Full body scanners will be used in the Netherlands for flights to the US. There had been US objection based on privacy, but the recent terror threat has overcome the earlier objections. Such scanners likely would have alerted security guards to the materials hidden by Abdulmutallab on his person.
Neither the European Union nor the US have approved the routine use of the scanners at European airports.
– As the busy summer flying season approaches, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta today met with leaders from the general aviation community to agree on actions to enhance safety and reduce accidents. The general aviation fatal accident rate has remained flat over the past five years and 149 fatal accidents already have occurred so far this fiscal year, killing 262 people.
“We cannot become complacent about safety,” Huerta said. “Together, we must improve the safety culture to drive the GA fatal accident rate lower.”
In the short term, the group agreed to raise awareness on the importance of basic airmanship and to promote a positive safety culture. The following organizations attended the meeting and are partnering with the FAA to reach out to the many diverse facets of the general aviation community: Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA), Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Helicopter Association International (HAI), International Council of Air Shows (ICAS), National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA), National Air Transportation Association (NATA), National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA).
For the long term, Administrator Huerta called on the aviation community to install life-saving equipment (angle of attack indicators, inflatable restraints, two-axis autopilots) in older airplanes, to improve general aviation data, and to improve airman certification testing and training. To meet these goals, the general aviation community and the FAA agreed to work together to move forward as quickly as possible on three key initiatives:
Participate and invest in the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC): Industry participation is key to data analysis that leads to the development of voluntary safety enhancements. The group uses a data driven process modeled on the highly successful Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST). Sharing data through the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system and other voluntary programs will help educate and shape the safety culture of the GA community. The FAA plans to expand ASIAS to general aviation in the next few years. FAA and industry will work together to find incentives to increase voluntary reporting.
Support the overhaul of airmen testing and training standards: An industry and government working group is overhauling the standards by incorporating risk management and decision-making into flight training and testing.
Expedite the Part 23 certification process to reduce costs and install new technology in airplanes: An industry and government committee is working on streamlining certification for the installation of certain safety technologies.
Transport Canada’s Enhanced Monitoring System http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/opssvs/managementservices-referencecentre-documents-sur-sur-002-1028.htm is an aviaition surveillance program, the entry into which is based on an airline’s failure to meet minimum requirements. A score of 3, 4, 5 or a score of 2 where there are minor or moderate findings and there is no evidence of systemic failures, will return the certificate holder to routine monitoring. A score of 1 will result in the issuance of a Notice of Suspension.
A plane which made an emergency landing (termed a miracle landing, and the pilot heavily lauded) while carrying three Grade 9 geography students from White Oaks Secondary School was under enhanced monitoring at the time; and since the emergency, has been suspended.
The plane made an emergency landing with the students in a field. For twenty years, Spectrum Airways has had an agreement with the Halton District School Board to provide scenic flights for Grade 9 geography students. The Cessna Skyhawk 172 had run out of fuel, and the pilot landed with no damage or injuries, landing in a field behind Corpus Christi Catholic Secondary School.
Burlington Airpark, Spectrum Airways and Kovachik Aircraft Maintenance are responsible for maintenance.
What: Ontario Limited-Spectrum Airways Cessna 172M Skyhawk en route from Burlington Airport
Where: 1 KM south of Corpus Christi Catholic Secondary School, Canada
When: May 5, 2011
Who: 23 year old pilot, 3 passengers
Why: The plane made a safe emergency landing behind the school. On landing, the gas tank was empty. The pilot avoided homes, power lines, and a student rally in the parking lot.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India, grounded two business jets belonging to Business Jet India Private Limited and Span Air for violating safety norms during its safety audit of non-scheduled operators (NSOPs).
During the inspection of the Cessna aircraft belonging to Business Jets India, the aviation regulator found that the crew on-board were not properly trained in safety and emergency procedures. The log books and the operation manuals were outdated and the lavatory had unnecessary goods which is strictly prohibited. The Business Jets India Private Limited operates three Hawker 850 XP aircrafts in addition to the Cessna Citation CJ2 aircraft in and out of India. The company is a subsidiary of Singapore-based BJETS Private Limited. Tata group also has a stake in it.
Moreover, the aviation regulator also found some significant deficiencies in the Hawker 900XP aircraft registered VT-BKL with SpanAir. It was observed that the crew were not properly trained in safety and emergency procedures, the life vest had passed its expiry date and the operations manual and the route guides were outdated. SpanAir has four more aircrafts –a seven-seater Beech Super King Air B-200; a six-seater Premier 1A, Bell 407GX and Bell 420 helicopters.
At smaller airports, the controllers direct traffic and manage the airfield. Currently, pilots using the Beckley-area airport talk among themselves to advise themselves of traffic.
An actual, physical tower would cost between $2 million and $3 million, with an ongoing annual expense of $450,000 for maintenance. A virtual tower would be far less expensive.
Quadrex Aviation LLC, based in Melbourne, Fla. is developing a plan for a computer-driven control tower for Raleigh County Airport Authority. The report will be out in September. “If this does work as advertised, or even better than we imagined, then that holds the promise out to a lot of airports that could never afford to justify a control tower in the first place, and to provide that level of safety in an environment where you’ve got a lot of people trying to occupy the same air space.” according to Dr. David Byers, senior development professional for Quadrex Aviation LLC. And, regarding the Beckley area airport, “It’s kind of like an airport graduating from a two-way stop at an intersection to a four-way stop, and you reach a certain point say, at a four-way stop, and if you’ve ever been in that situation, well, who’s next? You may decide, ‘Well, you’re next,’ and somebody has the same opinion and attitude, and the next thing you know, there’s a conflict there. The concept at Beckley is to explore the opportunity of actually setting up a facility where they can test the technologies, to see ‘here’s what we think it’s going to do,’ and to put it in a facility where it can be managed and monitored to see if it’s doing what it’s advertised to do and get some feedback from the pilots and essentially be a prototype of other systems that could go up around the country.”
New plane safety requirements: Plane seats will be required to stay in place when subjected to stresses up to 16 times the force of gravity.
John and Jane Q Crash dummy will need to scoot over now, to let in some new blood.
And airbags are coming. In first class, anyway. Maybe those not in first class will just have to die.
Two new mandates are on order: sturdier seats and airbags.
Date of compliance is Oct. 27 for new airplanes certified prior to 1988. Older planes with an older seat style aren’t required to be compliant, under the assumption that age will naturally phase them out.
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-13093.htm
There is a lot of buzz going on right now with so many air traffic controllers caught sleeping on the job. Everyone is lowering the boom on these individuals, and perhaps it is rightly so. And yet it seems to me that it is not a complete coincidence that suddenly in 2011, multiple air traffic controllers are caught sleeping on the job. Has this never happened before? Has no one ever noted it?
This is in addition to an increase in controller errors. However, the increase in controller errors is (supposedly) a statistical glitch–not more errors actually but more reportage due to a new non-punative reporting system.
It makes me wonder what has led to the circumstance of lone air traffic controllers manning all-night shifts. Has this been going on for decades? Or is this a recent development of economic cutbacks and our changing fuel economy, and our highly qualified personnel may be fighting to keep a position even on the swing shift, as job alternatives dwindle.
Why is there an evening shift at all when the airlines have been combining flights and canceling flights, and rearranging flights and consolidating fights for economy’s sake? If the fact that an airport with minimal evening traffic chooses to have a lone overnight ATC shift, the act is practically a lagniappe. And if that is the case, then how sad it is that an act of extended service has turned to bite those offering the service.
We do not put a lifeguard on the beach during the night when there are no swimmers, when swimming in dark waters is foolish. And yet, if we did place a lifeguard on that beach, we would not expect him to sleep. But would we expect him to stare out at the waters all night with no concession to human biorhythm? Is that not somewhat cruel? By the way, FAA’s rules forbid a controller from doing anything not directly related to air traffic control.
When I hear the head of the FAA Air Traffic Organization Hank Krakowski has stepped down, it leads me to suspect that there is some scheduling pattern or policy that is directly attributable to him, something he did to disrupt the culture of air traffic control, that may be behind the significant coincidence of six (or more) sleeping ATControllers. I do not know if his stepping down is typical bureaucratic scapegoating, if he is doing the honorable thing because he’s in charge and the buck stops with him, or if he is truly responsible for some policy change that has led to the sleeping ATC.
There are solutions, but they won’t be solutions today’s citizen of “instant everything” will like. There will be either the hiring more than just two controllers to turn night to day; or there will be (eventually) curtailing night flights and a loss of 24 hour conveniences.
