The Excessive Risk in Air RescueLike the rest of the country, I was deeply saddened by the fatal crash of an emergency medical services (EMS) Eurocopter Dauphin II helicopter on September 28 in Maryland which killed four and left another in critical condition. But as a former Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, this trend is anything but shocking. Read More...Amid Proud Declarations, No Answer About Accountability for SafetyThe airlines are complying with airworthiness directives (ADs) 98% of the time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In other words, all is well. But before accepting this declaration, consider a few factors, not the least of which is that the FAA conducted an audit of itself that lacks the test of independence. Opening The Book on Leadership DysfunctionThe Federal Aviation Administration issued a press release on 5 September 2008 titled “FAA Announces Results of Compliance Audits, Updates Safety Commitments.” After reviewing what the FAA spin masters have released, this document should be titled, “Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave.”
Twelve Years of Half MeasuresWhile Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has achieved only about a 20% acceptance rate for its Swissair flight 111 recommendations, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) may not have fared much better in its TWA flight 800 recommendations, even though a general comparison indicated a 40% acceptance rate.
Congress Asks For Assurance That Aircraft Are SafeAircraft wiring and fire safety is a concern in Congress, as evidenced by a recent letter that wants detailed answers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The 2 July 2008 letter from Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), Chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, to FAA acting administrator Robert Sturgell, harkens back to the crashes of TWA flight 800 and Swissair flight 111 of a decade ago and asks tough questions about what has been done since the twin tragedies to improve safety. Gordon wants answers by 9 September 2008.
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Latest ArticlesCumulative Toll of Helicopter Ambulance Crashes Tops $100 MillionThe fatal crash 16 October of a medical evacuation helicopter in Aurora, IL, brings to 13 the number of such helicopters destoryed. If scheduled airliners were crashing at a rate of more than one per month there would be an enormous and anguished public outcry about the crisis in air safety. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration moves at a glacial pace on recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board more than two years ago on air ambulance operations. Safety of Helicopter Ambulances Questioned by Maryland State SenatorsIn the wake of a deadly helicopter ambulance crash 28 September in Maryland, two state senators have sent a letter to officials responsible for the safety of such operations demanding a host of detailed answers. They have submitted a list of 35 questions, ranging from maintenance to operations, to which they want a "prompt response."
Their letter comes on the heels of a Legislative Audit Report in August that found serious shortcomings in maintenance of the helicopters. Those deficiencies included, but are not limited to, poor record keeping of maintenance performed on the helicopters and a shortage of spare parts.
A Piece of Safety Equipment Wreaked Mayhem on JetA ruptured oxygen cylinder punched a hole in the fuselage and rattled around inside the aircraft causing additional damage, together with the sudden decompression of the airplane, forced an emergency landing of the Qantas jet in the Philippines, according to Australian investigators. Read More...A Decade of Minimal ActionCanadian safety officials say some limited progress has been made on recommendations coming out of the Swissair flight 111 disaster. Cut through the positive-sounding rhetoric, though, and it is apparent that only 21% of the recommendations have been fully implemented. Creative Interpretation’ of Fuel Loading Rules Rampant, Pilots ClaimAirline pilots are being pressured by their companies to minimize the amount of fuel reserves they pump aboard for a flight, resulting in more declarations of an emergency when the exigencies of weather, heavy traffic, and other factors produce approach and landing delays or even diversions. Read More... |
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Aviation Safety &Security Digest
Complacency & Computer Perversity Lead to Brazilian Mid-air Collision“What we got (f……) hit?” exclaimed the captain of the Embraer-135 Legacy business jet, unaware that the GOL B737 was on the same airway as the two jets crossed the Amazon in opposite directions.
The TCAS (Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System) had been inadvertently turned off on the EMB-135, which meant the final and ultimate protection against collision with another aircraft had been lost. Neither the EMB-135 pilots nor the air traffic controllers on the ground were aware of the TCAS outage. The cues were too subtle to command attention. It was Brazil’s worst air disaster; 154 people on the GOL jet died. The EMB-135 limped to an emergency landing. Brazil’s recent report of investigation documented many factors leading up to the collision (English-language non-proficiency among controllers, distraction in the EMB-135 cockpit, etc.), but the basic elements are tied to a lack of awareness that the TCAS on the EMB-135 was inoperative. The Brazilian air traffic control (ATC) radar had the controller’s screen displaying the Flight Level that the EMB-135 should have been at (per flight plan) and an indistinct symbology tag indicating that the displayed altitude was NOT a Mode C transponder return from the aircraft (which meant also that the TCAS was out). In the EMB-135 cockpit, the transponder/TCAS was turned off, and the crew was unaware of this anomalous and dangerous fact. The controls on the instrument panel may have played a role, as one button can perform various functions, and the switch-off of the transponder/TCAS was not accompanied by an aural alert or flashing red symbology. The accident shows that the aviation industry has to improve its system designs to account for inevitable and messy human factors.
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Study Shows Aircrew Errors Cause Most Fatal Accidents
Two-thirds of all aviation accidents involved flight crew error, according to an annual review of fatal airliner crashes done by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. Nonetheless, aviation safety is improving, at least as measured by the number of passengers and crew killed annually. According to the study, some 8,500 passengers and aircrew were killed over the ten-year period, 1997-2006. That works out to an average death toll of some 850 per year, which is considerably lower than the 1,000 per year that were killed previously. The big passenger jets achieved the safest record. Cargo operations remained hazardous, with an accident rate six times that for passenger flights. In addition, turboprop airliners crash at three times the rate for jets. It is evident that technology can reduce accidents. The study found that TAWS (Terrain Awareness Warning Systems) can help prevent CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) accidents resulting from the flight crew’s “lack of positional awareness in air.” |
