Tuesday, Sep 07, 2010

(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) 


   By Nour Malas and Andy Pasztor

The investigation into the United Parcel Service Inc. cargo plane that crashed while attempting to return to Dubai last week, killing both pilots, has revived safety concerns about preventing and responding to cockpit smoke.

Investigators are trying to determine why the experienced crew, after reporting smoke and declaring an emergency about 20 minutes after takeoff, decided to return to Dubai rather than opting to land at a closer strip. For years, aircraft manufacturers, regulators and safety experts have emphasized the importance of landing as quickly as possible -- ideally in less than 20 minutes -- in the event of smoke or fire.

On Friday, UPS Flight No. 6, a Boeing Co. 747-400 aircraft, was headed to Cologne, Germany, from Dubai when it indicated it was returning to the Dubai airport "with smoke in the cockpit, unable to maintain altitude and requested the airport for landing," the preliminary report by the United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority said.

The crash is the first fatal aircraft incident for package-delivery giant UPS.

The United Arab Emirates' GCAA said late Friday it had recovered the bodies of the two pilots, and UPS over the weekend identified the two as U.S. citizens.

The plane went down in a patch of unpopulated desert inside a military base.

The probe is looking into whether the fire on the three-year-old Boeing 747 started in the cockpit as many air-safety experts currently assume, or if smoke barriers intended to protect the pilots from fires in the cargo hold functioned properly.

Preliminary information released by authorities in the United Arab Emirates suggests heavy smoke may have prevented the pilots from switching radio frequencies, properly operating their flight-management computers or controlling the jet's speed and altitude.

The investigation's progress is being followed closely by airlines, pilots and safety experts because many of the same type of 747s carry passengers around the world.

Some experts said it may be difficult to determine the precise location where the fire may have started because a post-crash fire destroyed much of the wreckage.

According to pilots and industry officials, the crash is expected to focus attention on the plane's systems to remove smoke from the cockpit in case of an emergency.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-09-10 0353GMT