14 SEP 2009 _______________________________________ *FAA recommends specific training to prevent cowl loss *Eurocontrol investigating more frequent oceanic reporting *Improving air safety (Indonesia) *Berkshire's NetJets Eliminates More Than 300 Jobs *JAL Shares Jump on American Airlines, Delta Talks **************************************** FAA recommends specific training to prevent cowl loss The US FAA wants operators of Airbus A319 and Bombardier CRJ100/200 aircraft to develop type-specific training programmes to help mechanics and pilots verify that engine-fan cowls are properly latched before flight. The Information for Operators note, published earlier this week, follows numerous incidents where unlatched covers have separated from the aircraft in flight or on the ground. According to the FAA, there have been 15 such events involving Airbus single-aisle aircraft since 1992 and 33 incidents involving the CRJ models since 2001, including six cases in 2007. "Despite the release of an FAA airworthiness directive (AD) for Airbus single-aisle airplanes and numerous bulletins for Airbus single-aisle and Bombardier CL-600-2B19 (CRJ 100/200) model airplanes, engine-fan cowl separations have continued to occur," the agency writes. The FAA is recommending that carriers operating the aircraft "develop a training program for maintenance personnel and flight crews on inspection procedures to verify that the engine-fan's cowl is latched". The agency is also asking that the carriers revise procedures to require maintenance crews to inform flight crews when engine-fan cowls have been opened before flight. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Eurocontrol investigating more frequent oceanic reporting Eurocontrol's single European sky air traffic management research (SESAR) agency has been tasked by the European Commission with investigating the costs and benefits of increasing the frequency of oceanic reporting for airline flights, Flight Global has learned. The request, revealed during the US FAA's annual international aviation safety conference in Washington DC this week, comes in the aftermath of the loss of Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 with 228 on board that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of Brazil on 1 June. Officials called off the search for the aircraft's voice and flight data recorders on 20 August. SESAR executive director Patrick Ky says position reporting intervals, depending on an aircraft's location in the Atlantic, vary from 10-20 minutes. Considering a cruise airspeed of 500kt, a 20 minute position results in a position uncertainty of approximately 170 nm (315km). "The level of uncertainty of position is extremely high," says Ky. While technology is not a barrier to better position knowledge, the cost for sending additional data over satellite links could be a sticking point. Ky says part of the project, which has "just started", will be to work with satellite service providers to "see if there's a way to lower costs". One possibility could be to buy services in bulk, as a large number of carriers would have to use the service to justify the benefit of avoiding a lengthy search for data recorders. "We have to do this in a global manner," he says. "It must be institutional." The study, which Ky says is "just starting", will also look at lowering the cost of the data service by increasing the position reports only if "severe conditions exist" or if aircraft health monitors indicate certain abnormal conditions. SESAR also plans to look at the possibility of down-linking additional performance data with the position reports or otherwise, a parallel effort with work underway at Airbus, and to design triggers for when a search and rescue (SAR) operation should be launched. "In the case of Flight 447, there was some time in which no one knew what to do in terms of launching a SAR effort," Ky explains. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news **************** Improving air safety (Indonesia) New planes and strict checks since new law was passed last year Last December, a law was passed that requires airlines and regulators to conform to strict rules. Since then, the permits of 25 airlines that are no longer in operation have been revoked. -- PHOTO: AFP JAKARTA - FOLLOWING a spate of air crashes, Indonesia has pulled up its socks when it comes to air safety. By 2012, all Indonesian airlines are required by law to have at least 10 planes in their stable, of which five must be owned. This is to ensure that they are financially healthy and will not stint on operating costs. Aviation analyst Dudi Sudibyo recounted how domestic carrier Adam Air - which was shut down last year - reportedly crammed a few pilots, instead of just one, into a flight simulator during pilot training. The government and the airlines themselves have driven this change, in part spurred by the embarrassing ban on the 51 Indonesian airlines by the European Union (EU) in July 2007 after a spate of air crashes. Last December, a law was passed that requires airlines and regulators to conform to strict rules. Since then, the permits of 25 airlines that are no longer in operation have been revoked. Safety inspectors have been trained to check up on planes and the crew to see that they are operating safely, now that the Transport Ministry is required by the new law to conduct a safety audit on airlines every three months, and suspend those which fail the audit. Carriers such as Garuda Airlines have bought new planes, while improvements to some airports are also under way. In Makassar, Sulawesi, the airport runway has been extended. Elsewhere, radar systems have been upgraded so that flight control towers can better track planes when they land, said aerodynamics expert Oetarjo Diran. Professor Diran, who used to chair a national air safety panel, said it is going to take time and more money for improvements across the archipelago, but said that he is optimistic. Indonesia has the dubious distinction of topping the world's list for air crashes. There have been 2,176 fatal accidents since 1943, compared with 1,141 in the Philippines and 1,976 in Japan in the same time period. