“The Safety Board is concerned that, although the United States supports the termination of 121.5-MHz signal processing, there are an estimated 180,000 general aviation 121.5-MHz ELT’s [Emergency Locator Transmitters] in service with no requirement to upgrade to a 406-MHz ELT when the satellite service is terminated in February 2009,” the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a 7-page letter of 4 September 2007.

A look at the1997 White House ‘Safer Skies’ challenge to reduce
commercial aviation fatal accident rates by 80% in ten years

On 1 October 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will know how close it came to meeting the formidable challenge of improving the aviation safety record over a 10-year period. The goals were twofold: to reduce commercial fatal accidents by 80%, and to reduce overall accidents in all areas.

The FAA used Fiscal Years 1994-1996 to establish a baseline for 10 year fatal accident reduction calculations. The baseline included those fatal commuter airline accidents with over 10 seats that, as of 20 March 1997, began flying under Part 121 rules plus all Scheduled Part 135 (less than 10 seat) operations, mostly general aviation aircraft in Alaska and rural areas.

Beware the claim not substantiated with data. Case in point, the very first statement in the Annual Safety Review 2006 released last month by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). “Flying is the safest form of transportation,” it boldly asserts, offering not a shred of evidence in support.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) continues to be dismayed by the fact that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) permitted only one controller to be on duty in the tower at the time of the Comair flight 5191 accident on 27 August 2006 (the midnight shift), and that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) did not issue any recommendations addressing specifically the issue of tower staffing (see Air Accident Digest, 4 September 2007, p. 1, “Pilots Faulted in Comair Crash”).

27 September 2007
FR Doc E7-19053
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

The Bell Augusta BA609 tiltrotor is a smaller civilian version of the military’s V-22 tiltrotor. The notice requests comment on proposed standards for certifying the BA609. The tiltrotor is designed to take off and land like a helicopter, rotate its engines, and cruise like a conventional turboprop airplane. The FAA does not have standards for an aircraft with this unique design feature; the tiltrotor is referred to as a “special class” category of non-conventional aircraft. The FAA has put together 105 pages of airworthiness standards for which it is seeking comment.

26 September 2007
FR Doc E7-18931
FAA

Special Conditions, Boeing B787

The special conditions are intended to address the composite structure of the wings and fuselage, and their vulnerability to penetration by tire fragments, which can aggravate the threat of a fuel fire following a crash. As the notice says, the B787 has wing fuel tanks constructed of carbon fiber composite materials for which existing airworthiness standards, based on aluminum structure, do not apply:

8 August 2007
Docket No. FAA-2005-22840
FAA

This detailed 15-page rule becomes effective 9 October 2007. It culminates a proposed rule issued 4 November 2005 which generated extensive comment from the industry.. The final rule establishes a set of requirements for measuring airplane performance and handling characteristics in icing conditions and defines ice accretion in terms of size, shape, location and texture of ice encountered.