ARFFWG | ARFF Working Group -

A rather quiet day…

Here are the news stories for today;

Be safe out there,

Tom

A plane arriving from Guayaquil, Ecuador ran off the runway during landing causing damage to engine number 2, the plane was immediately towed to the gate and medical attention was provided to the passengers, fortunately no one was seriously injured, but the incident caused a flight to deviate to Cali, Colombia since the only runway with ILS approach was affected.

A Spokane International Airport spokesman confirms that a Horizon Air flight landed safely in Spokane despite a blown tire on its landing gear.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Spokane International Airport spokesman confirms that a Horizon Air flight landed safely in Spokane despite a blown tire on its landing gear.

KXLY-TV reports that Horizon Flight 2358 was en route from Portland, Ore., to Spokane on Monday afternoon.

Its scheduled 4:30 p.m. arrival time was pushed back briefly after it declared the problem. Airport spokesman Todd Woodard says fire and rescue crews were dispatched to the runway, where the plane touched down shortly before 5 p.m.

Woodard says the Bombardier Q400 aircraft has two tires on each set of landing gear as a redundancy measure.
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/05/20/2604847/horizon-air-flight-with-blown.html#storylink=cpy

The Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to examine the FAA’s Runway Safety Program in the light of a steadily increasing number of runway incursions and evaluate the agency’s progress in implementing initiatives to prevent further incursions.

Prevention of runway incursions and ground collisions has been on the NTSB’s “Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements List” since 1990.

“The number of serious runway incursions has tripled over the past three years from six to 18, while total runway incursions also rose from 954 to 1,150 in that same period,” said the OIG in its initial report. “More concerning is that this increase occurred during a period when total air traffic operations declined slightly. In addition, the FAA has recently reorganized its Runway Safety Office, and has changed the way that the agency reports and evaluates runway incursions.”

The audit is scheduled to begin this week.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ainsafety/2013-05-20/dot-will-audit-faa-runway-incursions

51 Years ago today: On 22 May 1962 a Continental Airlines Boeing 707-124 exploded over Unionville and crashed; killing all 45 occupants

Narrative:
Continental Flight 11 took off from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) at 20:35 for a one hour flight to Kansas City (MKC). The airplane climbed to FL390 and was vectored around a storm area. Just before the Waverly controller wanted to hand off Flight 11 Kansas City Center, in the vicinity of Centerville, IA, an explosive decompression occurred. The flight crew initiate the required emersency descent procedures and donned their smoke masks due to the dense fog which formed in the cabin immediately after the decompression. At separation of the tail, the remaining aircraft structure pitched nose down violently, causing the engines to tear off, after which it fell in uncontrolled gyrations. The fuselage of the Boeing 707, minus the aft 38 feet, and with part of the left and most of the right wing intact, struck the ground, headed westerly down a 10-degree slope of an alfalfa field.
Investigation by the FBI revealed that Thomas G. Doty had purchased a life insurance policy for $150,000, the maximum available; his death would also bring in another $150,000 in additional insurance (some purchased at the airport) and death benefits. Doty had recently been arrested for armed robbery and was to soon face a preliminary hearing in the matter. Investigators determined that Doty had purchased dynamite shortly before the crash, and were able to deduce that a bomb had been placed in the used towel bin of the right rear lavatory.

PROBABLE CAUSE: “The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the disintegrating force of a dynamite explosion which occurred in the right rear lavatory resulting in destruction of the aircraft.”

The Secret Listwww.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

Dallas Fire Rescue has released the name of the Firefighter killed yesterday morning. Dallas Fire-Rescue Firefighter Stanley Wilson-with 28 years on the job, disappeared after radioing that he was trapped during that six-alarm fire at a northeast Dallas condominium building. Wilson was found dead inside the rubble of the fire hours after a radio message was heard from the firefighter saying, “I’m trapped.” Wilson is survived by his wife, two sons and his mother.

DFR also revealed a boy was found trapped in the rubble as they searched for FF Wilson, and that child was heard crying. Firefighters were able to pull him from the debris and he was transported to an area hospital in unknown condition

We will post additional updates as they become available. Our condolences to all affected especially the DFR and the family of FF Wilson.

Three Young Men Fatally Injured In Nov. 16 Accident

The family of the pilot of a Cessna 172 who was fatally injured when the airplane impacted a truck crossing an active runway and went down has notified Knox County, ME, that they intend to file a lawsuit against the county. Two passengers were also fatally injured.

The accident occurred at Knox County Regional Airport (KRKD) in Rockland, ME at 1645 EDT on November 16th, 2012. According to the NTSB’s preliminary report, driver of the truck said he was driving his private vehicle on the taxiway and had followed another aircraft out to taxiway “alpha.” The other airplane continued down taxiway “delta” and he proceeded with his vehicle to the hold short line of the runway. He announced his intentions on the common traffic advisory frequency using a radio in his vehicle, heard no response nor saw anything on the runway, and he proceeded to cross runway 31. He subsequently saw something grayish in color, continued to cross the runway, and then got out to inspect what he saw at which time he observed an airplane attempting to climb. He continued watching the airplane drift to the left of the runway and make a left turn as if attempting to return to the airport. Subsequently, the airplane was then observed in “slow flight” and then it began to “spin.”

The Bangor Daily News reports that, in the suit filed by the estate of pilot David Cheney, Knox County was accused of being negligent for allowing the truck to cross the airport property with “inadequate lighting” and other defects not specified. The suit also claims that the county failed to adopt and enforce proper safety rules for operation and maintenance at the airport, and did not properly design, construct, use and manage the airport. Similar claims had previously been filed by the families of the two passengers on board the airplane.

Cheney was a recent University of Maine graduate. The two passengers were students at UMaine, and Cheney’s fraternity brothers.

In the aftermath of the accident, Knox County has voted to build a gravel road on the airport grounds opposite the terminal building to cut down on the number of vehicles crossing the runway. The county will also install a system that will record radio traffic at the airport, as well as buy equipment that will record departures and arrivals at the uncontrolled field.

The notice to file a lawsuit is required before such an action can occur. The party intending to file a suit has up to two years to do so under Maine law.

FMI: www.knoxcountymaine.gov

United Airlines is getting its 787s back in the air.

The planes are returning after being grounded for four months by the federal government because of smoldering batteries on 787s owned by other airlines. The incidents included an emergency landing of one plane, and a fire on another.

The incidents never caused any serious injuries. But the January grounding embarrassed Boeing, which makes the 787, and disrupted schedules at the eight airlines that were flying the planes. The company had delivered 50 of the planes worldwide.

The grounding forced United to delay planned international flights and hurt its first-quarter earnings by $11 million. Others, including Japan Airlines and South America’s LATAM Airlines Group, also said profits were reduced. LATAM said it still had to make payments on the plane and pay for crews and maintenance. It expects to resume flying soon.

United’s first 787 flight was scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday from Houston to Chicago.

Passengers didn’t appear to be too worried. “We saw strong demand for the flight from the first weekend it opened for sale,” United spokeswoman Christen David said.

United is planning to use 787s on shorter domestic flights before resuming international flights on June 10 with new Denver-to-Tokyo service as well as temporary Houston-to-London flights. It’s adding flights to Tokyo, Shanghai, and Lagos, Nigeria, in August.

Those long international flights are the main reason the 787 exists. Its medium size and fuel efficiency are a good fit for long routes. Starting with shorter domestic flights “will give us a period to ramp up full 787 operations,” David said.

United Continental Holdings Inc. was the first U.S. airline to get the 787 and now has six. United has said it expects to have four fixed by Monday, with the other two getting their batteries modified in coming days.

The 787 uses more electricity than any other jet. And it makes more use of lithium-ion batteries than any other jet, because it needs to be able to provide power for things like flight controls and a backup generator when its engines are shut down. Each 787 has two of the batteries.

Boeing Co. never did figure out the root cause of the battery incidents. Instead, it redesigned the battery and its charger. The idea was to eliminate all of the possible causes, 787 chief engineer Mike Sinnett said in an online chat on Thursday where he and a Boeing test pilot took questions about the plane.

The changes include more heat insulation between each cell and charging the battery to a lower maximum voltage.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/20/united-to-resume-boeing-787-flights-after-grounding-over-battery-issue/#ixzz2TvfGKVAV

Boeing and Airlines Try to Improve More Systems After Fixing Battery Flaws

By JON OSTROWER And ANDY PASZTOR
The Wall Street Journal

As 787 Dreamliner commercial flights resume after a lengthy grounding for battery problems, Boeing Co. and its customers are refocusing on fixing the host of other technical and mechanical issues that affect the reliability of the cutting-edge aircraft.

United Continental Holdings Inc., the sole U.S. operator of the Dreamliner, is scheduled on Monday to make its first 787 flight since the global grounding in mid-January, after batteries burned on two 787s operated by Japanese airlines. United and the other seven carriers that fly Dreamliners will be monitoring—along with Boeing—to ensure that the battery fixes approved by regulators work properly.

But they will also be working to enhance the dependability of other components and systems, from new software to improved hydraulic lines to new parts for electrical panels and generators.

According to an internal Boeing report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, during the 15 months before burning batteries temporarily idled all 787s, the global fleet of 50 planes experienced an array of unrelated problems resulting in delays, cancellations and diversions estimated to cost airlines more than $3 million.

All new airliners go through a period of eliminating early kinks. The report, prepared in March, gives the 787 an overall reliability rating of 97.7% for the three months before the Jan. 16 grounding, corresponding to about 23 delays out of every 1,000 flights. That is comparable to the performance of the Boeing 777, one of the most dependable long-range jets, in the first year or so after its introduction in 1995.

But the 60-page document also highlights specific trouble-prone systems on the 787. It ranks carriers in terms of maintaining schedules, and offers advice about how carriers can improve.

A Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment on the report, but said company teams are implementing Dreamliner “reliability enhancements” that vary by customer and plane—a process she said is “standard for new airplane introductions.” Chief Executive Jim McNerney said last month that Boeing expects additional “normal…startup issues as more airplanes enter the fleet with more carriers in the months ahead.” Boeing aims to “find them, address them and ultimately ensure the 787…achieves the very high level standard for performance and reliability we promise customers at the outset of the program,” he added.

The report’s biggest take-away is that Dreamliners experienced problems most frequently when they were first powered up. These issues had the biggest impact on keeping the 787 from leaving on time. Those events were almost always unrelated to the jet’s batteries, and they took “more time on average to clear than those detected during any other phase of flight.”

The report says carriers should consider turning on the 787′s lithium-ion batteries, computers and electrical system three hours prior to the first flight each day, and adding time between flights to give cockpit crews and mechanics adequate time to resolve any difficulties.

Mike Sinnett, the 787′s principal engineer, told federal safety watchdogs last month the fuel-efficient jet uses about 10 times more power during initial start-up than other Boeing jetliners with more-traditional batteries.

The report also pegged about 10% of around 350 “schedule interruptions” it analyzed to “quality issues” stemming from subcontractor-provided hardware or Boeing’s own assembly processes. It said that was higher than the 777′s early service.

Other problems flowed from the types of software bugs that have become more common on increasingly computerized aircraft. Dreamliner operators encountered hundreds of different warning messages, which can be time-consuming and frustrating because each must be dealt with before the jet can leave the gate—even though they often aren’t signs of significant problems.

Boeing touted the 787 as being able to arrive at the gate, receive service and push away from the gate in as little as 45 minutes. The report suggests that remains a longer-term goal for many carriers.

But All Nippon Airways Co., a unit of ANA Holdings Inc. has achieved that target with its 787s dedicated to domestic routes, the report says, with excellent on-time results. The first operator of the 787, ANA also received the highest marks from Boeing experts on reliability. The airline now operates 18 Dreamliners, the most of any carrier. A total of 52 Dreamliners have now been delivered world-wide.

ANA said “punctuality is a key customer service, so those involved in passenger service, ground handling and catering operations all focus on pursuing on-time flights.”

Both ANA and Japan Air Lines Co. —which has the second-largest 787 fleet, with seven Dreamliners—said they haven’t received recommendations from Boeing to power on the Dreamliner well before a day’s first flight or extend time at the gate.

United scored the lowest in overall reliability by some measures, with disruptions to about one in 10 Dreamliner flights, and had the highest number of so-called nuisance messages that caused delays. Such messages “may indicate poor airline familiarity” with the vagaries of the 787 and its all-new technology, according to the Boeing report. United and other airlines were able to substitute other 787s and other large jets to keep their flights on schedule.

The Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment on the experiences of specific airlines.

United spokeswoman Christen Davis said the carrier asked Boeing to perform more than 20 modifications to the airline’s six Dreamliners in addition to the battery-related changes. “We believe these modifications will significantly improve reliability,” she said.

Ms. Davis said the modifications to United’s Dreamliners include “hardware updates to various components in the cabin, cargo handling, central maintenance and other systems.”

Not every part on a jetliner needs to be in full working order for safe operation. Regulators and individual airline-maintenance rules sometimes allow planes to fly for days before requiring certain repairs to be completed. But Boeing’s experts concluded that ANA and other airlines that finished such repairs most quickly benefitted from better on-time performance.

While new technology has caused unexpected headaches on the Dreamliner, its advanced onboard sensors also have been used by Boeing and airlines to monitor tens of thousands of different systems and millions of parts aboard the jet.

Mr. Sinnett receives a live notification on his Blackberry for every issue that crops up with the fleet, and those notifications are also transmitted to Boeing teams at the company operations center that monitors thousands of Boeing jets world-wide.

When a United 787 diverted to New Orleans in December, after encountering a problem with one its electrical panels, Boeing knew about the difficulty before airline officials could pick up a phone.

Tied into a world-wide maintenance network, the 787 delivers real-time data about the status of the fleet directly to Boeing facilities near Seattle. The plane’s computers track more onboard systems than any other Boeing jet, and the manufacturer concluded that such in-flight monitoring made a demonstrable difference in reliability. The report estimated that 29 flights had been “saved” because the monitoring system alerted airlines to preposition parts and maintenance personnel to meet a flight.

That was the difference between matching or beating the 777′s reliability record, according to the report.

—Yoshio Takahashi in Tokyo contributed to this article.

http://online.wsj.com