Flight Safety Information February 7, 2011 - No. 028 In This Issue Airlines oppose sale of UK air traffic control Cracked window forces jet to land Ryanair evacuates aircraft over students' excess baggage fee complaints Airplane evacuated due to smoke FAA Sets New Rules to Avoid Pressurization Problems Appeals Make FAA Extend SMS Comment Deadline Airline Losses May Top $600 Million on Record U.S. Cancellations Cebu Pacific hiring 75 pilots, 200 flight crew (Phillipines)... India-US to sign BASA soon Airlines oppose sale of UK air traffic control LONDON (Reuters) - British airlines do not want the government to reduce its dominant stake in the country's air-traffic control system below 25 percent, a consortium of carriers which jointly owns the system said on Sunday The government is considering reducing its 49 percent stake in the air-traffic control system NATS as part of measures to pay off Britain's ballooning public debt. But the Airline Group, a consortium of airlines which owns 42 percent of NATS, said a reduced government stake would weaken national influence over European Union air traffic policy. "The main point is that the 25 percent minimum government shareholding is on the basis that NATS needs to have a high degree of influence in Europe," Airline Group Chairman Peter Read told Reuters. In a letter to transport minister Philip Hammond, Read said reducing NATS' weight in Europe would free France, Germany and Spain to decide the future of the air traffic control industry, and would be highly damaging. A Department for Transport spokesman said the government was still weighing alternatives to a sale. "We haven't taken any decision to sell and we are reviewing the options," he said. The government will decide whether to proceed with a sale by the time of its budget, set for March 23. The Observer newspaper said potential bidders for the stake included British services company Serco (SRP.L), the owner of London's Gatwick airport Global Infrastructure Partners and U.S. defence company Lockheed Martin (LMT.N). Airlines which own a stake in NATS include British Airways BAY.L, Virgin, Lufthansa (LHAG.DE)-owned bmi, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook (TCG.L) and Tui Travel (TT.L). Back to Top Cracked window forces jet to land TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A cracked window caused Southwest Airlines Flight 1256 to Chicago to return to Tampa International Airport shortly after taking off, officials said. The side window on the plane cracked as it took off Saturday afternoon, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported. The plane immediately returned to the airport and its 135 passengers were moved to another aircraft. There were no injuries, but passengers arrived in Chicago about two hours later than they expected Back to Top Ryanair evacuates aircraft over students' excess baggage fee complaints . A RYANAIR flight was delayed by three hours after all passengers were told to abandon the plane following complaints by a group of students. Flight FR8175, which was heading to Charleroi airport in Brussels from Lanzarote's Guacimeta airport, should have bequeathed at 10.30hrs. But the 66 passengers on board did not receive to leave the terminal until in the region 13.30hrs, say staff. Ryanair representatives say a group of students were refusing to pay excess baggage fees and began to complain loudly whilst inside the aircraft. They say they had to call the Civil Guard and the National Police to remove them from the plane 'for security reasons'. All other passengers were put on later flights to their destination in Belgium, but the group accused of causing problems have been banned from boarding any future Ryanair flights. TheReader.es Back to Top Airplane evacuated due to smoke The smell of smoke permeated the cabin of a Delta jet after it landed Saturday morning at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, leading to the speedy exit of its 34 passengers. "We expeditiously got them off the aircraft," said Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton. She said no one on the flight from Boston was injured. Airport firefighters responded and discovered the smoke was caused by the auxiliary power generator the plane was using after its landing, she said. The plane was unplugged so Delta mechanics could repair the generator, said airport spokesman Patrick Hogan. http://www.startribune.com/ Back to Top FAA Sets New Rules to Avoid Pressurization Problems . By ANDY PASZTOR (WSJ) Federal aviation regulators have mandated enhanced safety equipment and emergency procedures to prevent dangerous pressurization problems on more than 700 older Boeing 737 airliners. The Federal Aviation Administration final rule, released on Friday, aims to help cockpit crews of such jets operated by U.S. carriers swiftly identify and react to in-flight malfunctions that can mean a loss of cabin pressure depriving pilots of oxygen. The directive appears to be the final step in implementing various lessons learned from the much- publicized 2005 crash of a Helios Airways Boeing 737 after its pilots passed out from lack of oxygen. The agency ordered installation of warning lights on some planes, specifically intended to alert pilots of hazardous pressurization problems that could prevent adequate oxygen from circulating inside the fuselage. The lights replace warning horns, which have confused some pilots because those same aural devices also serve to alert crews about improper configuration of flight-control surfaces prior to takeoff. In the past, FAA officials disclosed more than two dozen instances of 737 pilots disregarded the horns while airborne, often assuming they were malfunctioning. The agency said the final rule was intended to prevent "failure of flight crews to recognize and react properly to a valid cabin altitude warning horn, which could result in incapacitation" and loss of aircraft control. Investigators determined that's what happened to the pilots of the Helios Airways 737, who failed to detect a serious pressurization- system failure, while flying from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Prague, with a planned stop in Athens. The problem stemmed from improperly set cabin-pressure controls. The crew disregarded the warning horn as the plane was climbing above 10,000 feet, compounded the error by failing to don oxygen masks and eventually lost consciousness as the plane continued to higher altitudes where the air is thinner and contains less oxygen. The twin-engine jet flew on autopilot for about two hours, with the horn blaring, until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a hillside near Athens, killing all 121 aboard. Jet fighter crews sent to intercept the wayward plane saw the copilot slumped in his seat. They also observed a person they believed was a flight attendant entering the cockpit, who tried to send two Mayday messages over the radio. Investigators believe the captain collapsed after he got up from his seat to replace a circuit breaker. Helios Airways halted operations about a year after the accident. The FAA's move is likely to be followed by foreign regulators, imposing the same requirements to many more jets. As early as 2004, Irish investigators recommended adding a warning light to supplement the altitude warning horn in Boeing 737 planes. In the wake of the 2005 crash, FAA officials joined with their foreign counterparts to order a series of enhanced safety measures affecting thousands of the planes, including revised emergency procedures and urgent safety directives emphasizing the importance of pilots heeding cabin-pressure warnings. But those stopped short of mandating implementation of warning lights. Boeing Co. issued a nonbinding service bulletin a year ago dealing with installation of such lights, and is working on at least one more . Last August, the FAA proposed a long-term safety fix mandating, among other things, retrofits of many older 737s with special cabin- pressurization warning lights. The latest FAA action sets a three-year compliance deadline, over the objection of some carriers. Continental Airlines, a unit of United-Continental Holdings Inc., submitted comments complaining that the FAA substantially underestimated the anticipated cost of the modifications . The airline also unsuccessfully urged the agency to extend the deadline to five years, in order to better coordinate the work with other major maintenance tasks and avoid taking planes out of service for extra periods. Continental told the FAA that the latest schedule imposes an "undue economic burden" because the airline stands to lose more than $8 million in revenue to finish the modifications. Since 2008 , Boeing has been installing cabin-pressure warning lights in the cockpits of the latest 737 models rolling off its assembly line. Back to Top Appeals Make FAA Extend SMS Comment Deadline At the request of numerous general aviation, manufacturer and repair station organizations, FAA has extended the comment deadline until March 7 on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would require Part 121 holders to adopt safety management systems (SMS). FAA published the NPRM Nov. 5 and originally called for the comment period to close yesterday. Eight organizations last month jointly requested a 90-day extension of the comment period. "Although this NPRM is targeted at Part 121 air carriers, these organizations have a great interest in submitting comments to this NPRM as it appears that these rules are to become the framework for SMS [regulations] that may be extended to other aspects of aviation," the organizations say. The SMS proposal, the organizations contend, represents a "theoretical departure" from the way aviation has been regulated in the past. The organizations are particularly concerned by potential "implementation hurdles" that include redundant regulatory requirements, along with rules that do not necessarily work with existing regulations affecting management systems. "We believe that public comments must account for these hurdles, and proposed alternatives that overcome these hurdles, or else the rule will fail to achieve its stated aims of improving safety," the groups say. The organizations signing the letter were the Aeronautical Repair Station Association, Aircraft Electronics Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Aviation Suppliers Association, Experimental Aircraft Association, Modification and Replacement Parts Association, National Air Transportation Association and National Business Aviation Association. But the Aerospace Industries Association and General Aviation Manufacturers Association also sent a letter to FAA asking for a 60- day extension. AIA and GAMA agree with the other groups, saying, "It is extremely important that [Part 5's] initial establishment take due consideration of its intended application across the broader industry." FAA responded to the request for extension, saying the petitioners have demonstrated that extending the deadline would be in the public interest. But the agency opted instead for a 30-day extension, rather than the longer extensions requested by the associations. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/ Back to Top Airline Losses May Top $600 Million on Record U.S. Cancellations Almost 20,000 flights were scrubbed last week alone as snow blanketed U.S. airports such as Chicago's O'Hare, seen here, a hub for American Airlines, according to researchers. Airlines may be headed for more than $600 million in weather-related losses as U.S. winter storms trigger the most flight cancellations since the government began tracking the data in 1987. Almost 20,000 flights were scrubbed last week alone as snow blanketed U.S. airports such as Chicago's O'Hare, a hub for United Continental Holdings Inc. and American Airlines, according to researchers FlightStats and FlightAware.com. Since Nov. 1, the total is 89,884, the firms' tallies show. That would push carriers' net revenue loss to about $629 million, based on the average estimate of $7,000 for each scrapped flight from Vaughn Cordle of AirlineForecasts LLC, which builds financial models for investors. His projection factors in lost fare revenue plus fuel and labor savings. "If this keeps up, it will really get ugly," said Daniel Kasper, an airline economist with LECG LLC in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It's already brutal and it's only the first week in February." The industry already was under increasing financial strain even without the snarls from snow and ice, with an 8.8 percent increase this year for jet fuel, one of the largest expenses for airlines. Delta Air Lines Inc. is alone so far in quantifying first- quarter weather fallout, saying Jan. 18 it would have a $30 million net reduction in revenue from scrapping 4,000 flights at its hometown hub in Atlanta last month. That's about $7,500 a flight. 'Talking About Snow' "I can't believe I'm talking about snow again," Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told employees in a Feb. 3 message. "When we're seeing record or near-record snow across the heartland and the Northeast, that definitely has an impact on our operation and airline operations all over the U.S." Cancellations from Jan. 31 through Feb. 4 amounted to about 13 percent of the schedule for the five weekdays, according to Houston- based FlightAware.com. That came on top of cancellations of 4 percent of all domestic trips since November, according to FlightView.com in Boston. The previous worst season for cancellations occurred from November 2000 through February 2001, when airlines failed to operate 76,851 scheduled flights, or 3.93 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Last month's total was the highest this winter, at 33,372 cancellations, according to Portland, Oregon-based FlightStats. Its count includes Canadian carriers at U.S. airports. 'Most Extreme' "This year is the most extreme weather I've ever seen," said Henry Margusity of AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania, who has been a forecaster for 25 years. "The storms have been widespread. New York has been hit four times, and that backs up the whole system." Chicago's O'Hare received about 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow last week as United Continental, AMR Corp.'s American and Southwest Airlines Co. scrapped most flights in the city. Days earlier, a winter storm dumped 19 inches on New York, which also endured thousands of flight cuts from the shutdown of its three major airports for parts of Dec. 26-27. Fourth-quarter passenger revenue fell by about $25 million at United Continental because of December storms, JetBlue Airways Corp. reported a $30 million impact and Delta said bad weather in the U.S. and Europe cut profit by $45 million. While grounding a flight erases some costs, the savings and rebooked fares won't offset all of the lost revenue because some travelers will abandon their trips. Consultant Cordle, who is based in Clifton, Virginia, assumes that 70 percent to 90 percent of fliers change their travel dates instead of seeking refunds, so airlines keep most of the revenue on their books. Softest Quarter "It's a negative, there's no question about it," Herb Kelleher, Southwest chairman emeritus and former CEO, said in an interview. "And the first quarter of each year is the softest quarter for the airline industry. That means the impact is felt even more." Carriers will need every dollar as they face mounting bills, with jet fuel for immediate delivery in New York Harbor closing on Feb. 4 at $2.79 a gallon. It reached $2.85 a gallon on Feb. 2, when the International Air Transport Association trade group said global airline profits were at risk from rising prices for crude oil, from which jet fuel is refined. The Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index slumped 5.2 percent this year through Feb. 4 and posted a third straight monthly decline in January, the longest such streak in more than two years. Quicker Calls United, Delta and Fort Worth, Texas-based American, the three largest U.S. airlines, are among the carriers making quicker calls on flight cancellations and ticket waivers so planes and passengers don't pile up at socked-in airports, adding to costs and sowing ill will among travelers. "The worst thing you can do is have people show up and have nothing for them," said Robert Mann, president of aviation consultant R.W. Mann & Co. in Port Washington, New York. Also driving cancellation decisions is the threat of fines of as much as $27,500 a passenger, under new federal rules that prohibit tarmac waiting times of more than three hours, Cordle said. BTS data showed a 25 percent increase in canceled flights in the first 11 months of 2010 from a year earlier. "There's no doubt about it that they are canceling more, and they should be," said Cordle, who retired from Chicago- based United after more than 20 years of flying. "It's more efficient to just cancel flights and rebook people." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ Back to Top Cebu Pacific hiring 75 pilots, 200 flight crew (Phillipines) BUDGET carrier Cebu Pacific Air is hiring 75 pilots and 200 cabin crew and offering them high compensation to support its expansion in Asia, the airline said over the weekend. "It is an exciting and fun time for the airline as it proceeds with its expansion plans and takes delivery of 20 more brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft from 2011-2014," vice president Candice Iyog said in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming more people into the Cebu Pacific family." The airline said it was looking to hire 75 Airbus and ATR pilots, 200 cabin crew, 10 mechanics and engineers, and 20 ground support crew. The carrier took delivery of four new Airbuses from October 2010 to January 2011. It said it will have 37 aircraft with an average age of less than 2.5 years by the end of this year, and that it will have 16 more Airbus A320 aircraft between 2012 and 2014. Iyog said Cebu Pacific had created over 4,000 jobs since its incorporation in 2006, and of those over 500 were made available last year. The airline had an annual payroll of over P2 billion, she said. "We are proud to provide high-paying jobs to Filipinos and keep them close to their families," Iyog said. Applicants may attend the airline's recruitment event at the Hotel Intercontinental Manila on Feb. 11 to 12, she said. Cebu Pacific had earlier reported that passenger traffic rose 19 percent to 10.5 million in 2010, up 19 percent from 876,000 in 2009, as a result of a surge in its international operations. The number of international passengers jumped 38 percent to 2.23 million, while the number of domestic passengers grew 15 percent to 8.23 million. Cebu Pacific operates 260 flights daily to 16 international destinations and 33 domestic destinations. http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/ Back to Top India-US to sign BASA soon NEW DELHI: The Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between India and the United States will be signed very soon after it gets approval from the government, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said today. Ravi today met US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and a delegation of business heads of various companies here. A Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement ( BASA )) would lead to mutual acceptance of aeronautical products and parts developed in either country as aeronautical products are now being designed and manufactured in India and a need was felt for international acceptance of such products. The Minister thanked Locke for the US' cooperation, through the Memorandum of Agreement and India-US Aviation Cooperation Programme (ACP), in the ongoing projects that have helped the Indian civil aviation sector. The ACP bilateral partnership was launched in 2007 and targets mutual interests in supporting modernisation requirements of India's rapidly growing aviation sector. A public-private partnership between the US Trade Development Agency (USTDA), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and US aviation companies -- had been established to provide a forum for unified communication between the government of India and US public and private sector entities in India. The USTDA is the lead sponsor of the ACP and funds the technical assistance programmes for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI). Ravi also expressed hope that projects in the pipeline like the grant agreement for the Inspector training programme for the DGCA will be given priority. He also thanked Gary Locke for committing to fund a technical assistance programme for the AAI for the installation and operational certification of a pilot Ground Based Augmentation System at Chennai International Airport which will help to improve the safety and efficiency of India's air traffic management systems. The two sides also agreed to hold third India-US Aviation Summit later this year, in India, at a date mutually convenient. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC