Today we have digital databases that store data retrievably forever and reveal trends in real time. Data is the key. If the Board won't listen to anything else, they know they ignore data at their peril.
And the winner is: Jazz Aviation: "The Jazz entry stood out for its evidence of integrating SMS across aviation safety, quality, health and safety and business"
This is "The Galloping Ghost". Would you recognise that as a Mustang? I'd struggle! It's been trimmed for pure speed, with other aerodynamic considerations taking a back seat.
One of the NTSB criticisms was that the aircraft was extensively modified with no oversight of the modification process. Then it flew the Reno course at the limits of its performance envelope in front of the crowd without having been tested. No trial runs. No FAA rules requiring it.
Ten people in the crowd were killed by the crashing aircraft, and more than 60 were severely injured.
Here's an NTSB diagram showing how extensive the modifications were. Compare it with the photograph at the top of this post.
NTSB head Deborah Hersman says she doesn't intend to bind air racing with paranoic rules, she just wants to make sure common sense is applied to its planning and execution, and says the FAA's guidelines are not up to the job. They aren't.
But I expect they will be.
The aeroplane ran out of fuel and crash-landed in Australia's remote Northern Territory, but has since flown again.
Such was the impact of the gripping but forgotten story that Tristan uncovered during filming, that President Obama issued a Presidential Citation to the crew last year. It was presented in Sydney to the aircraft commander's widow.
This blog post complements the previous one which describes - in pictures - the first commercial operation into Vagar by Atlantic Airways' new Airbus A319, using the new RNP-AR satellite-guided precision approach procedure.
Here we look at some of the enabling changes that led to the introduction of RNP, and the challenges faced by this airline that serves the Faroe Islands.
An Atlantic Airways shot (below) taken from above the approach to 30, also before the runway was lengthened, gives a good picture of the terrain aviators face approaching the other end - runway 12.
The approach to runway 12 is reckoned to be the more picturesque, but I didn't get to fly it in the aeroplane.
Meanwhile, since that time Atlantic have sent me a beautiful picture of the 12 approach taken from above the inlet on a perfect day...
There is also some interesting terrain waiting for the unwary at the entrance to the inlet...
I've just flown in there on Atlantic's first A319 commercial schedule serving its main route, Copenhagen - Vagar. That's the new machine (below), on the pan at its home base during its first working turnaround.
During winter, that means the schedule couldn't operate a lot of the time. And if the crew takes a risk on a marginal weather forecast and it doesn't work out, the nearest diversions are in Iceland, Norway or Scotland.
Atlantic got me clearance to occupy the jump seat on the CPH - FAE route.
To me, the Faroe Islands had previously been just a name in the shipping forecast broadcast by the BBC on medium wave radio around northern Europe. So on departure from CPH heading north west we traversed sea areas Fisher, South Utsire, Viking and Fair Isle before entering Faroes.
Atlantic's A319 has a single-class 144-seat cabin with special provision for medevac cases. It's navigation system (RNP AR 0.1) was developed by Airbus subsidiary Quovadis, which also designed the approach and departure procedures, working with the airline.
The aircraft is fitted with the most powerful CFM International engines on any Airbus A319 - the 27,000lb thrust-rated CFM56-5B/7 - to improve its single-engine performance because of the terrain at either end of Vagar's runway. Other unique features include a single head-up display for the pilot (still working up to operational status), and a so-called "Florence kit" giving the A319 lower approach speeds and improved braking.
We began our descent toward Vagar as we entered sea area Faroes, when we first saw the waypoints/navaids cluster appearing on the navigation display.
We're talking to Vagar, and know we'll be landing on runway 30.
The first choice for approach is a Y descent to 30, which looks like this...
We'll be using BUREM as the initial approach fix, so we're more or less straight in, with a couple of gentle curves to follow.
But then we hear that the wind direction has backed to 300deg, so the crew decides to switch to the Z approach, which is even straighter...
That's the thing about area navigation approaches: you get lots of choice if it's needed, and for approaches to Vagar, wind direction really matters, because the terrain-generated turbulence can be fearsome. The crew's local knowledge of the microclimate on approach to either end of the runway here really matters when conditions are marginal. For this reason, the RNP approaches are optimised to imitate the visual approaches that the pilots would have chosen to carry out if they had the same winds but visual flight conditions.
Suddenly the south eastern islands in the archipelago start showing up on the nav display. We can't see them yet because of cloud...
Looks good. The newly-lengthened runway is 1,799m long (in early December it was only 1,250m). I think we'll go manual...
...now flare...
...there's the terminal...
and well done Atlantic Airways. Setting up Europe's first satellite-guided precision approach has been a lot of work, and there is yet more to do to prove and refine it and get the approach minima as low as they can go.
It's spring here. OAT 6degC, Latitude 62degN. Not as far north as Iceland, but nearly.
A bit later I'll show you what it's like on terra firma in the Faroes. But I only had a 1h turnaround to take some pix, so I couldn't stray far before re-boarding for CPH.

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