US investigators have indicated that a Saab 2000 touched down in a tailwind during a second attempt to land at an Alaskan airport, before it suffered a fatal excursion. The PenAir turboprop, arriving at Unalaska on 17 October, approached runway 13 with the wind from 300° at 24kt – suggesting a tailwind component of more than 23kt. While its airspeed was 129kt at touchdown the aircraft's groundspeed was 142kt, according to the flight-data recorder. According to the US National Transportation Safety Board, the crew told the inquiry that the aircraft landed about 1,000ft down the 4,500ft runway. Reverse thrust and braking commenced and the captain applied maximum braking around the '80kt' call-out. But the aircraft did not stop before the runway end and the crew attempted to steer to the right to avoid entering the water beyond. As the aircraft overran – about 26s after touchdown – its left-hand propeller struck a road sign, and possibly a signal post, losing three of its six blades. At least two blades hit the fuselage, one sticking in the structure and the other entering the passenger cabin. The third missing blade was retrieved from the water. The fuselage had been holed on its left side around the fifth passenger window, which is located slightly ahead of the rotation plane of the propeller. All the cabin seats, comprising 15 rows, were intact with the exception of window seat 4A, which was displaced and damaged. All three of the other left-hand propeller blades were broken. One passenger was fatally injured, says the inquiry, but its preliminary findings do not elaborate on the nature of the injuries. The aircraft, which had been operating from Anchorage, was transporting 42 occupants. The turboprop had been cleared for an area navigation approach to runway 13 with winds gusting from the south-west. These winds shifted towards a westerly direction, at 10kt, during the approach. The crew felt the approach was unstable and executed a go-around. "Transmissions between the weather observer and another [aircraft] indicated that winds favoured [the opposite] runway 31 but could shift back to runway 13," says the inquiry. The Saab crew re-established the aircraft on the runway 13 approach. Investigators state that an examination of the runway found a dark rubber mark 15ft left of the runway centreline, some 1,840ft from the threshold and extending for 200ft. The aircraft's left-hand outboard tyre was found to have completely worn through and deflated. While the Saab's captain had accumulated around 20,000h including 14,000h in Bombardier Dash 8s, only 101h had been logged on Saab 2000s. The first officer had 147h on the type, out of a total of 1,446h.

Source: FlightGlobal

Several US lawmakers have again introduced a bill to impose more restrictive duty and rest time requirements on pilots of cargo aircraft, a move both the Federal Aviation Administration and cargo carriers previously opposed. The measure continues a years-long effort by groups including pilot unions to make cargo pilots subject to fatigue rules in place for passenger aircraft pilots since 2014. Cargo carriers are already subject to pilot fatigue regulations but were exempted from the more restrictive 2014 rules, which came as a congressional response to a deadly 2009 crash of a Colgan Air turboprop. The "Safe Skies Act of 2019", introduced into the US House of Representatives by bipartisan lawmakers on 19 November, would apply the 2014 rules to cargo pilots. The measure, which has not been approved by either house of Congress, mirrors a half dozen similar bills introduced in recent years. None of those became law. "All-cargo airline operations are excluded from science-based pilot fatigue rules despite flying the same routes, in the same airspace and into the same airports as pilots of passenger airlines," says a media release issued by the Air Line Pilots Association, International and the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association, a group including the Independent Pilots Association and International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Those unions represent pilots who fly for FedEx, UPS and subsidiaries of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and Air Transport Services Group. The cargo airline industry and FAA have pushed back against such efforts. Cargo Airline Association president Stephen Alterman says the bill "doesn't recognise that the all-cargo industry, as a business model, is significantly different than the passenger industry". Cargo pilots typically fly one round trip during a work period – out and back from a major cargo sorting hub over 5h or so, he says. They often log less than 30h of flight time monthly. By comparison, passenger aircraft pilots might fly more than 10h during a work day and log 55-60h of flight time a month, Alterman says. “Safety is and always will be the airline industry’s top priority," says airline lobby group A4A. "The FAA’s current flight duty and rest rules take into account the very different operating environment that cargo airline pilots work in. Imposing one policy for two separate and distinct types of flight operations could harm – not help – aviation safety.”

Source: FlightGlobal

South African Airways is resuming flights to destinations within the region, while the carrier's domestic services are still affected by industrial action. The airline says that it is "on the road to operational recovery" as a "growing number of our employees… are coming back to work". South African cancelled nearly all its flights on 15 and 16 November, when the strike began by the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) to seek an improved pay offer. Intercontinental flights resumed on 17 November and are "now operating as usual and on an ongoing basis", the airline says. Flights to African destinations Accra, Harare, Lagos, Lusaka, Maputo and Windhoek will restart today, the carrier adds. But it confirms that "all" domestic customers continue to be rebooked on to flights operated by South African's budget subsidiary Mango and partner carriers Airlink and SA Express.
Noting South African's "no-work, no-pay" policy, acting chief executive Zuks Ramasia states that the carrier "would like to record its appreciation to those employees that have decided to return to work". The airline, for its part, has condemned "several incidents relating to intimidation against staff" by union members. "Describing some of our employees as 'traitors' and threatening that 'we know where you are' are flagrant methods of intimidation – and will not be tolerated by SAA," argues Ramasia. South African has sought advice from a labour court about "additional" union demands, which, the carrier says, "are not part of part of the conflict… [and] not procedural", and to address "non-compliance with picketing rules". Furthermore, the carrier has taken legal action against statements by SACCA and NUMSA, which, South African says, were "deeply regrettable, untruthful and without foundation". The airline insists: "SAA has never – and will never – compromise safety under any circumstances." While the cost of the strike for the company has "many elements", South African argues the reputational damage is "immeasurable". Ramasia describes the carrier's current situation as "difficult". Noting a "contribution by taxpayers to our sustainability", she argues that the state carrier "cannot afford salary increases at present". NUMSA and SACCA demand an 8% wage increase, South African says. The carrier has offered a 5.9% rise from March, if "funds are available at that time", it says. South African says that a mediation commission will "shortly" be reconvened to resolve the dispute.

Source: FlightGlobal