Flight Safety Information December 9, 2010 - No. 252 In This Issue Woes Mount For Boeing's Much-Awaited Dreamliner Small jet safely makes emergency landing at TIA Blinded by the Light: FAA Warns Pilots of Laser Dangers Pilots' Families Criticize NTSB Findings In Deadly Helicopter Crash How much training should an airline pilot get?... Global air safety checks reveal more faulty engines Safety agency urges parents to strap babies in on airplanes Man arrested after airplane gun threat Passengers safe after bird strike forces emergency landing Plane diverted because of unruly passenger Concorde criminal trial is bad move, safety experts say Masked flight passenger to stay in detention Woes Mount For Boeing's Much-Awaited Dreamliner Boeing's fleet of 787 test planes remains grounded. An onboard fire during a test flight a month ago revealed a serious problem in the new jet's electrical system and the company is still trying to come up with the precise fix. The composite-built, twin-aisle, long-range jet should have gone into passenger service well over two years ago. But not a single plane has been delivered. The plane Boeing calls the Dreamliner is still being tested. Flight tests are supposed to validate systems and reveal any problems, but a flight on a Tuesday afternoon in November was far from ordinary. A piece of debris inside an electrical control panel caused a short and then a fire. What happened next has been described as a cascading series of failures. The fire self- extinguished within 30 seconds, but the plane lost primary electrical power, Boeing said. The system meant to distribute power to an array of devices - from cockpit displays to microwave ovens - went haywire. While the pilots never lost control of the plane and it landed safely, the fire "exposed a fundamental weakness in the systems architecture of this airplane," says Jon Ostrower, a well-connected and closely followed aviation writer. It's just the latest in a long series of problems for the 787, says industry analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group. "There are three things that make this aircraft unique: One, composite materials - they found all kinds of problems working with composite materials; two, global supply and design chain, and of course they have had all sorts of problems; and the third is more electric aircraft and, well, turns out they've discovered issues with that part of the aircraft's pioneering design as well." Boeing now plans to rework the software for the power distribution system, but the company isn't offering details or even an estimate of how long it will take. Ostrower and others say the fix could take four to six months. "When you start unraveling software in such an integrated system where one part of the airplane depends on another part of the airplane which depends on another part of the airplane, you get a bit of a domino effect in terms of not being able to just change one thing in isolation," Ostrower says. Stan Sorcher of SPEEA, the Engineers and Technical workers union, adds that extensive outsourcing of the 787 will make it harder for Boeing to implement changes on this jet than it would have been on the company's earlier airplane programs. "The problem-solving culture is much weaker, it's not so strong; there aren't teams," he says. "The suppliers own the designs and when it comes time to develop a solution and implement it, Boeing simply doesn't have the same authority to say, 'This is how we are going to proceed,'" Sorcher says. Suppliers could balk and demand additional payments from Boeing. Meanwhile, airlines that ordered the new jet are growing increasingly restless. On Monday a top official for Air India said the airline will seek $840 million in compensation from Boeing, and recent reports say another carrier, China Eastern, intends to cancel all its 787 orders. Still, about 850 orders for the new model remain on Boeing's books. It's a huge number and the company says it continues to believe the 787 is a great airplane that will deliver outstanding value. http://www.npr.org/ Back to Top Small jet safely makes emergency landing at TIA TAMPA - A small jet made an emergency landing at Tampa International Airport on Wednesday night as fire rescue crews awaited its arrival. The Learjet touched down just after 9 p.m. and none of its passengers was injured, said Kelly Figley, an airport spokeswoman. No flames or breakage were reported. The plane was awaiting a tow from the runway to Signature Flight Support, she said. http://www.tampabay.com/ Back to Top Blinded by the Light: FAA Warns Pilots of Laser Dangers Pilots Have Reported Blurred Vision and Damage to the Retina Watch: Tragic Air Crash Over HudsonAbout a dozen pilots filed reports last week saying someone aimed green laser lights at their cockpits while they tried to land at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. "The Federal Aviation Administration takes laser incidents very seriously because of the potential safety hazards they pose," Jim Peters, an FAA Spokesman, said in a statement to ABC News New York affiliate WABC. At Newark Liberty Airport, there have been 17 reported laser incidents involving planes landing from the north within the past week, WABC reported. Some pilots have reported blurred vision and damage to the retina. The powerful laser beam can hit a target miles away and can also burn though thick plastic. "If it punches through plastic this