FAA and DOT Sued For Not Acting On Recommendations

It all started 15 years ago, when the NTSB first issued a list of safety recommendations. Fast forward 15 years, and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still hasn’t taken those recommendations.

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009– Newark, N.J. news conference on aviation Spokesman Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, blamed the FAA for lagging in safety improvements.

National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation is suing federal transportation officials, believing the lack of adoption of safety practices has resulted in accidents like the Continental Connection Flight 3407 crash near Buffalo.

We just posted some of those safety issues;
Or you can take a look at some NTSB’s issues in their report NTSB Icing Safety on Aircraft Ground Icing

Mommy and Daddy are fighting.

But what they’re really doing is shifting the blame to the other guy so when the Buffalo NY lawsuits come down, it’ll be the other guy’s wallet that gets sacked. D’ya think?”

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    Blown Lap Joints and Other Points of Fatigue

    The older 737’s which ruptured their five-foot tops (at the lap joints) are just a drop in the proverbial bucket. Or, if you will, the canary in the cave. Because they are a sign of what is to come, if Boeing, and in fact ALL plane makers, don’t step up the inspection guidelines for metal fatigue in 15 year old planes. The FAA is mandating initial and repetitive electromagnetic inspections “to detect cracking in a specific part of the aircraft that cannot be spotted with visual inspection.” The FAA Emergency Airworthiness Directive pdf can be found here.

    Sure, since the fuselage crack on the Southwest 737 on April 1, older model 737’s have demonstrated a propensity toward metal fatigue. On that particular plane, in March, eight instances were found of cracking in the frame and six cracked stringer clips which hold the skin. To be sure, Southwest did the right thing by grounding its 80 737s and checking them all because it turned out that five of those inspected had cracks in the same location. Those 18-inch roof sections are being repaired according to the recommendations of Boeing and the NTSB with a large aluminum patch

    But what about 15 year old 757s? They should put all the older planes of comparable cycles—let’s not limit this to Boeing!— What about 15 year old Airbuses? —under scrutiny for metal fatigue. Are they not just as likely to blow as a 737?


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  • Unruly: The Ten Cent Solution

    As far as amenities, like leg room, food, wine and beverage service, seat width, pitch, video access, laptop power, and WIFI are concerned, Economy, Premium, Business or First Class offer varying combinations depending on the airline. But for those “unruly” passengers who seem to be in the news more frequently, the airlines should come up with a new, discounted standing-room-only corner class called Time Out.

    For Time Out class, of course, there would be no leg room, service, or amenities whatsoever. I would vote for a metal bar for them to hang on to for stability, but no doubt the airline would probably have to put in some kind of secure safety harness for insurance purposes. And, the unruly being by nature unruly, this time out area would also have to be sound-proofed, to keep from disturbing the other passengers.

    If pressurization weren’t an issue, I’d even suggest a “rumble” seat on the exterior of the plane, from which in an emergency the objectionable passenger could be ejected (with parachute of course, we’re not heathens) or at least isolated. Certainly ejection of a parachuted passenger is a more democratic solution that the threat of fighter jets shooting down a commercial airliner carrying 131 paying customers and 1 drunken idiot. The experience of riding a “rumble seat” would no doubt present an entirely new perspective on flying to the drunken idiot.

    I did mention that this would be a “discounted” class. I would expect that the aforementioned discount would not apply back to the passenger’s wallet; the difference between the origin ticket and the minimal expense of “Time Out” class would be forwarded to establish ongoing psychiatric therapy which would inevitably result from riding the rumble seat on the exterior of a plane.

    Of course, none of this editorial is true–except for the fighter jet escort threatening to shoot down a commercial plane carrying 132 passengers.

    The San Francisco bound flight that was escorted by two F-16 fighter jets was being escorted because a drunken, disruptive passenger locked himself in the bathroom. I do hope when the U.S. Gov’t lets him out of jail, they send him the bill.

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  • Erosion of Safety or Common Sense?

    Last year I was in a plane seat for about 230k miles. The year before, at least that many or more. I believe in being safe up there. Personally, I have no personal problem with body scans. I liked that movie, Modern Problems. I might not mind glowing in the dark. Maybe it would save on electricity.

    Let’s think for a minute about the irony of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) mandate, the government agency whose job it is to protect the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. These Heightened Security Measures are an intrusion on what we expect of what would still like to call a free country.

    Are we naive to believe that we deserve safety measure options which do not insult our privacy? Let me ask all of you out there. Shouldn’t there be an option for people who want to opt out?

    If you’ve forgotten the situation, just google the phrase “Express Jet pilot Michael Roberts” and you will find plenty of news about this pilot who may become the poster child or figurehead of a grassroots backlash against airport screening technology.

    He’s the pilot who flew through Memphis International Airport for years until the TSA told him he could not fly if he did not go through the new scans and be subjected to a full body pat down.

    See that charming graphic sample above? It is not Michael Roberts. But whoever it is, it is certainly an intrusion.

    (The image is not supposed to be recorded, according to the TSA) yet the scanners do have that capability. Minors in the UK are protected from these scans because of fears of child pornography. Adults do not have that protection. Seems like they should.

    And purely in an emotional sense, the eerie images themselves look as if the subject were bathed in radiation, which would jump start all kinds of cancers, make ones hair fall out and have assorted negative health effects, especially over time. Which type of health effects would depend on whether an X-ray backscatter vs millimeter wave were used. In 78 US airports, 247 so-called backscatter machines are installed made by Rapiscan Systems which expose a person to about 0.0025 millirem of radiation (239 are the other type of machine so I can’t tell about those.) What if they malfunction? What if Rapiscan or components goof. People are flawed, we make mistakes. What if like the Cedars Sinai radiation cases, they put out 7-8 times the radiation they are supposed to? TSA agents will get the worst of it. And pilots and airport personnel who have to undergo these scans, sometimes daily. So what if it is not like the immediate disaster in Japan; long term regular exposure—like 4 years worth of weekly scans—could be just as bad, or worse, maybe 50 years down the road like Mesothelioma.

