"Comair Flight 5191's safety lessons not all followed"

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Flight 5191's safety lessons not all followed 
By Jeffrey McMurray
The Associated Press

 
LEXINGTON - A year removed from a deadly airplane crash in Kentucky,
aviation experts say the government has plugged a few safety holes in the
air transportation system but left others exposed.

As family members of the crash victims prepare to assemble Sunday at a
public ceremony in Lexington to memorialize the anniversary of the accident,
many are asking whether the government is enacting, rather than just
recommending, steps to prevent another Comair 5191?

"Where does it go?" said Kevin Fahey, whose son Thomas was among the 49 who
died. "The action plan to address these recommendations seems to remain a
plan too long and not become a concrete procedure or stipulation."

While other crashes have been blamed on mechanical errors, the mistakes at
Lexington were almost completely human, federal investigators found. Pilots
steered the jet in the predawn darkness to the wrong runway, one too short
for takeoff. There were also numerous other questions, from an understaffed
tower to missing maps and notices alerting the crew to a construction
project that changed the taxiway route at Blue Grass Airport.

Jim Hall, the former director of the National Transportation Safety Board,
said the Comair crash was a case of preventable mistakes, yet he questions
whether it ever made much difference in improving safety.

"I don't think this accident got the attention it deserves, either from the
NTSB or the aviation community," Hall said. "There was a real reluctance not
to go into the bad news of the accident, and I don't know who's served by
that."

There have been changes, either enacted or in the works, although chances
are most won't be noticed by travelers boarding future flights.

In the month after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a
safety alert to pilots urging them to check their runway headings and
observe airport lighting conditions before beginning takeoff. NTSB found the
agency should go further and mandate the checks as part of the crew's
preflight checklist. FAA is considering that, but the rule hasn't yet been
implemented.

FAA also is streamlining the way it notifies crews of changes to taxiway
routes. In January, it required that graphics of any closed taxiways be
included in a pilot's notebook along with the written version. And, by
October, the system of local airport notices will be standardized so every
crew gets exactly the same information, straight from the government,
regardless of which company produces the airline's charts and maps.

"We're in the safest period in aviation history, but we don't want to rest
on those successes," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. "We keep trying to
make improvements that will make aviation even safer."

Technology also could help prevent future crashes involving runway mistakes.

Honeywell Aerospace, which developed a cockpit alert system certified by the
FAA that gives the crew a verbal warning when they're approaching the wrong
runway, has seen a huge spike in interest from airlines since the crash.

Its sales numbers this year are about 50 percent higher than in 2006,
spokesman Bill Reavis said, and six airlines have signed on, equipping some
808 aircraft.

Reavis says the pilots would have been alerted that they were approaching
the shorter, general aviation runway, but he stops short of saying the
device would have prevented the accident.

"Would it have broken the chain?" he said. "There's no way to speculate."

Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx says the airline's fleet has a GPS system but
is looking into the Honeywell device and others on the market.

More recently, the FAA certified a cockpit system in which pilots can look
at a screen to see a moving map of an airport's runways and taxiways,
updated in real time.

Steve Henden, spokesman for Aviation Communications Surveillance Systems,
which developed the program in 2005, says United Parcel Service is using it
now. More carriers will likely follow, he said, although it may take some
additional nudging by the federal government. "It's going to take the
government stepping up and saying we're not going to stand for any more
accidents related to runway incursion," Henden said. "Until they're told to
do it, they're not likely to do it."

NTSB has urged that airlines be told, and the FAA could take that under
advisement soon, Brown said.

Beyond that, investigators concluded airport signs and markings be updated,
particularly at regional airports. Blue Grass Airport has already done that,
even though it wasn't required. NTSB found its signs weren't deficient the
morning of the crash.

But despite the safety steps that have been taken since Aug. 27, 2006, some
victims' families conclude more should be done.

Wayne Turner, whose brother Larry was killed, said he thinks airlines need a
better system for making sure pilots aren't violating a federal ban on
impertinent chatter during taxi and takeoff. The two Comair pilots violated
that rule for several seconds, talking about their job prospects and dogs.

Turner believes the answer is simple. Currently the cockpit voice recorder
is only heard if there is an accident. He says there also should be random
checks after flights that take off and land safely.

"Accidents will happen because sloppiness in the cockpit has become a
habit," Turner said. "Lives are too precious to afford that kind of
latitude."

Turner's suggestion may have some trouble getting enacted because the FAA
doesn't use the recording for discipline, and pilots are likely to resist
the monitoring.

Former NTSB executive director Peter Goelz says he would like to see a
requirement that the co-pilot, or the member of the flight crew not actually
flying the plane, be assigned to review all the notices in the handbook
before the flight begins.

"This ought to be a tragic textbook example for air carriers to train their
flight crews about why it's important to follow the sterile cockpit rules,
to reach out and listen to the (notices), why it's important to be
completely aware of your situation at all times," Goelz said.

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