Collision course - Canadian Association of Journalists

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TheStar.com | SpecialSections | Collision course
Page 1 of 6
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Collision course
Jun 03, 2006 02:19 AM
ROBERT CRIBB,
FRED VALLANCE-JONES
AND TAMSIN MCMAHON
TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
More than 80,000 passengers
have been put at risk over the
last five years when airplanes
they were travelling in came
dangerously close together in
Canadian skies, according to
never-before-released federal
aviation data.
Between 2001 and mid-2005,
there were more than 800
incidents in which planes got
STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
too close to each other,
according to Transport Canada
data — about one incident every two days. Sometimes, they come
Email story
within seconds of crashing.
Print
This is one of the major findings in a joint investigation of the
Canadian commercial airline industry by the Toronto Star, the
Hamilton Spectator and The Record of Waterloo Region.
The investigation found a safety system straining at the seams.
Experts — pilots, mechanics, airline workers and people who study
aviation data — warn significant changes must be made to prevent
a major catastrophe.
Among other findings:
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COLLISION COURSE
TOO CLOSE FOR
COMFORT
About twice a day in Canada, pilots or air traffic controllers
make mistakes that could cause
accidents, including putting two
Star series up for Michener
planes on the same runway at
award
the same time, navigational
An investigative series into aviation
errors, changing altitudes
safety by the Toronto Star and two of
without permission or making
its sister papers has been nominated
unsafe takeoffs and landings.
for a prestigious award that promotes

excellence in Canadian public service
journalism.
Mechanical malfunctions, from engine fires to parts falling off in
mid-flight, have risen steadily from 2000 to 2004.

TRAGEDY POINTS TO
INDUSTRY FLAWS
CANADIAN PILOTS
BATTLE FATIGUE
ECONOMICS TRUMPS
SAFETY: JAZZ STAFF
AIRLINE SUSPENDS
MECHANICS
LAX AIR RULES
BLAMED FOR RISKY
LANDINGS
JETSGO PROBLEMS
IGNORED
REVIEW OF `SLIDING'
AIR SAFETY
AVIATION WORKERS
MUZZLED
Smaller aircraft, including planes, gliders and helicopters, are
also involved in "near misses," both with other small planes and
commercial airplanes heading in
and out of increasingly crowded
'There are serious
airspace above major airports.

problems which will
eventually rear their
ugly head and result
PILOT FATIGUE LIKELY
CAUSE OF DEADLY
HALIFAX CRASH
SAFETY CUTS RISK
DISASTER: JUDGE
JAZZ WING PART
FALLS OFF (.PDF)
"There will be a serious accident.
It's just a matter of time," warns veteran aviator Ken Green, who
retired in March after a 33-year career as a commercial airline
pilot with Air Canada. His concerns are echoed by other aviation
http://www.thestar.com/Special/article/144210
1/10/2008
experts.
in tragedies'
Transport Canada data show a
steady increase in the number of
violations of Canadian
Brian Alexander, pilot alleged
aviation regulations such as
improper maintenance checks
and aviation lawyer
and pilots taking off or landing
without air traffic control authorization. The regulator, which has
the power to discipline pilots, airlines and air traffic controllers
under the Canadian Aviation Regulations, recorded 1,251 alleged
breaches in 2004 alone, up 79 per cent from 2001.
Page 2 of 6
TROUBLE IN THE
SKIES (.PDF)
PILOT FATIGUE:
CANADA VS. U.S.
(.PDF)
PLANE TROUBLE
(.PDF)
FRIGHTENING
MOMENTS (.PDF)
DIFFERENT LANDING
APPROACHES (PDF)
TRANSPORTATION
SAFETY BOARD OF
CANADA
NAVCANADA.CA
It all comes against a backdrop of worsening safety statistics.
According to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the number of fatal aircraft accidents was
up 48 per cent between 2004 and 2005, from 27 to 40. It was the largest number of fatal crashes
since 2001 and resulted in 61 deaths.
Eight of those deaths were the result of six accidents in the air taxi industry, which uses small
planes. That's double the number of fatal accidents in 2004 and the most since 1998. In all, the
accident rate for Canadian aircraft — planes, helicopters and gliders — increased 3 per cent between
2004 and 2005.
MORE IN THE NEWS
Cost cutting, human fatigue and poor morale are key factors that threaten safety in the skies,
according to dozens of pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics interviewed.
Anger erupts over Peel
hospital's fate
With air traffic predicted to double over the next decade, it amounts to a perfect storm.
Merlin Preuss, head of civil aviation with Transport Canada, says Canadians have one of the safest
aviation systems in the world. But increasingly crowded skies do pose a safety challenge, he says.
"The amount of (air) traffic is increasing which can lead to more incidents being reported," he says.
"One of our fears is if we continue to be successful just at this level and our (traffic) goes up, there
will be more front-page stories about where the system has failed."
Transport Canada's strategy for addressing a potential spike in accidents is a controversial new
approach that will hand over many safety-monitoring duties to airlines. Critics call it a mistake that
will allow for-profit companies to self-regulate.
The airspace over Canada is massive, but so is the complexity in managing it. There are about 6,000
airports or landing facilities across Canada, including 1,300 operating under licences from Transport
Canada. Of these, 42 operate with air traffic control towers — including all major Canadian cities —
and 64 others, like those in Timmins and North Bay, have flight service stations that provide weather
and advisory services.
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Towered airports take most of the 60-million-plus passengers and last year handled a total of 4.3
million takeoffs and landings — down about 1 million from the industry's peak in 1999, but on the
way up as the airlines recovered from 9/11 and later, SARS.
In congested skies, there's little room for error. For example, two commercial jets separated by four
nautical miles and on a collision course would strike each other in less than 20 seconds.
In one recent incident, two planes heading for Toronto in January — an Air Canada Jazz passenger
jet and a Thunder Airlines turboprop — came close to colliding because the Jazz crew had improperly
set the plane's altimeter and the pilots thought they were higher than they actually were. The larger
Jazz jet was descending and came close to crashing down on the smaller Thunder Airlines plane. A
proximity warning alarm sounded and the Jazz jet pulled up just in time.
Like most of these incidents, the 100 passengers on the two planes were unaware of the close call,
called a "loss of separation." The incident report shows the planes came within 200 feet (60 metres)
of each other — a thin whisker in aviation terms.
Planes are required to maintain "separation" from other aircraft in busy airspace, either vertically or
horizontally. Vertical separation is typically 1,000 feet (305 metres). How far apart planes must be
horizontally depends on where the airplane is in its trip. Near busy airports, planes may be allowed
as close as three nautical miles (5.5 kilometres) apart. Farther along the flight path, five miles is
typical, but in remote rural or ocean areas where there is no radar coverage, the bubble of protected
airspace around a plane may be measured in dozens of miles.
Canadian aviation rules — set by Transport Canada — allow thousands of planes to fly without a
proximity-warning device like the kind that saved the day in the Jazz-Thunder Airlines incident.
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For 10 years, Transport Canada has studied making the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)
mandatory. In the U.S., TCAS systems are required for planes with more than 10 passengers, while
in the European Union the minimum is 20 passengers. It's only those foreign regulations that force
Canadian planes flying into those countries to have the technology installed.
`LOSS OF SEPARATION'
1/10/2008
When close calls between planes do happen, they are rarely investigated. The Transportation Safety
Board, Canada's federal agency responsible for studying air safety mishaps, is a lean operation, able
to investigate about 50 aviation incidents and accidents a year from the thousands that take place.
Since 1996, for example, there have been 1,619 incidents classified by the TSB as "risk of collision"
or "loss of separation" involving commercial aircraft. Of those, 95 per cent received only cursory
review. Only 79 triggered more thorough investigations — fewer than one in 20.
The TSB has been aware of this problem for years. A "safety advisory" written by the board in 2000
warned that "losses of separation do occur, many of which involve risks of collision."
Page 3 of 6
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"Current and proposed defences against this threat are not adequate," it stated. "Although the
probability of a mid-air collision is very low, the associated consequences are high."
Nav Canada, the private company that manages the country's air traffic control towers, exists to
accomplish one primary task: Keep planes from coming anywhere near each other.
When planes do breach the protective distances set by Canadian aviation safety rules, officials log
the incident as a "loss of separation."
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Nav Canada figures show 78 losses of separation and another 279 potential losses of separation
involving air traffic controllers last year, the highest total in the last five years. The company says the
growth is partly explained by more reporting of minor incidents.
Many losses of separation involve small aircraft — including thousands of small planes, gliders and
helicopters flying out of rural airports, flight schools or airstrips — that come into conflict with
commercial airplanes. Such incidents happen with surprising frequency in Canadian skies and
historically more often in the busy summer months.
The pilot of a WestJet 737 flight heading into Hamilton from Winnipeg experienced four "near misses
with light aircraft" that required "aggressive manoeuvring to avoid a collision," reads a July 2003
incident report.
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Those light aircraft are believed to be gliders from the Southern Ontario Soaring Association, a
gliding club with 150 members based in Rockton, between Hamilton and Kitchener.
The near miss occurred in lightly controlled airspace where gliders and small private planes are
allowed to fly without transponders — which send out a signal that alerts larger planes of other
aircraft — and all pilots are responsible for keeping an eye out for other planes.
But the airspace, up to 12,500 feet, is also on the landing and takeoff path for Pearson and Hamilton
international airports, which means jets regularly fly low near the glider club.
Club president Dave Springford said commercial airline pilots, trained to fly using sophisticated
navigational instruments, don't always respect the rights of smaller planes when flying at low
altitudes.
Last year, pilots of an Air Canada Jazz flight from Toronto to London, Ont., faced a similar moment of
terror when the flight crew reported passing "within 500 feet of a glider."
"Nothing had been seen on radar," the incident report says.
Last July, a CanJet Boeing 737 from Montreal was 12 nautical miles from the runway in Ottawa when
the flight crew "looked out and saw a Cessna 172 off the aircraft's left wing, about 100 feet above
them," an incident report says.
Nav Canada says the Cessna pilot was allowed in that airspace, but was breaking the rules because
he was not in radio contact with the Ottawa tower and had no transponder.
Without a transponder, the Cessna was invisible to the CanJet plane's collision avoidance system,
and nearly invisible to controllers. Only a last-minute warning from controllers, and luck, saved the
day.
Breaches of separation between large planes are particularly dangerous in the airspace around
airports.
In the Jazz-Thunder Air near miss, even after the planes' emergency alarm systems prompted the
pilots to change course, the danger wasn't over, according to the incident report. The Jazz plane
resumed its descent into Toronto only 1.5 nautical miles ahead of the Thunder Airlines plane — far
less than the four nautical miles required by aviation safety regulations.
Ken Bittle, president and chief safety officer with Thunder Airlines, says his pilot was never aware of
how close he was to another plane.
"(It was) very close. That's not comfortable at all and in that particular phase of flight, with this
aircraft coming from behind and above and descending is the worst possible case. You would never,
ever see them."
That's because gazing out of a cockpit window, a pilot can't see below or directly above.
"With a car you have, more or less, a level playing field. There is a car, sometimes it's coming at you
1/10/2008
Page 4 of 6
or beside you or behind you, you're not looking up or down for it. With an airplane you have all these
directions, plus you have the vertical separation."
Neither Air Canada Jazz nor Air Canada would answer questions on incidents involving their planes.
WestJet, also approached for this series, would not comment on specifics.
Controller errors can involve even higher stakes because they often involve large commercial
airliners filled with people.
Last August, controllers inadvertently put an Air Canada 767 arriving from Rome on a conflicting
course with an Air Canada Jazz regional jet departing Toronto. The planes came within three-quarters
of a nautical mile of each other at the same altitude.
Both crews received alerts from their onboard collision avoidance systems. The 767 pilot descended
at the last moment to avoid the Jazz plane.
Last April, a Canadair Regional Jet operated by U.S.-based Pinnacle Airlines was on approach into
Toronto from Memphis at the same time as an Air Canada Airbus flight 449 was landing in Toronto
from Ottawa.
As the two planes descended onto runway 24R at Pearson International Airport at the same time,
they came within 500 feet vertically and 1.5 miles laterally of one another before landing safely, an
incident report states. That's well below the required distance to ensure safety.
Pearson's runway 24R was the site of another close call in 2003 when an Air Canada Boeing 767 was
taking off just as another Air Canada Boeing 767 was departing from runway 23.
"The Toronto departure controller momentarily confused the two aircraft call-signs," reads the
incident report. "The two aircraft were placed on converging flight paths."
The controller quickly ordered the two planes on diverging paths.
But not before the plane on 24R came within 1.5 nautical miles to the south and 600 feet below the
other Boeing plane.
THE TECHNOLOGY GAP
Loss of separation incidents demonstrate one of the ways the air safety system is most vulnerable: It
relies on everyone — from commercial and weekend pilots to air traffic controllers — following a
complex set of rules, which vary by airport and are laid out in a 400-page manual and a thick book of
charts. And pilots of smaller planes often don't have the same skills or experience as big jet pilots.
Capt. Michael Zorychta, CanJet's director of flight operations, said he'd like to see tougher regulation
of amateur pilots to ensure their knowledge and skills are current.
"They shouldn't be there in the first place," he says. "You get a lot of professional people ... (that
have) the wherewithal to afford to either own or rent (a plane) and they don't do it for a living and
they are less vigilant, let's say, than the professional pilots."
One solution would be to ban smaller planes from larger airport airspace altogether, as is the case at
Heathrow airport in London. Zorychta suggests that solution could be implemented around Pearson.
Either way, he would like to see every plane, no matter how small, equipped with a Traffic Collision
Avoidance System — technology that trips a cockpit alarm when planes come too close together.
"It seems like a no-brainer," he says. Still, Canada doesn't require TCAS at all, despite calls from
pilots, air traffic controllers and the TSB dating back at least a decade.
Most large commercial aircraft in Canada are equipped with the life-saving systems because they
need it to fly over the U.S., where TCAS has been mandatory for 13 years. But many smaller planes
in Canada running on domestic-only routes remain unequipped.
Jennifer Taylor, Transport Canada's director of aerodromes and air navigation, says the agency is
working toward TCAS regulations in the near future. She says the long delay in getting there is the
result of differing air traffic levels than the U.S. and a lengthy approval process in Canada.
"We don't have that same kind of accident risk as they do in the States (because) we don't have the
same volume (of traffic)," she says. "And there are protocols and rules imposed on us ... and the first
principle is that you should not be able to make rules that are going to impose a restriction on
people's activities easily. You should not be able to do that quickly. It should require lots of research,
lots of assessment, lots of consultation."
It's an argument that falls flat with most pilots.
"Why would you not put this on an airplane?" asks Capt. Bob Perkins, a 33-year veteran commercial
pilot and national safety committee chair with the Airline Pilots Association, which represents 63,000
pilots at 40 airlines in Canada and the U.S.
"It does cost a little bit of money, but it can potentially save the airplane and whoever is on it. It's a
1/10/2008
Page 5 of 6
no-brainer."
The TCAS system required for large commercial planes (more than 30 seats) in U.S. and European
airspace costs about $250,000 (U.S.), while TCAS for smaller planes cost between $29,000 and
$79,500 depending on the size of the aircraft. Most small aircraft that don't require TCAS need at
least a transponder, which costs about $1,800.
Money is an increasingly big factor in aviation safety, say many long-time aviation professionals.
Grant Corriveau, who retired as an Air Canada pilot two years ago, has seen budgetary belttightening change the way pilots fly during his 30-year career.
"Something goes from an amber condition to a red condition a lot faster than it used to because the
buffers are smaller," he says.
For example, commercial planes carry much less fuel today than ever before to reduce costs. But it
means that when a flight doesn't go as planned and landing is delayed, pilots have much less time to
react before the fuel runs out.
In one 2003 incident, a Convair 580 aircraft heading to New Zealand became lost as a result of a
navigational error. By the time it eventually landed, the plane was down to its last 359 pounds of fuel
— enough for only a few minutes of flight time, according to a TSB document.
"All the new bells and whistles are continually pushed to the limit in order to become more profitable
and to squeeze more airplanes into more airspace and then when something goes wrong, you have
less outs and less room to manoeuvre," says Corriveau.
Perhaps the greatest safety measure working in favour of travellers is the fact that the sky is a big
place. Even when navigational mistakes happen, the likelihood of an accident remains small.
But experts say the odds grow along with air traffic. Brian Alexander, a pilot and lawyer with New
York-based Kreindler & Kreindler, among the largest international aviation law firms which has
handled air disaster cases including Lockerbie, SwissAir and 9/11, says there are mounting concerns
about safety in the air.
"There are parts of the system that are working well and are improving as technology improves.
Having said that, it is absolutely true to be sure that there are serious problems which will eventually
rear their ugly head and result in tragedies and we'll have all the Monday morning quarterbacks
talking about, `Well, we knew that but we didn't fix it.'"
The single biggest concern, which Alexander calls a "crisis," is an expected dramatic growth in air
travellers over the next decade that promises to surpass the system's ability to ensure safety.
"The overall airspace system is not presently prepared for what is an inevitable increase in air traffic
and travellers over the next five to 10 years," he says.
One estimate, cited by Transport Canada officials, is a doubling of accidents by 2015 as air traffic
experiences dramatic growth with Asian routes and a general increase in flying.
"We have a lot of occurrences like you see in the reporting incident data," says Capt. Brian Boucher,
an Air Canada pilot and technical safety chair of the Air Canada Pilots Association. "What we have
now isn't working safely. We might get by and not have anything for two or three years. But are we
doing the right thing? We want to do what's in the best interests of the travelling public."
THE HUMAN FACTOR
With Canada's privatized air traffic control structure and airlines struggling for economic viability,
concerns about safety are increasingly subjected to cost pressures, say unions for pilots and air
traffic controllers.
Those pressures, they say, result in overwork, fatigue and, ultimately, mistakes.
Robert Thurgur, president of the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association, says chronic short staffing
in the nation's control towers has compromised the delicate work of managing planes in the sky.
"I think there's a very strong influence on costs. It's not as safe a system as if safety came first and
costs came a distant second," he says. "Anytime you've got people that are working excessive
amounts of overtime in a complex environment with distractions, you are increasing the likelihood of
incidents."
Many control towers across the country are not happy workplaces, says Thurgur.
"There's a lot of frustration with Nav Canada and the way the system is being run. ... Our employee
surveys show controllers are disengaged and unhappy. There's a feeling that senior management
isn't living up to the commitment and philosophies of the company."
Officials with Nav Canada admit there is understaffing in some of its facilities while others are
overstaffed thanks to union rules that limit the ability to move controllers from one facility to
another.
Nav Canada investigates about 200 incidents a year involving controllers, says Kathy Fox, the
company's vice-president of operations. In many cases, those investigations lead to "retraining"
courses, generally lasting about a day.
1/10/2008
Page 6 of 6
In very rare cases, controllers will be ordered to take lengthier retraining or be removed from their
positions and reassigned, she says.
A controller in Moncton was ordered to take a one-day retraining course following an August 2004
incident in which an Air Georgian pilot was forced to take "evasive action" after coming within 700
feet and a half mile from a WestJet B737 on an approach into Halifax.
A controller responsible for monitoring the Air Georgian plane failed to make sure the pilot had sight
of the WestJet flight, says Fox.
"That allowed the spacing to erode to less than (mandatory) separation. ... (But) they were not on a
collision course."
She says the controller was given a one-day retraining course to ensure "his work habits were
correct" and a clarification was issued to all staff in the centre on proper procedures.
Many pilots seem as frazzled as controllers — with a workload they say contributes to human error.
Retired Air Canada pilot Ken Green filed several complaints with the airline over the past couple of
years warning that fatigue is leaving pilots more prone to making mistakes.
Says Green: "I'm a passenger sitting behind these (pilots) now and I don't even want to use my
(flight) passes because I'm almost scared to fly."
rcribb@thestar.ca
Monday: Air taxi tragedy
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Air taxi tragedy points to industry flaws
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Toronto & GTA | Ontario | Canada | World | Ideas | Global Voices | Obituaries | Local Highlights
Air taxi tragedy points to industry flaws
Short-hop fleet has
majority of fatalities
Investigation shows lax
regulations
Jun 05, 2006 07:10 AM
ROBERT CRIBB, FRED
VALLANCE-JONES AND
TAMSIN MCMAHON
The weather was a mild seven
degrees C when Stacey Curtis
and Marissa Richmond arrived
at the Tofino airport on
Vancouver Island's west coast in January.
Email story
The Toronto couple had just spent a relaxing week at a rented
beach house, visiting the rain forest and gardens of the popular
tourist community.
Print
Choose text size
On previous trips to Tofino, the pair had taken a ferry from
mainland B.C. and driven four hours from Nanaimo. Curtis
normally avoided small planes at all costs. Even in her job as a
director, working on some of Canada's best-known TV shows, like
Street Legal, North of 60 and Road to Avonlea, she refused to go
up in helicopters for shots.
Email the author
But this was a short vacation and the 45-minute plane ride would
save time. Before they left Toronto, Curtis had scanned the
website of the airline that was to fly them from Vancouver to Tofino. Sonicblue Airways showed a
twin-engine Beechcraft King Air. "It has two engines," Curtis thought. "We'll be okay."
Company pilots later said they joked about the photo because although the airline listed the King Air
as part of its fleet, Sonicblue didn't actually own one.
So Curtis was surprised when she arrived at Vancouver airport on Jan. 14 to find a single-engine
Cessna Caravan waiting.
At the time, Sonicblue was one of almost 600 small airlines flying close to 3,000 planes that form
Canada's air taxi fleet, which makes up more than half the commercial aviation industry. By
definition, air taxis carry fewer than 10 people — generally on short-hop or charter flights — and also
ferry cargo and act as air ambulances. Air taxis carry more than 100,000 passengers a year in
Canada.
A joint investigation by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and the Record of Waterloo Region
shows Transport Canada regulations are lax when it comes to air taxi operations, which regularly
account for the majority of accidents and fatalities in the commercial industry.
British Columbia's air taxi industry, with Canada's largest fleet of planes, has had an especially
difficult time, suffering six fatal crashes killing 14 people in the past 13 months.
Three of the province's air taxi companies have been shut down. One of them — with six fines or
suspensions and three fatal crashes in the last eight years — was Sonicblue.
Despite Curtis's initial misgivings about the single-engine Sonicblue plane, the flight to the island had
been uneventful — beautiful even. By the time Curtis arrived back at Tofino airport at 1 p.m. on Jan.
21, she was more concerned about making her connecting flight to Toronto. The plane's captain, Ed
Huggett, reassured Curtis the flight was 15 minutes early, leaving plenty of time to catch her next
plane.
Curtis remembered Huggett from the flight a week earlier. At 25, he was young and fresh-faced. But
he also had a serious, matter-of-fact quality.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/144212
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 5
Already waiting in the airport were two other Sonicblue passengers: Jill and Terry Douglas, a couple
from St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton. A few minutes later, Tofino's Jeff Hale pulled up to drop off
his wife, Marnie Helliwell, and their two children, 3-year-old Braeden and 17-month-old MacKenzie.
The group piled into the nine-seater: the Douglases in the first row, Helliwell and the two children in
the middle, and Curtis and Richmond in the back.
Huggett fired up the engine, the roar making it difficult for passengers to hear each other. The plane
sat on the runway for nearly 15 minutes as Huggett filled out paperwork.
Despite the assurance that they were ahead of schedule, Sonicblue flight 604 left eight minutes late
at 1:53 p.m. For 15 minutes the Caravan soared to 9,000 feet above forests and mountains toward a
growing layer of cloud on its way to Vancouver.
Curtis remembers she was looking out the window when she heard it: A loud clunk followed by
complete silence. She turned her gaze to the front of the plane, wondering if maybe they had hit a
bird. Instead, she saw the Caravan's lone propeller slowing to a stop.
Despite his youth, Huggett was one of Sonicblue Airways' most senior pilots. In three years with the
Vancouver-based airline, Huggett had worked his way from an unpaid first officer to a captain with
more than 2,500 flying hours, many on the company's flagship Cessna Caravan.
The baby of an affluent family in suburban Vancouver, Huggett hadn't followed his two brothers into
academia. After unsuccessfully prodding their youngest son toward trade school, Huggett's parents
offered to buy him flying lessons at nearby Langley Flying School for his 17th birthday.
In the cockpit, Huggett was transformed from a shy, unfocussed kid into a confident, ambitious
young man who dreamed of one day flying business jets.
"It was almost the making of him," said his father, Jonathan Huggett. But Huggett found there were
few flying jobs for new, untested pilots. He took work on a ramp, emptying toilets and unloading
baggage until he heard about pilot openings at Sonicblue, then called Regency Express.
The company offered an "airline transition" plan that required Huggett to pay nearly $5,000 in
training fees and work for free. But he'd be able to fly planes widely used in the industry.
While he eventually began making money, his family and friends said Huggett's opinion of his
employer soured as his list of safety concerns grew.
He complained to his father that his plane had blown a tire landing in Kamloops. Huggett told his
father the company instructed him to inflate the tire and fly the plane back to Vancouver to be fixed.
When he refused — worried a flat tire was a sign of more serious damage — he told his father the
company asked him to fix it himself, even though he wasn't an approved mechanic.
Huggett was so vocal that fellow pilots elected him as their representative on the company safety
committee. But around Christmas, the young pilot's attitude changed. He was no longer just
concerned about safety, he was scared, his father recalls.
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"There's no question the last two or three months Ed seemed to know something was going to
happen," Jonathan Huggett, said. "He was getting worried and I hadn't seen him worried before."
Huggett confided to a friend that if problems at the airline weren't fixed, he felt someone was going
to die. He talked to a co-worker about leasing a plane and going into business against Sonicblue. He
had scheduled a job interview with an Ontario airline. It was set for three days after flight 604 flew
back to Vancouver from Tofino.
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In Vancouver control centre, Jeff Dawson listened as his colleague talked to Sonicblue flight 604.
"You hear the guy say he's lost an engine," Dawson said. "Well, big deal, he's got another one. Then
all of a sudden (you realize) no, he doesn't. And then it dawned on everybody the severity of what
those guys were into."
A blade in the Cessna's turbine engine compressor wheel had snapped off as the plane cruised at
9,000 feet. The blade either tore through other blades or set the compressor wheel off balance,
causing it to break apart. The engine failed at 2:08 p.m.
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The failure was catastrophic for a one-engine plane flying more than 300 km/h. With no power, it
would eventually fall out of the sky. For 10 minutes the plane glided toward the ground.
In the cockpit, Huggett was talking into his headset, planning to head for Port Alberni airport 30
kilometres away. He told the passengers to buckle up.
It was eerily quiet inside the Caravan. Curtis remembers seeing Jill Douglas turn to her husband and
Helliwell talking to her children to keep them calm.
No one cried out. No one panicked. "I knew we were in serious, serious, serious trouble," Curtis said.
"I didn't know what to think other than that. Your heart is in your throat. I didn't have an immediate
thought that I was going to die. But that's your instinct. ... You're on the precipice. I don't know how
to describe it. It was just so surreal, also because there's that strangeness, the peacefulness and the
silence of gliding — and gliding on the other hand is taking you toward your end."
1/10/2008
Down below the clouds, Huggett banked the plane sharply to the right, as if, Curtis thought, he was
looking for somewhere to land. The plane banked again and she could see out the window. It was
raining with poor visibility, except for a stretch of clear-cut mountainside.
Page 3 of 5
SPECIAL
"It was up in sunlight and you could see there was snow on it," Curtis recalls. "My reaction was that's
where we're going down."
Still about 20 kilometres from Port Alberni, Huggett had sent out a mayday call to say he was going
to try to crash land on a logging road. To reduce the potential of fire, Huggett shut down the plane's
electrical system and the Caravan disappeared from radar.
Huggett told the passengers to get ready for impact. Curtis felt the plane hit the top of some trees,
60 feet above the ground. It pitched nose-first into the mountain, just short of one of a series of
logging roads in the area.
When search and rescue arrived, they pulled the five women and Curtis' dog Emma from the
wreckage. They also recovered the bodies of Huggett, 58-year-old Terry Douglas and Braeden Hale.
Nine days before the crash, Transport Canada investigators had visited Sonicblue's offices and found
that six planes had missed mandatory inspections.
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Investigators discovered Huggett's Caravan was more than 270 hours past due for an inspection of
the struts that hold up the plane's wings. The company agreed to do the work, but put the Caravan
back in the air before the inspection was finished.
Inspectors hadn't considered Sonicblue an immediate safety risk since the company had agreed to fix
the problems, said Rod Nelson, Transport Canada's B.C. spokesman.
The plane crashed before the work was done. Sonicblue's licence was immediately suspended and
Transport Canada's enforcement branch launched a separate investigation into whether Sonicblue
violated any federal regulations.
`There's no question the last two or three
months Ed seemed to know something
was going to happen.'
Jonathan Huggett, father of Sonicblue
Airways pilot killed in crash
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Two months later, Transport Canada cancelled the company's licence and fined it $125,000 for the
missed inspections — the largest penalty ever laid against a B.C. airline. The Transportation Safety
Board is still investigating why a crack in the blade of the Cessna's turbine compressor wheel was
never detected.
Transport Canada says making the decision to shut down an airline simply takes time.
"It doesn't matter which airline you're talking about, you can't go out there and say, `Well, I think
this isn't safe so I'm shutting you down.' You'd be in federal court," said Merlin Preuss, head of civil
aviation with Transport Canada. "You have to give them time to respond and then you have to take
the appropriate action.
"That's not stopping us from taking immediate action when there's an emergency, but we're required
to show that something is not safe."
Last week, two lawsuits were filed in B.C., one from the family of Braeden Hale, the other from
Stacey Curtis and Marissa Richmond. In the latter suit, the plaintiffs claim that an engine design flaw,
coupled with poor maintenance, caused the crash. They also allege that air traffic controllers directed
the pilot to Tofino instead of the closer Port Alberni; and that Transport Canada did not properly
regulate Sonicblue. Among those named in the suits are Sonicblue, Transport Canada, Nav Canada
and Cessna.
Allegations contained in the suit have not been proven in court. Statements of defence have not yet
been filed.
The airline's owner, Ranjit Gill, said he isn't responsible for the crash because another company,
Winnipeg's Standard Aero, had overhauled the engine in early November. Aero, which was also
named in the lawsuit, admits it worked on the engine, but declined further comment because of the
TSB investigation.
Gill defended his company's safety record. Although the crash that killed Huggett was the company's
third fatal accident in eight years, Gill said the number of incidents has been low considering the
airline operates in an industry where both risks and the pressure to deliver is high.
"You've got lower-time pilots flying sometimes older equipment in tough weather conditions, which is
challenging in that you've got customers who need the product moved or people moved," said Gill.
"It's pressure."
However, he said employees were never pressured to compromise safety. It was ultimately up to
1/10/2008
Page 4 of 5
pilots whether they felt it was safe to fly.
"If people had concerns they should have brought them up at the time. And if they did, they all were
dealt with in that forum," Gill said.
"We, over and over and over, until we were blue in the face, said to people, `Fly the planes if they're
safe. If you have concerns, follow the procedures. Do what you think is right.'"
In the past three years, Sonicblue had started showing up on Transport Canada's radar. The
regulator charged the company or its pilots six times between 2003 and 2005 for offences that
included flying with broken equipment, unsecured loads and not following air traffic control
instructions.
Fines ranged from $100 for a pilot who violated an air traffic control clearance, to $40,000 in 2004
for using the company's flight school pilots on bird counting flights for Ducks Unlimited.
Transport Canada often took months to lay charges against the company. It took close to a year to
fine Sonicblue $5,000 and one of its pilots $200 for flying with a broken airspeed indicator, the
equivalent of a car speedometer.
Transport Canada says it had Sonicblue under an "enhanced monitoring program," which would have
meant monthly inspections.
However, Sonicblue's most senior pilot, Caravan captain Darcy Coonfer, said in the nearly five years
he worked there, Transport Canada investigators checked his plane on the ramp only twice — less
than he expected at a company that was under scrutiny.
"That's over 3,000 hours of flying, Monday to Friday, five days a week," he said. "That's pretty
infrequent."
Rick Bray, a retired Transport Canada employee who was Sonicblue's primary inspector in the 1990s,
said inspectors didn't spend enough time working hands-on with airlines.
A military-trained pilot and mechanic, Bray's expertise is inspecting planes for maintenance
problems. But he said he spent much of his 14 years as an investigator at his desk, doing revisions
and amendments to various licences.
"This is what inspectors are doing most of the time," said Bray, whose own son, Stan, was killed in
1996 while piloting a plane in the Queen Charlotte Islands. "They're kind of tied to an office desk
shuffling paper back and forth."
Broad regulations that encourage voluntary compliance allow airlines to scrutinize themselves, he
said. The regulations create too many opportunities for airlines to bend the regulations to suit their
needs.
Little will change about the industry, warned Bray, until pilots themselves stand up and refuse to fly
in unsafe conditions. The problem is that even if one refuses to fly, there are 10 more waiting to take
the job.
"That's where the change to the pilot's attitude has to come in," Bray said. "One guy turns it down,
they should all turn it down."
In interviews, former Sonicblue pilots said persistent safety concerns went ignored by both the
company and government regulators.
Pilots said they complained repeatedly that problems with the aircraft would be signed off by
maintenance and then reoccur. Some pilots said they accepted clearance to land at airports even
though their plane didn't have the legally required navigational equipment.
Pilots said they also complained about wages — for example, first officers made just $28 for a 14hour shift, or about $7,300 a year. (At the top of the airline pay scale, Air Canada pilots with 30
years of service make about $200,000 a year.)
Some Sonicblue pilots took second jobs to pay bills, as well as working five days a week.
"We were exhausted because we were really short-staffed," Capt. Vanessa Griffith said. "We were
really fatigued to the point where, now that I'm looking back, it was probably unsafe."
Stacey Curtis is recovering, but the plane crash has changed her profoundly, both physically and
emotionally. She suffered a punctured lung, six broken ribs, a fractured vertebra that required six
operations, a ruptured bowel, a fractured left leg and a shattered right ankle.
She still needs a cane, walker and occasionally a wheelchair to get around. She has intermittent
hearing loss and her eyesight has changed.
An active, adventurous person, she loves travel and hopes the post-crash trauma won't lead to fear
of flying. She feels Transport Canada should protect the public by shutting down airlines quickly once
serious problems are found.
1/10/2008
Page 5 of 5
If there is anything that can be learned from this crash, she says, it's that the public, or at least the
travel industry, should have full disclosure about problems and previous crashes, so they can make
informed travel plans.
Transport Canada says public disclosure of inspection reports would be unfair to both airlines and
passengers.
"It's a snapshot in time," said Lucie Vignola, Transport Canada's senior communications advisor.
"You're literally looking at one day or one week in the airline's life, so we don't think it's fair to just
go ahead and publicize that when the problem could be solved the next day or the next week.
"An airline shouldn't be judged by that one snapshot. It's a measure that we use as a yardstick to
see are they following the regulations, are there areas they could improve upon, that kind of thing."
She added that passengers who wanted to see the inspection history would have to go through an
access to information request.
Curtis said that had she known about the problems at Sonicblue, she never would have gotten on the
plane.
"In this case, you look at the three individuals who didn't make it out of this situation," she said.
"That's life that won't be lived, that won't be fulfilled, that's been denied. If there's information out
there that can be made available to the public to make their own choices, then why can't we have
that information? We can choose to heed it or ignore it.
"If that means that my life isn't destroyed, or turned upside down, or completely altered, which it is,
then I have that right.
"Because you have nowhere else to turn when you're 9,000 feet up in the air."
rcribb@thestar.ca
(One in a series of stories investigating airline safety.)
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Canadian pilots battle fatigue
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Canadian pilots battle fatigue
Jun 07, 2006 05:34 AM
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ROBERT CRIBB, FRED VALLANCE-JONES AND TAMSIN MCMAHON
It's a possibility few Canadian air travellers consider when they
step onto a plane: The pilots about to take them into the sky may
have already worked a long, tiring shift even before preparing for
takeoff.
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That can lead to mistakes, which are happening in growing
numbers, federal aviation records show. Long duty periods,
combined with the complexity and pressure of air travel, are a key
factor behind pilot mistakes, say many commercial pilots across
Canada.
An investigation by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and The Record of Waterloo Region reveals
that Canada's aviation safety system is at a critical juncture. More than 80,000 passengers have
been put at risk during the past five years when airplanes came dangerously close together in
Canadian skies. Meanwhile, mechanical malfunctions and alleged violations of air regulations are on
the rise.
Even the country's aviation regulator — Transport Canada — acknowledges that maintaining air
safety will be a challenge with passenger traffic expected to double over the next decade.
One issue, pilot fatigue, is a major threat to safety, according to the country's largest pilot union. It
charges that Canada's regulations — which allow pilots to work up to 20-hour days, much of that in
the air — means that those behind the controls of many Canadian commercial planes are tired.
"Canada's flight time duty rules are among the worst in the world," says Brian Boucher, an Air
Canada pilot and safety chair with the airline's pilot union. "Our pilots can technically go to work at 8
o'clock in the morning and then come back that same night at 10 o'clock and be faced with the
weather we get here in Toronto. ... No other country allows that ... Canada is known among pilot
groups around the world as whores in aviation."
Pilot on-duty hours, set by Transport Canada, exceed the rules in the United States and many
Western nations. In standard commercial two-pilot situations, Canadian pilots are allowed to fly
1,200 hours a year. The U.S. limit is 1,000 hours. Pilots in the United Kingdom and Australia are
capped at 900 hours.
Where Canadian regulations allow pilots to fly 40 hours in seven days, the limit in the U.S., U.K. and
Australia is 30 hours. Also, in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia, pilots can only be at the controls
for eight hours a day.
Pilots in Canada are allowed to work a total shift of 14 hours that can be further extended to 17
hours for unforeseen circumstances such as weather or mechanical delays. By adding an extra pilot,
a shift can be increased to 20 hours.
Theoretically, almost all of that time can be spent at the controls, and it does happen.
Following a First Air plane running off the runway in Edmonton in 2004, the Transportation Safety
Board — Canada's federal agency responsible for studying air safety mishaps — found the crew had
been awake "for almost all of the 24 hours before the time of the occurrence, and these long periods
of wakefulness could have produced some degradation in their performance."
"It could not be determined to what degree fatigue played a role in the occurrence," the board said.
"However, degradation of a commercial flight crew's performance is a significant risk to the safety of
flight operations."
The regulator concluded neither the company manual nor Canadian aviation rules provide protection
from fatigue. In response to this investigation, First Air revised its charter schedule. Flight crews no
longer change from day to night flying within the same schedule.
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 3
An internal newsletter for Air Canada pilots published in March cites a "sharp" increase in breaches of
Canadian aviation rules over the previous several months, "primarily from pilots exceeding duty
periods."
Even Transport Canada doesn't always know how often pilot duty time limits are breached.
A Transport Canada audit of Air Canada last year, obtained under access to information legislation,
found 107 instances in one month alone (January 2005) where its pilots exceeded Canada's 14-hour
duty day limit. Airlines are responsible for reporting their pilot duty limit breaches to the regulator
but Air Canada only reported eight of those 107 instances, the audit says.
Jim Dunnett, Air Canada's manager of standards, says those figures are the result of the airline's
computerized flight time monitoring system, which may flag breaches in duty day limits that had not
actually occurred.
"Our system is conservative. It flags situations where there may not have been an actual (duty day
time) exceedance take place," he says. "My assumption is that the exceedances weren't in fact actual
flight time exceedances."
There is a "difference of opinion" between the airline and the regulator over the audit finding, says
Transport Canada spokeswoman Lucie Vignola. In response to the finding, the airline has filed a
"corrective action plan" with the regulator, which has yet to be approved, she says.
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The audit of Air Canada records by Transport Canada investigators also found 28 instances in the
same one-month period in which pilots exceeded the limit of 40 hours flying time in seven
consecutive days. None of those incidents had been reported to Transport Canada.
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"We had a software glitch at that time and that has since been corrected," says John Bradshaw, who
manages the airline's safety management systems. "There are going to be the odd flies in the
ointment. It's identifying them and fixing them as quickly as you can."
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Alertness can depend on more than the sheer number of hours worked. If pilots are scheduled to
work during hours when they are normally sleeping, studies show they will be more tired than usual.
Dr. Drew Dawson, a leading sleep deprivation researcher who consults with Transport Canada, has
likened moderate levels of fatigue to drunkenness.
After 17 hours of being awake, cognitive performance declines to levels similar to someone with a
blood alcohol concentration of .05 per cent, his research found. After 24 hours without sleep, the
equivalent blood alcohol rate rises to .1 per cent, he found. (The legal blood alcohol limit for
Canadian drivers is .08.)
Dawson says it's difficult to draw specific conclusions on how fatigue impacts aviation safety. But he
says one thing is clear: "There are certainly occasions, from the data we've collected, where pilots
are getting into planes extremely tired."
Much of modern flying has been automated, but there remains a long list of detailed responsibilities
and constant vigilance in case of emergencies.
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After checking for maintenance issues, fuel requirements and going over the flight plan, pilots board
the aircraft and check emergency and navigational equipment before going through a takeoff
checklist.
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Takeoff is a critical part of the flight. A problem at this stage could require a fast decision to reject a
takeoff. Once in the air, pilots navigate to the appropriate cruise altitude and direction with guidance
from air traffic controllers. Throughout the flight, they conduct repeated checks on position, the
amount of fuel being burned and overall condition of the aircraft.
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If problems arise, such as equipment malfunctions, bad weather or sudden conflicts with other
aircraft, pilots react by referring to checklists and, in some cases, taking control of the plane in order
to change direction or altitude quickly.
Before landing, they calculate the amount of distance required for landing, review any unique aspects
of the airport and check for equipment problems.
Pilot fatigue has become more pronounced at the country's biggest airline in the past couple of years,
some Air Canada pilots say.
Since the airline emerged out of bankruptcy protection three years ago, pilots are being asked to fly
more hours than ever before in the interests of greater productivity, says Boucher.
"We're flying more hours in a year that we didn't do prior to (bankruptcy). You're working more and
working harder, longer days. A lot of conditions we had in our contract have been changed so that
they can get a lot more productivity out of us."
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Air Canada officials say pilot hours are well within contractual limits. "There are times when airlines
are doing well and carrying a lot of passengers and the demand is there and there are times when
that's not happening," says John Bradshaw, Air Canada's manager of safety management systems.
"From a safety point of view, I don't think safety has been compromised in any way, shape or form."
Ken Green disagrees.
1/10/2008
Page 3 of 3
There's intense pressure to "work your butt off" that compromises safety, says the recently retired
veteran Air Canada pilot based in Vancouver.
SPECIAL
Green filed five written complaints to Air Canada last year over the airline's handling of pilot fatigue
on the Hong Kong-Vancouver route he began flying about seven years ago.
"Our flights from Hong Kong to Vancouver should actually have four pilots. But Air Canada is
extremely reluctant to put four pilots (on those flights). ... All of these things relate to the pressure
to operate more cheaply."
rcribb@thestar.ca
(One in a series of stories investigating airline safety)
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Economics trumps safety: Jazz staff
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Economics trumps safety: Jazz staff
Mechanics cite pressure
to cut corners
`I'm nervous flying on
my own airline'
Jun 12, 2006 05:35 AM
ROBERT CRIBB, FRED
VALLANCE-JONES AND
TAMSIN MCMAHON
Mechanics with Air Canada's
main regional airline say they
regularly feel pressured to cut
corners and to put planes in
the air with defects that could compromise public safety.
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Some say their concerns are so serious they're nervous about
flying on their own airline.
Print
A dozen maintenance engineers with Air Canada Jazz, all of whom
work at the company's Toronto operation, say economic demands
to keep planes flying often outweigh safety decisions they would
like to make. Four of them have taken the unusual step of publicly
stating their concerns.
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"The pressure to get a plane out is unbelievable," says Jazz
mechanic Grant Anastas. "I don't get a sense that management
wants to get a plane out safely. It's just, `Get it out.' Nobody
wants to get hit with a delay."
The airline, which was the subject of a highly critical Transport Canada audit in 2003, denies the
allegations and says safety is a top priority.
"Jazz never compromises safety," the company said in a written response. "While on-time
performance is definitely a goal at Jazz, we never sacrifice safety in order to achieve an on-time
flight departure."
Jazz is the country's second largest airline (next to Air Canada) and one of the world's largest
regional carriers. It carries nearly 6 million people a year on a fleet of 136 planes that fly to 80 North
American cities. The airline was created in 2002 with the merging of AirBC, Air Nova, Air Ontario and
Canadian Regional.
The Jazz mechanics who spoke with reporters say they fight to keep planes with mechanical defects
on the ground by refusing to sign the aircraft out for service. But they say that in many cases their
superiors simply find other mechanics to sign out the planes — or sign it out themselves — to avoid
costly flight delays or cancellations.
"It's sad to say, but I'm nervous flying on my own airline," says Ronald Anstey, a crew chief at the
airline's Toronto hangar. "I have had supervisors ask me to sign out damage that is out-of-limits,
been repaired incorrectly (or) repaired illegally. When I refuse, I get looked upon as being a
troublemaker ... I feel that management is more concerned with on-time performance than
delivering a safe aircraft to the gate."
The explosive allegations raise disturbing questions about the safety of Canada's highly competitive
air industry. An ongoing investigation into aviation safety by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator
and The Record of Waterloo Region has found a system straining to keep pace with increasingly
crowded skies. More than 80,000 passengers have been put at risk during the past five years when
airplanes came dangerously close together in Canadian skies. Meanwhile, mechanical problems and
alleged violations of air regulations are on the rise.
In one dramatic incident in 2002, a three-foot-long piece of the leading edge of the wing of a Jazz
Dash 8 fell off on takeoff in Toronto. The crew noticed a vibration of the flight controls and returned.
In an investigation report, the Transportation Safety Board attributed the incident to sloppy
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 4
maintenance.
Jazz mechanics say it could have caused a crash.
"It was a small piece that shot off. If it was a larger one, that aircraft would have disappeared," said
Gianni Ballestrin, 34, a maintenance engineer at Jazz for seven years. "They would have lost total
control of the aircraft. They wouldn't have survived it."
"They put the screws in the top, but they never put screws in the bottom," says Anastas. "Then (a
supervisor) pulled the guy that was doing the job ... to do another job. ... They pulled him off and he
never went back to finish."
The TSB probe found that a mechanic working on the job was called away by a supervisor before
finishing.
"Before the apprentice (mechanic) was able to do much more than cut the sealant on the right wing
leading edge, he was re-tasked to the ramp," the report reads.
The TSB also found that another mechanic on the job "felt rushed when it was obvious that the task
would not be completed before the end of his shift," that the responsibilities of crew chief "are not
well documented and no formal training is provided," and that the company "did not have a specific
procedure for communicating the status of work at the shift turnover."
The report also found the company's ratio of experienced to inexperienced mechanics was
"undesirably low."
Jazz conducted an internal investigation into the incident and found "a number of deficiencies," which
led to changes in procedure, says the TSB report. The company says the accident was not a result of
rushed mechanics failing to do the job carefully.
"It was due to a human error," the company said in its statement. "We immediately implemented
procedural changes within our maintenance area in regards to pass-over information from crew to
crew `flagging' procedures for uncompleted work."
Anastas said that, for a time after the incident, procedures did change to double-check leading-edge
installations, but the practices eventually slipped back to the way they were before.
Dave Avella, another Jazz mechanic who has been with the company for nine years, acknowledges
that keeping the planes in the air causes extreme pressures.
"In the aircraft maintenance environment there is a lot of stress and duress. The pressures of ontime performance sometimes cloud the objective of the aircraft maintenance engineers' quality and
attention to detail," he says. "There are certain things we'd like to address but we can't because we
don't have time to do it and/or the company doesn't want to keep that airplane down."
That, he says, can put brutal pressure on the mechanics: "The endless 12-hour night shifts, not
seeing their families for days on end, the physical attributes of working night and day rotations, the
chemicals ... the list goes on."
A Transport Canada audit of the airline in 2003 found "the focus of the maintenance and operations
departments was compromised to the extent that several of the most basic regulatory and quality
control tasks had deteriorated."
Jazz spokeswoman Debra Williams says those issues were all corrected following the audit.
"It was three years ago. There has been significant change since then. We worked with Transport
Canada to address all of those items."
But Jazz was again forced to make changes to its maintenance practices after a September 2004
incident in which pilots at the controls of a Dash 8 on a Kingston-to-Toronto run had difficulty
controlling the plane.
About 30 seconds after takeoff, the captain declared an emergency later found to be related to loose
nuts in the plane's pitch control system that fell off.
While the plane eventually landed safely, a TSB investigation found deficiencies in Jazz's mechanical
procedures, including inadequate inspection of work that failed to reveal the nuts were not tightened.
The airline's flight-crew training was also criticized for not adequately preparing pilots for such a
failure.
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`Management is more concerned with ontime performance than delivering a safe
aircraft to the gate'
Ronald Anstey, Air Canada Jazz crew chief
Again, Jazz conducted an internal investigation and identified "a number of deficiencies," says the
TSB report, leading to changes in procedure.
1/10/2008
"In this case, Jazz took immediate corrective action in response to the incident by implementing
changes to its maintenance and flight operations procedures," the company's statement reads.
In addition to Anastas, Anstey, Avella and Ballestrin, eight other Jazz mechanics spoke on the
condition their names not be used. They fear repercussions if Jazz knew who they were. The four
who spoke on the record have similar concerns but feel public safety is more important than any
disciplinary action they may face.
Several mechanics agreed that, on average, a Jazz plane leaves Pearson once a week with
mechanical deficiencies that are in contravention of Canadian regulations. They say they have lodged
verbal complaints with Transport Canada inspectors, but say they've seen little evidence of action
from the regulator.
Page 3 of 4
SPECIAL
"I'd be very surprised if that were the normal case," says Merlin Preuss, head of civil aviation with
Transport Canada. "If specific complaints were brought to my attention they would certainly be
investigated."
Among the most serious allegations is that rubber O-rings — used as seals in various mechanical
parts of aircraft — are reused, even though once used they are often misshapen and won't fit
properly again.
need ...
"The maintenance manual standard practice is you never reuse an O-ring, ever," a mechanic said.
"You put a new one (in) it because when it seals, it seals appropriately," said another.
"But at Jazz, if you don't have an O-ring, don't worry about it. Clean it, reuse it in the same place.
"Their idea is we have a $30 million aircraft that's going to fly 75 people from Toronto to Houston
and it's grounded for a $50 ring. `Just put it back. Put it back.' I say, `No, get the part.' ... But they
pressure us."
Jazz denies the allegations.
"We follow established standard operational procedures and manufacturers' standards in everything
we do, including the replacement of disposable parts."
Anstey, who has been with Jazz for eight years, says there is an ongoing problem with resources and
skills that undermine safety.
"My company doesn't want to spend the money needed on proper tools or parts. We have people
working that have never received any specific aircraft training," he says. "Most of the time their work
goes unsupervised, due to the amount of work needed nightly to maintain a fleet of aging aircraft."
Of the 750 non-management mechanics that work for Jazz, 16 per cent are unlicensed apprentices
who work under the supervision of licensed mechanics, the company says.
Fatigue in Jazz's Toronto maintenance crew is another problem, says Anstey.
Most of the work on aircraft happens between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m., he says.
"I have worked midnight shifts for over eight years, and no matter how hard you fight, you're
exhausted at 4 a.m. Imagine having a worker that is falling asleep who is replacing an engine. It is
very easy to forget a bolt here, connect a cannon plug there. . ... Lack of sleep, stress and other
distractions has caused a lot of mishaps that the flying public never see."
The company says night shifts are standard for mechanics in the airline industry and that their
employees receive "adequate rest between shifts. In fact, Jazz's policy concerning maintenance crew
rest exceeds Transport Canada's regulatory requirements."
One mechanic said the regional jets Jazz flies often have door seal problems.
Such a problem in June 2003 was so extreme that daylight could be seen through a crack and a
curtain was pulled through the door. An emergency landing followed.
According to the mechanic: "We had one (recently) that was all cracked, all damaged and I called it
in and they basically said, `Well, we'll see if we can just get this flight because it will be overnighting
in Toronto.' I fought them on it. I didn't let it go."
The mechanic said that silicone is often used for a temporary repair: "When time is tight, one quick
fix the airline uses is to seal it up with silicone."
It's not known if the June 2003 incident was related to that practice.
In its statement, Jazz says its mechanics "utilize repair sealant for temporary repair of door seals as
recommended by the manufacturer's Repair Engineer Order, or REO," adding that the company will
"never compromise safety to accommodate on-time performance."
Mechanics such as Ballestrin say they now think twice when they step on an airplane.
"Before I got into aviation I used to get on an aircraft and not think anything about it. Knowing what
I know now every time I get on I look around. ... It's just not a good feeling anymore when I have to
fly."
1/10/2008
Page 4 of 4
He says his seven years in the industry has left him disillusioned.
"It's all about the money. Sadly that's why safety is second. They'll always tell you `safety first'
because that's what the public want to hear. It's on-time performance first, safety second."
rcribb@thestar.ca
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Airline suspends mechanics
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Airline suspends mechanics
Four Jazz staff
disciplined after
speaking out about
safety concerns
Jun 13, 2006 09:48 AM
ROBERT CRIBB, FRED
VALLANCE-JONES AND
TAMSIN MCMAHON
Air Canada Jazz has
suspended four mechanics a
day after they publicly raised
concerns about safety at the
airline.
Email story
Dave Avella, Gianni Ballestrin, Grant Anastas and Ron Anstey, all
mechanics at Jazz's Toronto facility, were suspended with pay
pending an investigation by the airline into comments they made
to the Star, including allegations they are pressured to release
planes with defects that could compromise public safety.
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Meanwhile, Transport Canada yesterday said it was launching an
audit into Jazz's mechanical operations in the next three months.
Lucy Vignola, a spokesperson for the regulator, said inspectors will
examine the airline's mechanical standards for compliance with
federal regulations. She says the regulator was not aware of the
specific allegations made by the four mechanics and that it needs
detailed information about incidents in order to properly investigate.
Debra Williams, a Jazz spokesperson, said the airline will investigate the mechanics' allegations.
"The suspensions are so we can have some time to review the concerns raised in the article and why
the mechanics chose to take that avenue when there are numerous internal options available to
them," said Williams.
Swift action against the four whistle-blowers is an attempt to silence important information the
public has a right to hear, said NDP transportation critic Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster).
"What we are seeing increasingly is a drive for more secrecy and a drive to muzzle whistleblowers
and I do not believe it's in the public interest," he said.
Several Jazz mechanics who spoke with reporters, including the four who spoke publicly, say they've
lodged complaints with Transport Canada inspectors about conditions at Jazz without response.
The comments of the four mechanics included allegations that they are forced to cut corners in order
to avoid costly delays in flight schedules, that some mechanical procedures are done in breach of
regulations and that there's a poor level of training and scrutiny over mechanical repairs at the
airline.
The four mechanics were among a dozen Jazz employees who raised safety concerns with reporters
in interviews over the past three months. But they were the only ones quoted by name. The others
withheld their names because they feared repersussions.
Several mechanics who spoke with reporters agreed that a Jazz aircraft takes off with mechanical
defects, on average, about once a week.
The Jazz mechanics who spoke with reporters said they refuse to release planes with defects into
service. But they say in many cases their superiors simply find another mechanic to sign the
paperwork releasing the plane — or sign it out themselves — to avoid delays.
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 3
Some of the mechanics, including Anstey, say they are nervous flying their own airline.
Jazz, which was the subject of a highly critical audit by Transport Canada in 2003, denied all of the
allegations in a written statement that said the airline "never compromises safety.. While on-time
performance is definitely a goal at Jazz, we never sacrifice safety in order to achieve an on-time flight
departure."
The airline has had several high-profile mechanical incidents in the past several years including a
2002 incident in which a metre-long piece of the leading edge of the wing of a Jazz Dash 8 fell off on
takeoff in Toronto. A Transportation Safety Board (TSB) investigation found the potentially tragic
mishap — triggered by 14 missing screws that should have secured the part on the wing — was
caused by sloppy maintenance and the "undesirably low" ratio of experienced to inexperienced
mechanics.
The company attributed the incident to human error.
A 2003 audit by Transport Canada of the airline found "the focus of the maintenance and operations
departments was compromised to the extent that several of the most basic regulatory and quality
control tasks had deteriorated."
MORE NEWS
The company says those problems have been corrected.
A year later, pilots of another Jazz Dash 8 on a Toronto-to-Kingston route declared an emergency
due to loose nuts in the plane's pitch control system that fell off.
Man exposes self to
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stripped naked in
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A TSB investigation found deficiencies in Jazz's mechanical procedures.
Peel police seek
female bank robber
The company says it took "immediate corrective action in response to the incident by implementing
changes to its maintenance and flight operations procedures."
Court strikes down
limit on medical
marijuana
Tim Pearce, vice-president of the union representing Jazz's 750 mechanics, said he received word
yesterday afternoon from company management that the four mechanics were being suspended for
breaching the company's media relations policy.
Pearce, along with three of the mechanics interviewed yesterday, say they've never heard of the
policy.
$1B for ailing
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Sick Kids sought
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Campbell
Anastas, Avella and Ballestrin stood by their comments yesterday.
Anstey could not be reached for comment.
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SPECIAL
need ...
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Lax air rules blamed for risky landings
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Lax air rules blamed for risky landings
Jun 14, 2006 05:42 AM
ROBERT CRIBB, FRED
VALLANCE-JONES AND
TAMSIN MCMAHON
Transport Canada continues to
allow bad-weather landings in
Canada that would be unheard
of at U.S. airports, despite
repeated warnings that planes
and lives are at risk.
The federal aviation regulator
hopes to have new rules in
place by Dec. 1, but they will still be less strict than in the U.S. and
U.K., and will exempt many aircraft as well as smaller airports in
the northern territories.
Transport Canada's changes have been mired in a cumbersome
industry consultation process for a decade, during which major
accidents have claimed lives.
Email story
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Transport Canada's own analysis found eight accidents between
1994 and 1999 that might have been prevented by tougher
Canadian rules. The crashes killed seven people and injured 26,
causing $38 million in destroyed or damaged planes.
In 2002, a Transportation Safety Board report said 34 people had
been killed and 28 seriously injured between 1994 and 2001 in mishaps "where low visibilities
and/or ceilings contributed to the accident."
The Air Transport Association of Canada, which represents airlines, says it is opposed to new landing
rules until there is more evidence they would enhance safety.
Landings are guided by "approach bans," which set minimum standards for visibility to ensure pilots
don't make unsafe landings because of pressure from their employers to stay on schedule,
overconfidence in their own flying skills, or inexperience.
"The existing (Canadian) approach ban is terribly inadequate," said Bob Perkins, air safety coordinator of the Air Line Pilots Association and a veteran commercial pilot. "People are just doing
approaches when they shouldn't be."
An ongoing investigation into aviation safety by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and The
Record of Waterloo Region has found a system straining at the seams in increasingly crowded skies.
Canadian regulations for landings are so lax that Air Canada insists its pilots obey the company's
own, tougher rules.
The country's largest carrier brought in those rules after one of its regional jets crashed attempting a
low-visibility landing in Fredericton in 1997, seriously injuring nine of 42 on board.
But many airlines say they abide by the current rules. More than half of scheduled airline flights in
Canada are operated by carriers other than Air Canada and thousands of flights head into remote or
small-town airports where a loophole in the rules allows landings with zero visibility.
Canada's safety board says the current rules allow approaches when the weather is well below the
visibility needed for a safe landing. It wants Transport Canada to "close the barn door," stopping
pilots from even trying the dangerous landings, said Nick Stoss, director of air investigations for the
TSB.
Canadian rules allow landing approaches at most major airports if the electronically measured
visibility near the end of the runway is 1,200 feet (366 metres) or more. This reading is supposed to
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 4
approximate the ability of a pilot to see lights fading into the distance along the runway.
The issue is whether a reading of 1,200 feet allows pilots to see far enough ahead to safely line up
with the centre of the landing strip.
To get a sense of the distance, imagine looking down from the CN Tower observation deck and barely
being able to see the Gardiner Expressway. That's how little a pilot can see and still be allowed to
approach a major Canadian airport.
At the typical landing speed of a jet, 1,200 feet visibility means anything more than five seconds
ahead of the plane is lost in the murk.
"If everything has worked out up to those last seconds," Perkins said, "you will see the last approach
light or two ... you'll see the runway lights, and you will have five seconds to determine if the
airplane is lined up adequately and in the right vertical plane to be able to touch down on the
runway."
If something goes wrong in that time frame, says the TSB's Stoss, "their ability to be able to correct
for whatever is going wrong is a difficult situation."
MORE NEWS
At major airports in the northern U.S., the required visibility is never less than 1,800 feet, and is
often 2,400 feet or more, depending on the topography below the approach path.
Man exposes self to
northeast
Early last year, something went very wrong on Jetsgo flight 191.
stripped naked in
robbery
Toronto brothers Tom and Adam Marynairczyk were aboard the plane, headed for a Banff skiing
holiday on Jan. 20, 2005. "I don't remember ever seeing fog this thick," said Adam. "It was just a
thick cloud of nothing."
In the cockpit, the pilots were bathed in the glow of their electronic instruments, gliding down an
invisible approach path created by the instrument landing system on Calgary's runway 34. But as the
plane touched down, things went badly.
"First of all we hit hard; we could feel the big bump and then it never stopped bumping," said Tom.
The landing was so brutal that several oxygen masks fell and the overhead panels were torn from
their sockets.
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Instead of rolling down the centre of the runway, the plane travelled 550 metres through the grass
and struck a runway sign. With a damaged and partly crippled aircraft, the pilots took off and circled
in the ice-fog conditions before declaring an emergency and landing again. One of the pilots then
announced that the whole procedure had been "normal."
"You probably had saw (sic) some trucks," he can be heard saying on a home video made by the
Marynairczyk brothers. "(This is the) normal process."
platform beating
The brothers weren't so sure, especially after they saw the first officer crying and slumped over the
controls.
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But it was all within the rules.
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The Transportation Safety Board report on the incident says landing visibility was reported at 1,400
feet, allowing the Jetsgo pilots to see about six seconds ahead.
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But the report also says because the pilots were looking down as well as forward, part of the view
would have been obscured by the nose of the aircraft, reducing effective visibility to about 600 feet,
or less than three seconds.
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Freezing fog swirling around the aircraft may have made the situation even more confusing to the
pilots.
Just 20 metres above the ground, the pilot banked the aircraft to the left and the plane touched
down barely on the pavement. "There were insufficient visual cues during the landing phase to
enable the pilots to judge the aircraft's orientation to the runway. As a result, the aircraft landed left
of the centreline and failed to remain on the runway," the board wrote.
The TSB doesn't speculate on why the pilot drifted to the left, but one former Jetsgo insider believes
the pilot mistook the runway-edge lighting for runway centreline lighting, which Calgary, like most
Canadian airports, does not have.
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`We could feel the big bump and then it
never stopped bumping.'
Tom Marynairczyk, after a Jetsgo plane
landed off the runway
As it had in previous reports, the board called Transport Canada to task for its inadequate rules.
A similar accident had occurred just the year before in Edmonton.
1/10/2008
A First Air 737 touched down two metres to the left of the runway in Edmonton and ran through the
snow for half a kilometre before the pilots were able to get the plane back onto the pavement. A
runway sign was partially sucked into the left engine and there were numerous punctures and dents
in the fuselage. The landing visibility for the runway was reported at the minimum allowable 1,200
feet, but rescue crews had to use heat-sensing cameras to find the plane in the dense fog.
"With deteriorating visibility and only runway-edge lighting for guidance, the captain was unable to
manoeuvre the aircraft to stay within the confines of the runway," the TSB determined.
Air Canada wouldn't have allowed its pilots to do what the Jetsgo and First Air pilots tried to do.
Page 3 of 4
SPECIAL
Air Canada's rules impose ever-stricter requirements for both procedures and crew training the
further the electronically measured landing visibility drops below 2,600 feet. Approaches are banned
with less than 1,600 feet landing visibility except on runways with the most sophisticated runway
lighting systems, such as certain runways in Toronto and Vancouver.
The airline's rules are even tougher when there aren't precise electronic landing aids in place.
"We're able to just take the regulatory requirement and enhance it where it needs to be enhanced to
provide us with a level of safety that we like to see in our operations," said Jim Dunnett, manager of
standards for the airline.
need ...
"Essentially, we just tailored it to make it fit our aircraft and our crews and our rules, whereas
Transport Canada has the task of making something that's got to fit everybody and that's a lot more
complicated."
WestJet, Air Canada's main competitor, said it complies with existing Transport Canada regulations
and allows pilots to land using the Transport Canada minimums. The airline has Transport Canada's
approval to use satellite navigation technology to guide planes on their approach paths, but this
doesn't affect the minimum visibilities required to make an approach.
CanJet spokesman Wayne Morrison said his airline's pilots also follow the Transport Canada rules "to
the letter," landing as low as 1,200 feet visibility.
The new proposals, in the works since 1997, would still allow low-visibility landings that would be
banned in the U.S. and the U.K. The regulations exclude business, private and flight school aircraft.
Most airliner crews would be able to land with 1,600 feet of visibility at major airports. On those rare
runways with runway-centre lights, most commercial airliners would be able to land with the same
whisker-thin margins allowed now. On runways at secondary airports without the guidance
equipment for precision instrument approaches, greater visibility would be required.
Transport Canada has faced fierce industry opposition to even these modest proposals. "It could have
a substantial impact on a place like Halifax, for instance, which has fog issues on a regular basis,"
said Fred Gaspar, a registered lobbyist and vice president of policy with the Air Transport Association
of Canada. He wants more evidence the rules would make flying safer.
Transport Canada should give the carriers latitude to set their own rules, he added.
The TSB's Stoss said the changes proposed by Transport Canada, if put in place, "will significantly
reduce the safety deficiency we pointed out in our recommendations."
Speaking for the pilots, Perkins says Transport Canada hasn't gone far enough in increasing the
required visibility and he takes exception to the wide exemptions for some planes.
"Everyone is working with the same equipment, everybody is trying to land on the same runway with
the same infrastructure, they should have the same rules," he said. "There should be one level of
safety."
Both current and proposed approach ban regulations don't apply to situations where visibility
suddenly degrades as a plane is landing, such as occurred when Air France flight 358 over-ran the
end of a runway at Toronto's Pearson airport last August, then crashed and burned in a ravine.
Everyone escaped in that accident.
One of the loopholes in current regulations allows for landings with no visibility when there is no
equipment to measure landing visibility. This affects hundreds of strips used by commercial carriers.
The proposed rules would plug this by allowing ordinary ground visibility to be used, so an approach
ban would be in place at many airports where it is a free-for-all now.
However, Transport Canada will exclude airports north of the 60th parallel from this requirement.
Even with the new rules, one huge difference from U.S. airports would remain.
In the U.S., if the visibility value is below the limit for an approach, air traffic controllers tell the pilot
to go elsewhere, said Laura Brown of the Federal Aviation Administration.
In Canada, controllers merely provide advice.
"We tell them what the RVR (runway visual range) is supposed to be and they advise us of their
intentions. The pilot makes the decision," said Kathy Fox, vice-president of operations with Nav
1/10/2008
Page 4 of 4
Canada, which manages the country's air traffic control towers.
That leaves it open for pilots to "bust the limits" by approaching anyway, and landing even if the
runway can't be seen when the plane is 200 feet above the runway.
Pilots are subject to fines for breaking the regulations, but the TSB has noted that the regulation
requiring an aborted landing if the runway can't be seen is "unenforceable."
After the pilot of a small Beech airliner died in a low-visibility accident near Sept Iles, Que., in 1999,
the TSB commented that "for whatever reason — operational pressures, pride, commitment to the
job — some pilots continue to conduct approaches in weather conditions where there is little chance
of completing a safe landing."
rcribb@thestar.ca
At thestar.com
For the full series so far plus links and graphics, go to thestar.com/airlines
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Jetsgo problems ignored
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Jetsgo problems ignored
Probe into death of the
discount airline last year
reveals major
shortcomings of
Transport Canada
National regulator was
slow to take action as
safety problems
continued to climb,
investigation shows
Jun 16, 2006 05:23 AM
ROBERT CRIBB, FRED
VALLANCE-JONES AND TAMSIN MCMAHON
Transport Canada stood by while thousands of Canadians boarded
Jetsgo planes amid a growing list of safety problems at the
discount airline.
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More than a year after the death of Jetsgo, Transport Canada
insists it did the right thing in keeping the doomed airline flying
and has not changed its procedures in light of the Jetsgo
experience.
Email the author
Jetsgo, which offered tickets as low as $1, had repeated
mechanical breakdowns, shoddy maintenance practices,
inexperienced pilots and midair mishaps.
Transport Canada, which is mandated to keep Canada's skies safe, knew of the problems, but for 2
1/2 years dismissed the troubles as the growing pains of a start-up operator.
Only after a near-crash in Calgary in January 2005 did it take tough action, but even after a special
inspection the next month revealed serious trouble, the regulator continued to publicly tout the
airline as "safe."
Today, Transport Canada is convinced it handled Jetsgo appropriately. "We followed our process and
it worked," said spokesperson Lucie Vignola.
Interviews with former employees, incident reports filed with Transport Canada and the
Transportation Safety Board, and internal government documents paint a picture of an airline so
badly run that some considered a major accident inevitable.
The Jetsgo experience underscores some of the major findings that are part of an ongoing
investigation into aviation safety by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and The Record of
Waterloo Region. The probe has found a system struggling to keep up with the demands of higher
passenger traffic and a disturbing number of mechanical problems.
Jetsgo was the brainchild of Quebec entrepreneur Michel Leblanc, who had run other carriers,
including Royal Aviation and Quebec regional airline Intair. It started flying in June 2002 and was
welcomed by Ottawa as proof airline competition was thriving in the wake of 9/11 and Air Canada's
earlier takeover of Canadian Airlines. Jetsgo had 29 planes when it shut down for financial reasons.
Today, Leblanc still defends the airline. "This is highly regulated by Transport Canada and our
system was approved by Transport Canada and was monitored by Transport Canada very closely,
like every major airline that flies a lot of people, and rightfully so," he said.
Problems emerged early. Three months after the launch of the discount airline, sloppy maintenance
forced an emergency landing in Toronto. The pilots noticed they were losing the hydraulic fluid that
helps run aircraft systems, according to an incident report. Mechanics had installed a temporary
hydraulic line with the wrong pressure rating, and it failed within two flights.
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 3
The airline fixed its procedures for hydraulic lines, but starting in the fall of 2003 failures became
more frequent.
Two days in a row in mid-January 2004, leaking hydraulic fluid was again blamed as smoke and
fumes poured into the cabin of a Jetsgo plane. It was the same plane that had the faulty hydraulic
line installed in 2002.
Jetsgo also had repeated engine failures. In April 2004, a clogged engine oil filter forced an
emergency landing in Winnipeg. The engine had been left in storage and didn't get a proper check
when it was installed, according to a Transportation Safety Board report.
Then, four days before Christmas 2004, an engine on a Jetsgo plane that had just left Toronto for
Mexico started to vibrate with flames coming out of it. The plane returned to Toronto.
Yet another plane had two emergency landings within three months caused by dropping oil pressure
in the left engine. Cracked lines were blamed in both instances. After the second incident in March
2005, flight attendants were seen crying.
"I did feel by the end of it that at any moment we were going to have an evacuation or something,"
said Stefania Urbisci, a Jetsgo flight attendant. "It shouldn't be like that every day."
Dean Mandos, in charge of the company's operations at Pearson airport, admits "certain individual
aircraft were problematic." And because the airline had no spare aircraft, there was pressure to keep
them in the air. Mechanical faults were allowed to accumulate for repair later.
Leblanc argues it was the normal way to run an airline. "It's industry practice to defer aircraft defects
and there's a way of doing it properly, legally, conservatively," Leblanc said. "If you did not have any
single defect on an airplane, all the airplanes would be grounded tomorrow."
Mandos remembered pilots disagreeing over the safety of planes, with one refusing to take a flight,
but another saying it was okay to fly.
Jetsgo's problems compounded as it expanded, adding planes and routes so quickly that it couldn't
keep up with hiring and training.
`We've had issues. Every airline has had
issues.'
Michel Leblanc, Jetsgo CEO
"For some part of the hiring process, we had people without any jet experience at all that were
occupying flying seats," said one senior Jetsgo pilot involved in pilot training.
Leblanc bristled when asked about inexperienced pilots. Before hanging up the phone, he said: "To
ask the question is irresponsible. Which airline would dispatch an airplane with pilots that are not
properly qualified?"
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The incident that left other pilots shaking their heads and finally forced action on Jetsgo happened in
January 2005. A plane landing in poor weather in Calgary slid off the runway, ran along the snowcovered grass and hit a runway sign before taking off again.
Transport Canada launched a "special inspection" of the airline over two weeks in mid-February
2005. What it found was so alarming that restrictions were slapped on Jetsgo even before the
inspection was completed.
Jetsgo needed "a management organization capable of exercising operational control," the inspectors
wrote. On March 8, 2005, a transport official told Leblanc that Jetsgo's operating certificate would be
suspended April 9 unless problems were fixed. Among the grounds for the suspension were that
"Jetsgo failed to maintain an adequate organizational structure" and "an adequate flight safety
program."
Still, as far as Transport Canada was concerned, the public was not to be discouraged from flying
Jetsgo. On March 10, 2005, just hours before Jetsgo shut itself down, Transport Canada's assistant
deputy minister for safety and security, Marc Gregoire, recommended a response to an inquiring
reporter. "Given the sensitivity of this now in the media, I would suggest we answer the question
about safety more directly: `Yes, it is safe to fly with Jetsgo now.'"
Vignola said Gregoire was merely reiterating a message she had already been sending out for some
days. "Had there been something serious or something that was an immediate safety threat, then we
simply would have suspended their operating certificate."
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After the airline stopped flying, Transport Canada examined the company's maintenance practices.
Among 15 problems found:
A key maintenance document was more than a decade out of date, still reflecting practices when
American Airlines operated the planes.


There were no engineering orders to demonstrate three safety orders relating to engines had been
1/10/2008
Page 3 of 3
complied with.
SPECIAL
There was no evidence that a quality assurance audit due in the latter half of 2004 was ever
completed.

The review also uncovered a 2004 internal Jetsgo audit that found numerous examples of missing or
inappropriate entries on maintenance release forms, the documents that allow a plane back into the
air.
According to the newspapers' research, there were plenty of warnings that things weren't right at
Jetsgo. An audit done by Transport Canada inspectors in November 2002 had found 23 "nonconformance items" that foreshadowed the chaos that would engulf the airline later. "Many of the
findings seem to point to systemic deficiencies within Jetsgo's internal processes brought about by
high demand on very limited management resources during start-up and growth."
But officials took the findings in stride, as nothing "significant ... for a start-up carrier," according to
a Transport Canada document.
Looking back, Leblanc acknowledges Jetsgo wasn't perfect, but says nothing is. "We've had issues.
Every airline has had issues."
need ...
But some of his 1,350 former employees say it was more than just a few issues. They feared a crash
would happen.
"Thank God nothing happened," Urbisci now says. "It was a miracle."
rcribb@thestar.ca
(One in a series of stories investigating airline safety)
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Judge calls for review of `sliding' air safety
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Judge calls for review of `sliding' air safety
Wrote '92 report that led
to safer skies
Fears plan to let
industry self-regulate
Jun 17, 2006 09:49 AM
ROBERT CRIBB, FRED
VALLANCE-JONES AND
TAMSIN MCMAHON
Canadians need another public
inquiry into aviation safety,
says the judge who oversaw
the last sweeping probe of the
industry nearly two decades ago.
Email story
Retired Alberta justice Virgil Moshansky is worried about a
Transport Canada strategy to transfer much of the responsibility
for safety oversight to airlines and make Transport a "partner" with
the industry.
Moshansky, whose massive report on the 1989 Air Ontario crash in
Dryden that killed 24 people led to many improvements in air
safety, fears the system is "backsliding" and says it should be
reviewed once a decade. Experts agree many recurring safety
problems have only been addressed after they killed people,
leading to so-called "tombstone improvements."
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"I believe the government is moving away from more vigorous
inspection and enforcement strictly as a cost-cutting measure, much as was done in the mid- and
late-1980s preceding the Dryden crash," said Moshansky, made a member of the Order of Canada in
2004 for his "singular dedication to enhancing aviation safety."
Moshansky proposes a review "at least equal to a judicial inquiry," adding: "I think you would have
to make provision for the calling of witnesses under oath and so forth, to have a credible inquiry."
He is not alone in his concern about the direction of air safety in Canada. Senior people across the
industry, including former Transport Canada inspectors, pilots and mechanics, say they're witnessing
a drift in safety standards.
Capt. Raymond Hall, a 33-year veteran Air Canada pilot, says the current climate in Canadian
aviation reminds him of periods prior to the Dryden crash, in which an Air Ontario jet crashed after
takeoff, and the 1997 Fredericton accident in which an Air Canada airliner crashed while trying to
land in heavy fog.
"I think a serious incident is looming. It's just a matter of who, where and what form it will take,"
says the 56-year-old Hall. "There is going to be something that causes the public to take concern
with the laissez-faire attitude of both the regulatory authority and airline management that
mandates or tolerates the squeezing of resources and necessarily impinges on flight safety."
In the past two weeks, an investigation by the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator and The Record
of Waterloo Region has revealed growing cracks in Canada's aviation industry, with close calls in the
sky, growing numbers of mechanical defects, lax oversight of airlines and regulations allowing
dangerous bad weather landings and overwork of flight crews.
Transport Canada's answer to future air safety is "safety management systems" or SMS, which is a
form of industry self-regulation in which airlines will develop and maintain their own safety protocols.
Under the current system, federal inspectors conduct detailed audits and on-site monitoring of airline
operations, which include boarding planes, riding along on flights and studying maintenance
logbooks. Under SMS, the responsibility for such hands-on monitoring largely shifts to the airlines
themselves. Visits from Transport Canada inspectors will largely focus on auditing the performance
of airlines' safety systems.
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 4
Transport Canada is phasing in SMS regulations gradually across the industry. The new regulatory
scheme will be in force by 2008.
The SMS concept is not uniquely Canadian, and has the support of air carriers and the Air Line Pilots
Association.
But there are those with doubts about whether Transport Canada's version of SMS — with the
regulator also backing away from being safety cop to becoming an industry partner — will work in a
competitive industry with razor-thin profit margins and cost-cutting pressures.
Some fear the regulator is repeating tragic mistakes, backing away from a pro-active role in aviation
safety.
"The first place (the government reduces costs) is safety because that's where you can make the
easiest cuts and hope that all is going to be well," Moshansky said.
Marc Gregoire, Transport Canada's assistant deputy minister of safety and security, calls it a "shifting
relationship between the operator and the regulator" that will make federal inspectors partners with
the commercial airlines they inspect.
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"There must (be) a willingness on the part of the regulator to step back from involvement in the dayto-day activities of the company in favour of allowing organizations to manage their activities and
related hazards and risks themselves," Gregoire told 400 aviation industry representatives at a
recent conference in Halifax.
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"Companies will have the freedom to use the most cost-effective method of improving safety
performance."
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But Moshansky bristles at the idea of a partnership. "I am skeptical whether `partner relationships'
between the inspector and the inspected are in the best interests of aviation safety," he said. "It is
possible if they get too cozy, they'll maybe let things slip by."
Ted Price also believes Transport Canada is moving in the wrong direction. Price's son, Wayne, was
at the controls of the Georgian Express plane that crashed just after takeoff from Pelee Island on Jan.
17, 2004, killing all 10 aboard.
Wayne gave up a career as a police officer to return to aviation, a career he loved. He had started on
the Pelee run, flying an eight-passenger Cessna Caravan, the month before the crash.
A Transport Safety Board investigation found the crash happened because the plane took off
overweight and with ice on the wings. But it also pointed a finger at Transport Canada, saying lax
oversight was a factor in the tragedy.
"(Transport) is suggesting operators will effectively and efficiently police themselves," Price said in an
interview. Given the history of these many tragedies, how can (Transport) go ahead and try to
implement something like this?
"You can have all of the regulations in the world, but regulations without good policing — by that I
mean audits and inspections — it will fail."
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That message has been delivered time after time:
In 1981, a federal inquiry into aviation safety led by Mr. Justice Charles Dubin said "enforcement
should play a very significant role in an aviation safety program. ... It is presently not doing so."
Resources were beefed up.
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In 1992, Moshansky's final report on the Dryden crash found Transport Canada had once again
failed and he called on the department to "focus adequate resources on surveillance and monitoring
of the air carrier industry, with emphasis on in-flight inspections and unannounced spot checks."

Moshansky, recipient of Transport Canada's aviation safety award in 1995, warned of the
consequences of a hands-off regulatory approach, concluding that a "degree of laxness" led to the
(Dryden) accident and said in a statement at the time that the accident "did not just happen by
chance — it was allowed to happen."
It all led to, yet again, beefed-up inspections and resources.
In 1998, a report on the air taxi industry in B.C. recommended more hands-on checks. A policy to
implement it was drafted, but insiders say it was never implemented. Transport insiders talk of a
repeating pattern: crash, inquiry, improvements, then a slide backward.

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"Those of us that have been around a while kind of wonder when is the next crash and public
inquiry," said Greg Holbrook, national chairman of the Canadian Federal Pilots Association. It
represents pilots working as inspectors at Transport Canada and investigators at the Transportation
Safety Board.
`How safety emerges out of (SMS) to me is
magic, it's mysticism. I have no idea'
Dr. Sidney Dekker, professor of human
1/10/2008
factors and aviation safety at Sweden's
Lund University
Pilots, mechanics and Transport Canada insiders interviewed for this series agree safety has slipped
and the SMS plan could weaken it further.
"This is the worst thing they could do," says a senior mechanic with a major Canadian airline who
spoke on the condition of anonymity. The bottom line is Transport Canada needs to show their
presence. The public deserves it. Transport Canada is sitting in the bush."
Page 3 of 4
SPECIAL
SMS is being driven by Transport Canada's need to reduce costs, say many industry insiders. The
budget for aviation safety regulation is actually expected to drop from $265 million in 2003-2004 to
$243 million by 2007-2008.
"The departments are under increasing financial pressures to find ways to keep doing the job, and do
it for less money" Holbrook said.
Transport Canada's director of civil aviation, Merlin Preuss, acknowledges that resources are a factor
in the adoption of SMS as 46 per cent of the department's workforce will be retired or eligible for
retirement by 2013.
"Replacing these employees, let alone adding to the current workforce, to continue the current
oversight regime given the current and predicted workforce demographics, is not feasible," he said in
a speech at the Halifax conference.
Moshansky believes regular, unannounced spot checks are key to keeping airlines on their toes.
"I have grave doubts that Transport Canada can properly fulfill its function of providing a safe
aviation environment for the travelling public with fewer aviation inspectors."
need ...
Dr. Sidney Dekker, professor of human factors and aviation safety at Sweden's Lund University, calls
SMS the "McDonaldization" of aviation safety.
"It's about making the customer do the work because (regulators) don't have the cash," says
Dekker, who was invited to speak at Transport Canada's recent industry conference.
"How safety emerges out of that to me is magic, it's mysticism. I have no idea. I don't think we have
the models that explain to us how safety can emerge from a well-applied SMS. If it does, we're just
lucky."
Air Canada, the country's largest carrier, welcomes the SMS approach, saying it builds upon safety
systems the airline already has internally.
"When we find something that isn't operating the way it should, we have the expertise within the
airline, and in many cases far greater expertise than a regulator would have," said John Bradshaw,
the airline's manager of safety management systems.
Former Transport Canada test pilot Shawn Coyle says while the strategy will probably work at larger
carriers with strong safety cultures, it's a different story at financially struggling airlines where
corners are more likely to be cut.
"It is like saying, `We expect you as a driver to report when you are not driving well, and to tell us
when you exceed the speed limit, so we can send you a fine,'" Coyle said.
Rick Bray, a retired Transport Canada safety investigator, agreed there are serious shortcomings in
his former employer's inspection regime.
A policy requiring inspectors to warn companies when they would be doing inspections was one of
several problems with an safety oversight system that is understaffed, overburdened with paperwork
and allows airlines a broad interpretation of the rules, he said.
Bray said he has seen a host of maintenance abuses, including airlines that skip internal aircraft
inspections or delay them by not recording flying hours in a plane's logbook.
But such violations rarely resulted in tough punitive action, he added.
"It is too easy for operators that are on the slippery slope to continue in operation by some way,
shape or form (by) manipulating the regulations," said Bray. "To shut down somebody is really hard.
You don't like to see people shut down. There are jobs involved. There's politics involved."
Even when Transport Canada inspectors do assess penalties, they are generally small — a few
hundred dollars or brief licence suspensions. That level of enforcement is set to shift further.
Under the safety management system, Transport Canada will allow airlines to make their own
"corrective plans" when unintentional violations occur. If an inspector believes a company has an
adequate system in place to deal with a problem, even the plan won't be required.
As Transport Canada's Gregoire says: "Better safety means more trust."
Australia's experimentation with trusting its aviation industry in the 1990s holds little comfort for
1/10/2008
Page 4 of 4
Canadian travellers.
The strategy was introduced under the mantra of "affordable safety" and was an effort by Australia's
Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) — the equivalent to Transport Canada — to cut costs, said
John Wood, former chairman of the Pilot Council of CASA and an inspector who retired in 1999. He
said inspectors were given less time training on aircraft and conducted far fewer inspections. Active
enforcement was replaced by airlines running their own quality management programs.
"Over a period of time, I suggest that the CASA inspectorate became less skilled and less cognizant
of what was going on out there, particularly if you only go in once every six or 12 months and audit
their system, especially if they know you're coming," said Wood.
"On the basis of my own experience, I would not recommend (Canada) go this way. I can understand
why they want to because it's probably going to save them costs. But if you deskill your inspectorate
then you're flying in the dark, aren't you? You're flying blind."
rcribb@thestar.ca
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Aviation workers muzzled
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Aviation workers muzzled
No whistleblower law to
protect them
Dozens want to talk but
say they're afraid
Jun 23, 2006 05:25 AM
ROBERT CRIBB
STAFF REPORTER
More than three-dozen airline
pilots, mechanics, air traffic
controllers and Transport
Canada employees say they
are afraid to speak out about
serious safety concerns in
Canadian skies — an industry code of silence that has triggered
calls for whistleblower protection aimed at aviation workers.
While U.S. airline workers have a federal law upholding their right
to speak out without fear of reprisals, their Canadian colleagues
say sharing what they know would jeopardize their livelihoods and
careers in aviation. With families to support, they cannot take that
risk.
Email story
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Four Air Canada Jazz mechanics were suspended last week when
they warned of poor maintenance at the airline that threatens
passengers' safety.
The widely publicized disciplinary action triggered a chill across the
industry. Many contacted the Star with concerns.
In the past two weeks, an investigation by the Star, the Hamilton Spectator and The Record of
Waterloo Region has revealed growing cracks in Canada's aviation industry, with close calls in the
sky, growing numbers of mechanical defects and lax oversight of airlines.
Consider this from a Transport Canada inspector:
"Inspectors ... will bring to (our) management's attention a case where a company is not complying
with the safety-related regulations and management then tries to find a way to make the issue go
away without putting any burden on the company. Management would frankly rather not know about
any safety issues. ... I can't go on the record for obvious reasons."
From a Nav Canada air traffic controller:
"This system we have in place is broken ... We are becoming increasingly tired, distracted and
overworked ... I don't mind my comments being used but anonymously only. I do not want to take
any chances with my employment."
From a pilot with a major Canadian airline:
"They're running the airplanes ragged. We've got airplanes going back and forth, back and forth
across the Pacific with snags that need to be fixed and maintenance is chasing them but they have
no chance."
Like several of his colleagues, the pilot originally agreed to share his comments on the record. But he
changed his mind after four Jazz mechanics were suspended for speaking publicly about being
pressured to cut corners and release planes into service with potentially serious defects.
Jazz officials said they will investigate the claims, adding that safety is their first priority.
When the pilot learned of the suspensions he told the Star: "Following the recent suspensions of the
four Jazz employees, your next article will be scrutinized by my employer for anyone else who is
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 3
speaking out of line. I would appreciate it if you did not use my name."
Federal Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon defended his department yesterday, saying
Canada's aviation systems are among the safest in the world and there's no evidence to suggest the
allegations of the Jazz mechanics are true.
"From Transport Canada's perspective, Air Canada Jazz is conducting a safe operation."
More than a dozen Jazz mechanics — on the condition of anonymity — said they share the same
concerns raised by their suspended colleagues.
"There's truth in what they said. At times, safety is compromised," said a Jazz mechanic who has
worked for several airlines in Ontario. "(Pressure) to cut corners is something that all mechanics
encounter in the industry. It's a known stigma."
Cannon said proposed amendments to Canada's aeronautics act would allow airline companies and
individuals to report on minor regulatory violations on a confidential basis. But such reports would be
kept from the public even under federal access to information rules.
"Here we're seeing an attempt to make vital safety information more secretive," says Peter Julian,
NDP transportation critic. "There is no way anyone can argue that more secrecy is in the public
interest. I think we need whistleblower protection so that when we learn of these allegations, the
people who bring it forward are protected so we can get to the bottom of it."
`I don't think the minister should be
downplaying this. I think the minister
should be asking for an inquiry in his own
department'
David McGuinty, Liberal transportation
critic
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Those who manage Canada's aviation system downplay the concerns from pilots, mechanics and
controllers.
Transport Canada officials say there are sufficient measures in place to protect aviation workers with
concerns to report.
Officials with Nav Canada, the private company that operates the nation's air traffic control system,
say that, while there is a problem of understaffing in some facilities, it is spending $40 million a year
on recruitment and training and has introduced a "fatigue management program" to ensure
"maximum alertness on the job."
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Air Canada officials say they welcome any initiatives that will make the aviation system safer and
that the company has an internal, non-punitive reporting policy for safety concerns.
On Saturday, retired Alberta justice Virgil Moshansky, who led the country's last major inquiry into
aviation safety after the crash of an Air Ontario jet in 1989 that killed 24 people, called for the
federal government to launch a new public inquiry in light of what he calls "backsliding" safety
standards in the industry.
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"When you've got mechanics on the front lines saying you've got a problem and the guy who wrote
the definitive report on aviation safety saying it's time for a public inquiry, I'd be very worried," says
David McGuinty, Liberal transportation critic. "I don't think the minister should be downplaying this. I
think the minister should be asking for an inquiry in his own department."
Many aviation professionals expressed support for the idea of a public inquiry to help reverse what
they call a decline in safety standards that is undermining public safety.
"The cost-cutting and general laissez-faire attitude of the authorities and the major airlines (has) left
some gaping holes in the public trust," says Capt. Raymond Hall, a 33-year Air Canada pilot. "We're
continually being pushed to go further with fewer resources and that inevitably leads to cutting some
corners."
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Hall is among the few willing to speak on the record. While he has concerns about repercussions, he
says public safety is more important.
"I believe that when it comes to flight safety, my professional responsibility to the public that
entrusts me with their lives supersedes my fiduciary responsibility to my employer that entrusts me
with their assets."
One of Hall's Air Canada pilot colleagues, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his
"young family", said a "perfect storm" is forming around public safety thanks to an "overburdened,
under-funded, somewhat inefficient government regulatory body, a privatized air traffic control
system, continuing industry-wide financial crisis (and) demoralized, angry, fatigued, embittered,
fearful employees within the transportation system."
1/10/2008
Page 3 of 3
On Wednesday, MPs finished debate on the federal whistleblower legislation covering public sector
employees. It must still pass through the Senate before being proclaimed law. But the protections
offered do not extend to employees of private companies such as airlines.
SPECIAL
In the U.S., federal whistleblower legislation covers airline workers who report revelations about
serious safety problems to independent federal authorities. The so-called Air 21 legislation directed at
the airline industry prohibits employers from retaliating against employees involved in "raising
concerns or reporting violations of airline safety rules and regulations."
Airline workers who are suspended, harassed, demoted, blacklisted or disciplined as a result of
speaking out can receive everything from job reinstatement to costs associated with filing their
complaint.
In 2001, George Gulliford, a former United Airlines mechanic, was reprimanded for reporting aircraft
defects to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The U.S. Department of Labor
eventually concluded the airline violated federal whistleblower protections. United was ordered to
withdraw the mechanic's reprimand and pay his attorney fees.
In another case, Northwest Airlines mechanic Thomas Regner was fired after raising concerns about
mechanical issues in 1998. After more than two years of legal wrangling, he won a legal decision that
awarded him his job back and over a year's worth of back pay.
need ...
"My sympathies go out to those Jazz mechanics," Regner said in an interview yesterday. "It brings
back a lot of memories for me. It's sad. These protections need to be in place. You need to be able to
say you're not going to look the other way. You need to know you can fight."
Nick Granath, the Minnesota labour lawyer who represented Regner, says the public interest is
served when aviation workers with important information are able to come forward.
"These are a class of workers that you want to have protected because they're your front-line
defence," he said "There's pressure in the industry to get planes off the ground.
"The mechanic is the one guy who can stop a plane from getting off the ground under questionable
circumstances."
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1/10/2008
TheStar.com | Unassigned | Pilot fatigue likely cause of deadly Halifax crash
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Pilot fatigue likely cause of deadly Halifax
crash
Crew was on duty 19 hours: Report
Canada's limits a 'safety issue'
Jun 30, 2006 01:00 AM
ROBERT CRIBB
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STAFF REPORTER
Overtired pilots who mistakenly typed a wrong digit into a
computer software program likely caused the fiery crash of a
jumbo jet in Halifax two years ago that killed seven people, the
Transportation Safety Board of Canada concluded yesterday.
The federal agency's final report on the MK Airlines flight
consumed by flames just after takeoff in 2004 points to pilot fatigue as a key factor in the incident,
using some of the strongest language yet about the need for proper aircrew rest.
A recent Torstar News Service investigation into aviation safety found Canada has some of the most
lax pilot duty-day limits in the Western world. More than three-dozen Canadian airline pilots have
said they are frequently tired behind the controls.
Yesterday, many were encouraged by the safety board report.
"We're pleased to see the TSB recognize fatigue as a safety factor," said Brian Boucher, an Air
Canada pilot and safety chair of the Air Canada's Pilots Association. "Our pilots are tired. Canada's
rules are more permissive and fatiguing than other countries. This shows the need for a careful look
at how we handle fatigue as a safety issue."
Five of the report's 16 recommendations deal with pilot fatigue.
At the time of the crash on Oct. 14, 2004, the crew of the Ghanian-registered cargo plane were on
duty 19 hours, the board found. In preparing for a flight to Spain laden with seafood and machinery
parts, the crew incorrectly set the Boeing 747's speed and thrust measurements to handle the
weight from a previous takeoff, when the plane was 100,000 kilograms lighter.
When the jet reached the end of the Halifax tarmac, it lifted into the air and travelled 100 metres
before the lower fuselage struck ground beyond the runway. The plane's tail broke away on impact
and the rest of the jet travelled another 365 metres before it crashed and burst into flames, the
report says.
Fatigue "likely increased the probability of error during calculation of the takeoff performance data,
and degraded the flight crew's ability to detect this error," the report says. "Crew fatigue, combined
with the dark takeoff environment, likely contributed to a loss of situational awareness during the
takeoff roll."
A news release from MK Airlines says the report's findings cannot be regarded as conclusive because
there was no cockpit voice recording of the pilot's and first officer's final words.
Long duty days like the ones MK pilots had that day are nothing new to Canadian pilots. Canada's
regulations allow for 20-hour days in flights with three pilots in the cockpit.
Boucher of the Air Canada Pilots Association said he hopes the report will inspire the federal
transport minister to take action regarding Canada's "liberal" duty-day regulations.
But both Transport Canada officials and Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon have dismissed
concerns about Canada's duty-day regulations, saying the limits are sufficient to prevent pilot fatigue
and do not need to be tightened to meet stricter regulations found in such countries as the United
States, Britain and Australia.
But many pilots and experts disagree.
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 3
Art LaFlamme, senior air safety co-ordinator with the Air Line Pilots Association and former director
general of civil aviation with Transport Canada, said Canada's regulations push pilots to fly too long
and too far.
"The long duty days and long hours at the controls can and do lead to fatiguing situations under the
current rules and it's a safety issue," said LaFlamme, a pilot himself. "It's a potential risk factor that
isn't warranted."
Canada should adopt tighter flying-time regulations that exist in the U.S., where pilot duty days are
capped at eight hours behind the controls on standard commercial flights, he said.
Experts say working during hours when you normally sleep increases fatigue and contributes to lower
levels of alertness and performance.
"The law permits too many total flight hours and too many hours on duty, coupled with the fact that
the regulations have no restrictions to these hours based on the time of day," said Doug Tweedlie, a
commercial airline pilot and a chair with the Air Canada Pilots Association.
"It makes common sense and has been backed with numerous studies that one would be more tired
during the normal sleeping cycle, yet the regulations do not reflect this."
MORE NEWS
With files from Canadian Press
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TheStar.com | News | Safety cuts risk air disaster: Judge
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TODAY'S WEATHER
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Safety cuts risk air disaster: Judge
Crash inquiry judge
attacks federal move to
cut airline inspection
Mar 01, 2007 04:30 AM
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–An aviation tragedy
is "on the horizon" because
funding cuts at Transport
Canada have undermined
airline inspections, says the
judge whose probe into the
deadly 1989 Dryden air crash
led to an overhaul of aviation
safety.
MIKE STURK PHOTO
Virgil Moshansky yesterday
Virgil Moshansky, the judge whose probe into the deadly 1989 Dryden air crash
issued a scathing
led to an overhaul of aviation safety, has issued a scathing condemnation of
condemnation of Ottawa's
Ottawa's move to give Canada's air carriers greater responsibility to oversee the
move to give Canada's air
safety of their operations.
carriers greater responsibility
to oversee the safety of their operations. "Today, 18 years after
Dryden, history is repeating itself, only worse," Moshansky told the
Email story
Commons transport committee.
Print
"Cost-cutting is again in vogue at Transport Canada, and has been
for some time," he said.
At the centre of the debate is a move by Transport Canada to give
both large and small air carriers more responsibility for overseeing
their own safety, a new regime known as safety management
system (SMS).
Moshansky praised SMS as a "wonderful system," but said it has to
be backed by strong government oversight and enforcement,
something he said doesn't seem to be happening.
Moshansky warned the committee that without stronger oversight
and more inspectors Canadian carriers were flying into dangerous
skies.
"Do you think these elements that are here create a perfect storm
that could lead to another tragedy?" asked New Democrat MP Peter
Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster).
"I certainly think it's on the horizon," Moshansky said.
Choose text size
License this article
COLLISION COURSE
TOO CLOSE FOR
COMFORT
TRAGEDY POINTS TO
INDUSTRY FLAWS
CANADIAN PILOTS
BATTLE FATIGUE
ECONOMICS TRUMPS
SAFETY: JAZZ STAFF
AIRLINE SUSPENDS
MECHANICS
LAX AIR RULES
BLAMED FOR RISKY
LANDINGS
Already, cuts to aviation oversight have put Canada in breach of
international conventions, and that could leave airlines barred from
foreign skies, he said. "You could end up having your commercial
airlines being banned from landing in those states. You've got to
meet those international standards."
JETSGO PROBLEMS
IGNORED
While icing on the wings was blamed for the crash of an Air Ontario
Fokker F-28 jet that killed 24 people at Dryden, Moshansky's threeyear inquiry uncovered serious problems at Transport Canada,
including lax oversight of airlines that allowed safety problems at
Air Ontario to go unchecked.
PILOT FATIGUE LIKELY
CAUSE OF DEADLY
HALIFAX CRASH
REVIEW OF `SLIDING'
AIR SAFETY
AVIATION WORKERS
MUZZLED
SAFETY CUTS RISK
His recommendations prompted changes to both the culture and regulations around airline travel,
1/10/2008
progress Moshansky suggests is being eroded.
"After a period of relative calm, numerous serious aviation safety
concerns have returned to haunt the Canadian aviation system," he
said.
For example, at the time of the Dryden inquiry, there were 1,400
aviation inspectors, about 400 short of what was needed for
adequate oversight, he said. Today, there are between 800 and 850
inspectors.
He urged the committee to recommend more funding for the
department so it can properly carry out oversight and enforcement
and avoid "the slippery slope to another Dryden.
Page 2 of 3
HOW ONE NEAR-MISS
WORKED (.PDF)
TROUBLE IN THE
SKIES (.PDF)
PILOT FATIGUE:
CANADA VS. U.S.
(.PDF)
PLANE TROUBLE
(.PDF)
FRIGHTENING
MOMENTS (.PDF)
DIFFERENT LANDING
APPROACHES (PDF)
TRANSPORTATION
SAFETY BOARD OF
CANADA
NAVCANADA.CA
"In the interests of the safety of the Canadian air travelling public, I urge this committee to reject the
proposed dismantling of the aviation regulatory oversight system," he said.
Moshansky said the SMS concept relies on airline personnel to report their own violations and safety
worries, a "hard sell" for workers who may fear reprisals. And, he said, the lack of whistle-blower
protection will make many airline employees reluctant to speak out.
He also mocked the idea that cash-strapped smaller carriers – "where the greatest risk to aviation
safety resides" – could monitor their own safety.
MORE NEWS
Man exposes self to
northeast
stripped naked in
robbery
Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon defended the move, saying it added a layer of safety.
Peel police seek
female bank robber
But Moshansky ripped that defence, saying that the department is eliminating its oversight role. He
urged the committee to recommend legislative changes to ensure whistle-blower protection, proper
regulatory oversight and adequate funding.
Court strikes down
limit on medical
marijuana
He praised the series of stories done by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and The Record of
Waterloo Region last year that revealed troubling safety lapses.
$1B for ailing
Premiers
Sick Kids sought
'damage control,'
probe told
for Tories: ex-PM
Campbell
extra charges for
disabled
platform beating
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and Universities
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TheStar.com | News | Star series up for Michener award
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Toronto & GTA | Ontario | Canada | World | Comics | Contests | Crosswords | Horoscopes | Lotteries | Sudoku | TV Listings
Star series up for Michener award
Email story
Apr 11, 2007 04:30 AM
Print
MATTHEW CHUNG
Choose text size
STAFF REPORTER
An investigative series into aviation safety by the Toronto Star and
two of its sister papers has been nominated for a prestigious award
that promotes excellence in Canadian public service journalism.
The series, "Collision Course," developed by the team of Star
investigative reporter Robert Cribb, Tamsin McMahon of The
Record of Waterloo Region and Fred Vallance-Jones at the
Hamilton Spectator, has been selected for a Michener award nomination.
"Collision Course" stemmed from a comprehensive examination of aviation incident and accident
data that took four years to gain access to and compile. The investigation found more than 80,000
passengers were put at risk over a five-year period from 2001 to 2005 when planes came
dangerously close to each other in Canadian skies.
Three months after the series was published, Ottawa mandated that all Canadian commercial
aircraft be equipped with collision-avoidance systems that warn pilots when they come too close to
other aircraft.
"As recognition of journalism that makes a difference, this is one of the most prestigious awards in
the business," said Fred Kuntz, the Star's editor-in-chief. "Getting public access to the database on
aviation safety incidents, that's good for people who fly. That's good for people who want to know
what's going on."
The federal Auditor General is also beginning an audit expected to focus on aviation safety at
Transport Canada.
"This will allow future journalists and others working in the public interest to have access to this
important information," read a statement announcing the Star's nomination on the Michener Awards
Foundation website.
The foundation recognizes and promotes excellence in Canadian public service journalism. It was
established by the late Roland Michener, governor general of Canada from 1967 to 1974.
Collision course
The Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator
and The Record of Waterloo Region
teamed up over five months in 2006 to
investigate the aviation industry. What
they found was a safety system
straining at the seams. The series has
been nominated for a Michener Award
for Meritorious Public Service
Journalism.
Other finalists are the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The
Globe and Mail, the Nunatsiaq News, La Presse and the Prince
George Citizen. Governor General Michaëlle Jean will host the
ceremony June 8 at Rideau Hall, Ottawa.
http://www.thestar.com/Article/201781
1/10/2008
Page 2 of 3
MORE IN THE NEWS
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in Ontario
Clinton's tears make
Obama backers weep
Anger erupts over Peel
hospital's fate
The star-spangled
Canadarm
Family Day not likely
to be peaceful
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1/10/2008

Collision course - Canadian Association of Journalists

Transcription

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