Air Safety Through Investigation - Journal of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators - ISASI

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Air Safety Through Investigation                                     OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2017
Journal of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators

Extending the Network and Using Available Resources—page 4
Collaborative Component Examinations—page 10
What Makes a Good Air Safety Recommendation?—page 15
Linkages Between Occurrences and Safety System Performance—page 18
Safety Recommendations: Strengthening EASA’s SRM Process—page 24
CONTENTS                                                                    Air Safety Through Investigation
                                                                                                 Journal of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators

                                                                                                              Volume 50, Number 4
                                                                                                             Publisher Frank Del Gandio
                                                                                                          Editorial Advisor Richard B. Stone
                                                                                                               Editor J. Gary DiNunno
                                                                                                              Design Editor Jesica Ferry
                                                                                                            Associate Editor Susan Fager
                                                                                                ISASI Forum (ISSN 1088-8128) is published quar-

FEATURES                                                                                        terly by the International Society of Air Safety
                                                                                                Investigators. Opinions expressed by authors do
                                                                                                not necessarily represent official ISASI position
4 Extending the Network and Using Available Resources                                           or policy.
By Michael Guan, Ph.D.; Brian C. Kuo, Ph.D.; and Yann Torres—The authors, using two
                                                                                                Editorial Offices: Park Center, 107 East Holly
aircraft accidents as examples, examine how a small investigative agency can successfully       Avenue, Suite 11, Sterling, VA 20164-5405. Tele-
determine causal factors and recommend air safety improvements.                                 phone 703-430-9668. Fax 703-430-4970. E-mail
                                                                                                address, isasi@erols.com; for editor, espmart@
10 Collaborative Component Examinations                                                         comcast.net. Internet website: www.isasi.org.
By Eric J. East, Air Safety Investigator, Boeing Commercial Airplanes—The author ob-            ISASI Forum is not responsible for unsolicited
serves that one of the key links in the process for determining probable cause of an aircraft   manuscripts, photographs, or other materials.
accident is the physical examination, interpretation, and relevance of hardware and data        Unsolicited materials will be returned only if
that are recovered from an incident or accident site.                                           submitted with a self-addressed, stamped enve-
                                                                                                lope. ISASI Forum reserves the right to reject,
15 What Makes a Good Air Safety Recommendation?                                                 delete, summarize, or edit for space con-
By Maria Gregson, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK—The author is            siderations any submitted article. To facilitate
one of ISASI’s four Kapustin scholarship winners for 2017. She presented her winning essay      editorial production processes, American Eng-
                                                                                                lish spelling of words is used.
during ISASI’s 2017 seminar.
                                                                                                Copyright © 2017—International Society of Air
18 Linkages Between Occurrences and Safety System Performance                                   Safety Investigators, all rights reserved. Publica-
By Heather Fitzpatrick, Senior Transport Safety Investigator, Australian Transport Safety       tion in any form is prohibited without permis-
Bureau—The author details the utility of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s fatigue and   sion. ISASI Forum registered U.S. Patent and
fatigue risk management system in establishing a tangible link between the performance of an    T.M. Office. Opinions expressed by authors do
organization’s systems and an occurrence event.                                                 not necessarily represent official ISASI position
                                                                                                or policy. Permission to reprint is available upon
24 Safety Recommendations: Strengthening EASA’s SRM Process                                     application to the editorial offices.
By Mario Colavita, Safety Investigation Officer, European Aviation Safety Agency—The
author describes the existing link between the European Aviation Safety Agency’s safety risk    Publisher’s Editorial Profile: ISASI Forum is print-
                                                                                                ed in the United States and published for profes-
management process and the use of safety recommendations as a key element for the identifi-
                                                                                                sional air safety investigators who are members
cation of the systemic safety issues and their prioritization.                                  of the International Society of Air Safety Inves-
                                                                                                tigators. Editorial content emphasizes accident
                                                                                                investigation findings, investigative techniques

DEPARTMENTS
                                                                                                and experiences, regulatory issues, industry ac-
                                                                                                cident prevention developments, and ISASI and
                                                                                                member involvement and information.
2 Contents
3 President’s View—Air Safety Investigators Make a Positive Difference                          Subscriptions: A subscription to members is pro-
                                                                                                vided as a portion of dues. Rate for nonmem-
28 News Roundup                                                                                 bers (domestic and Canada) is US$28; Rate for
30 ISASI Information                                                                            nonmember international is US$30. Rate for all
32 International Council Meets in San Diego                                                     libraries and schools is US$24. For subscription
                                                                                                information, call 703-430-9668. Additional or
                                                                                                replacement ISASI Forum issues: Domestic and
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ABOUT THE COVER                                                                                 tional nonmember US$8.

A TransAsia Airways ATR 72 experienced a loss of control during initial climb
from Taipei’s Songshan Airport on February 4, 2015 and crashed into the Keel-
ing River resulting in 43 fatalities and injuries to surviving passengers, a flight
crew member, a taxi driver and his passenger. (See “Extending the Network and
                                                                                                                   INCORPORATED AUGUST 31, 1964
Using Available Resources”, page 4.)
2 • October-December 2017 ISASI Forum
PRESIDENT’S VIEW
AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE

W
            e recently completed a very         rome Lederer Award for his leadership and           investigate accidents and incidences.
            successful ISASI seminar in San     extraordinary efforts to enhance air safety       • Develop positive working relationships
            Diego, California, during which     investigation in Singapore and to encour-           among the various aviation agencies,
            more than 360 delegates and         age international air safety cooperation            corporations, and organizations that
companions participated in three days of        well beyond the Asian region. An article on         affect air safety—the interested parties
technical presentations and heard perti-        the seminar will appear in the next issue of        that converge on an accident investiga-
nent keynote addresses from U.S. National       ISASI Forum.                                        tion—prior to getting the phone call to
Transportation Safety Board Chairman               The theme of this year’s gathering asked         go to the site.
Robert Sumwalt (a longtime ISASI member)        the question does air safety investigation        • Talk to family and community mem-
and James Viola (also an ISASI member),         make a difference? As I have said many              bers about the positive aspects of our
head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Adminis-      times, ISASI members all know the correct           work.
tration’s Office of General Aviation Safety     answer to this question. However, what
                                                                                                  • Share our experiences and expertise
Assurance. Participants had an opportu-         we actually accomplish can get lost in the
                                                                                                    with young people who’ve recently
nity to meet and share experiences with         fog of day-to-day responsibilities, regula-         begun their air safety careers or who
colleagues from 35 countries and visit local    tions, paperwork, and when that inevitable          are studying to do so in the future. They
sites of interest.                              phone call arrives demanding our imme-              want and need to hear from those of us
   Two tutorials preceded the seminar.          diate presence at yet another air accident          who’ve been longtime investigators and
                                                                                                    safety advocates. Becoming an ISASI
AN AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATOR’S JOB IS COMPLICATED AND                                                 student mentor often has as many ben-
DIFFICULT. WE ALL KNOW THIS TOO, BUT HOW WE RESPOND                                                 efits for us as it does for the students
                                                                                                    with whom we interact.
TO THIS DIFFICULTY CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
                                                                                                  • Identify our personal support sys-
HAVING A SUSTAINABLE, LONG-TERM CAREER OR AN EARLY                                                  tems—people who can help us stay
BURNOUT.                                                                                            on track when we start to lose sight of
                                                                                                    our priorities or our best path to stable
Nearly 50 military participants attended an     in some hard-to-reach or even dangerous             physical or mental health.
all-day session that took a look at how mil-    location. An air safety investigator’s job is      • Attend ISASI meetings and seminars
itary air accident investigators from many      complicated and difficult. We all know this          at the regional, state, or international
different countries do their job. Some 74       too, but how we respond to this difficulty           levels with colleagues from different
civilian air accident investigators attended    can make the difference between having               agencies, countries, and cultures to
two half-day presentations: flight recorders    a sustainable, long-term career or an early          develop working relationships in a
beyond International Civil Aviation Or-         burnout.                                             friendly, supportive environment to
ganization Annex 13 and how air accident          There are a number of ways to help clear           enhance teamwork that will carry
survival factors help to lower fatal accident                                                        over to cooperation on some future
                                                the fog.
rates and reduce injuries.                                                                           investigation.
                                                  • Focus on how we do make a positive
   Four Kapustin scholars presented                  difference in air safety.                     There are many reasons why air acci-
essays—one of which appears in this issue.                                                      dents have reduced in numbers and
                                                  • Realize our part in developing and          fatalities in
The number of annual scholarships that
                                                    promoting the technical and procedur-
ISASI provides depends entirely on the                                                          recent years—
                                                    al changes brought about from safety
amount of donations from ISASI members.             recommendations that have saved             the professional-
More information about the scholarships—            peoples’ lives.                             ism, expertise,
how to donate and how to apply—can be                                                           and commit-
                                                  • Remember that we’re not alone. The          ment of ISASI
found on our website under the Awards
                                                    men and women who are ISASI mem-            members to
tag. I hope you’ll continue to provide an
                                                    bers, the agencies that employ ISASI
opportunity for these exceptional students                                                      enhance all
                                                    members, the states that establish and
to attend our seminar and to find career            fund these agencies, and the inter-         aspects of air
opportunities in their respective aviation          national organizations that establish       safety, our
fields.                                             safety guidelines for member states all     efforts—are
   The gathering culminated with the                have the same ultimate goal—making          among the most
annual awards dinner during which Chan,             air travel safer and developing best        effective of           Frank Del Gandio
Wing Keong was recognized with the Je-              practices for those of us who must          those reasons.         ISASI President
                                                                                                October-December 2017 ISASI Forum • 3
EXTENDING THE NETWORK AND
                                                                                                    sent to flight recorder manufacturers for
                                                                                                    flight recorder training courses. The ASC
                                                                                                    is also interested in on-job training (OJT)

USING AVAILABLE RESOURCES                                                                           at accident investigation authorities
                                                                                                    (AIAs).
                                                                                                       Nowadays, in order to manage a short-
By Michael Guan, Ph.D.; Brian C. Kuo, Ph.D.; and Yann Torres                                        age in the budget and extend the techni-
(Adapted with permission from the authors’ technical paper entitled Extend the Network and          cal capabilities for future investigations,
Exploit Available Resources—Lessons Learned from Two Major Investigations presented during          the ASC lab continues to seek different
ISASI 2016 in Reykjavik, Iceland. The full presentation can be found on the ISASI website at www.   forms of technical collaborations with
isasi.org in the Library tab under Technical Presentations.—Editor)                                 domestic agencies and foreign AIAs.

C
         ompared to Australia, Europe,                The ASC investigation lab has also been
         and North America, aviation               involved in several foreign investigations,      Domestic collaboration
         safety investigations and                 for which the ASC has appointed accred-          The ASC signed memorandums of under-
         safety studies in Taiwan began            ited representatives. In order to build          standing (MOUs) with seven domestic
relatively recently—about 20 years                 experience in flight recorder readout and        (government) agencies, including the Civ-
ago. The Aviation Safety Council                   analysis, the ASC also provides technical        il Aeronautics Administration (CAA), the
(ASC) was established in May 1998 as               assistance to other agencies. In 2014, the       Chinese Ocean and Underwater Technol-
an independent government agency                   lab completed seven CVR and 76 FDR/              ogy Association (COUTA), the Ministry
in Taiwan, the Republic of China,                  QAR readouts, seven animation sets, and          of National Defense (MND), the Ministry
responsible for the investigation of               13 sets of GPS/radar data and satellite          of Justice (MOJ), the National Airborne
civil, public, and ultra-light aircraft            map superposition (see Table 1).                 Service Corps (NASC), the National Fire
accidents and serious incidents (Avi-                                                               Agency of the Ministry of the Interior
ation Occurrence Investigation Act 1,                                                               (NFA/MOI), and the Taoyuan Internation-
2), as well as safety recommendations              Domestic and international                       al Airport Company (TIAC).
issuance directly to the premier and               collaboration                                       Based on those MOUs, the ASC
follow-up. Since its establishment,                To continue fostering working part-              maintains excellent collaboration with
the ASC has investigated 118 occur-                nerships developed over the years with           national judicial agencies and criminal
rences and issued 937 safety recom-                domestic and international agencies and          investigation units to perform necessary
mendations.                                        sharing a common vision of improving air         examinations (e.g., autopsy, DNA, and
   The ASC investigation lab, with a staff         safety by exchanging and analyzing safety        medical). After training by ASC investiga-
of five, is in charge of providing technical       data, the ASC believes that technical            tors, CAA inspectors and TIAC technical
support to aviation occurrence investiga-          cooperation is a key to link each agency         staff are capable of following ASC’s SOP
tion. This includes, but is not limited to,        to work together. Depending on available         to assist in securing perishable evidence
site survey, flight recorder readout, flight       resources, there are four kinds of interna-      during occurrences before the ASC go-
path reconstruction, radar data and GPS            tional technical collaboration, including        team arrives at the occurrence site.
data processing, performance analysis,             workshop/seminar, joint training/exer-              The benefits of domestic bilateral
and visualization. The lab also under-             cise, technical assistance, and occurrence       agreements include sharing training
takes several safety studies and research          investigation.                                   resources, transportation, wreckage
programs, e.g., wet runway performance,               For instance, pursuing knowledge on           handling capabilities, and providing
locating black boxes under water, struc-           flight recorder readout is a top priority        technical support on sea crash accident
tural examination, and failure analysis.           for the ASC; therefore, investigators were       investigation.

                                                                                                    International collaboration
                                                                                                    In addition, the ASC has reached techni-
                                                                                                    cal collaboration with 15 worldwide AIAs
                                                                                                    and has signed seven MOUs with the UK
                                                                                                    Air Accidents Investigation Branch (UK
                                                                                                    AAIB), the Australian Transport Safety
                                                                                                    Bureau (ATSB), the Bureau d’Enquêtes et
                                                                                                    d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation
                                                                                                    civile (BEA), the Japan Transport Safety
                                                                                                    Board (JTSB), the Korean Aviation and
                                                                                                    Railway Accident Investigation Board
                                                                                                    (KARAIB), the U.S. National Transporta-
                                                                                                    tion Safety Board (NTSB), and the Trans-
                                                                                                    portation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
                                                                                                       In the last decade, ASC investigators
                                                                                                    have learned techniques to process dam-
                                                                                                    aged flight recorders and investigation
                                                                                                    methodology from the ATSB, the BEA,
                                                                                                    the NTSB, and the TSB. Based on OJT and
                                                                                                    accident investigations in practice, ASC
  Table 1. Summary of Flight Data Readouts                                                          investigators have adhered to Attachment

4 • October-December 2017 ISASI Forum
D “guidelines for flight recorder read-   Metallurgical Investigator Group.
out and analysis” of the International
Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO)
Annex 13, have maintained proper          Technical cooperation between the
technical capabilities to support ASC     ASC and the CIB
occurrence investigation, and have        In May 2002, the ASC signed a MOU
assisted nearby AIAs in setting up        with the MOJ Taiwan regarding avi-                     Dr. Michael Guan
their readout capabilities.               ation occurrence investigation and
  The benefits of international           criminal investigation to establish a      has been an air safety investigator for the
bilateral agreements include shar-        coordination mechanism and share           Aviation Safety Council (ASC) since 1998. He is
ing training resources, developing        technical resources. For criminal          currently the director of the investigation lab
and testing new tools, exchanging         investigation in Taiwan, the MOJ relies    at the ASC. He has a masters and Ph.D. in aer-
safety databases, and providing           on the Criminal Investigation Bureau       onautics and astronautics from Cheng-Kung
technical supports to ICAO Annex          (CIB) and the MOI to examine evi-          University in Taiwan. His primary role has
13 investigations.                        dence and provide technical findings       been to investigate aircraft performance and
                                          to assist MOJ prosecutors. Major tech-     to read out flight recorders. He has participat-
                                          nical capabilities of the CIB include      ed in a number of international investigations,
Technical cooperation between             DNA testing, examining dangerous           including Singapore Airlines SQ006, China
the ASC and the BEA                       goods and weapons, victim identifica-      Airlines CI611, and three TNA cases–GE791,
In May 2001, the ASC and the BEA          tion, and ground survey tools.             GE222, and GE235. He has also been actively
signed the “Guidelines for the Con-          In any fatal aviation accident that     involved in developing investigation tools at
duct of International Aviation Acci-      occurs in Taiwan, the CIB plays a key      the ASC.
dent Investigations” MOU. Based on        role coordinating with the ASC and
the MOU, the BEA supported three          the MOJ. The three agencies have
ASC recurrent trainings in 2003, 2007,    shared training resources and per-
and 2009. BEA senior investigators        formed joint exercises to improve on-
provided detailed technical coop-         scene survey knowledge and analysis
eration protocols, sharing aviation       skills for multidata sets. For example,
safety investigative skills and meth-     the ASC assisted the CIB and the MOJ
odologies, helping the ASC to setup       with a marine criminal investigation                    Dr. Brian C. Kuo
occurrence ECCAIRs, an occurrence         in 2009 and 2013.
statistics tool, and a database.                                                     is an investigator and a flight recorder engi-
   In addition, the ASC dispatched                                                   neer at the investigation lab at the Aviation
five investigators to the BEA labo-       Technical research projects and            Safety Council (ASC). He has participated in a
ratory for a one-week OJT. Topics         exercises                                  few international investigations—TNA GE 222
included damaged flight recorder          There are two kinds of technical re-       and GE235. Prior to joining the ASC in 2010, he
processing, audio spectrum analy-         search projects at the ASC—self-study      was a post-doctoral researcher in the Depart-
sis, and nonvolatile memory (NVM)         safety projects and joint research         ment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer-
readout. To develop closer coopera-       projects. Typically, self-study safety     ing, University of California, Davis, U.S.A.
tion, the BEA invited the ASC to join     projects are executed by ASC inves-
two working groups during the Air         tigators and include audio spectrum
France Flight 447 investigation. The      analysis, an annual survey of flight
ASC provided flight data assistance       recorder installation on national reg-
and worked with major AIAs on top-        istered aircraft, investigating wet run-
ics ranging from underwater search        way occurrences related to suspected
to flight data transmission during a      hydroplaning, ECCAIRS, and HFACS
distress scenario.                        coding application.                                        Yann Torres
   In 2004, flight recorder specialists      The Execute Yuan or the Ministry
from major investigation labora-          of Science and Technology (MOST)           has been an air safety investigator for the Bu-
tories held an accident investigators     fund these joint research projects.        reau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité
in recorder (AIR) technical meet-         ASC board members review safety            de l’aviation civile since 1998. He is currently
ing in Italy. In 2005, the ASC helped     statistical data, prioritize relevant      director of investigation, head of the southern
AIAs establish and then maintain a        safety study topics, and encourage         regional office (Toulouse). He has an aero-
security portal for AIR members. The      ASC investigators to invite academ-        nautical engineering degree from the Ecole
website was called the International      ic researchers to join these specific      Nationale de l’Aviation Civile in France. His
Recorder Investigator Group (IRIG).       topics. Two big projects were finished     primary role has been to perform safety inves-
The IRIG contains technical papers        in 2009 and 2010. There are another        tigations acting as the investigator-in-charge
from the annual AIR meetings as well      two projects in the works. The major       over the French territory and acting as the
as several technical forums to discuss    objectives of joint research projects,     accredited representative of several major
CVR, FDR, and video and NVM chip          based on the lessons learned from          accidents overseas. He also acted as the
recovery issues. In 2015, the IRIG        ECCAIRS and HFACS coding, adopt            aircraft performance and system group leader
extended its technical link from flight   ATSB safety analysis methodology into      in several major international investigations,
recorders to aircraft structure and       ASC investigation procedures, which        including Air France Concorde, Qantas QF32,
metallurgical materials. This sister      aim to improve general aviation safety     and different ATR major cases such as TNA
website was called the International      in Taiwan and evaluate lightweight         GE791, GE222, and GE235.

                                                                                        October-December 2017 ISASI Forum • 5
water recovery of flight recorders in May
                                                                                              2010. The ASC invited the Coast Guard,
                                                                                              the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Depart-
                                                                                              ment, the KARAIB, and the Singapore
                                                                                              AAIB to join this activity. Some of the
                                                                                              attendees took the lessons learned from
                                                                                              this sea search exercise and helped the
                                                                                              KARAIB perform the sea search mis-
                                                                                              sion of Asiana Airlines Flight 991, which
                                                                                              crashed into the East Sea on July 28, 2011.
                                                                                                Based on MOUs, the ASC can use rele-
                                                                                              vant resources from the Coast Guard, the
                                                                                              COUTA, and the MND to execute a sea
                                                                                              search and locate the black box.

                                                                                              Development of UAV-based aerial
                                                                                              mapping system
                                                                                              In 2004, the ASC began evaluating the
                                                                                              use of light RPV or UAV in investigations.
                                                                                              The ASC determined that RPVs and UAVs
Figure 1. Statistics of civil fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.                            would not be used for long endurance
                                                                                              search and rescue but for wreckage
recorder feasibility.                                 respectively. The number of civil       distributed over a wide area or in rugged
   The theme of ISASI 2016 was “Every                 aircraft with tape-based CVRs and       terrain to gather aerial images of the
Link Is Important.” This paper highlights             FDRs are 0% and 0.4%, respectively.     wreckage and generate high-resolution
the bilateral benefits in four areas: the an-         The number of the civil aircraft        photos.
nual survey of flight recorder installation,          with 30-minute CVRs and 120-min-           In 2005, the ASC purchased a first-gen-
the joint exercise for the sea search and             ute CVRs are 8.5% and 85.8%,            eration RPV. Due to several operational
recovery of black boxes, the development              respectively.                           experiences and lessons learned from the
of UAV-based aerial mapping systems for            • The number of civil aircraft with an     ASC/CIB joint exercise on ground vehicle
aviation occurrence investigation, and               FDR readout database in paper and        explosions, the ASC decided in 2010 to
industrial cooperation on flight recorder            an electronic file is 52.5% and 72.5%,   acquire a second-generation UAV.
readout and analysis. Regarding these                respectively.                               Between 2011 and 2014, the ASC con-
efforts, the authors will present factors                                                     ducted more than 10 exercises to improve
from two major investigations to demon-            • The number of FDR readout databas-
                                                                                              its own UAV operational skills, develop
strate how the ASC adheres to ICAO                   es with verification is 93.3%.
                                                                                              SOPs, review the evaluation guide to
Annex 13 protocol and collaborates with            • The number of the civil aircraft with    site hazards, standardize mission plans
AIAs, aircraft manufacturers, judicial               QARs is 85.4%.                           and flight routes, develop an in-house
agencies, and airline operators.                                                              program to improve the quality of aerial
                                                   After checking, accepting, and review-
                                                 ing the training progress, by the end of     mapping, generate precise terrain infor-
                                                                                              mation, and integrate the information
Annual survey of flight recorder instal-         2015 the ASC readout capability for the
                                                                                              into a flight animation system.
lation on national registered aircraft           surveyed CVRs and FDRs was 99.6%
                                                 and 99.6%, respectively. The ASC deter-         The ASC presented its technical paper
The ASC carries out a routine survey of                                                       “UAV Aerial Photography on Debris Map-
flight recorder installation for nation-         mined that only one recorder from a new
                                                 Gulfstream G280 did not have its own         ping” in the second AsiaSASI meeting in
al registered aircraft. The goal of this                                                      Taipei in 2013 to pursue better solutions
survey is to review the installation of          download equipment.
                                                                                              for UAV mapping and deepen the techni-
CVRs, FDRs, FDAUs, and QARs at various                                                        cal cooperation with AIAs of the Asia-Pa-
national operators. The findings are the                                                      cific region. The ASC also provided a UAV
basis for enhancing the readout capability       Joint exercise for sea search and            demonstration flight to simulate applica-
of the investigation laboratory and flight       black box recovery                           tion tips for occurrence investigation.
recorder readout in relation to occur-           In recent years, the ASC has held seven         The ASC invited the Singapore AAIB to
rence investigations.                            trainings sessions on sea search and         join the annual site survey drill in 2014.
   The ASC conducted its annual survey in        recovery of black boxes. The ASC invit-      Both agencies worked together to evalu-
August 2015. This survey included 20 op-         ed the Asia-Pacific AIAs to join those       ate the results of aerial mapping from a
erators and three government agencies.           activities. The ASC shared lessons learned   light UAV and ground survey equipment
According to the responses from of all the       from the sea crash accident investigations   (a laser scanner and a precise GPS).
agencies, there are 280 aircraft, including      and provided site operational databases
243 fixed-wing and 37 helicopters. Out           and in-house programs for its partners to
of these, 247 are civil aircraft, and 33 are     strengthen coordination among the rele-      Industrial cooperation program
public aircraft.                                 vant domestic agencies and organizations     Since 2010, the ASC has pursued industri-
   The statistics for civil fixed-wing and       and enhance cooperation on the use of        al cooperation on flight recorder readout
rotary-wing aircraft are shown in Figure 1.      resources and technical personnel when       and analysis. In October 2015, the ASC
   • The number of civil aircraft with           necessary.                                   signed an international cooperation
     CVRs and FDRs are 94.3% and 92.3%,            The ASC held an exercise on under-         agreement with U.S. defense contractor
6 • October-December 2017 ISASI Forum
Raytheon regarding the latest technology       limited knowledge about SMS, and engine         ing a very high frequency omnidirectional
    on flight data management and analyses         flameouts. Based on international tech-         radio range (VOR) nonprecision approach
    to enhance the nation’s capabilities in        nical collaboration, best practices and         to Runway 20.
    investigating aviation accidents.              procedures have been established from              The aircraft was destroyed by impact
      Raytheon and the ASC selected Plane          the relevant safety studies, joint exercises,   forces and a postimpact fire. Ten passen-
    Sciences Inc. of Canada to be the tech-                                                        gers survived the occurrence, and five
                                                   and excellent teamwork between the ASC
    nology partner based on the company’s                                                          residents on the ground sustained minor
                                                   and the accredited representatives.
    unique capability and its position as a                                                        injuries. The occurrence was the result of
                                                      An insufficient budget and shortage of
    leader in flight data recorder-related                                                         controlled flight into terrain. The crew-
                                                   investigative human resources are typical
    technologies. The agreement established                                                        members continued the approach below
                                                   problems for a small safety investigation
    a cooperative framework between partic-                                                        the minimum descent altitude when they
                                                   agency. The ASC has applied an emergen-
    ipants to execute collaborative projects                                                       were not visual with the runway environ-
                                                   cy reserve budget to support on-scene
    in areas that meet the mutual interest of                                                      ment, contrary to SOPs.
                                                   wreckage handling and overseas investi-
    the parties. There were 40 participants,                                                          The investigation report identified a
                                                   gation activities.
    including the ASC, the CAA, airline oper-                                                      range of contributing and other safety
                                                      In addition, strong intergovernmental
    ators, and the Taiwan Army, Navy and Air                                                       factors relating to the flight crew of the
                                                   cooperation was a key to success in two
    Force (see Figure 2).                                                                          aircraft—TNA’s flight operations and
                                                   major investigations. The following sec-
      The objectives of the 10-day training                                                        safety management processes, the com-
                                                   tions describe the technical aspects and
    program and three-day technology shar-                                                         munication of weather information to
                                                   lessons learned from two ATR 72 accident
    ing with Plane Sciences Inc. and the ASC                                                       the flight crew, coordination issues at the
                                                   investigations. According to the final
    were to                                                                                        civil/military joint-use airport, and the
                                                   reports of both ATR 72 accident investiga-
      • improve aviation safety capability                                                         regulatory oversight of TNA by the CAA.
                                                   tions, the majority of the causal analysis
         and expertise in Taiwan through                                                           This investigation identified important
                                                   issues emphasize organizational deficien-
         collaboration and technology sharing                                                      learning opportunities for pilots, opera-
                                                   cy and CAA audits. This paper interprets
         with North America and other inter-                                                       tors, and regulatory agencies to improve
                                                   the links between the sequence of events
         national locations.                                                                       future aviation safety to ensure such an
                                                   from flight recorders and highlights the        accident would never happen again.
      • establish readout capability of            teamwork among the flight recorder                 There were a total of 46 findings from
        next-generation flight recorders at        group, other groups (e.g., flight operation,    the final report and 29 safety recommen-
        the ASC and receive international          airworthiness), accredited representa-          dations issued to the related organiza-
        certification.                             tives, and technical advisors.                  tions, including TNA, the CAA, and the
      • mitigate flight occurrence rate/risks                                                      MND. This paper highlights four technical
        on runway safety and hazardous             TransAsia Airway Flight GE222                   issues found during the on-scene
        weather incidents through technol-         On July 23, 2014, an ATR-GIE Avions             investigations.
        ogy sharing, international certifica-      de Transport Régional ATR 72-212A
        tion, and training in order to achieve     (ATR 72), registered B-22810, TransAsia
        international standards.                   Airways (TNA) Flight GE222, with two            FDR readout document contained
      • increase trainees’ abilities in flight     pilots, two cabin crew, and 54 passen-          unclear information
        data analysis and safety risk identifi-    gers, was operating on instrument flight        Based on the ATR’s FDR readout docu-
        cation and management and conduct          rules (IFR) regular public transport            ment, three types of issues were identified
        occurrence investigation in accord-        service from Kaohsiung to Magong in the         with the nonmandatory FDR parameters:
        ance with ICAO Annex 13.                   Penghu archipelago. At 1906 Taipei local        (1) Erroneous definition for sign conven-
                                                   time, the aircraft impacted with terrain
                                                                                                   tion; (2) Mixture of two parameters into
                                                   approximately 850 meters northeast of
                                                                                                   one; (3) Unclear descriptions on several
    Lessons learned from two major                 the threshold of Runway 20 at Magong
                                                   Airport and then collided with a residen-       parameters.
    investigations                                 tial area on the outskirts of Xixi Village         In summary, certain parameters listed
    The ASC recently completed two major           approximately 200 meters to the south-          in ATR’s FDR readout document con-
    investigations that had common chal-           east of the initial impact zone. At the time    tained unclear or erroneous information
    lenges, including an insufficient budget,      of the occurrence, the crew was conduct-        in their sign convention and triggering
                                                                                                   conditions. The parameter “selected
                                                                                                   vertical speed” was confusing, and it had
                                                                                                   an adverse effect on the efficiency of the
                                                                                                   occurrence investigation. A reduction
                                                                                                   in the complexity of ATR’s FDR readout
                                                                                                   document, by applying the principles of
                                                                                                   ED-112A137, would assist future occur-
                                                                                                   rence investigations.
                                                                                                      Finding: ATR’s FDR document con-
                                                                                                   tained unclear information that affected
                                                                                                   the efficiency of the occurrence investi-
                                                                                                   gation.
                                                                                                      Safety recommendation to ATR: Review
Figure 2. Group photo of the flight recorder readout and analysis system training course.          the FDR readout document for any
                                                                                                   October-December 2017 ISASI Forum • 7
erroneous information and provide              terrain data and the height of truncat-       FOQA is a key tool for SMS investi-
timely revisions to the manual to assist       ed bush trees, the aircraft’s corrected       gation
airline operators and aviation occurrence      altitude was derived—denoted as Corr.         Based on the CVR and FDR data, ASC
investigation agencies.                        Alt. (see Figure 3). Most likely, its pitot   and BEA investigators worked together
                                               tube was damaged and caused the indi-         to determine the sequence of events then
                                               cated airspeed record to drop to zero at      planed further investigation efforts, in-
Flight data correction and perfor-             1906:16. The drop in each engine’s rotor      cluding 20 ATR 72 line observation flights,
mance analysis                                 speed was caused by the collision with        five days of flight simulator use, 75 inter-
Wreckage distribution illustrated that the     the trees. The aircraft ground speed and      views, and 104 records of FOQA events.
aircraft collided with trees, and several      its attitude data should be reliable and         A review of the TNA FOQA monthly
items were separated from the aircraft.        could be used in further impact analysis      data analysis reports ( for one and a half
No evidence showed that the vertical tail      with the first impacted building.             years) identified recurring flight data
and elevators had collided with trees.            As stated in ICAO Annex 3, the EDR is      events such as long flare, GPWS warning
   Based on the CVR and FDR data,              an aircraft-independent measure of tur-       between 500 and 1,000 feet, and heading
at 1906:11, the flight crew called a           bulence. The relationship between the         deviation during landing roll. There was
“go around.” The power levers of both          EDR value and the perception of turbu-        no evidence to indicate that those events
engines were increased to 78 degrees           lence is a function of aircraft type and      or the FOQA trend analysis results were
then dropped to 35 degrees. About three        the mass, altitude, configuration, and        discussed during safety meetings. The
seconds later, the NP speed of the number      airspeed of the aircraft. The EDR values      TNA FOQA program was not used as an
1 engine and indicated airspeed decayed        of the occurrence flight were calculated.     effective tool to identify SOP noncom-
rapidly. The NP speed of the number 2          Similar to the vertical acceleration, the     pliance events and provide the relevant
engine was maintained at 100%. The             EDR values were less than 0.2 most of         information to flight operations for
pressure altitude contained some spike         the time during the last two minutes          training intervention. In addition, the
points, and its trend approximated 60          of the flight. At about 1906:00, the EDR      program did not function as required to
feet. Radio height indicated that the          value started to increase and reached         provide a systematic tool to proactively
aircraft approached the ground, and the        the maximum of 0.65 just before the           identify hazards and assess and mitigate
main landing gear was changed from “air        aircraft contacted with the trees.            the associated risks.
mode” into “ground mode.”                         Examining the FDR data between                The parameters and threshold values of
   During the on-scene investigation           1906:00 and the end of the flight, the        the TNA FOQA program were in accord-
period, the flight recorder group focused      occurrence aircraft had numerous pitch        ance with the manufacturer’s suggestions.
on specific questions when the aircraft        and roll angle changes. The increased         Based on the airline’s FOQA program,
passed through trees near Xixi Village:        vertical acceleration and EDR values          on the day of occurrence Flight GE220
   • How to calibrate the FDR recording        probably were caused by the combi-            triggered three red events: altitude below
     parameters (e.g., pressure altitude or    nation of turbulence and the aircraft         500 feet—heading deviation greater than
     radio height)?                            maneuver.                                     20 degrees, GPWS warning triggered 24
                                                  Finding: The occurrence flight had         seconds, and level off below 1,400 feet
  • How to derive the vertical speed from      increased its rate of descent from 150
    FDR parameters?                                                                          above field elevation (AFE) exceeded 10
                                               feet per minute to 1,600 feet per minute      seconds. The occurrence Flight GE222
  • How to evaluate the strength of tur-       between 1906:05 and 1906:10, which            triggered two red events: excessive bank
    bulence?                                   was the result of an elevator control         angle on final approach below 100 feet
  In summary, during GE222’s collision         input by the captain. Based on the            AFE and high rate of descent on approach
with the trees, ground effect caused the       values, the turbulence strength of the        between 500 and 50 feet.
pressure altitude to be unreliable. The        occurrence flight during the last two            However, the traditional FOQA pro-
accuracy of radio height may also have         minutes could be classified as “light to      gram was not configured to be able to
been affected by the dense trees. Based on     moderate.”                                    readily identify, without further analy-
                                                                                             sis, those events that were indicative of
                                                                                             noncompliance with SOPs, including
                                                                                             violations of approach procedures such
                                                                                             as descent below minimum safe altitudes.
                                                                                             No current FOQA program can readily
                                                                                             integrate all the required data sources
                                                                                             needed to identify some violations of
                                                                                             SOPs.
                                                                                                Finding: The TNA FOQA settings
                                                                                             and analysis capabilities were unable to
                                                                                             readily identify those events involving
                                                                                             SOPs noncompliance during approach
                                                                                             and likely other stages of flight. The FOQA
                                                                                             events were not analyzed sufficiently or
                                                                                             effectively, leaving some safety issues
                                                                                             in flight operations unidentified and
                                                                                             uncorrected. Some problems with crew
                                                                                             performance and reductions in safety
Figure 3. The relationship of terrain height and corrected altitude of GE222 during the      indicated in the FOQA trend analyses
time flew over trees.                                                                        were not investigated further. Clearly, the
8 • October-December 2017 ISASI Forum
airline’s FOQA program was not capable
of facilitating proactive operational safety
risk assessments.
   Safety recommendation to TNA: Imple-
ment a more advanced FOQA program
with adequate training and technical
support for the FOQA staff members to
ensure that they can exploit the analytical
capabilities of the program. As such, the
FOQA staff can more effectively identify
and manage the operational safety risks
confronting flight operations.

Emerging technologies—UAV and
flight animation
After receiving GE222 occurrence notifi-
cation from the CAA, the ASC launched a
UAV site survey team. During the second
day of investigations, the ASC site survey      Figure 4. Aerial photo of the GE235 crash site.
team arrived at the crash site to evaluate
operation zones and then prepared a UAV         the river. The taxi driver sustained serious      actions in accordance with procedures
operation form for the CAA.                     injuries, and the only taxi passenger             for engine number 2 flameout at takeoff,
   Based on the UAV aerial survey and           sustained minor injuries. Flight 235 was          the occurrence could have been prevent-
ground survey data, and ASC investigator        on IFR during regular public transport            ed. The investigation report identified a
acquired aerial survey video clips from         service from Songshan to Kinmen.                  range of contributing and other safety
three mass media. Those data indicated             The accident was the result of many            factors relating to the engine’s AFU, crew
the aircraft drifted to the left during the     contributing factors that culminated in a         of the aircraft, TNA’s flight operations and
final approach, and both landing gears          stall-induced loss of control. During the         management processes, and the regulato-
created two parallel grooves through the        initial climb after takeoff, an intermittent      ry oversight of TNA by the CAA.
brushwood on a heading of 170 degrees           discontinuity in engine number 2’s auto-             This investigation identified important
with a width between five and seven             feather unit (AFU) may have caused the            learning opportunities for pilots, opera-
meters.                                         automatic takeoff power control system            tors, regulatory agencies, and the aircraft
   On the seventh day of the investigation,     (ATPCS) sequence to activate, which re-           manufacturer to improve future aviation
the ASC arranged a second UAV aerial            sulted in the uncommanded autofeather             safety to ensure such an accident would
survey mission of about three hours             of engine number 2’s propellers.                  never happen again. The ASC issued
and spent another four hours finishing             Following this uncommanded auto-               a series of safety recommendations to
geo-image mapping. The ground resolu-           feather, the flight crew did not perform          TNA, the CAA, and aircraft, engine, and
tion of the aerial images is about eight        the documented abnormal and emer-                 component manufacturers to correct
centimeters. The ASC spent another day          gency procedures to identify the failure          the serious safety deficiencies identified
generating high-resolution terrain data         and implement the required corrective             during the investigation. The manufac-
with accuracy of about 10 centimeters.          actions. This led the pilot flying (PF) to        turers of aircraft, engines, and AFUs have
All of the geo-images and terrain data          retard power to operative engine number           also implemented various safety actions
have been integrated for further applica-       1 and ultimately shut it down. The loss           in response to the occurrence.
tions—flight path reconstruction, flight        of thrust during the initial climb and               Finding: An intermittent signal dis-
animation, etc.                                 inappropriate flight control inputs by the        continuity between the AFU number 2
                                                PF generated a series of stall warnings,          and the torque sensor may have caused
                                                including activation of the stick shaker          the ATPCS not to arm steadily during
TNA GE235 Flight                                and pusher.                                       the takeoff roll. However, it was activated
On Feb. 4, 2015, about 1054 Taipei local           After engine number 1 was shut down,           during initial climb, which resulted in
time, TNA Flight GE235, an ATR 72-212A          the loss of power from both engines was           a complete ATPCS sequence including
(ATR 72-600), registered B-22816, expe-         not detected and corrected by the crew in         autofeathering of engine number 2.
rienced a loss of control during initial        time to restart engine number 1. The crew
climb and impacted Keelung River, three         did not respond to the stall warnings in a
nautical miles east from its departing          timely and effective manner. The aircraft         Teamwork on the AFU and torque
Runway 10 at Taipei’s Songshan Airport          stalled and continued descent during the          sensors examination
(see Figure 4). Forty-three occupants were      attempted engine restart. The remaining           The recovered wreckage represented ap-
fatally injured, including three flight crew,   altitude and time to impact were not              proximately 85% of the whole aircraft. The
one cabin crew, and 39 passengers. The          enough to successfully restart the engine         remaining unrecovered 15% of the aircraft
remaining 13 passengers and one cabin           and recover the aircraft.                         was primarily in the area aft of the cargo
crew sustained serious injuries. One pas-          Had the crewmembers prioritized their          area and forward of the ice shield area.
senger received minor injuries. The air-        actions to stabilize the aircraft flight path,    ASC investigators worked together with
craft was destroyed by impact forces. The       correctly identify the propulsion system          three accredited representatives, the BEA,
aircraft’s left wingtip collided with a taxi    malfunction that caused the engine                the NTSB, and the TSB) and technical
on an overpass before the aircraft entered      number 2 loss of thrust, and then take                                    Continued on page 30

                                                                                                  October-December 2017 ISASI Forum • 9
COLLABORATIVE COMPONENT EXAMINATIONS
By Eric J. East, Air Safety Investigator, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
(Adapted with permission from the author’s technical paper entitled Collaborative Component Examinations presented during ISASI 2016 in
Reykjavik, Iceland. The full presentation can be found on the ISASI website at www.isasi.org in the Library tab under Technical Presentations.—Editor)

O
         ne of the key links in the process        employees, functions, activities, or prod-          examination, and case studies of compo-
         of determining probable cause             ucts involved in the accident or incident           nent examinations. It details the process
         is the physical examination,              may be invited to participate by providing          and the “rules of etiquette” that have been
         interpretation, and relevance of          suitable qualified technical personnel to           found to contribute to a collaborative
hardware and data that are recovered               assist in the investigation as defined in           atmosphere and successful outcomes.
from an incident or accident site. Tech-           Title 49 US C.F.R. § 831.11. Party members
nique, equipment, skill, and facilities            can include regulatory agencies, the air-
                                                                                                       Boeing equipment quality analysis
have evolved considerably over time.               line, pilots' and flight attendants' unions,
                                                                                                       Equipment quality analysis (EQA) at
Examination of components has not only             airframe and engine manufacturers, as
                                                                                                       Boeing Commercial Airplanes has been
reinforced investigation postulations, but         well as other parties that can contribute
                                                                                                       in existence since 1956, encompassing all
has also on occasion provided evidence             knowledge and expertise. This approach
                                                                                                       airplane programs at the Seattle, Renton,
of the unexpected. The links that tie all          encourages open collaboration between
                                                                                                       and Everett sites in Washington state.
the equipment, plans, and interpretation           the party members for both on-scene and
                                                                                                       Our experienced EQA personnel partici-
of evidence together are the participants.         off-scene activities, such as component
                                                                                                       pate in an average of approximately 300
When examining and analyzing parts,                examination, to develop a complete and
                                                                                                       examinations per year. The EQA process
each individual participant is guided by           accurate factual record. The effectiveness
                                                                                                       is based upon collaborative investigations
his or her training, experience, abilities, as     of the collaboration among examination
                                                                                                       in which the expertise of others is highly
well as personal influences and motiva-            participants—even in a very open envi-
                                                                                                       valued. Through systematic examination,
tions. Invaluable expertise lies with many         ronment such as the party system—can
                                                                                                       the experience of various approaches,
participants regardless of whether they            be enhanced by considering the unspoken
                                                                                                       techniques, and discoveries throughout
are at the core of or in a support role to         influences affecting each participant.
                                                                                                       the history of the EQA has resulted in
the investigation.                                    There are many variables that affect
                                                                                                       recognition throughout the industry as a
   Participation in component examina-             participants’ interpretation of what is
                                                                                                       model of component analyses.
tions by the states’ accredited represent-         being witnessed, their ability to be an im-
                                                                                                          The EQA facilities in Washington state
atives and their advisers is encouraged in         partial participant, and the recommenda-
                                                                                                       have a unique variety of collocated equip-
an Annex 13 investigation. Participation           tions they will make on how to proceed.
                                                                                                       ment found in many test and examina-
in these activities is implemented in              Participants come from different fields of
                                                   expertise, experience levels, and cultures.         tion laboratories. Real-time X-ray/digital
practice by the accident investigation
                                                   We must work together to collect factual            radiography (DR) and computed tomog-
authority of the state conducting the
                                                   evidence during a thorough examina-                 raphy (CT) are typically utilized for initial
investigation. One such approach is the
                                                   tion of a component that may have been              noninvasive evaluations. If any special
National Transportation Safety Board
                                                   involved in an accident—an accident that            tooling or alteration is required, dedi-
(NTSB) party system in the United States.
                                                   may have resulted in serious or fatal inju-         cated machining equipment is available.
In the party system, organizations whose
                                                   ries. The results of the examination may            Highly accurate dimensional evaluations
                                                   show that a component contributed to                are conducted using techniques such as
                                                   this accident. The component in question            laser surface and optical measurement
                                                   may have been manufactured by the com-              equipment. Hydraulic test benches, en-
                                                   pany you work for, installed on the air-            vironmental chambers, form scan, mass
                                                   plane that you maintain, or operated by             spectroscopy, and digital microscopy are
                                                   the airline that you represent. How do you          just some of the other capabilities readily
                 Eric East                         maintain impartiality? Are there personal,          available at our EQA labs. If follow-on
                                                   professional, or political pressures from           evaluation is needed, access to collocat-
has been with Boeing since 2006 and                back home? Do you feel overwhelmed by               ed specialized research and materials
has worked in areas such as production             all the experts in the room? Are you the            laboratories is also available, including
support engineering, flight testing, and           expert who already knows the answers?               EMI (electromagnetic interference), EME
customer introduction field service before         Do you want to be the one who finds the             (electromagnetic effects) lightning, chem-
joining accident investigation in 2015. Eric       “ah ha” discovery? We have to be aware of           ical, and metallurgical facilities.
received a bachelor of science degree in           all of these unspoken influences and how               In order to maintain the chain of
mechanical engineering from the Uni-               they can contribute to the environment of           custody of examination parts involved
versity of Tennessee, Knoxville. Prior to
                                                   the examination.                                    with government investigations, Boeing
joining Boeing, Eric worked in a variety of
mechanical and process engineering roles              The information that follows will pro-           air safety investigation and EQA organi-
in the petrochemical industry.                     vide a brief overview of component ex-              zations maintain a partnership with the
                                                   amination at Boeing, current methods of             Western Pacific Regional Office of the U.S.

10 • October-December 2017 ISASI Forum
information to the investigations that the
                                                                                             examinations supported.
       57% - Customer Airlines Includes - Continued
       Operational Safety Program (COSP)                                                     Case Study 1—COPA Flight 201
                                                                                             The first case study deals with the COPA
                                                                                             Flight 201 accident that occurred in
       37% - Boeing Manufacturing & Quality Includes -                                       Panama in 1992. This accident involved
                                                                                             a COPA Airlines B-737-200 enroute from
       Boeing Engineering and Suppliers                                                      Panama to Colombia that broke up in
                                                                                             flight and crashed into dense jungle in
                                                                                             Panama after deviating around a storm.
       6% - Boeing Air Safety Investigations (ASI)                                           Unfortunately, all 40 passengers and sev-
                                                                                             en crewmembers were lost, making this
                                                                                             the worst aviation accident in Panama.
Figure 1 EQA customer distribution.
                                                                                             An investigation ensued in which Boeing
NTSB. We maintain robust processes for        knowledge base. In turn, this greatly en-      provided technical advisers to the U.S.
component shipment; and when needed,          hances EQA’s pattern recognition capabil-      NTSB.
onsite secure storage is available and only   ities and also helps to build relationships       The digital flight data recorder (DFDR)
accessible by NTSB personnel.                 with airlines, suppliers, and government       was recovered during the investigation,
                                              agencies that we might work with during        and flight data were successfully recov-
                                              incident or accident investigation sup-
Pattern recognition                                                                          ered. Roll attitude and heading informa-
                                              port.                                          tion from the DFDR confirmed inter-
   Boeing EQA performs examination and
analysis of components through all phas-
es of the component’s life from develop-      Rules of etiquette
ment, test, and production to in-service      Over many years of conducting these
and accident investigations. Analytical       examinations, the Boeing EQA team has
services can include test methodology         created a set of rules that are presented at
and planning as well as failure mode          the start of each examination. These rules
and probable cause identification. This       of etiquette (see Figure 2) help to estab-
accumulated wealth of information from        lish the ground rules and structure of the
the examinations of many components is        examination. More importantly, they also
conducive to the recognition of patterns      help set the tone, or atmosphere, in which
but does not preclude the discovery of        the work is conducted. We have found
new phenomenon.                               that these rules help maintain focus while
   The primary role of EQA is to support      establishing that every participant’s input
the development of new aircraft and           is valued and respected.
continuing airworthiness of in-service           In the examples that follow, the pro-
                                                                                             Figure 3 Attitude direction indicator.
aircraft. The majority of EQA workload        cesses, technical capability, and expe-
is outside of air safety investigation, as    rience of Boeing EQA helped to enable          mittent errors in the attitude direction
shown in Figure 1. The investigation work     collaboration among examination par-           indicators (ADI) (see Figure 3) due to
conducted throughout the year for the         ticipants. In this atmosphere, important       the high rates of change observed that
development, production, and in-service       findings were confirmed and unexpected         the system was not capable of. DFDR
areas helps our experts expand their          discoveries were made that provided key        review also confirmed that the flight
                                                                                             crew attempted to maneuver the airplane
  1. If in doubt, always ask the investigator in-charge.                                     to correct the indicated attitude errors.
                                                                                             Unfortunately, the CVR recording was not
  2. Always respect the opinions of others. All ideas or suggestions are welcome.
                                                                                             available as the CVR was not operating
  3. Stay to plan but be flexible depending on progressive developments.                     properly during the accident flight. It was
  4. Any member has the right to put forth suggestions/ideas before the team.                believed to have been damaged during
  5. At any time, any member of the team may request a halt or temporary delay               previous maintenance activities.
     in the examination/test to discuss any concerns, proposals, modifications or               Attention then turned to examination
     changes to the originally proposed examination/test prior to continuing with            of components recovered from the acci-
     any phase of the analyses. When in doubt, pause and ask others.                         dent site. Over the course of the investi-
  6. Try to have only one conversation in the room at a time; avoid side discus-             gation, several manufacturers were asked
     sions as much as possible.                                                              to perform component examinations.
  7. Only the EQA team member will handle the parts under direction of the team              The investigation team worked together
     to prevent too many people from handling the parts.                                     to determine which components would
                                                                                             help explain what happened during the
Figure 2 Boeing EQA rules of etiquette.                                                      accident. Boeing’s EQA lab focused on

                                                                                             October-December 2017 ISASI Forum • 11
VG2). In the NORMAL setting,
                                                VG1 provides indication to the
                                                captain’s ADI, while VG2 pro-
                                                vides independent data to the
                                                first officer’s ADI. When the
                                                flight crew determines one of
                                                the vertical gyros is unreliable,
                                                the switch is moved from the
                                                NORMAL position to energize
                                                either VG1 or VG2 to supply
                                                information to both attitude
                                                reference systems. The air-
                                                                                                Figure 6 Standby artificial horizon indicator.
                                                plane also contains a standby
                                                artificial horizon indicator (see Figure 6)    plug and an armature pole labeled as
Figure 4 Vertical gyro transfer switch.         that serves as a completely independent        “5” at the area highlighted by the arrow.
                                                backup system for the attitude reference       The adjacent armature pole surface was
a number of attitude reference system           system. It provides its own visual indica-     examined by a scanning electron micro-
components, including the panel contain-        tion of airplane attitude in pitch and roll    scope (SEM) and found to have an im-
ing the vertical gyro transfer switch, the      using its own gyro, which is independent       pression consistent with the dimensions
roll synchronization portion of VG1, and        of VG1 and VG2. In this accident, the          of the coil wire. This was determined to
the standby artificial horizon indicator.       vertical gyro transfer switch was found        be the location of an intermittent short in
These examinations were conducted with          in the BOTH ON VG1 position. With the          the roll synchronization coil. The exam-
participants from the NTSB, Panamanian          switch in this position, both the captain’s    ination team determined that resulting
DAC, COPA, and the component manu-              and first officer’s ADIs were displaying       voltage loss on this coil can cause the
facturers.                                      information from VG1.                          attitude direction indicator to freeze or
   The attitude reference system on the            During the examination of the transfer      jam intermittently in position.
737-200 provides the captain and first          switch at the Boeing EQA lab, a broken            In this examination, the collaborative
officer with the airplane's attitude in both    wire in the COMPASS portion of the panel       investigative process narrowed down
PITCH and ROLL axes during flight. Two          was found. The fracture was determined         the list of relevant components to be
systems are installed; system No. 1 feeds       to have resulted from mechanical over-         considered for examination. There was
information to the captain's ADI, while         load and was unrelated to the VG1 circuit.     willingness on the part of participants to
system No. 2 feeds information to the              When the VG1 roll synchro rotor was         take new suggestions into account, such
first officer’s ADI. In addition to the ADIs,   initially examined, an open circuit was        as looking for short circuits to ground
the system consists of amplifiers, vertical     observed between the yellow and green          on VG1 by shifting focus beyond just the
gyros, and a vertical gyro transfer switch      coil lead wires of the rotor (Figure 7).       open circuit between lead wires found
(see Figure 5). The vertical gyros (VG1         During the examination of the cause for        during initial continuity checks. The
and VG2) operate when the airplane is           an open circuit, EQA personnel found a         experience of participants was utilized to
displaced in the roll or pitch plane by         location (Figure 8) where a winding was        recognize patterns during physical exami-
transmitting electrical signals from roll/      compromised and suggested to the team          nation to determine that the anomaly was
pitch synchros within the gyro, which are       that a short to the iron core ground may       likely present since the original manufac-
amplified to drive the horizon tape on the      exist in this area. As the location in ques-   ture and had not been caused by impact.
ADIs. The vertical gyro transfer switch         tion was found covered by the original
shown in Figure 4 has three positions           conformal coating, this anomaly had ap-
(BOTH ON VG1, NORMAL, and BOTH ON               parently been present since the part was       Case Study 2—Oxygen Mask
                                                                originally manufactured. As    Examination
                                                                the examination progressed,    This example is from investigation activ-
                                                                the open circuit in the coil   ities concerning a B-737 flight deck fire.
                                                                was determined to be the       This event occurred shortly after push-
                                                                result of impact damage and    back and caused extensive fire damage in
                                                                was not associated with the    the flight deck area. All passengers and
                                                                winding anomaly. The focus     crew were able to safely evacuate. Boeing
                                                                then shifted to examining      was asked to participate in the investiga-
                                                                the winding anomaly more       tion as a technical advisor to the NTSB.
                                                                closely.                       Boeing’s EQA performed an examination
                                                                   Figure 8 shows the loca-    on the remnants of a flight crew oxygen
                                                                tion of the anomaly after      mask (see Figure 9) to determine the po-
                                                                the conformal coating was      sition of the regulator input knob to assist
                                                                removed. One of the wires      in determining possible oxygen leakage
                                                                from the coil was found        scenarios.
Figure 5 Attitude reference system.                             pinched between a nylon           The 737 flight crew oxygen system

12 • October-December 2017 ISASI Forum
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