Press Release: Alternative Aviation Fuels — Not Just an FAA Priority

The professional association The Association of European Airlines has published an official statement protesting how European airports are “jacking up their fees” at a time when consumers are seriously tightening their belts. Cited as an offender is the 8.4% increase charged by Frankfurt Airport, who is “pre-financing expansion through higher ticket prices.”

Norway by contrast has frozen its fees.

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) brings together 33 European established scheduled network carriers. These collectively carry 366 million passengers and 7 million tonnes of cargo each year, operating 2,617 aircraft serving 662 destinations in 162 countries with 11,585 flights a day. They provide around 394,200 jobs directly, and generate a total turnover of €79 billion.

Paris, 01 June 2009 – 20:30 local time
Press release N° 6
Versão brasileira abaixo

Air France is doing its utmost to provide support for relatives and friends.

Medical and psychological assistance involving 15 specialist physicians has been set up at Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 and Rio de Janeiro airports.

Some one hundred voluntary members of Air France staff are backing up the teams in Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Rio de Janeiro.

Air France has also established a special toll-free number for the relatives and friends of passengers.

Phone numbers reserved for relatives and friends

0800 800 812 in France,
0800 881 20 20 in Brazil,
and + 33 1 57 02 10 55 for calls from all other countries.

Air France will release further information as soon as it is available.

NB: We ask journalists not to call this number, which is reserved for relatives and close friends.
Português

A Air France está fazendo tudo ao seu alcance para dar apoio aos familiares e pessoas próximas aos passageiros.

Os familiares estão sendo encaminhados a um hotel na Barra da Tijuca, no Rio de Janeiro, onde podem se hospedar se assim desejarem. Além disso, uma equipe de médicos e psicólogos está no local para total assistência, sendo: 4 psicológos, 2 psiquiatras e dois clínicos.

Equipes médica e psicológica também estão disponíveis no aeroporto do Galeão, no rio e no de Paris – Charles de Gaulle.

Cerca de 100 voluntários da Air France reforçam as equipes dos aeroportos de Paris Charles de Gaulle e do Rio de Janeiro.

Números toll free estão disponíveis para atendimento às famílias:

Para todo o Brasil: 0800 881 2020;
Para a França: 0800 800 812;
Para outros países: + 33 1 57 02 10 55

NB : Solicitamos aos jornalistas que NÃO liguem para este número, reservado às famílias.

National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 23, 2010
SB-10-09

NTSB CHAIRMAN HIGHLIGHTS RUNWAY SAFETY AND HUMAN FATIGUE IN
ADDRESS TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS
Washington, DC – In an address to the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association (NATCA) in Orlando today, NTSB
Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman lauded controllers for their
role in keeping the number of runway incursions low while
challenging the Federal Aviation Administration to hasten
the pace of its efforts to improve runway safety.

Attributing the decline in runway related incidents and
accidents in part to “robust procedures, safe designs, and
well-trained and alert controllers and pilots,” Hersman said
that “we still have a lot of work to do,” and that the FAA
needs to move more aggressively to lower the risk of runway
accidents.

Hersman chaired the NTSB’s February meeting in which runway
safety was again voted onto its Most Wanted List of Safety
Improvements where it has been since its inception in 1990.
The Safety Board’s recommendations to the FAA includes
providing immediate warnings of probable collisions and
incursions directly to flight crews in the cockpit;
requiring specific ATC clearance for each runway crossing;
requiring operators to install cockpit moving map displays
or an automatic system that alerts pilots when a takeoff is
attempted on a taxiway or a runway other than the one
intended; and requiring a landing distance assessment with
an adequate safety margin for every landing.

Citing an ongoing investigation of an incident in which a
767 landed on a taxiway in Atlanta in October, Hersman said
that the NTSB took a strong interest in the event “because
we want to know what led a professional flight crew to
mistake a taxiway for a runway, whether the controllers
could have detected the misaligned final approach to landing
and intervened, and whether there are technological tools
that can be used to prevent such incidents from ever
occurring in the first place.” Although no one was injured
in the incident, Hersman said that “if this event had
resulted in a fatal collision, there would be – far and wide
– immediate and understandable calls for changes.”

Hersman also cited human fatigue as an area that the Safety
Board has become particularly focused on, saying that “We
are seeing fatigue as a causal or contributing factor in
numerous accidents across all transportation modes.” The
NTSB has made recommendations to the FAA to set working hour
limits for flight crews, aviation mechanics, and air traffic
controllers, and has asked the FAA develop a fatigue
awareness and countermeasures training program for
controllers and those who schedule them for duty.

Recently, NATCA and the FAA established a working group to
collaboratively address the human fatigue issues that the
NTSB has identified. Hersman noted the significance of this
positive step by the leadership of both organizations and
called it a very encouraging development.

Concluding with an invitation for air traffic controllers to
participate in a three-day forum on pilot and controller
excellence that the NTSB will be holding in Washington in
May, Hersman emphasized the value of learning from the
numerous examples of superior job performance by
controllers. “Through our work we are very good at finding
out what went wrong, but frankly, it is just as important to
know what is going right, because we want to replicate that
throughout the entire national airspace system,” she said.

The complete text of Chairman Hersman’s speech may be
obtained on the Board’s website at
http://www.ntsb.gov/Speeches/hersman/daph100323.html

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