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 Flight Safety Information
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 Flight
Safety Information
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February 16, 2010 No.036
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 White
Paper: Vendor Management
A couple of decades ago the phrase "Vendor Management" would have met
with glazed expressions, and Approved Supplier Lists were scarce if not
non-existent. Jump forward a decade and "Preferred Suppliers Lists"
were evolving. These, however, were based more on established
relationships between buyer and supplier than on the credentials of the
vendors concerned. Self-audits were distributed for completion and
return but the system was a loose one, often with no procedures for
guidance, and orders were placed regardless.
Further development of the regulatory authorities and the control of
bogus parts mean that, these days, a company is rarely without an
Approved Suppliers List, and failure to produce one when requested by
auditors can land the company in question in deep water.
So, knowing there is now a requirement for vendor management and an
approved suppliers list, the question arises as to where the
responsibility and the accountability for vendor management reside
within an organisation. Should the Purchasing department take
responsibility and, if so, are they accountable? Does accountability
always rest with the Quality department?
The answer isn't as clear cut as might be hoped and companies conduct
the task in different ways. What is clear is that the Accountable
Manager is answerable to the regulatory authorities and must ensure
that, through the Quality Department (an independent voice for the
Accountable Manager), policies and procedures are put in place to
ensure control over the business. In the case of vendor management,
internal audits and supplier audits. Without these he has no control
over the business. Any organisation that does not manage their vendors
puts the Accountable Manager at risk.
There is a distinction that must be made between vendor management and
actual physical auditing of a supplier. The initial vendor requirement
is determined by purchasing, who may send out the self-audit, the
approval of this self-audit and addition to the approved supplier list
is a function of Quality who will then add the supplier to the on-site
audit schedule. It is the policing of the vendor where clear processes
will ensure nothing is missed. Goods-in and shipping departments should
be trained to look for signs of incorrect paperwork, deteriorating
quality or attempts to ignore the requirements of the company, and be
provided with the tools to communicate such misdemeanors to the Quality
department for corrective action.
Only by all departments working together for the benefit of the whole
can it be ensured that nothing falls between the cracks. This can be
achieved by having clearly defined procedures in place, and by having
customized quality training for individual unit managers. This will
make certain all short falls are detected, recorded and pursued with
the vendor to keep their quality to the highest standard.
Jackie Bailey-Tucker
Approved 4 Business Ltd.
www.approved4business.com
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 FAA: Plane
crash kills 5 in New Jersey
February
15, 2010 9:49 p.m. EST
- The crash took place at
Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall Township
- The plane was a Cessna
Skymaster 337, according to the FAA
- Identities of the
victims have not been released
(CNN) --
Five people were killed Monday when a small plane crashed in Monmouth
County, New Jersey, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation
Administration said.
All five
victims were males, according to the Wall Township Police Department.
Names and ages were not released, but the police department said the
victims included the pilot, two adult passengers, a teenager and a
younger boy.
The crash
at Monmouth Executive Airport -- formerly Allaire Airport -- in Wall
Township was reported at 3:44 p.m. ET, according to Allison Duquette of
the FAA. The plane was a Cessna Skymaster 337, according to the FAA.
Witnesses
told the Asbury Park Press newspaper that the plane appeared to be on a
landing approach when the crash occurred.
The airport
is about 50 miles south of New York City, on the New Jersey coast. The
area around the airport is sparsely populated and surrounded by
highways, strip malls, and wooded areas.
The FAA and
NTSB will be handling the investigation.
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Cessna
Skymaster Down In New Jersey
Tue, 16 Feb '10
Witnesses Said Plane Came Apart
Five people were reportedly killed Monday when a Cessna 337 Skymaster
went down at Monmouth Executive Airport (KBLM) in New Jersey. A
helicopter pilot who witnessed the accident said the airplane did a
high-speed low pass of the runway, then rolled and impacted the ground.
Other witnesses say they saw parts coming off the airplane before it
went down, however their accounts describe different things. One
witness who was sledding near the airport said she saw what she thought
was a piece of the wing come off the aircraft, but another told a
newspaper reporter she saw part of the tail come off the Skymaster. A
third, the chef at the airport restaurant, said the airplane approached
the runway from the north, but then "popped back up" and "it broke
apart."
Multiple media sources, including Fox television station WNYW and ABC
News report that the aircraft had landed at the airport prior to the
accident. The Skymaster was registered to Jack Air LLC in Delaware, but
was reportedly based at Monmouth Executive.
Screen Grab From Fox News
Authorities recovered the bodies of three adult men, a teenager, and a
young child from the wreckage of the plane. None have been identified
pending notification of relatives. The incident is being investigated
by the FAA and NTSB.
FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov
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Date:
15-FEB-2010
Time: 4 pm
Type: Cessna T337G Turbo Super Skymaster
Operator: Jack Air LLC
Registration: N12NA
C/n / msn: P3370020
Fatalities: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Monmouth Executive Airport (KBLM), New Jersey - United
States of America
Phase: Approach
Nature: Private
Departure airport:
Destination airport: KBLM
Narrative:
The aircraft was approaching the runway when something went wrong and
the aircraft crashed upside down beside the runway. All five occupants
reported killed. The aircraft was destroyed. According to witnesses, a
part of the aircraft broke off and landed on the runway just before the
aircraft crashed.
(aviation-safety.net)
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 Bird Strike
Forces Jet To Return To Ft. Lauderdale
Ground workers point at the nose of a Spirit Airlines jetliner that
returned to Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a
birds struck the plane's radome. The plane returned safely and nobody
was hurt.
A Spirit Airlines flight to New York returned to Ft.
Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport on Monday after having a run
in with a bird.
Flight 758 took off from Ft. Lauderdale's airport at 11 a.m. A short
time later a bird struck the weatherproof enclosure on the nose of the
plane called the radome which protects the plane's radar, according to
FAA.
As a precaution the pilot returned to Ft. Lauderdale. After circling
for 20 to 30 minutes to burn off fuel, the plane landed without
incident. No one on board was injured and the plane appeared not be
damaged. All of the passengers were put on another plane bound
for La Guardia. The plane that was hit was inspected and put back
into the flight mix later in the afternoon.
Last year there were more than 25 hundred incidents of birds hitting
planes in the U.S., most occurred near airports which provide lots of
grass and a natural habitat, according to The Sun-Sentinel.
In 2008, 19 bird strikes were recorded at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood
International.
Source: The Sun-Sentinel
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 Delta
passengers receive luggage soaked in jet fuel
posted by Dan Boniface Corey Rose
DENVER - We've all had problems when it comes to airline baggage claim
but this takes the cake.
On Sunday, a group of friends were returning home from a vacation in
Puerto Rico. Shortly after landing at Denver International Airport,
they retrieved their bags to find out they had been drenched in jet
fuel.
Delta Airlines Representatives had them fill out a complaint and sent
them home with their bags smelling of fumes. They told them to wash
everything they could and for everything else submit a reimbursement
form within 24 hours.
"I'm not sure what to do with baggage that smells like jet fuel because
to me that seems like a hazard and I should just dump it in my trash
can. I don't really know how to handle it," Kathy Shoemaker, a Delta
passenger, said.
9NEWS Aviation Expert, Greg Feith, says the contaminated luggage could
be a serious fire hazard on the airplane, at the airport, and at the
passengers' home.
A Delta representative told the passengers the soaking probably
happened on the ground in Puerto Rico, meaning the bags flew with them
all the way to Denver. That didn't sit well with Kathy.
"I don't think anyone wants luggage that's been soaked in fuel in the
luggage compartment of their flight. I don't ever want to think that
would ever happen again cause it seems to me there was enough luggage
that was soaked that any kind of spark would have blown up our plane. "
Feith says the possibility of fuel leaking from an aircraft fuel tank
into the cargo pit during flight is virtually impossible. But he says
the airline should always try to find the source of any fuel
contamination.
9NEWS tried to contact Delta representatives for comment but our
messages weren't returned.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=132835&catid=339
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 Aviation
body defends cabin crew cutbacks (Australia)
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says its move to reduce the
number of cabin crew on aircraft will not compromise safety.
It has changed the allowable ratio of flight attendants to passengers
from 1:36 to 1:50.
The air safety watchdog has been criticised by the flight attendants'
union, which says passengers will be put at a greater risk in
emergencies.
But CASA spokesman Peter Gibson says the change is bringing Australia
into line with other countries such as the US, Britain and New Zealand.
"Cabin crew are obviously essential for emergency situations such as
evacuations," he said.
"The point here is that the manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus
test their aircraft so they can be evacuated in the minimum amount of
required time, with a ratio of 1:50.
"That's an international standard; that's where Australia is going."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/16/2821178.htm?section=justin
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 Airport
tells child to remove leg braces
February
16, 2010 12:39PM
SECURITY officers at a US airport have come under fire for forcing a
disabled boy to remove his leg braces and walk through a checkpoint.
Four-year-old Ryan Thomas was flying from Philadelphia to Disney World
in Orlando with his parents Bob and Leona when the incident occurred.
At the time Ryan, born 16 weeks prematurely with malformed ankles and
low muscle tone in his legs, had only just begun to walk.
His parents wheeled his stroller to the security checkpoint then broke
it down and put it on the conveyor belt.
They then walked Ryan through the metal detector. The alarm went off
and the screener told them to take off the boy's braces.
"I told them he can't walk without them on his own," Bob Thomas told
the Philadelphia News.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related Coverage
"I said this is overkill. He's 4 years old. I don't think he's a
terrorist."
Security also demanded Ryan walk through on his own.
Spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration Ann Davis
said the boy should not have been told to remove his braces.
Instead he should have been taken to a private screening area to be
swabbed for traces of explosive materials.
The family have received an apology.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au
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Romney
Assaulted on Flight Leaving Olympics
passenger became "physically violent" when the former Massachusetts
governor asked him to move his seat upright for take-off.
Feb. 14: Mitt Romney and his wife Ann attend the short program figure
skating pairs competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
Mitt Romney, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, was
physically assaulted Monday by a fellow passenger on a flight from
Vancouver, Canada, to Los Angeles.
Romney, a 2008 presidential candidate, asked a passenger who was seated
and reclining in front of his wife, Ann, to move his seat upright
during take off.
"The passenger became physically violent. Governor Romney did not
retaliate, but instead let the airline crew respond to the incident."
Said Romney Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.
Romney was not injured, but those familiar with the incident tell Fox
News, "there was physical contact with Governor Romney." Ann Romney was
not touched in the incident.
The plane returned to the gate and the passenger was arrested by the
police.
The Romneys have been
in Vancouver since Friday for the Olympic Games.
Mitt Romney was the former president and CEO of the 2002 Olympic Games
in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Romneys were guests of honor at these
games.
There is speculation that Romney, who ran unsuccessfully for the
Republican presidential nomination in 2008, is preparing for another
bid in 2012.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/15/report-romney-threatened-flight-vancouver/
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Man pulled
off Lansing flight; panic attack suspected
BY MATT HELMS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A man believed to have been suffering a panic attack on a jet as it
awaited a flight from Lansing to Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday night
had to be subdued by other passengers when he tried to exit the plane,
an official said today.
Joe Williams, a spokesman for Pinnacle Airlines, a regional jet
operator based in Memphis, Tenn., with a hub at Metro Airport, said
Pinnacle Flight 3679, operating as a connector flight for Delta
Airlines, was delayed by 45 minutes because of weather, although exact
reasons weren't immediately clear.
While the plane was taxiing after the delay at Capitol Region
International Airport, a male passenger "had what was described to me
as a panic attack and tried to exit through the passenger door,"
Williams said. "But he was restrained by other passengers. The flight
returned to the gate."
Williams said no injuries were reported among the six passengers and
three crew on the 50-seat plane. The man appears to have been detained
but not arrested by local police at the Lansing airport. Williams said
he had no additional information.
Nicole Noll-Williams, spokeswoman for the Lansing airport, said she had
no other details about the incident, which happened around 6:15 p.m.
Sunday.
Williams said the flight resumed and landed at Metro Airport around
9:15 p.m.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100215/NEWS06/100215009/1318/Panic-suspected-in-flight-skirmish
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 Investigation:
Runway safety at JFK Airport
Friday, February 12, 2010
Jim Hoffer
New York (WABC) -- Government inspections at New York's largest airport
reveal serious safety problems.
These runway hazards at JFK were uncovered by an Eyewitness News
4-month investigation.
The FAA had earlier warned the Port Authority of possible enforcement
action if safety deficiencies at JFK did not improve.
Yet, our investigation has found problems with broken runway lights,
poor signage, and inadequate training getting worse.
Airport lights reflect a beautiful mosaic, but they are also critical
to safety.
In an analysis of documents, interviews, and undercover video, a
portrait emerges of New York's largest airport, JFK struggling to keep
up with maintenance.
A video shows a major taxiway where the green
centerline lights suddenly end, leaving a quarter-mile stretch of
darkness:
"Those
lights are there to guide the aircraft from point A to Point B,"
explained former JFK controller, Barrett Byrnes.
The recently retired JFK air traffic controller says poor maintenance
of airport lights and signs has been a problem for awhile and often
leads to pilot confusion.
"You would have 30-40 a night, pilots turning off stopping on exit or
runway exit just stopping, because taxiway lights would end, so they'd
be confused," said Byrnes.
A look at JFK'S latest annual FAA inspection shows an unusually high
number of safety deficiencies, 38 to be exact from taxiway and runway
lights that "Need to be repaired", to runway markings painted in the
wrong direction, to broken lenses, and lights that were OTS: out of
service.
"That to me is a real concern," said pilot and aviation attorney,
Justin Green.
"To have all these violations, all these problems with how the runways
and taxiways are marked is a little surprising to me," said Green.
For perspective, we obtained the latest FAA inspection report for
O'Hare airport in Chicago.
Although much larger than Kennedy, it had only 8 deficiencies, compared
to Kennedy's 38.
Perhaps most troubling in 2008, the F-A-A put the Port Authority on
notice saying if problems are not corrected "Enforcement action may be
necessary". Yet in the next inspection, deficiencies shot up by 60% and
the FAA did nothing.
"If your just going to pencil whip stuff and say you have errors but
never really correct them, then you really have safety issues," said
Barrett.
Pilots getting lost on the runway can lead to deadly accidents.
In 2006, at a Kentucky airport, 47 passengers were killed when a Delta
commuter flight tried to take off on an unlit runway .
In 2005 at JFK, a pilot of a jumbo jet filled with passengers got lost
in fog and mistakenly crossed a runway as a cargo plane was lifting
off. They missed colliding by just a few feet, the fear obvious in the
pilot's voice.
Pilot:
"He's taking off."
Controller: "Are you clear?"
Pilot: "We are clear now of runway, we crossed the runway."
Controller: "You crossed the runway?"
Pilot: "We crossed the runway by mistake."
On any night, let alone a foggy one, a stretch of taxiway unlit and
dark can add an element of danger at an already busy and challenging
airport like JFK.
"Any confusion out on the runway or taxiway can ultimately lead to an
accident," said Byrnes.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=7272799
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Contact
Information
"Flight
Safety Information" is a free service of:
Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP
CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC
(Targeting Safety & Risk Management)
curt@curt-lewis.com
www.curt-lewis.com
www.fsinfo.org
PH: 817-303-9096
Cell: 817-845-3983
Fax: 682-292-0835
Curt Lewis & Associates, LLC is an international, multi-discipline
technical and scientific consulting firm specializing in aviation and
industrial safety. Our specialties are aviation litigation support,
aviation/airport safety programs, accident investigation, safety &
quality assessments/audits, system safety, human factors, Safety
Management Systems (SMS) assessment/implementation & training,
safety/quality training & risk management, IS-BAO Auditing,
airfield/heliport lighting products and Technical Support.
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