Flight Safety Information August 27, 2012 - No. 173 In This Issue Buzz Aldrin: Neil Armstrong Was 'The Best Pilot I Ever Knew' Overhaul blunder behind in-flight 747-200 freighter fire Focus on visual approach put A319 on wrong runway CRJ hard-landed after go-around foiled Sydney airport invests A$25m to upgrade safety facilities We need a National Transport Safety Board (Philippines) Congo's new airlines brave riskiest African skies PRISM Certification Support Asia-Pacific Needs Thousands of Pilots, Technicians Cessna reclaims fastest aircraft title with Citation Ten Boeing Marks One-Year Anniversary of 787 Certification Buzz Aldrin: Neil Armstrong Was 'The Best Pilot I Ever Knew' Before he made history on the moon, Neil Armstrong was famous among military aviators for his bold test flights and his 'steel trap of a mind.' Taylor Dinerman talks to Buzz Aldrin about his friend's legacy. From the point of view of America's politicians, the most significant thing about Neil Armstrong was that on July 20, 1969, when he became the first man to set foot on the moon, he was a civilian. Unlike his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins, Armstrong was not a military officer assigned to NASA. It would have been too much of a contradiction if the lunar plaque signed by Richard Nixon, which read in part, "We came in peace for all mankind" was put in place by a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel or a Navy commander. It was not that Armstrong had never served in the military. As a naval aviator during the Korean War, he'd flown F9F Panther fighter-bombers from an aircraft carrier off the coast of North Korea. In the course of five combat tours he earned a reputation as one of the best pilots in the Navy. But he quit the Navy after graduating from Purdue, becoming a full-time civilian researcher and test pilot, first at the Lewis National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) center outside Cleveland, Ohio (now called NASA Glenn), and later out of the legendary Edwards Air Force Base in the California high desert. There, Armstrong became famous for flying the dangerous and temperamental X-15 rocket plane. His March 1962 X-15 flight took him up to 207,000 feet in altitude. Not quite high enough to earn one's astronaut wings, but a remarkable feat. Inside the small world of military aviation, his exploits as a test pilot are still spoken of with awe. One of the stories that is told is that after landing a plane in the desert after its engines had both failed, Armstrong was rolling to a stop when he saw an obstacle that he was about to crash into. According to the legend, he used his speed and the flaps and rudders of his aircraft to force the plane up onto one wheel and, like a movie stunt driver, swerved around the obstacle precariously balanced on a single bit of rubber. Other stories tell of his close calls and the controversial landing he made on what was supposed to be a dry lake bed in Nevada. In fact, it was a bit too muddy to hold up the weight of the two-seat T-33 training jet he was flying, and its wheels sank into the mud, apparently much to the amusement of his passenger, Chuck Yeager. His skill as a research and test pilot certainly impressed Buzz Aldrin. Armstrong was "the best pilot I ever knew," Aldrin said in an interview with The Daily Beast shortly after his former colleague's death. That is high praise indeed coming from a man who had flown F-86 jet fighters in combat in Korea and who has his own impressive set of flying and technical academic credentials. Armstrong's ability to memorize the smallest engineering detail and to be able to explain, in even more detail, the intricate working of any aircraft he tested made him the outstanding test pilot of his generation. To this day, within military aviation, he is famous for his "steel trap" mind and his unflappable demeanor. He joined the NASA astronaut corps in September 1962, a bit more than a year after President Kennedy had committed America "within this decade" to "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." Armstrong entered astronaut training confident of his abilities; as he told his biographer James Hansen, he had "worked actively with the guys in the simulator lab constructing simulations to try and investigate problems." Armstrong helped establish the tradition that NASA astronauts will always be superbly well-prepared for their missions. Since the Apollo project involved doing things that had never been done before-landing a rocket-powered vehicle on the moon, to be precise-learning how to simulate unprecedented maneuvers was essential. Intense and repeated training in high fidelity simulators has always characterized preparation for manned spaceflight, especially at NASA. Armstrong was not only able to take full advantage of this training, but helped establish the tradition that NASA astronauts will always be superbly well prepared for their missions. His first spaceflight was the Gemini VIII mission flown in March 1966 with his partner David Scott. The mission included America's second spacewalk and the first rendezvous and docking maneuver, an essential spaceflight technique not only for the Apollo missions but for almost all subsequent space operations. For example, the International Space Station could never have been built without using the techniques Neil Armstrong helped pioneer on the Gemini VIII mission. While the NASA program recovered from the January 1967 Apollo 1 disaster that killed Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White, Armstrong was hard at work helping develop the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. This was a weird-looking, dangerous jet- and rocket- powered contraption, sometimes called the flying bedstead. According to Buzz Aldrin, it was used to train Apollo mission commanders in the piloting skills they would need to land on the lunar surface. Armstrong was flying one on May 6, 1968 when it crashed. Armstrong ejected and parachuted to safety. According to one source, he walked away without a drop of sweat on him; behind his eyes the pilots and technicians could almost see him calculating and figuring exactly what had caused the explosion. Thanks to Armstrong's ability as an engineer, the problem (a faulty thruster) was quickly identified and repaired and training for the lunar landing was quickly resumed. The choice of the Apollo 11 crew was partly predetermined by the fact that Aldrin and Armstrong had trained together as backup for a previous mission. Once Armstrong had been picked to be the commander, he quickly decided that he wanted Aldrin in the lunar module with him and that Mike Collins would be the best man for the job of commanding the Apollo capsule itself. Together, on July 16, 1969, they rode the giant Saturn V into orbit, flawlessly connected their capsule to the lunar lander, and rocketed out of Earth's orbit heading for the moon. Arriving in orbit around the moon, Armstrong and Aldrin in the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) detached from Collins in the Apollo capsule and began the nerve-wracking descent towards the moon's surface. Armstrong flew the LEM while Aldrin manned the primitive flight computer. As Buzz Aldrin explained, "At 500 feet the commander [Armstrong] took over manual control to get a feel for what the spacecraft was like before going for the landing." Armstrong made a few last-second maneuvers to avoid some dangerous rocks and successfully landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. All the hard years of training, education, and experience had paid off; Armstrong had made it look easy. Notoriously, as he stepped onto the moon Armstrong intended to say, "It's a small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind." Instead he pronounced the now immortal, but grammatically infelicitous words, "It's a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind." They returned to Earth and entered immediately into a twilight realm, somewhere between myth and history. It was not until 1979, when Tom Wolfe published The Right Stuff, that people outside the tight fraternity of military pilots understood just what the Apollo program had meant to the men who flew the missions. "A career in flying was like climbing one of those ancient Babylonian pyramids made up of a dizzy progression of steps and ledges, a ziggurat, a pyramid extraordinarily high and steep; and the idea was to prove at every foot of the way up that you were one of the elected and anointed ones who had the right stuff and could move higher and higher and even-ultimately, God willing one day-that you might be able to join that special few at the very top, that elite who had the capacity to bring tears to men's eyes. The very brotherhood of the Right Stuff itself. " No one ever said it out loud, but it became obvious that at the very top of the ziggurat stood a modest, smiling, engineer from Ohio: Neil Armstrong. In an age when flying largely consists of programming computers and when the end of manned combat flying is one or two decades away or maybe less, Neil Armstrong's place at the very top of the ziggurat is secure, forever. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/27/buzz-aldrin-neil-armstrong-was-the- best-pilot-i-ever-knew.html Back to Top Overhaul blunder behind in-flight 747-200 freighter fire After more than nine years, German investigators have revealed that a maintenance error caused an in-flight fire to break out on a Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 747-200 freighter's forward deck. Several electrical circuit-breakers tripped as the aircraft reached its 31,000ft (9,450m) cruise altitude, after departing Sharjah. But while the crew sensed an electrical burning smell, and repeatedly checked the main deck, they could not detect anything untoward. The 747, however, had sustained serious fire damage, for which evidence was discovered after the aircraft landed at Frankfurt. During the descent the crew had been unable to extend two of the slats and the approach was conducted at a speed 25kt (46km/h) higher than normal. Examination of the lower cargo compartment revealed partially scorched insulation across the whole area of the oxygen bottles up to the main deck. There was a palm- sized hole in the dado vent box, with severe fire damage to nearby insulation, and there were smoke and heat traces on parts of the fuselage structure. "The discovered smoke and heat traces and the damage indicate a cable fire with open flames - the flames themselves had gone out," says German investigation authority BFU. It identifies the aircraft involved as a 747-200SF operated by Lufthansa after it was converted by Israel's Bedek Aviation Group. The dado boxes - which aid air circulation - were installed during conversion. However, these were larger than the originals and the BFU believes that, during a 2002 maintenance D-check in Singapore, necessary spacing from wiring bundles was not implemented when the dado box was reassembled. Chafing of the wire bundle, which included a galley power line, led to a short-circuit and cable fire. The BFU adds that, probably during the D-check, the galley power line had been tied to the wire bundle for the flap control - against the manufacturer's design practices - resulting in the partial flap failure. BFU has just released the report into the 6 March 2003 event. The aircraft has subsequently been transferred to freight operator Evergreen. http://www.flightglobal.com/ Back to Top Focus on visual approach put A319 on wrong runway Pilots of an Air France Airbus A319 erroneously landed on the wrong runway at Casablanca after accepting a visual approach and failing to notice that the jet was aligned on a parallel centreline. Moroccan investigators found that the aircraft, cleared to land on runway 35L, had correctly acknowledged the clearance but approached high and fast, partly owing to a strong tailwind. The aircraft (F-GRXC) landed instead on runway 35R, which a departing Royal Air Maroc flight had been instructed to cross - although its pilot chose to wait, having noticed the errant A319 on approach. "For information, Air France landed on 35R," the Maroc crew told air traffic control. Cockpit-voice recordings were unavailable, but flight-data recorder information shows the Air France crew had prepared the aircraft for the 35L instrument landing system. Having taken the visual option, however, the pilots did not notice the cockpit indicators were showing a displacement far to the right. Moroccan accident investigation bureau BEA says that after being told to contact the tower during descent to 3,000ft (915m), the aircraft - experiencing a tailwind of 30kt (56km/h) - turned on to final. It was travelling at 175kt, with a 15kt tailwind, as it passed through 3,000ft. The bureau says the pilots were "always trying to catch up" during the approach. At 1,000ft above ground, the aircraft was still descending at 1,000ft/min, travelling 10kt faster than the reference speed. Air France warns there is a risk of confusion between runways 35L and 35R - both about 4,000m (13,100ft) long - as well as the parallel taxiway T at Casablanca. In its conclusions to the inquiry into the 8 August 2011 event, the BEA says that while the absence of cockpit-voice data had "not helped" to clarify the details, the pilots had not considered the possibility of a visual approach while briefing their arrival. Cockpit resource management had fallen short of the level required, particularly at an airport with a known runway confusion hazard. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ Back to Top CRJ hard-landed after go-around foiled Spanish investigators have described how a Bombardier CRJ200 sustained damage in a hard landing after the crew opted against a go-around owing to weather and high terrain. The Air Nostrum aircraft (EC-ITU) had been arriving at Barcelona on a service from Badajoz, and was lining up with runway 25R on a visual approach from the south. Air traffic controllers had already given clearance for the southerly approach because storms were forcing traffic from the north to divert. Spanish investigation authority CIAIAC, in an interim statement, says the aircraft had approached over the sea and - while already configured for landing - was nearly 200ft (60m) above the normal glideslope 5nm (9km) from the threshold. This excess height increased at around 4.5nm because the aircraft met a cloud layer and the first officer, who was flying, chose to stay above it. By the time the CRJ200's distance from the runway had closed to 2.8nm it was 725ft above the normal glideslope. "[The pilots] then realised that their approach did not meet the stabilised approach criteria, meaning they had to go around," says CIAIAC. But executing the normal go-around procedure - a climb to 3,000ft on a 246° radial - would have forced the twinjet into a storm cell. "[The captain] also considered the possibility of going around to the right or left but ruled out both options due to the presence of mountains to the right and other aircraft to the left," adds CIAIAC. At a distance of 1nm the aircraft was still not aligned with the centreline and was more than 600ft above the glideslope. The captain took control and deployed the speedbrakes, increasing the descent rate to around 3,000ft/min, causing the ground-proximity warning system to sound. The CRJ200 overflew the threshold at 365ft - far above the normal 50ft - and the jet eventually landed hard, hitting the runway at 3.66g and bouncing for 2s before landing with an impact of 2.45g. None of the 38 occupants was seriously injured. Maintenance personnel noted that the landing had resulted in structural damage to the aircraft. Cockpit-voice data was lost, however, because the recorder had remained connected when maintenance staff powered up the jet. CIAIAC has not reached conclusions about the 30 July 2011 event but says it is evaluating human factors issues as well as matters relating to unstable approach training. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ Back to Top Sydney airport invests A$25m to upgrade safety facilities Sydney airport has spent A$25 million ($26 million) on the installation of runway stop bars to upgrade its airfield safety practices and to better facilitate low visibility operations. Over the past year, the airport installed stop bars at 47 locations across the airport's three runways to minimise the risk of runway incursions. The stop bars consist of a series of inset red lights across the width of the taxiway at each runway entry point and elevated lights on the side of each taxiway. The stop bar lights are extinguished and green "lead on" lights come on when an aircraft or vehicle is cleared by air traffic control to enter a runway, the airport said in a statement. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/ Back to Top We need a National Transport Safety Board (Philippines) DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star) Updated August 27, 2012 12:00 AM We don't always grieve with uncommon intensity when our leaders die except in a few cases. I was seven years old when Ramon Magsaysay's plane crashed in Cebu. But I still remember the sadness that enveloped the nation. I still remember that day... March 17, 1957. The next time I remember the nation feeling really bad about the death of a leader was when Ninoy Aquino was murdered at the tarmac in NAIA. If there was a feeling of surrender to an Almighty Power in the case of Magsaysay, this time it was only anger in the case of Ninoy. There was sadness too when Cory Aquino finally succumbed to colon cancer but her lingering illness prepared us for the news. Everything stopped on the day of her funeral. It was a sorrowful but grateful nation that accompanied her to her final resting place. In the case of the late Jesse Robredo, the nation was caught by surprise not just by his death but by how much he has served this country. Uncharacteristic of a man in his position, Jesse just did his good deeds quietly. When the news flashed about his plane crashing off Masbate, most folks were unaware of how much of our hopes and dreams for better government crashed with him. Then people started to google and learned more about the man Jesse Robredo. Within hours, people were praying that he did not perish in the accident. But it soon became evident he didn't survive and that was when the national feeling of loss started to make itself strongly felt. Because he died in an accident involving a small private aircraft, there are those who wonder if the accident was avoidable. It helps that the pilot owned the aircraft and he wouldn't have flown a plane that was not airworthy. Then again, we know how Pinoys like to take risks and maybe this was just one risk too many the pilot-owner took. His plane charter company, after all, had a recent fatal crash. If we had a credible government regulatory agency that checks on the local aviation industry, we would feel at ease. We would know someone checked the airworthiness of that aircraft. Unfortunately, there is little trust in the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and its ability to assure local aviation safety. That is precisely why we are unable to get that upgrade to Category 1 by the US Federal Aviation Administration. Put another way, we were downgraded to Category 2 because international aviation authorities didn't think we had an effective regulatory set-up in the country. CAAP has a reputation for having personnel who are neither competent nor honest and record keeping until very recently, utilized index cards in shoe boxes in this digital age. It is now entirely possible regulatory failure on the part of CAAP, an agency under the DOTC, could be partly to blame for that plane crash. The Masbate crash, a news story reports, had prompted the CAAP to look into the unsafe practices of aviation firms, including flying planes well past their primes. Why only now? Isn't this something they should have been doing? That is why the well publicized order of Mar Roxas to CAAP to investigate the cause of the crash isn't going to give us reassurance we will find the truth and learn from the sad experience. An independent probe must be assured. There is an inherent conflict of interest for CAAP. It is possible that part, if not most of the reason for the plane crash lies in CAAP's regulatory failure. No one should expect CAAP to condemn itself if this is so. It does not help that CAAP was reported to have ruled out the possibility of involving foreign experts or sending some of the plane parts to experts and laboratories abroad. At the very least, we should request assistance from the US because they have more experience investigating air disasters. Being realistic about CAAP's capabilities, it is false nationalism to think it diminishes the Filipino's image as a capable professional if we asked for help abroad. What we need long term is the establishment of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that is independent of CAAP and DOTC. We need an act of Congress to establish this body. It should have authority over all transportation related accidents on land, sea and air. We also cannot have Marina and LTO investigate accidents that could be a result of their negligence. I was told by a former head of CAAP that putting up this NTSB is one of the conditions the FAA imposed for a favorable consideration of our category 1 upgrade. I don't consider this an imposition because it is necessary. Of course this new agency should be allowed to get expert staff, exempted from government rules on pay scales, or its reason for being would be negated. An administration bill to create the NTSB should be immediately certified as urgent by P- Noy not just to honor Jesse Robredo but to protect the lives of more people who ride commercial and private aircrafts in this country. We do not have a culture of safety and our "puede na" mentality when it comes to proper maintenance often prevails specially when costs are involved. If there is one thing we absolutely need to do right, it is the regulation of our aviation sector. It scares me when I think of the times I have taken those small planes and most specially those air force helicopters and C47s in the course of my journalistic career. When I was a judge in the Kawal Awards some years ago, we awarded an air force sergeant who used his ingenuity to make those air force planes fly even in the absence of fresh spare parts. Of course air force safety is a different matter to civil air safety but also pertains to safety in our skies. Daang Matuwid is not just about fighting corruption that results in losses of public funds. Daang Matuwid is also about doing things right. Proper aviation regulation is urgent business that must be attended to. Mar owes that much to his bosom buddy, Jesse, to see to it this part of his responsibility is done not just right but at once. There should be no compromises on public safety... unless the next victims are the officials who failed to do their jobs right. Losing a man like Jesse Robredo is a cause for national sadness. I am sure he would rather that we use the tragedy to correct a deficiency in governance. Failure to do so can only claim more lives in the future. Jesse shouldn't have died in vain. Jesse's successor I know it is probably still inappropriate at this point to speculate on who will be Jesse Robredo's successor. But a number of names are now being floated ... and most are so un-Jesse. So, sentiments aside, we need to start thinking hard and suggest someone worthy to pick up from where he left. The quick assignment of the Executive Secretary as OIC is understandable. The business of government must go on without interruption. But it is hoped that the permanent successor would have the credentials and reputation of Jesse. Off the top of my head, the only name I could think of quickly is that of Robredo's fellow Bicolano, Gov. Joey Salceda. Gov Joey has shown his ability to run a local government in a businesslike yet people-oriented manner. He has learned well from Jesse's philosophy of involving the people as part of his governance strategy. Over his last two terms, Gov Joey has also attracted international attention to his brand of governance, specially in dealing with climate change issues that impact heavily on his disaster prone province. He can also be expected to promote business-friendly LGUs, having been in business himself. It should help that Gov Joey was P-Noy's classmate in Ateneo, so he is no stranger to the president. Yet, he is not kabarkada and Gov Joey's own record as an elected public official gives him some credibility to be both independent and supportive of the President. He is also a Liberal Party member, same as Jesse. But I have no idea if Gov Joey would trade his independence as an elected Governor to be an appointed cabinet secretary serving at the pleasure of P-Noy. Probably not. In any case, P-Noy must be absolutely sure the one he appoints to succeed Jesse has a reputation that will make people believe he or she can do justice to Jesse Robredo's memory. P-Noy owes that much to Jesse Robredo. Experience "Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again." Boo Chanco's e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Back to Top Congo's new airlines brave riskiest African skies KINSHASA (Reuters) - Its tarmac littered with dozens of dilapidated planes, the airport in Congo's capital Kinshasa makes clear the dire state of aviation even by Africa's generally low standards. The planes have been abandoned either as mechanical failures or by companies that went bust in a sector where a lack of proper infrastructure means pilots sometimes navigate with the help of Google Maps and sat-nav devices like those found in cars. "Crazy things happen here. We have to stop those crazy things happening," says Frenchman Jean-Marc Pajot, who with his new FlyCongo airline is setting out to prove there is a market for those determined to make it work. On the face of things, it looks like a good business. An airline can charge $700 for a seat on the 1,600 km (1,000 mile) flight from Kinshasa to Congo's copper mining centre of Lubumbashi. To fly a similar distance between London and Lisbon - and back - a ticket can be had for less than $100. With economic growth forecasts of around 7 percent until 2015 thanks to its mines, Democratic Republic of Congo's business prospects look healthy alongside regional peers. Air passenger numbers more than tripled in the decade to 2010, growing nearly twice as fast as they did globally. But as in much of Africa, a spurt in growth after decades of decline has not translated into an improvement in infrastructure for airlines or anyone else. A lack of equipment that would be standard elsewhere, haphazard safety measures and challenging weather conditions make Congo one of the world's riskiest places to fly. Last year Congo was behind only Russia with 111 flying fatalities according to the Aviation Safety Network, but Russia had some 30 times more passenger journeys. Only the much smaller African countries of Gabon, Sierra Leone and Djibouti scored lower in terms of overall safety in a survey by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The background to Pajot's FlyCongo could appear less than auspicious: it took over the assets of Hewa Bora, Congo's largest airline until it lost its license last year when one of its planes crashed in a thunderstorm, killing 70 people. Pajot has already broken up six planes for scrap to streamline the company and as a gesture of its commitment to safety. He has five planes left. Pajot complains that airports don't even have proper control towers: his staff go out to runways with walkie-talkie radios to give the pilots a picture of landing conditions. Another new airline, Korongo, in which Lufthansa subsidiary SN Brussels is a partner, has put some $3 million of its $12 million investment into infrastructure - going as far as to pay for airport firefighters. The need for a functioning aviation network is clear in Africa's second largest country. It has hardly any roads. BY AIR OR ... CANOE? Pilot Hugues Gendre recalls taking one priest to his parish deep in the equatorial forest in little over an hour, a journey which previously took 10 days and 10 nights of non-stop travel by canoe. But Gendre, who flies aid workers around, is skeptical a safe and viable airline can run in Congo. "Firstly there's a lack of competence, then there's also the phenomenon of generalized corruption, and there's no strong central government," said Gendre, president of Aviation Without Borders, a non-governmental organisation. "Little by little, training erodes, standards go down, and it ends in an accident." President Joseph Kabila lost his closest adviser in February when the plane carrying him overshot a runway. To support peacekeepers in the far reaches of a country the size of Western Europe, the United Nations operates its own air service. Many diplomats are barred by their embassies from using Congolese airlines. The government has resolved to reverse decades of mismanagement, said Emile Bongeli, who heads the state organisation which runs Congo's airports. Runways are being redone and a national communications system is being set up. Longer term, Congolese airlines seek their removal from U.S. and European safety blacklists so they can fly the foreign routes that mining companies use to bring in staff and equipment. But there is no sign of that happening soon. "It's not going to stop us working to improve security," said Bongeli. Foreign airlines currently link Kinshasa with Europe and also fly from Lubumbashi to the African hubs of Nairobi and Johannesburg. Air France, which has four flights a week to Paris, said it was looking at Congo as a long term growth market. For decades, Congolese aviation has been tarnished by short-lived airlines that were sometimes founded more for laundering the proceeds of corruption than as profitable enterprises. The new operators are setting out to be different. For most of his career, Pajot, 52, was a manager in the information technology sector, although he spent the past three years as a commercial pilot and flight instructor. His airline flies to five Congolese cities from Kinshasa. "We have to go by the book," he said. "I love big challenges, and this is certainly a big challenge." The other start-up - the Korongo joint venture of SN Brussels and Congolese company Malta Forrest - has put its planes under the oversight of Belgian authorities to try to tackle the foreign safety concerns. Korongo chief executive Christophe Allard believes operating to international standards will encourage local companies to follow suit. Korongo flies between Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Johannesburg. Despite the difficulties of navigating Congo's politics - Korongo's launch was blocked for more than a year because of internal wranglings - Allard believes the government is catching on to the need to improve the sector. "We told the Congolese that the game is over, that they have to accept modernity," he said. "Now they can prove they've chosen to move in the right direction." http://www.cnbc.com/id/48798912 Back to Top Back to Top Asia-Pacific Needs Thousands of Pilots, Technicians - Boeing Boeing Co. (BA) said Monday the Asia-Pacific region will require thousands of pilots and maintenance technicians over the next 20 years to support the modernization of airline fleets and rapid growth in air travel. The region will need 185,600 new pilots and 243,500 technicians through 2030 as the region's rapidly growing economies drive travel demand, according to Boeing's 2012 pilot and technician outlook presented in Singapore. Boeing predicts the region will take delivery of 12,030 new jets between now and 2031, more than a third of all the new jets that are predicted to start flying, making it the fastest growing market for aviation in the world. "This great need for aviation personnel is a global issue, but it's hitting the Asia Pacific region particularly hard," said Bob Bellitto, the global sales director of Boeing Flight Services. "Some airlines are already experiencing delays and operational interruptions because they don't have enough qualified pilots." Boeing predicts China will need 71,300 pilots and 99,400 technicians in the period. Northeast Asia will require 18,800 pilots and 26,500 technicians while Southeast Asia will absorb 51,500 pilots and 67,400 technicians, according to a Boeing statement. Southwest Asia will need 31,000 pilots and 33,100 technicians in the period, Boeing said. Globally, Boeing estimates a requirement of 460,000 pilots and 601,000 technicians over the next 20 years. The company is building partnerships to develop a global flight school network to better supply aviation personnel, Mr Bellitto said. In June, the company signed an agreement with Indonesia to jointly establish aviation training programs. Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/08/27/asia-pacific-needs- thousands-pilots-technicians-boeing/#ixzz24jnsLuiC Back to Top Cessna reclaims fastest aircraft title with Citation Ten The Citation Ten returns Cessna to preeminence as builder of the world's fastest civil aircraft. Cessna Aircraft Corporation announced this week that its new Citation Ten will be the world's fastest civil aircraft. After the retirement of the Concorde, Cessna's Citation X was the fastest civil airplane with a maximum Mach number of 0.92 until Gulfstream unveiled its new G650 business jet. The G650 boasted a maximum Mach of 0.925. In an August 24 press release, Cessna revealed that the new Citation Ten will have a maximum Mach of 0.935. A speed of Mach 0.935 means that the Citation Ten will be capable of traveling at 93.5 percent of the speed of sound. This is equivalent to almost 700 miles per hour (1,126 kilometers per hour). Citation TEN - Mach .935 Scott Ernest, Cessna President and CEO, said, "As our founder Clyde Cessna said, 'speed is the only reason for flying,' so at Cessna we design, engineer, manufacture and fly the fastest civil aircraft in the world - not for us, but for our customers so they can work faster, more efficiently and get the job done." Cessna also notes that in addition to an increase in speed over the old Citation X, the new Ten will also have increased payload capacity and range. The Ten will have a range of 3,245 nautical miles (3,734 statute miles or 6,009 kilometers), an increase of almost 200 miles over the X. Payload is also slated to increase by about 200 pounds (90 kilograms). As a part of the celebration surrounding Cessna's return to preeminence among fast jets, the company also announced that it will have a presence on all four race cars that are part of the Chip Ganassi Racing Team. Ganassi Racing operates a Citation X according to Professional Pilot magazine. In the press release, Ganassi says, "My teams compete in nearly 70 races a year and I try to make it to as many as I can." He continues, "The races might be on the same weekend and sometimes even on the same day and thousands of miles apart. So like any business owner, time is one of my most valuable assets. This airplane shrinks the map for me and has become a vital piece of my business allowing me to spend more time at the track and with my teams. You couldn't put a value on how important it is to my business." The Citation Ten is currently undergoing flight testing and certification. It first flew in January 2012 at Cessna's factory in Wichita, Kan. According to Cessna, first deliveries of the Ten are scheduled for January 2013. http://www.examiner.com/article/cessna-reclaims-fastest-aircraft-title-with-citation-ten Back to Top Boeing Marks One-Year Anniversary of 787 Certification EVERETT, Wash., Aug. 24, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- This weekend Boeing (NYSE: BA) will celebrate the one-year anniversary of certification of the 787 Dreamliner. On Aug. 26, 2011, both the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) granted type certificates for the all-new jetliner. In addition, the FAA added the 787 to the Boeing production certificate. "Receiving those documents marked a real turning point for the 787 program and was an historic milestone for The Boeing Company," said Larry Loftis, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "Certification demonstrated that the airplane met the all requirements for commercial operations, that we had completed the most rigorous test program in our history and that the Dreamliner was ready to enter revenue service." To date, 17 787s have been delivered to airlines and the program has more than 800 unfilled orders with 58 customers worldwide. The in-service airplanes are performing as expected with dispatch reliability ratings equal to previous new Boeing models including the 777. "We are always mindful of the sacrifices made and the great talent applied to achieve the challenging goals we put in front of the team," said Loftis. "From concept, to design, to build to testing - it took tens of thousands of men and women from around the world focusing on a single goal to earn those certifications." One month after certification, the company delivered the first 787 to launch customer ANA. One month later, the airplane entered revenue service. "It's been a great 12 months for the 787 team," said Loftis. "And better yet, we see a long, bright future for this program." About the Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was officially launched in April 2004 with a record-setting order from ANA (All Nippon Airways). The Dreamliner brings a 20 percent fuel use improvement to the market along with a 30 percent reduction in maintenance costs. The airplane has gained technical and critical acclaim world wide because of its pioneering use of composites for primary structure, advanced electronic systems and exceptional passenger-comfort features. Contact: Lori Gunter 787 Communications +1 206 931 5919 Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/24/4754264/boeing-marks-one- year-anniversary.html#storylink=cpy Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC