Indian pilots can be looking forward to better hours. The Indian Pilots Guild, the Indian Commercial Pilot Association, the Society for Welfare of Pilots ( Jet Airways) and the Federation of Indian Pilots sent the (Indian) government a list of suggestions to minimise pilot error due to fatigue.
Collisions and near collisions are attributed to long hours, unreasonable work scheduling and pilot fatigue.
Partial summary of what is included
The Regional Meteorological Centers in Asia (Beijing, Tokyo and Obninsk) monitoring the situation published this press release WMO monitoring meteorological conditions in quake-hit area on March 15.
Commiseration by the other world agencies followed: The International Air Transport Association (IATA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Health Organization (WHO).
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has activated the Environmental Emergency Response mechanism.
ZAMG, Meteorological Service of Austria (Vienna), will provide meteorological support, on behalf of WMO, to the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) in Vienna on a 24/7 basis.
Sean O’Brien of the Island, Ballycumber, Co Offaly, was convicted on ten charges( relating to landing on the roof at the Parkrite Texas Centre, Athlone, Co Westmeath on 7 July 2007 to collect a set of keys) has been given a six month suspended sentence and fined €5,000.
The most significant charge applied is dangerous and negligent use of a Helicopter.
Failure to use common sense is not a charge.
The defendant holds a US pilots’ license but is a man of ‘no means’ who did not own the helicopter and is on disability.
The judge said, “You are telling me in Florida there are no regulations in relation to landing a helicopter on top of a supermarket?”
It is illegal under aviation law to land an aircraft of this kind on any elevated helipad in Athlone.
Click to reveal audio window
You’ve heard about Act I, the American Airlines Boeing, which landed without the benefit of ATC guidance at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
You’ve heard about Act II, the United Airlines Airbus, which also landed without benefit of ATC guidance.
So why was the tower offline? Simple. The controller apparently fell asleep on duty. The supervisor was on duty alone that night
It is interesting and perhaps significant to note that the media is much more alarmed about this than most pilots seem to be. The midnight shift at many airports has minimal traffic and there is only one air traffic controller on duty. As was the case at Reagan National, Pilots have access to other air traffic towers. When failing to raise National, the two planes that landed on Wednesday contacted a nearby Warrenton Tower.
The controller is not a beginner. He’s been on the job at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for 17 years. This was his 4th successive night on the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m shift. There’s no denying that he should not have fallen asleep, or that there should have been two controllers there. But there are some factors to consider.
Yes it was a bad situation, but it could have been worse. It’s a good thing there were fall back procedures for the pilots to rely on. At least they never lost radar. And pilots are trained to land without ATC guidance, just in case something like this happens. And, after all, there are airports like Casa Grande, Arizona which are unmonitored and uncontrolled. Listen to the pilots in the audio below. They don’t sound at all stressed by the situation.
There are consequences that will be far reaching. A minimum of two controllers is going to be mandatory. The controller who fell asleep has been suspended and will be handled according to procedures in the Human Resource Policy Manual.
But there may be more to come after this. Policy changes, perhaps a lawsuit, perhaps even criminal charges.Or perhaps only retraining for the controller. Time will tell. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered two controllers on the midnight shift at National.
Airport ATC Audio
Blame it on better training.
Blame what? The good news that mishaps due to pilots’ poor decision-making declined 71 percent 1983 and 2002.
Thanks to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for doing the research that says that though the overall rate of airline accidents remained stable during that period, the proportion of mishaps involving overall pilot error has decreased 40 per cent.
The study’s lead author, Susan P. Baker says, “A 40 percent decline in pilot error-related mishaps is very impressive. Pilot error has long been considered the most prominent contributor to aviation crashes. Trends indicate that great progress has been made to improve the decision-making of pilots and coordination between the aircraft’s crew members. However, the improvements have not led to an overall decline in mishaps. The increase in mishaps while aircraft are not moving may require special attention.”
Read more about Baker’s study in Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine.
Sendai Airport in Northern Japan was inundated by a tsunami and remained shut down.
Narita, which focuses on long international flights, was partially re-opened today.
Haneda, Tokyo’s other airport, closed for much of the day
Flights incoming to Tokyo were cancelled due to the quake and tsunami, and some diverted to U.S. Air Force’s Yokota Air
Nasa Images
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-111849-
/O.CON.PHEB.TS.W.0001.110311T1649Z-000000T0000Z/
BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 12
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
648 AM HST FRI MAR 11 2011
TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT – TSUNAMI WARNING SUPPLEMENT
A TSUNAMI WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME – 0746 PM HST 10 MAR 2011
COORDINATES – 38.3 NORTH 142.4 EAST
LOCATION – NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE – 8.9 MOMENT
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
——————- —– —— —– ————— —–
KWAJALEIN MH 8.7N 167.7E 1134Z 0.70M / 2.3FT 16MIN
CHRISTMAS KI 2.0N 157.5W 1459Z 0.52M / 1.7FT 18MIN
MANUS PG 2.0S 147.4E 1426Z 0.92M / 3.0FT 36MIN
PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 1556Z 0.35M / 1.2FT 14MIN
LUGANVILLE VU 15.5S 167.2E 1537Z 0.54M / 1.8FT 52MIN
VANUATU 17.8S 168.3E 1532Z 0.69M / 2.3FT 20MIN
DART 55012 15.8S 158.5E 1517Z 0.04M / 0.1FT 52MIN
DART 46404 45.9N 128.8W 1440Z 0.11M / 0.3FT 18MIN
KAPOHO HI 19.5N 154.8W 1408Z 0.06M / 0.2FT 14MIN
HONOLULU OAHU 21.3N 157.9W 1329Z 0.68M / 2.2FT 32MIN
HILO HAWAII 19.7N 155.1W 1357Z 1.32M / 4.3FT 24MIN
KAHULUI MAUI 20.9N 156.5W 1340Z 1.82M / 6.0FT 28MIN
LAHAINA HI 20.9N 156.7W 1335Z 0.50M / 1.6FT 64MIN
MILOLII HI 19.2N 155.9W 1350Z 0.67M / 2.2FT 12MIN
BARBERS PT HI 21.3N 158.1W 1323Z 0.65M / 2.1FT 06MIN
HONUAPO HI 19.1N 155.6W 1340Z 0.04M / 0.1FT 32MIN
HALEIWA HI 21.6N 158.1W 1329Z 1.09M / 3.6FT 38MIN
MAKAPU`U HI 21.3N 157.7W 1312Z 0.49M / 1.6FT 52MIN
KAWAIHAE HAWAII 20.0N 155.8W 1330Z 0.85M / 2.8FT 56MIN
HONOKOHAU HI 19.7N 156.0W 1345Z 0.44M / 1.4FT 10MIN
DART 51407 19.6N 156.5W 1322Z 0.17M / 0.6FT 44MIN
NAWILIWILI KAUAI 22.0N 159.4W 1311Z 0.64M / 2.1FT 26MIN
HANALEI HI 22.2N 159.5W 1306Z 0.85M / 2.8FT 28MIN
TERN FR. FRIGATE US 23.9N 166.3W 1224Z 0.37M / 1.2FT 16MIN
MALAKAL KOROR PW 7.3N 134.5E 1142Z 0.10M / 0.3FT 40MIN
LEGASPI PH 13.1N 123.8E 1049Z 0.26M / 0.8FT 58MIN
DART 46403 52.7N 156.9W 1128Z 0.09M / 0.3FT 60MIN
DART 52402 11.7N 154.2E 0932Z 0.29M / 0.9FT 22MIN
DART 46408 49.6N 169.9W 1030Z 0.14M / 0.5FT 18MIN
DART 21414 48.9N 178.3E 0927Z 0.18M / 0.6FT 24MIN
MIDWAY 28.2N 177.4W 1054Z 1.26M / 4.1FT 12MIN
YAP FM 9.5N 138.1E 0951Z 0.18M / 0.6FT 92MIN
WAKE US 19.3N 166.6E 0928Z 0.38M / 1.2FT 14MIN
SAIPAN US 15.2N 145.7E 0916Z 0.66M / 2.2FT 30MIN
TOSASHIMIZU SHIKOKU 32.8N 133.0E 0751Z 0.93M / 3.0FT 64MIN
OMAEZAKI HONSHU JP 34.6N 138.2E 0660Z 0.99M / 3.2FT 72MIN
DART 21418 38.7N 148.7E 0619Z 1.07M / 3.5FT 06MIN
LAT – LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
TIME – TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.
NOTE – DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN COASTAL MEASUREMENTS.
EVALUATION
A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG
COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE
CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD
COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS
CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT
RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI
WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL
QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE
CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED
BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.
THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS
0307 AM HST FRI 11 MAR 2011
MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.
…SP…
