Today's CNN International website runs a story of the 2007 Kenya Airways crash in Africa.  http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/28/kenya.crash.findings/index.html?hpt=T2

According to investigating authorities, the captain released the aircraft controls immediately after takeoff for a period of 55 seconds at night in stormy weather while flying by reference to instruments only.  There was no outside visibility.  Unnoticed by the captain the aircraft began a slow gradual roll to the right. 
"What about the first officer?" you ask.  Investigators claim that the first officer was "cowed" by the captain and consequently was hesitant to call out flaws to him.   Only when the aircraft began a descending spiral did the first officer then call the situation to the captain's attention, but in doing so erroneously suggested to the captain that he turn right, further aggravating the descending spiral to the right.  The first officer then corrected himself saying "left left left Captain", but by this time it was too late and everyone perished in the crash.

Every accident results from a chain of events coupled with related causal factors. If investigators are correct, in this case one of the related causal factors was the captain's failure to establish the kind of flight deck atmosphere in which the first officer felt free to point out problems caused by the captain's inattention.

One of the marks of a truely successful captain is his or her ability to permanently maintain an open invitatation for the first officer to point out problems in flight.  If investigators are correct in their analysis of this Kenya Airways accident, the lack of such an open invitation by this captain cost him and others their lives.  

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Hello to all of you who log on to Aviator Services.  A former Hawker factory pilot, I have been on the Aviator Services crew roster in the capacity of a Hawker 850 captain since summer 2009.  This is my first public appearance on this website.

 

Because Aviator Services conducts frequent flight operations between Miami and Rio de Janeiro through multiple time zones and multiple international air traffic control systems, I try to remain current on issues in the international and multiple time zone flight environment.   Recently I discovered an interesting article by the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research on the relationship between aircrew error rates and time of day.

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New service is now available to the Bahamas, and all points in Florida with our 7 passenger Cessna 414A RAM VII aircraft.  I'm exited about offering this service since it this particular aircraft has been upgraded with over $120K of avionics.  This means added safety and comfort features such traffic avoidance radar (to see other planes), GPS Navigation, live weather downloads, XM radio, and cabin video monitors with DVD player.

Today's smaller aircraft, unlike years before, are equipped with the same advanced features as modern airliners.  These features allow for quicker point to point travel, weather avoidance- smoother flights, and increased overall safety since pilots have more information at their disposal than ever before.

Our Cessna 414A RAM VII aircraft is available for flights throughout Florida, USA, Bahamas, and Caribbean.

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In addition to our Cirrus SR22 single engine aircraft which is currently in service, we will be adding soon a Cessna 414A RAM VII aircraft. The Cessna 414A, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is a six passenger, twin-engine pressurized aircraft. This aircraft will fly at 20,000 feet for longer flights, and is an excellent option for Bahamas trips since it has lots of room for baggage- and rides like Cadillac. Plus this airplane has been upgraded with $120K worth of the latest weather, traffic avoidance (anti-collision), and navigation systems. More importantly, though, the aircraft will almost always be flown with two pilots eventhough only one is required. Plus the crew for this plane is very experienced. I'll give you more specifics about this later.

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I took delivery of our 2009 Cirrus SR22, N132CS (soon to change to N122AS), on May 25.    I went to Duluth Minnesota to pick up the plane and begin my transition training in the airplane.    In addition to the standard Cirrus SR22 transition training offered by the factory,  I also took their Cirrus Standardized Instructor Program course- otherwise known as CSIP.  The CSIP qualification allows me to train others in the Cirrus SR22.

Overall the trip to Minnesota, the training, and the experience of taking delivery of a new airplane was exciting and tested my thinking of using the Cirrus SR22 in commercial service.

First, however, I will note how impressed I was with the overall experience provided by the Cirrus factory.   The folks who met me when I arrived ensured I was welcomed and made the acceptance of the aircraft painless.   Amanda McGovern, my customer adviser, Cathy Nyen, finance, Lisa Olsen, training chief, my flight instructor, Arron Wedge, and Amber who helped me with my avionics updates.   All were excellent.   There were others too who were just as helpful but I am missing their names.

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The recent NTSB hearing about the Colgan Air (dba Continental Connection) crash in Buffalo dismissed ice on the wings as a factor.  Sadly, the probable cause of this crash is poor performance by the Captain.

What I found troubling about this accident is how quickly things deteriorated.  Although not noted directly in the various news reports about the accident, I viewed the NTSB accident animation, and was surprised to see the Captain moving the throttles to idle while in level flight.  This is rarely done in turboprop aircraft because the propellors create substantial drag when below their zero thrust range.   Right after the Captain moved the power levers to idle, the copilot lowered additional flaps- adding more drag to an airplane that isn't producing thrust.  Airspeed dropped quickly, and the seemingly distracted Captain, who seemed overly concerned about ice, reacted to a routine stall indication by pulling instead of pushing down on the controls.

I was also surprised to hear that Colgan pilots of the Bombardier Q400 turboprop don't receive training in the plane's stick pusher system.  I found this shocking since stall training, including stick shaker and pusher use, is a regular training event in all private jet training firms such as FlightSafety, Simuflight, Bombardier, and others.  The purpose, after all,  of using simulators is to practice the use of an airplane's emergency feartures.  This needs more investigation.

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Here are few preliminary pictures of our new aircraft.  You'll be able to rent this plane once it has gone through our conformity process- meaning we have to make sure it complies with all FAA requirements. Stay tuned.

I'll give you a sneak peak here:  

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We are adding a Cessna 414 twin engine aircraft to our charter certificate.  This plane can carry up to 6 passengers in pressurised comfort and will fly mainly in Florida, the southeast USA and Bahamas.  I'll keep you informed of our progress as we go through the process of adding the plane to our charter license.  I'll add pictures too. Stay tuned.

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In response to the attacks on our industry by congress, which started when the auto industry CEO's first flew to Washington on their company jets, James Coyne wrote an excellent letter to President Obama (click here to read letter).

James Coyne is the president of the National Air Transport Association, our industry trade group.  In this letter he correctly presses the issue that the negative rhetoric by the President and members of congress are misguided, hypocritical, and has the unintended effect of causing large sell-offs of corporate jets which is killing jobs.

The American aerospace and civilian aviation industries are number one in the world.  Unlike the car companies, our industry dominates the market share in business aircraft providing millions of high paying manufacturing, service, and related jobs- all of which are in the U-S-A.

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The House Financial Services committee (headed by Barny Frank, D-Mass.) convened again to ask the the banks that accepted federal bailout funds what they have done with taxpayer money.  And they were also asked why they haven't loaned more of it away.

You'll remember the Finance Committee last met  with the heads of the big three auto makers who were asking for $15 billion dollars in federal loans to save their industry. The auto CEO's were excoriated for flying to DC in their private jets instead of less expensive coach-class on the Airlines.

The finance committee members, of course, didn't see the irony in lambasting the auto companies use of private jets, when the federal government  owns a fleet of them for their VIP use.  Is the government going to sell it's private jet fleet to offset billions in bailout funds?

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