Aviation Human Factors Industry News ! Volume XII. Issue 04, February 21, 2016 Hello all, To subscribe send an email to: [email protected] In this weeks edition of Aviation Human Factors Industry News you will read the following stories: ★Work nearly done on British ★Human factors passion leads to Airways jet that caught fire in aviation safety scholarship aborted Las Vegas takeoff ★Press Release TACG ★Chief Pilot: Working for the Largest Jet Airline in the World ★Interactive Aviation Safety Reporting Visualizations ★Not a Good Friday - ASRS Report ★First flight after annual ends in crash ★When 3 out of 4 is bad ★And Much More ★New certification standards for mechanics in the works Human Factors Industry News 1 Work nearly done on British Airways jet that caught fire in aborted Las Vegas takeoff "Safety is always British Airways' first priority," a spokeswoman for the London-based airline said in an email. "A team from Boeing is carrying out the repair work, which will be certified to the same high standards as if the aircraft was brand new. The aircraft will resume flying once stringent checks have been completed." The spokeswoman said no timeline has been set for when the aircraft would resume flying.While parked at McCarran, British Airways is paying $375 a day in fees and by the end of February, the bill would reach more than $53,000. The jet, a twin-engine Boeing 777-200ER, was scheduled to fly as British Airways Flight 2276 from McCarran to London's Gatwick International Airport on Sept. 8. Midway through its takeoff run, before the plane lifted off the ground, the jet's left engine experienced an uncontained failure that started a fire. Debris spewed out of the engine and onto the runway. The pilot shut down the engine and aborted the takeoff and while McCarran's emergency response crews sped to the burning plane, the plane's 157 passengers and 13 crew members began evacuating on emergency slides. A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report in October said the "left engine and pylon, left fuselage structure and inboard left wing ... were substantially damaged by the fire." Officials reported 14 people suffered minor injuries, most of them as a result of a rough ride down the emergency chutes. The runway was closed for four hours. Human Factors Industry News 2 Aviation experts initially said they expected the plane's insurers to declare the aircraft a "hull loss," meaning that it was too damaged for repair and that it would be disassembled for parts. In December, the airline determined that the plane's damage was suitable for repair so a plan was established to bring repair crews to McCarran to make the jet airworthy. Chief Pilot: Working for the Largest Jet Airline in the World Always concentrate on being a great pilot and the leader on your airplane. Capt. Brian Beach is one of four chief pilots that supervise 2300 pilots at American Airlines' Miami base. Beach starts his day at 5:30 am, often choosing to meet arriving international flights so that he can check-in with flight crew about any operations issues they might have experienced.When you meet American Airlines Miami-base Chief Pilot Capt. Brian Beach, you know he likes his job. Watch him interact with a few of the 2,300 pilots he leads and you'll begin to think that Beach is good at his job too. You'll have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch him at his desk though. "I like to come in around 5:30 a.m. as the international flights are landing and the first domestic flights of the day are prepping for departure," he says. A typical day includes answering a barrage of emails, studying flight operations and consulting with the other three Miami-base chief pilots, and then meetings. Somewhere in there, Beach takes time to walk the gates to meet his crews and talk with them about how they think operations are going. In his eyes, they are the front line. The retired Marine pilot came to American in 1990 as a line pilot, and he still practices that art but mostly on the weekend. "I'll take a trip from one of my pilots and fly it to give him or her a weekend off. Human Factors Industry News 3 I think it is important for them to have a family life," he explains. "I'm an advocate for my pilots. My phone is on 24/7, and if you do the right thing, I'm there for you," he says. He got his first taste of leadership as an instructor pilot in the Marines. But it was stints the union safety committee and then time as the union's National Accident Safety Investigator that brought him to the attention of both pilots and management. The union honed his leadership skills and his focus. "I learned so much about the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and how to use it to make the airline better and safer," Beach says. ASAP encourages pilots to report mistakes so that the FAA and airline can analyze them and create systems to prevent them. Pilots who participate in ASAP are not penalized. After two years as chair of the safety committee he was offered the chief pilot job. Not every airline hires chief pilots the same way. At Delta Air Lines chief pilots rotate through two-year terms, moving from chief pilot to an operations position or back onto the line. What is Beach's advice to pilots? First, you should concentrate on being a great pilot and the leader on your airplane. Then learn the company's operations and look for a place you might fit in. "The pilot's union is another great place to both give back to your profession and hone leadership skills," he continues. Chief pilots at major airlines are sometimes compensated as management on salary and sometimes paid as captain on an hourly rate plus a bonus. The median income in the U.S. is $182,030 and ranges to more than $220,000. Beach will warn you, however, not to do this for money. You work more hours than a typical line pilot. That being said, you sleep in your own bed more nights too. Not a Good Friday - ASRS Report When ASRS Analysts screen safety incident reports, they can tag certain ones for their relevance to upcoming CALLBACK topics. Other reports can be tagged for the Editor’s “Miscellaneous” file simply because they are “interesting.” Human Factors Industry News 4 A year-end review of the Miscellaneous file found several reports that fit into the “DOH!” (“Different Or Humorous!”) category and are worth sharing. No matter what our level of experience, there is an important lesson to be learned from these reports. No one is immune to error and, while some of these mistakes may seem rather improbable, those who think, “It could never happen to me” may be setting themselves up for embarrassment or worse. Wise aviation professionals recognize that we are all just a brief mental lapse away from one of those memorable moments we’d like to forget. Or, as a pilot stated in the first sentence of a recent report, “After years of reading incident reports and thinking, ‘How could a pilot do something so stupid?’ now I understand. I have met the moron and he is ME!” Obviously, mistakes attributable to lack of experience tend to happen earlier in our flying careers. One of the factors often affecting newer pilots is a tendency to focus so intently on one thing that their sense of the “big picture” is lost. An integral part of the big picture is what some old timers refer to as “headwork” or common sense. This B99 pilot may have been a little too focused on the mechanics of a checklist to step back mentally and question whether it fit the situation. ■ Enroute … I started to perform my required “Weekly Checks” Checklist, going through item by item. The checklist calls for the weekly fire-test; the first item is to pull both fire handles. As I pulled them I noticed a sudden loss of performance on both engines. My gauges indicated that both of them flamed out. I pushed the handles back and started to troubleshoot. I determined that my right engine was still operational. Meanwhile, the aircraft was losing altitude but it was under control. I advised ATC about my situation and they told me there was an airport ten miles away along my route.… Being a new pilot on this airplane, under these circumstances I decided the best course of action was to secure the inoperative engine and land as soon as possible. Having my right engine operational, I was able to stabilize the airplane and started my VFR descent. I completed my Emergency Checklist and then performed a safe single engine landing. I am a new pilot on this airplane, having just completed my upgrade training one week ago. During the flight training, this part of the checklist was never mentioned and the checklist was not available in the training aircraft. On the checklist, the fire test appears to be among the inflight test items. This situation was the result of me following the checklist that I believed I was supposed to perform. Had I received the proper training, I am sure this situation could have been avoided. Human Factors Industry News 5 When 3 out of 4 is bad It started out as just another day in the VR-55 maintenance department.