News about significant aircraft accidents and information from accident reports; information on safety procedures and concerns; crew, passenger, aircraft and airport security issues; and news about simulators and training procedures.
From May 2, the FAA will start publishing new instrument approach plates that include an enlarged segment of airspace to protect aircraft during circling approaches. The new airspace also offers pilots additional obstacle clearance while considering their MSL altitude above the MDA, which affects true airspeed.
The boundaries of protected airspace for circling approaches are defined by arcs drawn from the threshold of each runway at an airport. The larger the aircraft, the larger the arc.
Flight operations specialist François Lassale, managing director of Vortex FSM, has cast doubt on the wisdom of pilots’ depending on iPads in the cockpit. “Some operators are so caught up in iPad fever they’re not thinking about the complexities the units add to flight operations when they’re used in the cockpit,” he told AIN.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has approved both an RNP approach to an ILS and an RNP AR (authorization required) approach for Zhangjiajie Airport (ZDGY) in southeastern China to help increase its capacity. Surrounded by rugged mountainous terrain, the airport sits in the middle of what the country’s Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (Canso) calls “complex airspace that limits operations at peak hours for both inbound and outbound traffic.”
August 2 is the implementation date for the new Part 121 regulation that requires all cockpit crewmembers to hold a Part 61-issued ATP certificate. That also means those airmen must have a first-class medical certificate if they intend to exercise the privileges of that ATP certificate. The FAA emphasizes that P.L. 111-216 does not include any grandfathering provisions for current flight-crew members who currently hold commercial pilot certificates.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has agreed to pay the FAA $3.5 million in fines for numerous violations of airport rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) standards that occurred between December 2010 and June 2012 at John F. Kennedy (JFK), Teterboro (TEB), La Guardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR) airports.
After less than a week of massive air traffic delays across the U.S., the Senate and the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly last week to give the FAA the flexibility to move money around its budget from lower-priority items to more necessary areas like funding that returns all of the nation’s air traffic controllers to duty. The legislation is also expected to return funding to the agency’s contract tower program through the end of September. The Senate vote on the legislation was unanimous, while in the House the vote was 361 for and 41 against.
The pilots of an Air India Airbus A320 were suspended after an April 12 incident in which they landed their aircraft without an ATC clearance on a closed runway in Mumbai. Two local air traffic controllers were also suspended for not taking action when they realized the incident was happening. In a preliminary report, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the primary reason for the incident was that the pilots had selected the wrong tower frequency and proceeded inbound despite the lack of any radio contact.
A de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter crashed on takeoff from Sam Neua Airport (VLSN) in Laos on April 17. Five of 16 people aboard the aircraft sustained injuries and the aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft failed to clear trees at the end of the airport’s 3,700-foot runway and crashed in a nearby canal, shearing off the left wing.
The FAA has proposed a $4 million fine against UPS for operating four aircraft that were not airworthy. The FAA alleges that in 2008 the cargo carrier failed to follow FAA-approved procedures to accomplish structural repairs on two DC-8s and a pair of MD-11s. The agency further alleges that UPS then used the four aircraft on 400 flights between October 2009 and June 2010. These violations stem from UPS’s failure to comply with the terms of an earlier consent agreement in which it agreed to inspect all aircraft in its fleet and compare actual repairs with maintenance records.
An MD369A helicopter pilot was seriously injured April 2 during a hard landing on private property in Darby, Mont. The three passengers aboard received minor injuries. The rotorcraft was destroyed when its engine failed to respond to throttle inputs at 10 feet above the ground. The tail rotor, tailboom and all main rotor blades separated from the helicopter on impact.
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