performing the design, construction, training and troubleshooting that went into the jet’s creation is about par for contemporary jet design. Which is to say the teams are probably very good. The plane has fly-by-wire technology but Sukhoi consults with Boeing on a “step-by-step project management … fully explored and translated into business reality by SCAC.”

    There are a number of problems that are coming to light with this flight.

    • Only the cockpit voice recorder was found. The FDR was not found.
    • The Emergency Locator Transmitter (which goes off, like an airbag, on hard impact) did not go off. The Sukhoi only has one(instead of two, which is the norm) Emergency Locator Transmitter which uses 121.5,203 Mhz. Indonesia receivers operate at 121.5,406 MHZ
    • The Terrain map is recorded in the panes database and shows on a display in vertical and horizontal forms. (Did this plane, which was a substitute plane) have an updated terrain map?)
    • The Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System/EGPWS should have gone off with terrain warnings after descending to 6000 feet, and these warnings should be in the black box. Wait…no black box was found.
    • Was this substitute plane compliant with all airworthiness guidelines and laws?
    • Multifunctional Transport Satellites (MTSAT) data revealed that the weather on the Salak Mountain at the time was bad. Cloud and raincover at Salak Mountain was 100 percent.
    • The Halim-Pelabuhan Ratu flight plan was considered safe, but on descent to 6000 feet, the pilot detoured from the flight plan.

    Sometimes investigations take the easy path and just blame the pilot. I’ve seen happen a hundred times before, when the pilot was blamed simply because he was not longer able to defend his actions. And while pilots are only human, and sometimes do make mistakes, sometimes those mistakes are caused by corporate pressures, pressure to meet deadlines, fuel quotas, scheduling, etc. What is pressure of corporate expectations on a joy flight pilot? Do we know if he was under orders to showcase the plane’s agility, possibly even to make the very move that crashed the plane?

    The pilot, 57 year old Alexander Yablontzev was experienced. He was Sukhoi’s chief test pilot and had spent more than 14 thousand hours flying. After retiring as Lieutenant Colonel from the Russian Air Force, he flew for Transaero and had a lot of hours. But the fatal flight was his first time flying in Indonesia. Did the crash occur because he was flying a strange, possibly wrongly mapped terrain, and recklessly “buzzing” the peak of Mount Salak to show off the plane’s versatility?

    No answers here. I’m just saying that the question is not so simply put.

  • | |

    Joy Flight Steals Joy

    Before the Sukhoi Superjet smashed into a ledge on Wednesday, killing 45 people and raining debris down the slopes of Mount Salak, I had never heard the term “joy flight.”

    The “joy flight” is the airline equivalent of you going down to the Ferrari dealership and taking a test drive. Or it would be if you were being driven in the Ferrari for fifty minutes or so, in a party atmosphere courted along with a bunch of other potential buyers.

    The “joy flight” is a selling tool for the manufacturer. They host this ride for potential buyers to show off the features and quality/qualities of a new plane they are trying to sell.

    Until the black box is recovered (we hope one was on the plane!), we won’t have any idea if the pilots had been asked to “buzz” the mountain, or if their request to fly low was a response to the heavy cloud cover. United Aircraft Corporation which built the Superjet says that pilot Alexander Yablontsev (who had logged 10,000 hours in Sukhoi prototypes) was their best test pilot, and had overseen “everything from the designing of the aircraft to its certification.”

    Buzzing mountains renowned as an airline graveyard would not be the smartest thing to do, but everyone does wonder why the pilots requested to lower their altitude right over Mount Salak. Family members are already protesting the hazardous route that had been planned for the demonstration flight.

    There were 35 Indonesians, 8 Russian crew members, 1 French and 1 American.

    The American, Peter Adler was a consultant for Sriwijaya Air, a domestic Indonesian carrier. Adler had been born in São Paulo, Brazil to Auschwitz survivors, grew up in Los Angeles and leaves behind a wife Randi, and family.

    Joy flight is a cruelly ironic term. In catastrophic loss of life cases, loss of joy can be considered part of the damages, as families inevitably remain haunted by the loss of their loved ones.

    We offer our condolences, but we know how insufficient that is, as relatives are only beginning the harsh journey of grief that begins with shock and a sense of immeasurable loss.

  • |

    Open Secret

    I want to discuss an open secret. Every citizen of every country knows this secret; every family member knows, from the poorest to the richest and everyone between—That nothing in this world is going to bring back a loved one who has died. To the families who lose loved ones in a crash like Bhoja Air Flight 213, that loved one is priceless. To the community, that citizen is irreplaceable. I mean this literally and exactly—that person is gone and can never be replaced. Simple fact. Each person who lives and breathes is a walking compilation of time and coincidence that came together to make one unique person. Priceless. We know this because we are human beings. Our minds understand this because it is logical. Our hearts understand this without words. It doesn’t require an explanation, but I am going on and on about it because, apparently this is something that government does not know.

    The nightmare has just begun for the families of Bhoja Air Flight 213. I have to make the explanation, because the families of those who died in the Air Blue crash have been given a dollar figure. A judge who misread an international treaty (that doesn’t even apply to the case) set a cap of $57,000. Never mind that the government of Pakistan says it is not a cap. Never mind that the rest of the world looks at that number in disbelief. It hangs there like a guillotine, like a road block, like a dead end to the futures of all those families who have already lost more than can be repaid.

    It has been pointed out to me that where the Air Blue Crash Report was concerned, “it was the first time that an air crash report findings were published. Such accidents in the past were shrouded in secrecy.” So perhaps I should soften my judgment because transparency in government is not an easy thing. Pakistan should be commended for making its first baby steps toward transparency. Transparency promotes accountability. So congratulations on beginning. Perhaps the first baby steps toward open government, transparency and accountability can be painful, but with each step, more is learned. Perhaps the biggest lesson that can be learned is that failure is the opportunity for growth.

    The Air Blue Flight 202 investigation was mishandled. More on that in a moment. I hope that the Pakistani investigating body that will be given the task of conducting this investigation on Bhoja Air Flight 213 will do a better job than they did in the Air Blue crash. It has been nearly two years (July 28) since Air Blue went down and investigators can’t manage to get their act together enough to write a final report that that’s credible as to what occurred in that crash.

    Don’t let it happen with Bhoja Air Flight 213. Don’t draw your conclusions so quickly. Conclusions must be based on evidence. Today I picked up an article in the news media quoting an official who said the weather caused the Bhoja crash. Okay so maybe the weather did cause it?but maybe not. It wasn’t a new plane. It was the first time that route was flown, and a relatively new airline. Was their training up to par? I expect tabloid journalism from tabloids, but how can an official conclude so quickly? That’s being stupid, but this is not stupid country. Look at their economics, and you can see they are a vital country with a growing economy.

    But they should be ashamed of how they conduct law that has anything to do with the value of life. A credible investigation of the carrier and the culpable parties will uncover truth. A good investigation always does. We are already asking ourselves if the insurance companies and the lawyers, and the lawgivers believe that the people aboard Bhoja Air Flight 213 will also have a bargain basement value. Is the value of human life, of a human being, of the human soul set at $57,000? It is abhorrent, disgusting, soulless to appraise a life at $57,000. It doesn’t matter if the person was 100 years old—that life has more value than $57,000 to the family. When there is a domestic flight outside of an international treaty, why isn’t there a compensation plan that is reasonable and accepted by the aviation community?

    $57,000 is the figure the operator has authorized their attorneys to settle Air Blue cases for.

    This is all the more tragic because the accidents would/could/should all be preventable.

    I hope that the leasing companies and the banking companies get their act together and start being more careful about who they lease their airplanes to. In my opinion, what they do is they find out if the company is credit worthy. If the operator is credit worthy, then they give them the plane.

    What if banks and lenders raised the bar? That’s a big IF. You see, the lender is in position of strength. What would happen to aviation if the lender were to look beyond whether an airline company and operator is creditworthy? As it stands now, they could care less about whether or not the operator trains their pilots correctly, whether they can fly a Boeing or Airbus, whether the pilots had more than two hours of sleep in the last twenty-four hours, whether the crew knows how to cooperate with each other, whether or not the passengers are safe setting foot on that plane. It doesn’t make any difference to the banks and lenders, as long as somebody is making their monthly payments, and as long as there is insurance on the aircraft.

    But the leasing companies and the banks have so much control. What would happen to aviation safety in developing countries if the lender were to look beyond whether an airline company and operator is creditworthy? They could do so much to clean up the state of aviation safety in countries that they are having so many crashes—they could save lives and change the world—if the lender drew a line in the sand, a line of control that set a higher standard than financial responsibility. What if the lender said you’re not getting the money for this plane unless you demonstrate to me that your pilots have had proper training, that your planes will have proper maintenance, that appropriate guidelines will be followed? If the lender is monitoring that airline and finds for example, that pilots aren’t being trained or that the planes are not being properly maintained, shouldn’t the lender repossess the plane—just as a lender can repossess a car if the insurance lapses? The leasing company (or the company from whom the airline is buying the plane) should have in their lease agreement or sale contract an ongoing control for the operator to demonstrate proper training for pilots, proper maintenance (etc.) and if the operator fails to uphold standards, the legal owner (bank/lender) can act to repossess their plane.

    Should I mention that the fact that if the banks do not do so, it is negligent? Not only in the legal sense?I’m not a lawyer. It is negligent in the sense that supervision of a banker’s investment is the banker’s/investor’s responsibility. Shouldn’t the lender be held accountable? Should they be able to pawn off barely airworthy planes to airlines that can barely manage them, knowing the planes will be flown till their wings fall off, and the worst that will happen will be a bargain basement slap on the hand for the 152 fatalities of Air Blue or the 127-130 fatalities of Bhoja Air? Is this a secret, second tier cottage industry we’ve bumped into? If so, someone should shine a hard light at the business practices. But there is in fact a legal doctrine of negligent entrustment, in which one of two things must be proved: that the leasing company has possession of the plane, or control. And we believe that, because the plane can be repossessed for breaches of contract (failure of payment, failure to maintain insurance), that demonstrates that the lender has control. This makes them a responsible party, and legally liable. In support of this control, the lender/bank needs to better monitor the ongoing conditions concerning the plane. Because the bank has control—the power to repossess an airplane for financial default—it is the responsibility of the lender to maintain monitoring. And f the lenders find out that the pilots aren’t being trained correctly, that operations are substandard, that unsafe methods are practiced? They have the control to demand immediate rectification or the plane will be repossessed. They have the responsibility of keeping tabs of public information, and to monitor internal performance from the airlines. It is their responsibility to monitor these weapons of destruction that they’re putting out into the sky under the control of anybody with a fat wallet.

    We don’t know what happened to the Bhoja Air plane. We don’t know. All I am saying is we hope they do a better job in investigating this thing . Don’t drag it out for two years and come out with a chicken shit investigation that nobody believes, that isn’t even credible.

    But what can we expect? They don’t check anything. They don’t collect the wreckage. They don’t do anything that other countries do. There is a protocol to be followed after a crash and this one is already busted. Was it immediately cordoned off? I think not. Look on you-tube and you can see half a dozen videos of everybody in town tromping through the evidence.

    It’s like a math test, where you have to show every step of all your work. Follow the formula that works. Follow the protocol for investigation.

    Pakistan should wake up and look around. It is 2012. There aren’t any excuses. They are a real country. They should follow the guidelines of what is proper, not only for the sake of the company that is going to suffer a loss, but also for the sake of all those souls that were lost.

    So Pakistan, here’s the secret. Life cannot be replaced. It has an intrinsic value beyond currency. Value it.

  • Hatcher’s Opinion

    In George’s Point of View


    We know we list “causes” of plane crashes on this site, but we report them as we hear them. Only an official report can say what the actual cause is, and that investigation will take months or years. In the Bhoja Airlines crash, they have promised a report in three to twelve months. (In the Air Blue case it will be two years on the anniversary of the crash, July 28.) We know that even if ten seconds after an accident, Huffington Post, Reuters, the New York Times, and the BBC all report to the world the cause of a crash is a broken “flux capacitor,” some people take this as fact. It is not fact; it is some portion of probably semi-accurate data that has ricocheted around a reporter’s brain before being offered to the public in the form of a reporter or observer’s opinion. In some cases, it is a good, expert opinion. Sometimes it is a reasonable guess, but that is all it is. More frequently, it is a shot in the dark, but one that seems to align with whatever truths or half-truths have been revealed to the news-hungry public. We know the actual causes of a crash are a combination of factors, and those factors are only discovered by knowledgeable investigators following the specific trail of proof. Primary sources.

    Furthermore, we’re not running a country, airport or even an airline. We’re just running a column here with the most accurate aviation news sources we can find. We have a whole lot of expert pilots to bounce our theories off of, when we have theories to postulate. But this is too early for theories. For this editorial, I’ve got some opinions to air and I can’t blame my opinions on any pilot. In my opinion, Pakistan allowed the Bhoja Airlines crash to happen by not maintaining standards and by botching the Air Blue investigation.

    It is not that anyone expects perfection in performance. Planes break. Machines fail. Things happen. The whole reason nations have developed a culture of safety with systems and redundancy, standards and guidelines is to provide a safety net for when things fail. Not if they fail, but when. Because sooner or later, something breaks. Every problem caught in this “net” is one disaster that did not happen.

    See, I’m outraged. Pakistan has no “safety net”—or at least, if it does, it has holes in it big enough for Air Blue Flight 202 and Bhoja Airlines B4-213 to fall through. The needless deaths of the passengers are beyond disturbing. The Bhoja Airlines crash was a predictable disaster—predictable based on poor management in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), corruption and worse in PIA (state-owned Pakistan International Airlines), and the longstanding weakness of Pakistan’s entire aviation industry. It should not have happened. The aviation authorities in Pakistan, or those with the power to revamp the CAA need to wake up and smell the diesel, or this terrible disaster trend will continue. If Pakistan does not initiate aviation safety reform, these disasters will happen again and again.

    The people of Pakistan deserve the truth. The truth about what really happened in the Air Blue crash and the truth about what really happened with Bhoja Air. Aviation safety can be served only by the truth. Not by fantasy. Not by confusion. Not by wishful thinking. Not by imaginary reports. Not by speculation from outside observers like me. Not by cover-ups.

    The CCA was willing to blame the pilot of Air Blue Flight 202 in that not-so-credible report just to put the investigation to bed. After the second big Islamabad crash in two years, this Bhoja Airlines tragedy isn’t going gently into that good night. Two crashes in two years emphasize that there are questions that need to be answered, problems that need to be addressed, and soon—before more tragedies follow. Two crashes in as many years in Islamabad are a harsh condemnation of the condition of Pakistani aviation, and demonstrate a careless disregard for human life.

    I’ve said long before this that Pakistani courts should have demanded big compensation, not just for the sake of the families of the victims, but as a punitive lesson to the carriers and the whole industry to get their act together. Money seems to be the ONLY thing some of these big airlines listen to. People who need to fly should not be putting their lives at risk every time they set foot on a plane. Government should back a rock-solid tangible standard of safety. It is up to governmental agencies to set standards and maintain them, and set consequences for wrongful or negligent action/inaction.

    For the Bhoja Air crash, it is far too soon to do anything but ask questions, even though officials seem ready to hand out answers even before investigators have been assigned to an investigation.

    It is common knowledge in aviation circles that the CCA’s investigation (and the erroneous investigative “preliminary” et cetera reports) of Air Blue can be held up as an international standard of how NOT to handle an investigation. Is the CCA not responsible as well? It is not only I who think this. The Peshawar High Court’s order of January 19 told the CCA and defense ministry to form a board of experts to examine all aircraft, CAA performance, flying pilots and crew. The court expected all planes and pilots not airworthy to be grounded. Has this happened? We believe if that order had been followed to the letter, the Bhoja Air crash might have been prevented.

    Let’s look at it in a practical sense. A crash is a lesson in air safety. It is a terrible, tragic, expensive lesson, but it is the one thing that can provide answers that can increase safety–at the terrible cost of lives lost. Lessons like this are essential to the safety of Pakistanis who travel by air. The crash happened. Learn from it.

    There are hundreds of questions but I’ll start with just a few.

    Has the CCA cleaned house? Is it manned by impartial professionals? Is the CCA still staffed by former aviation employees with vested interest in the airlines? Since the Air Blue investigation debacle, how has the CCA tangibly demonstrated raising the bar for itself?

    Where are the corrective measures that were taken country-wide after the crash of Air Blue Flight 202? Since the January 19th order, is there a record of safety checks in all the aforementioned areas of weakness across the board (commercial, non-commercial aviation and private)? Regulated plane inspections? Manditory pilot training, checks, quality standards and procedures for improvement? Were tangible changes made to correct any problems that were uncovered? After the 12 year interim in operations, was Bhoja Air forced to prove they would be observing international safety standards before they were allowed to extract payment from passengers and put them on possibly unsafe planes with potentially inept pilots to fly to a potentially inadequate airport in avoidable bad weather to their death?

    The plane had a history. At 28 years old, it just may have been older than its pilot.Construction number 23167. Registered in Great Britain as G-BKYI. First flight on December 13, 1984. Delivered to British Airways, January 7, 1985. Registered in South Africa as ZS-OLB and operated by Comair Limited, June 6, 1999. Aircraft stored at Johannesburg Airport (JNB), South Africa, January 2011. Registered in Pakistan as AP-BKC for Bhoja Air, January 2012. Many pilots are “nervous” about flying a twenty-eight year old Boeing 737-200; more are nervous about flying a plane that has been stored–What was the condition of AP-BKC? Would it have been allowed to fly in the US and the EU?

    Witnesses say (and we all know how reliable that can be) that the plane’s wing had caught fire after a lightning strike; then rapidly descended to the ground, bounced off the ground and became airborne with its wing on fire and struck the ground again. Another witness said the wing caught on fire after the plane bounced off the ground.

    Which is true? Are there security cameras? Airport footage? When did the fire start?

    Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft was flying too low. Ten kilometers before touchdown, they should have been at 1700 feet; they were at 200 feet. Why was the plane at 200 feet? At what point did the pilots lose control of the plane? Who was flying this plane? Had control already been lost? How much experience did the pilot and copilot have in the cockpit? What was the extent of the training, and was there CMT (Cockpit management training)? CMT was certainly deficit in the Air Blue crash. How do we know if cockpit management training had been improved?

    If wind shear or microbursts are a factor, as some suggest, is the airport equipped with LIDAR*, Doppler Radar,** LLWAS,*** ITWAS**** or WSP*****? Was the plane outfitted or retrofitted with Doppler? If so, what went wrong? If not, why is such equipment not mandated for commercial craft?

    There is a protocol to be observed in air crashes. It is a protocol that is accepted by all of the industrialized nations because through experience, investigators have learned how best the truth can be learned. It is only by learning the true conditions of the crash that further crashes can be prevented. If the site of the crash is not cordoned off, the entire investigation is compromised before it has ever begun. IS PAKISTAN FOLLOWING THIS INVESTIGATIVE PROTOCOL?

    Let us hope that the investigation will not be clouded by political ploys, backroom deals, and all the other ills governments can be prone to.

    It may be that someone in the Pakistani government is waking up, since the government mandated Sunday that all airplanes operated by private airlines must undergo a new inspection. The Defense minister has said that any aircraft that fail will be grounded. Let us hope they reverse that order slightly and ground ALL PLANES immediately. Only the planes that pass a rigorous examination should be allowed to fly. Let us hope that they are only flown by pilots who are qualified to be in the cockpit.

    An impartial investigation will bring Pakistan closer to International standards, serve justice, set a footing in the infrastructure of aviation safety, and take a first step toward providing the families of the crash victims some degree of closure.

    *LIDAR- light detecting and Ranging equipment which has been used to detect wind shear and microbursts around airports since 2007
    **Doppler Radar has been used to detect microburst danger since 2002
    *** LLWAS -low level wind shear alert systems which does not detect microburst activity
    **** ITWS-advanced systems in the field and being developed, which provides alerts for microbursts, wind shear, and storm activity. ITWAS displays wind information oriented to the threshold or departure end of the runway.
    *****WSP provides Air Traffic with detection and alerting of hazardous weather such as wind shear, microbursts, and significant thunderstorm activity. The WSP displays terminal area 6 level weather, storm cell locations and movement

  • |

    Bhoja Air Flight 213

    In George’s Point of View


    It pains me to write this. I had just put down my pen from writing about an engine failure where the flight made it safely back to the airport, and heard the news of this. Bhoja Air Flight 213 down in Pakistan after losing contact with ATC. Another flight down in stormy weather. The loss is unique, but it has happened too many times.

    Again a plane, or pilot, or airline failed to bring its passengers safely home. That’s all we want—for the families to be reunited, for the father who just lost his daughters to have them back, for this to be a nightmare that will just go away. But the Bhoja crash is one of the nightmares that doesn’t go away.

    Soon the whole world will hear the names, see the faces, hear the stories behind the tragedy. Maybe it is the stories that make a disaster like this so hard to take for the rest of us. The stories bring life to the loss, take our imaginations from black and white to living color, carry us from the place where statistics rest on paper to where they mingle in our hearts with our own memories of love and loss. Soon we will hear the mourning of the families, the fathers, mothers, siblings, spouses, friends. The investigation will begin, and the experts will find whatever they find, but there’s always the one truth that remains.

    It is the families who will bear this, who will hereafter live their lives like shattered china pieced back together. And what is the glue? The chemistry will be different for every parent, every child, every sibling, but its ingredients are memories woven with grief and resilience, bitterness, hope, faith—and the support of friends. You will get through this. You already know that time will ease the pain, but for now, true as it is, it is only words. To the families, we can only say we grieve with you. Your loss is our loss.

    It is as true now as it was in 1624 when John Donne wrote it. “No man is an island…All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language…” Your loss is our loss. To the families, we can only say we grieve with you and wish you peace.

  • Veracruz Crash Fatality Correction

    In George’s Point of View

    Back in October of 2011, we carried the story of the Cessna 210G Centurion #N5894FN en route from Puebla to Villahermosa, Tabasco which crashed in Veracruz Mexico. This story was carried on the day of the event by several media sources, including CNN-Espanol, Milenio and Notiver. At the time, we double and triple-checked the story with Veracruz accounts in Spanish. Sources reported the two victims were Reggie Henkart and Andrea Henkart. Some of the reports said that the victims were identified based upon credit cards, business cards and personal effects found in their luggage and in the aircraft wreckage. The Reggie Henkart aboard was, according to his wife’s website, Gerald Yves Antoine Marie Henkar.
    However, Andrea Henkart JUST EMAILED US that she was not on the flight. We are fairly certain she is not emailing from the hereafter—though if she were, I would be asking her how I could email my parents—
    We found her joyful and generous life-celebrating memorial of her husband greatly touching. We are glad to hear that Andrea Henkart is very much alive, and that the reports of her death have been greatly exaggerated, and do hope that our small article did not in any way cause her grief.

  • | | |

    Grounded Planes but 31 Passengers will be IN the ground


    After Monday’s ATR crash when the pilots of the UTAir flight were returning to the airport and crashed in a snowy field, with much of the world not flying on ATR 72-200 planes, you can not believe how many people today mentioned to me their opinion that these planes should just be grounded, period. Frankly, I agree.

    There have been questions about this kind of plane since 1994, when American Eagle Flight 4181 crashed, and killed 68 people. Though the “Anti Ice” boots were “improved” this model has a known problem with ice. A TransAsia Airways crashed due to icing in 2002. Since ice is a known problem of these planes, any failure to deal with icing is surely negligence. But of course it is too soon to tell.

    There are plenty of rumors flying. (They seem to have better lift than the planes.) A Reuters article claims the black boxes indicate all engines were functioning, but there are also indications that this plane may not have been correctly or properly de-iced before takeoff, and that smoke was spotted from the engine. Not that Russian skies are particularly safe, given there were fifteen Russian crashes last year alone.

    Russia is not particularly known for keen government supervision of the Russian sky or some of their crumbling airports either, for that matter, but grounding ATR 72-200 aircraft is a step in the right direction. Let’s just see if they pull aging aircraft, look at crew training or start considering safety over profits.

    Even if they do, it won’t bring back the decedents.

  • Hospitalization, Not Criminalization

    By now everyone has heard of Jet Blue Captain Clayton Osbon. It appears he has already been tried and convicted in the media. When I look at the facts—or at least what we know of the facts—of his situation, and his history, I can not help but wonder what else is going on.

    Since his breakdown in the cockpit, he has been held at The Pavilion at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo. A psychiatric hospital is a good place for him to be.

    This is a man who has spent many years in the cockpit, with nothing but an exemplary record. This is a man who is well known by neighbors and friends as a man of good character. This is a man whose friends say on camera, “that was not Clayton” as they refer to his unhinged behavior. He was behaving out of character. His wife said “It is our belief, as Clayton’s family, that while he was clearly distressed, he was not intentionally violent toward anyone…There are several different sides to every story. Just keep that in mind.”

    Today he was taken from Northwest Texas Hospital to court by the FBI. In a seven minute hearing, he was advised of his rights, and the government filed a motion for pre-trial detention. The judge agreed to hold Osbon in the Randall County Jail in Amarillo without bond.

    His situation reminds me of several other incidents I’ve seen lately, where aviation personnel have had meltdowns during flights. Take a second and look at this: An American Airlines flight from Dallas–when this flight attendant on Flight 2232 had a meltdown. Eerily similar, isn’t it? Is it a coincidence?
    Both of these incidents happened in Texas.

    All I am saying is this. A man does not change overnight. Don’t get me wrong–I don’t think he should be in a cockpit. But whether he had a breakdown, is depressed, was sleepwalking, developing some kind of exhaustion psychosis, affected by a drug or combination of drugs or other factors, Jet Blue Captain Clayton Osbon has spent decades as a man of good character and reputation. He would not just throw it away. He should be in a medical facility with doctors, not in a jail behind bars.