Flight Safety Information March 24, 2011 - No. 061 In This Issue U.S. Transport Head Calls for Change After Report of Air Traffic Controller Asleep Major Fire Breaks Out at Miami International Airport France begins 4th search for Air France jet Faked Airline-Pilot Records Prompt India to Review All Licenses Probe underway into Qantas cockpit fire BAA Wasn't Prepared For Snowfall, Communication Failed U.S. Transport Head Calls for Change After Report of Air Traffic Controller Asleep on Job U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is directing that two people be on duty overnight in the Reagan Washington National Airport control tower following reports that an air traffic controller fell asleep on the job. Two planes reportedly landed at the airport without tower clearance Wednesday night because they were unable to reach the lone controller. "It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space," LaHood said in a statement. "I have also asked FAA [Federal Aviation Administration]Administrator Randy Babbitt to study staffing levels at other airports around the country." American Airlines flight 1012 was on final approach to the airport at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday and abandoned the descent when the tower was unresponsive, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. United Airlines flight 628T coming from Chicago faced the same experience fifteen minutes later. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said the pilots were able to communicate with a regional air traffic control facility in Virginia, about 40 miles from the airport. Both planes landed safely using "uncontrolled airport" procedures. Safety officials said controllers at the regional facility were unable to raise anyone at the airport tower by phone. An aviation official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the single controller -- a supervisor -- was scheduled for duty in the tower at that time but had fallen asleep. The post-midnight shift in the control tower is reserved for supervisors. The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement confirming the incident. "The FAA is looking into staffing issues and whether existing procedures were followed appropriately," agency spokeswoman Laura Brown said in an email. It's unlikely the safety of the planes was at risk since the pilots would have used a radio frequency for the airport tower to advise nearby aircraft of their intention to land and to make sure that no other planes also intended to land at that time, aviation safety experts said. At that time of night, air traffic would have been light, they said. Also, controllers at the regional facility, using radar, would have been able to advise the pilots of other nearby planes, experts said. The primary risk would have been if there was equipment on the runway when the planes landed, they said. But the incident raises serious questions about controller fatigue, a longstanding safety concern, said John Goglia, a former NTSB board member. "You have to watch your schedules to make sure (controllers) have adequate rest," Goglia said. "It's worse when nothing is going on. When it's busy, you have to stay engaged. When it's quiet, all they have to be is a little bit tired and they'll fall asleep." Aviation experts emphasized the unusual nature of the incident. "I'm not sure that in all the years I've been flying airplanes that I can recall coming into a major airport and I couldn't get hold of a controller in the airport tower," said aviation safety consultant John Cox, who spent 35 years as an airline and corporate pilot. However, planes, including smaller airliners, land all the time at small airports that don't have control towers or controllers to clear landings. The NTSB board is gathering facts to determine whether a full-fledged investigation is needed. The name of the controller wasn't available. http://www.foxnews.com/us/ Back to Top Major Fire Breaks Out at Miami International Airport A major fuel fire broke out at Miami International Airport late Wednesday night, with fire crews summoned from around the area to fight the flames. The fire, on the east side of the airport, was graded a second alarm blaze, with smoke and flames visible from nearby roads. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Capt. Eric Baum says the fire was reported around 11 p.m. Wednesday and was brought under control around 1 a.m. Thursday. He says there were no injuries and investigators are now working to determine the fire's cause. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue dispatch supervisor Eric Dellacatena said about 50 units were called to the scene. Baum told The Miami Herald that it was "an extremely dangerous operation" that required significant manpower to extinguish. The fire wasn't near any runways or terminals. Airport spokesman Greg Chin says one flight was delayed for about 45 minutes because of the fire. Chin says there may be flight delays at the airport Thursday as they work to restore normal fueling operations. He says fueling capacity is expected to be at 40 percent for morning flights. http://www.foxnews.com/us/ Back to Top France begins 4th search for Air France jet that crashed off Brazil's coast 2 years ago SAO PAULO (AP) - A fourth hunt for the black boxes and wreckage of Air France flight 447 is under way, French officials said Wednesday. Searchers hope any discovery might help them learn why the jet carrying 228 people dove into the Atlantic ocean during a turbulent storm two years ago, killing all on board. The French accident investigation agency BEA is overseeing the search and said on its website that a boat carrying three advanced underwater robots left a port in the northeastern city of Recife late Tuesday night. The robots will scour the mountainous ocean depths between Brazil and western Africa where the plane went down, looking for wreckage of the Airbus A330 that crashed June 1, 2009. The jet crashed after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. No definite cause has been found. While the BEA is responsible for the search, they say that experts from the U.S.-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who have participated in previous searches, will have the "operational responsibility" for the new hunt. The search is being targeted in area of about 3,900 square miles (10,000 square kilometres), several hundred miles off Brazil's northeastern coast, and could last until the beginning of July, the BEA said. David Gallo, a director of special projects at Woods Hole who is leading the search, said that only a small percentage of the area has ever been explored, making the search even more difficult, though he is confident that if the wreckage is in the target area, it will be found. Air France and Airbus are financing the estimated $12.5 million cost of the new search, French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said last month when announcing the new search. About $28 million has already been spent on the three previous searches for the jet's wreckage. The search took on even more importance last week, when French judge Sylvie Zimmerman filed preliminary charges of manslaughter against both Air France and Airbus. Without obtaining the flight data and voice recorders, experts say, the cause of the crash, and who should shoulder most of the blame, will likely never be known. Under French law, preliminary charges mean the investigating magistrate has sufficient reason to suspect wrongdoing. The step allows the magistrate to continue investigating before determining whether to send the case to trial. The cause of the crash remains unclear. Automatic messages sent by the Airbus 330 jet's computers show it was receiving false air speed readings from sensors known as pitot tubes. Investigators have said the crash was likely caused by a series of problems, and not just sensor error. Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters last week that the pitot problems were "a contributing factor but not the principal cause" of the crash. He defended his company, saying Air France had taken all necessary measures to fix faulty sensors. Airbus knew since at least 2002 about the pitot problems, but air safety authorities did not order their replacement until after the crash. The tubes, about the size of an adult hand and fitted to the underbelly of a plane, are vulnerable to blockage from water and icing. Experts have suggested that Flight 447's sensors, made by French company Thales SA, may have iced over and sent false speed information to the computers as the plane ran into a thunderstorm at about 35,000 feet (10,600 metres). In November, Air France issued a memo to investigators saying the carrier had counted 15 incidents in which the sensors had iced over on the same aircraft type in the 10 previous months before the crash. The airline said it had informed Airbus and Thales about those findings, and estimated that about 16 documents that traced Air France's exchanges with Airbus showed that the planemaker didn't respond to its concerns. Back to Top Faked Airline-Pilot Records Prompt India to Review All Licenses March 24 (Bloomberg) -- India is reviewing all airline pilots' licenses nationwide as police investigate at least 18 people suspected of using forged documents to win promotions or certification. Every captain is being "systematically" verified, followed by co-pilots and other license- holders, Director General of Civil Aviation E.K. Bharat Bhushan said today by phone from New Delhi. The industry regulator is also planning to announce improvements in its policies and procedures in about 10 days' time, he said without elaborating. New Delhi Police have also started investigating government officials to determine whether they helped pilots use faked records, Deputy Commissioner Ashok Chand said in an interview yesterday. The scandal highlights the competition for qualified staff among Indian carriers after domestic passenger numbers jumped 19 percent to 52 million last year. In New Delhi, one pilot each from Air India Ltd. and IndiGo have been arrested for using forged paperwork to win promotions, Chand said. Another three, including one more from IndiGo, are being investigated, he said. All five were properly qualified co-pilots, he said. The pilots face up to seven years in jail on charges including forgery, Chand said. State-owned Air India has grounded two pilots and is investigating "around a dozen," it said in an e-mailed reply to Bloomberg News questions. IndiGo, the nation's biggest discount carrier, has stopped two from flying, it said in an e- mailed statement. "We are treating this matter with utmost seriousness," it said. "There can be absolutely no compromise on safety." SpiceJet Ltd. said March 18 it had fired two pilots after being told by the regulator that the crewmembers had inflated flying hours to get licenses. The carrier is helping with an investigation, it said. Tauseef Mukadam, secretary of the Indian Pilots Guild, didn't answer three calls to his mobile phone. In Rajasthan state, five pilots have been arrested and eight more are being sought on suspicion of using faked records to win licenses without performing the mandatory amount of training, Ajit Singh, additional director general, Rajasthan Police, said by phone yesterday. Two flying-school officials have also been detained, he said. The aviation regulator has suspended the licenses of all of the pilots involved in the New Delhi and Rajasthan cases, which aren't directly linked, Bhushan said. Back to Top Probe underway into Qantas cockpit fire Fire forces Qantas plane emergency landing Air safety investigators are examining a Qantas Airbus that was forced to land in Cairns when a fire broke out in its cockpit yesterday. The mid-air emergency took place when the A330-200 carrying 147 passengers and 11 crew was flying from Manila to Sydney. The new aircraft ran into trouble when the pilots noticed flames in the flight deck and passengers experienced a very strong burning smell coming from the cockpit. While pilots have reacted calmly, the Australian and International Airline Pilots Association has described the incident as serious. "It can be potentially serious. The pilots dealt with it in... a very good way, very professionally," Qantas A380 pilot and union president Barry Jackson said. "Obviously the priority in any situation with a fire is to get the aircraft on the ground." Adding to the sense of alarm, the pilots were forced to use an extinguisher when the flames returned a second time. Passengers were kept informed of the situation over the public address system. "Fires are never good in an aircraft when it's airborne. Obviously it needs to be dealt with very quickly," Mr Jackson said. "If there is any fumes emitting from a fire, particularly an electrical fire, the pilots and the crew would be considering putting on oxygen masks and smoke goggles to deal with the fire. "Ensure that they're able to perform their jobs, their function, deal with the fire and obviously extinguish it. "Find the source if they can and isolate that source, and obviously as I say get the fire out as soon as possible so it doesn't become a bigger issue." Investigation begins Qantas would not do an interview for the ABC's The World Today but in a statement the airline says passengers or crew did not experience any ill effects. It also thanked the pilots for their calm response to the incident. Mr Jackson says the investigation into the incident is still in its early days. "Our members are keen to find out the issue. Obviously that'll be dealt with in the proper process through the ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau) and the details will be revealed once the investigation's complete," he said. "It sounds like a similar incident that happened with one of our Jetstar 330s recently, or a few years ago, when the window heater seems to have over-temped [sic] and sparked and sounds like that's been the cause of this." That overheating of the windscreen sparked an investigation by the ATSB in 2009. A similar Airbus, but operated by Jetstar, was en route from Japan to the Gold Coast when it caught fire and had to land in Guam. The safety regulator then ordered inspections of all windshield electrical connections on the A330 fleet. Maintenance providers found no abnormalities. Qantas says it is aware of similar issues with Airbus aircraft flown by other operators. Mr Jackson says it is too early to say whether the incident is related to any decision by Qantas to do more outsourcing of its aircraft maintenance. But he is worried about what he says is a change in the safety culture at the airline. "We are concerned. Obviously we are currently concerned about pilots' futures and the outsourcing of what used to be traditionally Qantas flying," he said. "And that's certainly a concern as far as we are concerned and obviously the engineers have concerns about the offshoring of their job. "It's just a general trend towards the offshoring of our jobs and with that I believe becomes an impact on the operation of the airline, something that we are very, very concerned about long term. "We as pilots and certainly the engineers are the same. We're looking long term. We like to ensure that the airline is run to a tight ability and certainly safety is inherently associated with the name Qantas." http://www.abc.net.au/news/ Back to Top BAA Wasn't Prepared For Snowfall, Communication Failed LONDON (Dow Jones)--A breakdown in communication between airlines and Heathrow Airport operator BAA Ltd. and the airport manager's inadequate stock of critical supplies to deal with heavy snowfall contributed to severe winter disruptions, according to a report published Thursday. A panel, commissioned by BAA and led by David Begg, concluded there was no single event or decision that led to disruptions at the world's busiest international passenger airport between Dec. 18 and Dec. 23, but suggested 14 recommendations around preparation, control, communication and passenger welfare to ensure that Heathrow never closes except for immediate safety or other emergency threats. Airlines that operate at Heathrow suffered severe delays and cancellations for several days after BAA struggled to clear a single, heavy fall of snow the Saturday before Christmas. Businesses and passengers criticized BAA after thousands of flights were cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded. U.K. lawmakers now are preparing legislation that will penalize airport owners for poor service and allow the U.K. air regulator to step in and demand better services. Airport owners could face fines or even risk losing their licenses under the plans. The panel said that BAA had demonstrated its ability to respond well to previous weather events, including those in February 2009 and January and November 2010. However, it said the weather during December was unusual, the "coldest December for 100 years" with the rate of heavy snowfall "rare." A crisis management team proved effective in managing the situation once invoked, but should have been mobilized earlier, the report said. Findings also showed a lack of communications between the airport operator and airlines, which led to confused and contradictory information being passed to passengers, which caused distress. It added that some airlines didn't comply with European regulations relating to obligations toward its passengers. Begg said, "For us, the single most important message from the enquiry is that all members of the Heathrow community need to work together. We welcome the initiative taken by the CEO of BAA to establish a Strategic Board, led by BAA, with senior representatives from airlines, (air-traffic controller) NATS and the Civil Aviation Authority to improve Heathrow resilience." The report added that BAA didn't have specialized equipment for under-aircraft stand clearance and airlines and BAA hadn't agreed priorities and protocols for dealing with and resourcing the situation. BAA, a unit of Spain's Ferrovial SA (FER.MC), said Thursday it will develop a GBP50 million Heathrow resilience investment plan, which it will recommend to airlines and the CAA in April and will help implement all recommendations made in the report. BAA Chief Executive Colin Matthews said, "Following December's disruption, we invested in new equipment, people and training to enable us to respond better to snow in future." He added BAA would meet regularly with airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and British Midland International, to reinforce plans: "If the entire Heathrow community learns from this report, and works more collaboratively to promote passengers' interests, then this is a pivotal moment for the airport and its reputation." Matthews said the disruptions were exacerbated because Heathrow is at full capacity. "Heathrow is among the most congested airports in the world and the lack of spare capacity means that unlike every other British or European airport, we have literally no room to move when disruption occurs. This means that any problem, large or small, that slows down the rate of aircraft arriving at or leaving from Heathrow, will disrupt many people." Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC