Flight Safety Information January 23, 2012 - No. 015S In This Issue Helicopter hard landing on Dallas-area golf course EU Aviation Safety Agency Calls For An Immediate Inspection Of The A380 Turbulence On Miami-Bound Jet Tosses Passengers, Injures Crew Pilot of Greensboro-Registered Jet Dies in Ala. Crash Armed pilots want to carry guns outside cockpits NTSB faults pilots in 2 fatal helicopter crashes Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University -...Professional Programs ExpressJet airplane forced to make emergency landing at Bradley FAA Announces Safety Ratings for Curaçao, St. Maarten ERAU aircraft maintenance director wins award ANALYSIS: Can pilot training keep pace with demand? Helicopter hard landing on Dallas-area golf course IRVING, Texas (AP) - Investigators say four people on a helicopter have escaped injury when the chopper made a rough emergency landing on a golf course. A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration says the engine apparently quit and the chopper landed Sunday afternoon at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving. Authorities say the helicopter, registered to Lana Air LLC of Mead, Okla., suffered tail damage when it landed on a fairway. Investigators are trying to determine if strong winds played a role in the accident. The National Weather Service says gusts in the Dallas area reached nearly 40 mph on Sunday afternoon. Back to Top EU Aviation Safety Agency Calls For An Immediate Inspection Of The A380 January 22, 2012 - On Friday the European Aviation Safety Agency issued an airworthiness directive (AD) on the Airbus A380. The European Aviation Safety Agency is requiring owners and operators of Airbus A380 superjumbo jets after perform a detailed visual inspection of the wing rib feet" the metal brackets that connect the wing's ribs to its skin after Airbus found new cracks in the metal brackets inside the wings. The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner. Many airports had to modify and improve their facilities to accommodate it. Designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market, the A380 entered initial commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. An airworthiness directive (commonly abbreviated as AD) is a notification to owners and operators of certified aircraft that a known safety deficiency with a particular model of aircraft, engine, avionics or other system exists and must be corrected. If a certified aircraft has outstanding airworthiness directives that have not been complied with, the aircraft is not considered airworthy. Thus, it is mandatory for an aircraft operator to comply with an AD. Following an unscheduled internal inspection of an A380 wing, some rib feet have been found with cracks originating from the rib to skin panel attachment holes (Type 1 cracks according to Airbus All Operator Telex (AOT) terminology). Further to this finding, inspections were carried out on a number of other airplanes where further cracks have been found. During one of those inspections, a new form of rib foot cracking originating from the forward and aft edges of the vertical web of the rib feet has been identified (Type 2 cracks according to Airbus AOT terminology). The new form of cracking is more significant than the original rib foot hole cracking. It has been determined that the Type 2 cracks may develop on other airplanes after a period of time in service. This condition, if not detected and corrected, could potentially affect the structural integrity of the aircraft. For this reason the European Aviation Safety Agency has issued this AD and requires a Detailed Visual Inspection (DVI) of certain wing rib feet. This AD also requires reporting the inspection results to Airbus. As of January 2012 there had been 253 firm orders for the A380, of which 68 have been delivered. The largest order, for 90 aircraft, was from Emirates. At present there are sixty eight A380's in flight operations. The A380's has a list price of $389.9 million. The aircraft has an upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft. This allows for an A380-800's cabin with 5,145.1 sq ft of floor space; 49% more floor space than the current next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400 with 3,455.2 sq ft, and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations. The A380-800 has a design range of 9,600 mi, sufficient to fly from New York to Hong Kong at a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 or 560 mph at cruising altitude. http://avstop.com/news_january_2012/eu_aviation_safety_agency_calls_for_an_immediate_inspection_of_the_a380.htm Back to Top Turbulence On Miami-Bound Jet Tosses Passengers, Injures Crew Miami, American Airlines, Miami International Airport, Brazil, Jet, Aircraft, Turbulence, Recife, Flight 980 MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Six crew members aboard an American Airlines jet bound from Brazil to Miami International Airport were hurt Sunday night, and a planeload of passengers was shaken up, by what those aboard called major turbulence. Some of the crew members of flight 980, from Recife, Brazil to Miami were taken to the hospital when the jet arrived in Miami after 6 p.m. Sunday, and others were treated at the airport. Its an incident that sent many passengers into a panic. Some said crying and screaming could be heard throughout the cabin. Many thought they were going to die. "it was a terrible experience," Charistianne Menezes, a passenger, told CBS4s Tiffani Helberg. "Of course I was sure that I was going to die." Passengers said the turbulence hit about 2 hours into the flight to Miami. "Seems like an air pocket," recalled Gillas Correa, one of the 143 passengers aboard the flight. "Everything was fine and the next minute the plane just fell a huge drop. I was watching the movie and heads just dropped out...Everybody was in a seatbelt or not everybody just moved up on their seats and some of them just smashed against the ceiling," "It was a lot of people screaming there was a lot of people crying," he said. There was a woman who was sitting a couple rows behind us; she got thrown up in the air and landed in the hallway." Apparently it was crew members who took the brunt of the injuries, as they were moving about the cabin and apparently were caught by surprise when the turbulence hit. Correa said one of the worst injured was female flight attendant working near the food cart. He said the cart smashed a giant hole in the ceiling of the plane. "She hit the ceiling and when she came down the cart hit her," he said. "The lucky thing is that we had a medical room doctor some ER emergency room doctor." http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/01/22/turbulence-on-miami-bound-jet-tosses-passsengers-injures-crew/ Back to Top Pilot of Greensboro-Registered Jet Dies in Ala. Crash RAINBOW CITY, Ala. (WGHP)- A Burlington pilot died in a plane crash Friday night after picking up his jet from northeastern Alabama. Thomas Coble, 58, died after a plane wreck around 7:30 p.m. in Rainbow City, about 60 miles northeast of Birmingham. Coble was found dead at the scene. He was the only person on board. Coble was flying his L-39 Albatross fighter jet back to Burlington after it was undergoing maintenance work in Gadsen, Al. Officials said the plane burst into flames less than a minute after takeoff and landed in a wooded marshy area less about two miles from the airport. The cause of the wreck is still being investigated. Officials said Coble had nearly 40 years of flying experience and owned multiple planes. He founded Coble Trench Safety in 2002, a regional firm specializing in trench and traffic safety equipment. Coble had one son and one daughter. Officials said he was well-known and highly respected in the community. Back to Top Armed pilots want to carry guns outside cockpits Armed pilots would like to see the Federal Flight Deck Officer program expanded to better protect aviation. (Getty Images) From cockroaches and labor disputes to a pilot locked in the bathroom, airlines have had a bumpy ride as of late They're already allowed to carry guns in the cockpit, but many pilots say that's not enough to keep aviation as safe as it should be. They want police-like authority to holster a weapon all day long, whether they're at the controls, riding in back of a plane or eating lunch in a terminal. "That would put us in line with standard law enforcement," said Marcus Flagg, president of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Association, which represents thousands of armed pilots. He declined to say exactly how many pilots now carry guns, but he said the number is just behind the FBI, which has about 13,800 armed agents. Since being given permission to pack heat 10 years ago, no U.S. pilot has ever had to draw a weapon against a passenger. Just the same, Flagg said the goal would be to protect the cockpit against a terrorist attack and provide stronger protection to U.S. commercial aviation. Armed pilots are on fives times more flights than federal air marshals and ultimately are the "last line of defense." Yet, as it stands, qualified pilots can't even go to the restroom holstering a firearm. The Transportation Security Administration declines to say why it won't allow pilots to carry guns outside of the cockpit, other than to safeguard the traveling public. However, weapons experts say the policy likely is intended to eliminate the possibility of a troublemaker wresting a gun from pilot or of an accidental discharge while outside the cockpit. Flagg, formerly of Boca Raton, said the chances of a pilot being stripped of his gun are slim. "Yes, there is that possibility," he said, "but you're trained to protect against that." During six days of intense training in Artesia, N.M., pilots not only learn how to handle weapons but also close-combat techniques. Further, passengers don't know whether a pilot is carrying a gun and that many ride in back out of uniform, he said. In November, Flagg testified before Congress that the TSA's tight gun carriage rules are discouraging thousands of pilots from joining the Federal Flight Deck Officer program. If pilots were given more leeway, the number of armed pilot applicants would double, said Flagg, 49, a pilot for a cargo airline and a Southlake, Texas, resident. "The more Federal Flight Deck Officers that are out there, the more flights that are covered," he said. "They should not be restrained by the government from defending the cockpit in the event of a terrorist attack regardless of the side of the cockpit door they are seated." The TSA said armed pilots are just one of multiple layers of security intended to protect 700 million travelers flying in and out of U.S. airports per year. Other measures include intelligence gathering by U.S. security agencies, screening passengers at checkpoints, federal air marshals and hardened cockpit doors. Although the TSA won't disclose how many pilots carry guns, it disputes that the rules are discouraging applicants. "Interest in the program and participation both remain strong," said Kimberly Thompson, spokeswoman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, which trains armed pilots. "There are no shortages of applicants." Indeed, according to the Federal Flight Deck Officer Association, armed pilots now are the fourth largest U.S. law enforcement organization behind the FBI. Five years ago, there were about 8,000 armed pilots, or about 8 percent of the total number of U.S. pilots. Passengers differ over allowing pilots to carry guns into the main cabin. If stripped away, "it potentially puts a gun available to a bad guy," said frequent flier Dennis Grady, a hunter and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches. "Stun guns maybe, but not guns," said Russell Ginsberg, of Plantation. "If a bullet pierces the hull or skin of an aircraft it could be catastrophic." But Michael Weatherly of Homestead said qualified pilots should be allowed to take the guns with them. "They are trained to use them, so let them," he said. Flagg said that to provide real coverage, considering there are more than 20,000 airline flights a day, many more armed pilots are needed. "This is the most cost-effective security measure," said Flagg, who saw both of his parents killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when their American Airlines jetliner crashed into the Pentagon. The cost to put a federal air marshal on a flight is about $3,300, compared with about $15 for an armed pilot. Pilots were first granted permission to take guns into cockpits in 2002, in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. No pilot has used a gun to defend the cockpit since then, but in March 2008, a US Airways pilot's gun accidentally discharged while the plane was approaching to land in Charlotte. The Airbus 319 landed safely and no one was hurt. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-cockpit-guns-20120120,0,1311935.story Back to Top NTSB faults pilots in 2 fatal helicopter crashes NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Federal safety investigators on Friday faulted pilots who tried to outrun approaching storms in two fatal medical helicopter crashes in South Carolina and Tennessee. The National Transportation Safety Board issued very similar findings in both crashes, saying the pilots could have made safer decisions, but risked flying into bad weather in order to return home. Two pilots and four flight nurses were killed in the 2009 and 2010 crashes. The board studied an increase in crashes involving medical helicopters between 2002 and 2005 and said there were recurring safety issues, including a lack of flight risk evaluations and less stringent requirements for flights without patients on board. In the September 2009 crash in South Carolina, the NTSB said the Texas company that operated the medical helicopter, OmniFlight, contributed to the crash because it did not have a formalized dispatch system that required its pilots to check in with dispatchers before taking off. OmniFlight did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday. The system could have helped the pilot realize there were storms between the Charleston hospital where he dropped off the patient and the helicopter's home base in Conway, the safety board said in a report on the accident. Pilot Patrick Walters, 45, flight nurse Diana Conner, 42 and paramedic Randolph Claxton Dove, 39, died in the crash. Walters likely became confused by low clouds and stormy conditions and lost control of his helicopter, the NTSB said. "The pilot did not have to enter the weather and could have returned to Charleston Air Force Base/International Airport or landed at an alternate location. The pilot, however, chose to enter the area of weather, despite the availability of safer options," the safety board said. In the March 2010 crash in Tennessee, the NTSB said the pilot was finishing a 12-hour night shift and told another pilot he thought he had about 18 minutes to beat a storm moving into the area and return to his home base in Brownsville, which is about 55 miles northeast of Memphis. Pilot Doug Phillips told the other pilot that he "wanted to get the helicopter out" and was going to leave the flight nurses behind. But they returned to the helicopter before he was able to leave the hospital. On its return trip, the helicopter likely ran into the leading edge of the storm, which included heavy rain, lightning and wind gusts up to 20 knots. Phillips, 58, of Bartlett, Tenn.; nurse Misty Brogdon, 36, of Jackson, Tenn.; and nurse Cindy Parker, 48, of Dyersburg, Tenn., were killed in the crash. The report said there was no evidence that the helicopter was struck by lightning before it crashed. "Based on these conditions, the helicopter likely encountered severe turbulence from which there was no possibility of recovery, particularly at a low level," the report said. The report noted that while the helicopter ran into bad weather, the crash wouldn't have happened if the pilot had chosen to remain at the hospital. Representatives for Hospital Wing, the Memphis-based company that operated the helicopter, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday. "The pilot made a risky decision to attempt to outrun the storm in night conditions, which would enable him to return the helicopter to its home base and end his shift there, rather than choosing a safer alternative of parking the helicopter in a secure area and exploring alternate transportation arrangements or waiting for the storm to pass and returning to base after sunrise when conditions improved," the report said. "This decision-making error played an important causal role in this accident." The report also noted that the pilot was nearing the end of his shift, during which he had flown previous missions and may have had limited opportunities to rest. "The pilot's length of time awake, his night shift and the accident occurred at an early hour that can be associated with degraded alertness," the report said. The board was not able to determine whether or to what degree fatigue played a role in the crash because they did not have complete evidence on how rested he was before the crash. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/20/ntsb-faults-pilots-in-2-fatal-helicopter-crashes/#ixzz1kIFdRexH Back to Top Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Professional Programs is hosting the following five-day Center for Aerospace Safety/Security Education (CASE) short-courses which combine the latest in safety, security, human factors and aircraft accident investigation topics in a professional and dynamic classroom environment. Participants may elect to take course(s) independently or complete three courses (marked with *) to receive a Certificate of Management in Aviation Safety. Occupational Safety& Health/ Aviation Ground Safety for Managers* - C.A.S.E. Course This course is designed to provide the participant with the working knowledge of OSHA's General Industry Safety and Health standards. In addition participants will gain a fundamental working knowledge of an aviation ground safety program. Participants will also receive the OSHA 30-Hour General Industry Safety & Health Training Card. Course Dates: Apr. 16-20, 2012 (Daytona Beach Campus, Florida) Aviation Safety Program Management*- C.A.S.E. Course This course and respective topics are designed to provide the participant with the working knowledge of the development and management of an effective safety program. Course topics include: Safety Culture, Disaster-Emergency Planning, Internal Reporting Systems, Human Error and Human Performance, Introduction to Safety Management Systems (SMS). Course Dates: Apr. 23-27, 2012 (Daytona Beach Campus, Florida) Aircraft Accident Investigation and Management* - C.A.S.E. Course This course is designed to teach the participant the fundamentals required to conduct or manage an aircraft mishap/accident investigation. The participant will review the investigation sequence from the preplanning stage through the general survey and specific analysis of a mishap/accident, culminating with the determination of contributing factors and probable cause/s. Course Dates: Apr.30-May 4, 2012 (Daytona Beach Campus, Florida) ADVANCED Aircraft Accident Investigation and Management - C.A.S.E. Course This course is designed to introduce the participant to advanced accident investigation procedures involving design, materials and aircraft performance. Participants will analyze various mechanical and structural factors and loads on an airplane, as well as be introduced to advanced fire investigation and avionics. Extensive use will be made of crash laboratory simulated accident scenario exercises and case examples will help participants identify, collect and analyze data in the process of determining probable cause/s. Course Dates: May 7-11, 2012 (Prescott Campus, Arizona) *Courses required for the Certificate of Management in Aviation Safety Please contact ERAU Professional Programs/CASE Short Courses: Director: Sarah Ochs Website & Registration Information: www.erau.edu/case Phone: (386) 226-6928 Email: case@erau.edu Back to Top ExpressJet airplane forced to make emergency landing at Bradley International Airport WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. - An ExpressJet aircraft bound for Washington, D.C., was forced to return to Bradley International Airport moments after takeoff Saturday after apparently developing a problem with one of the wings. Both the Hartford Courant and WFSB, Channel 3 reported that the emergency landing occurred after a cockpit warning light indicated there was a problem with the left wing. Flight 4895 was bound for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., but it returned to Bradley just minutes after its 12:12 p.m. departure, according to officials with ExpressJet, which operates the Delta Connection flight. The plane landed without incident, and the 14 passengers it was carrying were booked on later flights. Maintenance crews examined the aircraft, but it wasn't immediately clear what caused the problem. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/struggling_airplane_forced_to.html Back to Top FAA Announces Safety Ratings for Curaçao, St. Maarten FAA said that Curaçao and St. Maarten do not comply with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, based on an assessment of each country's civil aviation authority. As a result, the agency has assigned both Curaçao and St. Maarten an International Aviation Safety Assessment Category 2 rating. With a Category 2 rating, Curaçao and St. Maarten air carriers will not be allowed to establish new service to the U.S., but can continue existing service. Both countries were previously part of the Netherlands Antilles, which had a Category 1 rating. A Category 2 rating means a country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or that its civil aviation authority - equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters - is deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, recordkeeping or inspection procedures. http://www.aviationnews.net/?do=headline&news_ID=201004 Back to Top ERAU aircraft maintenance director wins award Jack Haun, director of aircraft maintenance at Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus, has been honored as the 2012 Southern Region Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year by the National General Aviation Awards Committee. The committee is a partnership of the Federal Aviation Administration and numerous general-aviation industry sponsors. The mission of its General Aviation Awards program is to recognize individual aviation professionals on the local, regional, and national levels for their contributions to aviation, education, and flight safety. Haun, who leads a team of technicians in maintaining 64 Embry-Riddle aircraft, was recognized by the FAA's Orlando Flight Standards District Office and the Southern Region for his award. He and the six other regional award winners in his category are now finalists for the national award, which will be announced no later than March 1. "We take great pride in the quality of our airplanes, and Jack Haun is the source of that quality," said Tim Brady, dean of the College of Aviation at the Daytona Beach campus. "We are so fortunate to have a man of his stature and experience at the helm of our aircraft maintenance effort." http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2012/01/23/erau-aircraft-maintenance-director-wins- award.html Back to Top ANALYSIS: Can pilot training keep pace with demand? European airlines differ in their approaches to managing flightcrew, taking varying degrees of active involvement in initial training. What seems to unite them, however, is that they tactically plan their demand for cockpit personnel only a few years in advance. There is no clear, long-term industry standard on how the next generation of pilots will be trained to command the large fleet of aircraft making their way through the airframers' orderbooks. Boeing forecasts 92,500 pilots will be required in Europe during the next 20 years. Asia Pacific will need 183,200, with China accounting for 72,200 alone. North America is expected to require 82,800 pilots, Latin America 41,200, the Middle East 36,600, Africa 14,300, and the CIS 9,900 until 2030. These figures add up to about 460,000 in total. While the aircraft backlog continues to increase, in spite of shorter and more erratic economic cycles, there is widespread concern over whether pilot training academies have kept pace with airline growth and can deliver enough new flightcrew with the required capabilities. British Airways changed its pilot recruitment strategy last August after it foresaw a potential flightcrew shortage. The UK carrier wants to take on about 800 new pilots during the next five years. While it needs about 100 new employees per year to maintain its approximately 3,200-strong cockpit workforce, BA wants to employ 150 flightcrew members every year to allow for growth. Half of these recruits should come via direct entry from other airlines and the military, while the other half will be career starters from ab initio level. This is BA's biggest pilot recruitment initiative in more than a decade. The main difference lies in the renewed interest in ab initio students. BA has employed fresh air transport pilot licence (ATPL) holders before, but those graduates had undertaken and financed their training independently and were hired from the open market after qualification. Self-funded training has become the main route into a cockpit for aspiring pilots since 2001, says Anthony Petteford, managing director for ab initio training at Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) in the UK. Airlines, including BA, previously pre-financed the training of a limited number of ab initio students after they had undergone an initial selection process, with the young pilots repaying the fees later during employment. This changed, however, with the aviation downturn after 9/11 and the concurrent rise of budget carriers such as EasyJet and Ryanair, which had always drawn cockpit personnel from the open market. Petteford points out that the shift to this "retail" training model has moved control over cadet enrolment numbers from airlines to individuals. BA still does not pay for the flight training in three selected academies, but now helps its students secure the required funding by guaranteeing a bank loan. Access to credit has become the main hurdle for pilot aspirants because of the financial crises since 2008, threatening to turn the profession into a career option mainly for children from affluent backgrounds. BA worked with banks to devise a loan scheme because it feared the pool of applicants was becoming too limited. BA's sister airline, Iberia, is also recruiting a large number of flightcrew, although this will only be for its planned low-cost subsidiary Iberia Express, due to begin operations with four Airbus A320s at the end of March, which will gradually take over the parent's short- and medium-haul network. While 125 pilots are needed for the start-up phase, this is set to increase as the new airline is scheduled to have 13 aircraft by year-end and 40 by 2015. Iberia has traditionally recruited qualified pilots from a military or civilian background. A number of flightcrew will transfer to Iberia Express from the parent carrier, which will concentrate exclusively on long- haul flights. The latter's approximately 1,500-strong cockpit workforce will gradually move up the ranks and convert to the A330/A340 fleet as senior flightcrew members retire. However, Iberia has no plans to recruit new pilots for the mainline operations. Whether it will be possible for Iberia Express flightcrew to transfer to the parent carrier is as yet unclear. Lufthansa expects to take on about 300 new pilots this year. The German airline mainly recruits ab initio cadets who learn their trade at the in-house training campuses in Bremen and Goodyear, Arizona. Only if demand exceeds the available supply of career starters does the airline fall back on direct-entry pilots. Unlike many of its European competitors, Lufthansa still sponsors the training of its cockpit staff, giving it complete control over the training quantity and quality. The selected students receive an interest-free loan from the airline of €60,000 ($77,000) to contribute to the training, which costs about €300,000 in total, says Lufthansa. The cadets are only responsible for their housing and living costs during the two-year training programme, and repay the loan later during employment. Lufthansa's two Alpine subsidiaries - Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines - pursue the same paternalistic model. The former has stopped pilot recruitment for the time being because of restructuring. However, Swiss plans to employ 400 to 500 new pilots during the next five years, while about 100 are due to retire. The Swiss carrier has capacity to qualify up to 100 ab initio students each year. This is done partly in-house and at its partner academies Flugschule Grenchen, near Berne, and FlightSafety in Vero Beach, Florida. Any demand beyond that will need to be satisfied via direct-entry pilots or by utilising the training capacity of the parent group. Ryanair's pilot recruitment strategy, on the other hand, is firmly based on the retail model and on aspirants taking their own initiative to earn their wings. Since the training is self-sponsored, the financial details are "not a question for Ryanair", says the carrier. As with other airlines, the students even pay for their type rating at the company's simulator centre at East Midlands Airport, UK, or CAE in Amsterdam. Free line training is provided to students "subject to certain conditions". Nevertheless, Ryanair says it has a backlog of "several thousand" applications from ATPL holders. Between April 2012 and April 2013, the airline plans to take on between 400 and 450 pilots. Petteford does not share the concern that the flight-training industry will be unable to supply required future pilot volumes. He says that while statistics have been predicting deficits between pilot demand and training capacity for almost two decades, the training industry has, so far, been able to provide the necessary pilots. "I have been in this business for 15 years, and I have never been in a situation where I could not supply [from the graduate pool]." He adds that, despite the financial crisis and associated credit access difficulties, application numbers for the academy's European airline pilot training programme have not fluctuated significantly during the past years. OAA qualifies 250 to 300 ATPL students a year and could easily increase capacity to 400, if there was sufficient market demand. What is crucial, however, is that airlines support airline pilot training programmes at flight academies and continue to recruit their graduates, says Petteford. "My fear is that the day when airlines completely abdicate their responsibility of mentoring students [is the day when] we might see a different story." OAA is one of three pilot schools which BA is partnered with for its ab initio training programme. Similar co-operations are in place with Aer Lingus, EasyJet and Flybe. The latter two have even established multi-crew pilot (MPL) licence programmes at the academy. The new airline pilot-training philosophy has shifted the balance from single pilots flying light aircraft to more airline-typical operations in simulators. Not only is this type more relevant to modern airline operations in highly automated flightdecks, says Petteford, it would also be a way to increase training capacity because it is less dependent on external infrastructure, such as free airspace and adequately equipped airports for instrument approaches. So far, however, only about 10% of OAA's trainees are enrolled in MPL courses. Such programmes can only be established in partnership with airlines because the training is tailored around the latter's individual standard operating procedures. If this is the way forward, however, it will require active participation and long- term commitment from the airlines. Source: Air Transport Intelligence news Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC