USU HELPING TO MAKE AIR TRAVEL SAFER

Students led by Professor Cynthia Furse, assistant professor in the electrical engineering department at USU, are developing an answer to a dilemma of airline safety that has caught the attention of the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency and the White House. The focus is on faulty wiring.

Aging and damaged wires within the airplane is suspected as a possible cause of the crash of the TWA Flight 800 in which 230 people perished. Investigators are now looking closely at the problems caused by aging in airplane wiring systems that have resulted from the extended use of many aircrafts. Previously, planes were built to last for only a decade and then retired. Now planes are flying nearly double the time estimated when they were originally built, Furse said in a research report.

Instead of retiring most planes, different components of the aircraft are being updated individually. While the different components are being replaced, the miles of wiring inside an airplane is not because it is too difficult and expensive to replace, Furse said.

Aging wiring is visually inspected by technicians. However, many problems are too difficult to determine by this unsophisticated technique. Often when technicians are inspecting the wires they either miss problems or in the process of correcting damaged or malfunctioning wires they create more flaws. For these reasons various agencies and companies are developing different techniques to test the aging wires, according to Furse.

One of the most promising of these techniques is being developed by the electrical engineering department at USU.

Engineers at USU are developing a testing mechanism that will be a permanent fixture in the wiring system of aircraft. Because the mechanism is permanent, additional problems will not be created by technicians moving and bending wires when testing and examining them, Furse said.

The mechanism called a "smart connector" includes a computer sensor, as well as electrodes, that send a signal down the wires. Problems are detected by the sensor analyzing the reflections of the signal sent down the wire, she said.

With a "smart connector" pilots in the cockpit will be able to run a check of the wires minutes before takeoff. The "smart connector" would tell the pilot the location and severity of wiring problems, according to Furse.

Planes could require more than a thousand "smart connectors" to monitor the wiring in a plane. For this reason, the engineers at USU have endeavoured to create a connector that is inexpensive and lightweight.

The implementation of this device not only has the power to save hundreds of lives, but also could save thousands of dollars in service and repairs, Furse said.

The air division of the U.S. Navy is eagerly anticipating the completion of this project. They are already planning to implement "smart connectors" in many of their older planes.

Furse said she anticipates that they will have a "smart connector" that is marketable in two years.

However the engineers at USU do not plan to stop there. They have already begun research into developing a "smart wire" to be installed in new planes that would detect any problems and communicate them to the cockpit immediately.

For more information, contact Furse at 797-2780.

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Today's Example

Record #38Cadors Number: 2001Q0082 Reporting Region: Quebec

Occurrence Information 

Occurrence Type: Incident Occurrence Date: 2001/01/31
Occurrence Time: 2331 Z Day Or Night: day-time
Fatalities: 0 Injuries:

Canadian Aerodrome ID: CYUL Aerodrome Name: Montréal Intl (Dorval)
Occurrence Location:  Province: Quebec
Country: CANADA World Area: North America

Reported By: BST AOR Number:
TSB Class Of Investigation: 5 TSB Occurrence No.: A01Q0019
 Event Information Smoke - cockpit
 Aircraft Information CDN Registration: C-FTLW Foreign Registration:
Flight #: ACA 616
Aircraft Category: Aeroplane Country of Registration: CANADA
Make: DOUGLAS Model: DC9 32
Year Built: 1968 Amateur Built: No
Engine Make: PRATT & WHITNEY Engine Model: JT8D-7
Engine Type: Turbo jet Gear Type: Land
Phase of Flight: Taxi Damage: Unknown
Owner: AIR CANADA  Operator: AIR CANADA (5262)
Operator Type: Commercial

 Detail Information User Name: Lanoix, Sophie
Date: 2001/02/06
Further Action Required: No
O.P.I.: Maintenance (Quebec Region)
Narrative: Le BST nous rapporte (A01Q0019) que le DC9-32 de la compagnie Air
Canada, immatriculé C-FTLW et opérant sous le numéro ACA 616 effectuant un
vol de Dorval (CYUL) à St-John´s (CYYT), circulait au sol à l´aéroport de
Dorval (CYUL) lorsqu´un arc électrique s´est produit dans la cabine de
pilotage et de la fumée est apparue. Le problème était dû à un fil qui se
mettait en court-circuit dans l´assemblage du lecteur de carte du capitaine.
Le vol est retourné à la barrière. L´équipe de maintenance a trouvé que le
fil se mettait en court-circuit dans l´assemblage de la lampe à cause de la
détérioration de l´isolation de la languette de contact. La gestion de la
flotte inspectera l´état des fils et des connections des lampes des lecteur
de cartes et des éclairages de sacoche (briefcase light) de tous les DC9 de
la flotte afin d´empêcher la récurrence d´un problème semblable.

MM Translation:

TSB tells us that the Air Canada DC-9, registration C-FTLW operating as Air
Canada 616 scheduled for Montreal-Dorval to St. John's, Newfoundland. The
aircraft was taxiing when an electrical arc took place in the cockpit and
smoke appeared. The problem was caused by a wire which short-circuited in
the map reading light on the Captain's (left) side (presumably the one on
the control yoke) The aircraft returned to the gate. Maintenance crews found
the short circuit in the light assembly was due to the deterioration of the
insulation on the connector (literally,"little  contact tongue" - a better
physical description of it than the English!) The fleet manager will inspect
the condition of the connectors in the map lights and briefcase lights on
the entire DC9 fleet to prevent a recurrence of the same problem.

Please note that for the most part, CADORS reports contain preliminary,
unconfirmed data which can be subject to change.