Flight Safety Information November 3, 2010 - No. 224 In This Issue USDA teams up with FAA to develop aviation biofuels FAA finalises flightcrew alerting rule All These Terrorist Scares Are Putting In-Flight Wi-Fi At Risk Aeroflot Forced to Ground Airplanes for Lack of Pilots FAA Failure To Monitor Alcohol Abusing Pilots Linked To Fatal Crashes NTSB Course... FAA Safety Briefing International Society of Air Safety Investigators...42nd Annual Seminar USDA teams up with FAA to develop aviation biofuels The US Department of Agriculture has teamed up with the US FAA on a five-year agreement aimed at developing biofuels for use in aviation. Under the memorandum of understanding, the USDA and the FAA will "work together with the airline industry over the next five years to develop appropriate feedstocks that can be most efficiently processed into jet fuel", said US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack when he unveiled the agreement during a recent speech at the National Press Club in Washington DC. The two government agencies will work towards developing a tool that will evaluate the status of different components of the feedstock supply chain, such as the availability of biomass from farms and forests. The tool will also evaluate the potential of various types of biomass to be turned into jet fuel, as well as the amount of time it will take to ramp up to full-scale production. The agreement with the FAA is part of a broader US Government effort to promote the production of fuel from renewable sources. "Domestic production of renewable energy, including biofuels, is a national imperative and that's why the USDA is working to assist in developing a biofuels industry in every corner of the nation," says Vilsack. "By producing more biofuels in America, we will create jobs, combat global warming, replace our dependence on foreign oil and build a stronger foundation for the 21st century economy." Richard Altman, executive director of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), sees the USDA initiatives as a positive step. Speaking to ATI before the MoU was announced, Altman said: "The seeds have been sown for a very close relationship between agricultural interests and aviation - this will mature even further as initiatives are announced." Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top FAA finalises flightcrew alerting rule The US FAA has finalised a new rule that delineates which colours can be used for warning, caution and advisory alert indications in the cockpit for new transport category aircraft to be certified after 3 January 2011. Though defacto standards are currently in place regarding the alerts generated by advanced glass cockpit avionics systems, the FAA says each manufacturer must gain approval through FAA-written issue papers and special conditions, processes that require "additional work" for the agency. Baseline regulations were issued in 1977 and "have never been amended", says the FAA in the final rule, published today. The FAA issued the preliminary rule in July 2009. Alert colours on the flight deck for future new aircraft will have red for warnings, amber or yellow for cautions and any colour except red, amber, yellow or green for advisory alerts. Weather, terrain or traffic displays may still use the four colours, but "must not adversely affect flightcrew alerting" says the FAA. In addition, warning and caution alerts will require attention-getting cues through at least two different senses. The rule harmonises the FAA's regulations on the topic with the European Aviation Safety Agency. Overall, the FAA says it recommends that manufactures use six or fewer colours in a typical flight deck to display all of the information necessary to safely operate the aircraft. Operationally, the FAA is requiring that alerts be designed so that after each occurrence, the pilot can acknowledge the problem and suppress the alarm. The system itself must prevent "presentation of an inappropriate or unnecessary", or nuisance alert and automatically remove the alert when the conditions no longer exist. The FAA estimates the rule will avoid about 10 serious injuries over a 20-year period, resulting in a total cost benefit of $4.4 million over two decades. Cost to manufacturers is estimated to be a about $0.7 million per new aircraft, the agency says. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top All These Terrorist Scares Are Putting In-Flight Wi-Fi At Risk Foiled terrorist plots often end with stricter security procedures at airports, but the most recent bomb scares could lead to the loss of something far more precious than our nail clippers: We could lose our in-flight Wi-Fi. We've seen reports that the ink cartridge bombs discovered on several flights in recent days contained SIM cards and mysterious circuitry which may have been intended to serve as a trigger mechanism, but now we're reading that federal authorities are particularly fixated on that information. Several security experts are suggesting that both the UK government and the US Department of Homeland Security will be looking into the technology behind in-flight mobile phone and Wi-Fi connections in order to determine if it could be used by evildoers in conjunction with trigger mechanisms similar to those discovered. Now, before you start a mob and shout that the sloppy pile of electronics found on those aircrafts can't possibly be reason enough to threaten our beloved in-flight internet connections, let's sort out what the worries are. According to officials contacted by Wired, there's little argument over the idea that the electronics in the bombs shipped from Yemen are anything more sophisticated than timers - and certainly not call- activated triggers - due to the technological limitations posed by distance and altitude: "They couldn't call," says Roger Cressey, a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations now with Goodharbor Consulting. If the terrorists used a regular mobile phone to call an airplane-borne bomb from a great distance, it probably wouldn't be able to reach a tower that could bounce a signal to the phone - though it's not impossible. The trouble, according to Roland Alford of explosives consultancy firm Alford Technologies, is that the benefits in-flight Wi-Fi and mobile phone tech provides for your average traveller could give someone with malevolent intentions a way around the issues discussed by Cressey: In-flight Wi-Fi "gives a bomber lots of options for contacting a device on an aircraft", Alford says. Even if ordinary mobile phone connections are blocked, it would allow a voice-over-internet connection to reach a handset. "If it were to be possible to transmit directly from the ground to a plane over the sea, that would be scary," says Alford's colleague, company founder Sidney Alford. "Or if a passenger could use a mobile phone to transmit to the hold of the aeroplane he is in, he could become a very effective suicide bomber." Now, as New Scientist notes, there are several experts who disagree with Alford and explain that "the use of mobile phones on planes does not constitute any additional security threat," but the point remains that rumours are flying and none of them are pleasant. Authorities are eyeing our in-flight Wi-Fi and mobile phone connections with suspicion and nervousness and while things probably won't go beyond that, it's enough to induce a little fear. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/ Back to Top Aeroflot Forced to Ground Airplanes for Lack of Pilots, Vedomosti Reports (Bloomberg) OAO Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline, is grounding airplanes because of a lack of pilots, Vedomosti reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Vitaly Savelyev. The state-run carrier has already grounded eight airplanes and may have to take another four of five out of service by the end of the year, the Moscow-based newspaper reported today. Aeroflot has to remove pilots from rotation once they've flown 800 hours within a 12 month period, Vedomosti said. Back to Top FAA Failure To Monitor Alcohol Abusing Pilots Linked To Fatal Crashes An exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation exposes how a federal program set up to sanction alcohol and drug abusing pilots might be protecting them instead. In our first story, DUI Pilots, Warning Signs Ignored, Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration is monitoring about two-thousand certified pilots recently convicted of drunken driving. Hundreds more airline pilots, jet mechanics and flight crew members representing major airlines are being watched for drug problems, too. Now, Halsne reveals why the FAA is under fire by another federal agency for failing to address some deadly failures we pointed out in its system. The FAA's enforcement division says that risky, off-the-job behaviors like DUI's are a good indicator of the kind of pilot that might also abuse alcohol, and then get into a cockpit. That said, our investigation found the agency routinely decides to let diagnosed alcoholics keep their flying certifications. Flight instructor and commercial-rated pilot Catherine Anne Travis has voluntarily decided to stay grounded, even though the FAA keeps her license on "active" status. In December 2007, state troopers found her in "extreme impairment" with an alcohol level three times the legal limit. When she recently got arrested for another DUI, a judge ordered her to drive only after first blowing into an ignition locking device. However, we videotaped her breaking that condition of her probation by driving a vehicle not equipped with one. We sent a camera crew to her house to ask why the FAA hadn't ever sanctioned her for the DUI conviction, but she wouldn't come to the door. The Federal Aviation Administration says it tracks, and often sanctions, pilots who are convicted of drunken driving because it indicates a problematic "medical issue". However, when Team 7 Investigators doubled checked the FAA's system, we found hundreds of pilot DUI convictions - just in Washington State- where the agency either took no action or never found out. That kind of oversight is an ongoing pattern which is causing concern for the National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB is the agency in charge of investigating fatal aviation crashes. Just this decade, pilots who get into their planes after drinking alcohol are responsible for 53 crashes which have killed 47 people and injured 33 others. Deputy director John DeLisi agreed to an interview at NTSB Washington DC headquarters. "For you to get a drunken driving arrest for drunken driving, you're probably someone who drinks alcohol and takes the risk of driving a car very frequently. That's a red flag that you shouldn't be in the cockpit." Not only is DeLisi worried about inebriated pilots, but the NTSB has admonished the FAA twice in three years for inadequate alcohol monitoring of licensed aviators. Fatal accidents in both Louisiana and Arizona were caused by drunken pilots, known to the FAA as having multiple DUI arrests, but allowed to keep certifications. The NTSB wrote: "A contributing factor was the FAA's failure to identify existing evidence of substance (alcohol) dependence in the pilot due to an inadequate and incomplete process of screening medical applications." The FAA hasn't responded to that accusation, something that DeLisi says borders on unacceptable. "It's been a while now, almost three years," DeLisi told KIRO Team 7 Investigators. "We haven't seen the action that they promised to take in that review. So we are contacting the FAA, we are putting together a list of several additional accidents since then that have highlighted alcohol abuse on the part of pilots and we are continuing to site in the probable cause." Federal law requires pilots to self report alcohol related arrests, convictions, and changes in medical condition, like alcoholism or drug dependence. The FAA typically lets one DUI conviction slide by without sanction. However, by analyzing thousands of DUI cases nationwide, Team 7 Investigators discovered the FAA often fails to take into account that by the time a pilot gets that conviction, many have been arrested multiple times. They save themselves from reporting their alcohol abuse by taking plea deals. Aviation Attorney Marjorie Tedrick, wishes the system didn't reward secrecy. "I wish there could be times when the FAA would look at an amnesty program and get this out of the back closet and into the open and allow these guys to come clean because frankly a sober alcoholic is just as safe as anyone else. It's just a matter of getting them the help they need. Jim Grant runs Northway Aviation, a Cessna flight school in Snohomish County. He's disappointed we found so many pilots skirting the most basic safety rule of the sky. Grant told Halsne, "It's an honors system. You're supposed to self police yourself. I always thought it worked. I really did. You can't be drinking. You can't be on medication. That's why the self-reporting is supposed to work." The NTSB is now drafting a formal letter to the FAA, encouraging that agency to fix the holes in its pilot alcohol monitoring program before anyone else dies. The FAA, from Seattle to Washington DC, refuses to sit down with Halsne and do an interview on this subject. In an attempt to get some kind of comment from the FAA, Team 7 Investigators sent a videographer to a press event, featuring FAA Administrator, Randy Babbitt. Our question was this: "Twice in three years, NTSB has cited failures in your pilot alcohol monitoring program as having been a contributing factor in fatal crashes. Can you respond to the allegation your agency isn't doing enough to keep pilots with known histories of alcohol abuse out of the sky?" Despite repeating part of the question a second time, Babbitt didn't appear to have any knowledge of the NTSB's concerns. While Babbitt was still in Seattle, KIRO Team 7 Investigators offered his public relations people a redo, but the FAA declined our offer. A public relations official did, however, send a new statement clarifying Randy Babbitt's earlier statement. "Alcohol abuse by commercial pilots is rare, but the FAA does have stringent measures in place to make sure pilots with alcohol dependence don't reach the cockpit. Whenever a commercial pilot applies for a medical certificate -- every six to 12 months -- he or she signs a medical form authorizing the FAA to search the National Drivers Registry for violations involving alcohol or drug use, and the FAA does check those records. We responded positively to several alcohol-related NTSB recommendations in the last three years and detailed actions that would improve the detection of pilots with a history of abuse. The Board continues to carry our responses in "acceptable" status." http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/25608310/detail.html Back to Top NTSB Course SEATS STILL AVAILABLE IN NTSB THREE-DAY COURSE FOR EMERGENCY RESPONDERS TO TRANSPORTATION ACCIDENTS ******************************************************* The National Transportation Safety Board's course, "Transportation Disaster Response - A Course for Emergency Responders," scheduled for November 16-18, 2010, at the NTSB Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia, still has openings for those who may have a role in responding to major transportation accidents. NTSB specialists and speakers from the FBI, the New Jersey State Police, and other emergency response agencies and organizations with response roles in recent accidents will discuss the operational and organizational challenges encountered in responding to large-scale, high-profile transportation accidents. The complete course description, agenda, and information on registration process and cost are available at: http://www.ntsb.gov/Academy/CourseInfo/TDA402_2010.htm Back to Top Back to Top International Society of Air Safety Investigators 42nd Annual Seminar Salt Lake City Utah Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown September 12 - 15, 2011 Welcome... To the World's Leading Aviation Safety Investigation and Accident Prevention Seminar The theme of ISASI 2011 is "Investigation - A Shared Process". Please join us in Salt Lake City where you will learn about the latest trends and practices in accident investigation and prevention. You will also have an opportunity to network with safety professionals from all walks of the international aviation community. Call for Papers ISASI, the world's premier organization for professional aircraft accident investigators, with individual and corporate members in over 60 countries, has scheduled its 42nd Annual Seminar in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, from Monday, September 12 through Thursday, September 15, 2011. Papers are invited which address the theme of the seminar and which would benefit an international audience with the goal of improving aircraft accident investigation success. Papers should focus on any aspect of the investigative and analytical process and may cover any aspect of aviation and should be timely, display technical competence, and reflect your intellectual and personal integrity. Please submit an expression of interest no later than 1 February 2011 to stewji@rogers.com. Include a working title for your presentation, the summary of your planned subject matter, the benefits to ISASI members, your professional affiliation and a short biography of your aviation and investigative or analytical experience. Only e-mail submissions will be considered. Full abstracts must be submitted by 1 March 2011 to be considered by the Papers Selection committee. If your proposal is selected for presentation, you will be advised via e-mail by 1 May, 2011. Your final paper will be due on 1 July, 2011. We look forward to welcoming you to ISASI 2011 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC