Editorial

Foreword

FOQA Collection /

Analysis

Bi-annual Safety Review

Jun-Dec 2014

(FDM/FOQA)

Winter Operations

Fuel Contamination

The Icing on the Wing

General Precautions

During Winter Operations

Dear Colleagues, “Safety is our first priority.” Hence, it's our pleasure to welcome you to the latest edition of, Safety First - Safi Airways Safety Newsletter. The purposes of our Flight Safety Newsletter are as follows: To help us to manage the different aspects of safety and maintain a safe working

environment. Non-Punitive and open Reporting Safety helps to communicate any safety related

issues across all level at SFW. Sharing information on such issues will help us to prevent any incident or accidents that

could potentially occur yet could have been avoided. You will notice that this issue is mainly concerned with winter operations. As summer passes us by, we will be met with different operational and safety hazards during winter weather conditions. Such hazards include, but are not limited to, wing icing, and fuel contamination. Furthermore, in this edition we added FDM/FOAQ Analysis, General Precautions and De-icing / Anti-icing fluids. From this, we can update our knowledge and learn new things and avoid mistakes, incidents/accidents in the future by taking the necessary safety precautions. Thank you for your time, and Fly safe! Safety and Quality Department

Editorial

Safety cannot be treat with Economy, So there for in any capacity that we have to discharge

our responsibility safety still remain priority, neither management pressure or self-will as

any case might be in our decision or judgement safety must be consider an every action risk

accessed.

Femi Olowoyeye

Senior Quality Auditor

Safety and Quality Department

Foreword

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Flight operational quality assurance, also known as flight data monitoring (FDM) or flight data analysis, is a method of capturing, analysing and/or visualizing the data generated by an aircraft moving through the air from one point to another. Applying the information learned from this analysis helps to find new ways to improve flight safety and increase overall operational efficiency. The goal is to improve the organization or unit's overall safety, increase maintenance

effectiveness and reduce operational costs. In Safi Airways the FOQA programme should be managed by dedicated staff within the safety department which is under the supervision of Gareth John, FO/FSO. It should have a high degree of specialization and logistical support. The programme must actively demonstrate a non-punitive policy. The main objective of a FOQA programme is to improve safety by identifying trends, not individual act.

FOQA Collection/Analysis

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Benefits of a FOQA Programme: A successful FOQA programme encourages adherence to Standard Operating Procedures, deters non-standard behavior and so enhances flight safety. It will detect adverse trends in any part of the flight regime and so facilitates the investigation of events other than those which have had serious consequences. Examples include: Unestablished approaches Exceedance of flap limit speeds

Excessive bank angles after take-off Engine over-temperature events Exceedance of recommended speed

thresholds (Vspeeds) Ground Proximity Warning System

(GPWS/EGPWS) alerts Onset of stall conditions Excessive rates of rotation Glide path excursions Vertical acceleration

BI-ANNUAL SAFETY REVIEW Another six months have gone by since the company’s last safety review and a lot has happened since then. As you will see, Safi Airways has improved on flight safety issues since the last conducted safety review, but is still striving to eliminate even the smallest

of occurrences. The Safety and Quality Department is working hard to keep all flights and have done more implementation on various departments to maintain a smooth and safe operation. Please always remember that safety is our first priority.

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Winter weather is a major challenge for Safi Airways especially at Afghan Flight Operation. This article will focus on tips we can use to help our maintenance and ground crews to prepare for this winter

season. Safe winter operations require special procedures by engineering, flight, and de-icing personnel. This article also outlines general concepts and tips on safe winter operations.

Winter Operations

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Following below is a safety review of the First and Second half of 2014:

THE CLEAN-AIRPLANE CONCEPT CONSIDERATIONS FOR MAINTENANCE AND GROUND CREWS

THE CLEAN-AIRPLANE CONCEPT The clean-airplane concept describes an airplane that is aerodynamically clean — that is, free of frozen contaminants. The clean-airplane concept is important because airplane take-off performance is based upon clean surfaces until lift-off. An airplane is designed using the predictable effects of airflow over clean wings. Contaminants such as frost, ice, or snow adhering to the wings disturb this airflow, resulting in reduced lift, increased drag, increased stall speed, potentially severe roll problems due to uneven lift, and possible abnormal pitch characteristics.

There are so many reasons can influence the formation of ice and frost and the accumulation of snow and slush causing surface roughness on an aeroplane. These variables include: Ambient temperature Aeroplane skin temperature Moisture content De-icing/Anti-icing fluid

temperature Relative Humidity Wind velocity and direction

MAINTENANCE & GROUND CREWS CONSIDERATIONS Airplane Operation especially in cold weather condition can face different problems because of extreme climate condition like snow, ice, frost and low temperature etc. So that all the

maintenance crews and ground crews should follow the appropriate Airplane Maintenance Manual (AMM) for their working procedures for removal of contamination from aircraft and the

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prevention of icing on the aircraft. Safi Airways have given appropriate training, basic de-icing and anti-icing to the

maintenance and ground crews for their understanding.

There are several forms of contamination in aviation fuel. The higher the viscosity of the fuel, the greater is its ability to hold contaminants in suspension. For this reason, jet fuels having a high viscosity are

more susceptible to contamination than aviation gasoline. The principal contaminants that reduce the quality of both gasoline and turbine fuels are listed below:

Water Foreign Particles Contamination with Other Types or Grades of Fuel Microbial Growth Sediment (Course/Fine Sediments)

Fuel Contamination

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CONTAMINATION CONTROL The aircraft fuel system can be considered as being divided into three parts when discussing clean fuel. The manufacturer produces clean fuel. Contamination can occur at any time after the fuel is produced. The first part of the fuel system is the delivery and storage system between the refinery and the airport fuel service truck. Although this system is not physically a part of the aircraft, it is of equal importance in controlling contamination. Anytime fuel is transferred it is susceptible to contamination. Therefore, all aviation maintenance personnel should be familiar with the following means of contamination control. The refuelling facilities used by operators of turbine powered aircraft should incorporate the following features:

Fuel being pumped into airport storage should pass through a filter separator.

Turbine fuels should be allowed to settle for a period of one hour per foot of depth of the fuel before being withdrawn for use.

This means that ordinarily more than one storage tank must be provided for each grade of product.

Storage tanks should be checked with litmus paper after each new load of fuel is received and the fuel has settled.

Fuel being withdrawn from storage should be passed through a filter separator meeting the approved specification.

Great care should be exercised in loading mobile fuelers to exclude airborne dust and dirt, rain or other foreign material.

As turbine fuel is being dispensed into the aircraft from truck or hydrant it should be filtered to a degree of 5 microns for solid particles and contain no more than 0.0015 per cent of free and entrained water. Bypass valves around the filter should not be permitted.

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HOW DOES ICE CAUSE A PLANE TO CRASH? Yes, there are a number of ways that ice can cause an airplane to crash; As ice forms on the aircraft, it increases the weight of the aircraft, thus requiring more

lift capacity which an aircraft might not have. As ice forms on the wings it changes the way air flows across the wings, creating more

drag, and allowing the airflow to separate from the wing both of which reduce lift. Ice forming on the windscreens makes visibility very poor to non-existent. Ice forming in the pitot tubes will cause false instrument readings, giving the pilot the

false impression that nothing is wrong. ice forming in the engines intake opening will cause a power loss in the engine,

sometimes to the point of stalling the engine ice forming on the propellers or the turbine blades reduces the efficiency of those

components reducing the thrust they can make.

Icing on the Wing

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HOW DOES ICE BUILD-UP ON AIRPLANES? Ice builds up on aircraft in two ways: In flight or on the ground. On the ground, precipitation falls onto the airplane and freezes on upper surfaces much like what happens if you leave your car out overnight.

On planes, ground icing forms on the upper surfaces of the wing and tail. That type of ice is managed by de-icing the plane with a fluid [typically propylene glycol] at the airport.

WHY IS ICE A PROBLEM FOR AIRPLANES? Ice reshapes the surface of the lift-producing parts of the airplane: the wings and the tail. That roughness is enough to

change the aerodynamics of the wing such that there's more drag and less lift.

ICING CONDITIONS

In aviation, icing conditions are those atmospheric conditions that can lead to the formation of water ice on the surfaces of an aircraft, or within the engine

as icing. Inlet is another engine-related danger, often occurring in jet aircraft. These icing phenomena do not necessarily occur together. Many aircraft, especially general

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aviation aircraft, are not certified for flight into known icing—icing conditions certain or likely to exist, based on pilot reports, observations, and forecasts. . Icing is currently classified into four severity categories: • TRACE. Ice becomes perceptible. Rate of accumulation is slightly greater than the rate of sublimation. It is not hazardous even though de-icing/anti-icing equipment is not generally used, unless encountered for an extended period of time. • LIGHT. The rate of accumulation may create a problem if flight is prolonged in this environment. Occasional use of de-

icing/anti-icing equipment removes accumulation. • MODERATE. The rate of accumulation is such that even short encounters become potentially hazardous and the use of de-icing/anti-icing equipment or diversion/re-routing is necessary. • SEVERE. The rate of accumulation is such that de-icing/anti-icing equipment fails to reduce or control the hazard. Immediate diversion/ re-routing is necessary. Note that these definitions are based on the pilot’s perception of the aircraft’s ability to deal with the ice accretion. They are not based on meteorology. Types of icing encountered are:

RIME Rough, milky, opaque ice formed by instantaneous freezing of small super-

cooled water droplets. CLEAR A glossy, clear or translucent ice formed by the relatively slow freezing of

large super-cooled water droplets. MIXED A mixture of Rime and Clear ice.

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WINGS (LIFT AND DRAG EFFECTS ON WING CONTAMINATION) Ice contamination of an aircraft wing also has a significant detrimental effect on the aircraft's total drag, that is, the force which resists the aircraft's forward motion through the air The leading edge portion of the wing is most sensitive to ice contamination. The effects of the contamination decrease as the forward most extent of the contamination moves farther aft of the leading edge. Ice accumulation, in particular, the detrimental effects on lift and drag associated with wing surface roughness has

been identified as a causal factor in a number of take-off accidents involving jet transport aircraft. Here below I am giving an example: On 27 December 1968, Ozark Airline Flight 982, a Douglas DC-9-15, crashed while taking off from the Sioux City Airport, Sioux City, Iowa. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was a stall near the upper limits of ground effect, with subsequent loss of control as a result of the aerodynamic and weight penalties of air foil icing. The crew had not de-iced before the attempted take-off.

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Ground de-icing of aircraft is commonly performed in both commercial and general aviation. The fluids used in this operation are called de-icing or anti-icing fluids. The Society of Automotive Engineers publishes standards (SAE AMS 1428 and AMS 1424) for four different types of aviation de-icing fluids:

Type I Fluid (Un-thickened) (SAE AMS 1424 or ISO 11075)

This fluid has a high glycol content and low viscosity in its concentrated form. De-icing performance of the fluid is good. However, due to low viscosity, it provides only limited anti-icing protection during freezing precipitation. It is used predominantly for removing frozen deposits from aircraft surfaces, either as the first step in a two-step operation or where precipitation has stopped. With this type of fluid, no additional protection is provided by increasing the concentration of the fluid in the fluid/water mix.

Type II Fluid (Thickened) (SAE AMS 1428 or ISO 11078)

This fluid generally has lower glycol content in its concentrated form than Type I fluid due to the inclusion of a pseudo plastic thickening agent. This effectively means that when applied to the surface of an aircraft the viscosity is

high, thus allowing the fluid to remain on and protect against freezing precipitation for a period of time. However, the increasing effect of the airflow over the wing during the take-off roll will effectively 'shear' the fluid, reducing its viscosity and allowing it to readily flow off the critical surfaces. With this type of fluid the holdover time can be extended by increasing the concentration of fluid in the fluid/water mix. Type II fluids are usually straw coloured.

Type III (Thickened) (SAE AMS 1428)

Type III fluid is designed primarily for aircraft with low rotation/take-off speeds, and it may not require specialised low shear application and transfer equipment, but fluid manufacturers’ guidance should be followed in this respect. When used for anti-icing, Type III fluids have holdover time guidelines typically less than those of a Type II fluid but significantly longer than those of Type I fluids.

Type IV Fluid (Thickened) (SAE AMS 1428) This fluid is similar in both composition and operation to Type II fluids. However, through the use of advanced thickening systems, it is able to provide longer holdover time

De-Icing & Anti-Icing

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than Type II fluids when used in concentrated form. As with Type II fluids the holdover time can be extended by increasing the

concentration of fluid in the fluid/water mix. Type IV fluids are usually coloured green.

WHAT IS MEANT BY HOLDOVER TIME? Holdover Time is the effective period of protection against precipitation adhering to the aircraft surfaces, starting from the beginning of the application of the anti-icing fluid. Hot is the length of time that anti-icing fluid will prevent ice and snow from adhering to and frost from forming on the treated surfaces of an airplane. These

times are only guidelines; a number of variables can reduce protection time, including:

High winds; Jet blast; Wet snow; Heavy precipitation; Aircraft skin temperature lower than

outside air temperature; and Direct sunlight.

HOW WE CAN APPLY DE-ICING/ANTI-ICING FLUIDS? There are two methods for applying de-icing and anti-icing fluids.

One-step process: This process accomplishes both the de-icing and anti-icing steps with a single fluid application.

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Typically a heated mixture of thickened fluid and water is applied. Two-step process: This process involves de-icing with heated Type I fluid, a heated mixture of Type I fluid and water, or a heated mixture of water and thickened (Type II, III, or IV) fluid, followed by a separate application of thickened fluid for

anti-icing protection. Experience and testing have shown that de-icing with heated Type I fluid or a heated mixture of water and Type I fluid will help remove residue from previous anti-icing fluid treatments. De-icing with heated thickened fluid may contribute to residue formation.

GENERAL PRECAUTIONS DURING WINTER OPERATIONS

For maintenance crews These are general guidelines mentioned below;

Ice that has accumulated on the fan blades while the airplane has been on the ground for a prolonged stop is called “ground-

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accumulated ice” and must be removed before engine start.

Treat the wings and tails from leading edge to trailing edge and outboard to inboard.

Treat the fuselage from the nose and work aft. Spray at the top centreline and work outboards

Do not point a solid flow of fluid directly at the surfaces, gaps in airframe structure, or antennas. Instead, apply the fluid at a low angle to prevent damage, while pointing aft for proper drainage.

Do not point a solid flow of fluid directly at the surfaces, gaps in airframe structure, or antennas. Instead, apply the fluid at a low angle to prevent damage, while pointing aft for proper drainage.

Do not spray de-icing/anti-icing fluids directly into auxiliary power unit (APU) or engine inlets, exhausts, static ports, pitot-static probes, pitot probes, or TAT probes.

Ensure that ice or snow is not forced into areas around flight controls during de-icing.

If SAE Type II, III, or IV fluids are used, remove all of the de-icing/anti-icing fluid from the cockpit windows prior to departure to ensure visibility.

De-icing/anti-icing fluid storage tanks must be constructed of a compatible material. For thickened fluids, the tanks must be of a material that is not susceptible to corrosion (e.g., stainless steel or fiberglass). This is particularly important for thickened fluids because their viscosity can be permanently decreased if they are contaminated or exposed to excessive heat or mechanical shear during handling and application.

Proper maintenance procedures for landing gear during cold weather operation as defined in the AMM can help reduce degradation of the structural joints and ensure optimal shock strut performance.

Do not point a spray of de-icing / anti-icing fluid directly onto wheels or brake assemblies.

FOR FLIGHT CREWS

These are general guidelines; refer to the Manufacture’s (Boeing and Airbus) flight crew operations

manuals (FCOM) for definitive information.

PRIOR TO TAXI

Carefully inspect areas where surface snow, ice, or frost could change or affect normal system

operations. Perform a normal exterior inspection with increased emphasis on checking surfaces,

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pitot probes and static ports, air-conditioning inlets and exits, engine inlets, fuel-tank vents, landing-gear doors, landing-gear truck beam, brake assemblies, and APU air inlets.

Perform the normal engine start procedures, but note that oil pressure may be slow to rise. Displays may require additional warm-up time before engine indications accurately show changing values. Displays may appear less bright than normal.

Engine anti-ice must be selected ON immediately after both engines are started, and it must remain on during all ground operations when icing conditions exist or are anticipated. Do not rely on airframe visual icing cues before activating engine anti-ice. Use the

temperature and visible moisture criteria.

Operate the APU only when necessary during de-icing/anti-icing treatment.

Do not operate the wing anti-ice system on the ground when thickened fluids (e.g., SAE Type II, III, or IV) have been applied. Do not use the wing anti-ice system as an alternative method of ground de-icing/anti-icing.

Check the flight controls and flaps to ensure freedom of movement.

Ice that has accumulated on the fan blades while the engine is at idle speed is called “operational ice” and is allowed to remain on the fan blades before taxi because the ice will be removed by engine run-ups prior to take off.

DURING TAXI

Allowing greater than normal distances between airplanes while taxiing will aid in stopping and turning in slippery conditions. This will also reduce the potential for snow and slush being blown and adhering onto the airplane or engine inlets.

Taxi at a reduced speed. Taxiing on slippery taxiways or runways at excessive speed or with strong crosswinds may cause the airplane to skid. Use smaller nose-wheel

steering and rudder inputs. Limit thrust to the minimum required.

Nose-wheel steering should be exercised in both directions during taxi. This circulates warm hydraulic fluid through the steering cylinders and minimizes the steering lag caused by low temperatures.

During prolonged ground operations, periodic engine run-ups should be performed per the Manufacture’s (Boeing and Airbus) FCOM to shed the accreted ice.

BEFORE/DURING TAKE-OFF

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Do the normal Before Take-off Procedure. Extend the flaps to the take-off setting at this time if they have not been extended because of slush, standing water, icing conditions, or because of de-icing/anti-icing.

Verify that airplane surfaces are free of ice, snow, and frost before moving into position for take-off.

Rotate smoothly and normally at VR. Do not rotate aggressively when operating with de-icing/anti-icing fluid.

Retract flaps at the normal flap retraction altitude and on the normal speed schedule.

DESCENT

Unless the airplane has fully

automatic activation of ice protection systems, anticipate the need for activating the engine and/or wing anti-ice systems at all

times, especially during a descent through instrument meteorological conditions or through precipitation.

LANDING

The flight crew must be aware of the condition of the runway with respect to ice, snow, slush, or other contamination.

Follow the normal procedures for approach and landing. Use the normal reference speeds unless otherwise directed by the manufactures FCOM.

The airplane should be firmly flown onto the runway at the aiming point.

Let the anti-skid system do its work. Do not pump the brake pedals.

When using reverse thrust, be prepared for a possible downwind drift on a slippery runway with a crosswind.

During winter operations, it is even more important than usual that the flight crew not attempt to turn off the runway until the airplane has slowed to taxi speed.

Taxi at a reduced speed. Taxiing on slippery taxiways or runways at excessive speed or with strong crosswinds may cause the airplane to skid.

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‘SAFETY FIRST’ Safi Airways Safety Newsletter is published by the Quality & Safety Department. It is a source of safety information for the use of Safi Airways staff. Materials for publication are obtained from multiple sources. In the event that facts are incorrect, Quality & Safety department has committed to publishing an apology where appropriate. Any contributions, comments and feedback are always welcome and should be addressed

to: Safi Airways Quality & Safety Department E-mail: QSD@safiairways.com

Safety & Quality Team

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