News

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    Bombardier CSeries Testing

    The CSeries by Bombardier will be undergoing high-speed taxi tests on its new CSeries aircraft next week, after this weeks tests were foiled by dastardly weather.

    After high speed taxi testing will come stabilization tests on landing gear and vibration tests.

    The tests are being performed in Montreal outside on a dry runway at Bombardier’s facility in Mirabel, Que., on the first CSeries flight test vehicle.

    Weather permitting, tests will be performed next week.


    Financial Post Interviews Mike Arcamone, President of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft

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    NTSB Launches Go-Team to Investigate UPS Flight 1354 Crash in Alabama


    WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board is launching a full Go-Team to investigate this morning’s crash of a United Parcel Service Airbus A300. The crash occurred while on approach to Runway 18 at Birmingham International Airport in Birmingham, Ala.
    Senior Aviation Investigator Dan Bower will serve as investigator-in-charge. NTSB Board Member Robert Sumwalt is accompanying the team and will serve as the principal spokesman during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

    Public Affairs Specialists Eric Weiss and Keith Holloway will also be in Alabama to coordinate media related activities. Eric can be reached by mobile phone at 202-557-1350.

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    Air France Flight 447


    Air France 447 went down over the Atlantic in 2009.

    The fly-by-wire A330 incorporates technology that prevents the airplane from entering a stall, but during a complete loss of airspeed information, however, the system reverted to manual control.

    The final report said said the pilots were “completely surprised” by technical problems experienced at high altitude and engaged in increasingly de-structured actions until suffering “the total loss of cognitive control of the situation.”

    CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation has been recorded said pilots generally manually manipulating the controls for only three minutes:one minute and 30 seconds each for take-off and landing.

    “We are moving towards automated operations where the pilot isn’t even permitted to fly. That means the first time in your career you will ever feel what an aircraft feels like at 35,000 feet is when it’s handed to you broken.”

    See a video examination of the Air France 447 flight

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    A Word about Safety, Brazil and Towers

    In George’s Point of View

    With aviation safety issues buzzing in the US because of the widespread tower closures, I was surprised to find US safety being held as a higher standard in a critique of Brazilian aviation by pilot Antônio Carlos Cruzeta.

    His article at *http://paduim.blogspot.com/2013/02/relato-de-um-piloto-de-linha-aerea.html pillories the conditions of flying in Brazil, even compares the pilot to driving a luxury BMW in the middle of a safari in Africa.

    But I cannot but wonder if even as this pilot pushes for progress in Brazil, we in the US are bound to be falling back. Will it take an aviation disaster here to wake up our government that we need to maintain our current standards of safety?

    A Brazilian pilot can ask that question, and so can we. How can pilots continue to fly millions of passengers millions of flights in state-of-the-art planes when losing so many towers? And now there are lawsuits piling up as localities begin legal battles to keep their towers. Should tower support be withdrawn, leaving pilots to “fly by the seat of their pants?” What do US pilots think of this withdrawal of support? DO pilots consider towers extraneous?

    Three hours or so from home the ride from Rio was unusually turbulent. Though I slept all the way to Houston this time, will I be so confident in the future? I worry for the state aviation safety as thousands of pilots converge flying to and from airports where tower support was once but is no longer.

    Closures

    *English translation here: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpaduim.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F02%2Frelato-de-um-piloto-de-linha-aerea.html

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    Lot Airlines Temporary Boeing Fix


    Pending solutions for the incidents involving the aircraft’s lithium-ion battery produced by Tokyo- based GS Yuasa Corp, while waiting for Boeing 787’s to come out of hibernation, from April 12 to the end of May Lot Airlines is leasing an Airbus SAS from Portugal’s Hi Fly. The A330 flies 18 in business and 288 in coach.

    Lot purchased 8 eight 787s, and has received two, one of which is Warsaw, and the other stranded in Chicago.

    If Dreamliner operations remain suspended beyond that date, the lease can be extended

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    NTSB Reports on Dreamliner Battery Fire in Boston

    briefing
    Briefing March 7, 2013

    We no longer have to conjecture about the Japan Airlines 787 battery fire in Boston because the National Transportation Safety Board has released an interim factual report with nearly 500 pages of related documentation.

    A live webcast forum is scheduled for April in Washington to investigate the design, technology and certification lithium-ion batteries.

    Attached is the report which contains the details of what happened, and examination findings to date.

    Interim Report on Battery

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    Lithium Ion Batteries Remain a Point of Concern

    Both Airbus and Boeing say the designs for their litium-ion systems are safe, in spite of known risk of flames, explosion, smoke and leakage.

    Those are some pretty hefty “known” risks.

    Now ANA says that prior to the fire, it had replaced batteries on its 787 aircraft some 10 times because of low charges.

    Now the Kanto Aircraft Instrument Co whose system monitors voltage, charging and temperature of lithium-ion batteries is also under scrutiny, in addition to GS Yuasa who makes the batteries.

    The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a chemical analysis of internal short circuiting and thermal damage of the battery.

    NTSB ISSUES SIXTH UPDATE ON JAL BOEING 787 BATTERY FIRE INVESTIGATION

    January 29, 2013
    WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board today released the sixth update on its investigation into the Jan. 7 fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 at Logan International Airport in Boston.

    The examination of the damaged battery continues. The work has transitioned from macroscopic to microscopic examinations and into chemical and elemental analysis of the areas of internal short circuiting and thermal damage.

    Examination and testing of the exemplar battery from the JAL airplane has begun at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center laboratories. Detailed examinations will be looking for signs of in-service damage and manufacturing defects. The test program will include mechanical and electrical tests to determine the performance of the battery, and to uncover signs of any degradation in expected performance.

    As a party contributing to the investigation, Boeing is providing pertinent fleet information, which will help investigators understand the operating history of lithium-ion batteries on those airplanes.

    An investigative group continued to interpret data from the two digital flight data recorders on the aircraft, and is examining recorded signals to determine if they might yield additional information about the performance of the battery and the operation of the charging system.

    In addition to the activities in Washington, investigators are continuing their work in Seattle and Japan.

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    Beijing Smog Affects Air Traffic


    According to reports, pollution and smog grounded traffic in parts of China on January 23, 2013.

    Government warnings were issued for residents to stay indoors in Beijing.

    PM2.5 one of the worst pollutants was measured at 526 micrograms per cubic metre, or “beyond index”, and more than 20 times higher than World Health Organisation safety levels over a 24-hour period, and visibility levels were measured at less than 100m in some areas of eastern China.


    Flights cancelled:

    Zhengzhou = 100 flights
    Beijing = 33 flights
    Qindao = 20 flights
    Jinan = 13 flights

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    IMPROPER MAINTENANCE LED TO Vegas AIR TOUR HELICOPTER CRASH

    What is it that I’ve always said? Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance.

    Looks like the NTSB Findings agree with me! See their report below about a helicopter crash in December 7, 2011, that occurred in my home away from home, Las Vegas Nevada.

    PRELIMINARY REPORT
    On December 7 at 4:30 Pacific Standard Time, a Eurocopter AS350-B2, operated by Sundance Helicopters as flight Landmark 57, crashed in mountainous terrain approximately 14 miles east of Las Vegas. The flight, a sightseeing tour, departed Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) en-route to the Hoover Dam area was operating under visual flight rules. The helicopter impacted in a narrow ravine in mountainous terrain between the cities of Henderson and Lake Mead. The pilot and four passengers were fatally injured.

    The National Transportation Safety Board determined today (Jan. 29, 2013) that the probable cause of the Dec. 7, 2011, air tour helicopter crash near Las Vegas, Nev., was inadequate maintenance, including degraded material, improper installation, and inadequate inspections.

    “This investigation is a potent reminder that what happens in the maintenance hangar is just as important for safety as what happens in the air,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman.

    At about 4:30 p.m. Pacific standard time, a Sundance Helicopters Eurocopter AS350, operating as a “Twilight City Tour” sightseeing trip, crashed in mountainous terrain about 14 miles east of Las Vegas, Nev. The helicopter originated from Las Vegas McCarran International Airport at about 4:21 p.m. with a planned route to the Hoover Dam area and then return to the airport. The accident occurred after a critical flight control unit separated from another, rendering the helicopter uncontrollable. After the part separated, the helicopter climbed about 600 feet, turned about 90 degrees to the left, descended about 800 feet, began a left turn, and then descended at a rate of at least 2,500 feet per minute to impact. The pilot and four passengers were killed and the helicopter was destroyed.

    The NTSB found that the crash was the result of Sundance Helicopters’ improper reuse of a degraded self-locking nut in the servo control input rod and the improper or non-use of a split pin to secure the degraded nut, in addition to an inadequate post-maintenance inspection.

    Contributing to the improper (or lack of) split pin installation was the mechanic’s fatigue and lack of clearly delineated steps to follow on a “work card” or “checklist” The inspector’s fatigue and lack of a work card or checklist clearly laying out the inspection steps to follow contributed to an inadequate post-maintenance inspection. As a result of this investigation the NTSB made, reiterated and reclassified recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration.
    “One of the critical lines of defense to help prevent tragedies like this crash is improved maintenance documentation through clear work cards, or checklists,” Hersman said. “Checklists are not rocket science, but they can have astronomical benefits.”

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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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    LAX Terminal 1 improvements to the tune of $400 Million


    Although Southwest has outstanding legal claims against Los Angeles World Airports, the following items are are on the table:

    Southwest Airlines will

    • build a new checked baggage security system
    • improve passenger security checkpoints
    • refresh passenger waiting areas
    • refurbish the baggage claim area
    • construct new passenger boarding bridges
    • renovate the terminal lobby

    Los Angeles World Airports will fund most of the renovations, along with—hopefully—federal grant money. Los Angeles World Airports may give the airline rent credits or by pay a lump sum.

    If the lease is signed Southwest will drop legal claims against Los Angeles World Airports; if renovation proceeds, Southwest will pay about $9.5 million in rent the first year, and US Airways will move to Terminal 3.

    The Board of Airport Commissioners has approved improvements in “dog-eared” Terminal one.

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    NTSB Sends Assistance

    On Jan 16, 2013, an ANA All Nippon Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was en route from Yamaguchi-Ube Airport to Tokyo-Haneda Airport when smoke in the forward electrical compartment developed. Also, an unusual smell was detected.

    The flight made an emergency landing.

    There were 137 passengers aboard.One passenger was injured in the evacuation. The firefighters did not find any fire.

    The NTSB sent out a release that said “The National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigator to Japan to assist in the investigation of an emergency landing of an ANA Boeing 787 that occurred yesterday. Initial reports indicate that the crew received multiple messages in the cockpit concerning the battery and other systems that were affected, and also reported smoke in the cockpit and an odor in the cabin. The airplane subsequently landed, and passengers and crew evacuated via emergency slides.”

    Investigator Lorenda Ward is the U. S. accredited representative to the JTSB’s investigation and will work alongside reps from the FAA and Boeing.

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    NTSB sending Team to Peru Crash Investigation


    Jan. 9, 2013
    WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of investigators to Pucallpa, Peru, to assist the Government of Peru with its investigation of yesterday’s crash involving a Boeing helicopter. According to the U.S. Department of State, the accident claimed the lives of five American citizens.

    On Monday afternoon, in Pucallpa, Peru, a Boeing-Vertol 234 helicopter, operated by the U.S. operator Columbia Helicopters, crashed shortly after takeoff. The helicopter had departed from FAP Captain David Abenzur Rengifo International Airport, Pullcapa, Peru enroute to Tarapoto, Peru. It has been reported that all seven persons aboard the aircraft sustained fatal injuries.

    The NTSB has designated senior air safety investigator, Paul Cox, as the U.S. Accredited Representative. He will be accompanied by two NTSB investigators with expertise in helicopter systems and operations, a representative from the Federal Aviation Administration, and a representative from Columbia Helicopters. The team is expected to arrive in Peru tonight.

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    More News today (an overview of a few items we’re not covering right now)

    For various reasons including that we have already covered these or don’t have room or time, this is more news:

    • The NTSB is probing the Manhattan Township, Illinois crash that killed Larry Allan Diffley, head of Bemidji Aviation
    • The pilot that was killed in a plane crash in Yuma on November 24 was Denise Jeanette McCracken
    • The investigation into the Greensburg crash (that killed pilot Donald Horan, Horan’s 44-year-old wife Barbara, 45-year-old Stephen Butz and his 42-year-old wife, Denise) is expected to take over six months.
    • Local police and media believed a November 30 Chicago plane crash set to be a real crash
    • NTSB report is out on the crash that killed pilot Tom Steeper on his way from Houston to Oklahoma on November 26, when the plane crashed in southern Cherokee County.
    • Preliminary reports are out for the Rochester,MN; Mekoryuk AK; and Bolivar, Mo non-fatal crashes in December; and the fatal crashes in Apollo Beach, FL; Blair, NE; Clutier, IA; Childress, TX; Scio, OR; Wells, TX; Corona, CA; San Andreas, CA; Great Guana Cay, Bahamas;
    • Bosnian and Herzegovinan authorities are re-opening the investigation of the February 26th 2004 plane crash that killed Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski.
    • Kevin Barry Jnr, who suffered extensive fractures and a brain injury in a Cessna crash on July 5 2007 is settling in Irish High Court for €1.7m against Lancton Taverns Ltd, SCD House, Waterloo Road, Dublin, and its director David Courtney.
    • The South African Defence Force confirms that six crew members and five passengers died in a plane crash.
    • Knox County Regional Airport in Owls Head is taking new safety measures after the Nov. 16 crash that killed U of Maine students and alumnus.
    • Joshua Marlow, sole survivor of the July South Dakota firefighting crash was promoted from tech sergeant to master sergeant.
    • Failure of one of a Boeing 787’s six electrical generators failed, causing the pilot of United Houston-Newark Flight 1146 to divert his 174 passengers and 10 crew safely to New Orleans.
    • United Express Regional Jet made an emergency landing at Grand Junction Regional Airport
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    Is the so-called upcoming pilot shortage a scare tactic?

    Several factors will be contributing to an upcoming pilot shortage:

    • In the summer of 2013, newly hired pilots will be required to have 1,500 hours of prior flight experience—six times the current minimum
    • Upcoming (2014) Federal Safety Rule fatigue laws decrease flight time
    • Senior pilots hitting mandatory retirement at 65
    • Tight airline budgets, costs cut

    So the question is is the so-called upcoming pilot shortage a trumped-up scare tactic by the airlines to get themselves wiggle room in the face of regulations they’ve had years to prepare to comply with?

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    CHC Suspending Super Puma Flights

    After yesterday’s Super Puma ditching in the North Sea, CHC helicopters suspended Puma flights due to suspicions of possible flaws in the design of the main gearbox lubrication system.

    The concern is a hangover from a 2009 Bond Aviation crash that led to recommendations to look into the Super Puma’s gearbox lube system design.

    Bond Aviation is also suspending Puma flights for the same issue. Their flight schedule is posted here: http://www.bondflights.com/index.php?day=1350946800

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    Warrant Issued for Kingfisher Owner


    Kingfisher bounced checks of 105 million rupees (£1.25m) to settle user fees at Hyderabad International Airport.

    Then the airline failed to appear in court, leading the local sessions court to issue an arrest warrant for Vijay Mallya, owner of Kingfisher Airline.

    Staff of Kingfisher Airline has not been paid for months. Debts are said to total $2.49bn, with $1.1bn of bank debt.

    India’s Aviation regulator grounded the Kingfisher fleet for the last two weeks and is threatening to cancel its license.

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    Footnote to Fly Safely Thru Turbulence and Rogue Electrics

    Politicians aren’t aviation news, but…

    Air Force One pilot aborted his first landing in Toledo, Ohio, due to hairy conditions on Wednesday. Plus we hear the flight had experienced turbulence.

    And Ann Romney’s plane filled up with smoke after an electrical fire. Safe landing there too.

    Good call on firing the TSA Agent who nabbed a passenger’s stolen ipad (including the 380 theft-related TSA firings that didn’t make the news.)

    No jokes about the safety incidents. We’re glad the superlative pilots flying both planes brought everyone home safely.

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    Safeland Technology

    U.S. carriers including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc are testing Aviation Safety Technologies LLC’s SafeLand concept, a new technology which is designed to provide numerical scores relaying accurate information about conditions on the tarmac. The system is still in development.

    The website touts AST’s SafeLand software as “the first-ever technology designed to leverage the availability of real time data to monitor and measure aircraft systems such as speed brakes, spoilers, flaps and hydraulic and mechanical braking systems and many physical parameters such as speed, deceleration, temperature, pressure and wind in order to accurately report true aircraft runway surface characteristics, true braking friction, cornering friction and tire and brake wear.”


    Click to view the Information Flow Diagram on AST’s website

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    Dana Air Update (News)


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Peter Tonna

    On August 9, 2012 at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, two months after the June 3, 2012 crash, after that all possible DNA testing was complete (only 52 of 149 bodies identified, the rest burnt beyond testability,) the Lagos Government announced that it would release bodies of Dana crash victims to the next of kin.

    Families were requested to contact the Funeral Director’s office on 01-8542254 at the teaching hospital 24 hours before they come to claim the bodies.

    One family trying to claim their loved one, Mr. George Moses, found he is missing. He was #22 on the list of 29 identified names at the Lekan Ogunsola Memorial mortuary in June. Mr. Achief Olajide, a family member said that after the June 3 crash, he saw Moses intact body, his ID card and wallet. The mortuary refused to let him claim the body, and now it is lost.

    Below, a retired Nigerian Air Force captain criticizes the Nigerian government’s handling of aircraft emergency.

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    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.

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    Game Warden Recognized for Pulling Boy from Burning Plane

    On June 18 of 2011, Joe Lindsey was by the Guntersville airport with his family when he saw a plane crash. He drove part of the way to the crash, and rushed through the woods to pull a seven year old boy from the burning wreckage. Lindsey was awarded the Medal of Honor on Thursday April 12, with top state officials like Governor Robert Bentley in attendance.

    The Medal of Honor is the Alabama Legislature’s highest honor given to law enforcement. Joe Lindsey is with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources—a state game warden—and this is not his first rescue; in 2008, Lindsey rescued a child from a burning van. He does not consider himself a hero, just that he is “a guy who was in the right place at the right time and I had a job to do.”