Quincy Document

I found a very important document from the quincy accident:

it is the lock pin schematic for moving forward with my first new project.

New Project 2

Another New Project I will be doing is the effects of passenger involvement during takeoff and landing with Live TV not being turned off during critical phases of flight.

I flew jetblue and came up with some interesting thoughts for a new controversial article.

New Project

ARFF Drill at DAB

The drill conducted  was a success. The combined efforts of all emergency responders along with ARFF provided a very realistic and interesting environment that a classroom could never prepare us for. As with all drills, there were things that were outstanding, and things that could use polishing.

Some of the good things were:

·         Operations response time to the incident was amazing. The operations truck got on scene before our last occupant had reached the cone. (Myself and my fellow flight attendant)

·         When EVAC was trying to find the flight attendants, which would make occupant 30 and 31, we let them find us to make it more realistic. People tend to get lost and the number counts change throughout the first hour of the accident.

·         Switching the runway on ARFF was definitely a good idea.  ARFF had staged for our touchdown on Runway 7L, but because due to the severity of the incident onboard, our captain had decided there was no time for ops to clear the disabled aircraft already out on on 7L and we changed runways to runway 16. This challenged ARFF to use taxiways and cross the active runway a few times bringing the communication of ATC into account.

·         It was good we practiced on a regional aircraft, with very close to the amount of passengers who would be on the manifest since the past 7 major fatal accidents have been regional’s.

·         Use of forceful entry tools to get the flight deck occupants out.

Some of the things that needed constructive criticism:

·         Ops needed to take into consideration the isolation of the flight crew more seriously. It is something that may or may not be thought of, but the airline wants their flight attendants and pilots who are not transported to be isolated from the media and other sources of outside information. Since DAB was an out station for Oceania, the airline would not be able to take care of this because the airline doesn’t fly here. Ops would have to take us as the flight attendants somewhere to get a dereif by our airline.

·         In another drill, use the forceful entry on the cabin occupants. I understand that the flight crew were dummies and subjected to more smoke then we were, but in the real world lately, the flight deck crew have been at an advantage and the cabin occupants have been the ones needing help. Training of the forceful entry tools on cabin doors instead of making direct cuts into the fuselage may be beneficial.

Since there were more good things recognized, the drill was definitely a success. I can say as one of the flight attendants in this drill that an accident is something you can never truly prepare for. You may get trained, but what needs to happen is you need to fall back on this training. Airlines need to also screen their flight attendants heavily on their ability to perform under operations such as this.  I can attest to the fact that when given real passengers and not trained airline employees to evacuate, it’s not easy. We repeated the instructions several times to them and we still had four or so passengers attempt something completely different that would have endangered themselves or someone else’s life had this been a real accident with fire.

In regards to the post crash environment itself, I can only say you can never prepare yourself or tell yourself its only a drill. The entrapping feeling, the panic, the  smoke, the running, the sirens, the scene itself and seeing a carseat with a baby…I thought I was prepared to deal with this. When I saw the ARFF guy walking towards us with the carseat and the baby doll strapped in, it was a sick feeling even though he was a doll. Being trapped in the simulator in the dark and all you could hear were sirens coming towards you, was a very strange un-welcoming feeling.

The fact that this was a drill disappeared for my fellow flight attendant and I. We were standing together on a real airplane and the 29 other occupants who had survived the impact became our first and only priority.

It was an experience that I wish I could have everyone who flies go through. It was emotional yet educational. I had mixed emotions watching and timing different responses, and as we were “waiting” for them, it felt like a lifetime an how scary that can feel.  It also shows you as the flight crew how important their training is and that they truly need to take a command role in getting their post impact survivors out anyway possible because your response from these services may be delayed when you have an unanticipated impact.

All in all, it is an experience I will never forget, nor would want to. This drill was everything that Alert III stands for, and a true example of what the project is meant to cover. An accident that was a survivable impact for some or all and the occupants need to get out alive.

I thank all my fellow Embry Riddle students who helped out as well as the Daytona State College Students, ARFF personnel, EVAC, DBFD, DAB ops and everyone else who made this drill as successful as it was.

Ground Taxi Safety

GTX is a system that I designed that will help eliminate aircraft from taxing into the wrong position onto a runway that is closed or out of serivce.

The system will consist of an aircraft based system that would allow pilots to determine their position at any time while moving about all operations area, a solar powered ground transceivers mounted at different intervals to relay signals, and an interactive system to be utilized by ground controllers at airports to assign movements to aircraft on all operations areas of the airport.

The system would be a sun pass type box in teh cockpit that will display different LED on a moving blocklight system (Red, Amber, Green)

The goal is to eliminate accidents and runway collisions.

Seatbelt Cutters

When United Express Flight 5925 collided with the King Air on the runway in Quincy IL, everyone survived the initial impact but the passengers didn’t know how to release their seatbelts to evacuate the aircraft. After this accident, the FAA made it mandatory to demo the seatbelt under 121.571 along with other safety features of the airplane. 

In flight attending most flight attendants are aware of the blood rule, "If you dont get yourself out, you won’t survive." Yes, flight attendants sit in their jumpseats looking pretty but when the macaroni and cheese hits the fan, the flight attendant and his/her ABPs are the most important people in that cabin to remain alive for the other surviving passengers. In short, Get as many out as possible without endangering yourself. Sounds selfish. But true. 

Over my vast amounts of flying and talking to passengers, one of the top items was "What do I do if my seatbelt fails to unbuckle? Will I be trapped?" The answer is pretty much yes. We can look at Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in the everglades back in the 70s. When the L1011 hit the water, flight attendants were found alive harnessed to their jumpseats and passengers were found alive strapped into their seats trapped. When the seats started to submerge, the passengers were going under with them. Same scenario in UsAir Flight 5050 and UsAir 481 that went into the drink in LGA. Passengers were drowning because their buckles wouldn’t move. 

In a low speed, shallow angle accident, the chances of survival are at its highest. This is the type of accident we're most likely going to find our flight attendants, pilots, and passengers alive and the seat tracks most likely intact. This is good and what we hope for, but still if there is an immediate hazard to the passenger, how do we fix it so we get the passenger out of the cabin fighting a stubborn safety harness. 

The idea for seatbelt cutters first came to me when I saw them on the bus ride to high school one day. Granted this was in a post 9/11 world where blades are not part of the friendly skies, i was met with a challenge. 

Can we find a way to get a seatbelt cutter onboard an airplane without having the blade used to fight back against crew to take control of the airplane? Yes. The seatbelt cutters do not have exposed blades that could be used to hijack an airplane. 

Next, Where would we put them? 
Well as the flight attendant is the most important person in the cabin when the mac and cheese hits the fan, we want them to be as accessible as the flashlight. Just as the flashlight floats with the beam pointing up, we would make these cutters buoyant with reflective colors such as orange like a crew life vest. 

The flight attendant could also use them for himself/herself if her/his harness was to ever fail. 

Commitment to Safety Statement

Commitment to Safety Statement

My name is Michael Rossi and I am a senior at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach Florida. I am an Aviation Safety major and I live the “Jettlink Safety Culture” all day, every day.  Before I get into the body of my commitment statement, I would like to make one thing very clear.

Committed aviation safety professionals do not do what we do just because we can; we do it because we WANT to do it and make our industry better!

Losing Kelly in August of 2006 was something that I was not prepared for. For the first time, an aviation fatality had affected my life. I remember on the flight back to EWR thinking “Kel, I don’t know what happened today, I don’t know why it happened, but I’m gonna fix this. I promise.”  I am at Embry Riddle because of him and to make our industry safer for all.

I am dedicated to the safety of my passengers and crew members aboard every aircraft in our industry at any given time so that everyone remains safe from known hazards and can come home and fulfill his or her last promise.

Some people have told me that I’m not going to know every crewmember or passenger that flies for our airline or uses the industry for air travel. Although, this may be true, at my airline, they are my focus and responsibility. I look to treating every crewmember and passenger as a personal accountability of mine. Life is very fragile and in my “Not on my watch” program, I will do everything in my power to make sure that a fatality does not happen “on my watch” as your aviation safety professional. 

The challenges of accident prevention is ensuring that my crewmembers can come to work, my passengers can fly on our airline and anyone who participates in patron with our company gets to their destination safely while we as the safety professionals fight a battle of mixing human factors with machine and the unpredictable factors that sometimes play a role.

We may be able to tackle the challenge of human error in the flight deck one day, but we are not going to ever have a total grip on factors such as weather or structural failures. How we work with what we are given proves how committed we are to a safer future and the well being of our passengers and crew.

From a structural perspective, we have had some major advancement in technology that helps in detecting corrosion, stress concentrations, and fatigue cracks. On the weather side we have installed wonderful weather relaying devices for our air traffic controllers and flight deck crews but we cannot ever be too “comfortable” with these advancements and must try to remain ahead of the unpredictable.

Another unpredictable and sometimes sabotaging factor in safety are disagreements between professionals. Disagreements and difference in opinion will happen. Not everyone is going to agree but as long as the disagreement is constructive and you as the crew member or panel member have an open mind to take suggestions, it’s ok for them to happen.

I can say without hesitation that I am open minded to difference in opinion. I will defend what I say but I will take into account all collaboration that results from any form of publication of an idea or concern. If it keeps my passengers and crews alive, I don’t mind learning and getting answers.

With the constant movement of airplanes we are never going to have a zero accident rate, but my commitment to this industry is to reduce our fatality rate by tackling some challenges that have been surfacing over the years. If we can take what we have learned and not allow history to repeat itself, or work on post impact issues to increase survivability, I am confident that we can reduce our fatality rate one step at a time.

In conclusion, loosing Kelly was a terrible event in my life and in the many lives of those who cared for him. We lost a crewmember, uncle, brother, boyfriend and friend. My commitment to safety has Kelly in mind everyday remembering his love to bring joy to others. I am committed to a safer future, not only for him but for the rest of us. To A Safe and Fulfilling Future!