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_429454. html *************** Berkshire's NetJets Eliminates More Than 300 Jobs Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- NetJets Inc., the unprofitable plane-leasing unit owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is cutting more than 300 jobs after replacing its chief executive officer. "Severe economic conditions facing the aviation industry" have reduced demand for flights, Columbus, Ohio-based NetJets said today in an e-mailed statement. Ted Lowen, a spokesman for NetJets, said the cuts could affect as many as 350 employees. The company said the reduction involves about 5 percent of staff, which was about 8,000 at the end of 2008. David Sokol, who took over as CEO at NetJets last month, is reorganizing a business that owns more planes than needed to serve companies and wealthy clients that are scaling back on travel amid the recession. Under Sokol's predecessor, Richard Santulli, the company posted pretax losses of $96 million in the first quarter and $253 million in the second. "With all that's happened in the last year, demand for that product has really fallen off," said Justin Fuller, a partner at Midway Capital Research & Management who runs the buffettologist.com Web site. "They're having to rationalize their business." Buffett has said that Berkshire would cut jobs and close facilities run by some of its operating units as the recession weighs on results. Berkshire reduced the number of workers at Clayton Homes Inc., which makes pre-fabricated housing, by 16 percent last year to 11,998. Shaw Industries, the largest U.S. carpet-maker, cut 6.2 percent of its workforce and employed 28,974 at year-end, Berkshire said in its annual report. 'No Alternative' "Business conditions can change such as to necessitate temporary and permanent layoffs," Buffett told investors at Berkshire's shareholder meeting in May. "There's really no alternative." NetJets, which had previously furloughed some pilots, recorded "downsizing costs" of $192 million in the second quarter. Buffett picked Sokol, Berkshire's top energy executive, to run NetJets until a permanent replacement is found. The appointment added to speculation that he may one day succeed the billionaire investor as CEO of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire. Santulli stepped down from the company he created after about 25 years. In 1986, he invented the notion of "fractional" jet ownership, in which individuals and companies purchase shares of a private plane's flying time in lieu of buying the jet. Buffett was a NetJets customer before acquiring the company from Santulli in 1998 for $725 million in cash and stock. Berkshire bankrolled NetJets' fleet of Boeings, Citations and Gulfstreams. It also underwrote the company's expansion to Europe. Berkshire slipped $90 to $99,000 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading. The shares have gained 2.5 percent this year. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAEFzKSadxTg *************** JAL Shares Jump on American Airlines, Delta Talks TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Airlines (JAL)shares jumped on Monday following news that the struggling airline was in talks on investment by American Airlines and Delta Airlines . The shares opened up 9.2 percent before trimming gains to 174 yen a gain of 6.7 percent, outperforming a 1.6 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average. "JAL shares will stay high today, as uncertainties about its financial conditions are eased by the report of investment," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, manager of equities at Daiwa Securities SMBC. "However, whether JAL can turn around its business is another story. A focus is on details of the possible deals and how JAL capitalizes on them to reform its management." JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenues, lost about $1 billion last quarter and has been seeking investors to prop up its finances for a state-supervised overhaul expected to include job cuts, a reduction in routes and asset sales. American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp , has been in talks to invest in JAL and form a joint venture to expand their business partnership, a source with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Sunday. JAL is also weighing an offer from Delta, a source told Reuters last week. According to Japanese media, Delta would inject up to 50 billion yen ($553.8 million) into JAL and wants a tie-up that would include code-sharing on international flights. JAL is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance with American Airlines while Delta is a member of the rival SkyTeam group. ($1=90.28 Yen) http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/13/business/business-us-jal.html ************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC