Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Bell Helicopter cutting 30 jobs from Tri-County Industrial Park, Piney Flats, Tennessee

UPDATE: 11:26 a.m.

PINEY FLATS - Bell Helicopter is reducing its global workforce by about 1,100 workers, including about 30 employees at its Piney Flats production facilities, the company announced Tuesday.

“ ... However that number could be lower pending participation in the Voluntary Separation Program we are offering to eligible employees in the United States and Canada,” company spokeswoman Susan Gordon said in an email. “Potentially impacted employees will be notified in the coming weeks and will leave the organization by the end of the summer. Our goal is to provide employees with as much transition time as possible and mitigate the involuntary impact on employees as much as possible.”

The company said these reductions will apply to all areas of the business, both management and non-management, and covered and non-covered workers.

"We are also aggressively reducing cost in every area of our business,” Gordon added. “... While we anticipated and planned for the decreased production of V-22s (military helicopters), we also anticipated the commercial market would rebound – and that did not happen. Across the industry, global commercial orders and deliveries in the medium market continue to be significantly below forecast. In addition we are experiencing reduced customer parts purchase and we continue to feel the effects of (federal government) sequestration. This combination of events is having a significant impact on our business ... Staffing decisions like this are always difficult – but they are necessary to ensure that Bell Helicopter remains a competitive industry leader well into the future."

During 2014, Bell Helicopter's footprint inside the Tri-County Industrial Park was growing with production buildings and business segments employing about 500 people, a company official said in May of last year.

The operation was previously known in Northeast Tennessee as Edwards & Associates, which was founded in 1977. Edwards, with about 50 employees, quietly expanded into international markets, built a larger facility and earned certification as an Federal Aviation Administration repair station and Bell-approved customer service facility.

In 1999, Bell Helicopter and parent company Textron purchased Edwards and its subsidiary companies, and subsequently fully integrated the location by 2011.

Bell had since been adding hundreds of thousands of square feet to accommodate customizing and completing light and medium aircraft for non-military customers.

The company also announced last year it would be a partner with Northeast State Community College in a Northeast Tennessee aviation jobs initiative to train future workers.

Previous story:

PINEY FLATS - Bell Helicopter is reducing its global workforce by about 1,100 workers, including an unspecified number of employees at its Piney Flats production facilities, the company announced Tuesday.

In an email, the company said these reductions will apply to all areas of the business, both management and non-management, and covered and non-covered workers.

"We will offer a voluntary separation program to all eligible employees in the United States and Canada. Employees will be provided with as much transition time as possible and our goal is to lessen the involuntary impact on our teammates wherever we can," company spokeswoman Susan Gordon said in the email. 

"We are also aggressively reducing cost in every area of our business ... While we anticipated and planned for the decreased production of V-22s (helicopters), we also anticipated the commercial market would rebound – and that did not happen. Across the industry, global commercial orders and deliveries in the medium market continue to be significantly below forecast. In addition we are experiencing reduced customer parts purchase and we continue to feel the effects of sequestration. This combination of events is having a significant impact on our business ... Staffing decisions like this are always difficult – but they are necessary to ensure that Bell Helicopter remains a competitive industry leader well into the future."

Original article can be found here: http://www.timesnews.net

Another lawsuit over Halifax plane crash: Airbus A320, C-FTJP, Air Canada

HALIFAX - Another class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of passengers involved in a plane crash at Halifax's airport last month that seeks damages for alleged physical and psychological injuries suffered by passengers.

The statement of claim filed Tuesday is the second to be filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court since Air Canada Flight 624 hit the ground short of the runway on March 29.

The latest lawsuit makes a number of claims including that Air Canada did not adequately train the flight crew on the procedures for the Airbus A320 and that the crew chose not to abort the landing when they knew or ought to have known that a safe touchdown was impaired or prevented by the weather conditions at the time.

The suit says lead plaintiffs Kathleen Carroll-Byrne, Asher Hodara and Malanga Georges Liboy are seeking damages alleging pain and suffering, loss of past and future income and past and future costs of care, among other claims.

It says Hodara sustained serious physical injuries as a result of the crash including a mild traumatic brain injury.

"He also sustained psychological injuries ... including anxiety, loss of concentration and profound psychological distress," says the claim filed by Halifax law firm Wagners and Vancouver-based Camp, Fiorante, Matthews and Mogerman.

The suit names Air Canada, Airbus SAS, NAV Canada, the Halifax International Airport Authority, the Attorney General of Canada and an unnamed captain and first officer as defendants.

Air Canada, the Halifax International Airport Authority and Nav Canada all said they could not comment as the matter is before the courts.

The Justice Department said it has not yet been served with the claim, but added that it does not comment on such matters once they are before the courts.

The France-based Airbus did not return requests for comment.

The allegations in both lawsuits have not been proven in court.

The aircraft was flying from Toronto when it hit an antenna array, slammed into the ground about 335 metres short of the runway and then skidded for another 335 metres before stopping.

All 133 passengers and five crew on board survived, although about two dozen people were sent to hospital.

Original article can be found here:  http://www.mykawartha.com

Collision with terrain involving an Air Canada Airbus A320 at Stanfield International Airport, Halifax, Nova Scotia

The occurrence:  On 29 March 2015, at approximately 1240 a.m., Air Canada flight ACA 624, an Airbus A320, on a scheduled flight from Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Ontario, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, collided with terrain approximately 1100 feet from the threshold of Runway 05, eventually coming to rest about 1100 feet down the runway. There were 133 passengers and 5 crew members on board; all of whom exited the aircraft. Twenty-five people were taken to hospital for treatment of injuries.

http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca

Man pleads guilty for flying 202 pounds of marijuana from California to Missouri

Ice, a trained search dog of the Howell County Sheriff's Department, poses with marijuana found hidden in a plane at the West Plains Airport on Oct. 31, 2013. (photo from Howell County Sheriff's Dept.)


Joshua Vawter (Howell County jail, 2013) 



Angelo Vetrano (Howell County jail 2013)



SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -  A man from Marble Hill pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday for his role in a marijuana trafficking conspiracy in which the government seized his aircraft and dozens of firearms.  Joshua Vawter, 37, pleaded guilty to the charge contained in an indictment handed up on Dec. 17, 2013.


By pleading guilty, Vawter admitted he and a co-conspirator (Angelo Vetrano, 33, of Shirley, N.Y.) purchased seven duffel bags to transport 91.5 kilograms (202 pounds) of high-grade marijuana from California to Missouri.  They placed the marijuana in the duffel bags, a suitcase and two golf bags, and loaded them onto Vawter’s airplane, a Piper PA-32-260, which he piloted.

Vawter’s plane landed at West Plains Regional Airport on Oct. 31, 2013.  Law enforcement officers searched the plane and seized the hidden marijuana and $1,800.  Drug Enforcement Administration agents estimate the total street value of the marijuana seized to be $1 million.

DEA agents searched Vawter’s home (Marble Hill is about 20 miles west of Cape Girardeau) on the next day and seized 56 firearms from a vault in the basement.  Agents also seized $75,000 from the vault (including $18,000 that was hidden in the foam backing of a gun case).  They seized four additional firearms from the master bedroom.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Vawter must forfeit to the government the airplane, the firearms and the money that was seized.

Vawter faces a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1 million. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

The DEA, the Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DHS Custom and Border Patrol, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Howell County Sheriff’s Department, the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri South Central Drug Task Force investigated this case.

Original article can be found here: http://www.ky3.com

Another sent to prison in aircraft repair fraud

•  Former operations manager of Weco repair station sentenced
•  Guilty of recklessly endangering aircraft

The former operations manager of Weco Aerospace Systems Inc. has been sentenced for conspiracy to destroy aircraft or aircraft facilities, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.

U.S. District Judge John Mendez sentenced Jerry Edward Kuwata, 64, of Granite Bay, to one year in prison.

Weco was a Federal Aviation Administration-certified repair business with facilities in Lincoln and Burbank. According to court documents, the company was permitted by the FAA to repair certain types of aircraft parts, including starter generators and converters, used on various types of aircraft, including small helicopters used by tour companies and law enforcement agencies.

But Weco employees regularly failed to follow FAA regulations in repairing and overhauling the aircraft parts and in many cases, Weco did not even have equipment capable of performing required tests.

Weco workers at both locations nonetheless performed repairs and returned parts to customers, falsely certifying that the parts had passed tests and had been repaired in accordance FAA standards, the court documents say.

There have been no known instances in which a fraudulent Weco repair resulted in an aircraft accident. However, Weco customers who testified at the trial of Weco’s owner, William Hugh Weygandt, 65, of Granite Bay, consistently testified that once they learned of the fraudulent repairs, they removed all Weco-repaired parts from their aircraft due to safety concerns.

At sentencing, Judge Mendez noted that Mr. Kuwata never took action to notify the FAA of the fraud, and expressed concern for the potential safety risks posed by such conduct.

A federal jury found Mr. Weygandt guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud involving aircraft parts repair. He was sentenced on July 8, 2014, to two and half years in prison. Other former Weco executives Michael Dennis Maupin, of Arbuckle and Anthony Vincent Zito, of Saugus, previously pleaded guilty to federal offenses in connection with the conspiracy and await sentencing.

Original article can be found here: http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com

Cessna 170B, N1296D: Accident occurred April 28, 2015 in Centralia, Washington

 NTSB Identification: WPR15LA153
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, April 28, 2015 in Centralia, WA
Aircraft: CESSNA 170B, registration: N1296D
Injuries: 1 Serious.

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 may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On April 28, 2015, about 1145 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 170B, N1296D, made an off airport forced landing following a loss of engine power near Centralia, Washington. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The airline transport pilot sustained serious injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence. The cross-country personal flight departed Shady Acres Airport, Spanaway, Washington, at an undetermined time, with a planned destination of Chehalis, Washington. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.

The pilot reported a loss of engine power about 2,000 feet agl during the climb to cruise. Attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful, which lead to a forced landing in a field. In order to clear some tall trees, the pilot pulled the nose of the airplane up, which resulted in a stall, and hard landing in the field. The pilot was subsequently airlifted to a local hospital.

JAMES W.  JOHNSON: http://registry.faa.gov/N1296D



James Johnson


The pilot who made an emergency crash landing in a field near Grand Mound Tuesday remains in serious but stable condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to his family.

Emergency crews had to extricate James Johnson, 73, of Spanaway, from his early-1950s Cessna 170B after he crashed just before noon on Tuesday. Johnson, who turns 74 in about a month, was alone and flying to the Chehalis-Centralia Airport from Spanaway when his engine lost power near Grand Mound.

His nephew, Bob Stewart, told The Chronicle Wednesday his uncle had surgery on his back Tuesday night but is recovering steadily. He estimates Johnson will remain hospitalized for another week.

Lanette Dyer, of the West Thurston Fire Authority, said Johnson started losing altitude and power during his flight before crashing just before noon. He told officials he was near 2,500 feet and flying over trees when he realized he wasn’t going to get the power back.

Johnson went through all the emergency protocols and decided to down the plane.

“He takes such meticulous care of that plane. None of us can figure out why it lost power,” Stewart said.

Johnson crashed in a field near 216th Avenue at the intersection of Oregon Trail Road off of Old Highway 99 between Rochester and Centralia. The plane was in one piece, though the landing gear was mangled and the plane appeared damaged while resting on its fuselage and a wing.

“That plane is his pride and joy. He lives on an airstrip up there in a fly-in neighborhood where people taxi their planes up to their houses” Stewart said. “He has a shop at his house anyone would kill to have.”

Johnson learned to fly at 18 and fell in love with it, Stewart said. He was a resident avionics expert for Alaska Airlines before he retired. Prior to that, he was a pilot in the U.S. Forest Service flying air tankers during wildfires fighters.

Stewart said Johnson had been in one other plane crash, but he was not injured and the crash wasn’t as severe.

Johnson was conscious and responding to emergency crews after the crash. He had to be extracted from the wreckage and airlifted from Rochester High School to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment. As of Wednesday evening, he was in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit, according to a Harborview spokesperson.

Bill Fortman, who owns property near where the crash occurred, said he didn't hear it crash but saw the plane when he went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

“I called 911, but they were already close by,” he said.

Dyer said Johnson had a lot of body pain and discomfort after the accident, but he was alert.

The Federal Aviation administration will not be responding because it was a single-engine plane with single passenger and there were no fatalities, according to Capt. Greg Elwin of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.

The Cessna 170 is a common light single-engined general aviation plane. It was manufactured from 1948 until 1956. According to cessna170.backcountrypilot.org, over 5,000 of the 170s were manufactured and more than half of them are still in use today.

Source:  http://www.chronline.com

































Plane Crash Survivor Gives $50,000 to Sheriff’s Office: Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, N3674B

Twenty-five years after being the lone survivor of a tragic plane crash, Elk Grove resident Carol Davis has donated $50,000 to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, whose Search and Rescue personnel found her lying on a hill near Kneeland in the aftermath of the crash.

Davis was coming to Humboldt County with her husband Walt and another couple, Merle and Ima Stone, on April 7, 1990. Merle and Walt were car dealers flying up for a meeting, and on the morning of the crash, with Merle Stone piloting the Beechcraft A36, the fog was especially thick.

According to news reports at the time, the plane was approaching the Arcata/Eureka Airport at too low an altitude, and it crashed into a mountainous area about a mile from the Kneeland landing strip. Davis’ husband was killed instantly, as were Merle and Ima Stone. Carol Davis recalled the incident in a phone interview with the Outpost yesterday.

“I was the lone survivor,” she said. “And I was on fire, so I rolled in wet grass.” She said the impact with the ground was severe, and she suffered a broken back and severe burns, which required numerous plastic surgeries. She lay injured on the wet hillside for what “seemed like forever,” she said. But early that afternoon Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from the Federal Aviation Administration, which had lost radio contact with the flight.

“My rescue was fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” Davis said. The donation is being made as a symbol of her gratitude, she added. The Board of Supervisors today is scheduled to accept Davis’s donation, which is slated to purchase equipment for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit and the Humboldt Sheriff’s Posse.

Here’s a press release from the HCSO:

On 12-31-2014 the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received an unexpected donation in the amount of $50,000 dollars from Carol C. Davis, who now lives in Elk Grove, California. Mrs. Davis was expressing her gratitude, because members of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office came to her rescue on April 7, 1990 after a plane crash near the Kneeland airport.

On April 7, 1990, Carol Davis along with three other people were flying to Humboldt County to attend a Chevrolet car dealership meeting. They were all flying inside of a Beechcraft A36 aircraft. Merle Stone was the pilot of the aircraft and his wife Ima Stone was a passenger. Carol Davis was traveling with her husband, Walt Davis, who owned several Chevrolet dealerships in California. Both couples were friends and were coming to Humboldt County for the meeting.

On April 7, 1990, at about 12:30 p.m. the Sheriff’s Office sent two deputies to the Kneeland airport, Kneeland to check for an overdue aircraft. The Sheriff’s Office had received a phone call from FAA about an aircraft that was on instrument approach to the Arcata/Eureka airport 12 miles to the south when it lost radio contact. The two deputies just happened to be in the Showers Pass area near Kneeland on routine mountain patrol at the time of the call.

When deputies arrived near the Kneeland airport at 2:00 p.m. they saw a small amount of smoke coming from a hillside near the airport. The deputies were able to access a dirt road towards the smoke. When deputies arrived on scene they discovered the wreckage of a small aircraft on the hillside, which was on fire. The deputies then saw a female subject lying on the ground about 40 feet away from the aircraft wreckage waving her hands and yelling for help.

Deputies immediately went to her location and identified her as Carol Davis. Deputies said Carol was conscious and talking and was complaining about being cold. Davis was rendered first aid and medical personnel were immediately contacted to respond to the scene along with the Fire Department. When medical arrived on scene Carol was transported to a local hospital. Tragically Carol’s husband Walt and Merle and Ima Stone did not survive the crash. The cause of the crash was determined to be too low of an approach causing the plane to hit trees.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office wants to express their gratitude on the generous and thoughtful donation from Carol Davis. The Davis family requested the money be used to purchase much needed equipment for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit and the Humboldt Sheriff’s Posse.

Original article can be found here:  http://lostcoastoutpost.com

NTSB Identification: LAX90FA138
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 44637.
Accident occurred Saturday, April 07, 1990 in KNEELAND, CA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 05/15/1992
Aircraft: BEECH A36, registration: N3674B
Injuries: 3 Fatal, 1 Serious.

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.

WHILE EN ROUTE FROM SACRAMENTO TO ARCATA, CA, THE PLT CONTACTED ARTCC & FILED AN IFR FLT PLAN. AS HE WAS APCHG THE DESTN AT 10,000', HE REQUESTED A LOWER ALT. HE WAS CLEARED TO DSCND TO 8000'. HE WAS THEN CLEARED FOR AN ILS RWY 32 APCH TO AN UNCTLD ARPT AT ARCATA WITH A RESTRICTION TO REMAIN AT 8000' UNTIL CROSSING THE YAGER INTXN. THE PLT BGN HIS DSCNT EARLY & CROSSED THE YAGER INTXN AT 6700. THE ACFT DSCNDD BELOW RADAR COVERAGE AT 5300'. RADAR SVC WAS TERMINATED & THE PLT WAS INSTRUCTED TO CONTACT THE ARCATA FSS. HE CONTACTED THE FSS STATION & WAS ADZD THE WX WAS PARTIALLY OBSCD, 400' BKN, 1500' BKN, 2400' OVC, 3 MI VIS. THE PLT ACKNOWLEDGE & SAID HE WAS IN THE CLOUDS AT 3200', THEN THERE WAS NO FURTHER CONTACT WITH THE ACFT. A SEARCH WAS INITIATED & THE ACFT WAS FOUND WHERE IT HAD CRASHED ALONG THE ILS COURSE LINE ABOUT 18 MI SHORT OF THE RWY. IMPACT OCCURRED ON HILLY/MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN AT AN ELEV OF ABOUT 2750'. THE MIN DSCNT ALT FOR THAT SEGMENT OF THE APCH WAS 5200'.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF IFR PROCEDURES BY FAILING TO MAINTAIN THE MINIMUM DESCENT ALTITUDE FOR THE SEGMENT OF THE APPROACH THAT HE WAS FLYING. THE HILLY/MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN WAS A RELATED FACTOR.

South Jersey Regional Airport (KVAY) Gets $810,000 Grant for Improvements • Money will help fund milling and crack sealing to rehabilitate 23,640 square yards of the existing apron pavement

South Jersey Regional Airport in Mount Holly will receive $810,000 in federal funding for improvements, U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) said on Monday.

The money will help fund milling and crack sealing to rehabilitate 23,640 square yards of the existing apron pavement that has reached the end of its useful life.

The funding is awarded through the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration

“Today’s announcement will go a long way in ensuring the South Jersey Regional Airport continues to serve as a source of regional economic development,” Menendez said. “That is why I will continue to fight for funding to ensure the vitalization of our state’s aging infrastructure remains a top priority.”

“It is extremely important to the growth of our state’s economy that our regional airports can operate safely,” Booker said. “I am pleased that this funding will help rehabilitate South Jersey Regional Airport in Mount Holly, keeping passengers safe and good jobs in New Jersey.”

Original article can be found here:  http://patch.com