Shirika la ndege la SWISS Inrernational Airlines ambalo linamilikiwa na Shirika la ndege la Lufthansa la Ujerumani, limesimamisha safari za ndege zake zote aina ya Airbus A220 kutokana na matatizo ya injini zake. Injini zote za ndege hizo zimelazimika kukaguliwa ili kuhakiki usalama wake. Ndege hizo hutumia injini aina ya PW 1500G zinazotengenezwa na kampuni ya Pratt & Whitney ya Canada. 

Shirika hilo limesema lipo katika mazungumzo na mamlaka za usimamizi wa usafiri wa anga na pia mtengenezaji wa ndege hizo ambaye ni kampuni ya Airbus. 

Mamlaka ya usafiri wa anga ya Marrekani FAA ilitoa muongozo kwamba injini zote za A220 ambazo ni Pratt & Whitney zinatakiwa kufanyiwa ukaguzi zaidi wa kiusalama. 

Kusimamishwa kwa ndege hizo kunatokana na matatizo ya kiufundi ya mara kwa mara ya injini hizo. Mnamo July 25 vipande vya injini ya A220 vilikatikakatika na kuanguka katika anga la Paris, ndege hiyo ikiwa safarini kutokea Geneva kwenda London.Tukio kama hilo linaripotiwa kutokea tena Septemba 16, kwa mujibu wa mamlaka ya uchunguzi ya ajali za ndege la Ufaransa, BEA. Na tukio lingine limetokea Octoba 15 likihusisha injini za P&W na kuwafanya marubani wa safari no LX359 kurudisha ndege Geneva na hatimaye shirika hilo kuamua kuzisimamisha ndege zake zote za A220. 

SWISS ina jumla ya A220 zipatazo 29 amabapo 20 ni A220-300 na 9 ni A220-100. Safari zote za SWISS zilizopangwa katika ndege hizo zimeahirishwa. 

A220 sio ndege pekee yenye matatizo kwa sasa, ila inaongeza idadi katika listi ya ndege zenye matatizo. Ndege nyingine zenye matatizo ni Boeing 737 MAX, na pia Boeing 787 Dreamliner ambayo pia ina matatizo katika engine zake aina ya Rolls Royce Trent 1000. 

Dear Colleague

As you are aware we have recently had two significant accidents, one of which resulted in the loss of life of all on board. The other accident, in October, was no less serious, but thankfully resulted in no loss of life. Two passengers and the Pilot were taken to hospital in Nairobi and subsequently released after 2 nights. I am still in touch with all involved.

Naturally all of us at Coastal are devastated and in a total state of shock. To have one major accident, after so many years of safe operations is bad, but to have another, with such a tragic outcome, so soon afterwards has left us reeling.

We have rightly been accused for poor communication to our trade partners, I put my hand up and take full responsibility for this. The lack of further communication after the October accident was down to my desire to respect the ongoing investigation and the privacy of those involved. Whilst this intention was honourable, I accept that it was not the right decision. I am having to learn fast.

The initial report from the first accident points to an attempted go around in bad weather that was left too late.

The cause of Wednesday’s tragedy is still being investigated and I do not wish to speculate as to why it happened, at this stage, in fear that I prejudice the official investigation. I will not release the passenger or pilot details yet, as the next of kin are still trying to process their loss. I am sure you will respect their privacy.

Coastal Aviation was rightly proud of our safety record, built up over 30 years. I still cannot believe that the two serious occurrences are this year. One thing I can assure you is that we are not sitting idle in trying to
a) find out what happened and
b) making the necessary steps in order to make sure that this never happens again.

What are we doing?

The first thing we are doing is appointing an external investigator to come and assess every single aspect of our business. These will include:

Flight Operations
Safety Management System
Maintenance
Training
Pilot Recruitment
Crew composition, experience and Workload
Our Management structure and effectiveness.

These investigations take time and will result in many changes and improvements, we may become a very different operation in our quest for the greatest level of safety assurance achievable. During this process we pledge to keep you, our valued partners informed at all times, as it may result in material changes in the products and services we offer.

The investigation will address the medium and long terms changes that are required.

In order to address the short term and immediate needs, I am chairing a meeting with our heads of departments tomorrow morning to make immediate changes and other short-term measures. The results of this meeting will be fully communicated with you by 09:00 EAT on Monday. Many of the changes will already be in place.

We have created a dedicated email address communication
This is to assist us in communicating with our industry partners more effectively and timeously.

Lastly, but by no means least I would like to thank the industry at large for the messages of love and support we have received, they mean a huge amount to all of us.

Your sincerely

Julian Edmunds
Managing Director

Tanzania leading airline Precision Air Services PLC, has announced the launch of scheduled flights to Serengeti National Park effective from 1st October 2017. The flights will be from Zanzibar or Dar es Salaam direct to Serengeti every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

The announcement comes few weeks after the airline announced the launch of scheduled flights to Kahama effective from 5th September 2017.

The announcement found on the airline's website is here quoted:

"Dear Customer,

Effective from 1st October 2017, Precision Air will start operating scheduled flights to Serengeti National Park.

Fly from Zanzibar OR Dar es Salaam direct to Serengeti every Monday,Wednesday,Saturday and Sunday.

Enjoy your time in the park or at the beach and let us worry about your flight."

End of quote;

Precision Air seems to spread its wings all over the Tanzanian space providing affordable and reliable air travel services to its customers.

The Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was established in 1952, in the Serengeti ecosystem in the Mara and Simiyu regions. It is home to the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth - the great migration of wildebeest and zebra. The resident population of lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, and birds is also impressive. There’s a wide variety of accommodation available, from luxury lodges to mobile camps.

PrecisionAir is a public listed (DSE: PAL) Tanzanian airline, which is a leader in providing scheduled flight service to over 11 destinations within and outside Tanzania. Operating from its main hub in Dar es Salaam Precision Air flies to Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mtwara, Kigoma, Tabora, Musoma, Mwanza, Bukoba, Zanzibar and regionally, to Nairobi and Entebbe.

PrecisionAir is a member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) which audits the airline every two years to ensure that it complies with global safety standards, a key factor for all its members. It is the only Tanzanian airline that has passed and attained the IATA Operator Safety Audit (IOSA) certification.

Ajali za ndege zimekuwa zikitokea mara chache sana ukilinganisha na ajali za vyombo vingine vya usafiri kama vile magari, treni pikipiki n.k. Hii ni kutokana na udhibiti wa hali ya juu kutoka kwa mamlaka zinazohusika na kusimamia utengenezaji na uendeshaji wa vyombo vya angani, ambapo kwa hapa kwetu mamlaka husika ni Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA).
TCAA ni miongoni mwa mamlaka zenye nguvu kiutendaji hali iliyopelekea kutambulika na mamlaka zingine duniani kwa usimamizi wake thabiti wa usalama wa safari za angani hapa Tanzania.

Anga la Tanzania ni salama kwa safari za ndege na ndio maana mashirika makubwa ya ndege duniani kama vile Qatar, Emirates, KLM, Air France, Oman air, Ethiopian airlines, Flydubai, Etihad, KQ n.k yanafanya safari zao kuja hapa Tanzania.

Pamoja na kuwa ajali za ndege huwa hutokea chache lakini madhara yake huwa ni makuwa sana na pengine kushinda hata ajali za vyombo vingine. Hii ni kutokana na ukweli kwamba nyingi ya ajali za ndege hupelekea watu wote wanaokuwepo katika chombo husika kupoteza maisha.

Mfano wa ajali mbaya ya ndege kuwahi kutokea ni ajali ya ndege ya shirika la ndege la Msumbiji, LAM Airlines, aina ya Embrear 190 iliyotengenezwa oktoba 2012. Ajali hii ilitokea tarehe 29/11/2013, ambapo ndege hiyo yenye usajili C9-EMC ilikuwa ikifanya safari namba 470  kutoka Maputo, Msumbiji kuelekea Luanda, Angola. Ndege hii ikiwa na abiria 27, marubani 2, wahudumu 3 pamoja na fundi 1, ilianguka nchini Namibia katika mbuga ya hifadhi ya wanyama ya Bwabwata. Watu wote 33 waliokuwepo katika ndege hiyo walipoteza maisha palepale ambapo ndege iliungua yote na kubaki majivu.

Taarifa za uchunguzi wa ajali hii zilionesha kuwa rubani aliidondosha ndege hii kwa makusudi.

Iwapo utapenda kujua zaidi juu ya nini kilichotokea, na kwanini rubani akaamua kuidondosha ndege hii, basi tupatie maoni yako nasi tutakujuza zaidi.

Tazama picha zifuatazo za moja ya ajali ya ndege ya LAM Airlines.

The Aviation Safety Council (ASC) of Taiwan has issued their investigation report into the loss of TransAsia Airways (TNA) ATR 72-500 B-22810 on 23 July 2014 during an attempted landing in poor weather.  It highlights a number of important safety lessons.

During a non-precision approach, after around 34 minutes of holding, the aircraft impacted terrain in a residential area 800m NE  of the threshold of runway 20 at Magong Airport, Penghu Islands, Taiwan during a heavy thunderstorm associated with Typhoon Matmo. Ten of the 58 on board survived.

The Commander was Pilot Flying  (age 60, ex-military, joined airline in 1992, ATPL, 22,994 hours total, 19,070 hours on ATR42/72) and the First Officer (FO) was Pilot Monitoring (age 39, direct recruit by the airline in 2011, CPL, 2,393 hours total, 2,084 hours on ATR42/72).

There was no approach briefing before commencing descent and the FO “proposed that he conducted the before landing check by himself without a cross-check”, which the Commander approved.

The ASC say the Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) occurred because:

The crew continued the approach below the [330ft] minimum descent altitude (MDA) when they were not visual with the runway environment contrary to standard operating procedures.

GE222′s altitude and track deviations (due to the PF’s left control inputs and crosswind) while attempting to visually locate the runway (Credit: ASC)

Neither flight crew member recognised the need for a missed approach until the aircraft was at just 72ft, 0.5 nm beyond the MAPt, where impact with the terrain was “unavoidable”.

Further accident site photos can be found here and here.

Having discussed the effect of a cockpit gradient, the ASC note that in interviews with other TransAsia crews the consensus was that “the occurrence first officer would accommodate the captains’ flying habits, and tended not to challenge captains’ landing decisions”.  We have previously discussed whether it is better for the Commander to be the Pilot Flying or the Pilot Monitoring and this accident re-emphasises that question.  However, we do note below that the FO did intervene after several course, mode and communication errors by the Commander.

Trigana Air has had 14 serious incidents since it began operations in 1991, losing 10 aircraft in the process, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

It has been on a European Union blacklist of banned carriers since 2007. All but four of Indonesia's certified airlines are on the list.

Correspondents say Indonesia has a patchy aviation record overall, with two major crashes in the past year.

An Indonesia AirAsia plane crashed in the Java Sea last December while on an international flight from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 192 people on board.

A military transport plane crashed in a residential area of Medan, Sumatra in July, killing more than 140 people including several on the ground.

SOURCE: CNN, BBC

Dar Es Salaam: A helicopter  (Robinson R-44 Raven II reg 5H-TWA) owned and operated by Tanzania National Park Authority has crashed on saturday, killing all 4 people on board.

The helicopter went down in Kipunguni B Moshi Bar,Ukonga-Ilala Dar es Salaam. It was on on approach to Dar Es Salaam International Airport (DAR/HTDA).

The helicopter worth $500,000, was recently donated to the Tanzanian government by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, to help with anti-poaching operations.

"Two pilots from the police force, a civilian pilot and a police officer were killed

Investigations are still underway to establish the cause of the apparent accident.

Robinson R-44 Raven II reg 5H-TWA before the crash. photo credit byDavid Osborn