| Textos de Debate |
|
Flights
cancelled in safety row
|
Easyjet would
not fly in or out after
raising concerns about its planes skidding when landing in wet weather.
But Andrew Skipp, managing director of
the airport, said the runway had been given a "clean bill of health" by
the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
He said safety was paramount and insisted
the airport would remain open.
All Easyjet, Aer Lingus, XL Airways,
Thomson and BA flights in and out of the airport were cancelled or
diverted by late Friday afternoon.
Around 7,000
Easyjet passengers were
affected, and 500 BA passengers were bussed elsewhere.
All BA Connect flights to and from the
airport have also been cancelled over the weekend.
Easyjet spokesman Toby Nicol said safety
was the company's first priority: "The
airport has been laying a new
runway and what they have not had a chance to do is cut grooves into
the surface.
"We have found that
this is having an
effect on braking distances on the runway in wet weather."
In October, the airport announced a
£17m resurfacing scheme scheduled to last five months.
Mr Skipp said: "We would never operate an
unsafe runway. We invited the CAA down to make sure we were doing
everything correctly and we were.
"It is the airlines' decision whether or
not they choose to fly. We need to find out what Easyjet's concerns are
and resolve them.
"Easyjet have taken the decision that
they don't want to fly and we don't criticise that
decision - passenger
safety is paramount.
"We are in discussions with Easyjet and
have been all day but I don't want them to come back until they are
ready to come back."
"Skated
across'
But one pilot, speaking to BBC News
anonymously, said the situation at the airport had been known of for
some time.
"I've landed in wet weather, put the
brakes on and come to the bit that is being re-surfaced, and just
skated across it - we actually speeded up. When it is wet, you have no
grip."
Ten planes were diverted to Cardiff
Airport on 30 December after three aircraft took longer than normal to
stop at Bristol, it has emerged.
In
December,
a plane operated by Guernsey
airline Aurigny, with 52 passengers on board, ended up at the side of
the runway, about two thirds along, after landing at Bristol.
And an Easyjet flight from
Malaga has
also recently strayed on to the safety area at Bristol while taxiing.
Easyjet says around two-thirds of its
Bristol flights on Saturday will be running from Cardiff, with
passengers advised to check in at Bristol before being bussed to
Cardiff.
Customers are entitled to a refund or a
free transfer on to another flight within the next month,
the company
has said.
A BA spokeswoman has said it would
not
operate flights if the runway moisture levels were above a certain
level.
Bristol Airport's operations
director,
Paul Davies, said: "Easyjet's decision is based on a number of factors
including information passed to the airline by the airport on the
condition of the runway surface.
"Their decision to temporarily
suspend
flights in wet conditions is based on operational conditions within
which its aircraft can operate.
"Information on the status of the
runway
is regularly passed to all airlines as part of the airport's standard
operational procedures."
The Easyjet spokesman added: "The
runway
conditions are slick at present and we are not
confident we can land
our aircraft in wet weather without skidding."
POST-CRASHES, BRAZIL SWAPS HEAD OF AIRPORT
AUTHORITY
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson
Jobim on Saturday announced that the
head of Brazil's airport authority
would be replaced this week in a
move that marks the second major
personnel shift since the July crash
on landing of a TAM Airbus A320
killed 199 people in the nation's
worst ever aviation disaster. Jobim
himself was appointed just eight
days after the jetliner slid off the
runway at Sao Paulo Congonhas
Airport's recently resurfaced runway.
The runway had not yet been
grooved and reports indicate it was
wet at the time of the accident.
Brazilian newspapers have quoted
internal Airbus statements indicating
that data recorders recovered from
the crash did not indicate any
functional flaws with the aircraft,
and early reports suggest that the
throttle of the aircraft's right
engine was set to accelerate the
aircraft rather than reverse thrust.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter
FEDERAL BOARD DISMISSES NATCA CHARGES
AGAINST FAA
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter
The Federal Labor Relations Authority
has dismissed charges by the
National Air Traffic Controllers
Association (NATCA) that the FAA
engaged in unfair labor practices
related to negotiating and
implementing the 2006 air traffic
controller contract, the FAA said
(http://www.faa.gov/news/press
Monday. "This decision validates our
new contract, which is saving
taxpayers $1.9 billion over five
years," said FAA Administrator Marion
Blakey. NATCA President Patrick
Forrey, in a statement sent to AVweb
on Tuesday, said the FAA's news
release was "at best factually
inaccurate and at worst intentionally
misleading." NATCA will submit
an appeal, he said, and he expects
the dispute will eventually be
heard by a bipartisan three-member
board of the Labor Relations
Authority, which so far has not
weighed in on the issue.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter
AOPA
SAYS DOT STUDY PROVES GA NOT TO BLAME FOR DELAYS
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter
Weather
and the airlines' own scheduling practices continue to be the
major
causes of flight delays, and they won't be fixed with user fees
or
a modernized air traffic control system, according to AOPA
President
Phil Boyer. In a news release, Boyer says a Department of
Transportation
study shows that 40 percent of flight delays are caused
by
weather and 25 percent by problems within the airlines themselves,
such
as maintenance problems, crew shortages, baggage delays and the
like.
AOPA dug deeper into the report to analyze the 28 percent of
delays
attributable to National Airspace System delays and found 17
airports
where airlines over-schedule flights.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter
FAA
FOCUS ON NEXTGEN OBSCURES REAL ISSUES SAYS NATCA
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter
The
FAA's repeated reference to the need to modernize the air traffic
control
system is a smokescreen designed to divert attention from
problems
with the existing system, according to the head of the
National
Air Traffic Controllers Association. Pat Forrey told a
transportation
forum in Dallas last week that while controllers love
new
technology and embrace it at every chance, poor morale and a
severe
staffing shortage are the most immediate concerns. "So before
we
as a nation turn our full attention to NextGen, and the future
aviation
system we hope to enjoy, we must work to ensure that the
system
we have to use today remains the safest in the world and one
where
no corners are cut in a foolish rush to institute business
agendas
over safety practices," he said.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter
BUREAUCRACY
READY FOR VLJS
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter
While
we still don't know just how the alleged onslaught of very light
jets
(VLJs), personal jets and family jets will affect aviation as a
whole,
the FAA appears to be among those who believe the impact will
be
huge. If you've noticed that VLJs seem to figure in just about
every
FAA news release on airspace and new technology, there's a good
reason.
It's called the FAA VLJ Cross Organizational Group and it has
representation
from no fewer than 35 agency departments, all of which
believe
that VLJs will affect their particular bailiwick. "We started
brainstorming,
identifying issues that could possibly arise, and
looking
at what we could do as an agency to [promote safety] while
ensuring
the smooth entry of these type aircraft into service," Mary
Pat
Baxter, who heads up the group, told FocusFAA
(https://employees.faa.gov/news
the
agency's internal newsletter.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter
NATCA: STRAIN SHOWING AT SOCAL TRACON
(http://www.avweb.com/eletter
The National Air Traffic Controllers
Association (NATCA) says there
have been five operational errors in
less than two weeks at the
nation's busiest terminal radar
control (TRACON) center in San Diego,
and it blames a punishing work
schedule and gross understaffing.
Spokesman Steve Merlin said in a news
release that there are sometimes
fewer than half what the union
considers the minimum number of fully
qualified controllers on position at
any one time and virtually all of
them are training a new controller at
the same time. "We are running
shifts that used to be staffed with
11 or 12 fully certified
controllers (CPCs) with six or seven
CPCs," Merlin said. "On August 4,
the Empire Area was forced to work
the day shift with four CPCs when
11 was the norm. Plus, we're forced
to train new hires on top of
that." He said management instituted
a three-day training ban last
week to try and get a grip on the
situation. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor
said the spate of errors was an
anomaly in an exceptionally safe year
at the TRACON. To that point, he
said, there had only been nine errors
in the previous nine months so the
sudden spike in errors warranted a
stand down of training. "It was only
prudent to do that," he said.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter