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Gama Charters Inc. Safety Bulletin Newsletter June 2009 VOLUME I NUMBER I From The Director of Safety: It gives me great pleasure as the Director of Safety to introduce our initial newsletter. As I am sure you are aware, our company has dedicated itself to achieve a superior level of safety. This newsletter is a milestone on the road to realizing our goals. We have assembled an outstanding professional group of employees who’s core objective is safety. We must all work together as one to accomplish our goals and your cooperation and participation is vital. As Director of Safety my door is always open, your issues thoughts and suggestions are an invaluable tool. In our ongoing efforts to progress we have developed an enhanced Safety Management System that supports the Air Carrier’s anonymous reporting program as well as the Aviation Safety Action Program known as ASAP. These programs encourage all employees to participate and are discussed throughout our Safety Manual Systems. On May 8th, 2009 we had our first ASAP meeting with the members of the ERC (Event Review Committee). The ERC members reviewed all the facts of the ASAP report during this meeting, and concluded that no violation occurred. Just a brief description of the events that led up to the ASAP report. The origination station was KSWF (Stewart International Airport Newburgh, New York ) to a destination of KOGD (Ogden-Hinckley Airport Ogden, Utah). This was approximately a four and a half hour flight. The flight crew checked all appropriate weather and NOTAM's prior to departure from KSWF. At the time of departure all indications were normal regarding the weather and NOTAM's. The flight crew while preparing for a landing into KOGD and getting ATIS information learned that runway 3-21 was closed, the longest runway. The crew requested confirmation regarding the status of runway 3-21 and was informed by approach control that runway 3-21 was indefinitely closed due to a disabled F-16 on the runway. The crew ran landing distance calculations and determined that runway 34 was within landing limitations. The airplane landed without incident. A ASAP report was submitted. O Moving GAMA safely. It’s what we do Alex Travia Director of Safety , Gama Charters Inc. Cell 1-917-582-6051 [email protected] Gama Charters Inc. Safety Bulletin Newsletter June 2009 VOLUME I NUMBER I From the Chief Pilot: I was asked long ago what the difference between a regular pilot and a professional pilot was. My response was, “I get paid to use my talent, training, knowledge, decision-making, skill and experience to ensure a successful outcome for my clients and a regular pilot does not.” So, along with the responsibility of ensuring a successful outcome, we are saddled with the burden of preparation! For those who fail to prepare, one day you must prepare to fail. As a company, we certainly don’t want an outcome simply because we failed to prepare. RADAR • Archie Trammel’s Radar Website www.radar4pilots.com Web site for AC note Active convective www.spc.noaa.gov Qualified internet Communication providers ARINC Colt International Fltplan.com DTN MeterLogix WSI Universal weather Air Routing International In order to prepare, we must start by identifying areas where we can improve our knowledge base and train to a higher level of proficiency in that area. One area that has become apparent to me where we all could use more training is in the area of airborne radar training. I have therefore obtained a DVD from Mr. Archie Trammel, a highly respected and knowledgeable person in the area of airborne radar, and have begun the process of having all pilots within the group to view it. So, if you don’t know how to set the threat identification position of your radar, or if you don’t know what RCT stands for on your radar unit, or you don’t know how to adjust you radar gain to show a storm return greater than 40 decibels, then by all means you need to see this DVD! These are but a few of the important lessons to be learned from this DVD, so contact me and I will provide you with a copy for your viewing pleasure. O Being a professional requires 3 legs of a triangle. One side is superior aviation knowledge. Another side is superior pilot training. And the third side is the ability to recognize hazardous situations so you don’t have to use the other two. You will be required to watch this DVD on airborne radar training! So you can pay me now, or pay me later - but you might as well see it before thunderstorm season is in high gear so you can apply the knowledge and demonstrate all the sides of the triangle – especially hazardous thunderstorm avoidance! A couple of good websites to visit concerning radar and convective weather products: www.radar4pilots.com Archie Trammel’s Radar Website www.spc.noaa.gov This is a gov. website for AC Note (active convective). Click on “see text” for the date desired and receive textual description of convective activity. John Walter Chief Pilot, Gama Charters Inc. Cell 1-203-543-1541 [email protected] Gama Charters Inc. Safety Bulletin Newsletter June 2009 VOLUME I NUMBER I From the Manager of Cabin and Customer Service: All crewmembers should be reminded of the following Cabin Safety Principles: - Do not leave any electrical equipment operating for long periods of time while the galley is unattended. - Cabin crew and Pilots should always use a non-slip material under anything that is set out in the cabin (i.e., flower arrangements, fruit baskets, toiletries in the lavatory vanity, etc) A good suggestion is to use the "Rubbermaid Non-Slip Shelf Liner". - Do not conduct food or beverage service during any turbulence. Service may be conducted during light turbulence at the PIC's discretion. - All hot cups, coffee makers, electrical appliances, etc should be turned off when not in use. Keep a small amount of water in the hot cup at all times and make certain it is off when not in use. Turn off the oven when it is not in use. O - NEVER reset a circuit breaker, notify the PIC. Kevin E. Wingo Cabin and Customer Service Manager Gama Aviation Inc. Direct Dial: (203) 337-4618 Gama Charters Inc. Safety Bulletin Newsletter June 2009 VOLUME I NUMBER I From The Chief Pilot: All of life’s lessons should not be learned in the first person. You certainly wouldn’t want to learn the lesson of the “hot stove” this way. It can hurt even when it happens to someone else. What follows is a narrative of an actual fleet occurrence and the errors that resulted from not following company procedures. The aircraft had recently come out of reputable maintenance with the manufacturer. The crew had flown several legs without any discrepancies, however, on the next leg of their journey their day began to change. In preparation for landing, “gear down” was selected. The gear swung down, however, there was no green nose-wheel indicator light. The crew acting in accordance with the checklist used the high-pressure nitrogen bottle to “blow the gear down”. They did not declare an emergency but asked for “vehicles to be standing by” and made an uneventful landing. The tower “rolled the trucks” as a precaution. A normal landing ensued, however, as the crew tried to exit the runway they realized the nose-wheel steering was inoperable. With some assistance, they were able to make it to the ramp. Upon post-flight inspection, the maintenance coordinator (who happened to be aboard the aircraft for the flight) found the nose-gear cannon plug ends separated. He was able to reconnect them immediately. It was assumed that during the last maintenance event, the factory hadn’t “snapped” it into place. So, over the course of the next few legs, the ends had vibrated apart until fully separating. After reconnecting the plugs all indications were back to normal. Believing that all had been fixed with this obvious find, the crew and coordinator departed for home. And the problems begin!!!!!! O First of all, when the crew reported an anomaly before landing and asked to “have the trucks standing by as a precaution”, the tower notified the local FAA field office of the event. Secondly, with the “obvious” finding of the landing gear issue, and even though they had “blown the bottle”, the crew and coordinator determined that they would just “swing the gear” in the air several times on the flight back to home base. That was a big “No-No” according to the maintenance manual - a gear swing on jacks was required prior to dispatch. Thirdly, no AML entry of the discrepancy, or the flight hour of occurrence was recorded by the pilots nor by the maintenance coordinator. Lastly, no notification was provided to the company by phone or by the required “event log” report. Need I go on???? As you can imagine---there was some “splaining” to do! The FAA responsible for overseeing our operation wanted to know why they hadn’t been informed of the event prior to being notified by the “local” field office across the country. Why hadn’t our company known of the event? Why weren’t company maintenance and manufacturers procedures followed? Why weren’t proper AML procedures followed? Were the crew and maintenance coordinator properly trained in company procedures? Many questions with many answers followed - fortunately without fines. Bottom Line - follow company procedures. If in doubt—call headquarters maintenance personnel for clarification. If you have any question about procedures get further training. That’s what we are here for as a company. Also, your company OPS Manual outlines many events that will occur in the process of flying airplanes. Get familiar with the procedures. A number 1: notify the company ASAP of any event which is irregular or noteworthy whether you are operating under Part 91 or 135. It’s our job to know, but we need your help. Learn the lessons and let’s not make the same mistakes again!