EASA Safety Review 2009 published
On 24/08/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
EASA has published its annual safety review for 2009. The report includes an analysis of accident data for light aircraft; although the data is incomplete, because several member states did not report, it gives further insight into the safety challenges facing general aviation. “Loss of control In-flight” continues to be the most frequent accident category for general aviation and aerial work operations.
Download the report here.
“Say Again?” – A phraseology guide from EUROCONTROL
On 02/08/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
“Say Again?”, the Phraseology Guide developed by EUROCONTROL is now available online. This guide contains standard words and phrases as described in ICAO Annex 10, Volume 2 and ICAO Doc 4444. The objective of this online guide is to improve the use of standard phraseology by controllers and pilots. It explains the correct syntax, the context of use of phrases and words and provides spoken examples.
Check out the guide here.
Ramp inspections at European Union airports – SAFA
On 27/07/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
The European Community Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) program began in 1996 as a voluntary ECAC program. Its legal basis was subsequently established by Directive 2004/36/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 – the so-called “SAFA Directive”. Under this legislation, international safety standards have been enforced within the European Community by means of ramp inspections of third-country aircraft landing at airports located in the EU Member States.
Read the full report here.
You can read more about the past, present and future of the SAFA program here.
Level bust in holding patterns
On 16/07/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
Holding patterns pose particular problems in relation to level busts because several aircraft are packed into a small volume of airspace and are constantly manoeuvring and changing their levels. Descent below the cleared level immediately reduces vertical separation from the aircraft below, and is difficult for an ATCO to detect and correct quickly.
Read the full article here.
NTSB publishes final report on 2009 Hudson river ditching
On 18/06/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
The NTSB has published the final report into the Jan 2009 ditching of an A320 onto the Hudson River, NY, following loss of thrust in both engines caused by multiple bird strikes. The report makes numerous safety recommendations.
You can read the full report here.
Call sign similarity rules
On 08/06/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
One key element in reducing the number of call sign Confusion events is an agreed set of Call Sign Similarity Rules i.e. agreed definitions of what constitutes ‘a similarity’.
These Rules have been identified by analysis of safety reports concerning call sign confusion and published by the Call Sign Similarity User Group (CSSUG), which includes representatives from Aircraft Operators (AOs), Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) and other aviation organisations’ (e.g. ICAO and IATA).
Read the full article here.
Shanwick Oceanic 5 minute longitudinal separation trial starts
On 24/05/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
On 25 May 2010, a trial of a 5 minute along track longitudinal separation minimum will commence in the Shanwick OCA. To participate in the Trial and subsequent full implementation, operators will be required to have an ADS-C log-on with Shanwick, possess MNPS approval and utilise CPDLC communications. Initially, the trial will only involve eastbound aircraft.
Read the full Aeronautical Circular here.
Report on the Buffalo crash of 12 February 2009
On 20/05/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
On 12 February 2009, a Bombardier DHC-8-400 on an ILS approach to KBUF crashed after the pilot flying lost control of the aircraft.
The NTSB investigation determined that “the probable cause of this accident was the captain’s inappropriate response to the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover.”
A total of 24 new Safety Recommendations were made in the Report.
Read the full report here.
ACAS News
On 17/05/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
ACAS II is a well established safety net to prevent mid-air and near-mid-air collisions. In the latest ACAS Bulletin, Stanislaw Drozdowski provides details of recent and planned changes to ACAS II procedures and equipment. The Bulletin also provides descriptions of recent events illustrating the effectiveness of ACAS, and highlighting recurrent problems from which lessons should be learned.
You can read the new ACAS Bulletin here.
Volcanic ash
On 16/04/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
On 15 April 2010, a large volcanic ash cloud moving south across North West Europe caused significant disruption to air traffic. During a volcanic eruption, huge quantities of material can be ejected into the atmosphere, reaching great height and remaining a threat to aviation for several months. Volcanic ash is comprised of very small hard rock particles. The ash does not show up on an aircraft’s weather radar because of the small size of the particles. These particles conduct electricity and the electrical charges within a cloud of volcanic ash can give rise to thunder and lightning. St Elmo’s Fire, created when the charged particles hit the aircraft, may be the first indication to the crew that they flying into volcanic ash clouds. Other indications are a sulphurous smell and dust within the cabin. Volcanic ash is of course very bad news for the engines…
Read the full Skybrary article here.
Safety Behaviours – Guide for Pilots
On 14/04/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL‘s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
SKYbrary has announced the integration of the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s human factors toolkit “Safety Behaviours – Guide for Pilots”. The toolkit comprises videos and supporting training resources and is focused on the needs of small regional air carriers and charter operations, flying training organisations and private operators.
You can access the toolkit here.
Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure (SLOP)
On 24/03/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
The accuracy of modern en-route navigation has increased the risk of a mid-air collision where 2 aircraft are on the same ATS Route and one or both of them has either been issued a clearance in error, or is not operating in accordance with a clearance. As a mitigation, Strategic Lateral Offset Procedures (SLOPs) have been established which significantly reduce the potential for a collision when applied correctly. NATS has recently issued a reminder to operators using SLOPs in the North Atlantic, explaining the safety benefits of the procedure.
To read the article in SKYbrary, click here.
To read a related article on Roger-Wilco, click here.
2009 Aviation Safety Performance Data published by IATA
On 15/03/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
2009′s accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft is the second lowest in aviation history.
The 2009 global accident rate (measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jet aircraft) was 0.71. That is equal to one accident for every 1.4 million flights. This is a significant improvement on the 0.81 rate recorded in 2008 (one accident per 1.2 million flights). The 2009 rate was the second lowest in aviation history, just above the 2006 rate of 0.65. Compared to 10 years ago, the accident rate has been cut 36% from the rate recorded in 2000.
Read more here.
Beyond the runway end safety area
On 18/02/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
The consequences of many runway excursions, especially overruns, are made much more serious because the aircraft end up beyond the actual or nominal confines of the ICAO-defined Runway End Safety Area (RESA) and is catastrophically damaged because of major obstructions or terrain changes encountered soon after this protected area has been exceeded. Suddenly down-sloping terrain and low but substantial ground obstructions, which are of no concern to aircraft in flight, may take on considerable significance in determining the damage to an aircraft following a major overrun. The example of the Air France Airbus 340-300 which ended up in a ravine at Toronto in 2005 illustrates this well.
Read more about this subject in the SKYbrary here.
Read about Engineered Materials Arresting Systems (EMAS) here.
Ice contaminated tailplane stall – ICTS
On 11/02/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL‘s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
The term “Ice Contaminated Tailplane Stall”, or ICTS, refers to those events that involve flow separation from the horizontal stabilizer due to ice accretion. A significant threat exists if the tail stall is confused with a main wing stall, as the recovery procedures are precisely opposite…
Read more about this here.
FAA Call to action on airline safety and pilot training
On 03/02/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
On February 12, 2009, a Colgan Air Bombardier Dash-8 Q400, operating as Continental Connection Flight 3407, crashed while on approach to Buffalo, New York.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a public hearing on this accident from May 12-14, 2009. During that hearing and subsequent congressional hearings on June 10 and June 11, 2009, several issues came to light regarding pilot training and qualifications, flight crew fatigue, and consistency of safety standards between operators.
In response to this information, on June 15, 2009, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator J. Randolph Babbitt initiated a Call to Action on Airline Safety and Pilot Training for FAA, air carriers, and labor organizations to jointly identify and implement safety improvements, and an action plan was published on 24 June 2009.
The FAA has just published a progress report entitled FAA “Answering the Call to Action on Airline Safety & Pilot Training”.
You can get the progress report here.
Air France 447 – Second Interim Report published. Cause still unknown.
On 18/12/2009, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
The loss of AF447 over the Atlantic Ocean on 1 June 2009 is proving to be every bit the nightmare of accident investigators and safety experts alike. The French accident investigation bureau BEA has now published their second Interim Report which includes new findings and makes a number of safety recommendations but the cause of the accident remains undetermined.
Further investigation will be needed to figure out what exactly has happened on that fateful night. Accidents with their cause undetermined hang like a Damocles’ sword over the industry… We can try to initiate mitigating actions in a general sense but only focused action has a guarantee of hitting its target. It is exactly this target that is missing in cases with the cause undetermined and hence there is not much to focus on.
Luckily, not many accidents remain unsolved even if in some cases a repeat of the problem cannot be avoided before the cause is found. A famous case concerned the Boeing 737, two of which were lost to the same cause before the third one managed to land safely and the culprit (a part worth a few bucks but prone to freezing) was found.
Let’s hope AF447 will reveal its secrets soon…
You can read the AF447 Second Interim Report here.
Runway incursion prevention – know your hot spots
On 11/12/2009, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’S aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
It is well known to pilots and air traffic controllers alike that some parts of the runway/taxiway complex at aerodromes seem to attract incidents. As if they were jinxed in some way, mistakes are made regularly at these singularities of the airport universe.
On roads internationally standardized traffic signs are used to warn us of falling rocks, of stray cattle or deer chasing their mates. How can we warn of the dangerous spots at airports?
Click here to read the full article
TCAS Awareness
On 03/12/2009, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
The latest addition to SKYbrary Solutions is “Clear of Conflict”, a series of 10 short videos developed by NATS in association with EUROCONTROL and Flight Safety International, intended as an aid to TCAS training.
Check out the videos here.
Military Interception Signalling
On 17/11/2009, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
You may have read that the Northwest flight that sailed past its destination recently and was out of communications with ATC for quite a long time was about to be intercepted by fighters… In the distant past, such interceptions were fairly rare except in the communist parts of the world and the most notorious case was the shooting down of a Korean 747 by the Russians. Since the events of 9/11 military interception of aircraft not responding to calls from ATC has become fairly commonplace. Because of the security issues involved, the hazards associated with interceptions have increased substantially… those fighters do mean business and you better know what this is about or else…
Aircraft without harmful intent have nothing to fear of course but it is essential that the flight crew know exactly what to expect when intercepted and they must also be familiar with the signals used by the military aircraft. Knowing how to respond is also essential.
The SKYbrary can help you to refresh your knowledge of military interception signalling. Read their material on the subject here.
Bird Strike: Operator’s Checklist
On 05/10/2009, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary
This is the time of year when birds all over Europe take to the air to start their journey south. Though they are the ultimate examples of Free Flight, migratory birds follow centuries old routes, resting at centuries old landing places, without much regard for their latter day kin… The risk of bird strikes increases as a result.
It is therefore a good time to review the bird strike hazard management procedures. Pick up the guide here.
SKYbrary to be further refined
On 15/09/2009, in SKYbrary News, by susanne
EUROCONTROL publishes SKYbrary, an electronic repository of safety data related to ATM and aviation safety in general. It is built of a hyperlinked network of articles and documents. The article is the building nucleus of the knowledge base. It can contain links to other related articles, to documents stored on the Skybrary bookshelf or to external safety data sources.
EUROCONTROL would like to further develop SKYbrary according to the safety information needs of the widest possible audience into “The single point of reference for aviation safety knowledge”.
Would you be kind enough and provide your feedback by first taking a few minutes to have a look at SKYbrary and then answering the questions in the survey. Your help is very much appreciated. Your opinion on SKYbrary will help to make it better.
Note: The survey is anonymous. All data gathered will be handled with the outmost care only by the SKYbrary team and will only be used to further develop SKYbrary.
