AeroSafety WORLD FIGHTING FATIGUE Strategies for staying sharp EXCURSION IN ICELAND Fatigued crew lands poorly BIRD RADAR Feathered hazard warning BIZJET ENGINE MONITORING Maintenance input from afar SAVING THE RESCUERS SAFER HEMS OPERATIONS THE JOURNAL OF FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDatION MARCH 2009 “Cessna is committed to providing the latest safety information to our customers, and that’s why we provide each new Citation owner with an FSF Aviation Department Tool Kit.” — Will Dirks, VP Flight Operations, Cessna Aircraft Co. afety tools developed through years of FSF aviation safety audits have been conveniently packaged for your flight crews and operations personnel. These tools should be on your minimum equipment list. The FSF Aviation Department Tool Kit is such a valuable resource that Cessna Aircraft Co. provides each new Citation owner with a copy. One look at the contents tells you why. Templates for flight operations, safety and emergency response manuals formatted for easy adaptation Sto your needs. Safety-management resources, including an SOPs template, CFIT risk assessment checklist and approach-and-landing risk awareness guidelines. Principles and guidelines for duty and rest schedul- ing based on NASA research. Additional bonus CDs include the Approach and Landing Accident Reduction Tool Kit; Waterproof Flight Operations (a guide to survival in water landings); Operator’sMEL Flight Safety Handbook; item Turbofan Engine Malfunction Recognition and Response; and Turboprop Engine Malfunction Recognition and Response. Here’s your all-in-one collection of flight safety tools — unbeatable value for cost. FSF member price: US$750 Nonmember price: US$1,000 Quantity discounts available! For more information, contact: Feda Jamous, + 1 703 739-6700, ext. 111 e-mail: [email protected] PRESIDENT’sMESSAGE HIGH Expectations uring the last few weeks, I have been asked life, but it will never be without risk — and that countless times to comment on what has is OK. That seems to make their heads hurt, but been known as the “Miracle on the Hud- it needs to be said. son,” the immediately famous ditching Finally, I was surprised at how emotional it Dof US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320, in was for me to listen to recordings of air traffic New York City’s frigid Hudson River. After being control (ATC) communications with Flight 1549. quoted on this event in a few hundred news outlets In less than a minute, the flight crew and ATC around the world, I want to say just three things dealt with a normal departure, an emergency about this accident. return, four runway options at two different First, I find it amazing that the ditching is the airports and a ditching, handling the situation fourth in a series of major airline accidents where in a crisp and professional manner. The public the aircraft was destroyed but everyone escaped seems amazed, but those of us who have dealt with relatively minor injuries. I am thinking of with emergencies in the cockpit and in ATC the Air France Airbus A340 at Toronto, the Brit- heard exactly what we expected to hear. That is ish Airways Boeing 777 at Heathrow, and the just what we do. Continental Boeing 737NG at Denver. At first We all grew up thinking about how we would everyone talked about how “luck” got everyone handle a crisis like that, hoping that if the time off the Air France aircraft, but now that there came we would get it right. The thought of living have been three more major nonfatal accidents, up to that expectation is what made most of us people are realizing, I think, that there is more fall in love with this business and stay with it. The to it than luck. Clearly, manufacturers are doing desire to perform brilliantly at a critical moment something right regarding the crashworthiness of is something that we all have in common. the airframes, and the airlines have to take some So, take a second. Put aside the data, the crew credit for the extraordinary performance of the schedules and the reporting systems, and have cabin crews. a quick listen to those ATC recordings on your Second, the US Airways accident is important computer. You undoubtedly will smile, remember- because it reminds us that despite our best efforts, ing for a second how good it feels to be part of an there will always be some residual risk. According industry where such high performance standards to Bird Strike Committee USA, “a 12-lb Canada are just the way we do things. goose struck by a 150-mph aircraft at lift-off generates the force of a 1,000-lb [454 kg] weight dropped from a height of 10 ft. [3 m].” There is nothing we are ever going to do that will make it easy at 300 mph to avoid, or to safely fly through, a flock of geese. I have been trying to explain to William R. Voss the public that flying in a commercial airliner is President and CEO one of the safest things they will ever do in their Flight Safety Foundation WWW.FLIGHTSAFETY.ORG | AEROSAFETYWORLD | MARCH 2009 | 1 AeroSafetyWORLD contents March2009 Vol 4 Issue 3 features 14 CoverStory | HEMS: Closing the Loop 19 InSight | Wake Me When My Shift Is Over 14 22 HumanFactors | Easing Fatigue 28 CausalFactors | Too Long at the Wheel 32 CausalFactors | Left Behind 38 ThreatAnalysis | Bird Detection Radar 44 MaintenanceMatters | Remote Engine Diagnostics 19 departments 1 President’sMessage | High Expectations 5 EditorialPage | Fighting Fatigue 6 AirMail | Letters From Our Readers 7 SafetyCalendar | Industry Events 22 9 InBrief | Safety News 2 | FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION | AEROSAFETYWORLD | MARCH 2009 38 44 32 AeroSafetyWORLD telephone: +1 703.739.6700 13 FoundationFocus | Flight Safety Foundation and Me William R. Voss, publisher, FSF president and CEO [email protected] 49 | Speaking of Clearances DataLink J.A. Donoghue, editor-in-chief, FSF director of publications 53 InfoScan | We Still Need Exceptional People [email protected], ext. 116 Mark Lacagnina, senior editor [email protected], ext. 114 57 OnRecord | Roller Coaster Ride Wayne Rosenkrans, senior editor [email protected], ext. 115 Linda Werfelman, senior editor [email protected], ext. 122 Rick Darby, associate editor [email protected], ext. 113 Karen K. Ehrlich, web and print production coordinator [email protected], ext. 117 Ann L. Mullikin, art director and designer [email protected], ext. 120 Susan D. Reed, production specialist [email protected], ext. 123 About the Cover Patricia Setze, librarian Report from NTSB’s hearing on HEMS safety. © Chris Sorensen Photography [email protected], ext. 103 Editorial Advisory Board We Encourage Reprints (For permissions, go to <www.flightsafety.org/asw_home.html>) David North, EAB chairman, consultant Share Your Knowledge William R. Voss, president and CEO If you have an article proposal, manuscript or technical paper that you believe would make a useful contribution to the ongoing dialogue about aviation safety, we will be Flight Safety Foundation glad to consider it. Send it to Director of Publications J.A. Donoghue, 601 Madison St., Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314-1756 USA or [email protected]. The publications staff reserves the right to edit all submissions for publication. Copyright must be transferred to the Foundation for a contribution to be published, and J.A. Donoghue, EAB executive secretary payment is made to the author upon publication. Flight Safety Foundation Sales Contacts J. Randolph Babbitt, partner Europe, Central USA, Latin America Asia Pacific, Western USA Oliver Wyman Joan Daly, [email protected], tel. +1.703.983.5907 Pat Walker, [email protected], tel. +1.415.387.7593 Steven J. Brown, senior vice president–operations Northeast USA and Canada Regional Advertising Manager National Business Aviation Association Tony Calamaro, [email protected], tel. +1.610.449.3490 Arlene Braithwaite, [email protected], tel. +1.410.772.0820 Subscriptions: Subscribe to AeroSafety World and become an individual member of Flight Safety Foundation. One year subscription for 12 issues Barry Eccleston, president and CEO includes postage and handling — US$350. Special Introductory Rate — $310. Single issues are available for $30 for members, $50 for nonmembers. Airbus North America For more information, please contact the membership department, Flight Safety Foundation, 601 Madison St., Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314-1756 USA, Don Phillips, freelance transportation +1 703.739.6700 or [email protected]. reporter AeroSafety World © Copyright 2009 by Flight Safety Foundation Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1934-4015 (print)/ ISSN 1937-0830 (digital). Published 12 times a year. Suggestions and opinions expressed in AeroSafety World are not necessarily endorsed by Flight Safety Foundation. Russell B. Rayman, M.D., executive director Nothing in these pages is intended to supersede operators’ or manufacturers’ policies, practices or requirements, or to supersede government regulations. Aerospace Medical Association WWW.FLIGHTSAFETY.ORG | AEROSAFETYWORLD | MARCH 2009 | 3 Managing your LOW RISK air safety flight ops risk... HIGH RISK in-flight safety HIGH RISK maintenance ...has its rewards. Safety Management • Safety reporting module integrates incident data across all departments • Risk assessment calculates and guides decision-making to resolve incidents • Automatically trigger corrective actions from incidents • Schedule and execute safety audits (IOSA) across multiple departments • Consolidate and standardize document control and training across the organization Quality