AIR SAFETY WEEK :: APRIL 21, 2008

FAA Chief Apologizes for Gaps in Surveillance
FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell used a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation hearing to apologize for oversight gaps that resulted in groundings at Southwest Airlines and American Airlines. Last month, Southwest Airlines (SWA) filed a report under the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting...

Shuttle America Runway Overrun: Failure to Execute  
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of a Shuttle America Embraer ERJ- 170 accident earlier this year in Cleveland was the failure of the flight crew to execute a missed approach when visual cues for the runway were not distinct and identifiable...

New Measures on Air Delays
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has unveiled new measures to strengthen passenger protections and cut flight delays this summer. DOT finalized changes to its so-called bumping rule, which doubles the limit on compensation airlines must pay passengers who are involuntarily bumped from their flight...

Next-Gen Sensors May Help Avert Airline Disasters  
Everyone on board a Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) jetliner died when it collided with a light aircraft and exploded at a Milan, Italy airport in 2001. The smaller plane had ended up on the runway where the SAS aircraft was taking off. The following year, two planes collided in mid-air over �berlingen...

NextGen Proponents Meet to Solve Major Weather Challenges  
A Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) conference held in mid-February focused on the integration of weather into the NextGen system. The in-development, multi-million dollar NextGen system will require integrated operations and decision-making to...

Congo Crash Worsens Africa's Air Safety Record
A DC-9 operated by Hewa Bora, a private Congolese air carrier, crashed while attempting to take off from the airport at Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on April 15. The jetliner reportedly blew a tire and suffered an engine failure during departure with the DC-9 traveling through an airport...

A Safer Path to Newark
Cranes load and unload ships just below jumbo jetliners landing at one of the New York area's busiest airports. That makes it challenging for pilots flying into Newark's Liberty International to keep sight of the runway, especially at night. To make landing on Runway 29 safer, FAA and Continental Airlines...

Defective Fuel Injection Systems Put Small Aircraft at Risk
Thousands of general aviation aircraft are at risk of engine failure due to a recently discovered defect in their fuel injection systems. The defect involves servo plug gaskets in fuel injection systems manufactured by Precision Airmotive LLC, which have been found to shrink from engine heat, causing the...

Safety and Technology Trends
Airbags Now Available for GA Retrofit   AmSafe has announced plans for the aftermarket distribution of its airbag system, the AmSafe Aviation Inflatable Restraint (AAIR), to general aviation customers worldwide. Working with a number of OEMs and independent operators, AmSafe has assembled a network of...

Safety Rules and Regs
Congestion Management Rule for LaGuardia Airport Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NSNPRM) SUMMARY: On August 29, 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration published a notice of proposed rulemaking to address congestion at New York's LaGuardia Airport (LaGuardia), which included a proposal to...

Security Shortlines
TSA Acquiring Advanced X-Ray Units and Millimeter Wave Whole Body Imagers TSA Administrator Kip Hawley says his agency will purchase 30 millimeter wave passenger imaging technology units and 580 AT X-ray units in addition to the 250 TSA is already deploying by mid-year. These technologies will be deployed to...

Accidents and Incidents  
Date Aircraft Type Narrative Death/Injury Remarks March 02, 2008 Norwood, MA Piper PA-38-112 N9182A Flight crew was cleared for a touch-and-go landing on runway 35. No fatalities The student pilot said the airplane was moving towards the right side of the runway and was not lined up. The CFI attempted to...