Flight Safety Information March 9, 2012 - No. 049 In This Issue Independent Pilots Association releases film on Pilot Fatigue FAA to expedite NextGen implementation to meet long-term demand Airlines Shift Some U.S.-Asia Flights as Solar Storm Nears Earth Ghana's aviation future promising - CAAS Director General Family Tossed Off JetBlue Flight for 2-year-old's Tantrum ARGUS PROS Global Auditing FAA expects dip in airline travel this year before upward trend resumes Boeing dwarfs Airbus orders in Jan-Feb Emirates seeks compensation for Airbus superjumbo cracks Singapore Air asks pilots to volunteer for no-pay leave Independent Pilots Association releases film on Pilot Fatigue In response to ongoing proposed European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to change Flight Time Limitations (FTLs), the UK pilot union, the Independent Pilots Association (IPA) has this week released a documentary film entitled 'Pilot Fatigue' on the serious and ongoing issue of crew fatigue. The film is being sent to every Lord, MP and aviation interested party to ensure everyone is aware of the serious consequences of failing to have properly created, science based, FTLs. 'Pilot Fatigue' is the story of the multi billion dollar global aviation industry transporting people around the world 24 hours every day, There is a very real and growing problem of pilot fatigue along with the all too real consequences when something does go wrong. 'Pilot Fatigue' lets you relive the consequences of a flight that was impacted by pilot fatigue. An experience you will never forget. 'Pilot Fatigue' explores the lives and hidden pressures of today's commercial airline pilots and looks at the industry conflicting responses to an issue which if ignored can ultimately lead to catastrophic consequences that could affect anyone traveling by air today. The continued growth of the aviation industry to meet the demands of 21st century air travel cannot afford to ignore when a pilot is too tired to fly, make decisions and land your plane. While pilots globally are speaking out and demanding change, many in industry cannot see a problem. The consequences of disregarding this problem cannot be ignored. The Independent Pilots Association General Secretary, Captain Tristan Loraine stated: "Aircraft from around the globe share busy UK airspace. Many aircraft come from countries with totally different crew limitations to those in the UK. Every aircraft flying today, anywhere in the world, should be flown by crews working to flight time limitations backed up by scientific research and not based on commercial economic needs. Pilot unions around the world have been raising the issue of Pilot Fatigue for many years. To ignore the message, sooner or later will again result in unnecessary loss of life." http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/48165-Independent-Pilots- Association-releases-film-on-Pilot-Fatigue Back to Top FAA to expedite NextGen implementation to meet long-term demand Acting FAA administrator Michael Huerta said the agency is optimistic about strong, long- term US air passenger traffic growth despite a near-term stagnation in capacity expansion. This includes US carriers reaching the milestone of 1 billion passengers carried annually by 2024, up 36.9% from 730.7 million passengers flown by US airlines in 2011, according to FAA. But air traffic management must be aggressively modernized to meet those demand expectations, Huerta told FAA's annual Aviation Forecast Conference in Washington Thursday. "We will beef up performance-based navigation [PBN] activities," he said. "We will expedite the development and deployment of NextGen [ATC]" (ATW Daily News, Jan. 13). Huerta said the four-year FAA reauthorization bill passed by Congress last month (ATW Daily News, Feb. 8) gives the agency the necessary funding "stability" to move forward on NextGen. He noted that there are 23 metroplexes in the US to/from which airlines operate. "In each of those, we know we need to do things to improve the airspace [design]," he said, adding that the agency will reduce the length of time it takes to implement new airspace procedures at major airports from 5-10 years to 3 years. Airlines operating into Atlanta will fly an aggregate of 1.2 million fewer miles per year once the airspace around the airport is fully redesigned, Huerta said. "The way [aircraft] descend now requires leveling off at every stage," he explained. "I like to think of it as the equivalent of stop-and-start driving ... [Using PBN] aircraft glide down like sliding down a banister." Huerta said that NextGen, once fully implemented, will reduce flight delays nationwide by 38% and save 1.4 billion gallons of aircraft fuel per year. "We are creating today a new template for how we manage air traffic here in the United States and around the world," he stated. http://atwonline.com/international-aviation-regulation/news/faa-expedite-nextgen- implementation-meet-long-term-demand-030 Back to Top Airlines Shift Some U.S.-Asia Flights as Solar Storm Nears Earth Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) shifted 11 U.S.- Asia flights further south today to avoid potential radio disruptions as a solar storm hits Earth. The changes added 10 to 15 minutes to the affected flights, the airlines said. AMR Corp. (AAMRQ)'s American Airlines moved three flights to lower altitudes on some routes close to the polar regions, Tim Smith, an airline spokesman, said in an e-mail. The "coronal mass ejection" from the sun arrived about 5:45 a.m. New York time and wasn't as strong as expected, according to the National Weather Service. The center said that the effect will continue to change. In January, a similar storm, the most powerful to hit Earth since 2003, also saw flights rerouted. "We fly a little more southerly to avoid radio disruptions," said Michael Trevino, a spokesman for Chicago- based United Continental in an interview. "Doing this is not unusual. Sometimes wind patterns affect routing too." Delta moved seven flights today to alternate routes, said Anthony Black, an airline spokesman. United Continental shifted four, Trevino said. The affected routes were from the U.S. to cities in Japan, China and Hong Kong. The radiation storm caused blackouts in high-frequency radio, used by airlines and emergency services, at the planet's poles and other regions, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement on its website yesterday. Such storms also have the potential to disrupt power grids and satellite communications. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-08/power-grids-facing-disruption-as-solar- storm-approaches-earth-noaa-says.html Back to Top Ghana's aviation future promising - CAAS Director General The Kotoka International Airport Mr Yap Ong Heng, Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has observed that Ghana's aviation industry had a promising future. He said efforts being made by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to ensure safety and security and plans by the Ghana Airports Company Limited to develop airports in the country as well as other infrastructural developments were guarantees that Ghana would "certainly see a bright future in aviation". He said Singapore and Ghana enjoyed a long-standing relationship as evidenced by the training programmes offered by the Singapore Aviation Academy (SAA). Mr Yap said the academy had trained over 3,000 people, including about 130 Ghanaians and looked forward to increasing its alumni base in Ghana. He made the observation at a cocktail and dinner organised by the GCAA and SAA for facilitators, who are in Ghana for a week's training programme on "Air Worthiness", to afford them an opportunity to meet alumni of the Academy while in Ghana. Mr Yap announced that SAA had decided to extend its training programmes to cover the rest of Africa, but now had about 25 fellowships across the continent and offered on-site training programmes, which would be done twice every year. So far they, had already done one in Kenya and with the on-going week-long programme at the Ghana Civil Aviation Training Academy (GATA) being the second. Mr Willie Orhin, Deputy Director General (Finance and Administration), GCAA stated that CAAS and GCAA had a lot in common, the main one being their training academies, and expressed the hope that they would continue to collaborate. "We are looking forward to fruitful collaboration between the two institutions; we have a lot to learn from each other. We want a situation where GATA, with its facilities can train people locally, and where instructors from SAA will come to GATA to train people," he added. Mr Orhin said Ghana, in her quest to build an aviation hub for the West African Sub- Region, must invest more in training and explained that the collaboration with Singapore would benefit Ghana, by helping to reduce costs of training and ensuring that Ghana had capable personnel to handle the infrastructure put in place in the industry. Source: GNA http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2012/03/09/ghanas-aviation-future-promising- caas-director-general/ Back to Top Family Tossed Off JetBlue Flight for 2-year-old's Tantrum When their child misbehaved, the family was removed from the plane, costing them $2,000 out of pocket BOSTON (KTLA) - A vacationing Rhode Island family was thrown off a recent Jet Blue flight to Boston after their two year-old misbehaved. Dr. Colette Vieau, her husband, and their daughters Cecelia and Natalie were trying to fly back to Boston from a vacation in Turks and Caicos when Natalie, age 2, refused to sit down. Her parents got her seat belt fastened and held her in place, but the family was kicked off the flight anyway. Dr. Vieau described her interaction with the flight attendant over her daughters' behavior. "We were holding them down with all of our might, seat belt on. And I said, 'We have them seated. Can we go now?' She said the pilot made a decision to turn the plane around," Vieau said. The airline said in a statement, "Flight 850 had customers that did not comply with crew member instructions for a prolonged time period. The Captain elected to remove the customers involved for the safety of all customers and crew members on board." But Dr. Vieau insists, "We did what we were asked to do. We weren't belligerent, drunk, angry or screaming. We were just having a hard time struggling with our children." With no other flights that night the family was stranded. After finding a hotel and re- booking their flights, the changes cost them an additional $2,000. http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-family-off-jetblue-flight,0,5936649.story Back to Top Back to Top FAA expects dip in airline travel this year before upward trend resumes Washington (CNN) -- U.S. airlines probably will see a small dip in the number of passengers this year, before resuming a climb that ultimately will see air travel nearly double in the next 20 years, according to an FAA forecast released Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration report says the slow pace of the economic recovery is dampening aviation growth. The number of revenue passenger miles -- a key yardstick for air travel -- will shrink 0.2% this year, the agency said, noting that the number of passengers declined during the final two months of 2011. When the recovery takes hold, air travel will grow at an average 2.8% per year through 2032, the FAA said, slower than the 3.1% growth predicted last year. As a result, the FAA says, it now believes airlines won't hit the 1 billion passenger mark until 2024, three years later than predicted just last year. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood nonetheless used the occasion to repeat his calls for an expansion of NextGen, the satellite-based navigation system that aims to make air travel more efficient. "Our investment in NextGen is the key to getting passengers and cargo to their destinations more safely, faster, and with less impact on the environment," LaHood said in a statement. Forecasts -- a difficult science in the best of times -- have been made more problematic by the turbulent domestic and international recession, the FAA forecasters said. While passenger demand will probably be almost flat this year, the FAA predicts an approximately 2% increase in domestic passengers in 2013, and about 3% growth in future years. Regional airlines are projected to grow faster than the major airlines. The report also notes some efficiencies that could help the FAA manage the growing workload. It says departures from U.S. airports will grow slower than passenger traffic. That is because airlines are increasing aircraft size and reducing the number of empty seats. "Growth over the next five years will be moderate, with a return to historic levels of growth only attainable in the long term," the forecast reads. Two major events -- the September 11 terrorist attacks and the recession -- have had a major effect on air travel in recent years, reducing the demand for air travel. But rising fuel prices and debt restructuring in Europe and the U.S. have also hurt the industry. The report says that airlines have responded by starting new services, and by charging separately for services that historically were bundled into the ticket price. Airlines also returned to profitability in 2011 by better managing their fleets -- operating fewer flights, but with fewer empty seats. "Going into the next decade, there is cautious optimism that the industry has been transformed from that of a boom-to-bust cycle to one of sustained profits," the forecast says. Back to Top Boeing dwarfs Airbus orders in Jan-Feb PARIS, March 9 (Reuters) - European planemaker Airbus reshuffled its order book but sold no previously unassigned aircraft in February and remains well behind Boeing since the start of the year, company data showed on Friday. The European planemaker has ceded ground to its rival after grabbing its biggest ever share of the global market in 2011 with record sales of its revamped fuel-saving A320neo jetliner. But Boeing has hit back with its own competing 737 MAX and is expected to tip the scales in 2012 as the two planemakers re-establish a roughly equal share of the biggest part of the global jet market, covering 100-200-seat medium-haul jets. Airbus figures for the first two months of the year confirmed that trend, with the EADS subsidiary running at a quarter of the sales booked by Boeing, but neck-and-neck on revenue-driving deliveries at 84 each. Airbus has sold 97 aircraft so far this year, for a net total of 91 including cancellations. Airbus reported the sale to Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific of six future A350-900 passenger jets in February. The airline had previously planned to lease them from Kuwait's Alafco but decided to buy them outright instead. This resulted in an equivalent order from Alafco being cancelled, leaving no net change to the backlog of 555 A350s. The same Kuwaiti leasing company showcased an order for 35 A320neo jets at the Singapore Air Show last month but these had previously been on the Airbus books as an unidentified buyer, again resulting in no net change. Asia's largest air show was dominated by the closing of a deal to sell 230 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air. The U.S. company has sold 387 aircraft so far this year, or a net figure of 385 after cancellations. Airbus deliveries so far this year include four A380 superjumbos. Shares in parent EADS soared on Thursday on signs that the company has grabbed control of the costs of manufacturing the 525-seat airliner. Back to Top Emirates seeks compensation for Airbus superjumbo cracks LONDON (Reuters) - Emirates Airline, the world's largest operator of Airbus's A380 superjumbo, plans to seek compensation from the aircraft maker after complaining of widespread disruption and an expected loss of revenue, the airline's president told the Financial Times on Friday. Emirates President Tim Clark said the airline expected to lose up to $90 million by the end of March because of the A380 groundings that began in January. The FT cited him as saying that the Dubai-based carrier would be seeking compensation from Airbus (EAD.PA). "From a commercial point of view, it's a dreadful experience. It has caused a lot of commercial hardship and we are not very happy with the way this has gone," Clark is quoted as saying. European air safety regulators last month ordered checks for Airbus A380 wing cracks for the entire superjumbo fleet after safety engineers found cracks in almost all the planes inspected. Emirates EMIRA.UL has found wing cracks on the 10 A380s that have been inspected so far, and its president is cited by the FT as saying that all 21 in its fleet would need remedial work. Clark criticised Airbus' handling of the wing cracking issue, accusing the company of initially being in a state of "denial" about the scale of the problem, although he accepted that the company was now seeking to rectify the situation. Emirates has a further 69 A380s on order with Airbus. Airbus could not be reached for immediate comment. Back to Top Singapore Air asks pilots to volunteer for no-pay leave SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Airlines Ltd, the world's second-largest carrier by market value, said on Friday it has asked its pilots to volunteer for a no-pay leave of up to two years as the industry was hit by weak demand and soaring jet fuel prices. The move comes on the heels of a 53 percent plunge in third-quarter net profits for the Singapore flag-carrier, which recently also announced a 20 percent capacity cut for its cargo operation and higher fuel surcharges. The offer is open to senior first officers, first officers, second officers and cadet pilots, for durations of between one week and two years to address a surplus of pilots, Singapore Air spokesman Nicholas Ionides said in an email. "The global financial crisis in 2009-10 was a factor and resulted in some excess capacity at the time. Growth was also slower than anticipated after that," Ionides said, adding that pilots opting for no-pay leave can work for other carriers during the period subject to a written approval from Singapore Airlines. The carrier has no plans to make the scheme compulsory at this point and sees the situation as temporary, he said. Singapore Air (SIAL.SI), whose primary customers are business travellers, has been badly hit by a slowdown in corporate travel as major companies, mainly financial firms, cut costs. The global airlines industry has been struggling to pass on the higher cost of fuels to customers as demand for business and leisure travel dwindled due to the global economic slowdown. The International Air Transport Association cut its forecast for airline industry profits by a quarter to $3.5 billion for 2012 and warned the industry could plunge to an $8.3-billion loss if Europe's debt problems trigger another banking crisis. Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC