AIR SAFETY WEEK :: FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Continental Connection Crash Prompts Tailplane Stall Suspicions
While it will be at least a year before the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issues its probable cause determination on the Feb. 12 fatal crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Buffalo, NY, there is growing suspicion that icing may have played a critical role in the accident that...

Continental Airlines Safety Records Sought by Airline Passenger Rights Group
The Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights and The Gibson Law Firm have filed federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding two recent crashes of Continental Airlines flights. The requests, which were submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the National...

Innovative Web Site Captured Crash of Flight 3407
Media coverage of the fatal crash of a Colgan Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop in Buffalo, NY on Feb. 12 was helped by a network of amateur radio and aviation enthusiasts that aired on their web site (http://www.liveatc.net) the final air traffic control transmissions of Continental Connection Flight...

Geese Struck US Airways Flight 1549
The birds sucked into the twin CFM56-5B/P turbofan engines of the US Airways Airbus A320 that ditched in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009 were indeed Canada geese, says the National Transportation Safety Board. But researchers are still trying to determine if they were migratory geese from Canada, or local...

AAR Suspension Order Terminated
AAR Corp. and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have entered into a Consent Order that terminates the FAA's Emergency Order of Suspension. The FAA issued the order on February 10 and AAR immediately filed a petition for review before the National Transportation Safety Board. Under the terms of the...

Techniques For Saving Fuel And Reducing Noise
Airline passengers arriving in Atlanta on early morning "redeye" flights during the past few months may have noticed something different during their descent to the runway. Instead of the typical sound of engine power rising and falling as the aircraft descended in a series of level flight steps...

USAF Weather Squadron Picks Up New Responsibilities
The 15th Operational Weather Squadron at Scott AFB will assume short-term backup responsibilities for the National Weather Service's Aviation Weather Center and Storm Prediction Center on April 1. AWC provides aviation warnings and forecasts of hazardous flight conditions at all levels within domestic and...

Safety & Technology Trends
Air Berlin Adopts Electronic Nav Charts Following a three-month implementation phase, the airlines in the Air Berlin Group are now flying with the Lufthansa Systems Lido eRouteManual electronic navigation charts. The five-year contract also covers the use of the FMS database from Lufthansa Systems. The route...

Security Shortlines
GAO Studies Sky Cops By deploying armed air marshals onboard selected flights, the TSA's Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) plays a key role in protecting 29,000 domestic and international flights operated daily by U.S. air carriers. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined FAMS's operational...

Safety Rules & Regs
Airworthiness Directives; Learjet Model 55, 55B, and 55C. Final rule; request for comments. SUMMARY. This AD requires inspecting the installation of the forward light assembly in the aft lavatory to determine the location of the terminal connector; inspecting for damage of the light assembly terminals...

Accidents & Incidents
Date Aircraft Type Narrative Death/Injury Remarks Jan 02, 2009 Philadelphia, MS AIR TRACTOR AT-602 N5013C A/c operated by Quinn Aviation collided with trees then the ground. Pilot who departed 20 minutes earlier reported to NTSB that he performed precautionary landing in field. He indicated that adverse...