[simpits-chat] Fwd: Fw: Flight Safety Information (12JAN03-019) (fwd)

[Gene Buckle]

>Flight Safety Information (12JAN03-019)
>_________________________________
>
>*Rescue Teams Spot Peru Airliner Wreckage
>*Peru plane wreckage found, all 46 aboard dead
>*Major plane crashes in Peru in last decade years
>*Small plane crashes in mountains of central Mexico
>*Funeral held for crew killed in Turkish jetliner crash
>*Dominican Republic aircraft maintenance worker found
> dead at Toronto airport
>*Loaded gun found in luggage at airport
>*Hoax bomb threat forces KLM flight to divert to Paris
>*Flight makes emergency landing in Malta after terror threat
>*NTSB hits Alaska's maintenance 'culture' in Flight 261 report
>*Syrian flag carrier to buy five new planes in 2003
>*Today in History
>**********************************************
>
>Rescue Teams Spot Peru Airliner Wreckage
>
>LIMA, Peru (AP) - After two days of rain and fog, rescue helicopters on
>Saturday spotted the wreckage of a Peruvian airliner that plowed into a
>mountain with 46 people aboard, including eight children. Officials had
>little hope of finding survivors and said the recovery effort would be
slow.
>
>Pieces of the TANS airliner were scattered over an area 1,300 feet wide
and
>about 1,600 feet below the peak of the mountain, Transportation Minister
>Javier Reategui said.
>
>``Regrettably, there has been a direct impact against Coloque
mountain,'' he
>said. ``The possibilities of anyone being alive are remote.''
>
>The 11,550-foot high mountain - part of the Andes mountain range - is 10
>miles northwest of the town of Chachapoyas, which is situated in Peru's
high
>jungle, about 400 miles north of Lima.
>
>Search crews were on the ground near the site of the plane crash but
were
>having trouble reaching it. They have to get around cliffs and push
through
>knee-deep mud, said air force Col. Juan Rodriguez, who is in charge of
>rescue operations.
>
>Heavy rains and low clouds hampered efforts to locate the missing TANS
>Airlines plane, a Fokker 28 twin-engine turbojet, which lost radio
contact
>with the Chachapoyas airport minutes before landing Thursday morning.
The
>flight had originated in Lima.
>
>It was not raining when the plane disappeared but low-hanging clouds
covered
>the mountains near Chachapoyas, meteorologists said, leading to
speculation
>that the plane had slammed into a mountain covered by fog or clouds.
>
>But medical technician Walter Abad and Chachapoyas mayor Enrique Torres
were
>quoted Saturday by the Lima daily El Comercio as saying they had spoken
with
>villagers near the impact site who reported seeing the plane flying low
with
>one of its engines aflame shortly before hearing an explosion.
>
>David Reina, fire chief of Amazonas region, said a team of firefighters
who
>climbed the mountain late Friday found a path the plane had cut through
>trees as it smashed into the mountain.
>
>``It is impossible that people are alive. The impact must have been
>tremendous,'' he said.
>
>Relatives of passengers, including Jorge Subiate, who lost his wife and
>daughter in the crash, wept under gray skies Saturday morning after
>officials confirmed that rescue teams had found the wreckage. Police
>preparing for their mission laid out dark plastic body bags near a
>helicopter on a grassy clearing in Lamud, a town near Chachapoyas in
which
>the rescue operation was centered.
>
>Recovery of the victims would be a daunting task, Interior Minister Gino
>Costa said.
>
>``It's a zone of craggy peaks. The recovery effort is going to be slow
and
>difficult. We understand that it is very cold in the area,'' he said.
>
>The plane was carrying four crew members as well as 42 passengers.
>
>TANS on Saturday updated its list of foreigners who were on the plane to
six
>people, including two Belgians, a Cuban, two Dutch and a Spaniard.
Several
>of the passengers had Latin names, indicating possible dual citizenship.
>
>Three 12-man rescue squads, with jungle rescue experts, set out Friday
into
>the mountains.
>
>The ground teams where virtually blind without the four available
>helicopters overhead to guide them and had based their routes on reports
>from local farmers who said they had heard an explosion or had seen a
low
>flying plane, Police Maj. Medardo Escobedo said.
>
>Chachapoyas, a town of 20,000 people, is located at an altitude of 7,700
>feet in a region of rain forest on the eastern slope of the Andes
Mountains.
>
>TANS, a state-owned airline, was set up 40 years ago to fly to remote
jungle
>towns that private airlines did not service because the routes were not
>profitable.
>
>It began offering weekly flights to Chachapoyas in October. The town,
which
>is close to the towering Kuelap ruins popular with tourists, had been
>without regular air service for years.
>*****************
>
>Peru plane wreckage found, all 46 aboard dead
>
>LIMA, Peru, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Rescue teams found the wreckage of a Tans
>Peru aircraft on Saturday, two days after it slammed into a hill in
Peru's
>northern jungle, and established that all 46 people on board were
killed,
>government ministers said.
>
>The Fokker F-28 crashed on Thursday as it approached a small airport in
the
>mountain town of Chachapoyas, 390 miles (650 km) north of Lima.
>
>"Unfortunately, the aircraft crashed directly into ... Cerro Coloque at
an
>altitude of 2,300 metres (7,545 feet). The impact disintegrated the
plane,"
>Transport Minister Javier Reategui told reporters at the Chachapoyas
>airport.
>
>"The passengers and the crew suffered the same impact," he said, adding
that
>the wreckage and the remains of those on board were spread over a
400-yard
>(meter) radius.
>
>"The rescue workers are making every effort to recover the remains,"
>Reategui said. Two flight recorders, which could hold the key to the
cause
>of the accident, had been recovered, he said.
>
>Health Minister Fernando Carbone said the plane exploded following the
crash
>and no intact bodies had been found. He said both wreckage and human
remains
>had been broken into "small pieces."
>
>Heavy rains and thick fog had hindered search operations in the remote
area,
>but the weather improved early on Saturday and helicopters were able to
head
>to an area where locals said they had seen a low-flying airplane and
heard
>an explosion.
>
>Carbone said commandos had to scale a rugged, nearly vertical cliff to
reach
>the crash site.
>
>Hector Badillo, who lost a wife and two daughters in the crash, said the
>families of the victims had asked authorities to declare the site a
>sanctuary. He appealed to reporters to refrain from publishing images of
it.
>
>"The sentiment of all of the families is to ask the press not to show
these
>images that are an attack on the memories of our loved ones," said
Vicente
>Navarro, who lost six relatives in the crash.
>
>Flight 222, with eight children among its 42 passengers and four crew
>members, disappeared minutes before it was due to land. Six foreigners
-- a
>Cuban man, a Spanish woman, two Dutchmen and Belgian with his Portuguese
>wife -- were on board.
>
>The jet left the coastal city of Chiclayo shortly after 8 a.m. (1300
GMT)
>for the 30-minute flight and lost contact with air traffic controllers
at
>around 8:43 a.m., apparently after pilots had sighted the 6,300-foot
(1,900
>metres) runway.
>
>Chachapoyas, some 7,600 feet (2,300 metres) above sea level, is
frequented
>by tourists and backpackers visiting Kuelap, a cloud-shrouded citadel
>predating the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Its rustic airport does
not
>have radar or a fixed phone line.
>
>Peru's worst air crash was on Feb. 29, 1996, when a Boeing 737 belonging
to
>the local Faucett Airline crashed in the Andes as it prepared to land in
>Arequipa, 600 miles (1,000 km) south of Lima. All 117 passengers and six
>crew members were killed.
>*****************
>
>Major plane crashes in Peru in last decade years
>
>(AP) Major plane crashes in Peru over the last decade include:
>
>May 5, 1998: Peruvian air force Boeing 737 crashes in the Amazon jungle
>during a storm. Thirteen of the 87 people on board survive.
>
>March 29, 1998: Air force Antonov plane carrying relief supplies crashes
>into a house outside the coastal city of Piura, 530 miles (850
kilometers)
>northwest of Lima, killing 21 people aboard and a child in the house.
The
>pilot reported mechanical failure and steered the plane away from
heavily
>populated areas before it went down.
>
>Oct. 2, 1996: Aero-Peru Airlines Boeing 757 crashes into Pacific Ocean
>shortly after taking off from Lima, killing all 70 people on board. An
>investigation found ground crew workers forgot to remove adhesive tape
>placed over speed and altitude sensors to protect them during cleaning.
>
>Feb. 29, 1996: Faucett Airline Boeing 737 jetliner crashes into a low
>mountain near Peru's second-largest city of Arequipa, killing all 123
people
>on board. An investigation attributes the accident to pilot error. The
worst
>airline crash in Peruvian history, it led officials to halt night
flights
>into the interior.
>
>There also have been more than a dozen small plane crashes with
fatalities
>in the last decade.
>******************
>
>Small plane crashes in mountains of central Mexico
>
>TOLUCA, Mexico - A small plane crashed into a tree Saturday while
landing at
>an abandoned motorcycle track in central Mexico, and its two occupants
were
>injured, local officials said.
>
>The two Mexican men, 59 and 61 years of age, were traveling to the
popular
>lake resort of Valle de Bravo, 90 miles (150 kms) west of Mexico City,
where
>both lived, local official Pascual Martinez said. They were trying to
land
>at the abandoned track when the plane hit a tree. Martinez said the two
had
>often used the track before as an improvised landing strip. Both victims
>were flown by helicopter to a Mexico City hospital.
>*************
>
>Funeral held for crew killed in Turkish jetliner crash
>
>(AP) ISTANBUL, Turkey - Hundreds of pilots and flight attendants lined
up
>in front of five flag-wrapped coffins Saturday for the funeral of
colleagues
>killed when a Turkish Airlines jetliner crashed in southeastern Turkey.
>
>The British Aerospace RJ-100 came down Wednesday while attempting to
land on
>a fog-covered runway in the city of Diyarbakir, killing 75 people in
>Turkey's worst air disaster in 25 years. Five people survived the crash
with
>injuries. The cause of the crash is under investigation but officials
>believe the pilot missed the runway because of the fog. Diyarbakir
airport,
>which is owned by the military, lacks an Instrument Landing System to
help
>during low visibility. Friends and relatives of the five crew gathered
>outside of the Turkish Airlines headquarters, some holding photographs
of
>their loved ones.
>
>Relatives attached a white bridal veil on the coffin of one of the
flight
>attendants — a traditional funeral sendoff for unmarried young women.
"We
>are bidding farewell to these young, beautiful people — who have
joyfully
>flown a hundred times — on their final journey," said Cem Kozlu, a top
>Turkish Airlines director. "We pray to God that Turkey and Turkish
Airlines
>never goes through this pain again." Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif
Sener
>said: "Our pain is so deep that we are unable to express it." Uniformed
>pilots carried the coffins onto the hearses while mourners threw red
>carnations at them. Families of other victims were holding separate,
private
>funerals.
>
>The plane crashed into a field with the fuselage breaking into three
flaming
>pieces. Luggage was scattered across 800 meters (yards). Authorities
have
>identified most of the victims but were conducting DNA tests on remains
of
>some they could not identify. Among the dead were four Britons, an
American,
>an Austrian and a Finn.
>
>Diyarbakir is 1,400 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of Istanbul and 120
>kilometers (75 miles) north of the Syrian border. *************
>
>Dominican Republic aircraft maintenance worker found dead at Toronto
airport
>
>TORONTO - The frozen body of a Dominican Republic aircraft maintenance
>worker was found in an airplane's landing gear Saturday at Toronto's
Pearson
>International Airport, police said. It was not immediately known whether
he
>was trying to smuggle himself into Canada.
>
>Mariano Herrera-Ba's body was found in a compartment above the rear
landing
>mechanism of a Skyservice Airbus A320 airplane during a weekly
maintenance
>check, police said. Identification found on the body showed the man was
an
>aircraft maintenance employee at the Dominican Republic airport in Punta
>Cana where the flight originated. Herrera-Ba would have had access to
the
>aircraft compartment where his body was discovered while performing
regular
>maintenance duties for his job, said Const. Harry Tam of the Peel
Regional
>Police. "We'll continue the investigation to figure out whether he went
in
>there intentionally, or accidentally was left in there when working," he
>said. Maintenance crews found the frozen body at the Toronto airport
around
>12:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said it was not clear how long the body had
been
>in the aircraft, or where the plane had traveled in the five days since
the
>man was reported missing. The man, believed to be in his mid-30s, had
been
>reported missing in his home country last Monday. The Skyservice plane
had
>also made a stop at the Punta Cana airport on that day, police said. An
>autopsy was scheduled for Saturday afternoon to determine the time and
cause
>of death. Police said they do not suspect foul play.
>******************
>
>Loaded gun found in luggage at airport
>
>An Export man was detained at Pittsburgh International Airport yesterday
>after a loaded handgun was found in his luggage during a screening for
>explosives.The .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun was discovered by
federal
>Transportation Security Administration employees as part of new security
>procedures implemented Dec. 31.Marc Roup, 29, initially denied having a
gun
>in the bag but after being questioned by a TSA employee, said he didn't
know
>if there was one inside, said Allegheny County police Sgt. Robert
>Clark.Clark said Roup probably would be cited for bringing weapons onto
>airport property, a summary offense.Travelers can store guns in checked
>luggage, but must declare them at the ticket counter. The weapon must be
>unloaded and the ammunition must be stored separately from the gun. In
>addition, the gun must be in a hard-sided lockable case."In this case,
those
>procedures appear not to have been followed," Clark said. Roup, who has
a
>license to carry a gun, was headed for Florida on a US Airways flight.
Clark
>said he expected him to be released last night. He said the FBI has been
>notified of the incident.
>*************
>
>Hoax bomb threat forces KLM flight to divert to Paris
>
>PARIS - A hoax bomb threat forced a plane for Dutch airline KLM carrying
265
>people from Amsterdam to the Netherlands Antilles to divert to Paris on
>Saturday, the airline and airport authorities said.
>
>The 252 passengers and 13 crew were evacuated after the flight landed at
>Paris' Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport. There, the McDonnell-Douglas
MD-11
>jet was searched with police dogs and luggage inspected, but no bomb was
>found, the Paris Airports authority said. The plane was flying to the
Dutch
>island of Aruba, in the Caribbean off the north coast of Venezuela.
About
>half an hour into the flight, a passenger unfolded his table and found a
>sign that said there was a bomb on board, said Bart Koster, a KLM
spokesman.
>Charles de Gaulle was the closest airport. Crew and passengers were
housed
>in a hotel and the flight was to continue on to Aruba on Sunday, Paris
>Airports said.
>**************
>
>Flight makes emergency landing in Malta after terror threat
>
>VALLETTA, Malta - An SN Brussels Airlines flight from Belgium to Kenya
made
>an emergency landing in Malta on Saturday after two anonymous phone
calls
>threatening a terrorist attack, airport officials said.
>
>Flight SN463 — flying 220 passengers and 11 crew to Nairobi, Kenya,
via
>Kigali, Rwanda — left Brussels on Saturday morning. Brussels airport
>officials said they received two threatening calls, and the information
was
>passed on to the pilot. Hearing of the threats in mid-flight, the
captain
>made a request to land in Malta. After the plane landed, the Maltese
>military and police conducted a search of the plane. A new flight was
>scheduled to fly the passengers to Rome, and then on to Kigali and
Nairobi.
>Further details were not immediately available.
>***************
>
>NTSB hits Alaska's maintenance 'culture' in Flight 261 report
>
>Excerpts from John Goglia's NTSB statement
>
>The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday issued a scathing
final
>report on the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in January 2000,
saying
>safety breakdowns at Alaska that led to the accident were "less
coincidence
>than culture."
>"Alaska needs to re-constitute its will to performance and perfection on
the
>shop floor," board member John Goglia wrote in a 235-page report
detailing
>broad findings approved by the board during a public meeting last month.
>
>The board's three other members concurred with his statement and, in a
>separate statement, said the Federal Aviation Administration should
strongly
>consider taking a new look at Alaska in light of continuing concerns
about
>its maintenance programs.
>
>Although he said NTSB maintenance recommendations should prevent another
>Flight 261-type crash, Goglia, a former airline mechanic, wrote that
>"maintenance, poorly done, will find a way to bite somewhere else."
>
>No comment from Alaska
>
>Alaska did not respond yesterday to a request to comment on the report.
The
>carrier has said it has overhauled its maintenance operations since the
>crash and contends its maintenance is now among the best in the
industry.
>
>All 88 passengers and crew members on Flight 261 were killed Jan. 31,
2000,
>when the MD-83 plunged into the Pacific Ocean off Southern California.
>
>Federal prosecutors in San Francisco, who announced in December 2001
they
>had not found criminal wrongdoing in the crash, plan to closely review
the
>NTSB report to see if the investigation should be reopened, according to
>law-enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
>
>The NTSB Flight 261 site
>
>The NTSB Executive Summary on the Flight 261 crash
>
>The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco declined comment, but it
>previously has said it would examine the findings. Family members of
those
>killed in the crash are pressing prosecutors to reopen the case.
>
>In reaching its findings, the safety board said it still questions the
>"depth and effectiveness" of Alaska's actions to correct maintenance
>problems since the crash and "remains concerned about the overall
adequacy
>of Alaska Airlines' maintenance program."
>
>Those comments represent a stronger stance than the board took when it
held
>its public meeting Dec. 10 to preliminarily announce its findings.
>
>At that time, the board rejected a formal recommendation from its staff
to
>urge the FAA to conduct a top-level inspection of the airline, as the
FAA
>conducted three months after the crash, when it found serious
deficiencies
>in Alaska's maintenance practices.
>
>Yesterday, the board didn't alter its conclusion, which was based on
>Goglia's concern that the FAA needed to concentrate its resources on the
>troubled airline industry. But the three members other than Goglia said
the
>FAA needs to carefully review whether it should take another look at
Alaska.
>
>"The argument made during the meeting that yet another inspection of
Alaska
>Airlines would divert already stretched FAA resources is actually an
>argument for the FAA to make," acting Chairwoman Carol Carmody said in a
>statement joined by board members John Hammerschmidt and George Black.
>
>"There needs to be an assurance that Alaska Airlines has permanently
>remedied the recurring maintenance problems we have documented in our
>exhaustive investigation," Carmody wrote. "The public expects and
deserves
>no less."
>
>Her statement said the FAA "should not have to be coaxed by the NTSB
into
>being more proactive, and I hope we have not served to perpetuate any
>problems at Alaska Airlines that the recommended inspection was intended
to
>identify and correct."
>
>FAA spokesman Laura Brown in Washington, D.C., said the agency would
study
>Carmody's statement, along with other recommendations made by the board,
and
>respond within 90 days.
>
>The board's report reiterated the central finding of the Dec. 10
meeting, in
>which it blamed Alaska for the crash, finding that a key flight-control
>component in the plane's tail section was insufficiently lubricated.
>
>As it did at the Dec. 10 meeting, the board also faulted the FAA for
failing
>to properly oversee the carrier, concluding that Alaska, while
increasing
>its flight hours, was allowed to extend maintenance intervals for
>lubricating and checking wear on the component without proper analysis.
>
>Also contributing to the accident was the lack of a fail-safe mechanism
on
>the McDonnell Douglas-built jet to prevent the catastrophic failure of
the
>component, the board found.
>
>The component that failed — the jackscrew assembly — is a
2-foot-long,
>1½-inch-diameter threaded shaft that moves up and down, raising and
lowering
>the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer, the winglike structure on
the
>tail that controls the plane's pitch.
>
>Investigators were unable to find any grease in the jackscrew's acme nut
or
>the working areas of the screw itself.
>
>In addition, the passageway where grease is squirted into the nut with a
>pressurized gun contained a "dried, claylike substance consistent with
>degraded grease" when it should have contained fresh grease, the board
said
>in yesterday's report.
>
>The board said interviews with the Alaska mechanic who performed the
last
>lubrication before the crash, in September 1999, "revealed his lack of
>knowledge about how to properly perform the procedure." The mechanic
said he
>did not recall checking to see if grease was coming out of the top of
the
>nut, as specified in lubrication guidelines, the board said.
>
>"Woefully executed"
>
>"This is a maintenance accident," Goglia said in his statement,
declaring
>that Alaska's maintenance and inspection of the horizontal stabilizer
were
>"poorly conceived and woefully executed."
>
>Goglia also cited the last major maintenance check of the plane in
September
>1997. During that check, a senior Alaska mechanic found that the
jackscrew
>should be replaced because it had reached the highest limit of its
allowable
>wear, though automatic replacement wasn't required. Other mechanics,
facing
>a nearing deadline to complete the check, performed a new wear test and
>found the part to be within its limit. Alaska didn't have another
jackscrew
>in stock at the time and never ordered one in response to the original
>replacement request.
>
>Goglia, in his statement, said mechanics "found a jackscrew that needed
to
>be pulled, but no spare was found, and as the part was arguably
acceptable,
>they pushed the plane back into service, with no watch list, no
trailers, or
>orders to keep track of its condition."
>
>The plane was technically legal and safe if had been carefully greased,
>Goglia wrote, but it "was not, we know that without question." In fact,
>Goglia said, the plane was released with a jackscrew of "questionable
>serviceability that was, in all probability, not greased."
>
>"And the evidence is that it was never adequately greased again," he
wrote.
>"Had any of the managers, mechanics, inspectors, supervisors, or FAA
>overseers whose job it was to protect this mechanism done their job
>conscientiously, this accident cannot happen."
>
>Additionally, Goglia said, Alaska's ground personnel seemed to have
pushed
>the two pilots to continue to San Francisco with a "broken plane" when
they
>reported problems. He said no one will ever know if they did so to
ensure
>the convenience of passengers and maintenance.
>
>"But the impression is inescapable. An aircraft that had been hustled
out
>the door three years earlier for the convenience of scheduling was now
>encouraged to keep to its appointed routing. It is less coincidence than
>culture."
>******************
>
>Syrian flag carrier to buy five new planes in 2003
>
>DAMASCUS, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Syria's national carrier said on Saturday
it
>plans to buy five new planes this year to upgrade its fleet as part of a
>restructuring scheme.
>
>"The company intends to modernise its fleet and buy five new planes
during
>2003 following a financial feasibility study," the state-owned SANA news
>agency quoted Syrian Arab Airlines Chairman Shafik Daoud as saying.
>
>"We are...restarting the company's projects focussing on its investment
plan
>in addition to training and restructuring," he said, giving no more
details
>on the planned purchase.
>
>Syria's state-owned fleet currently consists of some 19 aircraft which
fly
>to destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according
to
>the Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO) Web site (www.aaco.org).
>*****************
>
>Today in History:
>
>Date of Accident: 12 January 1999
>Airline: Channel Express
>Aircraft: Fokker F-27 Friendship
>Location: Channel Islands, United Kingdom
>Registration: G-CHNL
>Fatalities: 2:2
>MSN: 10508
>Year of Delivery: 1975
>Accident Description: Crashed short of the runway at Guersey after
clipping
>a house on final approach.
>