Flight Safety Information November 8, 2011 - No. 228 In This Issue Future of air traffic control takes shape at new Daytona Beach center FAA seeks leads after laser is aimed at 6 planes landing at New York's LaGuardia China Counterfeit Parts in U.S. Military Boeing, L3 Aircraft Landing Gear Balks On ANA Boeing 787 Naked man walks around terminal of Washington Position: Research Medical Officer Industry Research Survey...Management of unexpected situations by air transport pilots Future of air traffic control takes shape at new Daytona Beach center 'NextGen' system relies on GPS technology to modernize air traffic Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University research associate Abbayu Hussein works at the simulated control tower console during the grand opening of the FAA's Florida NextGen Test Bed center, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Daytona Beach International Airport, Friday, November 4, 2011. The future of air travel could someday look like this: Passengers would have fewer delays and faster flights. Air-traffic controllers and pilots would depend on GPS, already commonplace among motorists and smartphone users, instead of the antiquated blips of radar. Airlines would save millions of dollars on fuel. A better air-traffic control system that relies on satellites is more than a decade away, but the technology that could make it a reality is being developed and tested at a new Federal Aviation Administration center at Daytona Beach International Airport. On Monday, U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, along with FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, officials of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and other congressional leaders officially opened the $22 million test site for "NextGen," the FAA's multibillion-dollar project to modernize the nation's airspace. The Daytona center is one of three nationwide. "We'd like more certainty where airplanes are, and we've had many near-misses," said Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "With this, we'll know where aircraft are all the time. And with the fuel savings, passengers could have less-expensive ticket prices and the airlines can stay in business." NextGen promises to bring aviation out of the World War II-era radar system that, despite its flaws, has guided air traffic for 60 years. Such an upgrade can't be done overnight for a system that serves 730 million passengers a year and involves about 70,000 flights every 24 hours, the FAA said. Embry-Riddle, one of the nation's top universities for aviation and aerospace, will conduct tests at the center, and about 15 aerospace companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Harris Corp., are partners. "This facility is all about innovation," Babbitt said. "The $22 million of federal funds appropriated for this test bed is probably one of the wisest investments we've made in a long time." Installing GPS technology in cockpits and air-traffic control towers is a key part of NextGen. During Monday's tour, Embry-Riddle's research team demonstrated how the new software and GPS-based systems would affect a routine flight at Daytona Beach - a U.S. Airways flight to Charlotte, N.C. The massive array of computer terminals and large monitors showed how each key participant in a flight - including pilots, airport managers and controllers - would use a central database that offers instant information about a plane's location, direction, speed and other factors. The airport tower could even have a virtual bird's-eye view of the plane through taxiing and takeoff. A satellite system offers many advantages over radar. It could work in the mountains and over the ocean, where radar is useless. It would be faster and more efficient than using radios to call pilots or using handwritten notes to track planes. And it would ease the management of heavy traffic at some of the nation's largest airports, especially when weather wreaks havoc on flight schedules. But it will take billions before NextGen becomes a reality, and there isn't a firm schedule yet for the system. Early Monday, Mica held a congressional committee hearing at the Embry-Riddle campus to discuss NextGen's present course. Already, NextGen has cost $2.8 billion in federal appropriations, and the FAA estimates it will take $15 billion to $22 billion through 2025 to get all the technology fully installed and operational. The FAA plans to roll the system out in phases, however, and key parts could be running by 2018. Babbitt said the airlines could see gradual savings in fuel consumption in coming years. Getting a firm schedule for NextGen will largely depend on the next FAA bill, which Mica hopes to get to the president's desk by the end of the year. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/os-faa-testing-facility-technology- 20111107,0,5917806.story ******** FAA opens expanded NexGen test bed at Embry-Riddle The US Federal Aviation Administration today officially opened an expanded test centre focused on developing NextGen technologies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Embry-Riddle said the test bed facility has doubled in size to 929m2 (10,000 sq ft). Since 2008 researchers at the institution have integrated information about predicted weather and flight trajectories into the En Route Automation Modernisation (ERAM) programme and a terminal management system. In the future participants in the test bed plan to investigate the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the US national airspace system, and study the use of four-dimensional trajectories assigned to manage aircraft routes. The Florida test bed is one of three designated by the FAA to conduct NextGen research. FAA's other testing sites include a facility run by NASA near Dallas-Fort Worth International airport and a site at the agency's technical centre near Atlantic City, New Jersey. The work at Embry-Riddle is conducted through public-private partnerships, and the US government accountability office (GAO) in testimony released on 7 November stated the university is currently working on a model agreement to help designate specific components - hardware, software and infrastructure -to be supplied by the government and those provided by private companies. Projects listed by GAO pegged to the Florida facility include four-dimensional weather cube demonstrations, oceanic conflict advisory flight trials and flight data object preparation. Private partners working with Embry-Riddle include Lockheed Martin, Harris Corporation, Sensis, Mosiac ATM, Adacel, NavPortugal, NATS UK and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Back to Top FAA seeks leads after laser is aimed at 6 planes landing at New York's LaGuardia airport NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration is urging witnesses to contact police after someone aimed a green laser at six airliners as they landed at LaGuardia airport over the weekend. Lasers can blind or distract pilots. The laser came from a point about five miles southwest of the airport, hitting the planes as they were passing over Queens or Brooklyn. On Friday night, it hit commuter jets operated by Continental, U.S. Airways, American Eagle and Transtates Airlines, which operates shuttle flights for both United and U.S. Airways. Pilots reported the strikes between 6:06 p.m. and 7:56 p.m. On Saturday, the laser hit a Continental commuter jet and a United Airlines Boeing 757, both around 7 p.m. The planes were between 1,600 and 2,500 feet above New York at the time. All of the airliners landed safely, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said. The FAA is asking anyone with information about the laser to contact police or send an email to LaserReports(at)faa.gov. Laser strikes have become a serious problem in the U.S., as handheld laser pointers have become cheaper and more powerful. Manufacturers have also introduced green lasers, which are more visible than red ones. The number of planes hit by lasers rose from 283 in 2005 to 2,836 in 2010. As of Oct. 20 there had been 2,795 laser strikes in 2011. Pilots in Phoenix have reported the most, with 96 there. Philadelphia was second with 95 and Chicago was third with 83. In June, the FAA began imposing fines of up $11,000 against people caught shining lasers at planes, and its lawyers are now pursuing 18 such cases. Because there is no specific law against laser strikes, the FAA has been using an administrative rule that allows it to punish people who interfere with a flight crew performing its duties. The agency has asked Congress members to pass a law making laser strikes a crime. Back to Top China Counterfeit Parts in U.S. Military Boeing, L3 Aircraft Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Dozens of suspected counterfeit parts have been installed on U.S. defense equipment from Raytheon Co., L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and Boeing Co., including aircraft deployed to Afghanistan. The Senate Armed Services Committee found counterfeit parts -- usually from China -- on at least seven aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin Corp. C-130J transport plane, Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and L-3 27J Spartan transport. "Suspect electronic parts from China were installed on military systems and subsystems that were manufactured by Raytheon Co., L-3 Communications and Boeing," said the memo from the committee's staff, released yesterday in advance of a hearing today. None of the examples were connected to instances of lives lost or dramatic failures causing an aircraft crash, Michigan Senator Carl Levin, the committee chairman, said. Still, the committee staff has "identified lots of places where, unless that correction was made, there was real fear that those kind of disastrous consequences could take place," Levin said. China supports the fight against counterfeit goods, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a briefing today in Beijing. "China's government is actively promoting cooperation in fighting fake or counterfeit goods with relevant authorities in other countries and such efforts are welcome," Hong said. Deployed Aircraft Separately, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service is investigating approximately 40 cases involving various counterfeit items, Assistant Pentagon Inspector General for Investigative Operations James Ives said in an e-mail. The agency is conducting 225 investigations "involving potentially defective or substandard parts and components," he said. "The cases may involve counterfeits or improperly made parts," Ives said. Two new L-3 Air Force C-27J Spartans deployed to Afghanistan have displays with suspect parts, according to the committee. L3's Integrated Systems unit notified the Air Force on Sept. 19 that 38 suspect video memory chips were installed in the display units on eight of the first 11 aircraft delivered. Memory Chip Risks The L-3 unit that made the displays learned of the suspect memory chips in November 2010, the memo said. The committee traced the chips to Hong Dark Electronic Trade in Shenzhen, China, which also delivered an earlier counterfeit part L-3 discovered in October 2009, it said. The display units are made by L-3 Communications Display Systems and provide pilots with diagnostic data including engine status, fuel usage, location and warning messages. The C-27J displays were among more than 500 containing suspect Chinese parts sold to the Air Force, Navy and defense contractors for installation also on C-130J and C-17 transport and Marine Corps CH-46 helicopters, the memo said. "Failure of the memory chip could cause a display unit to show a degraded image, lose data or even go blank," the memo said. L-3 spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said the company is "reviewing the matter." Serious Problem "The fact that defective parts are in aircraft that are deployed in Afghanistan is evidence of the seriousness of the problem," Levin said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News. The Senate committee's investigative staff amassed a database with 1,800 cases of counterfeiting totaling about 1 million parts. It scrutinized 100 cases and found that 70 percent of the suspect parts were traced to Chinese firms, according to the memo. "Nearly 20 percent of the remaining cases were tracked to the United Kingdom and Canada -- known resale points for counterfeit electronic parts from China," it said. The panel is considering ways to tighten rules against the counterfeits, Levin told reporters, including requiring the defense contractors to pay for replacing the parts with genuine items. "There's a lot of possibilities here," Levin said. "Right now, there is ambiguity in some of the contracts," he said. "It depends on some extent as to the wording of the contract, whether it is cost-plus or fixed price," he said. Legislation "will force contractors to tell" their subcontractors and their subcontractor's suppliers that they need to make sure the parts being sold are legitimate, he said. "If you out the onus on all of our contractors they will get that message back to their suppliers as well," he said. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-08/china-counterfeit-parts-in-u-s-military- boeing-l3-aircraft.html Back to Top Landing Gear Balks On ANA Boeing 787 All Nippon Airlines has reported the first operational glitch in its young Boeing 787 fleet, a balky main landing gear that prompted a go-around so pilots could deploy the gear manually for an uneventful landing. The incident occurred Sunday as the first of the two 787s in ANA's fleet was landing at Okayama in central Japan. When a cockpit safety light indicated the main landing gear had not extended, pilots resorted to a manual backup after flying a go-around. The cause was apparently a faulty hydraulic valve, not the landing gear. A Boeing official said that after an inspection the airplane was returned to service. http://www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Naked man walks around terminal of Washington-area airport; taken to hospital for evaluation CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) - A man has been taken to a hospital for evaluation after he was spotted walking naked around Washington Dulles International Airport. Airport spokeswoman Kimberly Gibbs says the adult male was walking around the main terminal Monday morning and was not wearing clothing or underwear. Airport police took him into custody without incident and determined that he needed medical attention. He was taken to a local hospital. Gibbs says police have no plans to pursue charges against the man. She says there was no security risk or disruption to passengers or air traffic. Back to Top Position: Research Medical Officer Announcement Number: AAC-EXT-12-AAM630-22975 Opening Date: Oct 24, 2011 Close Date: Nov 25, 2011 Business Component: FAA Aeronautical Center Region, Office of Aerospace Medicine, Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Aerospace Medical Research Division, Aeromedical Protection and Survival Research Lab, AAM-630 Duty Location(s): Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Vacancies: 1 Salary Range: $120,096 - $179,700 Job Status: Full Time Appointment Duration: Permanent Key Requirements: * U.S. Citizen * Successful completion of a security investigation will be required. * A one year probationary period may be required. * This position has a positive education requirement, transcripts required. * Occasional travel may be required. Click here to apply: http://jobs.faa.gov/AnnouncementDetails/Modules/JobAnnouncement/JobDescription.aspx?case_id=22975 Industry Research Survey Management of unexpected situations by air transport pilots Continuous aviation improvement has damatically reduced the number of unexpected situations pilots will encounter in their professional lives. Nevertheless, the unexpected is and will always be present, with possibly dangerous consequences. Like human error, it cannot be eradicated. Having said that, what can we do better today to prepare for these rare situations ? You probably have an opinion which we would like you to share by clicking on the following link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KPNNHWX Your answers will bring key inputs to the Paris conference "The Air Transport Pilots Facing the unexpected" hosted in Paris by the Air and Space Academy on the 29th and 30th of November 2011. More information about this conference could be obtain on the Air & Space Academy Web site : www.academie-air-espace.com/ Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC