Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #499...............................................................................September 21,  2008 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm  If you want to get the newsletter sent to you every week, sign up to AviationWatch. Bill Mulcahy rockaway@prodigy.net

Quote of the Week:   "...Our initial investigation results show a combination of FAA actions and inactions, indicating that the agency expedited the certification processes for the EA-500 to meet a September 2006 deadline..." testimony this week by Calvin L. Scovel III, Department of Transportation's inspector general at House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's aviation panel which is investigating the Eclipse 500 jet's FAA certification

Congress Investigating "Jet Taxi" Certification!!!

Editorial): Will We Be Seeing More Small Plane Crashes? With the FAA doing everything they possible can to build more airports, especially for small general aviation use, I predict we will be seeing more of these fast-flying gasoline bombs crashing on our homes and highways. Thanks to to the FAA's recent controversial approval of the Eclipse 500 small passenger jet for use by general aviation these crashes will be more devastating. I believe that with more general aviation jets flying we won't be seeing pictures of small prop planes that have crashed in garage driveways, but small jets that have taken out a row of houses!!! Congressional Probe Of The FAA Certification!!! Rumors, and now a congressional investigation, abound in news stories that the FAA "fast tracked" the approval of the Eclipse 500. This may leave the FAA (and the American taxpayer) liable for lawsuits when one of these small jets crashes and wipes out a few families on the ground and people start asking questions why these small jet planes were ever allowed to be put into the hands of pilots that do not have the same training and oversight that major airline pilots have. This is a major shift in the way aviation is done in the U.S. and already the lawyers are looking at it. Bush's Chickens Finally Coming Home To Roost On US? 120 more days of this terrible man. I used to think he was just dumb, but have changed my mind. Remember how he bragged about the "shock and awe" war he was going to inflict on the Iraqis who never did have weapons of mass destruction and how he didn't care about the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The recent stock market scandal is just another example of Bush bad leadership. I just wonder if we can survive 120 more days of him (mis)leading America!!! How Dangerous Is It To Fly In A General Aviation Eclipse 500? According to a web site I recently found called  planecrashinfo.com  the chance of getting killed in a general aviation (small) plane is 28.5 TIMES more likely than in an (large) airliner!!! I find this statistic to be amazing, but it would explain the many celebrity deaths we've read about in small aircraft. It makes me wonder how the Eclipse 500 fits in these statistics. Would it be even more dangerous than a small prop plane because its a fast flying jet? Certainly the danger to the people on the ground would be much more as a jet crash is more devastating than a prop plane. Can that be quantified? Shouldn't that be part of any certification? It's Time To Expose The Corrupt FAA Fat Cats!!! Why is the FAA more interested in fast tracking certification of the Eclipse 500 mini-jet plane rather than studying its (pardon the pun) safety "impacts?" I think the answer lies with the fact that the FAA has always considered themselves airline industry partners in the aviation promotion and expansion business. That has always come first for them not dealing with aviation safety and health impacts, especially for people on the ground. Like a business, which they apparently model themselves after, the FAA loves to expand because it means bigger jobs and more (taxpayer) money for their executive. The government has stepped in to control Wall Street, it's time it took control of the corrupt FAA management rats.

Eclipse Aviation Is Having A Tough Summer: The maker of the six-seat, 33-foot, 3,500 pound Very Light Jet has racked up orders for more than 2,000 of its Eclipse 500s, but things aren't going all that well. The company's production line has been a mess, and Eclipse has been forced to push back customer deliveries after vital suppliers missed deadlines. Last month, Eclipse's Board of Directors unceremoniously dumped founder and CEO Vern Rayburn when investors made it clear they weren't all that excited about injecting cash into the company if he stayed. And now there are safety problems that would make even the most fearless flier think about going Greyhound. It's the kind of stuff you'd rather not think about when boarding a plane:, smoke streaming from a cockpit display,  pixilated flight display monitors, failed communications and navigation electronics, random autopilot disengagement, landing gear indication problems, and so on. Aviation.com has a complete list.  It's not Eclipse's first safety slip this summer. In June, the FAA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD 2008-13-51, if you're interested), which grounded all Eclipse 500s after a botched landing at Chicago's Midway airport. The FAA cleared the 500 for flight the next day, but still, stuff like this doesn't exactly inspire confidence. The FAA announced last week that it has launched an investigation into these latest safety allegations, though its worth noting that they're the ones who approved the plane for flight in the first place. Aviation.com also points out that the FAA's 2006 certification for the Eclipse 500 happened on the last day of the agency's fiscal year, and strangely enough, on a Saturday. Did this unorthodox timing have anything to do with the fact that bonuses for FAA managers are tied to certification numbers? the agency says no, but it does seem just slightly suspicious. http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/08/faa-scrutinizes.html 

From the DOT Report on the Eclipse 500 to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation:

 The Eclipse EA-500 relies extensively on software to operate. The Eclipse EA-500 is a technologically advanced aircraft with an integrated avionics system that controls several of the aircraft’s crucial systems and displays, sensor data processing, and subsystem monitoring. For example, this system enables the flight crew to control landing gear, cabin pressurization, lighting, trim, and electrical systems.

This integrated system also handles key data that flows to the aircraft’s flight management system, such as global positioning (GPS), altitude, direction, and velocity data. The EA-500’s avionics system is solely computer-based; it does not have stand-by instruments to monitor flight-critical information (other VLJs like the Cessna Mustang have back-up [analogue] systems 

Dramatic video footage of the Madrid plane crash which killed 154 people has been released!!! The August 20 crash of the Spanair MD-82 flight from Madrid to the Canary Islands killed almost all of the 172 people on the plane. The footage came from the AENA, the government agency which runs Spain's airports. The video also has a recording of a phone call from the airport control tower to the operation centre. The caller says she has seen smoke and flames, and thinks there has been an accident involving a plane.  The operation centre worker says she will call the firefighters, and arranges for a camera to cover the runway where the accident took place. Both women sound shocked by what they are realising has just happened. http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Madrid-plane-crash-footage-released-138003295.html 

Small Plane Crash Kills Four, Burns Two Celebrities!!! A plane crash which left ex-Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and disc jockey DJ AM with burns and killed four, may have been caused by a tire blowout. The Learjet left the runway on take-off in Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday night, and crashed on a nearby road. A safety official said that a cockpit voice recording suggested the crew tried unsuccessfully to abort take-off after hearing a probable blowout. A doctor has said Barker and DJ AM are expected to make full recoveries.  Both are still in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Augusta, Georgia, Dr Fred Mullins said. Both had suffered second and third-degree burns in the crash, he added. Sparks seen Dr Mullins said that Barker, 32, was burned on his torso and lower body while DJ AM - real name Adam Goldstein - was burned on his hands and part of his head. Their injuries could take up to a year to heal, he added. The pilot, co-pilot and two other passengers all died in the crash. Debbie Hersman, of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the recording suggested that the crew had tried to abort take-off but had then signalled that their efforts to do so were failing. "The crew reacted to a sound that was consistent with a tyre blowout," she said. Air traffic controllers had reported seeing sparks coming from the plane as it tried to take-off. Officials said it left the end of the runway before coming to rest, engulfed in flames, a quarter of a mile away on the embankment across a five-lane motorway. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7629184.stm 

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                                                      Important Aviation News Stories This Week

The Eclipse 500 Jet: Are Passengers in Danger?

September 18, 2008. By Gordon Gibb  http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/features/unsafe-aircraft-jet-eclipse-500.html

Washington, DC: It's the kind of stuff that makes you want to never set foot in an aircraft again: allegations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fast-tracked the approval of the new Eclipse 500 very light jet aircraft despite unresolved design problems, according to testimony presented to Congress this week.

The FAA flatly denies the allegation, and it sets up a war of words between safety advocates, proponents of the new jet and the FAA itself. Passengers on board the Eclipse, meanwhile, would be forgiven for fearing for their safety.

Unsafe JetThe Eclipse 500 light jet was certified for use in 2006, and there are 250 aircraft already in use. A spokesperson for the FAA claims that the agency's certification of the aircraft was appropriate, given that the aircraft met all the required standards. The spokesperson added that the FAA failed to find, or isolate any unsafe condition requiring immediate attention.

Meanwhile, the President and General Manager of the manufacturing division of the Eclipse defended her aircraft as "the most-tested and safest general aviation aircraft," Peg Billson said in prepared testimony obtained on the eve of the congressional hearing. She went on to find fault with the FAA inspectors assigned to certify the aircraft. "We believe that the FAA did not initially have the people with the appropriate knowledge and experience assigned," to the task, she said.

It should be noted that the FAA is actively promoting the Eclipse 500, a new class of small jet, as a potential solution to chronic congestion at large airports, and a rapid transportation alternative for smaller communities that could not support commercial air service.

However, Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel, in prepared testimony for the September 17th hearing, references the findings of an investigation that found the FAA knew about various deficiencies with the aircraft, but certified it anyway amidst an allegation that the FAA had a 'cozy' relationship with the manufacturer.

Inspector General Scovel cited problems with the plane's airspeed and altitude indicator, stall warning system, cockpit display and primary wing flaps. Software was also an issue. One FAA software engineer testified that when he balked at approving the software given his observation that it met only one-third of the required objectives, FAA management sternly questioned him. Another FAA manager, whose job was to oversee engineering compliance of the Eclipse, was removed from the project after raising safety concerns about the jet.

In June, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent out an urgent recommendation that throttles for the Eclipse immediately be inspected, and emergency procedures developed after an Eclipse in Chicago was forced to make an emergency landing due to a throttle problem.

The plane had only 238 hours in the air before it began developing problems, and there have been four other incidents involving Eclipse aircraft since April of this year. Two of the four sustained minor damage, while a third saw substantial damage. So far there have been no reports of injury, or death to passengers or crew.

In testimony prepared for the Congressional hearing, an FAA manager describes the process of inspecting an Eclipse after manufacture and noted "improperly installed fasteners, misrouted electrical wiring, unsatisfactory safety wire, wrong fasteners being used, inadequate clearances between moving parts, etc."

The manager, Ford Lauer, was just doing his job on behalf of the future safety of the flying public. However, in his prepared testimony obtained by CNN Lauer claimed that his concerns drew objections from the Eclipse manufacturer. "Eclipse management would not hesitate to complain to FAA management when they perceived FAA inspectors were interfering with Eclipse's ability to deliver airplanes."

As the investigation continues, it will be interesting to see if negative publicity succeeds in grounding all 250 planes until alleged deficiencies are corrected, and future models are afforded the kind of scrutiny normally seen before a new plane is certified.

Until then all eyes will be on the sky, and the courts.
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