Evergreen International fined $4.855 million by FAA over pilot training

by B. N. Sullivan

Evergreen International Airlines faces a $4.855 fine, proposed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)  "for allegedly using pilots on 232 revenue flights who had not bee trained in accordance with an FAA-approved training program."

In 2009, Evergreen aircraft were equipped with a new Flight Management System (FMS).  The FAA says the new FMS was different enough from the prior system that it required pilots to be specifically trained on it.  According to the FAA, Evergreen "did not complete its FAA-approved training for pilots before assigning them to fly revenue trips using the new FMS."

In a press release announcing the proposed civil penalty, the FAA explains:

The FAA alleges Evergreen line pilots received ground training and a check ride on the new FMS, but that the company did not provide required familiarization flights supervised by the company’s check pilots despite being told to do so by the FAA.  The familiarization flights are part of the FAA-approved training program for Evergreen aircraft equipped with the FMS.  Evergreen also failed to distribute copies of the required system manual to crews who would be using the FMS.

Subsequent to these improperly conducted flights, Evergreen has ensured that its pilots are trained in accordance with its FAA-approved training program and continues to operate under an FAA-approved training program.

The flights in question took place between February 19, 2009 and July 9, 2009.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said, “Even though Evergreen now complies with its training program, this penalty is appropriate because requiring operators to complete required, approved training is the only way to make sure crews are fully qualified to operate the equipment and systems to manage flights safely.”

Evergreen has 30 days to respond to the FAA regarding the allegations.

FAA grants provisional approval to Boeing for 787 Dreamliner pilot training

by B. N. Sullivan

Boeing will soon begin training pilots to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  According to a press statement, released yesterday by Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted provisional approval to Boeing Training and Flight Services for the company's training courses, which will allow pilots currently type-rated on the Boeing 777 to transition to the B787.  The provisional designation will be removed once the aircraft is fully certified.

The transition training can be accomplished in five to 20 days, depending on pilot experience, says Boeing.  The relatively short training period is possible because there is said to be a high level of commonality between the B777 and B787 airplane types, from a piloting perspective.

The airframer is now working with the FAA "to obtain provisional approval of the training devices at which point formal pilot training will commence."

The Boeing 787 pilot training program uses a sophisticated suite of training devices including a full-flight simulator, flight training device and desktop simulation station to ensure that pilots are ready to fly the Dreamliner.

"Gaining FAA approval for our courses is a significant milestone as we ramp up to the start of flight training," said Mark Albert, director of Simulator Services and 787 Training Program, Boeing Training & Flight Services. "It validates our approach to provide world-class training solutions at great value for the 787 Dreamliner."

Boeing training & Flight Services currently operates eight training suites at five locations around the world, including Seattle, Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, and Gatwick, UK.

Some individual operators of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner also will have their own training courses for pilots of the new aircraft type.  According to Boeing, local FAA offices will approve those courses, "and these may be based on provisional approvals."



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Australian report: Avoidable accidents due to low-level flying

by B. N. Sullivan

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has published the first report in a new series of pilot education documents. The first report focuses on aircraft accidents involving unnecessary and unauthorized low-level flying.

In a press statement that accompanied the release of the Low-level Flying report, the ATSB says:

Between 1999 and 2008, there were 147 fatal accidents in Australia reported to the ATSB involving aerial work, flying training, private, business, sport and recreational flying. Of those fatal accidents, at least six were associated with unauthorised, and unnecessary, low flying. Those six accidents, along with a seventh non-fatal accident, presented here as case studies, were chosen by aviation safety investigators at the ATSB to highlight the inherent dangers of unauthorised low flying and to offer some lessons learnt from each case. It is hoped that these lessons learnt will help pilots make more accurate risk assessments and better decisions before electing to fly at low levels.

At low altitudes, there are many obstacles to avoid and there is a lower margin for error. Recognising the risks and hazards of low-level flying, CASA requires pilots to receive special training and endorsements before they can legally conduct low-level flying. In the accidents below, most of the pilots had neither of these, and none had a legitimate reason to be flying below 500 ft. Some legitimate reasons for flying at low level include aerial stock mustering, crop spraying, and fire fighting operations. For most private pilots, there is generally no reason to fly at low levels, except during takeoff and landing, conducting a forced or precautionary landing, or to avoid adverse weather conditions.

What is sad and unfortunate about the accidents described in the following case studies is that they were all avoidable.

The report is available for download, free of charge, here: Avoidable Accidents, No. 1: Low-level Flying - ATSB (24-page 'pdf' file)

FAA asks for input on pilot qualification and training requirements

by B. N. Sullivan

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is seeking recommendations to improve pilot qualification and training requirements. The request for input from the public (including pilots) is a part of the FAA’s 'Call to Action', which "aims to strengthen pilot hiring, training and performance, as well as combat fatigue and improve professional standards and discipline at all airlines." The FAA is pursuing both rule changes and voluntary safety enhancements

In the current round, the FAA is seeking comments on basic pilot certification in four key areas:

• Should all pilots who transport passengers be required to hold an Air Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate with the appropriate aircraft category, class and type ratings, which would raise the required flight hours for these pilots to 1,500 hours?
• Should the FAA permit academic credit in lieu of required flight hours or experience?
• Should the FAA establish a new commercial pilot certificate endorsement that would address concerns about the operational experience of newly hired commercial pilots, require additional flight hours and possibly credit academic training?
• Would an air carrier-specific authorization on an existing pilot certificate improve safety?

The FAA announced today that an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) will be published next week in the Federal Register and will have a 60-day comment period. It is on display today at http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/.

The FAA will then incorporate the comments into a new proposal that will also be published for public comment.

“Our nation’s airlines should have the best-trained and best-prepared pilots in the cockpit,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We must build on the current pilot certification system and make it even stronger.”

“Experience is not measured by flight time alone,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “Pilots need to have quality training and experience appropriate to the mission to be ready to handle any situation they encounter.”

Hot off the press: FAA's new report on airline safety and pilot training

by B. N. Sullivan

Today the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a report titled Answering the Call to Action on Airline Safety and Pilot Training. It's a hefty document -- a 201-page 'pdf' file [link below].

This new report is the result of efforts undertaken in the wake of the crash last February of Continental Connection Flight 3407, a Colgan Air Bombardier Dash-8 Q400, near Buffalo, NY. During the NTSB hearing on the investigation of that accident, and subsequent congressional hearings, certain issues came to light regarding pilot training and qualifications, flight crew fatigue, and consistency of safety standards among airline operators. As a result, officials 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."

In a press release that accompanied the release of today's report, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt explained, "The report lays out our initial actions to improve and revise pilot training and to develop an effective pilot fatigue rule. We also share what we have done to begin what must be an ongoing dialogue with airlines and unions to strengthen professionalism in the aviation industry and create mentoring programs for our nation’s pilots. This report is a snapshot of our work, which is by no means finished."

Although the work is ongoing, the report issued today reviews the findings to date, and presents action plans for issues such as fatigue rulemaking, crew training, mentoring, safety oversight, etc.

Here is the link to the report: Answering the Call to Action on Airline Safety and Pilot Training - FAA, (201-page 'pdf' document)

RELATED: ALPA Congressional Testimony on Regional Air Carriers and Pilot Workforce Issues - AircrewBuzz.com, June 14, 2009

ALPA Congressional Testimony on Regional Air Carriers and Pilot Workforce Issues

Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), appeared last week at a Congressional hearing regarding regional air carriers. Capt. Prater testified before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. House of Representatives. In his appearance on June 11, 2009, Capt. Prater addressed pilot workforce issues at regional carriers.

Here is an excerpt from Capt. Prater's oral testimony before Congress:

In recent years, the major airlines have come to rely heavily on codeshare arrangements with regional airlines to serve midsize and smaller cities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This has resulted in the exponential growth of the regional sector of the industry.

Still, the major carriers exert a great deal of economic pressures on the regional airlines to provide their service at the lowest possible price. They control ticket pricing and schedules, and regularly move flying between their regional partners. Some majors have even begun outsourcing their flying to regionals and laying off their own pilots with decades of experience in the process.

These experienced pilots cannot afford to work for a regional as a newly hired first officer. As a result, many of the smaller regional carriers hire pilots at the FAA minimum standards and do not employ screening processes during hiring that identify the “ideal” candidate.

As was brought out during the NTSB’s recent hearing on the tragic accident in Buffalo, many pilots who fly for regional airlines aren’t getting adequate training or enough rest. Airlines are requiring pilots to work longer days and more of them each month. Fleet and base changes are forcing pilots to decide between commuting and possibly taking a pay cut to train on new equipment. The consequence: the quality of airline pilot “careers” has been greatly diminished and severe erosion of benefits and quality of life are motivating pilots to move to other professions.

Current training practices do not take into account changing airline pilot demographics. Instead, they assume that pilots are far more experienced than they may actually be. ALPA believes there must be a new focus on standardization and even some fundamental flying skills. To meet this challenge, airlines and other training providers must develop methodologies to “train experience and judgment.” Current training practices may also need to be adjusted to account for the source and experience level of the pilot entering initial training at the airline.

ALPA also believes there should be more stringent academic requirements to obtain both commercial and airline transport pilot ratings in preparation for a career as an airline pilot. The FAA should develop and implement a structured and rigorous ground school and testing process for pilots who want to qualify to fly for Part 121 airlines.

ALPA also recommends that airlines provide specific command and leadership training courses for new captains to instill in them the necessary skills and traits to be a real leader on the flight deck. Airlines should also implement mentoring programs for both captains and first officers as they first enter operations in their crew positions to help them apply their knowledge and skills to line operations and supplement their own limited experience by learning from their peers.

Flight experience and pilot capabilities cannot be measured by mere flight hours. Screening processes should be established prior to initial pilot hiring to ensure that new‐hire airline pilots are indeed the best and the brightest as far as abilities, airmanship, professionalism, and performance.

Turning to another area of concern, fatigue has reached alarming levels within the industry. ALPA has long advocated changes to flight and duty time rules for commercial aviation operations, and we join the NTSB in calling for revisions that are based on readily available science.

We have talked long enough. It is time to implement these science‐based regulatory changes.

Other means to enhance safety and improve airline operations are data collection and analysis programs such as FOQA [Flight Operational Quality Assurance] and ASAP [Aviation Safety Action Plan] which provide important and needed safety information, not only internally within air carriers, but also for the overall air transportation system.

In order to allow these programs to grow and make the reports more readily obtainable, additional legislative protections need to be put in place that will limit the data use in civil liability cases. Restrictions also need to be strengthened to ensure the data is used for safety purposes only.

Many major carriers have implemented these programs and follow other best practices which should also be undertaken by their codeshare partners. ALPA joins with the NTSB in calling upon major airlines and their code‐sharing partners to establish a program of operational oversight that includes periodic safety audits of flight operations, training programs, and maintenance and inspection, as well as emphasize the exchange of information and resources to enhance the safety of flight operations.

The best safety device on any airplane is a well‐trained, well‐rested, highly motivated pilot. A strong safety culture must be instilled and consistently reinforced from the highest levels within an airline and among its codeshare partners. This type of organizational safety culture will encourage the highest levels of performance among professional pilots, improve airline operations, and, most importantly, advance aviation safety.

As is customary, Capt. Prater also submitted written testimony to the Congressional Committee. That document elaborates on the issues raised in the oral testimony, to provide more detail.



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C-47 Turbo Dakota (DC-3) accident at Mojave, CA

Two pilots escaped with minor injuries after a runway accident at Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), Mojave, CA. According to the FAA Preliminary Report about the accident, the C-47 Turbo Dakota (DC-3) veered off runway 30 at MHV, and nosed over. The FAA reports that damage to the plane was "substantial." Both crew members were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, and later released.

The accident happened on February 4, 2009 at 08:52 local time. Several news reports described the accident as a "failed takeoff."

The accident caused a fuel spill on the runway. TV station KERO in Bakersfield quoted a Kern County Fire Department official who said that first responders "put down a foam blanket" around the aircraft "to prevent ignition."

The 62 year old aircraft was owned by the National Test Pilot School, which is located at Mojave. The aircraft was being used for a training flight.

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UPDATE Feb 12, 2009: Aviation news website FlightGlobal.com reported today that the pilots of the accident C-47 "had mistakenly set full right rudder trim on the aircraft during pre-take off actions."

Quoting officials of the National Test Pilot School, which owned the aircraft, FlightGlobal.com says:

N834TP yawed to the right when the pilots, one instructor pilot from NTPS and one Korean Air Force student pilot, rotated once take off speed was achieved.

The Pratt & Whitney PT6-65AR-powered conversion became airborne but departed the side of the runway, settling back to the ground and hitting a sand berm, officials say.

The crash ripped the left gear and left engine from the 62-year-old aircraft, buckled the fuselage and destroyed the nose-mounted forward-looking infra red system turret and belly mounted air-to-ground marine patrol radar, equipment which is normally used to train pilots as well as flight test engineers at four stations in the cabin.

The aircraft is said to be damaged beyond repair.

Japan Airlines cuts back on pilot training to save money

News from Japan this week says that the country's national flag carrier, Japan Airlines (JAL), is cutting back on aspects of pilot training as a cost cutting measure. Specifically, the carrier is "suspending part of its pilot training programs," including "those in which trainees accompany other pilots at the cockpit aboard actual commercial flights to become familiar with regular air routes, those for gaining promotion to the rank of chief or deputy chief pilots and those for becoming familiar with newly introduced aircraft models," according to an article on the Japan Today website.

The article continues:

A JAL official said the suspensions, which will last until the end of March, "are provisional steps to improve our profitability, so we will continue to provide the training necessary to enable pilots to maintain their maneuvering skills and pertaining to the safety of our flights." While the transport ministry has accepted the step as there is nothing legally wrong with it, some JAL pilots have criticized the suspensions as a move that could undermine safety standards at the airline.

Not surprisingly, JAL pilots do not look kindly upon this move.

"Providing only minimum levels of training is not appropriate to ensure the safety of flights," one JAL pilot said. Another pilot added, "If training is suspended, it will place greater burdens on us when it is resumed."

Apparently part of the cost-cutting focus is not on training per se, but on the cost of accommodation and transportation costs for the pilots and trainers involved.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported late last week that JAL is asking pilots, cabin crew, and ground workers to volunteer for two months of unpaid leave, beginning next month. The Bloomberg article quoted a JAL spokesman who said the airline is anticipating decline in travel during February and March, particularly on its international routes.