Recent passenger jet fires involving B787 Dreamliner have made news, but is it really new news? FAA and other regulators have dismissed the dangers of lithium-ion batteries when carried on cargo aircraft because. Why? Well, perhaps it is because fires on on cargo airline aircraft result in “no significant loss of life?” Isn’t this theContinue reading “Are “Passenger Lithium-ion Batteries” the same as “Cargo Lithium-ion Batteries?””
Author Archives: Capt. Paul Miller
US Passengers at Risk by FAA Fatigue Rule
Passengers on domestic US airlines are now at an increased risk of being crashed into by sleepy cargo pilots. Lawyers at the FAA used case law, negligence reasoning and other historically based legal records to reach a regulatory milestone, aligning with lawyers at large US based package express and airborne freight haulers. The FAA pointedContinue reading “US Passengers at Risk by FAA Fatigue Rule”
Safety versus Everything Else not SMS
Safety Managers can sort through legalities by remembering what safety is and what safety is not. Safety is about prevention, human factors, reporting and investigating, fixing the problem, communicating and looking forward. Safety is not about criminal law, civil law, administrative law or regulatory law; it is not about public administration or zoning around airports.Continue reading “Safety versus Everything Else not SMS”
More on AF 447 LOC: Stability, Vg/Vn Diagram and Recovery
There is another very important aerodynamic engineering issue that needs to be discussed when Loss of Control is the subject, and that is Stability, as it relates to high angle of attack flight. Transport category aircraft may not have the same “forgiving” stability as training aircraft, when it comes to bringing the aircraft back intoContinue reading “More on AF 447 LOC: Stability, Vg/Vn Diagram and Recovery”
AF 447: High Altitude Stall or Swept Wing Stall? Did the Mishap Investigation Boards Make a Fundamental Aerodynamic Error?
The mishap investigation boards have given a less than aerodynamically correct presentation of “high altitude stalls” in the 2009 Loss of Control LOC mishap investigation of AF 447 and the 2005 Loss of Control LOC mishap in Venezuela of a West Caribbean Colombian MD82. The result is that these mishap investigation reports are not puttingContinue reading “AF 447: High Altitude Stall or Swept Wing Stall? Did the Mishap Investigation Boards Make a Fundamental Aerodynamic Error?”
Safety Purpose vs the Legal Purpose: Why the Safety Purpose Works: are you looking and leading forward or backward?
Safety Purpose vs the Legal Purpose: Why the Safety Purpose Works: are you looking and leading forward or backward? The Safety Purpose seeks the cause of mishaps and tries to determine procedures to immediately and forever prevent a re-occurrence. The Legal Purpose on the other hand attempts to find fault or blame for injury andContinue reading “Safety Purpose vs the Legal Purpose: Why the Safety Purpose Works: are you looking and leading forward or backward?”
Is Safety Guilding the Lily or Is Safety Making Necessary Operational Improvements?:Who has the better argument?
I think that we have to rethink this logic ladies and gentlemen. Safety recommendations do one very special thing that no other recommendation does. Safety recommendation give us SOP modifications, checklists and limitations that help us to do our operation more correctly. Some of you may say, “Don’t you mean more safely?” I would respondContinue reading “Is Safety Guilding the Lily or Is Safety Making Necessary Operational Improvements?:Who has the better argument?”
Cost and Benefit Analysis vs Successful Safety Programs: Is the FAA and A4A Using Flawed Logic to Manage Safety Improvements? Do Pilots Actually Know Safety Better?
Air Transport Association (ATA), or now Airlines for America (A4A) and the FAA can not claim all of the credit for the huge improvement in airline safety over the last decade in my opinion. As a matter of fact and record, both the FAA and ATA now A4A, opposed, and opposed with great vigor, virtuallyContinue reading “Cost and Benefit Analysis vs Successful Safety Programs: Is the FAA and A4A Using Flawed Logic to Manage Safety Improvements? Do Pilots Actually Know Safety Better?”
AF 447 and AF Global Operations Center: Is there a Connection?
Airline Dispatch Office at the airline global operations center has current satellite imagery in real time of weather along the route of all flights. I wonder if any manager at the home office has yet been able to put two and two together and say, “Ah HA!! So that is why we have all ofContinue reading “AF 447 and AF Global Operations Center: Is there a Connection?”
Is SMS Working to Make Your Company Better?
Safety is like virtue, in that safety is its own reward. Here are a few additional self audit questions that supplement those provided as policy guidance by Flight Safety Foundation President Bill Voss [in the May 2012 edition of AeroSafety World http://flightsafety.org/aerosafety-world-magazine/current-issue%5D: 1. Is a safety program valuable and working or is it a wellContinue reading “Is SMS Working to Make Your Company Better?”
Safety Forecast 