easily, think of what it can do to the retina of your eye," said David Todeschini with the Awesome Lasers website. Laser Incidents on the Rise As hand-held lasers have become more inexpensive, the number of incidents has increased in recent years. In 2010, there have been more than 2,200 reports of laser incidents. Since 2005, more than 5,000 incidents have been reported the Associated Press reported. Shining a laser at an airplane is a violation of federal law. "Interfering with a flight crew is a federal crime, so the FBI has looked into these laser incidents over the last several years...we've located some and they've been prosecuted," said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko. In September, a Rhode Island man was accused of pointing a laser at a plane on final approach at T.F. Green Airport. He was charged with "attempting to interfere with an aircraft with reckless disregard for safety; and interfering with an aircraft with reckless disregard for safety," the Providence Journal reported. http://abcnews.go.com/US/ Back to Top Pilots' Families Criticize NTSB Findings In Deadly Helicopter Crash WEAVERVILLE, Calif. -- There is some stinging criticism of the NTSB from the families of two pilots in the 2008 deadly firefighting helicopter crash in Trinity County. In a letter released Wednesday, the families said they've lost confidence in the integrity of the National Transportation Safety Board, adding that all the facts of the investigation must be made public. Co-pilot William Coultas was one of four survivors of the crash that killed nine people. In a letter released Wednesday, an attorney representing Coultas and the family of deceased pilot Roark Schwanenberg said "there can be no excuse for ignoring key evidence and the testimony of the only surviving member of the flight crew." Attorney Gregory Anderson wrote that the NTSB asked Mr. Coultas "to consider changing his testimony regarding facts related to the loss of power." Coultas had testified that a sudden loss of power in the number two engine caused the crash. In its preliminary findings released Tuesday, the NTSB found that the Sikorsky S-61 helicopter was too heavy, and blamed Carson Helicopter for misrepresenting the aircraft's weight and performance in order to win a contract with the U.S. Forest Service. In a statement on its website, Carson acknowledged that an employee acted alone in misrepresenting the aircraft weight, but maintains that a malfunctioning fuel control unit contributed to the engine failure and caused the crash. The pilots' families say irrefutable evidence has been submitted to the NTSB that the helicopter would have flown away safely if the loss of engine power had not occurred. The letter also said the NTSB allowed Columbia Helicopters, a defendant in multi-million dollar lawsuits over the cause, "unfettered and unsupervised" access to fuel parts that were later reported lost. "The investigation fails to mention Columbia was the last entity to have the lost parts in its possession." The families say the NTSB either ignored or took out of context the statements of Coultas, the only eyewitness to the accident who had any experience flying helicopters. The letter states "the Board ignored the fact that Coultas also heard 'unusual noises' in the engines after take-off. The Board ignored the testimony that Coultas saw a 'split' in the engine torque gauges; and that he opened the emergency throttle for the #2 engine." National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman said Tuesday that Carson Helicopter provided inaccurate and altered documents that led pilots to overestimate how much weight the aircraft could lift. Hersman said the Forest Service and the Federal Aviation Administration failed to oversee Carson and detect fatal errors. http://www.krcrtv.com/news/26073754/detail.html Back to Top How much training should an airline pilot get? by Alan Levin on Dec. 08, 2010, under USA Today News If a lesson emerged from the smoldering wreckage of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo last year, it was the need to raise minimum requirements for airline pilots. The pilots on the regional plane nearing Buffalo on Feb. 12, 2009, committed a string of errors that culminated with the captain yanking the plane wildly out of control and sending it gyrating into the ground, according to federal accident investigators. Similar mistakes and carelessness had cropped up in a number of other recent accidents. Federal regulators vowed improvements. Congress weighed in, passing legislation last summer that set timetables for specific changes. Large and small airlines, along with pilot unions, said they agreed that pilot standards needed to be upgraded. In recent weeks, however, that broad coalition has fractured bitterly, and the road map for how to raise pilot qualifications has become one of the most contentious aviation safety issues in years. At the heart of the issue is the question of how many hours of experience is enough to ensure that a pilot is properly seasoned to haul passengers. Family members of victims in the Buffalo crash and some pilot unions charge that the airline industry is trying to water down a key proposal to increase safety - a requirement that pilots have at least 1,500 hours of flight experience - for economic reasons. Airlines, universities that teach aviation and other pilot unions insist there is minimal economic impact. They say the strict hourly requirement is arbitrary and has no bearing on safety. Scott Maurer, whose daughter Lorin died on Flight 3407, says he gets furious at aviation industry opposition to raising the minimum requirement from 250 to 1,500 hours. "In the end, they clearly had to make sure that their interests were taken care of," Maurer says. Opponents of the threshold say that it will do nothing to improve safety and is distracting attention from other measures to improve pilot professionalism and skills. They say they support broad improvements in the minimum qualifications to fly for airlines, but say that those who have completed high-quality classroom study should be able to work after as little as 500 hours. "What is the magic in 1,500 hours?" says Gary Kiteley, executive director of the Aviation Accreditation Board International, which sets standards for colleges that teach aviation. Changes suggested In September, an advisory panel made up of aviation industry officials, unions and citizens reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that the bare-bones requirements to become an airline pilot were outdated and should be overhauled. The FAA regulates air travel. Under current regulations, an airline can hire a pilot with as few as 250 hours. There is no requirement that pilots have experience in any of the high-stress conditions that have been linked to accidents, such as bad weather or a sudden loss of control. Such training is often provided by airlines, but the panel said that the training should be beefed up and that pilots should have to pass a rigorous battery of tests before they qualify to fly passengers, according to the report, which was obtained by USA TODAY. Where the panel split was on the minimum number of hours pilots should have. In an attempt to assess whether having 1,500 hours of flight time is critical, USA TODAY interviewed independent experts and reviewed dozens of accident reports and safety studies. The findings: Having less than 1,500 hours has almost never been linked to accidents investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which independently investigates crashes and monitors safety. In 24 major accidents on air carriers since 1999 investigated by the NTSB, 17, or 71%, were caused at least in part by pilots. But only once was a pilot with less than 1,500 hours blamed for a crash. In that case - the fatal crash of a Pinnacle Airlines jet with no passengers aboard in 2004 - the captain who authorized the joy riding that triggered the accident had 6,900 hours. In the Buffalo crash, both pilots had more than 1,500 hours. Capt. Marvin Renslow, whose maneuvers caused the accident, had 3,379 hours, the NTSB said. Historical data suggest that most accidents are caused by captains with extensive experience. A 1994 safety study by the NTSB found that in accidents between 1978 and 1990 caused by the crew, more than 80% occurred when the captain was at the controls. Several aviation safety experts who have not been part of the debate about pilot hours said that the FAA qualifications for airline pilots are long overdue for reform. Accidents and incidents in recent years have identified numerous pilot shortfalls, such as chatting during critical phases of flight, not following emergency check lists or lacking basic flying skills. However, most of those experts said that focusing on how many hours a pilot has flown missed the lessons of those accidents and could be counterproductive. For example, building up experience in a private, single-engine plane offered little benefit to a prospective airline pilot, they said. "We owe the public a more sophisticated solution than a blanket move to 1,500 hours," says Bill Voss, president of the non-profit Flight Safety Foundation. Voss and others said that many well-respected airlines in Europe start pilots with only several hundred hours, though they must undergo more rigorous training than is required here. Similarly, the military typically gives its pilots about 300 hours or less experience before certifying them to fly. "I'm not a firm believer that your abilities are directly related to the number of hours you've got," says Michael Barr, a former fighter pilot who teaches aviation safety at the University of Southern California. "I knew guys who had 10,000 hours, and I wouldn't want to get anywhere near them." Legislation proposed After the Buffalo crash, lawmakers introduced legislation to bring the requirements for co-pilots in line with the extra training and experience required for captains. Before the legislation became law, it was amended to include a provision giving the FAA the power to substitute academic study for flight experience. According to the independent experts, the FAA's decisions on how to craft a final rule could have a significant financial impact on airlines, pilots and the schools that train them. For example, if it becomes too costly for young pilots to gain 1,500 hours, that might create a shortage and drive up salaries, particularly for regional carriers that hire entry-level pilots, according to Voss and others. It could also reduce demand for colleges that offer aviation degrees. However, little is certain about the economic effect, the experts say. A shortage of pilots in the mid-2000s did not significantly change entry-level salaries at regional carriers, which can be less than $20,000 a year. Unions representing pilots are split on whether there should be a 1,500-hour limit. The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at most regional carriers, agrees with the industry position that as little as 500 hours, combined with academic study and training, is sufficient. The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, a trade group representing several unions at major airlines, supports a 1,500-hour minimum. "You shouldn't have a captain and an apprentice," says Jeffrey Skiles, the US Airways co-pilot on the "Miracle on the Hudson" flight that landed safely on water after striking birds in January 2009. Skiles is a vice president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations. For those such as Maurer, who lost loved ones in the Buffalo crash, the minimum hours have become an emotional symbol of what they see as the shortfalls in federal safety standards. "In the end, it's like a surgeon or a violinist," Maurer says. "You can read and you can study, but until you pick up the scalpel or pick up the violin and play it, that's where ... you put your learning into practical use." The FAA is writing proposed new standards for airline pilots that are due out as soon as next month. Back to Top Global air safety checks reveal more faulty engines A GLOBAL check of 45 Airbus A380 engines built by Rolls-Royce has given Qantas's existing A380s a clean bill of health. But the check has found a problem with one of the flying kangaroo's undelivered superjumbos. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau revealed yesterday that problems had been found with three Trent 900 engines after inspections it recommended last week were adopted by Rolls and conducted at Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. The finding appears to confirm that there was a batch of faulty oil pipes that were unevenly bored during manufacturing. Investigators believe that an oil leak that led to a damaging fire inside the engine of an Qantas A380 after take-off from Singapore last month most likely stemmed from fatigue cracking on the thin side of the tube. The fire caused superheating in the turbine disc area, which led to the disintegration of the intermediate pressure turbine disc and substantial damage to the aircraft. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce confirmed last night that one of the problem engines was on an undelivered Qantas plane and that delivery of the plane, due before Christmas, was on hold while Rolls-Royce and Airbus replaced the engine. Mr Joyce said he did not believe the discovery would affect Qantas's plans to reintroduce the four-engine A380s and it would still get four aircraft operational by Christmas and it would probably have a fifth one by the end of the year. Mr Joyce said the findings of other engines with the problem also showed there was a batch of oil pipes with the boring defect. "There's been a manufacturing problem and it's not a once-off with one engine, it's gone through to a number of different engines," he said. "I think that it's good that we're homing in on it because it means we can replace the engines before they're an issue." Two sets of modifications mean there are three versions of Trent 900s on A380s with only those with the latest "C" modification believed to be defect-free. Mr Joyce did not know last night what version of the engine had been found on the undelivered plane but said it was not a "C". The situation has been confused because later planes do not necessarily have the latest engines. The inspections covered 29 engines installed on aircraft as well as eight not on aircraft, four on test planes and four due to be delivered. It is understood a Lufthansa engine, believed to be an earlier "A" version, was found with the problem and Singapore last night confirmed it had a "precautionary" engine change. ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan said all the engines listed by Rolls as needing to be checked had now been inspected. Mr Dolan said an engine control software upgrade approved last week by the European Aviation Safety Agency had also been installed on all operating aircraft and provided another line of defence. The software upgrade predicts problems with the intermediate pressure turbine and shuts the engine down before a turbine disc failure occurs. Singapore Airlines said yesterday it would reintroduce some A380 services to Sydney from Friday. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Back to Top Safety agency urges parents to strap babies in on airplanes By Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON - The nation's transportation safety watchdogs will try to persuade the public today to voluntarily buckle their infants into child-safety seats on planes after failing for decades to get the government to order it. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which monitors and advises on travel safety, has investigated several accidents in which airliners were buffeted so severely that babies sitting in parents' laps were flung through the air, sometimes with tragic consequences. "If we are so careful to strap our children into car seats when we drive to the airport, then why are we not as diligent in securing them in a seat of their own on the aircraft?" NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman says. The agency is having a one-day forum on the importance of child-safety restraints in aircraft and motor vehicles. Now, parents can hold their infants in their laps on planes and secure them with their own seatbelts. But accident investigators say that it's impossible to hold onto a baby in an accident, which could turn a 20-pound child into the equivalent of a 100-pound missile. "Was it hard holding onto a baby in a plane crash? Absolutely," says Jim Whitaker, who volunteered to safeguard the 9-month-old boy whose mother was sitting next to him on the US Airways flight that splashed down onto the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009. Tess Sosa, who handed baby Damian to Whitaker, says what she saw during the rough water landing convinced her that child restraints should be required. After decades of public debate between accident investigators and aviation regulators, there's little likelihood that the rules - which allow children age 2 and under to sit in a parent's lap - will change any time soon. The Federal Aviation Administration, the government agency that regulates airlines, agrees that babies should sit in approved car seats or other restraint devices when flying. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last month in his blog urged parents traveling during the holidays to strap in their babies on planes. But the FAA concluded in 2004 that it wouldn't require families to buy an airline seat for babies because the increased cost would shift travel onto more dangerous highways, thereby causing more deaths than it would save. "There has not been a preventable commercial aviation fatality of a child under 2 in 16 years," says FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette. For Hersman and other child-safety advocates, the lack of recent fatalities is little solace. Whitaker successfully held onto baby Damian in the Hudson River crash landing last year. But a passenger aboard a Continental Airlines jet that skidded off a runway in Denver on Dec. 20, 2008, briefly lost her grasp on her child. The unidentified woman told NTSB investigators that as the jet bounced over gullies, her baby "floated" out of her arms toward the seat in front of her before she could grab the child out of the air. Patricia Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union, says that airlines and the FAA should do more to promote use of safety seats, such as providing training on how to correctly install the seats. Airlines encourage passengers to use the safety seats and have urged the FAA to require the seats, says David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents large carriers. Back to Top Man arrested after airplane gun threat WINDSOR, Ontario, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A Canadian man was arrested after threatening flight attendants on a flight from Cuba to Canada when they refused to serve him drinks, police said. Police in Windsor, Ontario, said the man started causing trouble midway through a Wednesday flight between Varadero, Cuba, and Windsor, Postmedia News reported. The man got "unruly" and made derogatory sexual comments to flight attendants when they told him he wasn't allowed to have any more drinks, Windsor Police Staff Sgt. Mike Langlois said. "He was cut off from further alcohol consumption as a result of his behavior, which essentially catapulted him in terms of his aggression," Langlois said. "He made a threat to one of the stewardesses with respect to shooting them with a 9mm handgun. "He wasn't happy about being cut off and he made reference to wanting to shoot them," Langlois said. "That caused a bit of hysteria within the plane." The pilot radioed ahead for police help, and when the plane landed at Windsor officers were waiting to arrest the 58-year-old Windsor resident, who was not identified, Postmedia News said Back to Top Passengers safe after bird strike forces emergency landing at Lauderdale airport FORT LAUDERDALE - Seventy passengers aboard a Fort Lauderdale flight to Washington, D.C., Wednesday were jolted but unharmed after an emergency landing caused by a fatal encounter with a bird. Passengers of US Airways Flight 1121 reported hearing a loud thump and then smelling something burning moments after the 737 jet took off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at about 2 p.m. Pariq Arsala,who was sitting near a wing, said after the thump, he saw a fireball shoot out of one of the engines. He too smelled something foul - or fowl, as it were. "It smelled like burned car brakes. I knew immediately something was wrong," he said in a telephone interview. "Everyone remained calm even after the pilot said we had a bird strike." The pilot circled over the Atlantic before landing safely at the airport. Passengers applauded. US Airways spokesman Derek Hanna said the bird strike apparently blew out one of the engines. Officials were still examining the plane for further damage. Among the passengers was Sun Sentinel sports reporter Harvey Fialkov, who was heading to cover Thursday's match between the Florida Panthers and the Washington Capitals. He was texting his wife as the plane made its return. "It was scary. You always hear about birds causing crashes, and in this case there was no Capt. Sully," he said, referring to Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the heroic US Airways pilot who landed his craft safely in the Hudson River following a bird strike in 2009. Flight 1121 passengers were being re-booked on other flights late Wednesday. Arsala wondered if the airline would compensate passengers for their fright. "Maybe they can give us the bird for dinner," he joked. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/fl-airplane-bird-strike-20101208,0,5280686.story Back to Top Plane diverted because of unruly passenger ALBUQUERQUE, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Continental Airlines flight from Houston to San Jose, Calif., was diverted to Albuquerque when a passenger became disruptive, officials said. The passenger was removed from Flight 1576, CNN reported Wednesday. He was held for questioning at the Albuquerque airport. Frank Fisher, an FBI spokesman, said the man had not been charged Wednesday afternoon. He gave few details about the incident and did not identify the passenger. The plane landed in Albuquerque at 9:30 a.m. local time, Daniel Giron, an airport spokesman said. It took off an hour later for Houston. Back to Top Concorde criminal trial is bad move, safety experts say USA TODAY - Air France's lawyer, Fernand Garnault (center) answers journalists questions on Dec. 6, 2010, at a Pontoise courthouse, north of Paris, after the verdict in the trial to determine who was to blame for the 2000 Air France supersonic airliner Concorde disaster. French court's decision to put airlines and mechanics on trial for the 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde is drawing criticism in safety aviation safety circles. The New York Times says "the decision to proceed with criminal charges in the Concorde case has alarmed airlines and aviation safety experts worldwide, who contend that the threat of prosecution can dissuade some witnesses from cooperating in crash investigations." Kenneth Quinn, an expert in aviation law expert at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, predicts to Bloomberg News that today's Continental verdict "will send a shock wave across the industry" and leave pilots and mechanics considering "clamming up for fear of criminal prosecution." "The risk of facing a prosecutor some day chills voluntary disclosures and co-operation - it keeps people from coming forward to find, flag and fix safety issues, which hurts everyone," Quinn adds to the Guardian of London. The Times says "France is one of a handful of countries that routinely seeks criminal indictments in transportation accidents, regardless of whether there is clear evidence of criminal intent or negligence." Back to Top Masked flight passenger to stay in detention The Canadian Press VANCOUVER - The young Chinese refugee claimant who boarded a plane to Canada disguised as an old man has been ordered to stay in detention because he is a flight risk if released, the Immigration and Refugee Board ruled Wednesday. The man took an Air Canada flight to Vancouver from Hong Kong in October wearing an elaborate silicone mask of an elderly white male, which he donned during the flight to the alarm of some fellow passengers. The case made international headlines after an internal border agency memo was leaked to media, and the attached photos of the man with and without the mask on went viral on the Internet. The man's identity is shielded by a publication ban, and he appeared at Wednesday's hearing only by telephone. Daniel McLeod, the man's lawyer, claimed his client's parents are under investigation in China by police in the Public Security Bureau because their son's identity was widely reported in the media. McLeod also accused Canadian authorities of divulging information to the Chinese government in the process of investigating his client's identity. Jim Murray, the Canada Border Services Agency representative, told the Board the officers verified the man's identity and said his documents are "probably authentic." "But obtaining a genuine document by fraudulent means, such as bribery ... is common," Murray said. During the hearing, Murray read out the initial interview with the migrant detailing how he made his way to Vancouver with the help of human traffickers. According to a transcript, the man was met at the Hong Kong airport by an individual identified only as Mr. X. The man told CBSA he was given a passport, boarding pass and a membership card, which turned out to be a travel rewards card. Murray said both men boarded the plane. During the night period of the flight, Mr. X ordered the migrant to put on the mask and clothes. The migrant said he did not hand cash to the smuggler at the time, but was told he would be contacted for payment once in Canada. Murray argued that evidence means the man has been co-operating with human traffickers, and he might try to flee if released. Mcleod said he spoke with his client's parents and was informed they paid $30,000 to the smugglers. He added the man has friends in Ontario who offered to provide accommodation once he's released. Refugee board adjudicator Lynda Mackie said she was prepared to order the man's release on a "significant" cash bond that would exceed $5,000. McLeod said he will contact the Ontario friends to ask if they'll put up the funds. Mackie had earlier expressed concern of the man's flight risk. "The sad fact is that -- and I am not for a minute suggesting this applies to the person concerned -- many people come to this country ... to make a refugee claim," she said, "and once they are released they are never heard from again. This unfortunately in the past applies to many people from China." The man's next hearing is scheduled for early January. Back to Top Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC