For
this week blog, I have been tasked with choosing one of the chapters out of my
text book titled: Aircraft Accident Investigation, second edition, written by
Richard H. Wood and Robert W. Sweginnis. Also, I have to discuss air detective
tip #13 and post a relevant article on my subject. For this task I have chosen to discuss chapter
21, Operations and Maintenance. This chapter is very interesting because the
analytical aspect and comparisons of my subject, Structural Failures.
This chapter is broken down into
three subjects and the authors surmised, Wood and Sweginnis (2006),
“MAN-MACHINE-MEDIUM approach” (p. 165). Each
of these areas covers different analytical aspects of an aircraft mishap
investigation. Under the first part “MAN,” it takes a deep look into the
certification/qualifications of all aircrew that were aboard the aircraft at
the time of the accident. “MACHINE,” breaks down the facilitated maintenance
plan of the aircraft, the state of the aircraft and where it was worked on
before the accident. Finally, “MEDIUM” is
split into two areas of concern, operations; who and how the pilot flew and
operated the aircraft, while maintenance covered the initial status of the
aircraft before the accident (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Operations
At
first, the inspector needs to gather all the information off of the important
documents. These documents would include licenses, medical certifications and
if applicable, logbook. Since these are labeled as perishable items, they need
to be collected as soon as possible. Other items for collection could include
but not limited to: flight manuals, plans, check-lists, charts and maps. All of
these collected items could help paint a picture for the investigator as to how
the pilot was physically, overall experience and if he or she was actually
qualified to operate and fly that aircraft (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Procedures
Every company has
a set of protocols that spells out what and how the pilot will be operating the
aircraft. With this they are able to track, follow and train their pilots to
ensure that they stay current in Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) guideline. But,
not all companies follow these regulations and might have become indolent. As a
mishap investigator, areas of focus need to be in the following areas: training
and competency, flight data, communication and summation of the flight history
that took place (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Training and Competency. Everything is dependent
on how the aircraft was actually operated. If the pilot was operating the
aircraft for company transport or commercial paints a good picture. All pilots
should be current and in compliance with both company training regulations and
Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) training requirements. Investigators should look
up previous grade sheets from simulator training and instructor pilot remarks.
While doing this, the instructor could be asked for a better understanding of
the pilot’s overall competency to operate the aircraft. Without the help of the
instructor, most companies do not keep logs or records of all their pilots’
competency reports (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Flight Data. Determining the load
plan of the aircraft needs to take place. Investigators can collect the flight
manifest of the passengers and cargo on the plane and statements from the
ground crew who actually loaded the aircraft. By doing this, the gross weight
(GW) and center of gravity (CG) can be calculated. Once calculated, it can be
determined if it’s a causal factor of the accident, it would back up why the
aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff. If not, one can assume that the load
plan was within limits (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Now
that the load plan is determined, the file flight plan from the FAA can be
copied. Air-to-ground communications can be factored as to where the plane was
going, deviations from the flight plan, and what GPS system was utilized. A
step by step approach can be determined of the course of action the pilot lead
the aircraft on (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Communication. Transcripts from the FAA can be obtained
to determine any causal factors. Different frequencies could have been utilized
and so a review of all relevant ones will be necessary. Also a copy of the tape
can be obtained to see if any other noises or data was transmitted before/after
the transcript took place. It might be strange to think that all this in
necessary but to a trained ear, it can paint a clear picture of the situation.
But, the FAA has all their tapes on a 15 day cycle and so you have to request
hastily otherwise the tape could be recycled. Tapes and transcripts allows for
a pretty accurate timeline because every time the pilot keyed their microphone,
its recorded based on time (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Flight History. Under the active operation investigation, a
detail flight history of the accident is created to be submitted into the
report. All the facts gathered from the beginning of the flight to the accident
are logged in chronological order with the help of all other investigators.
This detailed flight history is only of actual facts and not the detailed
analysis that one might think it’s used for (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Maintenance
The
maintenance of the aircraft is paramount when determining the causal factors of
the mishap. A thorough investigation of the life of the aircraft is going to be
conducted to figure out if it complied with the strict requirements of the FFA
and manufactures maintenance protocols. With this, applicable service bulletins
and directives will need to be gathering from the manufacture and FAA. Going
through the aircraft data book will depict the maintenance that was conducted
on the aircraft in a detailed chronological listing (Wood &
Sweginnis, 2006).
Aircraft
Specifics
Aircraft Titles. A title search is
paramount just like requesting a Carfax on a used car. This will determine if
the aircraft has changed hands over time. The title and serial numbers are the
only important data to research because registration numbers changes over the
course of its age. The FAA can assist with the search to determine the aircraft's lifespan and can look up if all service directives and bulletins have
been complied with because that is a mandatory reporting procedure to the FAA (Wood
& Sweginnis, 2006).
Data Books. Next all of the data books, service records
and logs will need to be collected and gone through. This will determine if
required airframe inspection and maintenance intervals were complied with.
Engine logs will have entries of all hourly inspection intervals conducted,
rework, repair and modifications performed. Shop service records or aircraft
discrepancy books will have all the daily maintenance performed on the aircraft
logged. Here any major structural, hydraulic, or corrosion discrepancies will
be annotated and either be job complete, awaiting parts or awaiting further
re-work. These work orders will paint a clear picture of the airworthiness,
overall condition and life of the aircraft (airframe). In my previous blog, I
covered the general inspections of the type of materials utilized and the
effects of corrosion degradation. Included with the data books are also going
to be the most up to date weight and balance of the aircraft too (Wood
& Sweginnis, 2006).
Reports.
Mandatory reporting of serious malfunctions, discrepancies or
defects must be reported to the FAA, in the United States. In the Service
Difficulty Reports (SDR), which is maintained by the operator with a filed copy
to the FAA, is logged on the aircraft specific serial number. In accordance with Wood and Sweginnis (2006),
“In the United States, the FAA maintains two computer files that are accessible
and potentially valuable to the aircraft accident investigator” (p.168). The
two files are Accident/Incident files which covers if the aircraft was in a
reported accident and the SDR files covers any logged incidents or component
failures. SDR files are viable even though only an average of 15% gets reported
(Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Maintenance Outsourcing. As the aviation industry continues to
grow, maintenance outsourcing has been a problem because owners of the aircraft
usually don’t perform their own maintenance. If the respected aircraft needed
some type of maintenance to be performed such as an engine overhaul, the
aircraft would be brought to that respected profession. From the beginning till
now, licensed Airframe and Power-plant (A&P) mechanics have performed the
maintenance on any type, model or series of aircraft. If in individual
possessed an A&P license, it was good for their entire life time and that
is where the problems began because there is no way a mechanic can stay current
on all aircraft (Wood & Sweginnis, 2006).
Aircraft
mishap began to occur and still occur due to maintenance outsourcing. It’s a traceable
accident that the FAA has kept an eye open for. Items such as wrong parts installed,
incorrect maintenance procedures/inspections, and rush maintenance are to blame.
To help with the overwhelming issue the FAA foresaw, all major inspections and
overhauls must be accompanied by the operator of the aircraft to ensure that
the stringent maintenance procedures are adhered too, otherwise the FAA will
hold the operator responsible for any complaints or accidents. The FAA released
a statement back in 2004, that the authors Wood and Sweginnis (2006) stated, “Air
carriers do not lose responsibility for their independent contractors’
regulatory violations simply because the independent contractor is
independently certificated by the FAA” (p. 169). Since this is a global issue,
agreement on maintenance standards should be standardized on who will be providing
the certification, inspections and overall enforcement of all maintenance. Outsourcing
is here to stay and will not be going anywhere, anytime soon (Wood &
Sweginnis, 2006).
Air
Detective Tip #13
Basically,
the air detective tip #13 is in direct correlation to chapter 21 that I surmised
above. It gives a detailed checklist of all the items that an investigator will
need to collect from the accident site, FAA and National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB). The investigator will need to read, interpret them and secure
them so that no others could possibly be tampered with. These items collected will help figure out
what the cause of the accident might have been and could possibly lead up to
preventing further accidents from this cause (Lawin).
References
Lawin, R. (n.d.). Air detective tip 13 for aircraft
accident investigation. Retrieved from
https://erau.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-15078061-dt-content-rid-29793014_4/institution/Worldwide_Online/SFTY_UG_Courses/SFTY_330/Air_Detective_Tips/AirDetectiveTip13_0911.pdf
Wood, R., & Sweginnis, R. (2006). Aircraft accident
investigation. (2nd ed., pp. 165-169). Casper, WY: Endeavor
Books.
