Flight Safety Information September 9, 2010 - No. 188 In This Issue System failure plane makes 'miracle' landing in Russia Jet and Turkish Airlines 777 in 'near-miss' over London Cargo Fire Seen Emerging as Likely Cause of UPS Jet Crash FAA near to proposing pilot fatigue rule _ at last Inquiry told pilot error caused Air India crash Kazakh authorities ground 20 operators in safety drive Chinese pilots who faked resumes allowed to fly again Safety Management System (SMS) FSI Advertising ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ System failure plane makes 'miracle' landing in Russia (BBC) Russian pilots have safely landed a passenger plane in Siberia after the aircraft lost power at 10,600m (34,800ft). None of the 81 passengers and crew was injured in the emergency landing on a disused military airstrip on Tuesday, Russian officials said. There was only minimal damage to the plane, they added. Russian blogs and social networking sites celebrated the incident as a "miracle" and the pilots as "heroes". The plane, a Tupolev-154, was en route from the Siberian city of Polyarny to Moscow when it lost power. With the aircraft's fuel pump, navigation equipment and radio paralysed, the pilots glided the plane to a lower altitude and landed it on an airfield near the village of Izhma in the Komi region, about 1,500 km (930 miles) from Moscow. The Tupolev overshot the end of the tarmac by about 200m (656ft) before coming to a stop in a bog, Russia's general prosecutor said in a statement. The 72 passengers and nine crew left the plane shocked but unhurt, the statement added. Russian media reported that all passengers had been flown to Moscow on another plane, with the exception of a couple who preferred to go by train. ************** Preliminary Date: 07 SEP 2010 Time: 07:55 MSK Type: Tupolev 154M Operator: Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise Registration: RA-85684 C/n / msn: 90A-851 First flight: 1990 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 9 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 72 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 81 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Izhma Airport (Russia) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Polyarnyj Airport (PYJ/UERP), Russia Destination airport: Moskva-Domodedovo Airport (DME/UUDD), Russia Narrative: The flight was operating as normal from Polyarnyj Airport (PYJ), Russia to Moskva-Domodedovo Airport (DME). At an altitude of 10,600m in the region of town of Usinsk the Tu-154 has lost all of its electrical systems including radio and navigation systems, flaps and fuel pumps that deliver fuel from primary tanks on the wings into the central tank that directly feeds the engine, leaving the crew with only 3,300kg of usable fuel. After emergency decent below cloud level the crew were able to spot an abandoned air strip near town of Izhma. The crew made 2 attemps to land, finally landing on the 3rd attempt. The abandoned air strip is 1325m, whereas Tu-154 requires a minimum of 2200m. The aircraft came to rest 160m past the end of the runway. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jet and Turkish Airlines 777 in 'near-miss' over London A business jet came close to a mid-air collision with a Turkish Airlines passenger plane after taking off from London City Airport, a report has said. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) study described the near-miss over London as a "serious incident". The Citation 525 jet was about 100ft to 200ft below and half a mile away from the Boeing 777 passenger plane, heading to Heathrow with 232 people on board. The near-miss happened on 27 July when both aircraft were at about 4,000ft. The report said the control tower at London City Airport had cleared the German-owned business jet to climb to 3,000ft but when the flight crew acknowledged the instruction, they said they would be climbing to 4,000ft. This instruction from the plane - a "readback" mistake - was not noticed by the controller at the tower, the AAIB said. 'Commands not followed' Meanwhile, the Turkish flight had been cleared to descend to 4,000ft as it approached Heathrow Airport in west London. If the planes had come close during bad weather "the only barrier to a potential mid-air collision" would have been built-in collision-avoidance systems as the aircraft would not have been able to see each other, the AAIB said. The report found that when the aircraft came close, the Turkish flight crew had not "followed the commands" of three on-board collision-avoidance warnings and the Citation jet did not even have the equipment, known as TCAS II. It was a pilot sitting on the observer seat of the passenger plane who saw the business jet, carrying two crew members and one passenger, "pass west of them at an estimated 100 to 200ft below", the report said. In his account the Citation's captain said he had the passenger plane in sight "all the time" and had at first thought that his jet would be "well above" it. The AAIB recommended that the TCAS II equipment should be made mandatory for planes flying in the London area. It also suggested instructions from the control tower at London City Airport be given separately from the rest of the take-off commands and be followed by a separate response from the crew. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11237496 Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cargo Fire Seen Emerging as Likely Cause of UPS Jet Crash By ANDY PASZTOR (WSJ) A cargo fire appears to be the most likely cause of the crash of a United Parcel Service Inc. jumbo jet last week in Dubai, according to pilots, safety experts and others familiar with the issue. Investigators looking into Friday's accident, according to these people, increasingly suspect a fire that started in the cargo hold probably touched off the chain of events that filled the cockpit with thick smoke and ended, after a roughly 30-minute airborne drama, with the Boeing 747 jumbo jet crashing into an uninhabited portion of military compound in Dubai. The two American pilots were trying to return to the international airport there. Both aviators died in the accident. The investigation is being watched closely by a wide range of airlines, pilot groups and safety experts around the world, partly because passenger versions of the same 747-400 model carry many millions of travelers each month. Despite emerging new signs pointing to a cargo blaze, investigators on Wednesday stressed it was premature to draw definitive conclusions. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board isn't expected to begin downloading information from the plane's cockpit and flight-data recorders, or black boxes, until later this week. But the outlines of the accident flight are known. About 20 minutes after taking off from Dubai International Airport bound for Cologne, Germany, the cockpit crew declared an emergency, reported smoke in the cockpit and asked to return to Dubai. The pilots reportedly told air-traffic controllers they were struggling with "fire on the deck," according to people familiar with the transmissions. The phrase "deck" commonly refers to the cargo deck. Investigators previously disclosed that the pilots told controllers they were unable to maintain the aircraft's altitude. The crew also was unable to switch radio frequencies, so updates about altitude, heading and clearances to return to the field were relayed to the UPS jet using two teams of controllers and aircraft flying nearby, according to people familiar with the details. The pilots continued to communicate with controllers responsible for airspace over Bahrain, using their last radio setting, even after turning back and approaching Dubai. UPS officials have consistently declined to comment on the progress of the investigation. The United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority, which is heading the probe, also declined to comment, as did Boeing Co. and the U.S. safety board. But as investigators and independent air-safety experts in the last few days tried to piece together what happened, according to people familiar with the process, new information emerged about a cargo fire as the likely primary cause of the accident. Prior to the crash, according to an Associated Press report, the plane's automatic diagnostic system sent messages back to UPS headquarters in Louisville, Ky., warning about a problem in a cargo compartment near one of the plane's wings. Air safety experts said that the seeming ferocity of the fire - which apparently produced such dense smoke that it blocked the crew's view of certain cockpit instruments for much of the return flight - also suggests it started in a cargo compartment. At one point, according to Web postings by pilots who said they listened to the transmissions, the UPS crew told controllers they were "flying blind." Safety officials said there is no record of such an intense blaze ever starting in a Boeing 747 cockpit The jumbo jet approached the airport too fast and too high to attempt a landing, cruised overhead and shortly afterward crashed, creating a fireball that may have destroyed much of the physical evidence that could help investigators. Visibility was excellent and winds were lights at the airport. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAA near to proposing pilot fatigue rule _ at last WASHINGTON (AP) - Aviation officials are on the verge of proposing new rules governing the number of hours airline pilots may work in an effort to prevent tired flight crews from making fatal errors. The Federal Aviation Administration has taken 15 months to propose the rules despite promises of swift action from officials. Final rules are months - perhaps even a year - down the road. Administration officials declined to discuss the reasons for the delay. But lawmakers and industry officials say the difficulty has been demonstrating that the safety benefits of stricter rules will outweigh the cost to the airline industry. The impetus for the new rules was the crash of a regional airliner in western New York on Feb. 12, 2009, that killed 50 people. Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inquiry told pilot error caused Air India crash (AFP)Pilot error was to blame for a passenger plane crash in southern India in May that claimed 158 lives, an official investigation has heard. The Air India Express flight from Dubai to Mangalore overshot the runway, plunged into a gorge and burst into flames. Eight people survived the crash. A court of inquiry in New Delhi was told the aircraft's data recorders showed the captain was on the wrong flight path and did not correct course despite warnings from his co-pilot. The last voice recording was the co-pilot saying "we don't have runway left". Most of the dead were migrant workers returning from the Gulf, where many Indians from Karnataka and other southern Indian states find low-paid employment in cities such as Dubai as construction workers or domestic staff. The six-member court was set up to investigate the cause of India's first major air crash since 2000 and its worst aviation disaster since 1996, when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people. Back to Top [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqvqzbdab&et=1103671184053&s=6053&e=001pOUncI8NQ65y0ExLvJvMHIv8pw8ucGyq0beGewLbfft6uo6Xy97PjnEdgvuvGkD9jrOXtOUv8x0lTVbeRwY4VA-9_f6HEpkW] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kazakh authorities ground 20 operators in safety drive Kazakhstan's Government has revoked air operator's certificates from 20 enterprises over their non-compliance with tougher aviation safety regulations. The move follows an inspection carried out earlier this year by a visiting ICAO team which found several deficiencies in the country's air safety system. "As a result, the number of registered airlines was reduced to 53 from 73 with 205 commercial aircraft brought out of service," says civil aviation agency chief Radilbek Adimolda. "We've taken systematic measures to implement ICAO recommendations and are working toward removing barriers for domestic carriers which want to fly to Europe." Since July 2010 all Kazakh airlines, except flag-carrier Air Astana, have remained banned from flying into the European Union under the European Commission's 'blacklist' scheme. Adimolda cites newly-adopted legislation on the use of airspace and aviation activity which has toughened regulatory oversight of Kazakhstan's air transport industry. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chinese pilots who faked resumes allowed to fly again Some of the almost 200 Chinese pilots who were found to have falsified qualifications on their resumes have returned to their jobs after they were ordered to undergo training. In April 2008, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) discovered that some pilots had lied about their flying qualifications, says the authority. This prompted checks of pilots' resumes across all the airlines, says the CAAC. It found a total of 192 pilots who had falsified their flying experience. Some of the pilots had their licences revoked, while others were asked to go through "remedial training", says the CAAC. Those who eventually passed the CAAC's checks were allowed to return to the air, it adds. The CAAC did not say how many pilots were allowed to resume flying. The issue, which was not made public in 2008, surfaced recently in an aviation safety conference in China in the aftermath of a deadly air crash last month. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC