Flight Safety Information October 22, 2012 - No. 212 In This Issue Latin American Air-Safety Record Comes Into Focus After 1015 days, report into plane's ditching comes back 'seriously flawed' Tiger Airways flies high after getting the all-clear PIA not to compromise on safety standards PROS IOSA Audit Experts High Stakes for Airbus in Getting New Jet to Market Another 350-odd pilots will lose job after Kingfisher Airlines curb (India) Singapore Airlines freezes hiring of cadet pilots Latin American Air-Safety Record Comes Into Focus By ANDY PASZTOR SANTIAGO, Chile (WSJ)-Latin America's official air-safety scorecard, expected to be approved at a meeting here this week, shows more commercial-aircraft accidents in 2011 than in any other developing part of the world, though the region's record has improved this year. A Central American Airways plane crashed in the mountainous area in Las Mesitas, Honduras, in February 2011, killing all 14 people aboard. A preliminary English-language version of the report says pilot errors and mechanical problems were big reasons the region had 15 airliner crashes last year and an overall accident rate that soared to roughly twice the global average, or nearly four times the North American rate. Only the notoriously dangerous airways and airports in Africa and the former Soviet Union recorded markedly higher rates of commercial-airline crashes. Regional airline officials and regulators say they are making progress because there weren't any fatal crashes involving big jetliners last year and overall safety statistics for 2012 so far show a marked improvement. There were fatalities in crashes involving smaller planes. Last week, a TACA Airlines Airbus A321 with more than 150 people aboard blew some tires while landing on a wet runway in San Jose, Costa Rica, and then skidded down the strip ending with its nose perpendicular to the center line. There were no injuries. Experts from the region, however, emphasize they see positive trends in the numbers. "Yes, we continue to have accidents, but we are definitely seeing improvement" since regional safety initiatives went into effect in 2008, Loretta Martin, regional director of the International Civil Aviation Organization, said in an interview on Friday. "We brought [airline] CEOs together," she said, "telling them you need to make safety your No. 1 priority, and they have." Prepared under the auspices of the ICAO, an arm of the United Nations, the 2011 report paints a sobering picture of stubbornly high accident rates covering a broad range of commercial flights, including turboprops and non-Western built aircraft. It lists three more accidents in the region than in 2010 and five more than in 2009. Based on the report, one in every roughly 250,000 commercial-airline flights in the Caribbean and Central and South America last year was involved in a serious accident-or an incident that resulted in damage serious enough to scrap the aircraft-a rate about 20% greater than the previous year. Through the first nine months of this year, Latin American carriers have racked up substantially better statistics, rivaling those in many developed regions. But the lackluster 2011 performance-despite extensive initiatives by manufacturers, airlines and regulators to enhance safety-has prompted sharp criticism. Experts now worry the same shortcomings and hazards that traditionally made flying risky in the region could reappear as traffic grows quickly. Among the hazards cited by experts: aircraft sliding off wet runways, confusion about automation causing pilots to lose control of planes in midair and the risk of aircraft slamming into the region's mountainous terrain. Especially worrisome is that the total number of accidents recorded last year was higher than the previous two years and slightly worse than the region's average over the period 2008 to 2011, according to some experts. Safety analyses tend to focus on trends spanning big chunks of a decade, rather than a single year, to come up with definitive conclusions. Critics say the 20011 statistics highlight continued shortcomings in government safety regulation, pilot training and investments to upgrade airports across much of the region. "The level of oversight continues to vary greatly from country to country, with some really not doing an adequate job," according to Jim Hall, a former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents. Michael Barr, who teaches aviation-safety management at the University of Southern California said airlines in the region aren't spending enough to improve their performance. "Many Latin American carriers don't see safety as an investment," Mr. Barr said. "They still look at it as an extra cost." The comprehensive study, expected to be finalized at a meeting of the regional safety group that starts Monday, is the most authoritative look at the region's safety performance. Other issues to be discussed include enhanced language training for proper communication between pilots and air-traffic controllers and a first-of-a-kind effort to swap confidential safety data with industry associations and U.S. regulators. Günther Matschnigg, the top safety official for the International Air Transport Association, the main global industry group representing airlines, said the improvements in 2012 underscore that "airlines and industry associations are working together to identify risk" and implement improvements. He said that regardless of what aircraft types are included, at this point today Latin America's accident rates for this year are "better than the world average." Yet in March, IATA's chief Tony Tyler warned an industry gathering in Santiago that regional flights were less than 10% of global traffic but accounted for 27% of all serious jet accidents. If Latin American traffic continues to climb, he said, there could be a major crash "on newspaper front pages every eight weeks. That is not sustainable." Back to Top After 1015 days, report into plane's ditching comes back 'seriously flawed' A former senior head of safety at Qantas and Emirates has described as "inadequate and seriously flawed" the final report into the ditching of an air-ambulance plane in the sea off Norfolk Island in November 2009. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that the night-time ditching resulted from a lack of pre-flight and en-route planning, as well as the pilots not assessing, before it was too late, that a safe landing at Norfolk Island could not be guaranteed. The final report into the accident, which occurred after the plane ran out of fuel, was released two months ago. The two crew and four passengers of the Pel-Air Westwind jet survived the ditching but some, including a nurse, have been left with lasting injuries. A senate committee began a hearing today in Canberra into the bureau's findings, and compared them with a special report from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority that found deficiencies in the operations of the plane's owners, Pel-Air, a unit of the ASX-listed airline Regional Express. The plane's captain, Dominic James, has sought to clear his name. An aviation safety consultant, Mick Quinn, told the committee today that it was "an absolute miracle that everyone survived" the accident. "Lessons need to be learnt from this accident rather than focus on blame and cover-up," Mr Quinn said. The bureau's final report was "seriously flawed in many aspects and appears to have taken a biased view of the events surrounding the accident". He described as "unreasonable" the 1015 days it had taken to produce the report, as well as the embedding of analysis in its factual parts. "There are numerous errors still in this report, and after 1015 days I think that is just incredible," he said. "The report has serious omissions with regard to the Pel-Air oversight of its operations as dissected by CASA in a special audit following the accident. We have got to a new low, where the Norfolk report basically omits all organisational aspects of this flight. "What we need to ensure is that this doesn't happen again." Mr Quinn has 31 years' experience in the aviation industry, including as manager of air safety investigations at Qantas and as senior vice-president of safety at Emirates. He has been assisting Captain James, who he has known for two decades, on a voluntary basis - including helping him to regain his pilot's licence. Mr Quinn was also deputy chief executive of CASA until 2009. He confirmed that those in the accident were considering taking legal action against Pel- Air. An independent safety expert, Bryan Aherne, told the committee today that he believed Captain James had been "singled out grossly unfairly". He said the draft reports had "been completely changed" from the final report, "where we go from one situation where the operator [Pel Air] had limited oversight of its operations, and it was completely changed, to the operator complied". "We need to have transparency into how the ATSB came to that finding in such a short time," he said. "CASA and the ATSB must necessarily co-operate but it doesn't mean they lie in the same bed." Mr Aherne also said that the ATSB had not mentioned in its final report the failure of the plane's lifejacket lights. "How that information is omitted is bizarre," he said. Parts of the hearing today were conducted in private. Officials from the pilots union, the ATSB and CASA will appear before the committee later today. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-1015-days-report-into-planes- ditching-comes-back-seriously-flawed-20121022-280vs.html#ixzz2A22qdk43 Back to Top Tiger Airways flies high after getting the all-clear Tiger Airways is now operating without any restrictions. THE restrictions imposed on Tiger Airways have now been lifted more than a year since its entire fleet was grounded over safety concerns. Satisfied it's now meeting all operational requirements, the air safety regulator issued Tiger with a new Air Operations Certificate on the weekend. It had previously been operating under a different certificate, with some conditions imposed by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). CEO of Tiger Airways Australia Andrew David said it is a "significant milestone" for the airline. "Over the last year, we have worked hard to ensure that Tiger is second to none for safety, reliability and punctuality," he said. "Today's news reflects our close working relationship with CASA and ongoing commitment to operational excellence." He said more Australians are choosing to fly with Tiger again as it returns to full operational capacity following its six-week grounding in July last year. Almost two million passengers have flown with the airline over the last years and a recent Roy Morgan survey showed an increase of 29 percentage points in customer satisfaction with Tiger between June and September. Mr David said the focus in coming months will be on boosting existing services, rather than on expanding its domestic network. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/tiger-airways-flies-high-after-getting-the- all-clear/story-e6frg8ro-1226500607680 Back to Top PIA not to compromise on safety standards ISLAMABAD - Safety is paramount for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the operations of flights. The PIA management has issued strict instructions to its pilots and engineers to be more vigilant and not to compromise on safety particularly in tough weather conditions, a spokesman for the airline said here on Sunday. "We apologise to our valuable passengers for the inconvenience and discomfort caused to them sometimes due to change in flight schedule under unavoidable circumstances and in the best interest and safety of the traveling public," he said. The expected time of departure (ETD) of Pk-303 on Saturday, Oct 20 from Lahore to Karachi was rescheduled because the aircraft Airbus A-310 on landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport developed technical fault. One out of three hydraulic systems leaked and had to be fixed before the aircraft could take off safely. Besides, the runway at the Jinnah International Airport also remained closed from 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM so the flight take off was replanned. "All safety precautions for a flight to take off are necessary as per international aviation practices and particularly after two devastating tragic air crash in Islamabad in which many families and people had to suffer irreparable loss of their dear ones," he added. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/business/22- Oct-2012/pia-not-to-compromise-on-safety-standards Back to Top Back to Top High Stakes for Airbus in Getting New Jet to Market PARIS (NYT) - Less than two weeks after its parent abandoned a megamerger with BAE Systems, Airbus is set to enter a critical new phase in the development of its newest airplane, the A350, which will come under greater scrutiny as the industry faces a cyclical downturn in new orders and a still-tentative recovery in air travel. On Tuesday in Toulouse, France, Airbus plans to hold a formal inauguration of the final assembly line for the A350, a twin-engine wide-body jet that is scheduled to enter commercial service in late 2014. The aircraft will be the first by Airbus to have more than half of its structural components made from lightweight, plastic-based composite materials, rather than aluminum. The A350 will also be the company's first all-new product since the A380 superjumbo, which has been wildly popular with fliers since entering service in 2007 but became a symbol of cross-cultural and industrial dysfunction that Airbus is eager to put behind it. "Airbus learned a great deal from the A380 as far as the need for standardizing, better coordinating and integrating their internal design processes," said Hans Weber, chief executive of Tecop International, an aviation consulting business based in San Diego. "It wasn't easy." Six years ago, miscommunications in the design, manufacturing and installation of several hundred kilometers of electrical cables resulted in a devastating three-year delay to the A380 program that ultimately led to a reshuffling in management, the elimination of 10,000 jobs and more than $6 billion in losses. Fabrice Brégier, who took over in June as the Airbus chief executive, has been deeply involved in the plane maker's restructuring since he joined as chief operating officer in 2006 and is determined not to repeat the exercise. In addition to centralizing its internal design systems and decision-making processes, Airbus has involved the key suppliers to the A350 in the design process from the start, sharing digital blueprints with them and even dispatching its own engineers to help train and guide contractors. The result, Airbus hopes, will be to minimize delays through quicker and more transparent communication of incremental changes across the production and supply chains. "I think we have improved a lot in having a better management of our operations, bringing much more transparency and professionalism," Mr. Brégier said in an interview this summer. "Big groups are always overwhelmed by bureaucracy, by complex processes. We are evolving our organization to make it simpler." That is not to say that such organizational improvements have managed to keep the A350 project - now estimated at €12 billion to €13 billion, or $15.6 billion to $17 billion - on schedule. In the summer of 2011, Airbus delayed its anticipated delivery dates for two of the plane's three versions by two years, to 2016 and 2017, to meet customers' demands for a more powerful engine for the largest version, the A350-1000, and to focus its engineering resources better on building its top-selling version, the 314-seat A350-900, which it had promised to customers beginning in late 2013. Airbus has more than 350 orders for the A350-900, while its 270-seat model, the A350-800, has garnered 118 orders and the 350-seat A350-1000 has just 88. Then, almost a year ago, the delivery goal for the A350-900 crept back another six months, the result of a maddening shortage of parts from third-party suppliers who were scrambling to meet demand from Airbus as Boeing gradually speeded up production of its competing 787 Dreamliner, which entered service in late 2011 and is also largely built from the same lightweight composite materials. European Aeronautic Defense & Space, Airbus's parent, booked a €200 million charge on its 2011 third-quarter earnings due to the delay A bug was subsequently discovered early this year in the software that drives robots responsible for drilling holes in the plane's carbon fiber wings - which are 32 meters, or 105 feet, long - at a site in Broughton, Wales. The problem, which Airbus says it has since fixed, required that workers drill holes in the first five wings - including those for the first flight-test aircraft - by hand, adding €124 million to the A350's development bill and pushing back the first deliveries to the second half of 2014. Airbus said it was sticking to that timetable, with plans to begin a 12-month flight test program next summer. But analysts said they anticipated that the calendar would slip further. It is normal, they said, for snags to arise in the production and testing of new planes, especially when they use new technologies. "Experience of recent programs shows you can get a long way into the development process before trouble shows up," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant at Teal Group, an analysis firm in Fairfax, Virginia. In the case of the A350's entry into service, he said, "we have always assumed mid-2015, and we are still sticking with that." In addition to lessons from the painful birth of the A380, Airbus has learned much from studying Boeing's missteps with the 787, which was three years late amid numerous problems linked to inexperience with the new composite materials, outsourcing of key elements of the plane, parts shortages and other issues. "The 787 was rolled out as an intact aircraft before anyone figured out that things were terribly wrong," Mr. Aboulafia said. The 72,000-square meter, or 775,000-square-foot, A350 facility in Toulouse, in the southwest of France, currently houses a fully assembled version of the plane that will be used for ground tests, as well as the fuselage and vertical tail plane of the first flyable A350 - one of a fleet of five to be used in flight tests. Airbus aims eventually to produce 10 finished aircraft a month at the site by 2018. Even if Airbus manages to limit further production delays, analysts said EADS still faced challenges in keeping the program financed. Some estimate that the setbacks thus far have already added €2 billion to the A350's final bill. "Everything that goes wrong increases the financing requirements," said Nick Cunningham, an aerospace analyst at Agency Partners, a research firm in London. "Even when these programs are successful, they lose a lot of money and use up a lot of cash in their early years." In addition to about €13 billion in nonrecurring development costs, he estimated the A350 would tie up a further €9 billion in EADS's available working capital for several years before it started to recoup those costs as new planes were delivered and paid for. The project has already helped to drain EADS's net cash position to about €9.7 billion at the end of June, from nearly €12 billion at the end of last year. Airbus has said it expects several major A350 suppliers to foot about €2 billion of the costs in exchange for a share of the program's eventual profits. European governments could also provide as much as €4 billion in preferential loans, although at least one - Germany's - recently threatened to withhold some of those funds unless it receives guarantees of jobs linked to the project. State funding for civil aircraft is a politically charged subject. In a seven-year-old dispute with the European Union before the World Trade Organization in Geneva, the United States challenged such government loans, sometimes referred to as "launch aid," for past Airbus jets as illegal subsidies that unfairly hurt Boeing. While the W.T.O. has so far rejected the U.S. claim, Washington has not ruled out the possibility of bringing a new suit against the Union that would specifically focus on launch aid for the A350. Most analysts said Airbus and European governments would probably be extremely careful to structure any A350 loans so they complied with W.T.O. rules. Back to Top Another 350-odd pilots will lose job after Kingfisher Airlines curb (India) The suspension of the scheduled operator permit of Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has added to the growing list of unemployed pilots in the country. It means that about 350-400 pilots, who were working for the cash-strapped airline, will join the 6,000-odd unemployed pilots in the country. "Kingfisher's crisis has only added gloom to the Indian civil aviation. The number of unemployed pilots in India has been adding and there are no signs of it receding. The disheartening thing is that a large number of the 6,000-odd unemployed pilots in the country are youngsters and some of them are yet to be hired by an airline after attaining their commercial pilots licences (CPLs)," Ashok Arya of the Unemployed Pilots Welfare Association said. With the DGCA not allotting any slots to Kingfisher Airlines in the winter schedule, the pilots will not be flying anytime soon. The airline will have to re-apply for permit and this process is expected to take about 3 to 6 months, he said. Given the situation, a few pilots many opt for other low-cost carriers for a lesser salary, he said. Of the current lot of pilots working for Kingfisher Airlines, about 60% are jet aircraft type-rated commanders/pilots and the rest are CPL holders designated as co-pilots. Among the 6,000-odd unemployed pilots (excluding Kingfisher), 500 are jet aircraft type-rated commanders/pilots and the rest are CPL holders. Another option for the pilots will be to wait till the end of 2013 when the expatriate pilots employed by the airlines will have to quit their jobs. According to a DGCA directive, all airlines which have employed expatriates will have to phase them out by the end of 2013. Currently, there are about 500 expatriate pilots employed by Indian carriers including Kingfisher Airlines. Meantime, the Kingfisher Airlines management will hold its first meeting on Monday with its striking employees following the DGCA's suspension order. Sanjay Agarwal, the CEO of the airlines, will meet the employees who have not reported to work since October 1 citing non-payment of salary for several months. The management has been trying to put on a brave face by stating that its suspension by the DGCA is valid only till it submits a concrete and reliable revival plan to the satisfaction of the aviation regulator. http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_another-350-odd-pilots-will-lose-job-after- kingfisher-airlines-curb_1754950 Back to Top Singapore Airlines freezes hiring of cadet pilots SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Monday it had temporarily frozen its intake of cadet pilots, as the industry feels the impact of a slowdown in the global economy and high fuel costs. The move is the second time in three years that the carrier has put a hold on hiring, and comes months after SIA asked some of its pilots to take unpaid leave as profits slumped. In a statement SIA, which is considered a bellwether for the full-service airline industry, said it adjusted its recruitment policy on a regular basis "on operational requirements" adding that it last recruited a group of cadets earlier this year. "As we have a temporary surplus of First Officers, we are not currently recruiting new cadets," it said but added that it would not give specifics "for reasons of commercial confidentiality". The decision comes as the global economy suffers a slowdown fuelled by the eurozone debt crisis, a softer growth in China and a patchy US recovery. SIA encouraged its pilots in March to go on voluntary leave without pay and work for other companies. That call came as it saw net profit in the year to March slump 69 percent to Sg$336 million ($275 million) owing to high oil prices and rising competition. Year-on-year net profit rebounded 73 percent in the first fiscal quarter to June, but SIA painted a gloomy outlook for the rest of the year. "The global economy remains uncertain as Europe struggles to contain its debt crisis, while the United States faces a sluggish recovery," SIA said in July. "This has negatively impacted business confidence and the outlook for travel demand," it said. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Asia Development Bank all recently slashed their growth forecast this year for the world and for Asia. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) earlier this month said it expects global airlines to book $4.1 billion in profits collectively this year, less than half the $8.4 billion seen in 2011. IATA director general Tony Tyler said "the industry's profitability still balances on a knife- edge, with profit margins that do not cover the cost of capital". Curt Lewis