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NWA Flight Diverts After Wing Panel Hits Horizontal Stab

Second Missing Panel Problem Involving Boeing 757
A Northwest Airlines Boeing 757-200 bound for Detroit from Los Angeles made an unexpected stop in Las Vegas Monday, after a wing panel reportedly fell off in flight and struck the plane's horizontal stabilizer.

According to the FAA's Preliminary Report and flight information from FlightAware.com, a 3-foot-by-2-foot panel came off the plane's right wing approximately 30 minutes into the flight. A reported hydraulic problem forced the diversion to McCarran; a post-flight inspection revealed the panel had impacted the plane's tail.

This is the second time in two months a wing panel has stripped from a Boeing 757-200 while inflight. As ANN reported, an upper panel fell off a US Airways 757 on March 22, and struck the side of the plane's fuselage. The National Transportation Safety Board later determined the panel came off due to failed fasteners which were installed as part of an FAA airworthiness directive in 1991.

The NTSB called for inspections of all flying 757s after its determination... and reportedly found problems with wing panel fasteners on several other aircraft, which were repaired and returned to service.

Flight Options Receives Fourth Consecutive ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flight Options, the world's most innovative private jet company, has been rated Platinum by the Aviation Research Group/US (ARG/US) for the fourth consecutive time. Flight Options is the only large-scale fractional operator to hold the coveted safety rating consecutively since 2002.

The ARG/US safety and compliance audit is a true process and systems audit which verifies that a flight operation is consistent with industry best practices and reflects a clear commitment to safety. The Platinum rating, the highest given by ARG/US, recognizes Flight Options as adhering to industry best practices overall, including a functioning Safety Management System, a progressive Internal Evaluation Program, and a thorough and exercised Emergency Response Plan.

“Flight Options has demonstrated an unmatched commitment to continuous improvement in all areas of aviation operations, maintenance and safety,” said Joe Moeggenberg, president of ARG/US. “Only companies which meet or exceed the established ARG/US standards for equipment, maintenance and crew experience achieve a Platinum rating.”

Safety Management Systems arriving in the near future

The FAA has been investigating implementation of Safety Management Systems (SMS) in Air Carrier and Repair Station environments.

SMS envisions a system in which a private company uses audits to oversee its compliance with regulations and quality systems, and maintains metrics designed to create a more transparent compliance environment.
The audit records and metrics would allow the government (the FAA) to engage in better risk management and oversight by permitting the government to focus its attentions on high risk safety issues. With the SMS tools in place, the government will be able to more easily audit companies to make sure they continue to follow their own quality systems.

The FAA is expected to release an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register this summer in order to solicit ideas on the best way to implement SMS in the aviation industry. This is the public’s best opportunity to help craft the look-and-feel of the SMS program.

Many smaller companies may be interested in commenting so as to limit the paperwork that SMS will entail and to limit the amount of resources that will be necessary to the oversight of the SMS system. Watch JetBlog! for mor information as it becoems available.

FAA Looks Into American's Inspections

Agency Questions Shift In Procedures Related To Lightning Damage
By ANDY PASZTOR
May 16, 2008; Page B1

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into why American Airlines ordered mechanics to start skipping certain long-established safety inspections to detect damage to planes from suspected lightning strikes, according to internal company and agency documents.

The airline's decision reflects the wide latitude the AMR Corp. unit and other large air carriers typically have in adjusting safety standards without prior approvals from federal regulators. In this instance, American made the procedural changes and revised its maintenance manual in an effort to prevent planes from being pulled out of service, causing flight delays or cancellations that can be especially disruptive during the summer thunderstorm season.

For years, American gave its mechanics substantial authority and exacting rules for conducting the type of inspections now at issue. If mechanics spotted even a faint sign of lightning damage on a plane, they were required to thoroughly check the fuselage, flight-control surfaces and other parts of the aircraft for collateral damage before its next flight.

GULFSTREAM ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Larry Flynn Moves to Marketing & Sales as Mark Burns Is Promoted Within Product Support Organization.

Savannah, GA, May 12, 2008: Gulfstream Aerospace, a subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), today announced changes to its senior management team, precipitated by the scheduled retirement of Raynor Reavis, senior vice president, Marketing and Sales.

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of Larry Flynn as senior vice president, Marketing and Sales,” said Joe Lombardo, president, Gulfstream Aerospace. “Larry has been a member of the Gulfstream leadership team for the past 11 years. As such, he has had an active say in the direction and growth of the company and has been responsible for managing our award-winning, international product support network.”
Flynn, who joined Gulfstream in 1995, is also a vice president of General Dynamics and has been president, Gulfstream Product Support, and president, General Dynamics Aviation Services. In these last two appointments, he was responsible for managing 12 company-owned service centers as well as an international network of authorized repair stations.

NASA Completes First Series Of Ares Engine Tests

Important Step Towards Development Of J-2X Motor
NASA engineers Thursday successfully completed the first series of tests in the early development of the J-2X engine that will power the upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V rockets, key
components of NASA's Constellation Program. Ares I will launch the Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to the International Space Station and then to the moon by 2020. The Ares V will carry cargo and components into orbit for trips to the moon and later to Mars.

NASA conducted nine tests of heritage J-2 engine components from December to May as part of a series designed to verify heritage J-2 performance data and explore performance boundaries.

Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, MO, conducted the tests on a heritage J-2 "powerpack," which, in a fully assembled engine, pumps liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
into the engine's main combustion chamber to produce thrust. The test hardware consisted of J-2 components used from the Apollo program in the1960s through the X-33 program of the 1990s.

"This series of tests is an important step in development of the J-2X engine," said Mike Kynard, manager of the upper stage engine for the Ares Projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. "We started with a number of objectives and questions we needed answers to as we work to complete designs of
the J-2X engine. The data we have gained will be invaluable as we continue the design process."

Criticized in U.S., the F.A.A. Is Seen in Many Regions as a First-Rate Regulator

By NICOLA CLARK and HEATHER TIMMONS
New York Times

Despite the heightened scrutiny of the Federal Aviation Administration, regulators elsewhere say they still view the American agency as a model for safety and regulatory compliance.

A Long List of Big Issues for F.A.A. (May 8, 2008) An important measure of success of these agencies, after all, remains the accident rate, and the United States has the lowest. Safety records in Latin America and Africa are the worst, with accident rates as high as six times the global average.

In the Asia-Pacific region, where passenger traffic is growing quickly, regulation can be a patchwork system. Even in the European Union, where national regulators are held to account at the European bloc’s level, the number of accidents last year was far higher than in the United States.

That is why some aviation experts abroad were puzzled by what they saw as an uproar over the F.A.A. “It looks from here like an overreaction,” said Wolfgang Didszuhn, a retired vice president for airworthiness at Airbus who is now a consultant to the air safety authority of the United Arab Emirates. “I don’t think the F.A.A.’s image has suffered from this, but I do think everybody feels a bit sorry for them.”

Experts: Improved Air Safety Doubtful

A majority of aviation professionals do not expect airline safety to improve during the next five years. According to the results of the survey of over 140 aviation industry professionals, 56% feel that the level of airline safety will stay the same or worsen over the near to medium term. The survey was conducted by Ascend, a London-based aviation consultancy.

The Ascend survey asked industry insiders to identify the biggest barriers to further improvements in safety by ranking the importance of 10 potential threats. Causing the most concern is a ‘shortage of experienced personnel’ with an average score of 7.3.

Respondents ranked ‘Fatigue/work practice’ (7.1) and ‘airline management experience/attitudes/culture’ (6.6) as the next most significant risks to improved aviation safety.

FMI: Aviation Today

U.S. airlines flock to foreign repair shops

By Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
San Luis Talpa, El Salvador

Southwest Airlines planned to begin flying planes to this small Central American nation this year - but not with passengers aboard. The carrier wanted to outsource some of its maintenance to a Salvadoran repair shop called Aeroman.

Aeroman already services jetliners operated by U.S. carriers JetBlue and America West. The airlines fly empty planes hundreds of miles from the United States to have them refurbished, repaired and inspected. It's like driving across town for a cheaper mechanic -- except that airlines can save millions of dollars over the life of their rides.

They aren't alone. Many air travelers don't know it, but the U.S. airline industry outsources more than half of its aircraft maintenance to contractors in the United States or abroad.

In fact, the only thing unusual about Southwest is that it changed its mind after the Federal Aviation Administration last month said it would seek a $10.2-million fine against the Dallas-based carrier for safety lapses. Southwest Executive Chairman Herb Kelleher told a congressional committee this month that the decision to back out of the deal was no reflection on Aeroman. The repair firm has a solid reputation in the industry, and it wasn't involved in Southwest's failure to carry out the required safety inspections on its planes, provoking the record fine.

Senate wants to tighten up air safety at foreign service centers

Submitted by David Goldstein
The Senate debated aviation safety Wednesday, fresh off a spate of recent headlines about the cozy relationship between government regulators and the airline industry. A bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration would, among other things, modernize the air traffic control system, improve runway safety and increase the number of airline inspectors.

But another area that needs increased oversight is the FAA’s inspection of foreign repair stations, according to Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican.

The airline industry outsources about half of all its maintenance overseas, according to the FAA. Many of those repair sites are not inspected or certified by the agency and don’t necessarily adhere to FAA safety or security rules.A 2003 report by the FAA inspector general, for instance, found several security breaches at foreign repair sites.

The McCaskill-Specter amendment would require the agency to inspect certified foreign repair stations twice a year and perform all work on American aircraft at FAA-certified facilities. The bipartisan amendment would also mandate that certified foreign repair stations meet all of the government’s security requirements. "It is absurd to think that we are crisscrossing this country in airplanes that are serviced in facilities with no required standards and no FAA inspections," McCaskill said in a statement.

FMI: Kansas City Star