Flight Safety Information February 6, 2012 - No. 026 In This Issue Redmond aviation engineer's (Don Bateman) lifelong work has saved thousands of lives Heathrow airport resumes flights after snow cancellations European 2012 Regional Air Safety Seminar NTSB Faults Cessna and FAA in Tailcone Icing... Pressure mounting for Lion Air audit PRISM Certification Consultants Global Aviation, U.S. Troop Transporter, Files for Bankruptcy China bans airlines from joining EU emissions scheme Boeing to correct 787 Dreamliner fuselage issue NASA's Push Toward Carbon-Neutral Airliners Redmond aviation engineer's (Don Bateman) lifelong work has saved thousands of lives The crash-avoidance technology pioneered by Don Bateman has virtually eliminated what used to be the most common type of airplane disaster. A small King Air turboprop took off last month into a sunny sky from Boeing Field, swung west, and sped straight toward the Olympic Mountains at more than 200 mph. On the electronic map display in front of the pilot, a block of red warned that the plane was on course to slam into the twin peaks called The Brothers. About 3.5 miles out from the snow-covered rock face, a red light flashed on the instrument panel and a recorded voice squawked loudly from a speaker. "Caution - Terrain. Caution - Terrain." The pilot ignored it. Just a minute away from hitting the peaks, he held a steady course. Ten seconds later, the system erupted again, repeating the warning in a more urgent voice. The pilot still flew on. Snow and rock loomed straight ahead. Suddenly the loud command became insistent. "Terrain. Pull up! Pull up! Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!" Finally, the pilot calmly pulled the nose up. As the plane skimmed safely over the peaks, the instruments fell silent. You can thank Redmond engineer Don Bateman for this lifesaving technology. More than 40 years ago, Bateman invented the "ground proximity warning" system that prevents pilots in poor visibility from flying a perfectly functioning airplane into a mountain or some other obstacle. The technology eliminated the "No. 1 killer in aviation for decades," said Bill Voss, chief executive of the Flight Safety Foundation. "It's accepted within the industry that Don Bateman has probably saved more lives than any single person in the history of aviation." Tracking air disasters Motivated by an airplane accident he witnessed as a schoolboy, Bateman has tracked air disasters for 40 years to devise ways of preventing them. One crash that left a vivid mark in the early days of his work was Alaska Airlines Flight 1866, which flew into the Chilkat Range near Juneau, Alaska, in 1971, killing 111 people - at the time, the worst airline accident in U.S. history. Immediately after the crash, Bateman retraced the flight path in a small Beech Baron. Looking down, he could see the wreckage scattered "all down the side of the mountain. "It had a big visual and mental impact on me," Bateman said. "That energized us engineers. It was, 'Hey, we've got to do something better.' " Bateman's genius was to take data from the technology that was already on airplanes - such as the radar altimeter, the airspeed indicator, and later the GPS locator - and synthesize the information to create a warning system. In Honeywell's Redmond avionics labs, Bateman - a small, soft-spoken man with the ruddy cheeks of his prairie-farming forebears - is still working, still fine-tuning his technology. His constantly updated digital charting of terrain around the globe, which includes data derived from detailed maps compiled for the Soviet-era military, has created a priceless database used to keep fliers safe. "How do you retire from saving lives?" Voss asked rhetorically. "Apparently, you don't." The King Air flight in January was a demo flight to show how Bateman's technology works. After soaring over The Brothers, Honeywell chief test pilot Markus Johnson put the system through its paces. He banked the plane, beginning a turn that put it on course to hit a peak visible out the left-hand cockpit window. The system calculated the projected flight path and again issued voice warnings until he pulled out of the turn. Then Johnson headed for a telecommunications tower rising high above a hill near Hood Canal. "Caution - Obstacle," the system intoned. The telecom tower was in the terrain database too. On that January day, the view was breathtaking. But the technology would work the same on a flight in darkness or in bad weather, with a disoriented pilot unknowingly headed toward an unseen obstacle. "The problem is when you can't see it, and you aren't aware that it's there," said Johnson. Indelible impression Bateman grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, spending part of his childhood on a farm, where he drove a tractor at night during planting and harvesting time. He often got in trouble for breaking rules. "I've been a maverick since I was a kid," he says now. In 1940, when he was 8, he broke his elementary-school rules to get close to an incident that left an indelible impression. Sitting in a classroom, his friend Mel Kubica looked out the window and saw a flash, then debris, and what looked like people, falling from the sky. Don slipped out of school early with Mel, jumped on his tricycle and pedaled to the scene. Two military training planes - a Lockheed Hudson and an Avro Anson - had collided in midair with 10 crewmen on board. "I had never seen blood before from a human being," Bateman recalled. "It was horrible. It was pretty gory." The next day, his teacher reprimanded the two boys and ordered them to write a detailed account of what they had witnessed. When he handed in his piece, she told him: "You sure can't spell. You're going to be an engineer." That incident brought home to him the grim reality of wartime aviation, underlined later when two uncles and a cousin who'd joined the Air Force all died, either shot down or in air accidents. Ever since, he said, he's been motivated "to make things better; to make flying safer." After graduating as an electrical engineer, Bateman first worked at a telephone-equipment company. In 1958 he took a job with Boeing in Renton, where he worked on avionics for the 707. After less than two years, he left to join United Control, an airplane-electronics maker formed by ex-Boeing engineers in Seattle's University District. The company later moved to Redmond and went through a series of deals to become part of Sundstrand, then AlliedSignal, and then Honeywell. Bateman devised his original ground-proximity-warning system (GPWS) in the early 1970s, using an airplane's radar altimeter to detect rapid altitude changes as a plane approached terrain. A "whoop, whoop" warning sounded if a plane was too low with the landing gear still tucked away or if the descent was too fast. Famed Boeing test pilot Jack Waddell tried out the system by flying a 747 at Mount Rainier in 1974. It was he who requested that the verbal "Pull up" warning be added. Boeing made the technology standard on all its new planes that year. Soon after, Pan Am, which had been hit by a series of 707 crashes in the late '60s and early '70s, became the first airline to retrofit the system on its existing fleet. After a TWA 727 crashed into Mount Weather, Va., in December 1974, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered that Bateman's technology be installed on all large airliners. It later extended the rule to all airplanes carrying more than six passengers. Over the years, Bateman and his team added sophistication, such as a warning if a plane fell below the designated glide slope into an airport, or if there was severe wind shear ahead. "Every year we made improvements," Bateman said. In 1994, the technology took a dramatic leap forward when Bateman integrated GPS technology with ever-improving terrain data. GPS provides the precise location of an airplane in the air, to within a few yards. To complement that, Bateman needed reliable data on as much of the world's terrain as possible. "We knew, as engineers, that if we could get the terrain data, we could do an awful lot," he said. The U.S. and Western Europe were well-mapped. Bateman persuaded his Honeywell managers to buy from the Russians detailed maps compiled over decades by the Soviet-era military, including less-charted regions of China and Eastern Europe. Honeywell's terrain database now covers most of the world and is constantly updated to add obstacles such as telecom towers and new buildings higher than 100 feet. Crash in Colombia United Airlines and British Airways did early flight tests of Bateman's enhanced system. Then, after 159 people died when an American Airlines 757 crashed into a mountain near Cali, Colombia, in December 1995, American decided to install the enhanced system on its entire fleet, and other airlines soon followed. Today, the enhanced system is installed on about 55,000 airplanes worldwide. And Bateman studies each new aviation accident for potential enhancements. After a Turkish Airlines 737 crashed into the ground heading into Amsterdam in 2009, investigators discovered the pilots were unaware until too late that their air speed was dangerously low on approach. Honeywell added a "low-airspeed" warning to its system, now basic on new 737s. For the past decade, Bateman has worked on ways of avoiding runway accidents by compiling precise location data on virtually every runway in the world. After flying over the Olympic Mountains in January, Johnson demonstrated the precision of the system's awareness of runway positioning. First, flaps out and landing gear extended, he dipped toward Hood Canal. The system recognized the plane was set as if to land and that there was no runway ahead. When the plane descended to 700 feet above the water, the voice warned: "Pull up. Pull up." After pulling up as ordered, Johnson flew north to Paine Field in Everett, where he then set the plane as if to execute three very bad - and dangerous - landings in succession, one approach too long, another too high, and a third lining up with a taxiway instead of the runway. Each time, the system alerted the pilot with specific warnings: "Long landing," "Go around," "Too high," "Unstable," and "Caution - Taxiway." Accidents involving controlled flight into terrain still happen, particularly in smaller turboprop aircraft. During the past five years, there have been 50 such accidents, according to Flight Safety Foundation data. But since the 1990s, the foundation has logged just two in aircraft equipped with Bateman's enhanced system - one in a British Aerospace BAe-146 cargo plane in Indonesia in 2009; one in an Airbus A321 passenger jet in Pakistan in 2010. In both cases, the cockpit voice recorder showed the system gave the pilots more than 30 seconds of repeated warnings of the impending collisions, but for some reason the pilots ignored them until too late. It's impossible to quantify precisely how many lives Bateman's technology has saved. Since the enhanced version was certified by the FAA in 1994, however, Honeywell has identified about 80 incidents where pilots reported that the warnings averted disaster. In September, President Obama awarded Bateman the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Bateman will be 80 in March. He said he has no plans to retire. "It's fun. I've been lucky. I really enjoy this industry. ... I still have a small team of six mavericks (at Honeywell), who aren't afraid to tell me I'm wrong," Bateman said. "Why do I want to leave that?" ********** Comments: I had the great honor of working with Don Bateman at Sundstrand/AlliedSignal/Honeywell... (February 4, 2012, by $3 King Beer) MORE Thanks Don. It's people like you -- people who care about things besides money and... (February 5, 2012, by anonamoose) MORE Thanks to Don Bateman for making flights safer for all of us. (February 5, 2012, by woodworks) ******* Don Bateman, inventor of Ground Proximity Warning System Born: 1932 in Saskatchewan, Canada. Career: Worked almost two years at Boeing, and an additional 52 years (so far) at Honeywell and its predecessor companies. Achievements: He invented the "ground-proximity-warning-system" technology on airplanes in the 1970s, and then greatly enhanced the system in the 1990s with GPS location and extensive terrain data. The result is that a once-common type of airliner crash - in which a pilot flies a functioning airplane into an unseen obstacle - has been reduced by 99.9 percent. Honors: In 2005, Bateman was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Last year, President Obama awarded him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Source: Don Bateman, Seattle Times reporting http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017426408_bateman05.html Back to Top Heathrow airport resumes flights after snow cancellations LONDON: London's Heathrow Airport returned almost to normal on Monday after heavy snow forced hundreds of flight cancellations over the weekend, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. "Heathrow is open and our usual flight schedule is operating today," said a statement from the airport, the world's busiest air hub in terms of international passenger traffic. "There will, however, be a handful of cancellations as result of yesterday's disruption. We advise passengers to contact their airlines to check before they come to the airport." Heathrow had cancelled half of the 1,300 flights planned for Sunday as snow and fog descended on Britain, part of a European-wide cold snap that has claimed more than 300 lives. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/heathrow-airport-resumes-flights-after-snow- cancellations/articleshow/11778699.cms Back to Top 2012 Regional Air Safety Seminar Air Accident Investigation in the European Environment Thursday 19th and Friday 20th April 2012 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands Following the continued success of its seminars the European Society of Air Safety Investigators is pleased to announce the dates for its 5th Air Safety Seminar to be held in Amsterdam. With emphasis on current European issues in the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents, the two-day seminar is aimed at accident investigation professionals and will provide an opportunity to update professional knowledge and skills, as well as to meet other active air safety investigators. Presentations will address current issues in European environment and the challenges of modern air safety investigations. The presentation programme will be available early in 2012. The two day programme will take place at the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) which is the key centre of expertise for aerospace technology in The Netherlands. The cost for the Seminar is £250 for ESASI members and £300 for non-members. Hotel accommodation has been arranged at the Eden Hotel in the city centre and transport will be provided to the NLR. For hotel bookings follow the link as follows http://tinyurl.com/84was8z Amsterdam has been called the "Venice of the North" for its more than one hundred kilometres of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The Seminar programme will include an evening reception with a dinner cruise on the canals providing a unique perspective on the city. Companions are welcome to attend the dinner cruise.. For details please check our website www.esasi.eu and for bookings contact ESASI Councillor ESASI Secretary Anne Evans John Dunne Tel: +44 (0) 7860516763 Tel: +44 (0) 7860 222266 e-mail: anne_e_evans@hotmail.com e-mail: j.dunne@btinternet.com Back to Top NTSB Faults Cessna and FAA in Tailcone Icing The NTSB has issued its final report on the first of several incidents in which Cessna Citation 560XL Excels encountered rudder binding while in flight. The Board ruled that the manufacturer's inadequate initial design and subsequent modifications of the aircraft's tailcone allowed moisture to collect and freeze around rudder cables during flight above the freezing level, resulting in a loss of rudder authority. The Board cited the FAA's lack of oversight of the manufacturer's design and production as a contributing factor. On Dec. 1, 2010, a NetJets-operated Excel encountered the problem while on a flight from Monmouth Executive Airport near Belmar, N.J. The crew reported it had been raining during the preflight examination, which included a visual inspection of the control cables in the aft equipment bay. No irregularities in the control systems were noted. As the twinjet cruised at altitude above the freezing level on its way to Toledo, Ohio, the crew experienced no difficulties until they disconnected the autopilot and yaw damper on descent. During the landing flare, the pilot found he could not move the rudder pedals, but was able to land the aircraft safely. The Excel taxied to the ramp using differential thrust and braking. Once the engines were shut down, manual attempts to move the rudder were unsuccessful, and examination by maintenance personnel revealed that an accumulation of ice in the tailcone stinger had interfered with movement of the rudder control cables and pulleys. Similar situations involving the 560XL were reported on Dec. 13, 2010, in Birmingham, Ala.; Dec. 20, 2010, in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and March 10, 2011, in Haynesville, Md. None of the incidents resulted in personal injury or damage to the aircraft. Moisture Projection In April 2005, Cessna issued a service letter directing operators of early production Excels to drill a 0.201-inch hole in the stinger to provide a drain path for accumulated moisture. Later models (S/N5545 and up) were to have this hole installed at the factory, but the FAA found that the hole diameter on some aircraft had been drilled smaller than prescribed. On Jan. 21, 2011, the manufacturer issued an alert service letter (ASL560XL-53-08) acknowledging water-collection issues in the airplane's stinger that could result in ice formation. The mandatory actions prescribed in the letter advised operators to look for drain holes in frames immediately forward and aft of access panel 321ABC and to drill them if not present. The letter also instructed operators to drill a drain hole in the aft canted bulkhead. According to the NTSB's preliminary report, the Excel involved in the March 10, 2011 incident had been modified to comply with the ASL. Last October, Cessna issued a new service bulletin (560XL-53-16) regarding the installation of a stinger drain as a follow up to its previous ASL. Recipients of the bulletin (aircraft S/Ns 5002-5372, 5501-5830, 6002-6080 and 6082-6086) were supplied parts and instructions to install a drain and seal. The service bulletin specified a compliance time of "within 1,200 flight hours or 18 months from the date of receipt, whichever occurs first." In response to the NTSB report, the Wichita airframer said it "has been looking at this issue since it first came to light and has developed a solution to address it," citing the October service bulletin. "This service bulletin, which Cessna provides free of charge to operators, provides for the installation of a drain and seal that will reduce the amount of water entering the stinger and improve drainage." The FAA is in the process of composing a new airworthiness directive addressing affected 560XL models and has designated February 13 as the closing period for comments. The proposed AD would shorten the period of the mandatory required installation of the stinger drain modification to within 800 flight hours or 12 months after the effective date of the AD, whichever occurs first. http://www.ainonline.com/?q=aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2012-02-05/ntsb-faults-cessna-and-faa-tailcone- icing Back to Top Pressure mounting for Lion Air audit Several incidents involving drugs and pilots with privately owned Lion Air have raised concerns about aviation safety in the country and prompted calls for the government to immediately audit the management of the airline. "The regulator needs to audit the management of Lion Air in order to find the gaps in the management and fix them immediately," professor of aviation law from Tarumanegara University Kemis Martono said on Sunday. He applauded the collaboration between the Transportation Ministry and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) through a memorandum of understanding last week to prevent drug abuse in the transportation sector. However, it was not enough, he said "The government has to issue a new regulation on drug use among pilots and crews. Legal measures are badly needed to curb these cases because this is all about safety," he said. Pilot SS, 44, who was scheduled to fly from Surabaya to Makassar, South Sulawesi at 6:15 am, was caught in his hotel room in Surabaya with 0.04 grams of crystal methamphetamine, known as shabu shabu, on Saturday at around 3:30 am. SS, has been working with the airline for 7 years and is claimed to be one of the best pilots in the airline. His arrest has added to the list of the airline's pilots and crew being found with the banned drug. Recently, a Lion Air pilot named Hanum Adhyaksa was arrested in a hotel in Makassar. He was found to be under the influence of crystal meth when arrested. BNN also arrested a Lion Air pilot by the name of Muhammad Nasri and his co-pilot Husni Thamrin in an apartment in Serpong, Tangerang, last year, in similar circumstances. Meanwhile, Winnie Raditya, another crew member, was arrested after crystal meth was found hidden in her underwear early last year. Lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP) on the House's Commission V overseeing transportation Arwani Thomafi agreed with Kemis Martono. He said that he sensed something wrong with the management of Lion Air. "We need to audit the management especially their crew training department and health screening. This phenomenon has entered the critical stage and the airline has risked safety," he said. He said that the House was going to summon the Transportation Minister EE Mangindaan and Lion Air about the use of recreational drugs by pilots and crew this week. The ministry's air transportation director general Herry Bhakti Gumay said that the ministry was in the process of drafting a "Drugs and Alcohol Testing Program" that would apply to all people involved in air transportation-related work on a daily basis including air traffic controllers, ground crew, technicians and airport security personnel. Herry announced that the ministry had revoked the license of SS. The airline expressed willingness to do anything in order to prevent drug use among pilots including collaborating with the police. "We are ready to work with any party that can help us to prevent drug abuse in Lion Air including the police, the BNN and the regulator," the airline general affairs director Edward Sirait said. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/02/06/pressure-mounting-lion-air-audit.html Back to Top Back to Top Global Aviation, U.S. Troop Transporter, Files for Bankruptcy Parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, Pentagon's Biggest Air Transport Contractor, Files for Bankruptcy Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Global Aviation Holdings Inc., the biggest charter-flight company for U.S. military troops, filed bankruptcy, saying it has too many planes, too much debt and spends too much on labor. Global, based in Peachtree, Georgia, listed $589.8 million in assets and $493.2 million in debt as of Dec. 31 in a Chapter 11 petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday. Chapter 11 allows companies to keep operating and either reorganize or sell assets through a court-supervised auction. "The company needs to complete its comprehensive restructuring due to having too large a fleet, labor costs that exceed industry standards given the current global economic environment, and the necessity to align the capital structure with the size of the company," said Robert Binns, chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement. Global was hurt by competition in the commercial air cargo market and reduced demand from the U.S. military, which pulled troops out of Iraq last year and is scaling back operations in Afghanistan. Standard & Poor's cut Global's corporate credit in December, saying the company "could face a liquidity squeeze." Eight Global affiliates also filed bankruptcy, including its two main operating subsidiaries. The company said it will operate normally while it attempts to restructure in bankruptcy. The company didn't immediately file any paperwork to say whether it would borrow money through a so-called debtor-in- possession loan or use available cash to finance the bankruptcy case. Founded in 1948 Steve Forsyth, a company spokesman, declined to comment on the filing. In December, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it would require troop-transport contractors such as Global to add crew members on long flights and pay for additional hotel rooms so pilots could get more rest. The rules will cost charter carriers $70 million over 10 years, the FAA said. Global struggled to generate enough cash to meet minimum requirements set by lenders, S&P said in a Dec. 9 note as it reduced the company's corporate credit rating by one level to CCC-. Global's lenders waived cash-flow requirements in the third and fourth quarters of 2011. The company is the largest provider of military transport services for the U.S. Air Mobility Command, which is in charge of moving troops and cargo around the world, according to a November regulatory filing. Global is a holding company that operates through World Airways Inc. and North American Airlines Inc. The company leases its 29 planes. World Airways was founded in 1948, and received its first government contract to provide extra airplanes to the U.S. military in 1951 during the Korean conflict, the company said. Global also provides charter plane services for political campaigns, professional sports teams and concert tours. Back to Top China bans airlines from joining EU emissions scheme BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday barred its airlines from joining an EU scheme that could charge for carbon emissions from flights in and out of Europe, escalating a global trade row over the taxing of foreign carriers. The hardening of the dispute, which comes a week before Chinese and EU leaders hold a summit, could eventually subject Chinese airlines to fines or prohibitions on use of EU airports. It also comes as euro zone countries look to China, with its huge foreign exchange reserves, to help ease a severe debt crisis. Chinese airlines were prohibited from participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme ETS.L without government approval, the central government's State Council, or cabinet, said on its website (www.gov.cn). Beijing further prohibited all carriers from using it as a reason to raise fares or fees in connection to the programme that began on January 1, which it had already denounced as a trade barrier. Under the scheme, airlines are required to reduce emissions or buy additional allowances for emissions beyond a set level, or else face fines. The EU plan is intended to curb rising greenhouse gas pollution from aviation and fight climate change. Globally, emissions from aviation comprise about two percent of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution and this share is expected to grow. "China hopes Europe will act in the light of the broader issues of responding to global climate change, the sustainable development of international aviation and Sino-European ties, strengthening communication and coordination to find an appropriate solution acceptable to both sides," an unnamed official from China's civil aviation authority said, according to the announcement. "As well, the Chinese side will also consider taking necessary measures to protect the interest of the Chinese public and businesses based on developments," the official said. PENALTIES Foreign airlines object to the scheme because the carbon cost is calculated over the length of the entire journey, not just within European air space. This has led to accusations by the United States, China, India and others that the European Commission has over-stepped its legal jurisdiction. Any airlines that do not comply face fines of 100 euros for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for which they have not surrendered allowances. In the case of persistent offenders, the EU has the right to ban airlines from its airports. Fines would kick in from next year. EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has repeatedly said she is open to talks with other nations and that the EU law provides for "equivalent measures". But what these measures are has not been fully explained, said Andrew Herdman, director-general of the Association of Asia- Pacific Airlines, which represents 15 regional airlines, including Cathay Pacific and China Airlines. He was unaware of any governments seriously considering equivalent measures, which could be a matching scheme in other countries that impose carbon costs on incoming and outgoing flights. "We're now at the stage that it's absolutely clear that a whole host of foreign governments are not going to allow the EU to do this," Herdman told Reuters, but added the Chinese government ruling was problematic. "It does put the Chinese airlines in a difficult position where you've got to comply with the legislation and yet your government is telling you not to comply," Herdman said, but added there would be no immediate financial impact. On Monday, the EU's Ambassador to China, Markus Ederer, said at current jet fuel prices, the per-ticket cost increase from the scheme on a one-way Beijing-Brussels trip would amount to about 17 yuan. Qantas (QAN.AX) said last week it was raising fares because of higher fuel prices and the EU carbon charge. A spokeswoman for Cathay Pacific (0293.HK) said the Hong Kong-based airline had fully complied with the EU programme but under strong protest. "Europe is a green leader in the world and we try to live up to our aspirations," Ederer told reporters at a news conference in Beijing. "Airplanes are an important source of emissions. They should be regulated." For airlines, cost increases are gradual, as 85 percent of carbon allowances are handed out for free this year and payment for the remaining 15 percent in 2012 would be due in 2013 after emissions are calculated. "COALITION OF THE UNWILLING" India and the United States are among those leading a group of 26 countries opposed to the law, a group one Indian official dubbed the "coalition of the unwilling". Late last year, the European Court of Justice ruled against a challenge by a group of U.S. airlines. In December, the China Air Transport Association CATA.L urged China's airlines to refuse to take part. CATA says the scheme would cost 800 million yuan in the first year and more than triple that by 2020. CATA represents the country's four major airlines: flag-carrier Air China Ltd (0753.HK) (601111.SS), China Southern Airlines (600029.SS) (1055.HK), China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) (0670.HK) and Hainan Airlines (600221.SS). Chin Leng Lim, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the World Trade Organization was not the right venue for resolving the dispute but said countries would find ways to hit back if it came to that. "They think their sovereignty has been violated, they argue international law has therefore also been violated, and they definitely think a rule that says the further you are from Europe, the larger your carbon footprint, is unfair ... and downright protectionist to boot," he said in an email. Indian officials say retaliatory action against European firms could be considered if the European Commission doesn't relent, including charges for overflying Indian airspace or reducing the numbers of European flights coming to India. Back to Top Boeing to correct 787 Dreamliner fuselage issue Feb 5 (Reuters) - Boeing has discovered a problem related to the aft fuselage of its 787 Dreamliner planes and is making repairs that will not affect production of the aircraft, the company said in an emailed statement on Sunday. The 787 Dreamliner is a light-weight, fuel-efficient, carbon-composite aircraft. It was three years behind its development schedule but finally entered service last year. "Boeing has found that incorrect shimming was performed on support structure on the aft fuselage of some 787s," Boeing spokesman Scott Lefeber said. Lefeber added, "we do not expect that it will affect our planned product rate increases," and that there are no short-term safety concerns. Boeing aims to ramp up monthly production on the airplane to 10 by the end of 2013. Some experts believe the target rate is too ambitious, but Boeing is standing by it. Lefeber declined to identify how many aircraft were affected. Back to Top NASA's Push Toward Carbon-Neutral Airliners To achieve sustainable growth in air travel, future airliner designers face challenges never seen by their predecessors. New concepts will not only have to meet unprecedented performance goals, but they must do so while striving for carbon neutrality. NASA's goal to solve this conundrum takes on new significance in coming weeks as researchers across the U.S. begin a series of landmark tests under the next stage of the agency's subsonic fixed-wing program. Wide-ranging work will include refining a glider-like truss-braced wing and integrating it with a hybrid-electric propulsion system, wind tunnel tests of a multirole wing leading edge and evaluation of a protective outer skin that could enable lighter structures. "Now it is getting exciting," says NASA's subsonic fixed-wing program manager, Ruben Del Rosario. As preparations continue toward more extensive testing, the agency is also poised to review progress made so far by Boeing, Cessna, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Northrop Grumman on the initial technologies under study for Phase 2 of the program's N+3 vehicles. These are a group of aircraft concepts three generations more advanced than today's airliners. "Phase 2 is going strong, and we're making the progress we were anticipating," says Del Rosario. Most of the contracts are coming up for the first yearly review following their start early in 2011, he says. Today's work builds on the development of N+3 concepts in Phase 1, completed in 2010, and aims to identify enabling technologies for airliners targeted to enter service in 2030-35. The Boeing-led team is also wrapping up a one-year N+4 study into more advanced technologies for 2040-45, with the final report due to NASA in April. To help direct research, the program is divided into six main technical challenges to reduce drag, weight, energy consumption, emissions and noise, as well as the development of revolutionary tools and methods to bring it all together. In addition, strategic thrusts include the development of economically practical approaches to improving energy efficiency and environmental compatibility. The array of novel N+3 vehicle concepts that emerged in 2010-ranging from the hybrid wing-body and truss-braced wings to double-bubble lifting body fuselages-generated seven key subsystem concepts which helped fine-tune research goals. These included special "tailored" fuselage structures, high-aspect-ratio "elastic" wings, new and quiet high-lift systems, high- efficiency but small engines, hybrid electric propulsion, airframe-propulsion integration, and alternative fuels. Each subsystem concept, in turn, addresses multiple technical challenges. The advanced wing work, for instance, addresses both drag and weight. The efficient, small-engine study involves energy consumption, emissions and noise, while the airframe- propulsion integration incorporates drag, weight, fuel burn and noise reduction efforts. To reduce drag, NASA is exploring methods for cutting fuselage skin friction by new surface treatments and flow control. The goal is to reduce fuselage turbulent boundary layer drag by 10%. High-aspect-ratio elastic wing studies, also aimed at the drag reduction challenge, include shaping to reduce interference drag of the external bracing identified in Boeing's Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (Sugar) concept, as well as passive and active concepts to reduce wave drag. Drag reduction work also includes control concepts for flight control of "elastic" aircraft, which can change the shape of the wing to lower cruise drag as part of the elastically shaped aircraft concept. Under this effort, NASA and Boeing are studying a variable-camber continuous trailing edge flap device for wing shaping control. The flap system, combining several movable sections connected by shape memory alloy rods, is aimed at reducing drag with minimal impact on weight. Circulation control methods, in which high-pressure air is blown over wing and control surfaces to improve low-speed high-lift and transonic cruise, are also being studied under the FAST-MAC (fundamental aerodynamics subsonic transonic modular active control) program. Preliminary results from tests conducted at the NASA Langley National Transonic Facility, Va., showed the feasibility of pneumatic-based maneuver control and increased maximum lift coefficient at low speed by 40%. Flow control systems are also being tested to enable high-performance, low-noise, high-lift leading- and trailing-edge slat and flap systems that will be lighter and simpler than current mechanisms. The feature could also be useful for enabling cruise- efficient short-takeoff-and-landing (Cestol) designs, which are Boeing 737-sized airliners that can operate from a short runway. To help build up aerodynamic and acoustic validation data for active flow control on a Cestol, NASA is testing a 10-ft.- span model in its 40 X 80-ft. wind tunnel at Ames Research Center, Calif., built by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Other high-lift improvements are to be wind-tunnel tested by Northrop Grumman "any day now," says Del Rosario. The multifunctional, or advanced high-lift leading edge, concept will be evaluated in low-speed tests at a Northrop transonic facility. Few details of the concept have emerged, though NASA says the design is aimed at producing a "smooth edge without the current standard slats." MIT and teammates Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. and Pratt & Whitney are continuing propulsion airframe integration studies of the D8 double-bubble concept in MIT's Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel. These studies are building toward the first of three planned campaigns in the Langley 14 X 22-ft. wind tunnel in early 2013. The engines are mounted on the tail so that they ingest the boundary layer over the fuselage, reducing drag. However, the exact performance of such inlets and the fans buried behind them is unknown, and preparations are underway for wind tunnel tests of an integrated inlet and fan at the 8 X 6-ft. facility at NASA Glenn Research Center, Ohio. The experiment will use inlet and distortion-tolerant fan hardware designed and fabricated by United Technologies Research Center. "The hardware should be fabricated and delivered in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, and the test is planned for the third quarter of fiscal 2013," says Del Rosario. As part of plans to cut operating empty weight by up to 25%, Cessna will begin the first test of a scaled multifunctional fuselage skin and structure panel in March. The STAR-C2 (smoothing, thermal, absorbing, reflective, conductive, cosmetic) program is studying the potential weight benefits of segregating the composite primary structure and the external protective skin. In addition to enabling a lighter structure, researchers say the skin could be made smoother for laminar flow, would provide lightning-strike protection as well as acoustic and thermal insulation, and could be more easily produced and repaired. Other weight-cutting efforts include work with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) to develop design optimization tools which can tailor structural designs and combine them with engineered materials. The result would be stiffeners made from new alloys that-unlike present-day straight, uniform units-would be bent and curved to reflect the best shape for handling localized transverse, shear and in-plane loads. Similarly alloys would be tougher at the base of the stiffeners for better damage tolerance, and transition to metal matrix composites for increased stiffness and acoustic damping. "The goal is to reduce the weight of the fuselage structure by 25%," says Karen Taminger, lightweight airframe and propulsions systems technical lead. With the increasing trend toward the use of composite materials for primary structure, researchers are also looking at ways to tailor the direction and placement of fiber laminates. Instead of uniform layup of material with additional plies for local strengthening, as done today, the goal would be to "arrange the fibers to be aligned to the axis of the aircraft along the crown and keel, but aligned for shear loads around the fuselage sides," says Taminger. By steering the individual fiber tow, or bundle of continuous filaments, it is possible to make tighter radii curves and control distribution of the material to better suit the local load requirements. "We have the technology to do that but are looking for the design and analysis tools to help us tailor that, and to steer around the cutouts, windows and doors," she adds. A two-pronged effort is focused on reducing the weight of the fan in a turbofan by 15% while, at the same time, improving efficiency. Researchers are studying concepts for mission-adaptive fan blades made from polymer composites integrated with shape memory alloys. The aim is to get the blade to automatically alter its twist or camber to suit differing thrust needs. With the right shaping, researchers believe the blade could adapt to a coarse-pitch, low-noise configuration for takeoff and landing, and a fine-pitch, fuel-efficient shape for cruise. Meanwhile, research is also underway into methods for designing and producing thin, hollow composite blades that are aeroelastically tailored to avoid flutter. The tasks "are not trivial," says Taminger, who expects the two initiatives may eventually come together. NASA believes the technology for both areas could also be applicable for lighter fan containment cases. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/awst/2012/02/06/AW_02_06_2012_p69- 418462.xml&headline=NASA's%20Push%20Toward%20Carbon-Neutral%20Airliners Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC