Friday, December 04, 2015

Two Cars Catch Fire, Close Down Fairmont Municipal Airport (4G7), Marion County, West Virginia



Authorities in Marion County are investigating, after two cars somehow caught fire Friday night. 

Crews were called to the scene just before 8:00 p.m. to a building on Aviation Drive in Pleasant Valley. 

Officials say they aren't sure how the fire started, who owns the vehicles or who operates the building. 

Both cars are a total losses and the building had some minor damage. 

The Fairmont Municipal Airport was closed temporary, but has since been reopened. 

Source:  http://www.wdtv.com

British Aerospace BAe-125-800SP, N164WC, WC Leasing Corp: Incident occurred December 04, 2015 at Palm Springs International Airport (KPSP), Riverside County, California

Date: 04-DEC-15
Time: 22:09:00Z
Regis#: N164WC
Aircraft Make: HAWKER SIDDELEY
Aircraft Model: HS125
Event Type: Incident
Highest Injury: None
Damage: Minor
Flight Phase: LANDING (LDG)
City: PALM SPRINGS
State: California

Description:   AIRCRAFT LANDED GEAR UP. PALM SPRINGS, CA

WC Leasing Corp: http://registry.faa.gov/N164WC












PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -

A British Aerospace BAe-125-800SP safely landed in Palm Springs after its landing gear failed to open. The plane landed around 3:20 p.m.

Officers said the plane had to make a belly-landing but it was a smooth landing given the situation. Only the pilot and one other person was on the jet and neither of them were injured.

Tom Nolan with the Palm Springs International Airport said the long runway was closed for a little over 45 minutes but only a couple of aircraft were delayed.

Officers with the Palm Springs Police Department and Riverside County firefighters set up at the airport to manage the aftermath of the emergency landing. 

The jet has been cleared from the runway and all flights are back on schedule.

News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 had a crew at the airport and captured the emergency landing on video. 

The pilot and emergency response managed the situation as well as they could given the dangerous scenario.

Story and video:  http://www.kesq.com

A British Aerospace BAe-125-800 having problems deploying its landing gear landed safely at Palm Springs International Airport Friday afternoon.

The airport received notice of the plane's issues and directed the pilots to circle the area in order to burn off fuel as a precaution, according to Executive Director of the Palm Springs International Airport Tom Nolan. About an hour later, the plane made the landing from the south and emergency personnel were quickly deployed.

The plane, which Nolan said had two pilots aboard, landed smoothly just before 3:30 p.m.

"(The pilot) did a great job," Nolan said.

The landing caused a fair amount of smoke, but was quickly tended to by the Palm Springs Fire Department. No one was injured during the landing.

Within 48 minutes, the plane was loaded onto a flatbed truck and the runway was reopened.

"Thats pretty much as fast as it gets," Nolan said.


Story, comments and video: http://www.desertsun.com






Port Angeles, Clallam County, Washington: Police seek information on laser incident that forced grounding of helicopter

PORT ANGELES — City police continue to seek information about a personal laser strike that cut short a Coast Guard helicopter training mission Monday evening, Port Angeles Deputy Chief of Police Brian Smith said Thursday.

An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew was airborne when a laser was shined at the helicopter at about 6:30 p.m. Monday, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.

The crew aborted the mission and landed safely at Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles.

No injuries were reported, but all crew members were grounded until they were cleared by medical personnel as laser strikes can cause permanent eye damage, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard spokeswoman referred inquires about the incident to Port Angeles police Wednesday.

“It was a brief event,” said Smith, who knows the pilot who was flying the helicopter.

“It didn't affect the pilot, based on what he told me, but it's still a reportable event. It obviously something that's serious, and it's against the law.”

During nighttime missions, laser beams can cause temporary loss of night vision, glaring and flash blindness, putting the crew members' lives in jeopardy, Coast Guard officials have said.

Smith said the Monday laser incident was the second involving a Coast Guard helicopter this year.

Anyone with possible information regarding the incident is asked to contact Coast Guard investigators at 360-417-5823


Source: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com

Beechcraft King Air 90, N26ND, UND Aerospace Foundation: Incident occurred December 04, 2015 at Grand Forks International Airport (KGFK), North Dakota



Grand Forks, ND (WDAZ-TV) - A pilot was forced to make an emergency landing at Grand Forks International Airport today.

A call came in around 10:30 this morning that a plane was having problems with its landing gear.

The six seater plane belongs to the UND Aerospace Foundation.

Several emergency responders were on scene.

Officials said the pilot circled the area for about an hour before landing safely on the tarmac.

“The pilots have indicator lights on their dashes that indicate whether the gears are down and locked. Indications were that the one gear was not actually locked, it could have been a faulty light, could have been a faulty wire, could have been actually not down, so we don't know for sure on that,” said Chris Deitz, Grand Forks International Airport.

Three people were reported to be on the plane.

No one was injured.

Sources: 

UND AEROSPACE FOUNDATION: http://registry.faa.gov/N26ND
 
http://www.grandforksherald.com


http://www.wdaz.com

Retired Air Force fighter jet heads to new Waukegan veterans memorial



Once capable of flying at more than twice the speed of sound, a retired U.S. Air Force F-111 Aardvark from the soon-to-be-shuttered Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum in downstate Rantoul can now only travel at the mercy of a flatbed truck — and only on local highways during the day.

Though its anticipated journey north was postponed more than once this week, the nearly 50-year-old warbird has been pegged for delivery to Waukegan National Airport, where boosters hope to put it on display as part of a Veterans Plaza in the facility's welcome area.

Jim Hull, a local pilot and president of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Lake County Chapter 414, was in Rantoul this week helping a team pull the 32-foot wingspan and tail off the aircraft for overland transport. Eventually, two different flatbed trucks are scheduled to make what is normally a 165-mile trip, but they will not be able to go the way the crow flies.

"Under the Illinois trucking regulations, (it's) considered a very wide load," Hull said by phone Friday. "We have to have special permits to move it, and we're only allowed to move it during daylight hours, or a half hour before sunrise and a half hour after sunset.

"And we have to use state routes, and we have to bypass Chicago, so we're going to come in from the west on Route 173 to Green Bay Road," he added. "We're coming in by way of Rockford, so it's going to be a very long trip."

The venture actually began over the summer, when Hull was approached by Waukegan Port District officials who told him the Rantoul museum was set to close at the end of 2015, he said. According to Hull, many of the museum's smaller exhibits were put up for adoption through an open-ended loan arrangement with the Air Force, which requires host agencies to maintain the equipment.

Eventually, officials were told that Waukegan would be fielding an F-111, an attack aircraft developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics for use as a fighter-bomber and strategic bomber, along with interdiction behind enemy lines. The Aardvark series entered service during the Vietnam War, flying more than 4,000 combat missions, and was a participant in various actions deep into the 1990s.

"It was in Vietnam, it was in Desert Storm, it was involved in the raid on Gaddafi's headquarters," said Hull, referring to the 1986 bombing of targets in Libya reportedly associated with Muammar Gaddafi. "It was also very active during the Cold War — the series aircraft, not this particular one — and it was really significant from the 1970s and '80s and into the '90s.

"So I thought this would make a really good centerpiece for a Veterans Memorial. There would be nothing like it anywhere around," he added, saying that "we would put a really nice park of some sort around it with memorials to the various conflicts, so this would be so much more than a plane on a pole."

The model destined for Waukegan is reported to be serial No. 2 of 563 manufactured before the Aardvark was retired in 1998. After initially being expected to arrive earlier this week, the dismantled aircraft is now targeted for delivery on Dec. 11, after which the Port District looks to raise around $100,000 in donations for its long-term display.

"We'll kick off (fundraising) around the first of the year, once we get the airplane secured in the hangar," Hull said. "We're putting together a committee, and we want to contact all of the veterans groups in Lake County, and we'll reach out to some of the schools and other organizations, to tell them what we're doing and to get their input about what they would like to see in a veterans memorial.

"We're kicking around a lot of ideas," he added. "One of the things we'd like to offer is if people want somebody's name on a plaque or a stone or something like that, we want to provide a way to memorialize individual veterans in the Lake County area or wherever. Depending on how much money we raise, that will determine the size of the memorial."

In the meantime, plans call for the 72-foot-long, 48,000-pound Aardvark to be reassembled, which Hull admitted will be no small task in itself.

"This thing is a monster," he said. "We've been taking photos and video of everything as we go along so we can figure out how to put it back together again."

General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark

Role: Supersonic medium-range strategic fighter-bomber

Back story: The U.S. Air Force dubbed the F-111 Aardvark because of the aircraft's long snout and partly because the aircraft were manufactured by General Dynamics in a mile-long plant unofficially known as the Aardvark.

Specs

Type: Tactical strike all-weather aircraft with variable-sweep wings

Length: 73 feet

Width: 62 feet

Weight: 47,179 pounds (empty)

Power: 2 Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-111 turbofan engines

Top speed: 1,650 mph (Mach 2)

Maximum range: 4,200 miles

Service ceiling: 65,945 feet

Rate of climb: 25,890 feet-per-minute

Source: militaryfactory.com, defence.gov.au

Story and photo gallery:   http://www.chicagotribune.com




Beech D35 Bonanza, registered to and operated by the pilot, N2991B: Accident occurred December 04, 2015 near Vine Grove Airport (70KY), Hardin County, Kentucky

The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident.

Additional Participating Entity:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Louisville, Kentucky

Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

Investigation Docket - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

http://registry.faa.gov/N2991B 

Location: Vine Grove, KY
Accident Number: ERA16LA062
Date & Time: 12/04/2015, 1615 EST
Registration: N2991B
Aircraft: BEECH D35
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Defining Event: Fuel related
Injuries: 1 None
Flight Conducted Under:  Part 91: General Aviation - Personal

On December 4, 2015, at 1615 eastern standard time, a Beechcraft D35, N2991B, was substantially damaged during a forced landing after takeoff from the Vine Grove Airport (70KY), Vine Grove, Kentucky. The private pilot was not injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed.

The pilot reported that his intention was to conduct some "pattern work." He conducted a preflight inspection of the airplane; visually checked the fuel in the left and right fuel tanks and estimated that they each contained 15 gallons. The airplane was equipped with a 20-gallon auxiliary fuel tank but the pilot reported that its fuel quantity could not be checked visually.

The pilot started the engine, taxied to the run-up area, and performed the before takeoff checklist items, with no anomalies noted. He then taxied to the active runway and configured the airplane for takeoff. During the climbout, about 150 feet above ground level, the engine "quit." He did not have enough altitude to return to the airport, or time to attempt an engine restart or make any radio calls. He subsequently performed an emergency off-airport landing to a road.

Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the right wing and firewall were buckled. The left main wing fuel tank had an undetermined amount of fuel. Fuel samples were taken from the left main wing tank and the fuselage auxiliary tank. The samples appeared to be clear with no water or debris noted. The right wing fuel tank was breached and the fuel quick drain valve was jammed. The smell of fuel in and around the airplane was noted. The fuel selector was moved from the off position and back to the auxiliary position, and when the fuel supply line was removed from the carburetor, very little fuel exited.

The fuel strainer was removed and a very small amount of fuel came out; it was inspected and found to be free of debris. The auxiliary fuel tank drain valve was removed and about 1 gallon of fuel drained out.

A review of the D35 pilot's operating handbook (POH) revealed that the airplane was equipped with a 20-gallon fuel tank in each wing in which 34 gallons are usable. All of the fuel in the auxiliary tank was usable. The top spark plugs were removed and they exhibited normal wear and had light gray deposits in the electrode areas. The crankshaft was rotated by hand, and spark was noted on each spark plug lead.

After the examination of the airplane, the pilot reported, "The D-35 has only one fuel gage and two switches used to select the tank indicated. The fuel selector has four positions, left, right, auxiliary and off. You can have the fuel selector on the auxiliary tank and the fuel indicator on a different tank. It is possible that I mistakenly verified the fuel level in the auxiliary tank with the indicator set to one of the main tanks." The pilot stated that he did not remember which fuel tank he had selected before takeoff.

According to the limitations section of the D35 POH: "Use auxiliary fuel in level flight only and do not use for takeoff or landing. Use at least 10 gallons from left main tank before use of auxiliary fuel or right main tank."

Pilot Information

Certificate: Private
Age: 53, Male
Airplane Rating(s): Single-engine Land
Seat Occupied: Left
Other Aircraft Rating(s): None
Restraint Used: Lap Only
Instrument Rating(s): None
Second Pilot Present: No
Instructor Rating(s): None
Toxicology Performed: No
Medical Certification:  Class 3 With Waivers/Limitations
Last FAA Medical Exam: 09/03/2015
Occupational Pilot: No
Last Flight Review or Equivalent: 09/04/2015
Flight Time:  956 hours (Total, all aircraft), 18 hours (Total, this make and model), 793 hours (Pilot In Command, all aircraft), 18 hours (Last 90 days, all aircraft), 1 hours (Last 30 days, all aircraft)

Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: BEECH
Registration: N2991B
Model/Series: D35 NO SERIES
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Year of Manufacture: 1953
Amateur Built: No
Airworthiness Certificate: Utility
Serial Number: D-3629
Landing Gear Type: Retractable - Tricycle
Seats: 4
Date/Type of Last Inspection: 09/02/2015, Annual
Certified Max Gross Wt.: 2727 lbs
Time Since Last Inspection: 18 Hours
Engines: 1 Reciprocating
Airframe Total Time: 6830.48 Hours as of last inspection
Engine Manufacturer: Continental
ELT:  C91  installed, activated, did not aid in locating accident
Engine Model/Series: E 225-8
Registered Owner: On file
Rated Power: 225
Operator: On file
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site: Visual Conditions
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: FTK, 755 ft msl
Distance from Accident Site: 4 Nautical Miles
Observation Time: 1608 EST
Direction from Accident Site: 357°
Lowest Cloud Condition: Unknown
Visibility: 4 Miles
Lowest Ceiling:  Overcast / 5500 ft agl
Visibility (RVR):
Wind Speed/Gusts: 6 knots /
Turbulence Type Forecast/Actual: / None
Wind Direction: 350°
Turbulence Severity Forecast/Actual: / N/A
Altimeter Setting: 30 inches Hg
Temperature/Dew Point: 15°C / 14°C
Precipitation and Obscuration: Light - Rain; Moderate - Mist
Departure Point: Vine Grove, KY (70KY)
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Destination: Vine Grove, KY (70KY)
Type of Clearance: None
Departure Time: 1614 EST
Type of Airspace: Class G

Airport Information

Airport: VINE GROVE (70KY)
Runway Surface Type: N/A
Airport Elevation: 680 ft
Runway Surface Condition: Unknown
Runway Used: N/A
IFR Approach: None
Runway Length/Width:
VFR Approach/Landing: Forced Landing

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 1 None
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 1 None
Latitude, Longitude:  37.815833, -85.964722 (est)



VINE GROVE, KY (WAVE) – Vine Grove police officers are investigating after a small plane crashed near a bank.

The Beech D35 Bonanza crashed on departure from the Vine Grove airport at 4:15 p.m. Friday because of engine failure nearly 150 feet altitude, according to the FAA. The plane landed in a parking lot near Cecilian Bank. 

The pilot exited the plane without incident and refused medical treatment, according to Vine Grove Police Chief Kenneth Mattingly.

The pilot was the only person inside of the plane. No injuries were reported.

The aircraft was towed away on a flat bed truck around 7 p.m. It will be taken back to the airport to allow Vine Grove police and the FAA to investigate.

Nearly 85 homes were without power for three hours due to the plane clipping a power line during the crash.

Story, video and photo gallery: http://www.wave3.com




LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Authorities are responding to a plane crash that took place in Vine Grove, Kentucky, Friday afternoon.

According to Ken Mattingly, chief of Vine Grove Police, a Beech D35 Bonanza plane was attempting to take off from Vine Grove Airport, but lost power. 

As a result, it made a crash landing, striking some power lines, flying across a creek and coming to rest near Valley View Drive and Highland Avenue.

There were no injuries as a result of the crash. There was also no fire.

Authorities are on scene and are waiting to hear from the FAA on what to do next.

The FAA's Web site indicates that the identification number on the tail of the aircraft is registered to an owner in Centralia, Illinois.

- Source:  http://www.wdrb.com







VINE GROVE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- An emergency plane landing is shocking sight anywhere, but for people from Vine Grove, they said nothing like this ever happens in their quiet little town.

“It's amazing. I feel sorry for the pilot,” said Rodney Powell, of Vine Grove.

Fortunately, police said the pilot is okay, and he was the only one in the plane. 

His plane on the other hand—not so much.  

The plane is registered to Bradley Smith, and the Vine Grove Airport owner confirmed to WHAS11 that he was the pilot at the time of the landing. Police said he took off from the airport and reached an altitude of about 150 feet when the single engine V-Tail Bonanza lost power.

“He began to maneuver away from the area of the airport runway, and he was attempting to land on the roadway here. 

And he did not make it across and struck the embankment and slid across the road and clipped a power line and came to rest where you see him at right now,” said Chief Kenneth Mattingly, Vine Grove PD.

It may look bad, but pilots looking at this plane said this is the scene of a well-trained, experienced pilot.

“He did everything right to get it down safely and with very minimal damage compared to what it could be,” said Dennie Morris, Vine Grove Airport owner.

Morris said Smith stores his plane there, and he was watching as the plane lost power.

“I was on normal take off role, and two-thirds of the way down the runway he lost power and had really no place to go,” Morris said.

The FAA will now investigate the emergency landing, but according to Morris, the pilot's colleague and friend, today was a lucky day.

“It was scary, that's all I can say. And like I said we're very glad he handled the situation well. And everything worked out perfect,” Morris said.

Story and video: http://www.whas11.com

Captain Ado Sanusi: Why Airlines Prefer Expatriate Pilots

Deputy Managing Director and Head of Flight Operations at Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi.



Deputy Managing Director and Head of Flight Operations at Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, in this interview with Chinedu Eze, explained why some airlines prefer foreign pilots, and spoke on the need to embark on training of Nigerian pilots. He also called for a review of the aviation policy to ensure the autonomy of the regulatory bodies. Excerpts:

Now that new Ministers have been appointed, what do you think are the main challenges facing the aviation industry, which the minister should tackle first?

Well the most important thing is to rectify the aviation policy, because as I have said at different fora, inconsistency in government policies in aviation by subsequent leadership of the industry has derailed progress in the sector from the beginning. So there should be policy review that takes cognizance of new realities.

I think that is the basic thing to do, then you can now start looking at the challenge of infrastructure, challenge of safety oversight, challenge of efficiency, challenges of duplication and multi-taxation, challenges of the airlines, survival of the airlines and creating more enabling environment for the airlines to grow. 

The policy is the backbone that will guide whatever development and actions you want to take to move the industry forward. So based on that policy you can now start going to tackle these issues.

A CEO of one of the airlines, said recently that in all the countries he had gone to seek for flight operation,  he always had to relate with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), not the Minister of Aviation or Transport or any other government representative. But in Nigeria there seemed to be duplication of efforts between the CAA and the Ministry. Don’t you think this erodes the autonomy of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)?

Again, that goes back to the policy. If they have been sticking to it that FOP (Flight Operation Permit) are not given by the Ministry but are given by the Civil Aviation Authority of that country, because flight operation permit are very technical and we need technical people to look at those airlines that are going to fly into your country or to your state. And you need to make sure that they meet a certain requirement of safety before you allow them to come into your country. So FOPs definitely must be given by the CAA, now the bilateral air service agreement is political; the Ministry with the participation of the airlines and the CAA can champion it.

Observers say that NCAA as a regulator must ensure that other agencies train their personnel, from marshallers to the vehicle drivers at the apron, but a decree establishing the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) designated it as an authority thus bringing in a conflict of interest. How can NCAA oversight FAAN and other agencies?

First of all it is extremely important for us to have one regulator, you can only have one captain in a ship or else you are going to have confusion and chaos.  And that is exactly what we are having. You have just said it, FAAN is self-regulatory, maybe the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is self-regulatory, and maybe the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) is self-regulatory. It is not that the agencies deliberately did that; it is the Act establishing them, before we had the NCAA as the sole regulator. The Act establishing them allowed them to have self-regulation before NCAA was made the regulator of the industry.  When we moved from being self-regulatory to full regulation by NCAA, we should have gone back to the Acts establishing these parastatals and remove that power from them. If you remove that power from them and amend the Acts establishing them; if that was done then we will not have this problem now.

Of course you can see how we are having issues with a lot of runway incursions because the agencies don’t realise they have to be regulated. Such incidents like runway incursion that happened with two aircraft hitting their wings at the airport show us that there are problems. And we have to go to the root cause of the problems, which include the agencies not taking directives from NCAA because they think they are self-regulatory. FAAN feels they are self regulated and so they don’t feel that they should be licensed and then they should operate within a certain regulation; that NCAA needs to do an oversight on them.

NCAA said the airlines do bonding with pilots without their consent so when there is an infraction in the bonding; the airlines now come to them. It said the airlines should seek their partnership when they do bonding with pilots. There was this suggestion that the airline association should bring airliners together and agree that no airline should poach pilots from another member of the association?

Yes, it will be a good initiative, it will help grow the industry because a beginner airline will have to come and train his own pilots rather than poach other pilots. So it is a good development and then it will create jobs for a lot of people and there won’t be that headache. Yes, I agree with NCAA that when you enter the bond you should involve NCAA into it in the beginning so that when somebody is going to jump the bond you can bring NCAA into it. But this has gone farther in developed countries where they license the crew to a particular airline, so you cannot even use that license to go and fly in any other airline. This is the advanced stage of it because they don’t even want to say, okay you are going to jump bail, no; you won’t even have the license to do that because the license you have limits you to a particular airline. So these are the things I think the airlines should look into and I think it is a welcome development.

The NCAA will definitely be part of the bond and ensure that it is being implemented to the letter. It is not good for the industry for a beginner airline to come in and decides to pay maybe N10, N15, 000 or even N200, 000 extra to poach the pilot and then he will not train his own pilots from the beginning, that is another problem.

An operator told me he prefers to employ expatriate pilots to Nigerian pilots because the foreign pilots are more reliable; you pay them, they do the job and go, but there are issues with the Nigerian pilot; that they can leave your airline anytime, no matter how you are committed to them. What is your take on this?

For an operator to tell you that he prefers to have something higher in cost than to take something that is lower in cost then definitely there must be a reason. Let me give you a simple example, why would an operator decide to go for something more expensive? It is very simple, reliability like you said, but most importantly I am taking a very low hour Nigerian pilot with 250 hours flying experience. I am risking everything to bring him on board, to now take him and give him a type rating on my aircraft; to put him inside a jet aircraft and then to train him to be a co-pilot from 250 flying hours.

In developed countries if you finish with 250 hours you don’t go to airlines, you go to flying school till you get a 1,500 hours before you start coming to fly for airlines. It is when you get Airline Pilot License (APL) before you even come to fly for an airline. But we take them with commercial pilot license, with very low hours, we train them or let us say they even trained themselves, they come to us with very low hours, 250 hours, 300 hours.

Taking a trainee pilot with that number of hours will increase my insurance premium because I am putting an inexperienced, low time co-pilot inside the airplane, increasing my insurance premium and then putting a lot of stress on the aircraft because they are going to be doing training and everything. And when the pilot becomes proficient, then he now says I am paying him small remuneration and he leaves.

In some airlines in Europe you pay to get that kind of experience, when you come in with low flying hours you pay the airline to gain up to 500, 1000 hours on the type of the aircraft. But now I am bringing you in, giving you this training on the aircraft, giving you the opportunity to have this experience, without government incentive to the airline and I am a privately owned company, I am doing business purely on profit basis, I am not doing it on charity. Then after you have been trained, after I have paid my insurance premium very high, after I have suffered a lot on my landing gear because of hard landings that pilots do while training, after I have suffered all that expense in maintenance of the aircraft and other expenses you now say I am paying you little, so you want to leave me and go to another airline.

That is why the operator said he prefers foreign pilots to Nigerian pilots. He is a businessman, so he will look at it that this is a readymade pilot, he is an expert, he has 1,500 flying hours on type of the aircraft, not total type but on particular aircraft type and he is well experienced. When I submit his resume, because at the end of every year before I do my insurance renewal I submit the hours of each of the pilots. When I submit his hours to the insurance company my premium will go down, that is because you have pilots that are well experienced; so it is less likely that you are going to have an accident. So it brings down my premium and then the maintenance culture of it. I am not stressing the airplane because the guy has already had the hours of 1.500 and he flies the airplane the way it should be flown.

It is more expensive for the operator to bring in expatriates but when you look at it in the long run he is saving money in training cost and everything. But still Arik Air, apart from Nigeria Airways, we have trained the highest number of pilots with low time in the country.  We have trained many Nigerian pilots, close to what Nigerian Airways had done. So if you look at it we have taken a lot of people with low time in Nigeria. And two years ago we took 80 first officers that we selected from 120. 80 persons were successful. And we have finished training those batches, and some of those batches have even gone as senior first officers and some have left and some have gone to the Middle East, some have gone where they will be paid higher. Which I don’t blame them; they can go to where they feel is good for them but they have to understand that we took them when nobody could touch them. We took them, brought them in, trained them to that international standard when nobody could touch them. So that is the dilemma we are facing which is very wrong and we are not a government institution we are a privately owned company that we, our main aim is to make profit. So it is a big problem.

You know the poaching is creating animosity in the industry. Some operators are fighting themselves over this and it adds to the rivalry and the bitterness in the industry, don’t you think that there should be a decision on that?

Well, I think there should be a decision. I think the NCAA should champion it, bring the airlines together and then have some kind of some agreement, even if it is an unwritten agreement, to ensure that there is harmony in the industry. We personally have agreement, not written agreement but a gentleman understanding with some of our friendly airlines; that we will not take their pilots. We don’t take any pilot from any airline. We usually ask questions. Has he paid his dues before intending to leave? We will always do that. Even outside the country when we are getting pilots, we always employ based on the recommendation of his last employer. So if he is not in good terms with his last employer we can’t even take him.

You know this thing is very critical because of safety. About two weeks ago an airline took off from Uyo airport without locking the aircraft fuel tank valve. Who are you going to blame in that situation?

First of all, it is the captain because the captain has the full responsibility of his airplane. Maybe he forgot t check before take off. However, I wouldn’t say that I would blame him directly; maybe the thing fell off in the air. Maybe he failed to close it, I don’t know the whole story but if there is an issue like that, if you investigate and you find out that he actually left it open or he forgot, he didn’t check, then he is the one to be blamed. If it opened in the sky then it is a maintenance issue. I don’t know the system of this MD because it is an old airplane I never flew it. If you ask me of Boeing 737 then I can tell you or a Boeing 727 I can tell you. But such valves are not meant to open in the sky only the B727 are meant to open and that is when you are going to do over weight landing and you dump the fuel.

And it is a process; it is not something that you just accidently open, it is a full checklist that you follow step by step. Because you don’t want to start dumping fuel on people and you don’t want to dump on the place where you will come back the fumes will be there and you burn. So you need to know exactly where the dumping area is. You need to know the time that you will dump and then you don’t dump while you are going out; you dump while you are coming in, because you don’t want to go out and you cannot come in again.

There are so many things that are on the B727, on the B737 it doesn’t have that capacity, so you can’t dump. Because in the landing and taking off, you are allowed to make over weight landing then they will do an inspection. It is a progress on the older airplanes, because after the accident of the Halifax in Canada where they went out and they were checking an electrical problem and the captain didn’t want to come back and do an overweight landing, so he went out into the ocean to dump fuel so that he can come back and land. As he went out the electrical fire kept burning and burning. They were still trying and then as he was dumping electrical smoke filled the cockpit and they all died. And he would have landed; it would have been a heavy landing. They would have carried out an inspection and everybody would have been safe; maybe the damage on the aircraft would be total, but they would have been safe. That is why they changed that technology.

A lot of people are saying that NCAA is not doing enough in terms of having aircraft inspectors reviewing the airlines regularly and also inspecting activities of other agencies and handling companies.  They said there is no definite delineation between the technical people and the administrative people in NCAA. That everybody is struggling for training. What do you expect from NCAA?

You see because of our peculiar nature it is very difficult to have experienced engineers in all the types of aircraft that is flown in Nigeria. It is not that it is impossible but it is difficult to have. But that doesn’t mean that you cannot effectively do a safety oversight. What I think is that there should be more emphasis on the airlines itself, allow them to do their maintenance or they go and contract it out. But you do an oversight on the maintenance that they do. Like you said, you should have a basic knowledge on that aircraft that you are inspecting. So lets say for instance Airbus A320, and you want to have an inspector, at least that inspector should have gone to training for Airbus A320 type and then you must have some kind of license on that airplane. So making it easier for the inspector to do an oversight but he doesn’t need to go and actually see or do the repairs on the airplane, no.

As an inspector he will like to see what the engineers in the company have done, whether they have done what the books say, whether they have cut corners. Because he has a broad knowledge of the aircraft and of the maintenance of that aircraft he would quickly know if that engineer of that airline is trying to hide something from him or he did not do something or he has just cut corners to make the airplane fly. He will notice that and then that is when they should sanction that airline heavily. That is when they should even suspend the license of that individual and then sanction the airline heavily.

Do you think it will be an imposition if government suggests that particular aircraft types should be flown for schedule passenger service?

I don’t think the government should say particular aircraft types should be used for commercial operation. Even the idea if limiting the age of the aircraft that will fly in the country is not good enough. I don’t think it is a good idea. It is bad enough to say you have age restriction, which I understand the government position for the age restriction because of lack of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility. It is okay because we don’t have a maintenance facility so older airplanes tends to have more maintenance than newer airplanes. So we limit the age. I would say looking at it broadly, yes it is a good thing but if you go deep, if an airplane is built to fly for 25 years based on the maintenance; that should be recognized and accepted. But if we don’t have a maintenance culture or we don’t have a maintenance facility then newer airplanes are better and more efficient and even friendlier to the environment. So now to even go to the government and say you want a particular airplane to fly your passengers, I think that would be monopoly.

But it is the responsibility of NCAA to have the engineers of particular aircraft types that are flown in Nigeria?

Yes, in fact as an operator or as a would be operator, when I am going to apply for an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), in that AOC application before I start operating I would have told the NCAA in my forms that these are the aircraft types that are coming. This is way, way before I even get the AOC, so what I believe should have been done is that before that airline starts going into operation, the operations, airworthiness, licensing, all the departments must have actually seen this company that is coming in. Now, if it is a brand new airplane in the world then when the company shows interest of buying those airplane, usually what they do in other countries is when they are doing the certification for that airplane, the CAAs of different countries come and share and then do training so that they can include the new aircraft in their register.

First Nation the other day said they have got IATA Operational Safety audit (IOSA), and Dana, Medview, Air Peace are in line to get theirs. Arik Air already has advanced IOSA. Do you believe that if we make IOSA a standard for operation it will improve safety, and how does a new airline coming fit in?

I think what we can do is to incorporate IOSA when an airline comes in. he will be allowed to operate first 24 months after he has received his AOC. When he is in the process to renew its AOC after the first two years, NCAA will say we will not renew your AOC after the first renewal unless we see an IOSA certification. That would be good because the airline has operated for 24 months. Renew your AOC now and then the next renewal is in another 24 months but it would not be renewed unless you show IOSA certification. It will go a long way; it would make the airlines sit up. Because you can’t tell an airline that is just coming in or has not even started operation to present and IOSA certificate.

Is it possible for NCAA to incorporate all those requirements of IOSA in their audit for AOC?

No, they cannot do that before operations start. You can’t do an IOSA audit before you start operating.  You must do an audit after you have started operation because you have documented a procedure and proof that you are practicing that thing that you have documented. So if you have documented that this is what I will be doing, then show me that you are doing that.

The quest for national carrier seems to be dying, relying on the feedbacks I have been getting. I spoke with an aviator and he suggested that government is really determined to have a national carrier but that what they should do first is to have flag carriers. When they have flag carriers they think about establishing MRO in Nigeria. That they should use the first four years as planning years, while in the second four years they would usher in the national carrier. Is this realistic?

Listen, everything is realistic, everything that you want is realistic. It depends on the amount of resources that you have. If you have the resources and today you want to start a national carrier, if you have the money you can do it. If you have money to go and buy airplanes, start-up and office, you can do it. Yes without MRO, you have to have resources. You see, I keep saying is it practicable? You want to crawl before you walk, before you fly, so if you put all that in a chronological manner, of course what you have just said will be the perfect thing to do, to make sure that you have put everything in place and then you gradually build it up.

Just as when we were in a recent conference organized by Akwaaba. The Ethiopian Airlines representative said that you don’t build an airline in one day or in one year; that you gradually build it. That means that you are building it on solid foundation, it cannot shake. Because you have MRO there, you have this and that, everything is done. And I think that is the model that Ethiopian Airlines has adopted and they have looked at all options while they were building it. They have looked at the management of it; they have looked at everything. They now have to separate the ownership from the management, which he mentioned clearly, the ownership is the government and the management is totally different. Now they are maturing into another form of enterprise because they have created Ethiopian MRO as a separate company, Ethiopian catering, a separate company, Ethiopian handling a separate company, and Ethiopian Airlines as a separate company. The Ethiopian training is also a separate company. And all of them have their CEOs reporting to them. You see that is not done within a day or within a year or two years. They are almost 70 years old. So if we want something that is good, I think we have to look at the foundation. They have built theirs on a solid foundation and I think we should build our own too on a solid foundation. And I think that is the only way we can achieve a viable, strong national carrier because whatever we do we have to reflect the next 30, 40 years not what will happen after the end of this administration.

Source:  http://www.thisdaylive.com

Piper PA-24-250 Comanche, N88F: Accident occurred December 04, 2015 at Millville Municipal Airport (KMIV), Cumberland County, New Jersey

Aviation Accident Final Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

NTSB Identification: ERA16LA061
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, December 04, 2015 in Millville, NJ
Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/02/2017
Aircraft: PIPER PA-24, registration: N88F
Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 Uninjured.

NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

The private pilot and flight instructor were conducting an instructional flight. The pilot reported that, before the flight, he conducted a preflight inspection and before-takeoff check, which were normal. During the initial climb and when the airplane was about 150 ft above ground level, the engine lost total power. The pilot chose to land the airplane straight ahead between two taxiways on the airport. The airplane impacted a grassy area and sustained substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. 

An examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any evidence of preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation, and there was sufficient fuel onboard at the time of the accident. Although the weather conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to serious carburetor icing at glide power, the pilot applied full power for takeoff; therefore, it is unlikely that carburetor ice formed during the takeoff sequence. The investigation could not determine the reason for the total loss of engine power.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The total loss of engine power during initial climb for reasons that could not be determined because postaccident examination of the engine revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident.

Additional Participating Entity:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

Investigation Docket - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

http://registry.faa.gov/N88F

NTSB Identification: ERA16LA061 
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, December 04, 2015 in Millville, NJ
Aircraft: PIPER PA-24, registration: N88F
Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 Uninjured.

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 December 4, 2015, about 1245 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-24-250, N88F, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following a total loss of engine power near Millville, New Jersey. The private pilot/owner incurred minor injuries and the flight instructor was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight, which originated from Millville Municipal Airport (MIV), Millville, New Jersey, about 1245, and was destined for South Jersey Regional Airport (VAY), Mount Holly, New Jersey. The instructional flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

According to the pilots, they had flown the airplane earlier in the day with no anomalies noted. Then, after a brief break, the private pilot/owner of the airplane completed a preflight inspection and engine run up with no anomalies noted. Then, they departed runway 32. After takeoff, about 150 feet above ground level, the private pilot/owner retracted the landing gear, and then the engine experienced a total loss of power. The private pilot/owner lowered the nose and noted that the airplane was "too low and fast to try a restart." He elected to land the airplane straight ahead between two taxiways on the airport. The airplane impacted a grassy area and sustained substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage.

A postaccident examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the left and right fuel tanks contained an undetermined amount of fuel, and no debris was noted in the fuel. All three propeller blades remained attached to the propeller hub, exhibited chordwise scratching, and were bent in the aft direction.

An examination of the engine revealed that there were no obvious oil or fuel leaks. In addition, the FAA inspector reported that the carburetor contained approximately two tablespoons of fuel. The auxiliary fuel pump was placed in the "ON" position and fuel was noted flowing from the carburetor drain plug. Throttle control cable continuity was confirmed to the engine. Both the left and right magnetos produced spark on all leads when rotated manually. The ignition leads were normal in appearance. All spark plugs appeared to be in "normal" condition with no fouling or damage. Suction and compression was observed on all cylinders when the engine crankshaft was rotated manually. The fuel system appeared normal and there were no contaminants in the tanks.

According to FAA records and maintenance logbooks, the airplane was manufactured in 1960, and registered to the private pilot/owner on November, 9, 2015. It was powered by a Lycoming O-540 series, 250-hp engine. The most recent annual inspection was completed on November 30, 2015, at a tachometer reading of 152.7 hours, and a total time of 3455.47 flight hours. The tachometer indicated 154.3 hours at the time of accident.


According to the 1254 weather observation at the airport, the temperature and dew point were 50 degrees F and 32 degrees F, respectively. According to the carburetor icing probability chart in FAA Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-09-35 (Carburetor Icing Prevention), dated June 30, 2009, the temperature/dew point at the time of the accident was conducive to the formation of serious icing at glide power.

NTSB Identification: ERA16LA061
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, December 04, 2015 in Millville, NJ
Aircraft: PIPER PA-24, registration: N88F
Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 Uninjured.

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 December 4, 2015, about 1245 eastern standard time, a Piper PA-24-250, N88F, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following a total loss of engine power near Millville, New Jersey. The private pilot incurred minor injuries and the flight instructor was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight, which originated from Millville Municipal Airport (MIV), Millville, New Jersey, about 1240 and was destined for South Jersey Regional Airport (VAY), Mount Holly, New Jersey. The instructional flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

According to the pilots, the private pilot/owner of the airplane completed a preflight and engine run up and no anomalies were noted. Then, they departed runway 32. After takeoff, about 150 feet above ground level, the private pilot/owner retracted the landing gear, then the engine experienced a total loss of power. The private pilot/owner lowered the nose and noted that the airplane was "too low and fast to try a restart." He elected to land the airplane straight ahead in a field. The airplane impacted a grassy area and sustained substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage.

A postaccident examination of the airplane, by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, revealed that the left and right fuel tanks contained an undetermined amount of fuel. Fuel samples were retained from each tank. All three propeller blades remained attached to the propeller hub, exhibited chordwise scratching, and were bent in the aft direction. The engine was retained for further investigation.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records and maintenance logbooks, the airplane was manufactured in 1960, and registered to the private pilot/owner on November, 9, 2015. It was powered by a Lycoming O-540 series, 250 hp engine. The most recent annual inspection was completed on November 30, 2015, at a tachometer reading of 152.7 hours, and a total time of 3455.47 flight hours. The tachometer indicated a time of 154.3 hours at the time of accident.



(Millville, NJ) At approximately 12:30 p.m. today, a Piper PA-24-250 Comanche aircraft apparently lost power following take-off and landed on its belly in the grass near an adjacent taxiway. 

Just after taking-off from Runway 14-32, the aircraft lost power and the pilot, Roger Buck of Berlin, New Jersey, attempted an emergency landing, touching down in the grass near Taxiway J.

The pilot sustained minor injuries, including a cut on his forehead. 

A passenger in the plane, Roland Arthur of Lumberton, New Jersey, was unhurt. 

Both men declined to be transported to Inspira Medical Center in Vineland for treatment.

The following fire and rescue units responded to the scene: Millville Police Department, Millville Rescue Squad, Millville Fire Department and Delaware River and Bay Authority maintenance personnel.

The aircraft sustained significant damage.

The FAA has been notified of the incident and will be conducting an accident investigation.

No runways or taxiways were impacted by the incident.

Source: http://www.drba.net



MILLVILLE — A Piper PA-24-250 Comanche plane made a hard landing at Millville Municipal Airport, according to officials.

The crash occurred around 12:30 p.m., said James Salmon of the Delaware River and Bay Authority.

Pilot Roger A. Buck, of Berlin, was taking off in his Piper PA-24-250 Comanche when he apparently lost power and landed on grass nearby, Salmon said.

There were two people in the airplane when it went down, according to Chief John Redden of the Millville Rescue Squad.

After making a hard landing, both occupants were evaluated at the scene. 

The pilot had minor injuries but refused transportation to Inspira Medical Center Vineland, Redden said.

Buck received a cut to his forehead and his passenger, Roland Arthur, of Lumberton, was uninjured, Salmon said.

Millville Police Department, Millville Rescue Squad, Millville Fire Department and Delaware River and Bay Authority's maintenance personnel responded to the crash.

The Piper PA-24-250 Comanche was significantly damaged. 

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.