Flight Safety Information January 5, 2011 - No. 005 In This Issue United Airlines flight makes an emergency landing in Toronto Delta jet returns to LAX after hydraulics problem Report offers insight into fatal CA chopper crash Polish PM Holds Crew, Russian ATC Responsible For Kaczynski Plane Crash Ascend: 2010 was a 'disappointing year' for airline safety Concern over unmanned airport towers (Australia Napolitano: Israeli-Style Security Won't Work for U.S United Airlines flight makes an emergency landing in Toronto... because the pilot spilled his coffee One spilled cup of coffee meant a flight with 241 passengers had to make an emergency landing in Toronto A flight from Chicago to Frankfurt made an emergency landing in Canada when the pilot spilled his coffee. United Airlines Flight 940 was diverted to Toronto just after 10 pm Monday night. An airline spokesman said only that the plane had a communications problem and the pilot elected to divert the flight rather than cross the Atlantic with the issue. But according to Transport Canada, the agency that regulates transportation in Canada, the malfunction was the Boeing 777's pilot dumping his cup of coffee on the plane's communication equipment. The spilled liquid caused the plane's radio to send out transponder code (or 'squawk') 7500, denoting a highjacking. The crew were able to stop the faulty squawk, but decided to land anyway. The 241 passengers and 14 crew members were put in a different aeroplane once on the ground in Toronto, flown back to Chicago, put up in a hotel and then flown to Frankfurt on Tuesday afternoon. United Airlines would not confirm the pilot's coffee spill. Passengers were re-routed back to Chicago, put in hotels, then flown to Frankfurt the next day. Here is the plane at the Toronto gate after the emergency landing When asked about coffee triggering the diversion and mass delay, United avoided the subject. 'Our review of the communications issue encountered on flight 940 continues, so it's too soon to comment on any particulars that led to the captain's decision to divert,' United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said late Tuesday. 'But important to note the crew did maintain contact with controllers, and the decision to divert to Toronto was the captain's.' The name of the coffee-spilling culprit has not been released. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ Back to Top Delta jet returns to LAX after hydraulics problem A Delta Airlines jetliner bound for Hawaii turned around Tuesday night and made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport after the pilot reported a problem with the hydraulic system, officials said. Delta Flight 1299 departed LAX for Kona, Hawaii, around 3:20 p.m. Shortly afterward, the pilot reported the problem and safely landed the plane back at LAX around 4:50 p.m., said airport spokesman Albert Rodriguez. No injuries were immediately reported by the 185 people on board the plane, Rodriguez said. The Boeing 757-200 jetliner was carrying about 40,000 pounds of fuel when it landed at LAX's south airfield, Rodriguez said. No fires broke out, but the plane was met on the ground by military-size rigs carrying hundreds of gallons of water operated by the Los Angeles Fire Department's crew at LAX, known as "Crash 80." http://www.contracostatimes.com/ Back to Top Report offers insight into fatal CA chopper crash SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -The high-voltage power lines involved in a fatal Sierra Nevada helicopter crash last year lacked visibility markers but appeared on a map found in the wreckage, federal investigators said in a report released Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board's factual report does not determine the probable cause of the Jan. 5, 2010, crash that killed a pilot and three California Department of Fish and Game biologists. The team was conducting an aerial deer survey when their craft collided with a Southern California Edison transmission line and went down near the border of Fresno and Madera counties. The helicopter was consumed by fire after the crash. Federal Aviation Administration guidelines state that companies are responsible for placing lights and visible markers on power lines and towers that are higher than 200 feet above ground level. The SoCal Edison line was held up by two towers measuring 81 and 95 feet, the NTSB report said. That power line and other unmarked lines in the area of the crash were documented on printed aeronautical charts and maps, including a map found in the debris, the report said. The report notes that an autopsy of the 70-year-old pilot, Dennis Michael Donovan, revealed traces of an antihistamine and an opiate in his system but does not indicate whether drugs were a factor. Donovan was an experienced pilot with 47 years of flying experience, including previous deer surveying missions through his employer, Landells Aviation of Desert Hot Springs. Two of his passengers from an earlier mission, in December 2009, told NTSB investigators that they became alarmed when Donovan appeared to be "trying too hard" to observe deer instead of watching out for potential hazards, the report said. The passengers reported admonishing Donovan for his behavior during the flight. The state Department of Fish and Game conducts aerial deer surveys each winter- voyages that often require complex maneuvers by the pilot. The department's contract with Landells Aviation says the work includes "flying close to the ground at variable speeds in mountainous terrain." http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_17010294?nclick_check=1 Back to Top Polish PM Holds Crew, Russian ATC Responsible For Kaczynski Plane Crash (RTTNews) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that the crew who decided to land, as well as the Russian air traffic controllers who gave permission for the same are equally responsible for the Polish plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and top officials last year. "This is one of the reasons why a report from Interstate Aviation Committee (that probed the incident) does not seem 100 per cent fair to me," he told the Polish news channel TVN24 on Tuesday. Tusk had rejected last month a draft report of the probe into the Polish plane crash as "unacceptable." Kaczynski, his wife Maria, parliamentarians and top military brass were among 96 people killed when the Presidential jet failed to land safely on April 10 near Smolensk in western Russia. In August, Russia handed over to Poland investigation-related documents, including witness testimony, photos and descriptions of personal objects of victims found at the crash site. Moscow-based IAC said in its preliminary findings released in May that investigators had ruled out fire, explosion, engine failure or a terrorist attack on the Tupolev-154 aircraft. On December 17, Tusk said some findings of the Russian Commission were baseless. The report shows the Commission's "negligence, or mistakes, or no reaction to demands" made by the Polish side, he added. Tusk said on Tuesday that "the disaster would have been avoided, if not for the decision to land. But putting the blame solely on pilots would be too simple." The Polish Premier believes that many other factors contributed to the tragedy, including a permission to land from Russian air traffic controllers. The late President's twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski says that Poland, and not Russia, should lead the probe into the crash. Responding to the allegation, Russian Foreign Ministry requested Warsaw "not to politicize the situation." http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1519718&SM=1 Back to Top Ascend: 2010 was a 'disappointing year' for airline safety The air transport industry experienced a "disappointing" 2010 in terms of fatal accidents and passenger fatalities according to UK-based Ascend, which reported increases in both categories over 2009. The fatal accident rate worsened "from about one per 1.5 million flights overall in 2009 to one per 1.3 million flights last year," while the number of fatal accidents increased 22%, from 23 in 2009 to 28 in 2010. The firm noted, however, that "2010 still compared favorably with earlier years," with only 2009, 2007 and 2006 producing better accident rates, while the 28 fatal accidents, although "slightly" exceeding the average of the last decade, "was still 25% better than the 1990s' average" of 37.6 per year. The total number of passengers and crew reported killed rose from 731 deaths during 2009 to 828 in 2010, about 4% worse than the decade's average of 794. The number of fatal accidents involving passenger deaths on scheduled flights jumped to 19, from 10 in 2010, while passenger fatalities rose 19% from 609 in 2009 to 726 in 2010. Western-built jets suffered eight fatal accidents resulting in 554 passenger and crew deaths, accounting for almost 70% of airline fatalities (but almost 90% of world traffic). Eastern-built jets experienced two fatal accidents compared to an average of 2.5, however just two passengers and eight crew were killed versus and average for the last decade of 104. Turning to turboprops, Ascend said it is aware of 27 total losses (including non- operational ground losses) to western-built turboprops seating 15 or more, up from 18 in 2009. There were 11 fatal accidents, up from eight, resulting in the deaths of 169 passengers and crew, compared to 108 deaths in 2008 and an annual average for the last decade of 88. Overall, despite the setback 2010 represented, the decade's fatal accident rate of one per 1.2 million flights was vastly improved over one per 700,000 flights in 1990s, it said. Ascend estimated the cost of incurred airline hull and legal liability losses at about $2.15 billion, which is less than in 2009 ($2.52 billion) but above "the estimated $2.1 billion of premium written during the calendar year." http://atwonline.com/ Back to Top Concern over unmanned airport towers (Australia) Air traffic control installation to be delayed. Airservices Australia has confirmed Tasmania's two main airports will not have 24-hour air traffic control for another six months. Last year, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority recommended Melbourne air traffic controllers monitor Hobart and Launceston after local control towers close at night. The Federal government agreed to implement the system by next month but Airservices Australia says that will not happen until June. Businessman and aviator Dick Smith says the delay is potentially deadly. "It should've been done many years ago," he said. "We've had some serious incidents because it hasn't been done, I've advised people don't fly into Launceston or Hobart at night or in bad weather until the radar is used properly otherwise it's too risky." Tasmanian Liberal Senator Guy Barnett says it makes a mockery of air safety. "This delay is unacceptable and we need action and we need it fast." Civil Air Australia's Robert Mason says he would be surprised if it makes the extended deadline. "The reality of what has to be done in terms of systems development, equipment placement on the ground, and also training of staff is that it looks unlikely." The Federal Transport Minister has been contacted for comment. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/04/3106353.htm?section=business Back to Top Napolitano: Israeli-Style Security Won't Work for U.S. TEL AVIV -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday rebuffed suggestions that U.S. airports should adopt the practices of airports in Israel, calling the Israeli air travel system "a very different model." "We share a common goal, which is to protect the people of our countries from terror or other attacks," Napolitano told Fox News ahead of a tour of security facilities at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport. But there are many differences in the United States system versus Israel. Part of that is driven by sheer size." Critics of U.S. security methods, particularly full body scans and the so-called "invasive pat down" used by the Transportation Security Administration, have called for American airports to adopt Israeli-style security measures, which rely heavily on behavioral profiling of travelers. But Napolitano said that what is effective in Israel, a nation of 7.3 million, wouldn't necessarily work for 310 million Americans. Ben-Gurion is Israel's only major international airport. The United States, however, has 450 such facilities. Plus, about 11 million people pass through Israeli airports each year, while 70 times that many passengers go through American airports each year. Early Tuesday, the head of security at Ben-Gurion gave Napolitano a tour of his airport's system and a "comprehensive briefing" on Israeli airport security that "covered the spectrum from intelligence to the perimeter security of the airport to checkpoint screening and everything in between," according to a Homeland Security official. Passengers arriving at Ben-Gurion for flights out of Israel spoke to FOX News about their experiences with the airport's security system. Henrich Ditze, a television cameraman from Berlin, Germany, said security officers at Ben-Gurion always ask him "lots of questions," both new ones and some that are the same each time. He said he is always asked whether he received any gifts while in Israel. "They're checking everything," he said. "They look very seriously into your eyes. ... It can make you nervous even if you don't have to hide anything. But just keep cool, that's it. Just keep cool." Barry Raymond of Orlando, Fla., who comes to Israel every three months to visit his son, a college student here, described a similar experience, including receiving questions about books he may be carrying. One time, he said, one of his books was "so dense" that security personnel couldn't determine what was inside it from the X-ray machine, so he was delayed for 30 minutes. He called that type of security "far superior" to the measures in U.S. airports, adding, "I'd love to see American security like this." Raymond is not alone. In the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Transportation Security Administration began to come under fire for its enhanced security measures at. In the midst of the firestorm, Rep. John Mica (R-TX), and others called for TSA to adopt Israel's style of screening. Napolitano and TSA chief John Pistole have said repeatedly that the new procedures at U.S. airports are so far the best way to keep ahead of the "evolving threat." A department statement issued late Tuesday noted that the TSA uses a "layered security approach," including the deployment of behavior detection officers, air marshals and explosives detection canine teams. Overseas terrorists have repeatedly targeted U.S.-bound flights. On Christmas Day 2009, Umar Abdulmutallab of Nigeria tried to detonate his explosives-laden underwear over Detroit. In October, two packages containing explosives were sent from Yemen to the United States, but they were intercepted overseas after Saudi intelligence officials shared information about the plot. Both attempts have been tied to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "We know that there've been terrorist attacks that have emanated from this area of the world for years," Napolitano said, speaking of the Mideast and Persian Gulf regions. So, she said, her discussions with Israeli officials would focus on "what partnerships we have, what information we're sharing, what kind of best practices we can share in terms of protecting security and safety." During Napolitano's private briefing with Israeli officials at Ben-Gurion, they discussed cargo screening and how to stop non-metallic explosives, such as those used in the recent plots, from getting onto a plane, a Homeland Security official said. Despite repeated attempts to speak with an Israeli official about using their security model in the United States, the Israeli government declined to talk with Fox News, citing an aversion to discussing their security measures publicly. http://www.foxnews.com/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC