7/21/2008

US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure introduced a bill this week that it said "addresses issues raised by FAA whistleblowers and others" at an April hearing, including that the agency. The bill, which the committee claimed "will help restore confidence in the

FAA's safety regime," would create an independent Aviation Safety Whistleblower Investigation Office within the agency. It also directs FAA to cease referring to airlines as "customers" in official statements and policy, mandates a two-year "cooling-off" period for inspectors or supervisors before they can act on behalf of a certificate holder they oversaw during their FAA service, requires principal maintenance inspectors to rotate between airline oversight offices every five years and requires monthly reviews of the Air Transportation Oversight System database. 7/18/2008

US Transportation Security Administration will deploy Advanced Technology X-ray and Passenger Imaging at 21 airports before year end and said it will purchase and deploy an additional 300 AT X-rays and 80 PI units next year. Airports already designated to receive the systems are Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, Newark, Boston, Indianapolis, New York LaGuardia, Tampa, San Juan and San Francisco. 7/17/2008

US FAA said it will award a contract this fall to install Runway Safety Lights at 20 additional airports across the country over the next three years. RSLs, which warn pilots when it is unsafe to cross or enter a runway, are being tested at Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego and will be installed at Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, DFW, Denver, Detroit, Washington Dulles, Fort Lauderdale, Houston Intercontinental, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Newark, Chicago O'Hare, Orlando International, Philadelphia, Phoenix, SAN and Seattle. 7/15/2008

US FAA will provide up to $5 million to test in-cockpit displays that increase runway safety. Funding will cover technology that includes either an aural runway alerting system or an electronic flight bag. The agency said the number of "serious" runway incursions declined more than 55% from FY01 through FY07. 7/15/2008

Kenya Airways

Kenya Airways, one of Africa's leading carriers, is recovering from the loss of a Boeing 737-800, which crashed in Cameroon last year. It was also hit hard by post-election violence in Kenya earlier this year, which damaged the tourism sector. 7/16/2008

Korean Air Lines

A Korean Air Lines jet made an emergency landing at an airport on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido on Thursday, but no one was injured. Television showed the plane landing smoothly in misty weather at Shin Chitose airport, after the airline said it planned to divert there on its way to its intended destination of New York. The plane dumped fuel in the ocean and changed course after a cockpit indicator showed a problem with a power source, a spokesman for Japan's Transport Ministry said. There were 322 people aboard the Boeing 747-400, a spokesman for Korean Air Lines in Seoul said. No one was injured, an official with the company in Tokyo said. 7/17/2008

TWA, Boeing

US Dept. of Transportation announced yesterday that within two years, all new aircraft must include technology that neutralizes flammable gasses from center fuel tanks on passenger aircraft. Those built after 1991 must be retrofitted. DoT said installation would cost $92,000-$311,000 per aircraft and that 2,730 aircraft currently in service in the US must be retrofitted. "I recognize that this is a challenging time for commercial aviation," Secretary Mary Peters said. "But there is no doubt that another crash like TWA 800 would pose a far greater challenge." 7/17/2008

TWA, Boeing

The US government is expected to introduce a revised plan on Wednesday to reduce the risk of fuel tank explosions on commercial jets 12 years after TWA Flight 800 was lost over the Atlantic, according to aviation industry sources. Transportation and aviation safety officials will make the announcement at a Virginia facility that holds the partially reconstructed jumbo jet that was destroyed on a flight from New York to Paris in July 1996, killing all 230 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded an electrical short likely ignited vapors inside the jet's center fuel tank shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy airport. Fuel tank explosions are extremely rare but there have been a few other known examples worldwide that occurred when planes were on the ground. 7/16/2008

TWA, Boeing

US transportation and aviation safety officials will details of the updated measure were not disclosed ahead of the announcement and Transportation Department and FAA officials declined comment. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a plan in 2005 to retrofit more than 3,000 airliners with a fuel tank safety device over a period of several years. Airlines opposed the expense estimated in excess of several hundred million dollars. The new plan is expected to cover fewer planes and carriers are expected to again raise cost concerns. Hall, who has worked with families of TWA Flight 800 victims to press for action, said he had not been briefed on the Transportation Department's plan. Congress has recently pressed for action on the measure as has the safety board. Domestic airlines are taking delivery of few aircraft now due to severe financial constraints caused by high jet fuel prices. Airlines are grounding older, less efficient planes to save on fuel. Industry experts do not expect those aircraft to ever fly again for US airlines. The FAA has spent years on regulation aimed mostly at trying to reduce the risk of electrical shorts. 7/16/2008

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