21 JAN 2010 _________________________________________ *FAA: No tail strike for JFK Alitalia 767-300 *Southwest Plane Out Of Oakland Hit By Lightning Near Burbank *Safety zone prevents 'catastrophic tragedy' when jet aborts takeoff in West Virginia *Crushable concrete cushions CRJ overrun at Yeager *Potential Defects in Cockpit-Door Locks Worry Officials *FAA Issues Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program Update *Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar (CASS) 2010 ***************************************** FAA: No tail strike for JFK Alitalia 767-300 The US FAA says pilots of an Alitalia Boeing 767-300 (AZA60M) taking off from New York John F Kennedy International airport on 15 January damaged a plastic bumper covering on the aircraft's tail skid, but did not over-rotate to the point of causing a tail strike. Pilots of Delta Air Lines Flight 82, a Boeing 737 that had just landed after a flight from Denver, had radioed JFK tower controllers that they believed the Alitalia 767 had "struck its tail on the runway when rotating". The 737 was on an adjacent taxiway. After being informed of the concern by controllers, the 767 crew opted to burn fuel while holding in the vicinity of JFK for approximately one hour before returning to the airport to land, says the FAA. In the meantime, runway inspections revealed no indication of a tail strike. After an inspection at the airport, the flight departed for Rome. The FAA continues to investigate the incident. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news *************** Southwest Plane Out Of Oakland Hit By Lightning Near Burbank BURBANK, Calif. -- A Southwest Airlines flight that departed from Oakland International Airport made contact with lightning near Burbank Wednesday morning, but no one was injured, an airline spokeswoman said. Southwest flight No. 1475 left Oakland at about 8:25 a.m. and was hit by lightning upon arrival near the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, airline spokeswoman Brandy King said. The plane made a safe landing and no one on the Boeing 737 aircraft was injured. King said another plane, flight No. 1580, that had departed from Sacramento also encountered lightning as it approached Burbank this morning. There was no report of injuries to passengers on that flight, she said. "It's not completely unique for an aircraft to encounter (lightning)," King said. Both aircraft were taken into maintenance to be inspected, she said. http://www.ktvu.com/news/22298803/detail.html **************** Safety zone prevents 'catastrophic tragedy' when jet aborts takeoff in West Virginia A runway safety system is being credited with preventing "a catastrophic tragedy" yesterday at Yeager Airport in the West Virginia capital of Charleston. The incident occurred around 4:20 p.m. ET yesterday when a US Airways Express Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jet aborted takeoff at the last second, coming to a stop just before a steep drop at the end of the airport's runway. "We were taking off on the runway, (the pilot) was going at full speed," 21-year-old college student Lindsey Robinson tells the Charleston Daily Mail. "All of a sudden he put on the brakes, and the plane was engulfed in smoke and debris." The jet stopped about 100 feet short of the end of the runway, which sits above a valley overlooking the Kanawha River and the city of Charleston, according to The Charlotte Observer. "If it hadn't been for the EMAS, I'm convinced a catastrophic accident would have occurred," Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper tells The Charleston Gazette. None among the 31 passengers and three crew on the Charlotte-bound flight were injured, but officials credit recent safety upgrades at Yeager Airport for saving lives. The Gazette writes the airport's "safety zone" at the end of the runway "contains a runway-wide Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS), comprised of concrete blocks designed to collapse under the weight of an airplane and bring it to a safe stop. It was installed in 2008 for $5 million as part of Yeager's new runway extension project." (At least two local media reports put the total cost of the safety system at closer to $13 million). Carper tells the Daily Mail officials were criticized over the costly safety system when it was added. "People made fun of us for it," Carper tells the Daily Mail. But, in the end, the cost is "not important," Carper says to Charleston radio station WCHS. "This is what is important. The Board of Yeager Airport, Senator Byrd, Senator Rockefeller, Governor Manchin, and others felt that we had to do this. We made the investment, and we saved lives." Now, airport officials will have to come up with more money to fix the EMAS damage caused in Tuesday's incident. Officials put the cost at several million dollars. As for the US Airways Express flight's aborted takeoff, officials say they're still looking into the cause, though several passengers are quoted as saying the pilot announced he was responding to a warning signal. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=15898.blog **************** Crushable concrete cushions CRJ overrun at Yeager A crushable concrete arresting system designed and installed by Zodiac subsidiary ESCO prevented a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ200 from plunging down an embankment at the Yeager airport in Charleston, West Virginia on 19 January after a high-speed rejected takeoff. According to airport and airline officials, US Airways Express Flight 2495, en route to Charlotte with 31 passengers and three crew, came to rest approximately 46m (150ft) into the 123m engineered material arresting system (EMAS) bed at approximately 16:20EST. There were no injuries to the passengers and crew, who deplaned on the runway. The airport installed the system at the end of Runway 23 in May 2007 to prevent aircraft from descending a steep hillside directly behind the runway. The 123m EMAS bed provides the equivalent of an FAA-required 305m (1,000ft) runway safety area for the types of aircraft using the airport. The system is designed to stop an aircraft the size of a CRJ travelling at 70kt (130km/h) with no reverse thrust and poor braking when it leaves the runway. ESCO has installed more than 44 systems in the USA and four beds internationally since 1996, and has 16- to-20 additional beds under contract, says ESCO spokesman Kevin Quan. EMAS is credited with six saves to date, including the Charleston overrun this week and the capture of a Mexicana Airlines A320 at Chicago O'Hare after a landing excursion in 2008. The CRJ200 (N246PS) was removed and the runway reopened within 6h of the incident, according to the airport. The NTSB has launched an investigation into the rejected takeoff and overrun, says the FAA. PSA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news ************** Potential Defects in Cockpit-Door Locks Worry Officials By ANDY PASZTOR Airlines and aviation authorities around the globe are worried that cockpit door locks installed on at least 1,600 widely used jetliners to keep intruders from accessing flight decks might be defective, according to people familiar with the details. Regulators from the U.S., Europe and other countries are scrambling to ensure that airlines complete mandated repairs in the coming months on some 800 Boeing Co. 747 jumbo jets, these people said. U.S. airlines also are under the gun to fix cockpit doors on hundreds more Airbus A320s or other commonly used Airbus models. Overall, industry officials and security experts estimate that thousands of commercial jets world-wide still require some type of cockpit-door modification In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, regulators required airlines to fortify cockpit doors and add what were supposed to be impregnable locking mechanisms. But over the years, regulators and industry security experts began to discover potential security gaps in these high-tech systems. The latest problems underscore how difficult it is to install a foolproof solution. The Federal Aviation Administration in September, without any public disclosure, ordered U.S. airlines to fix the electrically operated locking mechanisms of reinforced cockpit doors on Boeing 747 passenger and cargo jumbo jets. The European Aviation Safety Agency quickly followed suit, putting a brief mention of the required modifications on its Web site that was devoid of all details. Some FAA officials, concerned about the sensitive nature of the glitches, were upset about the European decision to put out public notification, according to people close to the process. The sweeping directives, which together are intended to cover more than 800 of the jumbo jets used around the globe, haven't been previously reported. According to people familiar with the details, the electrical controls or the bolts used to secure the doors can jam or fail to operate properly. It isn't clear how many of the 747 aircraft already have had the work done, though several people familiar with the details said repairs could stretch out for months. The latest hardware changes aimed at eliminating nagging defects in anti-hijack doors come amid heightened public and government security concerns, highlighted by the Christmas bombing attempt on a Northwest Airlines jet approaching Detroit. The moves also follow at least three previous rounds of regulations mandating widespread changes to fortified cockpit doors. Those earlier glitches included defective electrical systems that could jam doors in the open position, smolder after being locked and, in some cases, even be opened by certain nearby radio transmissions. Pilots have filed scores of confidential reports detailing such failures. The current 747 repairs are only part of the current efforts to make cockpit doors more secure. Starting in August 2008, the EASA ordered European carriers to install upgraded bolts and overheat-protection systems on roughly 1,600 narrow-body Airbus A319, A320 and A321 models. In addition to security issues, such malfunctions pose safety hazards-including possible major aircraft structural damage-if they prevent immediate opening of the door in case of a rapid decompression in the cockpit. At the time, the agency said efforts by Airbus-a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.-to make the fixes were lagging behind expectations, "making mandatory action necessary." European carriers were ordered to complete fixes by the end of March 2009. Eventually, the modifications may affect a total of approximately 4,000 Airbus jets in service around the globe. Now, the FAA wants U.S carriers flying roughly 800 of those same Airbus models to complete different cockpit door modifications, and that process is expected to stretch at least into the spring. FAA officials declined to comment on any pending or future cockpit door fixes, citing the sensitive nature of the security directives. Airbus and Boeing officials also declined to comment. The latest directives follow a string of unrelated malfunctions and mandated fixes of cockpit locks on various airliner models dating back more than six years. As early as 2004, Airbus and Boeing realized that high-tech doors on more than 2,000 jets were vulnerable to electro-magnetic interference, sometimes from something as simple as a handheld radio. Engineering changes solved the problem. But two years later, the agency went public with an unrelated safety hazard, The FAA issued a so-called airworthiness directive requiring modification of certain electronics used in the cockpit doors of Boeing 747, 767 and 777 aircraft. "The defect, if not corrected, could result in a failure of the equipment, which could jeopardize flight safety," the FAA concluded. The FAA directive referred to a service bulletin issued by Northwest Aerospace Technologies Inc., a subcontractor for the lock control systems. Last week, a spokesman for the company, based in Everett, Wash., declined to comment. In July, the FAA issued a security directive covering cockpit door modifications to McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-90 aircraft, and EASA adopted those as well. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703405704575015410398239210.ht ml?mod=googlenews_wsj **************** FAA Issues Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program Update FAA has issued a new Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program fact sheet that summarizes the agency's safety initiatives since the 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 emergency landing in New York's Hudson River. Among these initiatives, FAA listed its decision to make public the National Wildlife Strike Database; the certification alert issued to airport operators on June 11, 2009, reminding them of their obligation under Part 139 to conduct Wildlife Hazard Assessments if they experience a triggering event; and the agency's continuing efforts to utilize technology to warn aircraft of wildlife hazards. The new fact sheet is available at http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=11105. http://www.aviationnews.net/?do=headline&news_ID=175528 *************** Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar (CASS) 2010 Presented by Flight Safety Foundation and National Business Aviation Association May 11-13, 2010 Hilton El Conquistador, Tucson, Arizona Here's where they all converge: technical presentations, informal discussion, personal interaction and exhibitors. Last year more than 400 corporate aviation specialists emerged from the seminar with new knowledge and ideas. Presenters will examine such topics as corporate FOQA (C-FOQA); training to prevent in-flight upsets; current helicopter safety issues; tools for safety management system (SMS) implementation; fatigue risk management by small operators; head-up guidance system technology; and much more. CASS is recognized as the premier forum for the discussion and exchange of safety information for corporate and business operators. Each of the seminar presentations aims to deliver useful, specific information directly applicable to corporate and business operations. For more information, please contact Namratha Apparao at apparao@flightsafety.org or phone (703) 739.6700 ext 101. http://www.aviationtoday.com/asw/topstories/Corporate-Aviation-Safety-Semina r-CASS-2010_65842.html *************** Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC