Air Japan B767 nose-gear strike – substantial damage.     Japanese investigators believe an All Nippon Airways Boeing 767-300 sustained damage in a hard landing because the crew did not realise the aircraft had bounced on touchdown.

The twinjet (JA610A) had been approaching Tokyo Narita’s runway 16R in crosswind conditions on 20 June 2012. Air traffic control had cautioned about windshear on the parallel runway 16L. Although there was no similar alert for 16R, the 767 crew was prepared for possible turbulence.

Japan Transport Safety Board investigators state that the aircraft underwent large pitch, roll and speed fluctuations as a result of changing wind speeds, presenting a “difficult” task to keep the aircraft’s attitude stable. The inquiry says the 767 was in a nose-down attitude at 20-30ft above ground, and that its descent rate of some 400-600ft/min “could not be sufficiently reduced” during the flare.

“When the pitch significantly decreased after the aircraft passed the runway threshold, it should [have been] recognised that [an] appropriate landing operation would not be possible and the landing should not be continued,” it states.

The captain, who was flying, noticed a shortened interval between automatic height call-outs, and felt the aircraft rapidly descend, and attempted to increase nose-up pitch. But the aircraft landed on its right-hand main gear, with an impact of 1.58g, before bouncing.

Thinking that the main gear was in contact with the runway, the captain reasoned that an early touchdown with the nose-gear – to maintain heading in the crosswind – would be the safest option, and pushed forward on the control column to force the nose down.

This led the 767 to strike the ground on its nose-gear, just before the main gear made second contact with a 1.72g impact. The nose-gear rebounded, before touching down again at 1.82g.

While the captain “momentarily” considered executing a go-around, says the inquiry, he recalled a tail-strike involving an ANA Airbus A320 at Sendai, four months previously, and chose instead to recover the landing.

Four cabin attendants received minor injuries during the incident. The 767 suffered substantial damage including creased upper-crown fuselage panels, cracks to a frame and stringers, and deformation of the nose-gear structure.

flightglobal.com

Nepal: Tara Air flight 193 pilots violated standard operating procedures     Aug 1, 2016- Pilots of Tara Air Flight 193, which crashed at Myagdi’s Solighopte in February killing all 23 onboard, deliberately entered cloud while operating under the visual flight rules and deviated from the normal track due to the loss of situational awareness, the government’s fact-finding committee said on Sunday.

A crash report submitted to the Tourism Ministry after five-and-half-month-long investigation pointed out that the crew had to contend with poor visibility and fog on the Pokhara-Jomsom route, one of the treacherous routes, after the plane reached an altitude of 7,000 ft.

The Pokhara airport had cleared the aircraft under 5,000m visibility, but the visibility report provided by the metrological office was 4,000m, according to the report. Flights are operated when the visibility is 5,000m in Pokhara. The flight was under the command of co-pilot Dikesh Nemkul.

After travelling 5 miles at 10,100 ft, before the Ghorepani passing, Captain Roshan Manandhar, who was acting as pilot monitoring, had said: “Cloud cell still present.”

Manandhar then advised Nemkul to continue to climb to 12,000 ft and told him that they will take chance till Tatopani and decide whether to continue or divert, the report said.

Due to adverse weather condition on the flight path, the flight crew had avoided the normal route of Kaligandaki and deviated to the left. Suddenly, over the Ghorepani area, the cockpit started to buzz with ground proximity alert-“terrain…terrain; pull up…pull up”, the report said. The aircraft was flying in dark clouds. “However, for a few second, the visibility outside the cockpit had improved,” the report states.

The captain then instructed the flight commander to descend and subsequently a shallow descent was initiated. Again, the captain asked: “Whether you can see the visual.” Nemkul replied: “Somewhat visual.”

Nemkul was then instructed to descend to 10,000 ft. Again, an “over speed” warning sounded in the cockpit for 2 seconds. Then, the terrain alert sounded when the aircraft was at 10,200 ft. However, the captain responded not to worry about it, the report said. “The captain did not respond to the repeated warnings,” said Captain Shrawan Rijal, a member of the government’s committee.

Finally, at the critical point, a minute before the crash, Captain Manandhar decided to take the control. He then started to climb the aircraft. But the aircraft’s belly hit the terrain at 10,700 ft and was destroyed completely by the impact. It rested at an altitude of 10,982 ft. The captain had 1:05 minutes to react, but he did not consider it seriously, the report said.

However, there were also other reasons for Manandhar hesitance to react. “Based on previous flight data recorder of the same aircraft, the area used to witness repeated ground proximity alert in the normal flight situation too,” said Rijal. “They had become habitual of the alert so it was not considered seriously.”

However, being an experienced pilot, who had 20,800 hours of flying experience, it was “skill error” or “judgemental error” of the captain, the report said. Rijal said there are other areas as well where such types of alerts are persistent and it’s a serious issue.

After the submission of the report, a new debate has surfaced whether co-pilots or junior captains should be allowed to fly on treacherous routes.

The investigation committee had issued an interim safety recommendation to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) to enforce a mechanism to stop the tendency of pilot-in-command acting as pilot monitoring and junior pilots or co-pilots as flight commander during critical circumstances or on treacherous routes under the visual flight condition in the domestic sector.

However, some pilots said such a decision would prevent juniors to be experienced on difficult terrain and condition.

The committee has recommended that airlines ensure compliance with the provision of visual flight rules as an aircraft entering cloud under visual flight is considered a crime.

http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news

Embraer Executive Jets has introduced a new variant of its entry-level Phenom 100.        The Phenom 100 EV features a new avionics suite with the Prodigy Touch flight deck, based on the Garmin G3000, and modified Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F1-E engines, offering more speed with superior hot-and-high performance.

Mexico’s Across and Emirates Flight Training Academy are the launch customers for the Phenom 100 EV business jet.

Across operates out of the Toluca International Airport where the hot and high performance benefits the customers.

Emirates Flight Training Academy, due to open later this year recently upgraded its earlier order for five Phenom 100E to Phenom 100EV becoming the first flight training organisation in the world to train cadet pilots using this platform.

“The Phenom 100 revolutionized the entry-level segment when it set new standards for comfort, performance, and operating costs.”

Marco Tulio Pellegrini, president & CEO, Embraer Executive Jets said: “The Phenom 100 revolutionized the entry-level segment when it set new standards for comfort, performance, and operating costs. The new Phenom 100 EV will deliver even greater performance and operational capability while preserving its low operating and maintenance costs.”

The Phenom 100 EV is due to enter service during the first half of 2017.

Pedro Corsi Amerlinck, CEO of Across said: “As Mexico’s premier air charter solutions provider, our customers expect a world-class experience. Now, with the addition of the Phenom 100 EV to our fleet, our customers will enjoy the unmatched cabin comfort of Embraer’s oval lite cross section, as well as the largest baggage capacity in the segment, all while flying non-stop routes, such as Toluca to Houston and Toluca to Cancun.”

Adel Al Redha, executive vice president and chief operations officer of Emirates added: “We selected the Phenom 100 because we considered it to be the entry-level jet that will offer trainees unmatched systems integration and ease of operation, a high utilization design, low operating costs, airliner-grade performance and docile flying characteristics. Our cadets will benefit from next generation technology, speed and thrust for their training missions in the Phenom 100 EV.”

www.corporatejetinvestor.com/

Boeing Sees Need for 30,850 New Pilots a Year.      Global airlines will need to hire 30,850 pilots a year for the next two decades to keep pace with new planes on order and surging demand for air travel, according to a forecast by Boeing Co. </img>

Carriers will need to recruit and train about 617,000 pilots to fly the 39,620 aircraft, valued at $5.9 trillion, that the U.S. planemaker expects to be added to the global fleet through 2035. The Asia-Pacific region will account for about 40 percent of total new hires as China eclipses North American as the largest travel market.

U.S. carriers will need to accelerate recruiting to replace pilots who are retiring, comply with stricter federal limits on duty hours and staff new routes to Cuba and Latin America, said Sherry Carbary, vice president of Boeing Flight Services.

The Chicago-based company predicts a need for 112,000 new pilots in North America over the next 20 years. Boeing sees 104,000 aviators required for Europe as travel continues to grow between countries on the continent, Carbary said.

The Middle East will need 58,000 pilots over the two decades, about 2,000 fewer than Boeing forecast a year ago, as flying within the region shifts to smaller models from very large aircraft like Airbus’s A380 superjumbo.

www.bloomberg.com/news/

Photographer: Martin Leissl/Bloomberg

2 Canadian pilots arrested in Britain on alcohol charges prior to trans-Atlantic flight.       Two Canadian airline pilots charged with being drunk as they prepared to fly a passenger jet on a trans-Atlantic route have been bailed on condition they surrender their passports.

Jean-Francois Perreault, who is 39, and 37-year-old Imran Zafar Syed were arrested at Glasgow Airport on July 18, shortly before they were due to fly an Air Transat jet to Toronto.

They have been charged with being impaired through alcohol and with threatening and abusive behavior.

The two men had been held in custody since their arrested but were bailed after a hearing Tuesday at Paisley Sheriff Court in western Scotland.

Air Transat runs charter and scheduled flights between Canada and several European and Caribbean destinations. The airline says the pilots have been suspended.

www.chicagotribune.com/

Civil Aviation Directorate, Serbia.       The proposed EASA changes to CRM training, set out in document NPA 2014-17, include a requirement that ‘the inspectors of the competent authority should be qualified and trained’ on a range of items, including the assessment of non-technical skills.

In anticipation of these proposed changes the Civil Aviation Directorate of Serbia invited ITS to deliver appropriate training to their inspectors in Belgrade.

The training course focussed on techniques and methodologies (NOTECHS) and on the associated assessment skills required by their inspectors to provide effective oversight of the schemes and assessment processes used by operators within Serbia.

SFS Aviation, Thailand.     ITS instructors have recently spent 12 days at Songkhla, on the Gulf of Thailand, delivering three different training courses to SFS helicopter instructors.

The first course was a 5-day CRM Trainer course which was attended by new CRM trainers and also some existing CRM trainers who use the course as a refresher.

This was followed by a CRM Trainer Examiner course for several instructors who will take on the role of CRM Examiners within SFS.

The final course was a Notechs/Assessment Skills training course when trainers and checkers were introduced to NOTECHS and were trained on the specific skills required for assessing non-technical skills on the line and in the simulator.

Jet deploys slides after fuel leak at PBIA.        An incident with an American Airlines flight 1822 is being investigated at Palm Beach International Airport.

Passengers at PBIA evacuated their plane before even leaving the ground. Airport officials say a hydraulic fuel leak forced them off.

While some are dealing with the effects from the fuel, others are nursing other injuries that’s left them in the hospital tonight. Alissa Comeford of Port Saint Lucie says her mother Linda is in the hospital with a sling and multiple burns.

“She fell when she was getting off the plane and she slipped on all the fuel and fell down and hit her arm and her side.”

She was one of 138 passengers aboard the plane headed to Philadelphia.

A spokesperson with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says they treated 24 people for symptoms such as itchy skin, burning eyes, and trouble breathing.

“People were going down the chutes and were able to get some of the hydraulic fluid on them as they were exiting the aircraft,” says Nigel Baker with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.

Baker says everyone is expected to be okay, however Alissa says she’s worried her mother’s injuries may not be so minor.

www.wptv.com

Delta landing at Wrong Airport.     The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a Delta Air Lines Inc. flight that mistakenly landed at a South Dakota Air Force base, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from its intended destination.

Delta Flight 2845 departed from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport Thursday evening en route to Rapid City, South Dakota, carrying 130 passengers on an Airbus Group SE A320 jet. The crew instead landed the plane at Ellsworth Air Force Base, located north of Rapid City Regional Airport. The aircraft landed safely, Delta said in a statement on its website.

The NTSB said it is investigating the incident, according to the agency’s Twitter account. Delta is cooperating with the government’s probe and is conducting its own, the airline said. The flight crew has been taken off duty during the review.

Pilots on occasion have landed at the wrong runways, sparking reviews by regulators. In November 2013, an Atlas Air Worldwide freighter landed at the wrong airport in Wichita, Kansas, followed just two months later by a Southwest Airlines plane that touched down at the wrong airport in Branson, Missouri.

©2016 Bloomberg L.P.

Anti-Ice System Left Off in Crash of Executive’s Jet in Maryland.    

U.S. NTSB releases preliminary report on 2014 Maryland crash
Small jet was piloted and owned by a health-care executive
The pilot and owner of the plane never switched on the plane’s anti-ice systems before the Dec. 8, 2014, crash, which killed six people including a mother and two children on the ground, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The reports contain factual information, but the NTSB hasn’t concluded the accident’s cause yet.
About one minute and 20 seconds before impact, a warning system on the plane sounded to alert the pilot that it was flying too slow and banked too steeply to stay aloft. “Stall, stall,” said the warning system’s mechanical voice, according to a transcript of the plane’s cockpit recorder.
“Oh no,” an unidentified passenger said 13 seconds later.
“Whoa,” replied the pilot. Michael Rosenberg, 66, the plane’s owner and chief executive officer of closely held Health Decisions Inc., was at the controls at the time of the accident, according to the NTSB.
The plane, a twin-engine Embraer SA Phenom 100, was approaching Montgomery County Airport in Gaithersburg, Maryland, one of several airports around Washington popular with corporate pilots. The plane is one of the smaller models of corporate jets.
Weather data and reports from other pilots suggest that the plane was exposed to ice for about 15 minutes, the NTSB concluded. Ice that forms on wings or other aircraft surfaces not only slows a plane, but it can also disturb airflow and reduce lift from the wings.
The plane’s final seconds as it plunged “are consistent with an ice-contaminated airplane,” the NTSB wrote in one report.
The Phenom 100 uses inflatable rubber boots on the wings to break off ice before it can cause harm. If it had been switched on, it would have issued a warning about 20 seconds earlier, which would have given the pilot more time to recover, according to the NTSB.

January 20, 2016
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/