As part of its vision of ‘making every flight a safe flight’ BALPA’s National
Executive Council has established a new position of Head of Safety and Security
and announce at the end of February that Dr Rob Hunter has been appointed to the
post.

Captain Mark Searle, Chairman of BALPA, said “The creation of the new post
reflects a concern that the industry is taking safety for granted. Investing in the position is a sign of the ambition of BALPA to make a difference. It is being created at a time of great change – in regulation, in process and in the workload of flight crew.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on the US government to reinforce the competitiveness of the US air transport industry with strategic long-term thinking. In co-operation with the industry, IATA urged the US to accelerate NextGen implementation, renew its focus on liberalization, revise proposals for passenger rights legislation and address the rising cost of security, it was reported from New York on 31st March.

According to a report from ICAO in Montreal on 1st April radioactive material from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant is gradually spreading outside Japan into the global atmosphere but at extremely low concentrations that do not present health or transportation safety hazards, according to the United Nations organizations closely monitoring the situation.

Safety Recommendations – On 29th March the (US) National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that it had made a number of recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Non-responsive airplane – On 29th March NTSB reported that it was investigating an incident involving a Southwest Airlines airplane that was requested to veer off course by Air Traffic Control to view into the cockpit of a general aviation airplane that had been out of radio communication.

Airliner fuselage rupture – On 2nd April the NTSB announced it was launching a Go Team to investigate an in-flight fuselage rupture that occurred that day on a Southwest Airline Boeing 737 aircraft (N632SW).

International exercise for the Hercules – A contingent of 15 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel journeyed to the Arctic Circle for an international exercise focused on the C-130J Hercules transport aircraft.

Exercise COMBINED STRENGTH 2011 was conducted at Bod? Air Force Base in Norway from 19th to 25th March. The exercise was open to countries that operate C-130J aircraft and this year featured participants from Denmark, Australia and the host nation, Norway.

Junior officers in the Royal Australian Navy will learn to pilot the next generation of warships, in an upgraded A$10million training facility at HMAS Watson, Sydney, which was due to be commissioned on 25th March.

On 24th March the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into an air traffic control service interruption incident that occurred early on the morning of 23rd March at Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in
Arlington, Virginia.

Concerns over the potential spread of radiation contamination in Japan have led to the Maritime Authority of Jamaica issuing a warning for operators of all Jamaican flag vessels to maintain a distance of at least 50 miles from the Fukushima nuclear facility.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) announced on 22nd March the completion of an investigation into a ‘weight and balance’ event two years before.

Tropical cyclone names – Two tropical cyclone names in the Atlantic were retired from the official name rotation by the World Meteorological Organization’s hurricane committee because of the deaths and damage they caused in 2010. This committee issues the potential names for tropical cyclones to be used every six years for both the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins.

Tsunamis – In the wake of Japan’s tsunami disaster, NOAA has urged Americans who live and vacation at the coast to take the threat of tsunamis seriously. With more coastline than any other country and proximity to several major fault lines, the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean coasts of the United States are vulnerable to tsunamis.

NOAA’s Arctic Plan – NOAA explained on 16th March how it will concentrate scientific, service, and stewardship efforts in the Arctic when it released its first ever Arctic Vision and Strategy.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced on 24th March that it had made a recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration to prohibit air traffic controllers from providing supervisory oversight while performing operational air traffic duties.

Final Australian C-17 returns from Japan

The remaining Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster providing support to relief efforts in Japan under Operation PACIFIC ASSIST was due to return home on 25th March following nearly two weeks of humanitarian assistance to earthquake and tsunami affected regions.

Operational event, Darwin Aerodrome On 17th December 2008, a Boeing 737-4MO aircraft made a significant diversion around weather at night while en route to Darwin, Northern Territory from Denpasar, Indonesia. The aircraft was cleared to conduct the runway 11 VHF omnidirectional radio range (VOR) approach via the initial approach fix NASUX. After the weather diversion, it was more convenient for the flight crew to make a pilot intercept of the 285 radial from the VOR but there was a period of misunderstanding as a result of a breakdown in the application of standard radiotelephony readbacks.

Stickshaker activation, Alice Springs On 18th September 2008, a Boeing 717-200 was being operated on a scheduled passenger flight from Cairns, Queensland to Alice Springs, Northern Territory. During the manually-flown visual approach by the pilot in command to runway 30 at Alice Springs aerodrome, the stickshaker activated. The pilot flying lowered the nose while continuing the turn onto final. The stickshaker activated again before the flight crew stabilised the approach to within the operator’s criteria and landed without further incident.

The National Transportation Safety Board made the following recommendations to the (US) Federal Aviation Administration on 2nd March: Perform a technical review of Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X to determine if the capability exists systemwide to detect improper operations such as landings on taxiways. (A-11-12)

On 11th March the NTSB issued a Safety Alert to warn pilots of lowflying aircraft about the dangers associated with unmarked towers built to record weather observations.

EMSA News

• Tracking ships from space: ESA and EMSA SAT-AIS initiative
• EU agencies exhibit
• EMSA studies Ro-Pax stability
• Ensuring polluters pay: CleanSeaNet legal workshop
• US Coast Guard LRIT-IDE team visits EMSA
• On the EMSA website

CANSO, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, announced plans in mid-March to support a global approach to calculating fuel and CO2 savings from ATM operational improvements. CANSO will work with ICAO, in rolling out the ICAO Fuel Savings Estimation Tool (IFSET) among the world’s air navigation service providers.

The General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland (GLAs) fully support the findings of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s paper on the dangers of heavy dependency on GPS, discussed on 10th March by Professor Martyn Thomas at the 2011 GNSS Interference, Detection and Monitoring Conference.

Over the last few years, the GLAs have conducted two GPS jamming trials to investigate and demonstrate the effects of GPS failure on the maritime industry, which has an enormous reliance on GPS for positioning, navigation and timing information.

Society may already be dangerously over-reliant on satellite radio navigation systems like GPS, the Royal Academy of Engineering warned in a report published on 8th March. The range of applications using the technology is now so broad that, without adequate independent backup, signal failure or interference could potentially affect safety systems and other critical parts of the economy.

Related: GPS vulnerabilities and the benefits of eLoran.

In response to the recent earthquake and tsunami that brought devastation to Japan and the Pacific Rim, exactEarth announced on 12th March that it is offering its data service free of charge for the next two weeks to any competent maritime authority wishing to have access to their vessels anywhere in the Pacific Rim.

IFALPA’s safety bulletin on Haneda operations.

While Tokyo benefits from the services of two airports Narita (RJAA) and Haneda (RJTT), Haneda’s relative proximity to downtown Tokyo has meant that demand for growth at this airport has been the greater of the two. This demand was further enhanced with the re-opening of the airport to overseas operators.

Accordingly, in 2008, it was announced that capacity at Tokyo Haneda would be boosted by the construction of a fourth runway at the airport.

Related: IFALPA’s safety bulletin.

Global shipping chiefs called upon the world to help secure the release of hundreds of innocent seafarers snatched by Somali pirates, it was reported from London on 1st March.

The Round Table of International Shipping Associations comprises BIMCO, ICS/ISF, INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO and has embarked on a major campaign to encourage over a million people to heap pressure on their national governments to crackdown on piracy.

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee published its report on 2nd March into studies of last year’s volcanic ash occurrence which limited air traffic over much of north west Europe. Entitled “Too little, too late” it is apparent that the British Government left scientific advice to last minute in the volcanic ash emergency, it was concluded by the Members of Parliament who comprised the Committee.

It was announced from Northrop Grumman Corporation on 1st March that it had been selected to supply bridge navigation systems for nine new mid-shore patrol vessels to be built for the Canadian Coast Guard.

CANSO, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, announced on 2nd March the appointment of Robert Hutchison as Director of Communications and Marketing. He took up his appointment the day before reporting to Director General Graham Lake.