AIR SAFETY WEEK :: JUNE 2, 2008

Medevac Helicopter Impacts Hospital Roof in Michigan
An emergency medical service (EMS) helicopter practicing approaches to a rooftop helipad in Grand Rapids, MI crashed on the hospital's roof May 29, with the two people onboard narrowly escaping a post-impact fire. The Aero Med helicopter, reportedly a Sikorsky S-76, impacted the helipad atop Spectrum Health...

Aviation Safety Dragnet Ongoing
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeks to collect a $10.2 million civil penalty from Southwest Airlines for operating 46 airplanes without performing mandatory inspections for fuselage fatigue cracking. To validate industry's overall adherence to airworthiness directives (AD) the agency has begun...

UAS Issues Explored by GAO
Much work needs to be done before unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are allowed routine access to the national airspace system (NAS), according to a recently-released General Accountability Office (GAO) report. Routine UAS access to the national airspace system poses technological, regulatory, workload, and...

NAV CANADA Launches $50 Million VHF Radio Replacement Program
The VHF radios that provide the critical air-ground-air links in Canada's Air Navigation System (ANS) are about to undergo a major facelift. The radios are used every day by air traffic controllers and flight service specialists to provide information, advice and instruction to pilots who fly in Canada's...

Pilot Error Led to 2007 Mid-Air Near Cincinnati
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently released its report on the midair collision of a Cessna 172 (N6614D) and a Beech V35B Bonanza (N1835L) near Cincinnati's Blue Ash Airport (ISZ) on May 11, 2007. In its report, the NTSB determined the pilots in both aircraft failed to see each other and...

Pressure to Manage ME Air Safety
The Middle East needs not only to increase airspace capacity to cope with rapidly growing flight movements but should consider substantial investment in pro-active management of aviation safety, says a leading aviation risk expert. "The Arabian Gulf in particular is facing an unprecedented increase in...

Nimrod Fleet Should be Grounded
The entire Royal Air Force Nimrod surveillance aircraft fleet should be grounded, a coroner has urged in concluding his inquest into the deaths of 14 servicemen in a 2006 crash in Afghanistan, according to British press accounts. In his summing up, coroner Andrew Walker said in his view the entire Nimrod...

BASH Program Takes to Wing
Bird strikes are a major concern for the USAF and Manas Air Base has turned to a different version of the fighting falcon to keep the airfield clear. One of the aviator's best friends on Manas AB, Kyrgystan, is a luger falcon named Mustang, the fist of its type in the area to bolster the Bird/Wildlife...

Volcanic Ash Causes Chile to Cancel Some Flights
The Reuters news agency reports that ash from the Chaiten volcano that has been erupting in Chile for nearly a month has led the country's flagship airline LANLAN.SN to cancel flights to a string of small airports. Winds initially carried most of the ash from the...

Safety & Technology Trends
More AWOS for North Dakota All Weather, Inc. (AWI), a leading manufacturer of weather information systems and meteorological sensors, has been selected by the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission for an additional nine Automated Weather Observing Systems (AWOS) following the successful installation of eleven...

Security Shortlines
Bluetooth Could Reduce Airport Security Lines Engineers have created a method that uses Bluetooth signals from cell phones and other wireless devices to constantly update how long it takes vehicles and pedestrians to travel from one point to another. The method envisioned by engineers at the Indiana...

Safety Rules & Regs
Airworthiness Directives; McDonnell Douglas Model 717-200 Airplanes Final Rule. SUMMARY: This AD requires installing an additional support bracket for the gray water drain hose; replacing the screw of the support bracket with a new screw for the potable water supply hose; installing a spacer; doing a...

Accidents & Incidents
Date Aircraft Type Narrative Death/Injury Remarks May 05, 2008 New Lisbon, WI Piper PA-25-235 N4352Y A/c destroyed when impacted trees and terrain while maneuvering during aerial application flight. One fatality Witness said a/c made several low altitude passes over ag field. During last pass, a/c descended...