08 OCT 2009
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*Alaska jet returns to gate; smoke detected in cockpit
*Feds: No ban on air shipments of lithium batteries
*Colombia's Airline Avianca Owner: We Will Need Many Planes 
*Controllers: FAA's computers prone to problems
*Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Receives Flight Test Safety Award
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Alaska jet returns to gate; smoke detected in cockpit
An Alaska Airlines flight preparing to take off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for a flight to Sacramento returned to the terminal gate just before 8 p.m. Wednesday after a cockpit warning light indicated an electrical problem in the Boeing 737-400.
The problem was detected as Flight 374 was taxiing to the runway, said airlines spokeswoman Caroline Boren. Back at the gate, maintenance workers noticed smoke in the cockpit, Boren said. But no smoke was detected in the passenger cabin.
A crew of five and 62 passengers were transferred to another plane for a 9:30 p.m. departure, Boren said.
She said the cause was still being investigated.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010021336_webplane08m.html
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Feds: No ban on air shipments of lithium batteries
WASHINGTON  (AP)— Federal regulators have turned down a request by a pilots union to ban air shipments of lithium batteries despite three new incidents in which battery shipments caught fire.
Instead, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration sent a warning Wednesday to cargo shippers that the government intends to step up enforcement of hazardous materials regulations, especially those that apply to lithium batteries and devices containing the batteries.
The Air Line Pilots Association International, the world's largest pilots union, said increased enforcement won't go nearly far enough.
"Enforcement of inadequate regulations still produces inadequate safety. We still stand behind our call for a temporary ban until new regulations are adopted and enforced," said John Prater, the union's president.
The union in August sent a letter to Cynthia Douglass, the safety administration's acting deputy administrator, calling for a ban. The union said it was alarmed by an increase in incidents in which shipments containing the batteries caught fire. If a battery short-circuits, it can catch fire and ignite other batteries.
Since the union sent its letter, three new incidents involving the batteries have been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration:
_On Sept. 9, a passenger on an American Airlines flight to Los Angeles dropped a "personal electronic device," which then caught fire.
_On Aug. 25, Federal Express workers discovered a "burning and smoking package" at its Medford, Mass., facility. The package containing GPS devices was to be shipped by air to Seattle. Workers cut open the package but were unable to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher. Firefighters were called in.
_On Aug. 15, United Parcel Service's airline hub in Taiwan discovered a smoldering package of batteries sent by a shipper in Macau, China.
Since 1991, more than 40 air transport-related incidents involving lithium batteries and devices powered by lithium batteries have been identified, the safety administration said.
Douglass responded to the union in a letter dated Sept. 29, saying the agency is working on new regulations and hopes to publish a proposal sometime this fall.
It often takes months or years after new regulations are proposed before they receive final approval and are put into affect.
Global concern about the potential for an air crash has been mounting. A panel of the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is meeting in Montreal this week, is expected to spend most of Friday discussing the issue, said Mark Rogers, the pilots union's representative to the meeting.
U.S. government officials attending the meeting have taken the lead in seeking an international solution, Rogers said.
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Colombia's Airline Avianca Owner: We Will Need Many Planes 
BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Newly merged airlines Avianca SA of Colombia and Grupo TACA of El Salvador will need many planes, businessman German Efromovich, the controlling shareholder of the holding company that now owns both airlines, said Wednesday. 
He said the newly merged airlines will expand and operate new routes in Latin America and elsewhere and "we will need many more planes" than both companies were buying separately. 
Avianca is in the middle of a renewal of its fleet that could cost as much as $7 billion and Grupo TACA is also in the process of acquiring new jets. 
TACA mainly operates jets manufactured by Airbus, a unit of EADS (EAD.FR) and a few jets made by Brazil's Embraer (EMBR3.BR), while Avianca flies Airbus jets as well as jets made by Boeing Co (BA), and a few Fokkers. 
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091007-714289.html
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Controllers: FAA's computers prone to problems
WASHINGTON (AP)— A new computer system key to modernization of the nation's air traffic control system has run into problems, raising doubts about whether it can be operational 15 months from now when current computers must be replaced, union officials said Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration tried unsuccessfully to deploy the new computer system last weekend at a regional air traffic control center in Salt Lake City, the first of 20 regional facilities where the computers need to go into operation before the end of 2010.
That's when FAA's contract with IBM to maintain the present computer system expires. The present system used by controllers to guide air traffic relies on a unique computer language called Jovial that's understood by a dwindling number of technicians.
"They are racing the clock here. They have to get this to work — failure is not an option," said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
The computer system is an important part of FAA's plan to switch from an airspace system that tracks aircraft using World War II-era radar technology to one based on satellite technology. Full deployment of the GPS-based system is expected between 2015 and 2020 at a combined cost to the government and the airline industry of about $35 billion.
