Flight Safety Information August 13, 2010 - No. 163 In This Issue Small jet crashes at Brazil airport Azerbaijani plane's overshooting landing strip AirTran jet loses engine cover Communication Problems May Have Delayed Search Following Alaska Plane Investigators finish much of AK crash site work Aircraft evacuated after smoky landing... FAA computers still vulnerable to cyberattack SAS criticised for overrunning fleet-inspection deadlines... Safety Management System (SMS) FSI Advertising ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Small jet crashes at Brazil airport, no one killed RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - A small executive jet crashed at Rio's domestic airport Thursday, but all three aboard were rescued without serious injuries. A spokesman with the Brazilian government's airport authority said the aircraft landed normally in clear weather, "but for reasons that are not yet known, it was unable to stop and skidded off the runway into the sea." The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the matter. The Learjet was operated by the OceanAir air taxi service and was carrying only three crew members, according to a statement from the company. It said they suffered no serious injuries. Government authorities and OceanAir are investigating the accident. Television images showed the intact jet floating in the waters of the Guanabara Bay, just a few feet from the runway. Firefighters entered the water to secure the aircraft with ropes. The Santos Dumont airport closed because of the accident, but was reopened in the afternoon. ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 12 AUG 2010 Time: 09:16 Type: Learjet 55C Operator: OceanAir Táxi Aéreo Registration: PT-LXO C/n / msn: 55C-135 First flight: 1988 Engines: 2 Garrett TFE731-3A-2B Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, RJ (SDU) (Brazil) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Executive Departure airport: Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, RJ (SDU/SBRJ), Brazil Destination airport: Rio de Janeiro/Galeão-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, RJ (GIG/SBGL), Brazil Narrative: A Learjet 55C corporate jet was damaged in a runway excursion accident at Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport, RJ (SDU). The three crew members survived the accident. The airplane had reportedly returned to land, running off the end of runway 02R into the water of Guanabara Bay. www.aviation-safety.net [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103614286471&s=6053&e=001Z91XPwFUqxs5B_46rKm8c9NVYNpZS5kOjPbfjxtRjOThjjLFegNoX1K8vwapW0BlwjT8C6zghtRH0tbTDdHN9F7DKu9wyXhy0gzKQ7-O1yW12aI46uLVnjAQ7ycuWUW5] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Azerbaijani plane's overshooting landing strip at Ataturk Airport is the nineteenth accident on that strip Airbus-319 that overshot the landing strip at Ataturk Airport is the nineteenth accident on that strip, APA reports quoting Turkish media. Strip # 05-23, which is one of the three landing strips of Ataturk Airport, is mostly remembered by such accidents. According to Turkish mass media, the landing strip # 05-23 was extended by 300m during the reconstruction at Ataturk Airport and reached 2600m. Turkish State Airports Management officials said the plane landed late and the accident happened as the speed was higher than the defined limit. Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC issued an official statement saying that the plane, which landed at 10.40 Turkey time, turned and veered off the landing strip. The front section of the plane touched on the ground. None of the 8 crew members and 119 passengers was injured. AzAL and Turkish Civil Aviation officials set up commissions to investigate the causes of the accident. According to initial investigations, the pilot failed to regulate the speed after landing. Front chassis curved and engine cover was damaged. http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=127733 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103614286471&s=6053&e=001Z91XPwFUqxtO0DeEpE9O6sZMUxiLnNujDltE_8OPv-aAeJeqCt7IBSUtQt6rcbw8FhUyVstZ5VCL09sM8G9CrZxWjrMkRL9s1pzc8pxE0yYf92S1YY4gSV9hnAV7ZjXwrxrsOGFJzqw=] ***** Status: Preliminary Date: 12 AUG 2010 Time: 10:40 Type: Airbus A319-111 Operator: Azerbaijan Airlines Registration: 4K-AZ04 C/n / msn: 2588 First flight: 2005-10-13 (4 years 10 months) Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-5B5/P Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 8 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 119 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 127 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Istanbul-Atatürk International Airport (IST) (Turkey) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Baku-Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD/UBBB), Azerbaijan Destination airport: Istanbul-Atatürk International Airport (IST/LTBA), Turkey Flightnumber: 075 Narrative: An Azerbaijan Airlines Airbus A319 sustained substantial damage when the gear collapsed in a runway excursion accident at Atatürk International Airport (IST/LTBA), Istanbul. The accident happened when flight AHY075, from Baku, landed on runway 05/23. All occupants (8 crewmembers and 119 passengers) escaped unhurt. www.aviation-safety.net [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103614286471&s=6053&e=001Z91XPwFUqxs5B_46rKm8c9NVYNpZS5kOjPbfjxtRjOThjjLFegNoX1K8vwapW0BlwjT8C6zghtRH0tbTDdHN9F7DKu9wyXhy0gzKQ7-O1yW12aI46uLVnjAQ7ycuWUW5] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AirTran jet loses engine cover, lands fine DAYTON, Ohio, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- An AirTran Airways Boeing 717 twin-engine jet's left engine cover came off Thursday, prompting the pilot to land in Ohio instead of Baltimore, a spokesman said. Flight 807 carrying 48 passengers and five crew members from Indianapolis landed safely at Dayton International Airport around 9:10 a.m. EDT after pilots saw a warning light indicating a mechanical problem, spokesman Christopher White told United Press International. The cover does not affect engine performance and the plane could have flown to Baltimore, White told UPI. But "out of an abundance of caution, the pilot made the decision to divert the aircraft to Dayton, where it landed without incident," he said. All passengers were put on other AirTran flights to Baltimore. The Boeing aircraft, developed for the 100-seat market, was built in 2001 and was last inspected in Indianapolis Wednesday night, White said. He said he did not know why the cover came loose. "That's why we're looking into it," White told UPI, explaining maintenance personnel had been sent to Dayton. The cover, known as a cowling, is a streamlined metal housing or removable engine covering that forms a continuous line with the fuselage or wing. AirTran, a subsidiary of Atlanta's AirTran Holdings Inc., is the world's largest Boeing 717 operator. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Communication Problems May Have Delayed Search Following Alaska Plane Crash By MATTHEW L. WALD The search for the plane that crashed on an Alaska hillside Monday night, killing former senator Ted Stevens and four others, may have been delayed by hours due to communication breakdowns on the ground and a problem with the plane's emergency beacon, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday. Two investigators for the safety board were briefly on the site Wednesday, while other investigators are waiting to interview the four survivors who are at Providence Alaska Medical Center. The crash killed the pilot, Theron "Terry" Smith, 62. The conditions of two of the survivors improved on Thursday, as a spokeswoman for the hospital said that James Morhard and Kevin O'Keefe were upgraded from serious to fair condition. Kevin O'Keefe's father, Sean O'Keefe, the former NASA administrator, is still in critical condition. William Phillips, 13, is still in good condition. His father, William, died in the crash. Board investigators are having trouble piecing together a timeline of the crash, because they say they have received conflicting reports of when the plane took off and when rescuers reached the scene, said the chairwoman, Deborah A.P. Hersman. Reports have put the plane's departure from a hunting lodge anywhere from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., and discovery of the plane between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. It would have taken the group about 15 minutes by air from the take-off to the crash scene, unless they had "flown around a little bit, trying to make their way" in the poor visibility," Ms. Hersman said. "Were they missing for three hours, or five hours?" she asked. Compounding the difficulty for investigators, the pilot did not file a flight plan. Doing so was not required and would not have made the crash any less likely, but would have alerted authorities earlier that it was overdue. The plan was for the group to fly from a hunting lodge to a fishing camp, both owned by the Alaskan telecommunications company GCI, and then back later in the day, she said; at some point, staff at the hunting lodge called the camp to ask whether the group would be returning to the lodge for dinner, and the staff at the camp said the plane had never arrived. Someone from GCI called a Federal Aviation Administration office in Alaska that provides support to private pilots, between 6:30 p.m. and 6:40 p.m., she said, to ask if the F.A.A. had heard from the aircraft. The F.A.A. said it had not, and then asked a GCI employee whether it should initiate a search. The person at GCI said not to, Ms. Hersman said. But then some time between 6:55 P.M. and 7:00 P.M., a person at GCI called the F.A.A. back and asked that a search be started; at 7:16 p.m., the F.A.A. issued a notice to all pilots to look for wreckage. The plane's wreckage was reported some time between 7:25 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., she said. Establishing the timeline would help investigators determine what the weather was like when the plane went down, although, Ms. Hersman cautioned, the nearest weather monitoring station is in Dillingham, about 20 miles away. Investigators have not yet given details about what navigation equipment the plane, a DeHaviland DHC-3T built in the 1950's. But it had been updated in 2005 with a turbine engine, which is more powerful and reliable than the original piston engine, and an investigator who saw the wreckage said the cockpit was "nicely equipped," Ms. Hersman said. It was not clear yet whether the plane had an emergency locater transmitter that failed, or whether it lacked that equipment, but no signal was received, she said. There is no radar coverage below 4,000 feet in the area - a common problem in Alaska. The F.A.A. has used Alaska as a proving ground for a new GPS-based system for navigation and surveillance, but the plane in Monday's crash was not equipped with that system. The site is remote and difficult; a helicopter that can carry three people plus the pilot dropped two Safety Board investigators nearby on Wednesday during a brief period when the weather improved, and they hiked an hour to the wreckage. The plan is to use a heavy-lift helicopter to move the wreckage to a hangar in Dillingham for further examination, but weather has not allowed that yet. http://www.nytimes.com/ [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103614286471&s=6053&e=001Z91XPwFUqxt55RkbsYPhH6Vaz-jrFrXqoeaBGHpYAAoUrH6PzxJjbwydSgQSjc4sPPn9evLb89uQ8FvlxvcnowpO1WO_tLL9S9MGDKkdpn2QAZ2rgwcKmVCDvEalimEKnr6czAIi0v19C_QilDq3gyr9tRaWGiek] Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Investigators finish much of AK crash site work JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Federal investigators have finished much of their work at the site of the Alaska plane crash that killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, and have shifted focus to interviewing survivors and hoisting the wreckage from a steep mountainside. National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said the focus now turns to interviews; tightening the timeline for details on the plane's departure, the realization it was missing, and search and rescue activities; and bringing the wrecked plane to a hangar for further inspection. Plenty of unanswered questions remain, with investigators receiving conflicting information as to when the float plane left a corporate-owned lodge for a fishing camp and when the wreckage was discovered. Hersman said some of that may be due to people's memories and to the "fog of an accident." Investigators hoped that interviews with those involved - including with the four survivors - would help fill in the blanks. They also requested tapes from the Federal Aviation Administration to help nail down the search and discovery time, and they were looking to see if there were any weather cameras or pilots who were flying in the area to help shed light on conditions. Had the plane taken the most direct route from the lodge to the camp, the flight would have lasted about 15 minutes, Hersman said. It's still not clear, though, whether that was the route taken. Departure times gleaned so far by investigators have differed by about an hour, as has the timing of the wreckage discovery. No emergency beacon went off, Hersman said, adding that investigators were looking at whether the plane had been equipped with that technology. At midday Thursday, Hersman estimated interviews had been conducted with 10 to 15 people, but that number didn't include those who could provide especially critical information - the four survivors. Interviews also had not been done with those at the fish camp or with everyone who was at the lodge, Hersman said. Investigators also were still trying to speak with officials from General Communications Inc., the phone and Internet company that owned the lodge and to which the plane was registered, she said. A doctor who is married to the head of GCI was among the first to arrive at the scene of the crash, company officials said Thursday. Anchorage-based pediatrician Dani Bowman was at the GCI lodge when the crash occurred and was flown to a nearby air strip by her husband, GCI president Ron Duncan, in his float plane. "As soon as Dani knew there were survivors, she wanted to get to the scene to provide medical attention," Duncan, a private pilot, said in a statement. A helicopter flew Bowman and other responders to the wreckage. Bowman, who is not commenting further, practices at the Alaska Native Medical Center and specializes in pediatrics intensive care, GCI officials said. Authorities tried to speak with survivors Wednesday and Thursday, but they weren't ready, Hersman said. On Thursday, an Anchorage hospital listed the condition of the two of the survivors, Kevin O'Keefe and Jim Morhard, as fair, and William "Willy" Phillips Jr., whose father was killed, as good. Former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe, Kevin O'Keefe's father, remained in critical condition. Hersman said there had been upgrades to the 1957 model plane and investigators reported finding a "nicely equipped" cockpit, though the extent of those upgrades wasn't immediately clear. Authorities said the plane lacked a technology that Stevens had championed to improve air safety in Alaska, which is intended to allow pilots to see cockpit displays, concise weather information and location of other aircraft in the area. But Hersman cautioned against any rush to judgment on whether technology of some kind could have prevented the crash, noting that investigators themselves had reached no conclusions on the accident's cause. It was unlikely investigators from the NTSB team out of Washington would return to the site of Monday's crash, which occurred in rugged, mountainous terrain about 20 miles north of Dillingham, but the work is far from done, Hersman said. Besides the interviews, plans also call for using a heavy-lift helicopter to take the wreckage to a hangar in Dillingham for further inspection. That process could take a day or so. Meanwhile, Stevens' family said his funeral has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Anchorage Baptist Temple, with a reception to follow. A separate memorial will take place Tuesday, when Stevens will lie in repose at All Saints Episcopal Church in Anchorage. Both events will be open to the public. Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103614286471&s=6053&e=001Z91XPwFUqxvd6mf7h8gwc9LiqW8d5qWi7aXDeFUlcWxqd3KzVX_y85N9IRwkN9tQvWnquIVwlPMBZMQc9lV0b2BenQNOEJ7I] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aircraft evacuated after smoky landing Smoke coming from the brakes of an airliner landing at Mitchell International Airport forced an "emergency evacuation" of the aircraft Thursday evening, WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) reported. About 36 people aboard Frontier Airlines flight 1354 from St. Louis to Milwaukee were evacuated after the aircraft made it safely to a gate at the airport's terminal, where it was met by emergency personnel, the station reported. An official with Republic Airlines, which owns Frontier, said there was no fire onboard. However, the official was not sure whether there was a fire outside the aircraft, the station reported. Passengers exited through the main cabin door, according to the station, but a woman who said she was on the flight told the Journal Sentinel that passengers had to "jump off the plane (no slide or anything)." Calls left at media offices for both Frontier and Republic were not returned late Thursday. Mitchell spokeswoman Pat Rowe confirmed the plane was evacuated after landing at the airport about 7 p.m. but deferred further questions to Frontier. Reached by telephone late Thursday, Rowe said she did not know if anyone was injured or whether the incident was under investigation by any federal agencies. http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/100598729.html Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAA computers still vulnerable to cyberattack WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Aviation Administration computer systems remain vulnerable to cyber attacks despite improvements at a number of key radar facilities in the past year, according to a new government review. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General said while the FAA has taken steps to install more sophisticated systems to detect cyber intrusions in some air traffic control facilities, most sites have not been upgraded. And there is no timetable yet to complete the project, the IG said. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency is working on a timetable and will notify the IG with that information soon. The FAA also said that upgrades to critical air traffic control systems have taken precedence over the intrusion detection improvements at a number of facilities. Without the detection abilities, the FAA cannot effectively monitor air traffic control for possible cyber attacks or take action to stop them, the inspector general said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The findings echo broad U.S. government worries about gaps in critical U.S. computer systems and networks that leave them vulnerable to cyber attacks by criminals, terrorists or nation states. U.S. networks are persistently probed and attacked by hackers and criminals looking to steal money or information, get access to classified documents or military technologies, or disrupt networks that control vital utilities and services. Last year, a government audit found that air traffic control systems were vulnerable to cyber attacks, and that some support systems had been breached, allowing hackers access to personnel records and network servers. The computer systems used to control air traffic are often in the same building as ones used for administrative functions, but they are not connected. Cyber experts repeatedly warn, however, that in some cases software glitches and other gaps can be exploited by hackers to move between computer systems at critical infrastructure facilities. In the report last year, the IG warned that although most of the attacks disrupted only support systems, they could spread to the operational systems that control communications, surveillance and flight information used to separate aircraft. Since then, the FAA has taken a number of steps to shore up the vulnerabilities in its computer networks. In a letter to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, two senior members of Congress said they are concerned about the vulnerabilities. Rep. John Mica, a Florida lawmaker who is ranking Republican on the House Transportation panel, and Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wisc., urged Babbitt in a letter last week to take any necessary steps to immediately address the security issue. Mica and Petri requested the initial inspector general's investigation into the matter last year. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SAS criticised for overrunning fleet-inspection deadlines SAS Group has accepted criticism from the Danish national audit office after it turned up several instances of the company's operating aircraft beyond the deadline for mandatory inspections. The audit office, Rigsrevisionen, has identified 20 instances in which the carrier group overran time periods defined in airworthiness directives. In an August audit report on aviation monitoring, Rigsrevisionen says that, during 2006-09, SAS carried out more than 11,000 such "irregular" flights. Given the importance of airworthiness regulations, say the report, the matter is a "serious" one. SAS Group states that it has implemented a "wide range" of initiatives and measures to avoid repetition of the errors. It has tightened quality-assurance procedures and restructured the departments responsible for maintenance planning and execution. It says it acknowledges that the aircraft were "formally not airworthy", although it insists the oversight had "no impact on flight safety". "It is very unfortunate that we, sometimes, have not lived up to our own very high standards," says SAS senior vice-president Flemming Jensen. "This responsibility lies with SAS." He points out that Rigsrevisionen and the country's civil aviation authority have determined that SAS' response to the findings is satisfactory. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC