UPS works on more than 40 aircraft-safety measures

UPS is exploring more than 40 safety enhancements for its aircraft, in addition to fittingso-called ‘Emergency Vision Assurance System’ (Evas) devices, in response to recent elevated safety

The integrator announced earlier this month that it would become the first international aircarrier to introduce Evas, which is designed to help maintain a pilot’s critical field of vision inthe event of the cockpit filling with smoke, by displacing the smoke with a transparent ‘InflatableVision Unit’. The devices would initially be installed in its B767 aircraft, and later rolled outacross its intercontinental fleet, in a process expected to take several years.

Installation of the enhanced safety equipment follows the crash of UPS flight 006 in Dubai lastSeptember. Although the full results of the crash investigation have yet to be published, theinitial report from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said that there were indications offire or smoke in the main deck and the lower aft cargo compartment of the B747-400 freighter, andevidence that the crew “had difficulties seeing the cockpit primary flight instrument displays dueto the thick smoke”.

UPS Airlines spokesman Mike Mangeot told CEP-Research: “Evas is essentially an inflatable bubblethat will allow our crewmembers to maintain a clear view of flight instruments and controls incockpit smoke situations.”

The recommendation to install Evas came from the Joint UPS-Independent Pilots Association (IPA)Safety Task Force, which was formed last November following the crash. A parallel joint UPS-IPASecurity Task Force was also set up at the same time in response to the well-publicised incidentlast October when terrorists placed viable explosive devices within the UPS and FedEx air expresssystems, hidden in printer cartridges sent in shipments from Yemen.

“Since forming the safety task force last fall, the IPA and UPS have mobilized quickly toresearch and recommend fire safety enhancements,” said IPA and Safety Task Force member Captain BobBrown. “Evas is an important step forward.”

Other safety enhancements being considered by the safety task force include full-face oxygenmasks; comprehensive fire-mitigation and suppression systems; checklist procedures for smoke andfire; and the carriage of lithium batteries and other fire/smoke hazards.

Suspicions that the smoke that led to the Dubai crash may have come from a lithium-ion batteryfire on board the aircraft were heightened last October when the US Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) issued a new safety alert on the risks from carrying lithium batteries as cargo on aircraft,in which it noted that UPS flight 006 “did include large quantities of lithium batteries, and [we]believe it prudent to advise operators of that fact”.

The safety update stressed that the cause of the Dubai crash had not yet been determined, butwas issued in response to the results of new research by the FAA’s technical centre, conductedbetween April and September 2010, and included a number of recommended actions carriers can take toreduce the risks associated with the carriage of lithium batteries.

The Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) claimed the research showed that lithium metal(non-rechargeable) and lithium-ion (rechargeable) batteries were “highly flammable and capable ofigniting during air transport under certain circumstances”.  The research also indicated thatHalon 1301, the fire-suppression agent found in Class C cargo compartments, was ineffective insuppressing lithium metal battery fires.

The FAA said it was still considering the best course of action to address the risk posed bylithium batteries, but that in the interim, carriers should consider adopting the actionsrecommended in its SAFO document.

Renewed concern about the carriage of lithium batteries by airlines and air express operatorswas also raised at the annual cargo conference of the International Air Transport Association(IATA) in March. IATA’s head of dangerous goods, Dave Brennan, along with other speakers, said thatthere was a growing threat of certain dangerous goods, particularly lithium-ion batteries, beingcarried unidentified and unlabelled in parcels shipped as a result of sales via online auction andretail sites such as eBay.

UPS declined to comment on this apparently growing threat from online retail and auctionshipments, on the basis that it was a broad commerce issue, suggesting instead that theRechargeable Battery Association (PRBA) was the best source of information on the prevalence oflithium batteries and their place in the global economy. UPS also said that it did not wish to “comment on another company’s business”, but also declined to discuss the matter as a broader issue,rather than in relation to any individual online auction or retail company.

However, UPS Airlines spokesman Mike Mangeot was prepared to discuss UPS’s response to concernsabout the wider issue of lithium-battery transport. He told CEP-Research: “There has been muchspeculation about the Dubai accident and lithium batteries. However, the investigationremains incomplete and inconclusive as to the cause of the tragedy. That said, UPS is stronglycommitted to the safe transportation of hazardous materials in all modes. We believe that lithiumbattery safety is an important issue, and we are studying it very carefully.”

He said that UPS supported more-stringent lithium battery regulations. “We believe the bestapproach is to harmonize US rules with existing United Nations regulationsand International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) technical instructions. We have advocatedfor that method in the current US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration(PHMSA) rulemaking process.”

The US issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NRPM) in January 2010 relating to the carriage oflithium batteries, which has been out for consultation, with the rule expected to be finalisedlater this year. In its original form, the NRPM advocated stricter rules on the carriage oflithium-ion batteries which far exceed those of ICAO. George Kerchner, CEO of the RechargeableBattery Association, told CEP-Research that under the proposed rules, consumers without specialistdangerous-goods training would not be allowed to send an item such as a laptop by air if itcontained a lithium-ion battery.  

Kerchner said that harmonisation with ICAO rules was needed, plus better enforcement, ratherthan stricter rules, and that a lack of harmonisation would lead to greater numbers of shippersfailing to comply with rules that had already been established as adequate. He said billions oflithium-ion cells and batteries have been shipped over the past decade, without a single fire on anaircraft attributable to lithium-ion cells, batteries or the products into which they areincorporated, where existing US regulations – much less stringent than the ICAO regulations – werecomplied with.

UPS said: “A vital component of any new rules will be a strong emphasis on shipper outreachand enforcement. We have engaged in our own shipper outreach effort as we have aligned with therecent US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) on carryinglithium batteries. We are helping our customers better understand how to package, label and declareshipments containing lithium batteries. In addition, we are training our employees how to betterrecognise shipments that could include undeclared hazardous materials. We are also exploringover 40 safety enhancements for our airplanes. For example, we announced that we would equip ourfleet with the Emergency Vision Assurance System.”

But he said it was important to remember that these are broad industry issues. “Ultimatesolutions will require shippers, carriers, manufacturers and regulators to work togetherto enhance safety and maintain the flow of commerce,” he added.