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IN--HOUSE NEWSLETT
AN IN ER OF OPERATIONS DEPT.
NEWSLETTER
Vol.2, No.1 Flight Safety & Quality Assurance Division January 2007
Editorial
The Newsletter team wishes all the readers and winter storms which could occur in U.S.
In this issue a very happy 2007. As in the previous years, and Europe.
let us resolve to make this year also a safe Our thanks to Capt.Yacoub Al Najjar and
year. With this issue we have changed the Capt. Fahad Al-Musallam for the useful inputs.
The crash of GOL 1 newsletter format. We look forward to your feedback,
Boeing 737-800 In this issue, we look into the recent suggestions and contributions which can be
midair collision in Brazil, the ACAS & TCAS sent to our division.
ACAS II & TCAS II 2
conduct a change of altitude, after ATC was received. The pilot made 7 NTSB, as well as technical advisors in
reaching flight level 370. The airplane more attempts to establish contact. At operations, systems, air traffic control,
made calls, but there is no communica- 4:56:54 pm the collision occurred at flight recorders, and aircraft perform-
tion in which it requested a change of FL370, at a point about 460 nautical ance. Additional technical advisors from
flight level. miles north-northwest of BRS, on Boeing, Excelaire, Honeywell, and FAA
When the airplane was about airway UZ6. have also been included.
30miles north-northwest of BRS, at There was no indication of any TCAS Flight recorders from both airplanes
4:02 pm, the transponder of N600XL alert on board either airplane, no were recovered and downloaded at the
was no longer being received by ATC evidence of pre-collision visual Transportation Safety Board of Canada
radar. A transponder reports a unique acquisition by any flight crew member laboratories. Transcriptions of CVRs
code, aiding radar identification, and on either aircraft, and no evidence of were prepared and data from flight data
provides an accurate indication of the evasive action by either crew. recorders obtained.
airplane's altitude. Additionally, the According to NTSB, the “Wreckage Initial interviews and medical
transponder is a required component for and damage examination indicates that examinations were conducted with the
the operation of Traffic Collision it is likely the left winglet of the Legacy crew of the Legacy. Air Traffic Control
Avoidance System (TCAS). (which includes a metal spar) contacted data was gathered. Preliminary tests of
Between 3:51 pm and 4:26 pm, the left wing leading edge of the Boeing the avionics equipment on the Legacy
there were no attempts to establish 737. The impact resulted in damage to were performed. Wreckage of the 737
radio communications from either the a major portion of the left wing was examined.
crew of N600XL or ATC. At 4:26 pm the structure and lower skin, ultimately Both Boeing 737 and Legacy 600
CINDACTA 1 controller made a "blind rendering the 737 uncontrollable. Flight were new aircraft equipped with TCAS.
call" to N600XL. Subsequently until recorder information ceased at an But neither received any advisories!
4:53 pm, the controller made an approximate altitude of 7,887 feet.” According to the reports the
additional 6 radio calls attempting to The Brazilian government supports investigation is expected to take about
establish contact. The 4:53 call this theory in its preliminary report. 10 months.
instructed the crew to change to After the collision, the crew of This mid-air collision reminds us of
frequencies 123.32 or 126.45. No N600XL made numerous further calls to one that occurred over Germany.
replies were received. ATC declaring an emergency and their On July1, 2002, a Bashkirian airlines
There is no indication that the crew intent to make a landing at the TU154 collided with DHL Boeing 757
of N600XL performed any abnormal Cachimbo air base. At 5:02 pm, the cargo over Uberlingen near lake
maneuvers during the flight. Flight Data transponder returns from N600XL were Constance in South Germany resulting
Recorder information indicates that the received by ATC. in 71 fatalities. Both the aircraft were
airplane was level at FL370, on course At 5:13 pm, an uninvolved flight equipped with TCAS. The TCAS systems
along UZ6, and at a steady speed, until crew assisted in relaying communica- had instructed the B757 to descent and
the collision. Primary (non-transponder) tions between N600XL and ATC until the TU154 to ascent. But the conflicting
radar returns were received correspond- airplane established communication input from the ATC( and the Russian
ing to the estimated position of N600XL with Cachimbo tower. SOP emphasis to ATC over TCAS)
until about 4:30 pm. For 2 minutes, no The accident investigation is being resulted in TU154 also descending and
returns were received, then returns conducted under the authority of the colliding with B757.
reappeared until 4:38 pm. After that Brazilian Aeronautical Accident Following the investigation of this
time, radar returns were sporadic. Prevention and Investigation Center collision and other incidents now the
Beginning at 4:48 pm, the crew of (DIPAA). Under the provisions of ICAO crew is clearly instructed to follow the
N600XL made a series of 12 radio calls Annex 13, the United States has pro- TCASII RAs.
to ATC attempting to make contact. At vided an accredited representative and
4:53, the crew heard the call instructing technical advisors for the investigation. Kuwait Airways OPM under
them to change frequencies, but the The U.S. team includes accredited section 4.15 clearly instructs the
pilot did not understand all of the digits, representative from the major aviation crew to follow the TCAS RA.
and requested a repeat. No reply from accident investigations division of the
In Europe, Canada, USA and other systems that can travel halfway around represented by warm or cold front
parts of the world winter implies severe the world, can fill thousands of miles of symbology, respectively. It is these
drop in mercury to negative digits, sky with thick clouds, icing and lows, and their cold and warm fronts,
blowing snow, and ice. But that is not turbulence, and if get positioned in the that comprise the winter cyclone.
all, the atmosphere conspires to give a right place, can wreak havoc on the air Around the low the air swirls counter-
chaotic mess in the form of a winter transportation system. When major clockwise, forcing warmer and more
cyclone. As we operate in Europe and airports in the mid-latitudes close humid surface air aloft in advance of the
USA, we could encounter one of these because of a blizzard, the ripple effect low, and drawing colder, drier air into
cyclones. Let us know more about win- can be lengthy delays world-wide, even the regions behind the low.
ter storms. at tropical airports. Any jet stream chart will provide a
These winter storms are much larger These giant winter storms are more clue as to how these storms form. Im-
and more organized than those that properly known as mid-latitude mediately noticeable is that the jet
occur in the summer, and some have cyclones. They are a swirling mass of stream tends to be positioned more or
closed airports for days. Pilots have to bad weather wrapped around a central less directly above the surface polar
fly whether it is rain or shine. So it low pressure cell. These lows tend to front. We can also see that neither the
helps to know about these, so that form in the vicinity of the polar front— polar front nor the jet stream travels in
pilots are aware of what to expect and the boundary zone between cold air of straight line– instead, they wrap around
how to handle them. the arctic ad warmer air from the sub- the planet in serpentine fashion, some-
Winter cyclones can occur in the tropics. times dipping into the lower latitudes in
northern hemisphere any time between On a typical weather map, the what resembles a large trough, and
late October and late march, although northern hemisphere polar front is other times climbing into the higher
they tend to be more intense near the draped from west to east across north latitudes to appear as a ridge when
edges of winter. They are called by America, Europe and Asia. In most seen from above. These troughs and
many names depending on the region places, the surface front appears as a ridges have lot to do with the formation,
but for pilots they are just a menace. stationary front—in others, usually track and severity of winter storms.
These storms are large low pressure ahead of or behind a low, the front is As the jet stream winds, flowing
Page 4 FLIGHT SAFETY Volume 2, No.1
west to east, dive into a trough, they of trough and ridge waves around the events, as the air under the front may
tend to converge, meaning more air planet—and these planetary long waves be near freezing.
must share less space. In turn, this tend not to move much. Trailing the low is the cold front.
drives some of the air toward the Under normal circumstances, this This is the region where the cold air to
surface, increasing the surface pressure pattern places a ridge over western the northwest of the low is being
and often generating a surface high North America and a trough over the pushed out of the high pressure cell and
below the west (entrance) side of the eastern Midwest of the U.S. another wrapped around the south side of the
trough. As the air speeds through the trough exists over the gulf of Alaska and low, displacing the warm air. The cold
base of the trough and out to the east western Europe. This means that the air is more brutal about the
(exit) side, it is able to diverge. The regions under exit path of these long displacement , forcing the warm air to
divergence of air aloft helps to draw air wave troughs will likely see many of rise rapidly, often generating convection
up from the surface, meaning that a these winter storms. that builds cumulonimbus clouds right in
surface low tends to form out ahead of Along the long waves, smaller the vicinity of the surface front. These
the trough aloft. Surface lows that form troughs, called short waves, will clouds generally produce heavier rain
in other places relative to these upper migrate. It is these short waves that and snow showers, depending on the air
air troughs do not normally receive the force the formation and strengthening temperature, and may— if the displaced
upper air support needed to grow into of the transient lows and highs that warm air had sufficient energy—produce
strong winter storms that those that make up the winter storms. On jet thunderstorms and even tornadoes.
form under the trough exit are often stream charts it’s possible to see these Rare thunder-snow is most often found
capable of becoming. smaller short wave troughs embedded along winter cold fronts.
The amount of convergence and into the bigger troughs. When a short Winds in the warm sector—ahead of
divergence taking place in the jet wave moves out from a long wave the cold front and behind the warm–
stream air flow is what largely trough base, and a low is developing tend to be light and from the south or
determines the strength of the surface underneath, it will likely turn into a well southeast, whereas in the cold sector
lows and highs under an upper air organized storm that will move along behind the cold front winds will be quire
trough. In general, the more the winds the path of the jet stream at more or strong and gusty out of the northwest.
aloft speedup going into the trough, the less the speed of the sort wave. In estimating winds around low, keep in
stronger the surface pressure systems Sometimes the short waves can be mind that the closer together the iso-
can become. When forecasting a very intense, and spawn a winter storm bars on the weather map get, the
developing surface low, if there is a jet well outside a long wave trough. stronger the winds are going to be.
streak—a small region of very fast However, there must be good upper The most dangerous sector of a
winds—in the trough base above, the support, usually in the form of strong winter storm, however, tends to be the
low has the potential to grow very divergence, to keep a surface low alive northwest side. Here the isobars are
strong. and growing. most closely packed, meaning that this
Also, the amplitude of the trough will When a winter cyclone does is where the strongest wines are found.
play a big role. Steep troughs tend to organize and form, it always takes the In addition, the warm air that has been
represent much greater forces acting on same form. In the northern hemisphere, driven aloft and wrapped around the
the air than do more gently sloping as the surface low begins to spin coun- low– forming the classic comma head of
troughs. Troughs which are tilted—i.e. terclockwise, the air is drawn inward these storms– is likely still producing
not symmetrical about their axis— also and upward.( For southern hemisphere, snow which is now driven by the strong
mean potentially strong forces will aid it is clockwise and replace north with winds, and is also being blown around
the strengthening of a surface pressure south). The warmer air from the south the ground, creating blizzard conditions
system. of the polar front begins to spin north- with zero visibility.
Predictably, because these winter ward around the east side of the low. At A saving grace of the stronger
storms rely on the upper air for support, the same time, the cooler air in the winter storms is that they also tend to
those under the favorable divergence northeast quadrant is drawn around the move quickly. This means that air travel
conditions of a jet stream trough tend northern side of the low, retreating as can generally return to normal in a few
not to strengthen much, and will even the warm southerly air glides over it. days at most. Recovery can be sped
fill in, weakening until eventually they Where the two air masses meet is the along if you as a pilot have anticipated
die in the cold air poleward of the jet warm front. the passage of the storm and kept your
stream as a “cutoff” low. It is the lows The gradual lifting of the warm, aircraft out of the airspace system at
that track up along the exit path of the humid air results in low, thick stratus the critical times, thus giving ATC one
trough that need watching—they can clouds that gain altitude as they flow less aircraft to reroute. Also, most lar-
continue to strengthen, or at least northward ahead of the front’s surface ger airports in regions normally affected
maintain their intensity, as they move position. Moderate easterly winds are by these winter cyclones have enough
along. present north of the front, and light maintenance equipment to either keep
The pattern of the jet stream’s snow may be replaced by a mix and the airport open, or—for the worst
undulations can give us a good idea of freezing rain and, finally, by moderate storms—reopen the airport a few hours
where these storms are going, and why rainfall as the front is approached from after the storm passes.
the storms tend to hit the same places the north. In these winter storms, this
again and again. The jet forms a series region is the most likely for freezing rain
Web Watch
http://www.tc.gc.ca/ASL-SAN - Transport Canada Aviation Safety letter site—very useful
http://aviation-safety.net/ - Aviation Safety Net – site for occurrence data base, accident information
The Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System (CAHRS) provides a means of reporting hazards and risks in the
aviation system before there is loss of life, injury or damage. It is open to anyone who wishes to submit a hazard report or
safety deficiencies confidentially and non-punitively. Reports help to identify deficiencies and provide safety enhancement in
areas of aviation. CAHRS forms can be collected at different location of KAC (i.e. Flight Dispatch) Premises. Completed forms
can be dropped in FS&QA allocated box at Flight Dispatch or e-mailed to kwioeku@kuwaitairways.com or faxed to 00965-
4749823 or mail to Flight Safety and Quality Assurance office, Operations Department, P.O. Box 394, Safat 13004, Kuwait
Airways –Kuwait.