AeroSafety World May 2012
Download individual articles and departments available in text only and Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) format or the entire magazine (PDF only). If you do not have a copy of Adobe Reader, you can download and install a free copy from Adobe.
Entire Issue
AeroSafety World May 2012 68 pages.
Severe turbulence above the ground and wind shear near the surface. Cloud tops higher than commercial aircraft can fly. Air rising and sinking at speeds that can exceed 100 mph (161 kph). All those are potential features of convection — in common language, thunderstorms.
In the May AeroSafety World cover story, atmospheric scientist Edward Brotak explains how convection works and, critically for aviation, how it can be forecast. Also in the new issue: a simulated engine failure during a check ride in an Embraer EMB-120ER that ended in a loss of control; pilot depression; lessons apparently not learned from accidents; plus other significant feature stories and regular departments. [Download PDF 8.8M]
Features
Forecasting Thunderstorms (Text only)
Convection remains a serious problem for the aviation community. Severe turbulence above the ground and strong winds with wind shear near the surface are among the hazards caused by convective activity, which plays a role in many aircraft accidents each year. [Download PDF 5 pages. 646K]
Standard Equipment (Text only)
A proliferation of built-in and portable tablet computers, and an expanding array of aviation-specific software applications, have made electronic flight bags (EFBs) — cutting edge technological marvels only a few years ago — common fixtures in airplane cockpits. [Download PDF 5 pages. 447K]
Fatal V1 Cut (Text only)
A training and checking captain who was administering an instrument proficiency check to a line captain in an Embraer EMB-120ER Brasilia performed a “V1 cut” — a simulated engine failure on takeoff — “at a speed that did not allow adequate margin for error,” said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in its final report on the March 22, 2010, accident at Darwin Airport. [Download PDF 5 pages. 591K]
Difficult Diagnosis (Text only)
Mental health problems, often difficult to diagnose during aeromedical exams, have rarely factored in airline accidents and incidents. Official accident reports attribute a handful of crashes to a pilot’s deliberate action, citing a “psychosomatic disorder,” a suicide attempt or some unexplained motive. In some cases, those conclusions were challenged. [Download PDF 4 pages. 424K]
Silver Linings (Text only)
The 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York, U.S., reverberated in April as training and safety specialists debated its effects on initial pilot qualifications, the adequacy of airline pilots’ hand-flying skills and adding hours to recurrent flight simulator training. [Download PDF 4 pages. 459K]
**Web Exclusive** Silver Linings (Expanded version of original article) Text only
Double Trouble (Text Only)
Accident investigations yield useful information. But is all this information actually being fed back to the system and acted upon? [Download PDF 4 pages. 324K]
Guaranteed Competence (Text Only)
Investment by airlines in voluntary structural changes over the past few years has ratcheted up the knowledge, skills and self-confidence of tens of thousands of cabin safety professionals, several airline and regulatory specialists said in April at the World Aviation Training Conference and Tradeshow (WATS 2012) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. [Download PDF 4 pages. 397K]
**Web Exclusive** Guaranteed Competence (Expanded version of original article) Text only
Embracing Skill Enhancement (Text only)
By several indications, the Air Traffic Safety Action Program of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Organization is moving beyond the initial growing pains of this voluntary, non-punitive safety reporting method for air traffic control. [Download PDF 3 pages. 312K]
Departments
President’s Message | SMS Reconsidered (Text only)
Before SMS was made complex by the consultants and process people, it was meant to do one simple thing — allocate resources against risk. [Download PDF 1 page. 106K]
Editorial Page | ‘Roger, I’ve Got It’ (Text only)
I’m new to the Foundation, but I’m not new to aviation or journalism. I spent nearly 25 years at Aviation Week working in newsletters and magazines and on the web, and helping out with conferences when needed. [Download PDF 1 page. 114K]
Executive’s Message | Change Management (Text only)
Everyone has their own idea of what change management is. [Download PDF 1 page. 119K]
Air Mail | Letters From Our Readers (Text only)
Someone really needs to take a long, hard look at selection and training requirements for the huge expansion in numbers of airline pilots in highly automated jet transport operations forecast for the next two decades. [Download PDF 1 page. 178K]
Safety Calendar | Industry Events (Text only)
A listing of aviation safety-related conferences, seminars and meetings. [Download PDF 1 page. 63K]
In Brief | Safety News (Text only)
Operators of hundreds of Boeing 757s would be required to conduct repetitive inspections of electrical heat terminals on windshields and to repair or replace windshields, if necessary, under an airworthiness directive proposed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. [Download PDF 3 pages. 344K]
Foundation Focus | New Chapters (Text only)
Chief Operating Officer Kevin Hiatt and Director of Communications Emily McGee visited Purdue University to launch the inaugural Flight Safety Foundation Student Chapter at the College of Technology’s Department of Aviation Technology. [Download PDF 1 page. 112K]
Data Link | Good News About Africa (Text only)
The Africa region had considerably fewer accidents in 2011 compared with 2010, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had fewer accidents as well. [Download PDF 4 pages. 771K]
Info Scan | Chain Reactions (Text only)
Mechanisms in the ‘safety chain’ are keys to effectiveness. [Download PDF 4 pages. 963K]
On Record | Out of the Loop (Text only)
The following information provides an awareness of problems in the hope that they can be avoided in the future. The information is based on final reports by official investigative authorities on aircraft accidents and incidents. [Download PDF 8 pages. 451K]
Top of page
