AL'S EMPORIUM
The Wall Street Journal
January 20, 2013
Globalization has led to globule-ization for Boeing.
Lithium-ion batteries in its new 787 Dreamliners have been smoking and spewing corrosive liquids. Aviation authorities around the globe grounded the planes last week until Boeing can prove its melting batteries safe.
Such a grounding hasn't happened since 1979, when engines came loose from McDonnell Douglas DC-10s.
The 787 Dreamliner represents Boeing's future, but now it's stranded on the tarmac.
Boeing CEO Jim McNerney promised to return the plane to service: "We stand behind its overall integrity."
He has been in charge since 2005. Before him, an ethics-preaching Phil Condit was forced to resign after a corruption scandal involving inflated government contracts. Before Mr. Condit, a married Harry Stoncipher was forced to resign after a tryst with a female underling.
This is costing untold millions of dollars a day. Did you hear the one about the Polish airline? On Wednesday, the same day authorities grounded the Dreamliner, LOT Polish Airlines was planning to inaugurate Dreamliner service between Chicago and Warsaw.
Tomasz Balcerzak, vice president at the state-controlled airline, wasn't laughing. He said LOT would seek a lot of compensation from Boeing.
No one knows whether Boeing has a little bug to address or a major flaw that could take months to correct.
The Dreamliner is a Toyota Prius in the sky. It's made of carbon composite parts so it's lighter and uses 20% less fuel. Its electrical system replaces heavier mechanical and hydraulic systems of typical jets. Lighter, faster-charging, lithium batteries are essential. Boeing must find a way to keep them from burning and forcing emergency landings like one All Nippon Airways made in Japan last week. If the batteries must be replaced with heavier ones, the switch could force a costly redesign.
The Dreamliner is already years late to market. It's been plagued with cost overruns and other glitches such as fuel leaks. Its parts are outsourced from suppliers around the world and assembled by a company that's grown too-big-to-fail.
U.S. taxpayers supply billions to foreign airlines buying Boeing planes through the Export-Import Bank. And when Boeing isn't gorging on federal pork, it's shaking down cities for economic-development plums.
"Boeing is a poster child for corporate tax incentives," Kansas state Rep. Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat, complained to Bloomberg News in January 2012—after Boeing decided to shut down its 80-year-old Wichita plant. Kansas officials had helped Boeing land a fat U.S. Air Force contract and had lavished the company with billions in municipal-bond funding and tax incentives.
In 2001, Boeing pitted Chicago, Dallas and Denver against each other in a contest to see which city would cough up the most loot for its corporate headquarters. The company had been based beside its workers in Seattle since 1917. Now Chicago is stuck with it.
In 2011, the National Labor Relations Board accused Boeing of opening a plant in South Carolina as an illegal retaliatory strike against its union workers in Washington. This highly politicized spat was resolved, but it was no morale builder.
Boeing's melting batteries may be a sign the company has grown too big since its megamerger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Globule-ization is what happens when a bloated, corporate bureaucracy tries to innovate.
Source: http://online.wsj.com
January 19, 2013
2 injured in separate skydiving mishaps on North Shore, Hawaii
A 26-year-old man was transported to a trauma center in serious condition today after being injured while skydiving on the North Shore, Emergency Medical Services said.
The man is a visitor and was flying alone, a Honolulu Fire Department spokesman said. His parachute became tangled as he approached for his landing around 1:15 p.m., and he went slightly off course, landing in the Camp Mokuleia area, the spokesman said.
The skydiver told emergency responders that he hit a few Ironwood trees on his way down and complained of pain in his left thigh before being treated and transported by EMS.
In a separate incident, a 40-year-old woman was seriously injured when she collided with another skydiver about 3 p.m., also on Oahu’s North Shore.
EMS said the woman was transported to a trauma center, and the second diver was not injured.
The man is a visitor and was flying alone, a Honolulu Fire Department spokesman said. His parachute became tangled as he approached for his landing around 1:15 p.m., and he went slightly off course, landing in the Camp Mokuleia area, the spokesman said.
The skydiver told emergency responders that he hit a few Ironwood trees on his way down and complained of pain in his left thigh before being treated and transported by EMS.
In a separate incident, a 40-year-old woman was seriously injured when she collided with another skydiver about 3 p.m., also on Oahu’s North Shore.
EMS said the woman was transported to a trauma center, and the second diver was not injured.
Food processor recalls meat sent to airlines, restaurants
The recall is for all chicken, beef and pork products produced on Dec. 6 due to potential contamination of Listeria monocytogenes, often linked to undercooked foods.
B and D Foods specifically issued a recall on their boxes of Royal Tempura Chicken, Blings! Chicken Breast with Parmesan Flavoring, Steakhouse Tempura Seasoned Beef, Kettle Cooked Chicken and Fully Cooked Pork Strips. (Detailed list below)
While the meats are not sold in grocery stores, B and D said that the listed products were sold to restaurants and airlines in Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Montana, California and Ohio.
On Dec. 6, workers conducted a routine microbiological sampling of the 33,500 pounds of meat included in those products. Initially the test came back negative for Listeria monocytogenes.
One of B and D's clients also conducted a test, which came back positive for the bacteria in the "Kettle Cooked Chicken Breast Pieces".
B and D Foods sent some of their additional samples of that batch of chicken for further processing to an outside lab, where one of eight test samples came back positive for Listeria monocytogenes.
B and D Foods reported that they immediately contacted the USDA and all the distributors that purchased the affected meats made on Dec. 6.
Tim Andersen, president of B and D Foods, said that the company has a zero tolerance policy for listeria in its food, and will continue its intense testing process.
“Quality assurance and safety tests are taken daily and analyzed by an independent laboratory. B and D Foods is taking these precautionary recall measures to assure that products are healthy and safe for our customers and consumers,” Andersen said.
None of the 850 pounds of new chicken product was released for public consumption. However, to be proactive and ensure the safety of its product and consumers, B and D Foods has identified all products that were manufactured on Dec. 6 that could have been cross contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and asked its clients to return all products manufactured on that specific date.
This is an isolated incident. B and D Foods has never had a recall in its 30 year history. The family owned company has strict internal standards, policies and procedures, as well as complies with all USDA guidelines and standards. B and D Foods takes this issue very seriously and it will be working with the USDA and its clients to resolve this issue as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
Products subject to the recall include:
- 10-lb. boxes, containing 2, 5-lb bags of “ROYAL “THE TEMPURA KING” ROYAL TEMPURA CHICKEN, Fully Cooked Tempura Chicken Breast,” bearing an identifying code of “A-4615.” This product was distributed to food service and/or institutional customers in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
- 10-lb. boxes, containing 2, 5-lb bags of “BLINGS! CHICKEN BREAST WITH PARMESAN FLAVORING,” bearing an identifying code of “A-4844.” This product was distributed to foodservice and/or institutional customers in Idaho and Montana.
- 10-lb. boxes, containing 2, 5-lb bags of “STEAKHOUSE TEMPURA SEASONED BEEF & BINDER STRIPS,” bearing an identifying code of “A-1070-10.” This product was distributed to foodservice and/or institutional customers in Idaho and Montana.
- 30-lb. boxes of “KETTLE COOKED CHICKEN BREAST PIECES,” bearing an identifying code of “A-3900.” This product was distributed to an industrial customer in Ohio.
- 30-lb. boxes of “FULLY COOKED PORK STRIPS,” bearing an identifying code of “A-3025-30.” This product was distributed to an industrial customer in Arizona and California.
‘Bodies of Dana pilots lost in crash inferno’
The bodies of the two pilots of Dana Air’s MD-83 plane which crashed in Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State on June 3, 2012 were not found as they might have been completely incinerated by the post-crash inferno.
The Chief Medical Examiner and Consultant Pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. John Obafunwa, said this in his testimony at a Lagos State coroner court sitting in Ikeja on Friday.
The American pilot, Mr. Peter Waxtan, 55, and his Indian co-pilot, Mr. Mahendra Rathore, 34, were among the six crew members of the plane; 147 passengers and uncertain number of others on the ground, who were killed in the crash.
Obafunwa, who coordinated series of post-mortem tests, apart from the DNA analysis, on the bodies recovered from the crash site, said a total of nine persons among the 153 persons aboard the plane, could not be identified.
He said, “I had a manifest of 153 persons. Out of the 153, we were able to identify 144, leaving nine.
“I must say from the manifest, at the end of the day, we could not identify the bodies of the pilot and the co-pilot and that was after exhaustive deliberation and consultation.
“Bodies of other crew members were identified.”
He said apart from Waxtan and Rathore, who were certain to be on the plane, the other seven names of passengers on the manifest whose bodies were not found might actually not have boarded the plane.
He said among the 148 bodies identified with their names, three of them, through the DNA analysis carried out on the bodies in the United Kingdom, were discovered to be among the bodies of those who died on the ground.
He, however, told the court presided over by Mr. Oyetade Komolafe that the bodies of other crew members, apart from those of Waxtan and Rathore, were identified.
Obafunwa, who was appearing before the coroner court for the second time to give a report of the DNA analysis on the victims of the crash, said his team received 152 body bags from the crash site.
Led in evidence by the counsel for the state’s Attorney-General, Akinjide Bakare, the pathologist said three unidentified bodies were still being kept in the mortuary.
Giving insight into why the bodies could not be identified, Obafunwa, who is also the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, said some of the bodies were so burnt that blood and urine could not be extracted from them for certain tests.
Oyetade adjourned till January 25 for lawyers representing other parties to cross-examine the pathologist.
Story and Reaction/Comments: http://www.punchng.com
The Chief Medical Examiner and Consultant Pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. John Obafunwa, said this in his testimony at a Lagos State coroner court sitting in Ikeja on Friday.
The American pilot, Mr. Peter Waxtan, 55, and his Indian co-pilot, Mr. Mahendra Rathore, 34, were among the six crew members of the plane; 147 passengers and uncertain number of others on the ground, who were killed in the crash.
Obafunwa, who coordinated series of post-mortem tests, apart from the DNA analysis, on the bodies recovered from the crash site, said a total of nine persons among the 153 persons aboard the plane, could not be identified.
He said, “I had a manifest of 153 persons. Out of the 153, we were able to identify 144, leaving nine.
“I must say from the manifest, at the end of the day, we could not identify the bodies of the pilot and the co-pilot and that was after exhaustive deliberation and consultation.
“Bodies of other crew members were identified.”
He said apart from Waxtan and Rathore, who were certain to be on the plane, the other seven names of passengers on the manifest whose bodies were not found might actually not have boarded the plane.
He said among the 148 bodies identified with their names, three of them, through the DNA analysis carried out on the bodies in the United Kingdom, were discovered to be among the bodies of those who died on the ground.
He, however, told the court presided over by Mr. Oyetade Komolafe that the bodies of other crew members, apart from those of Waxtan and Rathore, were identified.
Obafunwa, who was appearing before the coroner court for the second time to give a report of the DNA analysis on the victims of the crash, said his team received 152 body bags from the crash site.
Led in evidence by the counsel for the state’s Attorney-General, Akinjide Bakare, the pathologist said three unidentified bodies were still being kept in the mortuary.
Giving insight into why the bodies could not be identified, Obafunwa, who is also the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, said some of the bodies were so burnt that blood and urine could not be extracted from them for certain tests.
Oyetade adjourned till January 25 for lawyers representing other parties to cross-examine the pathologist.
Story and Reaction/Comments: http://www.punchng.com
Oroville, Washington: Missing out on airport business
Posted January 10, 2013 in Letters to the Editor
Dear Gary,
As a member of the local area, I have to wonder about what is going on about our airport.
I understand that the pilots who gas up at the airport pay for the gas. Also those who park their planes there pay a fee for whatever type space they use. Aircraft fuel is expensive and they have been paying for it. Where’s the money paid for that gas gone? Plain and simple….
Also, as of now our airport is closed to border-type crossing or any aircraft other than helicopters and only if the chopper has it’s own gas. The runways are not plowed. We are not getting any of the business we would get from layovers of Canadian planes or otherwise…they have to land other places that are accredited for border flights.
In God I trust,
Betty Roberts
Oroville
Source: http://www.gazette-tribune.com/letter
Dear Gary,
As a member of the local area, I have to wonder about what is going on about our airport.
I understand that the pilots who gas up at the airport pay for the gas. Also those who park their planes there pay a fee for whatever type space they use. Aircraft fuel is expensive and they have been paying for it. Where’s the money paid for that gas gone? Plain and simple….
Also, as of now our airport is closed to border-type crossing or any aircraft other than helicopters and only if the chopper has it’s own gas. The runways are not plowed. We are not getting any of the business we would get from layovers of Canadian planes or otherwise…they have to land other places that are accredited for border flights.
In God I trust,
Betty Roberts
Oroville
Source: http://www.gazette-tribune.com/letter
Puppies take a flight toward a new life
LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff
Pilot Jerry Cain, of
Lincoln, carries Labrador puppies to his airplane, as Pilots N Paws
volunteers transport the dogs in a relay across several states Saturday.
The rescued dogs are headed to Colville, Wash., for training as service
dogs.
Nine eight-week-old puppies made a pit-stop in Billings on Saturday afternoon on their way to a better life.
The squirmy, affectionate black, brown and blond Labradors flew into Billings Logan International Airport on one Cessna 182 and flew out on another, all in about a half-hour.
They started the day in Monroe City, Mo., and would end it in Missoula. In between, they made stops in Valentine, N.D., and Billings, all thanks to pilots who belong to Pilots N Paws.
The national nonprofit connects animal rescue groups with pilots and others dedicated to saving animals' lives. It was founded in 2008 and now has 2,466 pilot volunteers and 8,281 rescuers.
The Labrador puppies were rescued from what’s called a kill shelter in Monroe City. That’s a shelter where animals are kept for a specific period and then, if not adopted, they are euthanized.
The puppies will go by ground transportation from Missoula to Colville, Wash., north of Spokane. There, they will be trained by Shepherds for Lost Sheep Inc. as service dogs for veterans dealing with physical and psychological injuries.
In other cases, the rescued dogs, cats, pigs, reptiles, rabbits and other animals are transported from kill shelters to foster or permanent homes.
Different groups arrange the rescues. Saturday’s mission was coordinated by Quailwings Transports. Headquarters for the group of air and ground transporters is in Cut Bank.
Saturday was the maiden flight for Billings pilot Brandie Emmett, a new Pilots N Paws volunteer. She flew the puppies from North Dakota to Billings, more than 300 miles round-trip.
She’s been a member for about four months. A friend told Emmett to check out Pilots N Paws on Facebook, and she was hooked.
“It doesn’t get any better than this, to take what you love doing, which is flying and helping animals,” she said, sitting on a couch in her hangar at the airport.
Emmett works in marketing for a State Farm Insurance agent in Billings. She took up flying as a hobby four years ago.
A pet owner, she has two adult labs and a cat. So she was equipped to transport the puppies in one of her large kennels.
She was a little nervous at the start of her flight in Valentine.
“They were really kind of yelping when we took off, so I did not think this was probably a good thing,” Emmett said. “But within 10 minutes they had calmed down, went to sleep and I did not hear another word from them until we turned on the taxiway.”
Once Emmett landed in Billings, she taxied to her hangar, powered down the plane and hopped out to unload her noisy cargo. Pilot Jerry Cain of Lincoln, Mont., another Pilots N Paws volunteer, was waiting to load them into his plane.
He’s been part of the nonprofit for “three or four years” and enjoys doing the charitable flights. Cain also ferries humans through the nonprofit Angel Flight West program.
Cain, his co-pilot Jerry Hover, Emmett and pilot Scott Newpower moved the puppies from one plane to the other. The dogs couldn’t be let down to run around, Emmett said, because they had just received their parvo vaccinations and could be vulnerable if exposed to the virus.
Cain provided bowls of fresh water to the puppies and got them settled in two crates in his plane. Emmett signed off on some paperwork, and then Cain taxied to the runway and took off.
Because of the weather, Cain tends to make fewer rescue trips in the winter. But in the summer, he may fly a couple of times a month or more.
His rule of thumb is that he will fly a 500-nautical-mile round trip from Lincoln. This particular flight totaled 484 miles, he said.
Cain, who had sled dogs he runs in the winter, has a soft spot for pets. So it just makes sense for him to be involved in rescuing them.
“I love animals, dogs, cats and horses,” he said. “And it’s a good excuse to fly.”
Story and Photos: http://billingsgazette.com
Beechcraft B55 Baron, N143E: Accident occurred January 19, 2013 near Mangum, Oklahoma
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 143E Make/Model: BE95 Description: 95 Travel Air
Date: 01/19/2013 Time: 2325
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: MANGUM State: OK Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE 3 PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
FATALLY INJURED, 10 MILES FROM MANGUM, OK
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 3
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 2 Fat: 2 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (SW15) Entry date: 01/22/2013
Men who died in Mangum plane crash loved flying Friends and family of two of the three people killed in a plane crash Saturday in Mangum said the men were doing what they loved when they died — flying.
The remnants of a 1964 Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron that crashed near Mangum on Saturday. Pilot Stephen Scott, 53, of Mangum and passengers John Hall, 45, and Edi Ortega, 20, both of Altus, were killed in the crash.
Casey Paxton - Mangum Star News
BY LEIGHANNE MANWARREN and BRYAN DEAN | Published: January 21, 2013
MANGUM — John Hall was doing what he loved Saturday when he and two other men were killed in a plane crash near Mangum in Greer County.
photo - The remnants of a 1964 Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron that crashed near Mangum on Saturday. Pilot Stephen Scott, 53, of Mangum and passengers John Hall, 45, and Edi Ortega, 20, both of Altus, were killed in the crash.
Hall, 45, and Edi Ortega, 20, both of Altus, were passengers in the plane flown by Stephen Scott, 53, of Mangum. Family and friends of Hall and Scott say they do not know how the three men knew each other or why they went out flying together. The plane crashed about 5:10 p.m.
Jake Hall, John Hall's 14-year-old son, said flying was his father's passion. He was both a pilot and a flight engineer in the Air Force.
“He loved flying; if there was an opportunity to go flying, he was there,” Jake Hall said.
Tony Molinaro, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Chicago, said the plane took off from Scott Field Municipal Airport in Mangum and crashed about 10 miles north of the airport. The cause of the crash is unknown.
According to FAA records, the plane was a 1964 Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron, a twin-engine propeller plane owned by J S Leasing LLC of Mangum.
“It's a tragic loss, and our family is just getting through it,” Jake Hall said. “As the days go by, it's going to totally set in, and we'll find out how we're going to live with it.”
Hall worked as a training support manager at CAE, a civil aviation, military and helicopter training company. During the 20 years he served in the U.S. Air Force, Hall worked as a mechanic on the B-52 Stratofortress bomber, and as a flight engineer and pilot for the C-5 Galaxy cargo jet.
“His love for flying came from God,” said his wife, Lynn Hall.
John Hall also nurtured his children's passions, such as Jake Hall's love of baseball.
“He was devoted,” Lynn Hall said. “There was a talent that he felt that God had placed in those kids, and he did what he could to support them to get better.”
Obsessed with safety
Scott was known in his hometown as a “kind and giving fellow,” family friend John Hobbs said.
“He was so giving with his time; there are so many people in our community that Stephen had helped every day, every month, every year,” Hobbs said. “When you get to be Stephen's age, everybody knows you're the guy to help.”
Scott was active at First United Methodist Church in Mangum. He was a member of the Mangum Chamber of Commerce, past-president of the Mangum High School Alumni Association and active with water conservation efforts in southwest Oklahoma, among other things, Hobbs said.
“Stephen was an extremely soft-spoken man, but he led by example, and people say they were truly inspired by him,” he said.
Scott learned to fly while he attended Oklahoma State University. He loved to fly and was obsessed with safety, Hobbs said.
“That's why it was so shocking that Steve Scott would perish in a plane accident,” Hobbs said. “You know they say the good die young, but the Lord took a great man.”
Hobbs said Scott's family is horrified that the crash not only killed Scott but two other men.
“Their hearts go out to those other families. It was a truly great loss for them as well,” he said.
Attempts to reach Ortega's family by telephone Monday were unsuccessful.
Funeral information
Scott's funeral will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Mangum. Memorial donations can be made to the church, the Mangum High School Alumni Association or the Mangum Education Foundation.
Hall's family will hold visitation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Lowell-Tims Funeral Home, and his funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday in Lowell-Tims Chapel in Altus.
http://newsok.com
http://registry.faa.gov/N143E
F-35B grounded following fuel leak during takeoff
F-35B aircraft under evaluation were grounded Friday after a fuel line part failed and caused a Wednesday testing takeoff to be aborted.
The Pentagon’s official “red stripe” suspends flight operations until an engineering investigation is complete for the short take off and vertical landing version of the plane being developed to replace most Marine Corps aircraft.
According to information provided from NAVAIR by the military legislative adviser for Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-Farmville, “The takeoff was safely aborted with no secondary damage. Updates will be provided once further information is available or corrective action is established.”
A nozzle for the “fueldraulic line failure… resulted in a significant fuel leak during the takeoff roll of a UK-owned, Eglin-based F-35B.”
The email forwarding the advisory to area officials and community leaders interested in successful development the Joint Strike Fighters’ most complex version, was prefaced with “Bad news, but as all of you know, new aircraft are going to experience problems, e.g. V-22, Dream Liner, etc.”
Harry Blot, retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and a former program manager with Lockheed Martin’s JSF development, said, “I wish it hadn’t happened but it is the type of thing that comes as part of the analysis. It’s good that if something was going to break, nobody got hurt and the airplane wasn’t damaged.”
“The part is made by Rolls Royce under contract to Pratt and Whitney,” he said. “It is actually the tail pipe which rotates down to get the thrust you need for swivel operations. It failed. Now they have to figure out why. It just came out of maintenance. Was it something somebody did wrong or something wrong with the design or manufacture apt to recur? They have to sort it out.”
“NAVAIR is responsible for technical help for all of these aircraft and when they get an incident, they look at it and say ‘Stop flying the airplane until I get a chance to see what happened,’” Blot said. “It could be a one-of-a-kind incident and you go on. It could mean this has to be fixed. Some evaluations take less than a day. Others take much longer.”
“The F-35B has come off probation and right now is in the middle of the pack with the others,” he said, guessing there are about 20 F-35B’s built including those at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, three at Yuma, Ariz., and four or five at Patuxent River, Md.
Aircraft at Cherry Point air station are supposed to be replaced with mostly the F-35B variant of the Lightning II, but production of the aircraft in a contract with Lockheed was in 2001 is more than 70 percent over original budget, now at about $395.7 billion.
While Cherry Point is last on the list to receive F-35B squadrons with none expected to be based here before about 2022, the Navy aircraft rework facility Fleet Readiness Center East has been tapped to work on the planes. If development and procurement stays on track, one could arrive there for modification as early as 2014.
Source: http://www.newbernsj.com
The Pentagon’s official “red stripe” suspends flight operations until an engineering investigation is complete for the short take off and vertical landing version of the plane being developed to replace most Marine Corps aircraft.
According to information provided from NAVAIR by the military legislative adviser for Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-Farmville, “The takeoff was safely aborted with no secondary damage. Updates will be provided once further information is available or corrective action is established.”
A nozzle for the “fueldraulic line failure… resulted in a significant fuel leak during the takeoff roll of a UK-owned, Eglin-based F-35B.”
The email forwarding the advisory to area officials and community leaders interested in successful development the Joint Strike Fighters’ most complex version, was prefaced with “Bad news, but as all of you know, new aircraft are going to experience problems, e.g. V-22, Dream Liner, etc.”
Harry Blot, retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and a former program manager with Lockheed Martin’s JSF development, said, “I wish it hadn’t happened but it is the type of thing that comes as part of the analysis. It’s good that if something was going to break, nobody got hurt and the airplane wasn’t damaged.”
“The part is made by Rolls Royce under contract to Pratt and Whitney,” he said. “It is actually the tail pipe which rotates down to get the thrust you need for swivel operations. It failed. Now they have to figure out why. It just came out of maintenance. Was it something somebody did wrong or something wrong with the design or manufacture apt to recur? They have to sort it out.”
“NAVAIR is responsible for technical help for all of these aircraft and when they get an incident, they look at it and say ‘Stop flying the airplane until I get a chance to see what happened,’” Blot said. “It could be a one-of-a-kind incident and you go on. It could mean this has to be fixed. Some evaluations take less than a day. Others take much longer.”
“The F-35B has come off probation and right now is in the middle of the pack with the others,” he said, guessing there are about 20 F-35B’s built including those at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, three at Yuma, Ariz., and four or five at Patuxent River, Md.
Aircraft at Cherry Point air station are supposed to be replaced with mostly the F-35B variant of the Lightning II, but production of the aircraft in a contract with Lockheed was in 2001 is more than 70 percent over original budget, now at about $395.7 billion.
While Cherry Point is last on the list to receive F-35B squadrons with none expected to be based here before about 2022, the Navy aircraft rework facility Fleet Readiness Center East has been tapped to work on the planes. If development and procurement stays on track, one could arrive there for modification as early as 2014.
Source: http://www.newbernsj.com
Boeing 787 grounding highlights Federal Aviation Administration's struggles with new technology
DALLAS (AP) - After two separate and serious battery problems aboard Boeing 787s, it wasn't U.S. authorities who acted first to ground the plane. It was Japanese airlines.
The unfolding saga of Boeing's highest-profile plane has raised new questions about federal oversight of aircraft makers and airlines.
Some aviation experts question the ability of the Federal Aviation Administration to keep up with changes in the way planes are being made today - both the technological advances and the use of multiple suppliers from around the globe. Others question whether regulators are too cozy with aircraft manufacturers.
Even as they announced a broad review of the 787 earlier this month, top U.S. transportation regulators stood side-by-side with a Boeing executive and declared the plane safe - saying that they would gladly fly in one. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood repeated his endorsement Wednesday.
A few hours later, the FAA issued an emergency order grounding the planes.
Despite their concerns, many safety experts still believe that the current regulatory process works - the 787s were grounded before any accidents occurred.
The Dreamliner is the first airliner whose structure is made mostly from composite materials rather than aluminum. The plane relies more than previous airliners on electrical systems rather than hydraulic or mechanical ones, and it's the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries to power cabin-pressurization and other key functions.
Such technological advances may force the FAA to re-examine the way it does its job.
"We've gone from aviation to aerospace products that are much more complex," said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with the Teal Group. "The FAA is equipped for aviation. Aerospace is another matter."
Former National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said the FAA must consider whether changes in its certification process would have turned up the problems in the Dreamliner battery systems.
"They need to make sure the certification process stays current with the industry and the new technology," she said.
An FAA spokeswoman declined to comment for this article, referring instead to statements made during a news conference last week. Officials said then that the review of the 787 wouldn't be limited to the Dreamliner's batteries. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said that the agency would "make sure that the approved quality control procedures are in place and that all of the necessary oversight is done."
The FAA has said that its technical experts logged 200,000 hours testing and reviewing the plane's design before certifying the plane in August 2011. Boeing defended the process and the plane.
"We are confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception," said Boeing Co. spokesman Marc Birtel. "With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever."
A week ago, FAA's Huerta and Transportation Secretary LaHood endorsed the Dreamliner's safety even as they ordered a new review of its design and construction following a fire in a lithium-ion battery on a 787 that had landed in Boston. Then, this past Wednesday, after a battery malfunction on a second plane resulted in an emergency landing, they grounded Dreamliner flights in the U.S.
In certifying new planes, the FAA relies heavily on information from the manufacturers. That system has worked - the U.S. commercial airline fleet is safer than ever - but it is coming under renewed scrutiny after the 787 incidents.
Experts say that FAA officials have no choice but to rely on information from aircraft manufacturers as key systems of the plane are designed and built.
"As a practical matter, they can't do the testing," said longtime aviation consultant Daniel Kasper of Compass Lexecon. "They don't have the expertise in aircraft design, and they don't have the budget - it would be too costly. They would have to be involved in every step."
Thomas Anthony, director of the aviation-safety program at the University of Southern California, said many new planes have flaws that are only discovered once they go into service, and that the regulatory process worked the way it was supposed to with the Dreamliner.
"The FAA used to be accused of 'blood priority'" - acting only after a disaster, Anthony said. "In this case, it's not true. The regulators are taking their job seriously. There were no accidents, there were no injuries, there were no fatalities."
That has not always been the case. In 1979, authorities grounded the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 for five weeks after an engine tore loose from the wing of an American Airlines plane, causing a crash that killed 273 in Chicago. And there were other incidents that occurred after the DC-10 was introduced in 1971, including cargo-door problems that forced one emergency landing and caused a Turkish Airlines crash that killed 346 in 1974.
Boeing, based in Chicago, is racing to find a fix to the Dreamliner's battery systems and get the planes back in the air. It is still producing 787s but has stopped delivering them to customers.
Bloomberg News reported that Boeing has tried to persuade FAA to end the groundings by proposing a variety of inspections and having pilots monitor electronic signals from the batteries to prevent fires. The FAA has been reluctant to approve those steps without a clear idea of what caused the defects and how they can be prevented.
Story and Reaction/Comments: http://www.komonews.com
The unfolding saga of Boeing's highest-profile plane has raised new questions about federal oversight of aircraft makers and airlines.
Some aviation experts question the ability of the Federal Aviation Administration to keep up with changes in the way planes are being made today - both the technological advances and the use of multiple suppliers from around the globe. Others question whether regulators are too cozy with aircraft manufacturers.
Even as they announced a broad review of the 787 earlier this month, top U.S. transportation regulators stood side-by-side with a Boeing executive and declared the plane safe - saying that they would gladly fly in one. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood repeated his endorsement Wednesday.
A few hours later, the FAA issued an emergency order grounding the planes.
Despite their concerns, many safety experts still believe that the current regulatory process works - the 787s were grounded before any accidents occurred.
The Dreamliner is the first airliner whose structure is made mostly from composite materials rather than aluminum. The plane relies more than previous airliners on electrical systems rather than hydraulic or mechanical ones, and it's the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries to power cabin-pressurization and other key functions.
Such technological advances may force the FAA to re-examine the way it does its job.
"We've gone from aviation to aerospace products that are much more complex," said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with the Teal Group. "The FAA is equipped for aviation. Aerospace is another matter."
Former National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said the FAA must consider whether changes in its certification process would have turned up the problems in the Dreamliner battery systems.
"They need to make sure the certification process stays current with the industry and the new technology," she said.
An FAA spokeswoman declined to comment for this article, referring instead to statements made during a news conference last week. Officials said then that the review of the 787 wouldn't be limited to the Dreamliner's batteries. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said that the agency would "make sure that the approved quality control procedures are in place and that all of the necessary oversight is done."
The FAA has said that its technical experts logged 200,000 hours testing and reviewing the plane's design before certifying the plane in August 2011. Boeing defended the process and the plane.
"We are confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception," said Boeing Co. spokesman Marc Birtel. "With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever."
A week ago, FAA's Huerta and Transportation Secretary LaHood endorsed the Dreamliner's safety even as they ordered a new review of its design and construction following a fire in a lithium-ion battery on a 787 that had landed in Boston. Then, this past Wednesday, after a battery malfunction on a second plane resulted in an emergency landing, they grounded Dreamliner flights in the U.S.
In certifying new planes, the FAA relies heavily on information from the manufacturers. That system has worked - the U.S. commercial airline fleet is safer than ever - but it is coming under renewed scrutiny after the 787 incidents.
Experts say that FAA officials have no choice but to rely on information from aircraft manufacturers as key systems of the plane are designed and built.
"As a practical matter, they can't do the testing," said longtime aviation consultant Daniel Kasper of Compass Lexecon. "They don't have the expertise in aircraft design, and they don't have the budget - it would be too costly. They would have to be involved in every step."
Thomas Anthony, director of the aviation-safety program at the University of Southern California, said many new planes have flaws that are only discovered once they go into service, and that the regulatory process worked the way it was supposed to with the Dreamliner.
"The FAA used to be accused of 'blood priority'" - acting only after a disaster, Anthony said. "In this case, it's not true. The regulators are taking their job seriously. There were no accidents, there were no injuries, there were no fatalities."
That has not always been the case. In 1979, authorities grounded the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 for five weeks after an engine tore loose from the wing of an American Airlines plane, causing a crash that killed 273 in Chicago. And there were other incidents that occurred after the DC-10 was introduced in 1971, including cargo-door problems that forced one emergency landing and caused a Turkish Airlines crash that killed 346 in 1974.
Boeing, based in Chicago, is racing to find a fix to the Dreamliner's battery systems and get the planes back in the air. It is still producing 787s but has stopped delivering them to customers.
Bloomberg News reported that Boeing has tried to persuade FAA to end the groundings by proposing a variety of inspections and having pilots monitor electronic signals from the batteries to prevent fires. The FAA has been reluctant to approve those steps without a clear idea of what caused the defects and how they can be prevented.
Story and Reaction/Comments: http://www.komonews.com
Puerto Rican Singer Noelia Wants Private Plane Seized by Venezuela Returned
 |
| Photo: Puerto Rican Singer Noelia |
The artist told Efe Friday that the aircraft was in Venezuela for its possible sale, which in the end never went through. It was scheduled to be back in Florida on Wednesday to fly the artist to California, but was detained at Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas.
The private aircraft with United States registration, belonging to the artist and her husband, Jorge Reynoso, was “arbitrarily seized,” the songstress said.
“I publicly request the honorable government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to intervene in the injustice imposed by some officials who are holding the private jet,” Noelia said.
She said they had fulfilled all the requirements laid down by Venezuelan law and that the plane’s two pilots were “the object of extortion by officials at all levels.”
Noelia said that “directors of the Anti-drug and Customs Agency certified the inspection of the plane and distanced themselves from the seizure,” while pointing to the president of Venezuela’s National Institute of Civil Aviation,” or INAC, Francisco Paz Fleitas, as “the sole authority in the matter.”
The vocalist of songs like “My Everything” and “Enamorada” (In Love) suspects that behind the seizure is the hidden intention to “keep the aircraft and they’re trying to work up some justification.”
Source: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com
Rigger a 'bloody hero' in Christmas tree chopper crash
A rigging supervisor who narrowly escaped death when a helicopter crashed from directly above him is fighting to overturn official findings that hold him partly responsible.
This week, the Civil Aviation Authority is expected to publish its findings into the causes of a spectacular helicopter crash at the Auckland Viaduct, indicating the crash was partly caused by experienced rigger Scott Anderson.
The helicopter was lifting a 21m tower for the Telecom Christmas tree, when its rotor clipped a cable Anderson held.
Anderson challenged the CAA's initial findings, published a month after the crash, which said he pulled the cable which hit the chopper's blades.
The CAA told the Herald on Sunday the initial findings were likely to be upheld and would be the basis of the final report.
Neither Anderson nor the pilot Greg Gribble, owner of South Auckland-based Helisika Helicopters, will be charged.
"The CAA has decided not to prosecute me," Gribble told the Herald on Sunday.
"They are also not prosecuting the other guy (Anderson), which surprises me. I have had no correspondence with the rigger since, nor do I really want to."
Gribble said he had no interest in what the final report said.
"Everyone's out to blame somebody else but, regardless of who's to blame or the outcome of the report, we're pushing on.
"It's been a hard time but as far as I'm concerned it's history."
Cameraman Murray Job, who filmed the accident, said the rigger was not at fault.
"I'm very much on Scott's side. There was a briefing and Scott has told me the briefing was not followed.
"Scott was meant to climb up the tower to unhook the cable. That was the plan and that was why he had the harness on.
"Scott stuck to the plan and attempted to unhook the cable, what else could he do?"
Job said everyone could see what would happen if the cable was left attached.
"Even if he didn't reach up to grab the cable, it was going to hit the rotor anyway.
"I could see what was going on and that's why I started to walk away.
"I was thinking, 'what the hell is this? But these guys must know what they are doing'. Next thing I hear the 'crack' of the rotor striking the cable and I swung around to film what was happening."
He said his other camera on the other side recorded the whole thing. Job said an observer some distance away should have directed the helicopter to remain aloft as the rigger climbed the tower to unhook the cable.
"You've got a tower that's seven storeys high with one end of a cable attached to the top and the other end attached to the chopper. Something bad was going to happen unless the cable was unhooked and that would have been clear to everyone who was there.
"Scott tried to fix it. When the cable struck he ducked for his life, rolled into a run and sprinted straight into the chopper to shut the machine down. He's a bloody hero in my eyes."
Anderson, from the firm Uni-Rig, was not available to comment.
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz
Boeing unlikely to suffer Japan fall-out over 787 woes
Boeing's 80 percent share of commercial airline sales in Japan is unrivalled. In every other major market, including the United States, the U.S. planemaker's share is around half, with the rest going to European rival Airbus.
The health of Japan's aerospace industry - dismantled by the United States after Tokyo's defeat in World War Two - has long been intertwined with the fortunes of Boeing's commercial jetliners and the 787 Dreamliner in particular.
The Dreamliner, grounded globally this week after a series of mishaps including an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways domestic flight, is around one third made-in-Japan.
"If you've been driving on the right, you don't want to shift to the left," said an aerospace industry official in Japan who didn't want to be named due to the issue's sensitivity. He said that, unless it became really serious, the 787's problems were unlikely to decouple Japan from Boeing.
BOEING'S BEST CUSTOMERS
Flag carrier Japan Airlines Co Ltd has never bought an Airbus plane, and ANA was the first to fly the 787. ANA was also a launch customer for Boeing's 777 and is the biggest international operator of the U.S. firm's 767 passenger jets.
Those Japan-Boeing ties were initially spurred by trade diplomacy when Japan was the target of U.S. protectionist ire two decades ago because of Tokyo's massive trade surplus. Japanese airlines buying a few 747 jumbo jets could help re-tilt some of that balance.
Now, however, with Japan's trade surplus erased by a strong yen and the fading competitiveness of its exporters, Tokyo's "Buy American" incentive has shifted from soothing trade friction to protecting Japanese jobs.
"In the past, diplomatic relations likely influenced purchases. Now Japan is putting its effort into building (the planes)," said Hiroyuki Kobayashi, an aviation consultant who was a JAL pilot for 42 years.
FROM WINGS TO TOILETS
Japan's share of the build - and of the profit - has grown with each successive Boeing model, from below a fifth for the 767 and a quarter for the 777 to more than a third for the 787.
Among the key Dreamliner components made in Japan are the technically complex wings built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, the maker of Japan's wartime Zero fighter. It is the first time a foreign firm has built wings for a Boeing jetliner - part of a global supply chain linked by upsized 747 cargo jets, dubbed "Dreamlifters", that ship the 787 parts for final assembly by Boeing in Washington State and South Carolina.
Fuji Heavy Industries, maker of Subaru cars, builds the 787s wing box that connects the wings to the fuselage, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, best known for its motorbikes, makes part of the fuselage wing flaps and landing gear. The plane's toilets are supplied by Jamco Corp.
More than five dozen Japanese firms are among the suppliers for Boeing's civilian and military divisions, providing 22,000 jobs - around 40 percent of Japan's aerospace industry. Any switch to Airbus planes would, therefore, be bad news for Japan Inc, said an official at one of Boeing's suppliers in Japan.
"Japanese companies don't have much presence in the Airbus supply chain," he told Reuters, declining to be identified.
Also hurt could be Japan's bid to break into the commercial regional jet market.
Mitsubishi Heavy makes the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), a fuel-efficient, 90-seater due to make its maiden flight this year, and designed by engineers who learned their trade working on Boeing planes.
Toyota Motor Corp owns a 10 percent stake in the MRJ venture, a reflection of the historical ties linking Japan's aviation and auto firms. After Japan's aircraft industry was closed down after World War II many of the country's aeronautic engineers ended up in car companies.
MILITARY INSECURITY
Beyond the commercial considerations, Japan's military insecurity is another reason to stick with the "Made in America" policy.
Bound in a security pact under which the United States must defend Japan, Boeing and other U.S. defence contractors including Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Co remain in pole position for military contracts from a nation that will spend $52 billion on its military in the year to March - despite the restraints of a pacifist constitution.
Last year, Lockheed Martin became the most recent U.S. beneficiary of Japan's defence spending, winning a $7 billion contract to supply Japan with its F-35 fighters, beating a competing bid from the Eurofighter consortium.
The practical case for buying at least some Eurofighters was strong, but senior bureaucrats and politicians have yet to be convinced to buy European equipment beyond a few howitzers and helicopters, said Masahiro Matsumura, a professor at St Andrews University in Osaka, western Japan.
"When you get to strategic items like jet fighters and AWACs, the question is political - how to manage the alliance with the U.S.," he said. "When the security situation aggravates over the Korean peninsula or the Taiwan Straits, we are not very sure the Europeans can assure supplies."
The return to power in Japan of the more hawkish Liberal Democratic Party under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month will likely mean Japan will seek to bolster rather than weaken those ties to the United States, experts say.
As the authorities pore over the Dreamliner's batteries, the focus of ongoing investigations, Japan's leading airlines are having to juggle flight schedules and use older planes. For ANA, that's a tough task as the Dreamliner accounts for a tenth of its fleet.
"We don't know how long this will last, but this is an accident, not a crisis," said Nomura analyst Masaharu Hirokane. "For the Japanese carriers there's no merit to abandon Boeing."
Source: http://in.reuters.com
Air India’s bad dream
After a day’s delay Air India has finally grounded its six Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which were expected to be the stars of its turnaround story. AI acted only after the DGCA, as per a directive from the US Federal Aviation Administration, ordered that the planes be grounded. There had been two incidents of “smoking batteries” in two weeks and despite Japan, Europe and South America grounding Dreamliners, AI continued to keep them airborne obviously out of necessity.
The Dreamliners were star-crossed from day one not only for AI but for Boeing too. The aircraft billed as a design marvel, was bogged down by delays, cost overruns and technical problems. There is a theory that in its hurry to make up for lost time Boeing neglected some aspects.
It had to compensate Air India for delivery delays and now it may have to pay more compensation. Poland has already asked for compensation and it is hoped that India loses no time in doing so. Aviation minister Ajit Singh is in wait-and-watch mode while Air India is losing with each day’s delay. AI was planning new flights but will have to put them on hold until Boeing rectifies the faults in the batteries that reportedly contribute to making the plane 20 percent more fuel-efficient than its competitors.
Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com
The Dreamliners were star-crossed from day one not only for AI but for Boeing too. The aircraft billed as a design marvel, was bogged down by delays, cost overruns and technical problems. There is a theory that in its hurry to make up for lost time Boeing neglected some aspects.
It had to compensate Air India for delivery delays and now it may have to pay more compensation. Poland has already asked for compensation and it is hoped that India loses no time in doing so. Aviation minister Ajit Singh is in wait-and-watch mode while Air India is losing with each day’s delay. AI was planning new flights but will have to put them on hold until Boeing rectifies the faults in the batteries that reportedly contribute to making the plane 20 percent more fuel-efficient than its competitors.
Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com
Atlantic City Airshow / Keep ’em flying
A new report by Atlantic Cape Community College's Center for Regional and Business Research confirms the importance of the Atlantic City Airshow.
The report by the center's director, Richard Perniciaro, said the 2012 show drew a crowd of more than 900,000 people, making it the largest airshow in the tri-state area and one of the largest in the country.
Of those attendees, 289,095 were people from outside the area who otherwise would not have been in Atlantic City on the day of the show, the study said. They brought with them money for food, lodging and gambling. Using the most conservative crowd estimates available, the report credited the show with pumping $42.5 million into the local economy.
Perniciaro's report puts numbers to something we've all known - that the airshow is one of the most important and successful events the city has.
And it continues to grow. The last time an economic impact analysis was done, in 2008, it showed that the show drew 180,000 people from outside the area who came specifically for the show.
Last year, organizers moved the show to a Friday to accommodate the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. This year, the show will return to midweek - when special events have more of an impact - and will move from August to late June. The other big change this year is that the Thunderbirds were unavailable and will be absent for the first time since the airshow was revived in 2003.
Here's hoping that the date change and the lack of a headlining precision military jet team won't slow the airshow's momentum, especially since it is the best example of the kind of family-friendly events Atlantic City needs. As the report points out, aside from its economic impact, the airshow is a great way to showcase the city, its Boardwalk and its beaches.
Two years ago, the city piggybacked on the airshow's success by creating the Atlantic City Salutes the Armed Forces Parade as a lead-in event.
The Greater Atlantic City Chamber, which organizes the airshow, plans to deal with the absence of the Thunderbirds by reinventing the show a bit - offering more full demonstrations of many of the aircraft, rather than just fly-bys.
That seems like a great idea. Full demonstrations will include a U.S. Marine Corps Harrier - an attack jet that can take off vertically - and an F-22 Raptor - a stealth jet considered the ultimate fighter plane, as well as other planes and the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team.
These demonstrations will give returning attendees something new and should help the airshow meet its goal of getting better every year.
Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
The report by the center's director, Richard Perniciaro, said the 2012 show drew a crowd of more than 900,000 people, making it the largest airshow in the tri-state area and one of the largest in the country.
Of those attendees, 289,095 were people from outside the area who otherwise would not have been in Atlantic City on the day of the show, the study said. They brought with them money for food, lodging and gambling. Using the most conservative crowd estimates available, the report credited the show with pumping $42.5 million into the local economy.
Perniciaro's report puts numbers to something we've all known - that the airshow is one of the most important and successful events the city has.
And it continues to grow. The last time an economic impact analysis was done, in 2008, it showed that the show drew 180,000 people from outside the area who came specifically for the show.
Last year, organizers moved the show to a Friday to accommodate the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. This year, the show will return to midweek - when special events have more of an impact - and will move from August to late June. The other big change this year is that the Thunderbirds were unavailable and will be absent for the first time since the airshow was revived in 2003.
Here's hoping that the date change and the lack of a headlining precision military jet team won't slow the airshow's momentum, especially since it is the best example of the kind of family-friendly events Atlantic City needs. As the report points out, aside from its economic impact, the airshow is a great way to showcase the city, its Boardwalk and its beaches.
Two years ago, the city piggybacked on the airshow's success by creating the Atlantic City Salutes the Armed Forces Parade as a lead-in event.
The Greater Atlantic City Chamber, which organizes the airshow, plans to deal with the absence of the Thunderbirds by reinventing the show a bit - offering more full demonstrations of many of the aircraft, rather than just fly-bys.
That seems like a great idea. Full demonstrations will include a U.S. Marine Corps Harrier - an attack jet that can take off vertically - and an F-22 Raptor - a stealth jet considered the ultimate fighter plane, as well as other planes and the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team.
These demonstrations will give returning attendees something new and should help the airshow meet its goal of getting better every year.
Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
Pilatus PC-12/45, N68PK, operating as Skylab 53: Accident occurred January 16, 2013 in Burlington, North Carolina
NTSB Identification: ERA13FA115
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, January 16, 2013 in Burlington, NC
Aircraft: PILATUS PC-12/45, registration: N68PK
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 16, 2013 about 0557 eastern standard time, a Pilatus PC-12/45, N68PK, operating as Skylab 53, was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground in Burlington, North Carolina. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and a instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight. The flight departed from Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (BUY), Burlington, North Carolina at 0553, and was destined for Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU), Morristown, New Jersey. The business flight transporting medical specimens was operated by LabCorp, Inc. under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
Review of preliminary air traffic control radar and communication data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Greensboro Approach Control, revealed that the airplane departed from runway 06 at BUY and made initial contact while climbing to the assigned altitude of 3,000 feet mean sea level. The pilot was told to reset his transponder and no further communications were received from the accident flight.
According to FAA records, the pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with multiple ratings, including airplane single-engine land, as well as a flight instructor certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine. His most recent FAA second-class medical certificate was issued on November 19, 2012, at which time he reported 6,279 total hours of flight experience.
The accident site was located in a park approximately 5 miles northeast of BUY. The initial impact location was identified by a ground impression with various parts of the right wing and also a crater that measured about 3 feet deep. The wreckage debris field was 793 foot-long and 298 foot-wide, oriented on a 140 degree heading. Various sizes of wing spar segments, the propeller hub, two propeller blades, and the front reduction gear box were located in the crater. The engine was located about 100 feet from the impact point. Fragments of the airplane, including a section of the cabin area, empennage, left and right wings, and cockpit were located along the wreckage path. The two other propeller blades were located about 200 and 400 feet from the impact point, and exhibited some S-bending damage. All major flight control surfaces and associated counter weights were located in the debris field.
The 0554 recorded weather observation at BUY, included wind from 040 degrees at 4 knots, visibility 10 miles, broken clouds at 700 feet above ground level (agl), overcast at 1,700 agl, temperature 4 degrees C, dew point 3 degrees C; barometric altimeter 30.02 inches of mercury.
GREENSBORO — David Ford Gamble, 57, of Greensboro, NC died on January
16, 2013. He was born on May 29, 1955 in Kingstree, SC to Eunice and JP
Gamble. David was a graduate of Clemson University and was employed as a
pilot by LabCorp, Inc. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia Cranford
Gamble, sons Stuart Ford Gamble of Vero Beach, FL, Andrew William
Gamble, of Charlotte, NC and Christopher Lee Gamble of Ft. Campbell, KY.
His parents, Eunice and JP Gamble of Lane, SC, Brothers, Jay (Jane)
Gamble of Sunapee, NH, Larry (Edith) Gamble of Franklin, WI and
Catherine Gamble of Lane, SC and numerous nieces and nephews.
David loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter, fisherman and gardener. His favorite times were spent with his family and friends. He loved flying, grilling on the deck, participating in Revolutionary war re-enactment with his family, pulling for the Denver Broncos, and fishing at the beach. He was a volunteer for CAP for many years as a search and rescue pilot and was a devoted father and husband, who never met a stranger. He was always concerned about taking care of others, putting the needs of others before himself.
A service of celebration of his life will be held at Centenary United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 20 at 3 p.m. The family will receive friends at the Gamble home after the service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the mission fund at Centenary United Methodist Church or to Greeleyville United Methodist Church in Greeleyville, SC.
Guest Book - Please offer condolences at: http://www.legacy.com
Obituary: http://obituaries.news-record.com
Pilatus PC-12/45, N68PK: Accident occurred January 16, 2013 in Burlington, North Carolina
http://registry.faa.gov/N68PK
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, January 16, 2013 in Burlington, NC
Aircraft: PILATUS PC-12/45, registration: N68PK
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 16, 2013 about 0557 eastern standard time, a Pilatus PC-12/45, N68PK, operating as Skylab 53, was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground in Burlington, North Carolina. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and a instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight. The flight departed from Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (BUY), Burlington, North Carolina at 0553, and was destined for Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU), Morristown, New Jersey. The business flight transporting medical specimens was operated by LabCorp, Inc. under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
Review of preliminary air traffic control radar and communication data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Greensboro Approach Control, revealed that the airplane departed from runway 06 at BUY and made initial contact while climbing to the assigned altitude of 3,000 feet mean sea level. The pilot was told to reset his transponder and no further communications were received from the accident flight.
According to FAA records, the pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with multiple ratings, including airplane single-engine land, as well as a flight instructor certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine. His most recent FAA second-class medical certificate was issued on November 19, 2012, at which time he reported 6,279 total hours of flight experience.
The accident site was located in a park approximately 5 miles northeast of BUY. The initial impact location was identified by a ground impression with various parts of the right wing and also a crater that measured about 3 feet deep. The wreckage debris field was 793 foot-long and 298 foot-wide, oriented on a 140 degree heading. Various sizes of wing spar segments, the propeller hub, two propeller blades, and the front reduction gear box were located in the crater. The engine was located about 100 feet from the impact point. Fragments of the airplane, including a section of the cabin area, empennage, left and right wings, and cockpit were located along the wreckage path. The two other propeller blades were located about 200 and 400 feet from the impact point, and exhibited some S-bending damage. All major flight control surfaces and associated counter weights were located in the debris field.
The 0554 recorded weather observation at BUY, included wind from 040 degrees at 4 knots, visibility 10 miles, broken clouds at 700 feet above ground level (agl), overcast at 1,700 agl, temperature 4 degrees C, dew point 3 degrees C; barometric altimeter 30.02 inches of mercury.
David loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter, fisherman and gardener. His favorite times were spent with his family and friends. He loved flying, grilling on the deck, participating in Revolutionary war re-enactment with his family, pulling for the Denver Broncos, and fishing at the beach. He was a volunteer for CAP for many years as a search and rescue pilot and was a devoted father and husband, who never met a stranger. He was always concerned about taking care of others, putting the needs of others before himself.
A service of celebration of his life will be held at Centenary United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 20 at 3 p.m. The family will receive friends at the Gamble home after the service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the mission fund at Centenary United Methodist Church or to Greeleyville United Methodist Church in Greeleyville, SC.
Guest Book - Please offer condolences at: http://www.legacy.com
Obituary: http://obituaries.news-record.com
Pilatus PC-12/45, N68PK: Accident occurred January 16, 2013 in Burlington, North Carolina
http://registry.faa.gov/N68PK
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 68PK Make/Model: PC12 Description: PC-12, Eagle
Date: 01/16/2013 Time: 1055
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: BURLINGTON State: NC Country: US
DESCRIPTION
N68PK SKYLAB FLIGHT SKQ53 PILATUS PC12 AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN
CIRCUMSTANCES, THE 1 PERSON ON BOARD WAS FATALLY INJURED, NEAR BURLINGTON,
NC
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Business Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: GREENSBORO, NC (SO05) Entry date: 01/17/2013
Prop Planes? Snow Storms? Wyoming! San Diego State University trip to Laramie is usually an adventure
By Mark Zeigler
LARAMIE, Wyo. — DeShawn Stephens was sleeping.
He remembers the pilot saying something about them landing in a few minutes, then drifting back to sleep and waking 45 minutes or an hour later and still being in the air. They landed finally, ducked their heads in the cabin of the 57-foot, 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D twin-engine turboprop with no bathroom and emerged onto the airport tarmac as snowflakes tumbled from the heavens. Stephens heard someone say they were in Utah.
Utah?
“We thought we were supposed to be in Wyoming,” Stephens says.
And that was just the start of it.
Fifteenth-ranked San Diego State makes its annual trek into the high lonesome this weekend for men’s basketball, venturing to Laramie, the Gem City of the Plains, for a game today against the Wyoming Cowboys at the Arena-Auditorium. Give them this much: They got back on the horse. They flew charter again (and yes, they made it without drama).
“Man, the charter,” Stephens says. “That was definitely the craziest road trip. It was definitely an experience.”
A flight that normally takes two hours took 19 hours, 55 minutes, making an unscheduled overnight stop at the Crystal Inn in Cedar City, Utah, refueling the next day in Grand Junction, Colo., and arriving in Laramie seven hours before tipoff. They held the pregame walk-through in a hotel ballroom, played, won, returned to Laramie Regional Airport, ducked their heads back into the turboprop, made another refueling stop at Grand Canyon Airport in Arizona at midnight and landed in San Diego at 1 a.m.
Five states, 35 hours.
It was the Rocky Mountain version of Gilligan’s island. A three-hour tour …
The ordeal actually began 10 days earlier, when the charter company informed SDSU officials that the 30-seat jet they had reserved had a crack in the wing and was grounded. They scrambled to find a replacement, and the best they could do was a 19-seat prop plane operated by Maverick Aviation in Henderson, Nev.
“A plane,” Fisher says, “that to the naked eye looked less than flyable.”
“Hats go off to the players and coaches who got on the plane,” Alice Buchanan-Tapley, the mother of guard Chase Tapley, wrote in the comment section below a U-T San Diego story last year. “I don’t know if I would have!”
It was normally used to shuttle Las Vegas tourists for day trips to the Grand Canyon. The problem: The Grand Canyon is 169 miles away. Laramie is 868 air miles from San Diego.
The Beechcraft 1900D theoretically can fly that far on one tank of gas, but that’s before you start boarding 6-foot-9, 230-pound forwards.
“It all comes down to the amount of weight on the plane,” Brian Kroten, public relations director for Maverick Aviation, said last year. “If the plane is half full, it can make it all the way from San Diego to Laramie. Obviously with 19 athletes and baggage, it was well above our weight limit, and we needed to stop to refuel.”
Read more here: http://www.utsandiego.com
LARAMIE, Wyo. — DeShawn Stephens was sleeping.
He remembers the pilot saying something about them landing in a few minutes, then drifting back to sleep and waking 45 minutes or an hour later and still being in the air. They landed finally, ducked their heads in the cabin of the 57-foot, 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D twin-engine turboprop with no bathroom and emerged onto the airport tarmac as snowflakes tumbled from the heavens. Stephens heard someone say they were in Utah.
Utah?
“We thought we were supposed to be in Wyoming,” Stephens says.
And that was just the start of it.
Fifteenth-ranked San Diego State makes its annual trek into the high lonesome this weekend for men’s basketball, venturing to Laramie, the Gem City of the Plains, for a game today against the Wyoming Cowboys at the Arena-Auditorium. Give them this much: They got back on the horse. They flew charter again (and yes, they made it without drama).
“Man, the charter,” Stephens says. “That was definitely the craziest road trip. It was definitely an experience.”
A flight that normally takes two hours took 19 hours, 55 minutes, making an unscheduled overnight stop at the Crystal Inn in Cedar City, Utah, refueling the next day in Grand Junction, Colo., and arriving in Laramie seven hours before tipoff. They held the pregame walk-through in a hotel ballroom, played, won, returned to Laramie Regional Airport, ducked their heads back into the turboprop, made another refueling stop at Grand Canyon Airport in Arizona at midnight and landed in San Diego at 1 a.m.
Five states, 35 hours.
It was the Rocky Mountain version of Gilligan’s island. A three-hour tour …
The ordeal actually began 10 days earlier, when the charter company informed SDSU officials that the 30-seat jet they had reserved had a crack in the wing and was grounded. They scrambled to find a replacement, and the best they could do was a 19-seat prop plane operated by Maverick Aviation in Henderson, Nev.
“A plane,” Fisher says, “that to the naked eye looked less than flyable.”
“Hats go off to the players and coaches who got on the plane,” Alice Buchanan-Tapley, the mother of guard Chase Tapley, wrote in the comment section below a U-T San Diego story last year. “I don’t know if I would have!”
It was normally used to shuttle Las Vegas tourists for day trips to the Grand Canyon. The problem: The Grand Canyon is 169 miles away. Laramie is 868 air miles from San Diego.
The Beechcraft 1900D theoretically can fly that far on one tank of gas, but that’s before you start boarding 6-foot-9, 230-pound forwards.
“It all comes down to the amount of weight on the plane,” Brian Kroten, public relations director for Maverick Aviation, said last year. “If the plane is half full, it can make it all the way from San Diego to Laramie. Obviously with 19 athletes and baggage, it was well above our weight limit, and we needed to stop to refuel.”
Read more here: http://www.utsandiego.com
Piper Navajo: Couple uninjured when plane misses runway while landing at Charlevoix Municipal Airport (KCVX), Michigan
CHARLEVOIX — No one was injured in an accident involving an airplane missing the runway while landing at the Charlevoix Municipal Airport late Friday afternoon.
Airport manager Scott Woody the incident happened at about 4:30 p.m. as a Piper Navajo occupied by a couple from Lansing was attempting to land headed east on the airport’s main runway.
Woody said the pilot missed the runway and landed on what he described as “median between the runway and the taxiway.”
He said the airplane sustained damage to its nose landing gear and its engines from the propellers striking the ground.
Woody, who did not identify the occupants of the aircraft, noted that the airport was closed for a short time following the accident. He said the weather conditions at the time were intermittent snow white-outs, but the runway had just been plowed before the accident took place.
He said the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been contacted and will be investigating the incident.
The Charlevoix Courier is pursuing further details on the incident. This story will be updated when more information becomes available.
Airport manager Scott Woody the incident happened at about 4:30 p.m. as a Piper Navajo occupied by a couple from Lansing was attempting to land headed east on the airport’s main runway.
Woody said the pilot missed the runway and landed on what he described as “median between the runway and the taxiway.”
He said the airplane sustained damage to its nose landing gear and its engines from the propellers striking the ground.
Woody, who did not identify the occupants of the aircraft, noted that the airport was closed for a short time following the accident. He said the weather conditions at the time were intermittent snow white-outs, but the runway had just been plowed before the accident took place.
He said the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been contacted and will be investigating the incident.
The Charlevoix Courier is pursuing further details on the incident. This story will be updated when more information becomes available.
Hunt for lost Spitfires comes up empty
The hope was to find scores of the famed British Spitfire planes buried at the close of the second World War in Burma.
But despite spending more than a million dollars to fund the search so far all that has been found in the trenches they've dug has been rusting metal.
The quest for the buried Spitfires that American engineers are believed to have buried in large crates in several locations in Burma in 1946, started in earnest a couple of weeks ago after years of trying to track them down.
It was the brainchild of an elderly English farmer and businessman, David Cundall, who has put his life savings into his 17-year hunt for the planes, which helped win the Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany.
He is leading the current team of archeologists, geo-physicists and representatives of the sponsors, video game company Wargaming.net.
But there is now a danger of a war of words breaking out amongst the group over not finding any Spitfires.
Some of the archaeologists working at the dig at Rangoon airport say that the evidence they've seen doesn't support the claim that the historic aircraft, believed to number over 130, are hidden below ground.
A news conference planned in Rangoon on Thursday to highlight their initial findings was hurriedly cancelled after the dig at the airport was halted after they found electricity cables underground where they were excavating, rather than the 36 aircraft they hoped for.
Team leader David Cundall publicly voiced his disappointment at the progress. "The digging went incredibly slowly and I made my opinions known," Cundall said.
And he questioned whether they were digging at the right place.
"The archaeologists weren't digging in the area we believe holds the Spitfires, instead they wanted to see what sort of war remains were buried."
Some on the team have already openly questioned if the aircraft were there, suggesting it wouldn't have made sense to bury them rather than destroy them after the war because there was very limited earth moving equipment in Burma at that time.
But Mr. Cundall has staked his reputation on finding the Spitfires and has used eyewitness accounts by military personnel in the country at the time to back up his claims.
91-year-old war veteran Stanley Coombe says he witnessed the American and British engineers bury the Spitfires and he's still optimistic that aircraft can be found.
"It's been a long time since anybody believed what I said until David Cundall came along," he said.
Cundall believes there were no orders to take the Spitfires back to Britain at the end of the war and they just disposed of them by burying them.
But so far all they have come up with are rusting metal and bundles of electricity cables.
The reason there is so much interest in the current excavations in Burma is because there remains a huge demand to see the Spitfires at aircraft shows, military fly pasts and at museums.
But there is only 30-40 still able to fly out of the 15,000 produced during the war.
If more than a hundred could be recovered from buried crates in Burma it would be a dream for aviation and military enthusiasts and they would likely be in great demand if they could be made airworthy again.
Interest in the lost Spitfires even went as high as the British government.
There were problems dealing with the secretive military dominated government of Burma to get approval for the excavation team and only the intervention of British Prime Minister, David Cameron, on a visit last April to try to improve relations between the West and this southeast Asian country, to finally get the approval.
Under the deal, Burma's government will get half of all those recovered.
A company headed by Cundall will get 30 percent and his local partner 20 percent.
So far all the parties involved have got a percentage of nothing because of the failure to discovery a single Spitfire.
Despite friction in the team it looks likely the hunt for the aircraft will continue.
"We haven't stopped [searching] and we cannot stop," Soe Thein, a retired Burmese geology professor who has been helping in the search told the Associated Press.
"It is just a delay in our work."
Two other sites have still not been excavated at all and they are still hopeful about an excavation in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina where a crate has been discovered, but muddy water has stopped them identifying its contents and will take weeks to pump out.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com
But despite spending more than a million dollars to fund the search so far all that has been found in the trenches they've dug has been rusting metal.
The quest for the buried Spitfires that American engineers are believed to have buried in large crates in several locations in Burma in 1946, started in earnest a couple of weeks ago after years of trying to track them down.
It was the brainchild of an elderly English farmer and businessman, David Cundall, who has put his life savings into his 17-year hunt for the planes, which helped win the Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany.
He is leading the current team of archeologists, geo-physicists and representatives of the sponsors, video game company Wargaming.net.
But there is now a danger of a war of words breaking out amongst the group over not finding any Spitfires.
Some of the archaeologists working at the dig at Rangoon airport say that the evidence they've seen doesn't support the claim that the historic aircraft, believed to number over 130, are hidden below ground.
A news conference planned in Rangoon on Thursday to highlight their initial findings was hurriedly cancelled after the dig at the airport was halted after they found electricity cables underground where they were excavating, rather than the 36 aircraft they hoped for.
Team leader David Cundall publicly voiced his disappointment at the progress. "The digging went incredibly slowly and I made my opinions known," Cundall said.
And he questioned whether they were digging at the right place.
"The archaeologists weren't digging in the area we believe holds the Spitfires, instead they wanted to see what sort of war remains were buried."
Some on the team have already openly questioned if the aircraft were there, suggesting it wouldn't have made sense to bury them rather than destroy them after the war because there was very limited earth moving equipment in Burma at that time.
But Mr. Cundall has staked his reputation on finding the Spitfires and has used eyewitness accounts by military personnel in the country at the time to back up his claims.
91-year-old war veteran Stanley Coombe says he witnessed the American and British engineers bury the Spitfires and he's still optimistic that aircraft can be found.
"It's been a long time since anybody believed what I said until David Cundall came along," he said.
Cundall believes there were no orders to take the Spitfires back to Britain at the end of the war and they just disposed of them by burying them.
But so far all they have come up with are rusting metal and bundles of electricity cables.
The reason there is so much interest in the current excavations in Burma is because there remains a huge demand to see the Spitfires at aircraft shows, military fly pasts and at museums.
But there is only 30-40 still able to fly out of the 15,000 produced during the war.
If more than a hundred could be recovered from buried crates in Burma it would be a dream for aviation and military enthusiasts and they would likely be in great demand if they could be made airworthy again.
Interest in the lost Spitfires even went as high as the British government.
There were problems dealing with the secretive military dominated government of Burma to get approval for the excavation team and only the intervention of British Prime Minister, David Cameron, on a visit last April to try to improve relations between the West and this southeast Asian country, to finally get the approval.
Under the deal, Burma's government will get half of all those recovered.
A company headed by Cundall will get 30 percent and his local partner 20 percent.
So far all the parties involved have got a percentage of nothing because of the failure to discovery a single Spitfire.
Despite friction in the team it looks likely the hunt for the aircraft will continue.
"We haven't stopped [searching] and we cannot stop," Soe Thein, a retired Burmese geology professor who has been helping in the search told the Associated Press.
"It is just a delay in our work."
Two other sites have still not been excavated at all and they are still hopeful about an excavation in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina where a crate has been discovered, but muddy water has stopped them identifying its contents and will take weeks to pump out.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com
Air Force inspections turn up porn, offensive items on its bases
WASHINGTON – Hoping to fight sexual assault in its own ranks, the Air Force said Friday a sweep of air base offices worldwide found thousands of suspect materials ranging from pornographic films to a beer bong.
It's not clear what the inspection, and the odd assortment of items it turned up, tells Air Force leaders about the link between the workplace environment and the growing problem of sexual violence. But it was meant to impress on Air Force commanders that they need to attack the underlying problem of unprofessionalism.
"We have a significant number of airmen who feel they have to `go along to get along' by ignoring inappropriate images, workplace comments or other material that makes them uncomfortable. That's simply not the Air Force we want to be," the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh, said in a statement. He ordered the inspections in late November.
The Air Force fell into the public spotlight on this issue partly because of revelations of sexual abuse of female recruits. An investigation last year found that 23 instructors allegedly engaged in inappropriate or coercive sexual relationships with 48 recruits at Air Education and Training Command at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Gen. Larry O. Spencer, the Air Force vice chief of staff, said Friday the inspections of offices and other work spaces at about 100 facilities in December found more than 32,000 items judged to be pornographic, unprofessional or offensive.
"This was not a witch hunt," Spencer said in a telephone interview. It was designed to reinforce the idea that every member of the Air Force should be treated with respect and that sexist attitudes must change, he said.
The Air Force said the no-notice or short-notice inspections found 631 items judged to be pornographic, including magazines, calendars, photos and videos.
They also turned up 3,987 items deemed unprofessional. Examples: a pubic hair in an office logbook, a beer bong and World War II-era airplane nose art depicting a fully clothed but "promiscuous" woman, according to an Air Force document listing all the items.
Among 27,598 items categorized by commanders as "offensive": a postcard depicting women in bikinis, lewd cartoons, a copy of the Air Times newspaper's "Hot Shots 2013" calendar with women in "provocative" poses, a picture of professional football player Tom Brady shirtless, a Confederate flag and a poster of Osama bin Laden.
Asked what this tells him about a relationship between problematic workplace items and the effort to combat sexual abuse, Spencer said it's a mixed picture and that the goal is to ensure professionalism in the workplace.
"Most of the items that were found some might find offensive (but) weren't in the category of vulgarity or pornography, although there was some of that out there and those were taken care of," he said, adding that he's not sure there is a clear link between offensive materials in the workplace and the problem of sexual assault.
"Whether offensive material is directly connected to someone creating a sexual assault or being involved in sexual assault, I can't draw that line directly," Spencer said. "But I think it all starts with the culture that we want to have out there, and that is a professional environment and that everybody is treated with respect."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com
It's not clear what the inspection, and the odd assortment of items it turned up, tells Air Force leaders about the link between the workplace environment and the growing problem of sexual violence. But it was meant to impress on Air Force commanders that they need to attack the underlying problem of unprofessionalism.
"We have a significant number of airmen who feel they have to `go along to get along' by ignoring inappropriate images, workplace comments or other material that makes them uncomfortable. That's simply not the Air Force we want to be," the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Mark Welsh, said in a statement. He ordered the inspections in late November.
The Air Force fell into the public spotlight on this issue partly because of revelations of sexual abuse of female recruits. An investigation last year found that 23 instructors allegedly engaged in inappropriate or coercive sexual relationships with 48 recruits at Air Education and Training Command at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Gen. Larry O. Spencer, the Air Force vice chief of staff, said Friday the inspections of offices and other work spaces at about 100 facilities in December found more than 32,000 items judged to be pornographic, unprofessional or offensive.
"This was not a witch hunt," Spencer said in a telephone interview. It was designed to reinforce the idea that every member of the Air Force should be treated with respect and that sexist attitudes must change, he said.
The Air Force said the no-notice or short-notice inspections found 631 items judged to be pornographic, including magazines, calendars, photos and videos.
They also turned up 3,987 items deemed unprofessional. Examples: a pubic hair in an office logbook, a beer bong and World War II-era airplane nose art depicting a fully clothed but "promiscuous" woman, according to an Air Force document listing all the items.
Among 27,598 items categorized by commanders as "offensive": a postcard depicting women in bikinis, lewd cartoons, a copy of the Air Times newspaper's "Hot Shots 2013" calendar with women in "provocative" poses, a picture of professional football player Tom Brady shirtless, a Confederate flag and a poster of Osama bin Laden.
Asked what this tells him about a relationship between problematic workplace items and the effort to combat sexual abuse, Spencer said it's a mixed picture and that the goal is to ensure professionalism in the workplace.
"Most of the items that were found some might find offensive (but) weren't in the category of vulgarity or pornography, although there was some of that out there and those were taken care of," he said, adding that he's not sure there is a clear link between offensive materials in the workplace and the problem of sexual assault.
"Whether offensive material is directly connected to someone creating a sexual assault or being involved in sexual assault, I can't draw that line directly," Spencer said. "But I think it all starts with the culture that we want to have out there, and that is a professional environment and that everybody is treated with respect."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com
GoPro video Hawker 900XP approaches St. Moritz
Samedan LSZS, Engadin Airport (St. Moritz) Switzerland EU's highest airport - requires a test to be completed by pilots before flying in. Test and briefing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65pvgoyOKc
(The scenery is amazing in this video - Hawker 900XP demonstrates requirements for safe approaches to runway 03 and 21)
Note; Samedan Airport had two fatal bizjet crashes -
VP-BAF Falcon 10 Feb 19 2009 Final Report http://www.bfu.admin.ch/common/pdf/2074_e.pdf
D-IAYL Premier 1 Dec 19 2010 Final Report; http://www.bfu.admin.ch/common/pdf/2140_e.pdf
Seawind 3000, N829GS: Accident occurred January 12, 2013 in Sarasota, Florida
NTSB Identification: ERA13FA109
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, January 12, 2013 in Sarasota, FL
Aircraft: BENTON FRED D SEAWIND 3000, registration: N829GS
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 12, 2013, about 1529 eastern standard time, a Benton Seawind 3000, N829GS, was destroyed following a collision with trees and terrain after takeoff from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Sarasota, Florida. The commercial pilot and one pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to a corporation and was operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.
A witness was in his automobile on 15th Street, on the east side of SRQ, and watched the airplane takeoff on runway 22. He reported that the takeoff roll seemed longer than normal, and the airplane climbed slowly. As the airplane approached trees located past the runway, it “pancaked” into the trees without rolling right or left. He then saw a plume of smoke and realized the airplane had crashed.
The airplane struck three tall pine trees on the campus of New College of Florida before impacting terrain and coming to a stop. The airplane was consumed in a post-crash fire. The main wreckage was located about 0.3 nautical miles beyond the departure end of runway 22. The length of the wreckage debris field was about 300 feet in length and oriented on a heading of 240 degrees. The fuselage was found inverted.
According to air traffic control personnel, the pilot departed the airport under visual flight rules and did not make a distress call before the accident.
According to local maintenance personnel, the airplane had been at SRQ since September, 2012. The accident pilot was involved in an emergency landing in the accident airplane; he landed in the Indian River Lagoon, near Sebastian Inlet, Florida, following a loss of engine power. According to the aircraft records, a fuel injector line was subsequently replaced because of a broken fitting. Also, the propeller and propeller governor were overhauled during maintenance unrelated to the engine problem. Reportedly, this was the first flight for the airplane since the maintenance work was completed.
BENTON FRED D SEAWIND 3000, N829GS
NTSB Identification: ERA13FA109
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, January 12, 2013 in Sarasota, FL
Aircraft: BENTON FRED D SEAWIND 3000, registration: N829GS
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 12, 2013, about 1529 eastern standard time, a Benton Seawind 3000, N829GS, was destroyed following a collision with trees and terrain after takeoff from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Sarasota, Florida. The commercial pilot and one pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to a corporation and was operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.
A witness was in his automobile on 15th Street, on the east side of SRQ, and watched the airplane takeoff on runway 22. He reported that the takeoff roll seemed longer than normal, and the airplane climbed slowly. As the airplane approached trees located past the runway, it “pancaked” into the trees without rolling right or left. He then saw a plume of smoke and realized the airplane had crashed.
The airplane struck three tall pine trees on the campus of New College of Florida before impacting terrain and coming to a stop. The airplane was consumed in a post-crash fire. The main wreckage was located about 0.3 nautical miles beyond the departure end of runway 22. The length of the wreckage debris field was about 300 feet in length and oriented on a heading of 240 degrees. The fuselage was found inverted.
According to air traffic control personnel, the pilot departed the airport under visual flight rules and did not make a distress call before the accident.
According to local maintenance personnel, the airplane had been at SRQ since September, 2012. The accident pilot was involved in an emergency landing in the accident airplane; he landed in the Indian River Lagoon, near Sebastian Inlet, Florida, following a loss of engine power. According to the aircraft records, a fuel injector line was subsequently replaced because of a broken fitting. Also, the propeller and propeller governor were overhauled during maintenance unrelated to the engine problem. Reportedly, this was the first flight for the airplane since the maintenance work was completed.
http://registry.faa.gov/N829GS
Pilot Jack Ardoyno and passenger Leonard Fleming were uninjured and the Seawind experimental aircraft sustained no apparent damage in the 4 p.m. water landing. Local authorities initially responded to reports the airplane had crashed.
Ardoyno, of Hayward, Wisc., said the aircraft had just left Vero Beach Municipal Airport and was at 1,700 feet and climbing over Sebastian when it started to experience engine trouble. Ardoyno, an instructor on that model of aircraft, recognized an oil pressure problem that robs the engine of power and tried to limp the aircraft over the water to Sebastian Municipal Airport.
Ardoyno said it became apparent he wasn’t going to clear trees on the western shore of the Indian River Lagoon, so he set the plane, which can operate on both land and water, down on the water.
He and Fleming, a Port Orchard, Wash., man who had just purchased the plane, were surrounded by a flotilla of boats offering help, including marine units from the Sheriff’s Office and Indian River County Fire Rescue. But they restarted the engine and water taxied the plane to a near-vacant parking lot on the southwest side of Sebastian Inlet State Park.
The men almost succeeded in reaching the roadway before the plane’s nose wheel collapsed in soft sand.
The men said they planned to remove the aircraft’s wings and trailer it to an airport.
Ardoyno and Fleming originally planned to fly from Vero Beach to Bowling Green, Ohio, for a fuel stop on the way to Washington state.
http://www.tcpalm.com
William Shaun Jackson, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, died Tuesday from burns suffered in a small plane crash last weekend near Sarasota, Fla.
Jackson, 63, known to friends, colleagues and family members as Shaun, was considering buying the seaplane and had gone to Florida to look at it and test it out, his business partner said. Jackson, who belonged to the Michigan Flyers flying club, had owned planes in the past and wanted a seaplane to use for trips from Ann Arbor to his cottage in Canada, located near the water, said his business partner, Mark Zadvinskis. “He had been dreaming about this float plane,” he said.
He was a passenger in the plane when it crashed, killing the pilot, John Ardoyno, 70, of Hayward, Wis. Jackson was able to get out of the plane but suffered severe burns. He had been treated at Tampa General Hospital.
Zadvinskis and Jackson have been business partners for 18 years at Shaun Jackson Design and Higher Ground, which makes cases and accessories for laptops and tablets. Zadvinskis, who has been in contact with Jackson’s family, said the past few days have been difficult at the small, close-knit company.
“He’s been our spiritual leader and our sounding board," Zadvinskis said. “He’ll truly be missed by friends and family. “
Jackson was athletic and youthful, Zadvinskis said. He cycled, played hockey and liked skate skiing.
“Even though he was a 63-year-old man he was not really 63,” Zadvinskis said. “He was a very young guy. … You never would have guessed his real age.”
News reports from Florida said Jackson ran from the plane after it hit two trees, crashed and burst into flames on the New College campus near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
Former air traffic controller Rich Parker told an ABC affiliate station in Florida Jackson got out of the plane and went to a ditch where he told him to roll around to extinguish the flames. Parker said he couldn’t get the pilot out of the burning plane.
In addition to his position at the School of Art and Design, Jackson also taught at the university’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and in the Steven M. Ross School of Business.
Jackson was also an inventor, designer and entrepreneur. He founded his first company, Eclipse Inc., while still an undergraduate student at U-M, where he studied architecture, the university said in a release about his death.
Under his leadership, the company grew from a small venture to a multimillion-dollar corporation with a global distribution network. Eclipse was selected as a case study for a National Endowment for the Arts research project titled "The Competitive Edge: The Role of Design in American Business.
His company has done design and product development work for Nike, Herman Miller, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Brookstone, Harley Davidson, and Patagonia.
He holds more than 50 patents, according to his biography, and is a respected member of the design community, Zadvinskis said, having received several national and international honors.
Jackson is survived by his wife, Catherine Banish-Jackson, sons Taylor and Ryan, and stepdaughters Sydney and Rachel Tuchman.
Gunalan Nadarajan, dean of the School of Art and Design, called Jackson a “model of the interdisciplinary educator, in an email sent to the school’s faculty and staff.
“For more than two decades, Shaun has been a dedicated and beloved member of our community, mentoring generations of designers and sharing his optimism and love of life with all of us,” Nadarajan wrote. “ … The entire university has lost a true friend and citizen.”
William Shaun Jackson
Obituary: http://obits.mlive.com
Guest Book: http://www.legacy.com/guestbook
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, January 12, 2013 in Sarasota, FL
Aircraft: BENTON FRED D SEAWIND 3000, registration: N829GS
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 12, 2013, about 1529 eastern standard time, a Benton Seawind 3000, N829GS, was destroyed following a collision with trees and terrain after takeoff from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Sarasota, Florida. The commercial pilot and one pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to a corporation and was operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.
A witness was in his automobile on 15th Street, on the east side of SRQ, and watched the airplane takeoff on runway 22. He reported that the takeoff roll seemed longer than normal, and the airplane climbed slowly. As the airplane approached trees located past the runway, it “pancaked” into the trees without rolling right or left. He then saw a plume of smoke and realized the airplane had crashed.
The airplane struck three tall pine trees on the campus of New College of Florida before impacting terrain and coming to a stop. The airplane was consumed in a post-crash fire. The main wreckage was located about 0.3 nautical miles beyond the departure end of runway 22. The length of the wreckage debris field was about 300 feet in length and oriented on a heading of 240 degrees. The fuselage was found inverted.
According to air traffic control personnel, the pilot departed the airport under visual flight rules and did not make a distress call before the accident.
According to local maintenance personnel, the airplane had been at SRQ since September, 2012. The accident pilot was involved in an emergency landing in the accident airplane; he landed in the Indian River Lagoon, near Sebastian Inlet, Florida, following a loss of engine power. According to the aircraft records, a fuel injector line was subsequently replaced because of a broken fitting. Also, the propeller and propeller governor were overhauled during maintenance unrelated to the engine problem. Reportedly, this was the first flight for the airplane since the maintenance work was completed.
BENTON FRED D SEAWIND 3000, N829GS
September 15, 2012
Photo by Sam Wolfe
Flight instructor Jack Ardoyno (left), of Hayward, Wisconsin, and Leonard Fleming, of Port Orchard, Washington, laugh with firefighters David Dangerfield (not pictured) and Dustin Hawkins (center) after Fleming’s plane had to be beached at Sebastian Inlet State Park on September 15, 2012. The pair were flying the plane near the inlet when the aircraft had a loss of engine power and they had to make an emergency landing in the Indian River. No one was injured in the landing on September 15.
January 14, 2013
PROVIDED PHOTO
A crew from a Groveland aircraft salvage company on Monday, January 14, 2013 loads the remains of a 3,400-pound experimental aircraft that crashed Saturday, January 12 on the campus of New College of Florida. The pilot died in the crash and his passenger succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, January 15.
January 14, 2013
PROVIDED PHOTO
January 14, 2013
PROVIDED PHOTO
Onlookers surround a plane crash at New College in Sarasota. A
home-built Seawind 3000 crashed shortly after takeoff from the
Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport.
TIFFANY TOMPKINS-CONDIE/Bradenton
Herald
NTSB Identification: ERA13FA109
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, January 12, 2013 in Sarasota, FL
Aircraft: BENTON FRED D SEAWIND 3000, registration: N829GS
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 12, 2013, about 1529 eastern standard time, a Benton Seawind 3000, N829GS, was destroyed following a collision with trees and terrain after takeoff from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Sarasota, Florida. The commercial pilot and one pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to a corporation and was operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.
A witness was in his automobile on 15th Street, on the east side of SRQ, and watched the airplane takeoff on runway 22. He reported that the takeoff roll seemed longer than normal, and the airplane climbed slowly. As the airplane approached trees located past the runway, it “pancaked” into the trees without rolling right or left. He then saw a plume of smoke and realized the airplane had crashed.
The airplane struck three tall pine trees on the campus of New College of Florida before impacting terrain and coming to a stop. The airplane was consumed in a post-crash fire. The main wreckage was located about 0.3 nautical miles beyond the departure end of runway 22. The length of the wreckage debris field was about 300 feet in length and oriented on a heading of 240 degrees. The fuselage was found inverted.
According to air traffic control personnel, the pilot departed the airport under visual flight rules and did not make a distress call before the accident.
According to local maintenance personnel, the airplane had been at SRQ since September, 2012. The accident pilot was involved in an emergency landing in the accident airplane; he landed in the Indian River Lagoon, near Sebastian Inlet, Florida, following a loss of engine power. According to the aircraft records, a fuel injector line was subsequently replaced because of a broken fitting. Also, the propeller and propeller governor were overhauled during maintenance unrelated to the engine problem. Reportedly, this was the first flight for the airplane since the maintenance work was completed.
http://registry.faa.gov/N829GS
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 829GS Make/Model: EXP Description: SEAWIND 3000
Date: 01/12/2013 Time: 2031
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: SARASOTA State: FL Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED ON DEPARTURE INTO A WOODED AREA, THERE WERE 2 PERSONS ON
BOARD, 1 WAS FATALLY INJURED, 1 SUSTAINED SERIOUS INJURIES, SARASOTA, FL
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 2 Fat: 1 Ser: 1 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase: Take-off Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: TAMPA, FL (SO35) Entry date: 01/14/2013
September 15, 2012: SEBASTIAN INLET — A single-engine amphibious airplane made an emergency landing on the Indian River Lagoon Saturday after it began to lose engine power and could not make it to the nearest airfield.
Pilot Jack Ardoyno and passenger Leonard Fleming were uninjured and the Seawind experimental aircraft sustained no apparent damage in the 4 p.m. water landing. Local authorities initially responded to reports the airplane had crashed.
Ardoyno, of Hayward, Wisc., said the aircraft had just left Vero Beach Municipal Airport and was at 1,700 feet and climbing over Sebastian when it started to experience engine trouble. Ardoyno, an instructor on that model of aircraft, recognized an oil pressure problem that robs the engine of power and tried to limp the aircraft over the water to Sebastian Municipal Airport.
Ardoyno said it became apparent he wasn’t going to clear trees on the western shore of the Indian River Lagoon, so he set the plane, which can operate on both land and water, down on the water.
He and Fleming, a Port Orchard, Wash., man who had just purchased the plane, were surrounded by a flotilla of boats offering help, including marine units from the Sheriff’s Office and Indian River County Fire Rescue. But they restarted the engine and water taxied the plane to a near-vacant parking lot on the southwest side of Sebastian Inlet State Park.
The men almost succeeded in reaching the roadway before the plane’s nose wheel collapsed in soft sand.
The men said they planned to remove the aircraft’s wings and trailer it to an airport.
Ardoyno and Fleming originally planned to fly from Vero Beach to Bowling Green, Ohio, for a fuel stop on the way to Washington state.
http://www.tcpalm.com
U-M professor Shaun Jackson dies from burns suffered in plane crash
William Shaun Jackson
Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan
Jackson, 63, known to friends, colleagues and family members as Shaun, was considering buying the seaplane and had gone to Florida to look at it and test it out, his business partner said. Jackson, who belonged to the Michigan Flyers flying club, had owned planes in the past and wanted a seaplane to use for trips from Ann Arbor to his cottage in Canada, located near the water, said his business partner, Mark Zadvinskis. “He had been dreaming about this float plane,” he said.
He was a passenger in the plane when it crashed, killing the pilot, John Ardoyno, 70, of Hayward, Wis. Jackson was able to get out of the plane but suffered severe burns. He had been treated at Tampa General Hospital.
Zadvinskis and Jackson have been business partners for 18 years at Shaun Jackson Design and Higher Ground, which makes cases and accessories for laptops and tablets. Zadvinskis, who has been in contact with Jackson’s family, said the past few days have been difficult at the small, close-knit company.
“He’s been our spiritual leader and our sounding board," Zadvinskis said. “He’ll truly be missed by friends and family. “
Jackson was athletic and youthful, Zadvinskis said. He cycled, played hockey and liked skate skiing.
“Even though he was a 63-year-old man he was not really 63,” Zadvinskis said. “He was a very young guy. … You never would have guessed his real age.”
News reports from Florida said Jackson ran from the plane after it hit two trees, crashed and burst into flames on the New College campus near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
Former air traffic controller Rich Parker told an ABC affiliate station in Florida Jackson got out of the plane and went to a ditch where he told him to roll around to extinguish the flames. Parker said he couldn’t get the pilot out of the burning plane.
In addition to his position at the School of Art and Design, Jackson also taught at the university’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and in the Steven M. Ross School of Business.
Jackson was also an inventor, designer and entrepreneur. He founded his first company, Eclipse Inc., while still an undergraduate student at U-M, where he studied architecture, the university said in a release about his death.
Under his leadership, the company grew from a small venture to a multimillion-dollar corporation with a global distribution network. Eclipse was selected as a case study for a National Endowment for the Arts research project titled "The Competitive Edge: The Role of Design in American Business.
His company has done design and product development work for Nike, Herman Miller, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Brookstone, Harley Davidson, and Patagonia.
He holds more than 50 patents, according to his biography, and is a respected member of the design community, Zadvinskis said, having received several national and international honors.
Jackson is survived by his wife, Catherine Banish-Jackson, sons Taylor and Ryan, and stepdaughters Sydney and Rachel Tuchman.
Gunalan Nadarajan, dean of the School of Art and Design, called Jackson a “model of the interdisciplinary educator, in an email sent to the school’s faculty and staff.
“For more than two decades, Shaun has been a dedicated and beloved member of our community, mentoring generations of designers and sharing his optimism and love of life with all of us,” Nadarajan wrote. “ … The entire university has lost a true friend and citizen.”
William Shaun Jackson
Obituary: http://obits.mlive.com
Guest Book: http://www.legacy.com/guestbook
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)