    So one of these scanners was installed at the Memphis International airport and in this (supposedly) free country, when a well-respected pilot objected, he was prevented from going to his job. Rather than my going off on living in a totalitarian state, let me here paste the link to his blog.

    And here are Michael’s own words on the subject:

    Michael Roberts:

    We just filed an amendment to our complaint with the District Court in D.C. – nothing earth shattering, but it’s got us back in the news a little bit recently. I also gave testimony to a Texas state legislature committee yesterday regarding a series of bills they’re looking at to outlaw TSA’s shenanigans at the state level. The fight goes on, whether the major media care to acknowledge it or not.

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    21st Century Air Traffic Control: GAATS+ Technology

    New technologies in aviation come about to solve problems and make air travel safer. From this new technology, controllers will have increased situational awareness.

    Air traffic control relies on positive and procedural navigation: positive uses radar; procedural uses the radio-procedure of pilots reporting their position every few minutes.

    Gander Automated Air Traffic System Plus (GAATS+) is Canada’s new trans-oceanic flight control system developed especially to help deal with sixty percent (the percentage of jets equipped with GPS position-reporting and text-based communications avionics) of the thousand jets crossing the North Atlantic daily (just as Air France 447 did.) It reduces radio procedure by extending positive control via north coast radar feeds.

    The new technology is an advance in integration which automates ATC processes (taking advantage of the newest GPS technology, ADS-B and ADS-C) and is expected to save client airlines a million in fuel yearly. It is said that GAATS+ “provides significant enhancements to the original GAATS system, including electronic flight strips and increased automation of data exchange with other ATC facilities. GAATS+ also integrates automated flight plan processing, track generation, advanced conflict prediction and data-link communication for position reports.”

    Of course I can not help but have opinions on operational technology, even without a single tangible thing that qualifies me to have an opinion.

    The phrase that caught my eye is the statement that “GAATS allows reduced separation by lessening reliance solely on procedural control.”

    I am not now nor will I ever be working in a control room. I will have to take the word of Air Traffic Controllers on how this system will work at making flying safer.

    My opinion is only based on a layman’s experience and too much attention paid to aviation detail. I only see a few sticking points and they are broad ones:

    • The technology conundrum: Technology is good because it brings greater efficiency; but sometimes I wonder if a reliance on technology will allow skills to atrophy. Will a system like this ultimately result in less able controllers, the same way cockpit technology has resulted in less able pilots?
    • Separation conundrumI hear the phrase greater separation, and I think, “okay, these planes won’t impact each other; they’re safe from direct contact and wake turbulence.” So when I just see the GAATS literature talking about enabling “reduced separation,” what perceive a greater possibility for direct contact and/or wake turbulence. I know the idea of a 5 minute longitudinal separation as opposed to ten is intended to mean greater capacity for traffic. But increased technological accuracy and precision in tracking jets is a good thing only as long as we don’t use the precision in a way that is ultimately chancy.
    • New software conundrum Anyone who has ever had a system knows that the bugs in the system don’t show up right away. They are discovered at various points whenever parameters are stretched or unexpected /unanticipated/ extraordinary events occur. Even when software is not beta any longer, ( las GAATS+ is the latest incarnation of existing GAATS), it is still a developing work in progress, as new problems are revealed and are bridged. So we can only hope that any bugs that exist will not be fatal ones.
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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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    Happy New Year

    Dear Friends and Family and 2016,

    Best wishes to all.
    2016, I must tell you that you were a hectic year, crazy in many ways, with wins and losses, some that cut us deeply, and some that inspired us. You were in all ways unexpected. I must introduce myself. I am no one special, just one among the billions of your survivors. I am not an elected spokesperson. I am just a man with something to say to you. Thanks for the good and the bad; thanks for the memories. You gave us Trump, not my first choice but he is our president now, and we have to support him.
    2016, I am sad to confess that in the past three hundred and sixty five days, I did not finish all my work. Not your fault. The wheels of justice roll at their own pace. Three airline cases this year and some older cases too, are unfinished, so they must be part of my baggage moving on, along with everything I learned and loved in 2016. Of course I will look back and try to make sense of you, but I am not writing today to look back. I’m not going to be caught on January 1st facing backward. I am saying goodbye to you, and opening the door to an amazing future. Onward and upward.

    Sometimes the passage of time is a little unbelievable. I’ve been writing books set a couple of years back in time, little fictional landscapes in history, mostly in Los Angeles. I began Mario 4, and expect to finish in 2017. It’s a great thing to be able to do, to revisit a familiar time, and play around with it, then to come out of the writing coma, to find myself quite unbelievably on the cusp of 2017, coming up for air with a piece of the mid-sixties like this one to take into next year: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” I have decided that this will be the watchword of my 2017.

    2016, as years go, you were exceptional, but it is time to lay you to rest. I will not mourn you, but fill my arms and heart with you to carry on all of your good into the rollercoaster of next year. If my wishes for the future come true, 2017 will be filled to bursting with life and love for everyone, dreams and goals to work toward, and all shadows banished. Every year finds its way.

    Good night 2016. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

    To my family and friends, colleagues and cohorts, strangers and future friends, may the dream of a better day become reality, and 2017 be the best year we have ever had.

    Good morning 2017.

    George Hatcher

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