New FAA Rules Coming

The British Airways Boeing 777 crashed on Jan. 17, 2008, in icy weather with 136 travelers and 16 crew members aboard.

The reason why it crashed is that the flow of fuel to both of the plane's engines was cut off by ice that accumulated on prior flights in cold air at high altitudes. The plane was flying at minus 29 degrees Fahrenheit over Siberia.

These are the significant just-released details behind the FAA's move to adopt new safety rules (Pilot procedures and in-flight throttle settings) regarding planes flying in cold weather. Fuel systems might even be changed to adapt to the problem of water (which accumulates in fuel) freezing inside the fuel system.

Are Cost-Cutting Measures Cutting Airline Safety?

A Washington-to-Los Angeles flight by an Airbus 320 with 150 passengers burns about 29,500 pounds, or 4,300 gallons, of fuel at about $14,600. An additional 1,500 pounds, about 219 gallons, would cost about $750 more. It is costly.

Airlines are forcing pilots to fly low on fuel. Pilots and crews feel their safety is being compromised. Flying low on fuel results in emergency landings. (Is that what is behind all of these emergency landings we are seeing now?) This is because airlines have new policies designed to reduce fuel consumption. Airline labor unions are protesting safety measures by the airlines to fly lean.

FAA regulations require airliners to take off with enough fuel to reach their destination plus 45 minutes of flight.

The US Airways pilots' union took out an ad in USA Today 16 publicizing that that eight senior captains had been singled out by the company for requesting extra fuel and had been required to attend training sessions.

The number of pilots reporting low fuel on approach to Newark Liberty International Airport tripled from 2005 to 2007. More than half were Continental Airlines flights, the dominant carrier at Newark. Is the airline pressuring pilots "to either not stop for fuel when needed or to carry insufficient amounts of fuel?" Bulletins from Continental's management urge pilots and flight crews to cut back on fuel, pointing out that "adding fuel indiscriminately reduces profit sharing and possibly pension funding."

I guess a pension isn't particularly useful if your death in an emergency landing eliminates the pension question entirely.

In this wrestling match between airlines and pilots, the question is if government regulators are going to support the pilot's need for safety or the Airline's need to cut costs?

Emergency Landing at New Orleans International Airport

What: Continental Flight 458, a Boeing 737 en route from Houston to Washington, D.C Reagan National Airport.
Where: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
When: Tuesday 3:35 p.m
Who: 120 passengers and crew including congressmen:.Reps. Paul, Ted Poe, John Carter, Solomon P. Ortiz, Ciro Rodriguez, Rep. Nick Lampson, and Henry Cuellar.
Why: loss of cabin pressure. The pilot diverted to the closet airport.

Update: The plane began a steep dive half an hour into the flight. Cabin pressure dropped and oxygen masks were deployed. The pilot was able to land safely in New Orleans. There were no injuries. Monday, a US Airways flight and a Northwest Airlines flight were diverted to airports in Kentucky and Wisconsin over cabin pressure issues.

Ironically, the congressmen were trying to get back to Washington in time for a Tuesday night vote on an aviation safety bill.

Go-round go round

The go round--resulting from heavy traffic-- is a maneuver practiced in US airports. Just how safe is it?