Flight Safety Information December 14, 2011 - No. 252 In This Issue FAA extends 777 ETOPS approval to 330-min American Airlines First To Be Granted FAA Approval For Pilot iPads FAA Proposes Stall-Recovery Change NTSB recommends full ban on use of cell phones while driving Tycoon plans rocket-launching airplane 50 Air India pilots resigned due to non-payment of allowances and salary Flight Safety Information Journal (12/2012) FAA extends 777 ETOPS approval to 330-min. Boeing has received type-design approval from the FAA for up to 330-min. extended operations (ETOPS) for its 777 fleet. The new FAA approval allows airlines that operate routes in the south Pacific, over the North Pole, and from Australia to South America and southern Africa to fly the most direct routes. The first airline to purchase the new longer ETOPS option is Air New Zealand (ANZ), which completed the world's first commercial 240 min. ETOPS flight between Los Angeles, Calif., to Auckland, New Zealand using a 777-300ER. ANZ chief pilot Captain David Morgan said one of the key benefits of the new 240 min. ETOPS operations is a reduction in carbon emissions. "The new ETOPS operations enable us to fly a more direct route between airports, which means we can get our customers to their destination a little quicker and at the same time reduce the amount of fuel required, resulting in fewer carbon emissions being emitted," Morgan said. ANZ was also the first airline to secure 180 min. ETOPS approval for its 767 operations between Auckland, Nadi, Honolulu and Los Angeles in December 1989. http://atwonline.com/aircraft-engines-components/news/faa-extends-777-etops- approval-330-min-1213 Back to Top American Airlines First To Be Granted FAA Approval For Pilot iPads If you're flying American on Friday, there's a chance your pilot will be using an iPad instead of the traditional paper flight charts. The airline has reportedly become the first major one to get FAA approval for the device, though smaller charter lines have had it for a while. American announced their intention to make the switch back in June, joining Alaska and Delta and probably a few others by now. There's been a bit of a dust-up regarding the actual fuel savings. And while they're miniscule, airlines are continually trimming things down and the loss of 35 pounds of charts from every plane in a fleet adds up quickly: American estimates over a million dollars a year. Not only that, but as Delta hopes, the iPad (or Xoom) will also improve communications and flight quality. What's missing from the report is what software exactly will be used, and whether it will be standardized across airlines, whether it's private, open, airline-owned, licensed, or what. While it's not important for the average flyer, who probably didn't know the pilots carried around 40 pounds of charts with them in the first place, it should probably be at least publicly accessible information to some extent. I'm sure we'll hear more about this, though, and we'll see about finding out more. If you're worried that the devices are going to succumb to death grip, battery failure, or glitches, don't be. The devices have undergone a six-month test period with thousands of hours of flight time, and at any rate, chances are if the one in the cockpit bites it, there will be a few spares in first class. Update: An American Airlines pilot has kindly provided more information (not secret by any means, but interesting) on this news. AA is certainly using JeppTC, as a commenter suggested they were. It's actually available in the App store, but licensed pilots (and presumably those from specific airlines) have access to extra charts. By charts, our pilot informant wishes to emphasize that it's not just a big book. There are a number of binders covering departures, approaches, runways, operating manuals, and so on. And they must be kept up to date with biweekly inserts, which mine informant describes as "a pain in the ass" and taking hours, whereas the iPad app is automatically updated. The iPads (and AA is sticking with iPads, the FAA has not approved any other devices, though Delta is looking at Android ones) must have backup batteries, and although I was joking about requisitioning a passenger's iPad, it could be done if they had internet access. It is also worth noting that these charts are duplicated per pilot, meaning that on a transatlantic flight you may have four such chart bags, which must be as much a drag on the cockpit's closet space as it is on fuel consumption. Some paper will still be carried; the iPad program is voluntary, and some navigational charts are not yet considered good enough on the iPad and must still be carried. Thanks very much to our tipster, who wished to remain anonymous. http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/13/american-airlines-first-to-be-granted-faa-approval- for-pilot-ipads/ Back to Top FAA Proposes Stall-Recovery Change Pilots of transport-category airplanes should be taught to reduce the angle of attack as their first response to a stall warning, the FAA said on Tuesday. In a new proposed advisory circular, the FAA says it aims to provide "best practices and guidance for training, testing, and checking for pilots to ensure correct and consistent response to unexpected stall warnings, and/or stick pusher activations." The AC is an apparent response to the Colgan Air and Air France crashes, in which the pilots' reaction to stall warnings was part of the accident chain. Jet pilots have often been trained to use power as the initial means of recovery, to minimize altitude loss. The AC also notes that training in stall recovery is most effective when using simulators that are as realistic as possible. If the simulator experience doesn't duplicate reality, instructors should explain the differences, the AC says. For example, certain simulators may not be able to accurately duplicate the motion cues associated with accelerated stalls. The AC also suggests that while it's a good idea to introduce some distractions while practicing the stall encounter, instructors are discouraged from introducing "multiple compounding malfunctions," to avoid confusion. The FAA is accepting comments on the proposed AC until Jan. 12, via Docket No. FAA-2011-1359 at Regulations.gov. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/FAAProposesStallRecoveryChange_205872- 1.html Back to Top NTSB recommends full ban on use of cell phones while driving Washington (CNN) -- A federal safety board called Tuesday for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving. The recommendation is the most far-reaching yet by the National Transportation Safety Board, which in the past 10 years has increasingly sought to limit the use of portable electronic devices -- recommending bans for novice drivers, school bus drivers and commercial truckers. Tuesday's recommendation, if adopted by states, would outlaw non-emergency phone calls and texting by operators of every vehicle on the road. It would apply to hands-free as well as hand-held devices, but devices installed in the vehicle by the manufacturer would be allowed, the NTSB said. The recommendation would not affect passengers' rights to use such devices. NTSB members say the action is necessary to combat a growing threat posed by distracted drivers. While distracted driving has been a problem "since the Model T," in the words of NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman, authorities say it has become ubiquitous with the explosion in the number of portable smart phones. At any given daylight moment, some 13.5 million drivers are on hand-held phones, according to a study released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some 3,092 roadway fatalities last year involved distracted drivers, although the actual number may be far higher, NHTSA said. "This (distracted driving) is becoming the new DUI. It's becoming epidemic," said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt. Accident investigators routinely seek protective orders to preserve smart phones for use as evidence in accident investigations, Hersman said. But because distracted drivers sometimes do not own up to their actions, or because they die during the crash, determining whether distraction was a factor in an accident can be difficult. That was the case in a 2010 chain-reaction accident near Gray Summit, Missouri. During the 11 minutes prior to that incident, the driver of a pickup truck received five text messages, and sent six, and he was seen leaning over just before the accident, leading investigators to believe the driver was likely distracted when his truck plowed at 55 mph into the rear of a tractor trailer, which had slowed or stopped because of a highway work zone. Two school buses then plowed into the wreckage. Two people -- including the pickup truck driver and a bus occupant -- were killed; 38 other people were injured. The driver of the pickup truck was 19 years old, and was in violation of a Missouri law prohibiting drivers under the age of 21 from texting while driving. But the safety board focused little on the age of the driver, casting "distracted driving" as epidemic among people of all ages. Time: How dangerous is it, really? The NTSB said cell phone laws alone would not solve the problem, but must be accompanied by aggressive educational campaigns and strict enforcement. The Missouri State Highway Patrol had issued only 120 citations for texting in a two-year-period, the NTSB said. Currently, a patchwork of laws governs cell-phone usage by drivers. Some 35 states ban text messaging while driving, 30 states ban cell-phone use by novice drivers, and 10 ban all use of hand-held cell phones, according to the NTSB. The safety board also recommended the electronics industry develop phones that would discourage their use by drivers, but could identify a car occupant's location so that passengers could use the devices. A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study of commercial drivers found that a safety- critical event is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing or accessing the Internet. The NTSB's action is a recommendation only, but the board has been instrumental in leading for changes in other areas of transportation safety. Chairwoman Hersman said the ban may inconvenience motorists, but would save lives. "Needless lives are lost on our highways, and for what? Convenience? Death isn't convenient," Hersman said. "So we can stay more connected? A fatal accident severs that connection." The NTSB's investigation of the August 5, 2010, Missouri crash also exposed numerous other safety shortcomings. Although Missouri requires school bus inspections twice a year -- one by the highway patrol and a second by a certified inspection station -- an inspection 10 days before the accident did not reveal faulty brakes on one of the buses, the NTSB said. The faulty brakes were not a factor in the accident, the NTSB said, because the driver said she did not hit the brakes before the crash. But the NTSB criticized the service station that inspected the brakes, the contract owner of the school buses, and the highway patrol. The highway patrol gave the bus company a "Total Fleet Maintenance Award" before the accident because 100% of its buses had passed inspection. In an unannounced inspection following the tragedy, the pass rate dropped to 60%, the NTSB said. The NTSB said both the inspection station and the highway patrol performed inadequate inspections. Back to Top Tycoon plans rocket-launching airplane SEATTLE - Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan are building the world's biggest plane to help launch cargo and astronauts into space, the latest of several ventures fueled by technology tycoons clamoring to write America's next chapter in spaceflight. Their plans, unveiled Tuesday, call for a twin-fuselage aircraft with wings longer than a football field to carry a rocket high into the atmosphere and drop it, avoiding the need for a launch pad and the expense of additional rocket fuel. Allen his new project would "keep America at the forefront of space exploration" and give a new generation of children something to dream about. "We have plenty and many challenges ahead of us," he said at a news conference. Allen and Rutan join a field crowded with Silicon Valley veterans who grew up on "Star Trek" and now want to fill a void created with the retirement of NASA's space shuttle. Several companies are competing to develop spacecraft to deliver cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station. Allen bemoaned the fact that government-sponsored spaceflight is waning. "When I was growing up, America's space program was the symbol of aspiration," he said. "For me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming what might be possible." Allen and Rutan last collaborated on the experimental SpaceShipOne, which was launched in the air from a special aircraft. It became the first privately financed manned spacecraft in 2004 and later won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for accomplishing the feat twice in two weeks. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic licensed the technology and is developing SpaceShipTwo to carry tourists to space. The new plane will have a wingspan of 380 feet - the world's largest. The plane will carry under its belly a space capsule with its own booster rocket; it will blast into orbit after the plane climbs high into the atmosphere. This method saves money by not using rocket fuel to get off the ground. Another older rocket company, Orbital Sciences Corp., uses this method for unmanned rockets to launch satellites. The rockets will eventually carry people, but the first tests, scheduled for 2016, will be unmanned. It should be another five years before people can fly on the system that Allen and Rutan are calling Stratolaunch. The company, to be based in Huntsville, Ala., bills its method of getting to space as "any orbit, any time." Rutan will build the carrier aircraft, which will use six 747 engines. The spaceship and booster will be provided by another Internet tycoon, Elon Musk of PayPal, who has built a successful commercial rocket. http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20111214/BUSINESS/312140017/Tycoon- plans-rocket-launching-airplane Back to Top 50 Air India pilots resigned due to non-payment of allowances and salary About 50 Air India pilots have resigned due to non-payment of allowances and delay in payment of their salaries this year, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said today. "In 2011, 34 pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines and 15 of the erstwhile Air India have submitted their resignations," Ravi said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. He said that most of the pilots have cited non-payment of allowances and delay in payment of salaries as reason for resignation. The cash-strapped national carrier has suffered a loss of Rs 20,192.03 crore since 2007- 08 to 2010-11. The airline has failed to give salary and productivity linked incentives to its 30,000 employees on time. At present, the management owes one month salary and two month's PLI of the pilots and other employees. Pilots even went on nine-day strike in May this year to protest against the alleged mismanagement. In response to another query, Ravi said that 3,337 passengers have travelled under the Air India's "companion scheme", which allows a business class passengers to take their spouse or child along with them. He said the scheme was valid for sale and travel upto March 31, 2012 after which it would be reviewed and a suitable decision would be taken on extension of the validity of the scheme. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/- aviation/50-air-india- Curt Lewis