Safety: February 2009 Archives

The interim report on the mysterious loss of the Air New Zealand A320 at Perpignan is out. It's a highly informative and scrupulously objective document. Perhaps predictably it has nevertheless caused a degree of uproar in New Zealand (or so it seems from this distance) and is getting the usual ripping apart by the anti-Airbus crowd.

The problem is that the report is being interpreted in NZ, and elsewhere, as a finding of pilot error. It doesn't in fact say that.

Additionally, France's BEA investigation agency is being beaten up for taking too long over the report. Frankly that's absurd. This is a remarkably full interim report based on complex data from recorders recovered from the sea. Really complex data - involving multiple changes in Airbus control laws which are not easily interpretable in retrospect.

Unusually French investigator Paul-Louis Arslanian has taken the commendable step of giving a formal interview to the New Zealand Herald to explain the context. You can listen here - and I encourage you to do so because his tone is important. But below is what he says in the interview. Note that the aircraft was being handled by two pilots from current operator XL Germany and the ANZ pilot is with them in the cockpit.

I'd suggest that Arslanian does not sound like a man who is being anything other than deeply professional and compassionate. We should all wish him well in his work.

Transcript of the interview below.

US1549 Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III has launched a remarkable attack on the airline industry in his prepared remarks before the House Aviation Sub-Commitee. Sully, a member of USAPA, says over the years he has had to take a 40% pay cut as a pilot and see his pension rights slashed. And his "decision to stay in my profession has come at great financial cost to myself and my family".

Sully points out that when US Airways invited furloughed pilots to come back to their jobs, 60% declined.

"I don't know a single pilot who wants his son or daughter to follow in his or her footsteps," he says.

First officer Jeffrey Skiles, who I think is an ALPA member, has followed that up with much the same sort of thing, noting that he's now earning about half of what he used to earn and likewise has seen his pension rights damaged.

Both men called on the politicians to help the pilot workforce.

Wow! Wonder what they're thinking at the Air Transport Association.

Quite impressively, the investigation team looking at the mysterious loss of the Bond Helicopters EC225 Super Puma in the North Sea last week has now recovered the tailcone which broke off completely. You can see the picture full-size here. Commentary below.

Turns out that the loud noise captured by the CVR on the PHI S-76++ in that horrible crash in the Louisana swamps almost certainly was a birdstrike after all. A hawk in fact.

And the NTSB confirms the comment left on my original post on this subject that the Sikorsky laminated glass windscreens are replaced by PHI with acrylic units. I'm not sure of the significance of that in this case. Open to being educated.

Full details of latest NTSB communication below.

So what do we know about the Colgan Air Q400 crash at Buffalo? A reasonably experienced crew landing in the icy dark in a modern turboprop aircraft at a well-equipped airport with some questions about its glideslope reliability. The aircraft slows down for unknown reasons and ends in what looks like a stall-induced horrendous upset at fairly low level from which it fails to recover.

And one other extremely informative source on icing. This movie is about the really very frightening phenomenon of tailplane (horizontal stabilizer) icing. Just imagine pulling back and reducing power in order to recover from a stall. This is what these regional guys get paid their miserable salaries to know about. No wonder some of them think they'd be better off driving cabs or whatever!

I'm writing this after it's become apparent that icing probably is crucial to the Buffalo crash last night. Was it tailplane icing? Nobody knows - but I think all will become clear pretty soon.

Well worth watching, even if not all 23 minutes of it.

In the course of touring TV stations today I got talking to a well-known presenter about the forthcoming launch of British Airways transatlantic service from downtown London City Airport to New York JFK later this year. (Using Airbus A318s.)

Following the truly dreadful Colgan Air Q400 crash last night I'm busy talking to the general media about what went on. There is naturally a great deal of interest in icing, which may or may not have anything to do with what happened. But it's a complex subject and, as I haven't got time to write something myself, here's an excellent article on the subject which should help anyone wanting to understand it better.

I suppose this barely merits a mention in the annals of the UK low flying system. Slightly alarming for anyone else though.







Discussion here.

Fascinating piece by Dominic Gates in the Seattle Times over the weekend, telling the story of how the FAA is having to relax its own rules in order that the 787 can comply with lightning-protection requirements. This is effectively a TW800-kneejerk chicken coming homing to roost.

The very nasty fatal loss of a PHI Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter in Louisana last month is perplexing the rotary world. The NTSB just came out with its initial findings which are as close to mystifying as you'll ever see. Essentially there is no evidence of anything being wrong with the aircraft, the manner of the flight, the conditions, etc.

The question is what is the "loud noise" followed by "a substantial increase in the background noise level" on the CVR, just before the engine power was reduced (but not by any kind of mechanical failure as far as they can tell.) Full report below. Pprune discussion here.

Here is the transcript and here's the audio. Best thing is to listen to it while reading the transcript at the same time.

Comment from me is largely superfluous. I'll just note, as I'm sure you will, the uncanny mix of utter tension and total calm in Sully's voice, but more importantly the remarkable speed at which events happened. The crew's reputation could hardly be any higher - but after listening to this I think you'll have an even greater appreciation of what they achieved.

Not jumpseat exactly, just deadheading, but it turns out that an American Airlines pilot, FO Susan O'Donnell, was on board the USAirways A320 that ditched in the Hudson River and has given her account via her union - the Allied Pilots Association.

As an ex-US Navy pilot she is able to make the authoritative observation that the deceleration on impact was about the same as a carrier-landing. A couple of other notes are that there was no water ingress through the front doors, although by other accounts there was quite a lot of water in the cabin by the time everyone had exited, and the evacuation was "orderly and swift".

A good read below.