Is UPS Airlines now joining the ranks of so many previously safe FAR Part 121 airlines whose safety program looks good on paper, but in the field is no longer functioning to prevent fatal mishaps? Since 1982, UPS has run UPS Airlines free of fatal mishaps. In fact the few mishaps that have occurred in the operationContinue reading “UPS Safety Program: Prevention or Mishap Investigation? What are the Financial Consequences of a Failed Safety Program?”
Category Archives: Aviation Safety
UPS 6 Sept 2010 Dubai Crash GCAA Final Report: What Is the Cost of the Mishap? What Recommended Corrective Actions Will Prevent this Mishap from Occurring all over again?
What is not written in the just released GCAA Final Report of the September 2010 crash of UPS Flight 6? Was the report written for legal purposes or safety purposes? What wasn’t learned from the reading of the report? Was anything learned from the report that would have prevented this mishap, that wasn ‘t alreadyContinue reading “UPS 6 Sept 2010 Dubai Crash GCAA Final Report: What Is the Cost of the Mishap? What Recommended Corrective Actions Will Prevent this Mishap from Occurring all over again?”
Asiana 214, Fatigue and In-Flight Crew Meals: Postprandial somnolence, or getting sleepy after you eat.
The more factors I consider, the fewer seem likely until I consider the human factor of fatigue. Automation? He was flying a B747 prior, plenty of automation there. San Francisco? Not all that different from dozens of international airports in the Pac Rim. CRM? Things didn’t go bad until the last few miles. New captain,Continue reading “Asiana 214, Fatigue and In-Flight Crew Meals: Postprandial somnolence, or getting sleepy after you eat.”
Asiana 214: Cultural Issues, Fatigue or a need for better Stabilized Approach and Go Around Procedures?
Culture issues, fatigue and other human factors of every type are and will continue to be amongst the most serious safety hazards, risks or challenges for the foreseeable future in commercial aviation. In the very open cultures of North America there may be a tendency to see cultural issues not only as a non-typical factor,Continue reading “Asiana 214: Cultural Issues, Fatigue or a need for better Stabilized Approach and Go Around Procedures?”
Asiana 214 Mishap, SFO, July 6, 2013: Stable Approaches & Go Around Procedures
Stabilized Approaches must be part of an Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and not just a criteria, policy or even best practice. Procedure means that it is a written set of steps and explanatory notes. Procedures are trained by the airline, checked by the FAA and continually verified, reviewed and updated by the FAA and theContinue reading “Asiana 214 Mishap, SFO, July 6, 2013: Stable Approaches & Go Around Procedures”
Lithium-Ion Aircraft Batteries as a Passenger and Cargo Smoke/Fire Risk
In fact three aircraft have been destroyed by fires caused by lithium ion batteries, one in 2006, two in 2010. But the FAA, NTSB and other government and official agencies categorize safety as related to passenger safety or a cargo acft only hazard and of no interest to passenger airline safety, such as the currentContinue reading “Lithium-Ion Aircraft Batteries as a Passenger and Cargo Smoke/Fire Risk”
Are “Passenger Lithium-ion Batteries” the same as “Cargo Lithium-ion Batteries?”
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?””
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”
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 Forecast 