The switch from the old computer system to the new system was made at the Salt Lake center about 11:30 p.m. MDT Friday. The new system was shut down about nine hours later after it misidentified an airliner, controllers said.
A Continental Airlines plane that had just taken off from Salt Lake City International Airport was identified as a recently landed Skywest Airlines plane even though there was no similarity between the aircraft, they said.
The controller handling the Continental plane spotted the problem right away, but his workload was light at the time — if he had been busier, the problem might have gone undetected and could have led to dangerous miscommunications, controllers said.
"Nobody knew what caused it and whether it would happen again later on," said Doug Pincock, the controllers union representative at the Salt Lake center.
The system also misidentified planes at least twice in other recent tests, he said.
FAA had planned to leave the new computers in operation indefinitely, Pincock said.
In a conference call on Saturday morning after the misidentification, an FAA official in Washington tried to persuade managers in Salt Lake to deploy the system again that night, but they refused, said Pincock, who participated in the call.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown denied any pressure was exerted.
Brown said shutting down the new computer system — known as En Route Automation Modernization, or ERAM — last weekend was always considered an option.
"This is a testing process," Brown said. "They could have continued on ERAM or safely transitioned back to the HOST system, which they did. They were fully prepared for both those scenarios." The current computer system is called HOST.
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Lockheed Martin Test Pilot Receives Flight Test Safety Award
OWEGO, NY.- A Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] helicopter test pilot has received a major flight test safety award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP).
Jerry “Mac” McCawley, 46, a flight safety engineer and test pilot at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY, received the Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award during the SETP’s annual banquet, September 26, in Anaheim, CA.
The Tony LeVier award formally recognizes an individual who has made a significant flight test safety contribution to a specific program, organization or the flight test profession. The award is named for the late Lockheed test pilot who was instrumental in proving the P-38 Lightning design and who flew the first flights of the P-80 Shooting Star, the XF-104 Starfighter, and the U-2.
“During nearly five years at our Owego facility, Mac has been instrumental in flight testing mission systems developed and integrated aboard U.S. military helicopters,” said Jeff Bantle, vice president of Rotary Wing Programs at the Systems Integration – Owego facility. “Mac’s leadership style has proven to be highly effective in promoting a safe working environment in a rigorous flight test environment. We have benefitted enormously from his sound judgment and the practices he has instilled across our flight test operations.”
McCawley routinely flies with U.S. Navy aircrew based at the Owego facility when testing the sophisticated avionics and mission systems aboard new Sikorsky-built MH-60R and MH-60S multimission helicopters. Integration of on-board systems enables the helicopters to efficiently protect the U.S. Navy fleet from submarine and surface threats.
As the chief test pilot for the Unmanned K-MAX cargo lift helicopter, McCawley tests new subsystems that will enable the aircraft to fly without a pilot. Lockheed Martin is working with K-MAX® helicopter manufacturer Kaman Aerospace to transform the manned aircraft — used extensively by the logging industry — into an Unmanned Aerial System that can carry supplies to troops on the battlefield. Lockheed Martin and Kaman will demonstrate the Unmanned K-MAX to the U.S. Marine Corps later this year.
McCawley also flies test missions aboard Lockheed Martin’s UH-1H helicopter. The flight test helicopter is used extensively to put systems through their paces in an airborne environment when they emerge from the development laboratory.
Besides his flight achievements, the SETP also cited McCawley’s safety achievements with ground operations. He led the expanded use of safety gear, such as fall protection devices, used by the maintainers and test teams in the helicopter integration facility. These new procedures have enabled Lockheed Martin Systems Integration – Owego to meet all OSHA and site safety requirements without hindering workload performance.
McCawley graduated U.S. Army flight school in 1983, and for the next seven years flew the AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter as well as the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout helicopter. In 1989, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force flight school, and later qualified as an accident investigator and flight safety officer. During the next 15 years, he was a mission commander, standardization and evaluation pilot, instructor pilot, flight lead, as well as the F-15E Strike Eagle flight demonstration pilot.
In the Air Force, he flew more than 200 combat missions in Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom in the F-15C and F-15E fighter aircraft. He saw additional combat while attached to the 10th Mountain Division as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) in Somalia and Haiti.
Born and raised in Scranton, PA, McCawley lives in Clifford, PA with his wife Cyndi. They have two daughters, Lauren and Jaclyn. He is a member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE), and an associate member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP).
“I’m very honored to receive the Tony LeVier award,” said McCawley. “The recognition reflects the achievements of the entire team I work with here at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration – Owego.”
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration – Owego is the rotary wing center of excellence for Lockheed Martin Corporation. The company has more than 35 years of experience as a leading mission systems integrator of maritime helicopters, including the British Royal Navy’s Merlin Mk 1 helicopter fleet, and two generations of U.S. Navy helicopters, the SH-60B and the MH-60R.
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=105029
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