Flight Safety Information November 8, 2012 - No. 225 In This Issue Internet calls spur clash over talking in the air RJ aircraft flying from New York encounters turbulence Mid-air scare: Man turns violent on Mumbai-Delhi flight, raises Islamic Aviation safety in Canada hits 10-year-high Pilot killed in Central Otago helicopter crash (New Zealand) Ajit Singh interfering with duty hours, pilots tell court (India) PROS IOSA Audit Experts Emirates may replace fleet of 777s jets with new model Boeing board OKs offering bigger 787 Dreamliner to customers Qantas to axe 400 engineering jobs Alliance Airport receives $15.6 million FAA grant for runway extension Curt Lewis & Associates, LLC...offers the following On-Demand Professional Short Courses Internet calls spur clash over talking in the air Making calls in the air on a cellphone is prohibited. But airlines can allow Internet calls. Flight attendants say any more noise on planes not only disturbs passengers but can be a safety concern WASHINGTON -- A new battle is underway over whether airline passengers should be making calls and chattering away during flights. Cellphone calls are prohibited in the air. But fliers increasingly are carrying smartphones and tablet computers on flights. And airlines increasingly are equipping their planes with broadband access. The combination allows passengers to log on and talk to people over Internet calling services such as Skype. And it's set the stage for an argument over whether any calls should be allowed, as the Federal Aviation Administration studies whether to expand passengers' use of electronic gadgets in the air. On one side, groups that represent the electronics and telecommunications industry say Internet calls are as easy as streaming movies and that passengers should be allowed to make them. On the other, flight crews and many passengers oppose any more noisy distractions in the cabin. "This is an issue that clearly is not going away," says Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for Association of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers of America. The Federal Communications Commission prohibits cellphone calls on planes to avoid interference with ground networks. But airlines can allow the use of electronics such as tablets and smartphones above 10,000 feet in the air, after showing the FAA that they don't interfere with aircraft equipment. About 300 planes have broadband access now, and 7,000 are expected in the next five years, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. Airlines offering service include Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, United and US Airways. Delta and Southwest prohibit voice calls as part of their service, which Southwest says is "due to the shared environment." The Telecommunications Industry Association argues that the FAA shouldn't dictate which uses are allowed on the Internet, such as allowing streaming movies while prohibiting Skype calls. "We wouldn't want a government regulation to pick a winner or loser among technologies, which should be allowed to compete," says Brian Scarpelli, the association's senior manager for government affairs. The FAA currently doesn't prohibit Internet calls, termed VoIP or "Voice over Internet Protocol" calls. And if an airline wants to allow them, the FAA requires procedures for how flight crews deal with electronics and announcements for when passengers can use the devices. While calls remain contentious, personalized entertainment is popular among the comments that the FAA has collected the last two months as it considers what devices it will allow and how they should be used in the air. Flight attendants say electronic devices -- especially voice calls from passengers -- distract from safety lectures and disturb other travelers. "It's a safety and a security issue," says Caldwell, spokeswoman for the union representing 60,000 attendants at 21 airlines. For a union survey, one attendant described interrupting a Skype call a passenger made to his daughter on a flight from Philadelphia to San Diego. "This should not be possible to do," the attendant told the survey. Delta Air Lines polled 1,462 passengers and found nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) said they'd consider flying a negative experience if phone calls were allowed during flights. But Delta was among groups urging the FAA to allow the use of electronic devices at any time other than during safety lectures if the sound was turned down. --Cellphones and tablets are what passengers would most like to use below 10,000 feet. ---Making voice calls is only the sixth priority for passengers using smartphones. ---Reading electronic books, listening to music, sending text messages, watching movies and playing games are the top activities passengers would like to do below 10,000 feet. There's an ongoing safety concern that using electronic devices in flight causes radio emissions that may interfere with a plane's communications and navigation equipment. But Delta insists that possible interference is rare. Delta pilots reported an electronic device possibly affecting flight equipment only three times out of 2.3 million flights since Jan. 1, 2010, the airline told the FAA. Mechanics reported 24 incidents of possible interference during that period. But none of the reports were ever confirmed, the airline says. "The benefits of expanded in-flight (electronic device) usage outweigh the extreme low risk of an actual interference event occurring based on the data Delta has assembled," Kirk Thornburg, managing director for aviation safety assurance at Delta, told the FAA. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2012/11/07/plane-calls/1686417/ Back to Top RJ aircraft flying from New York encounters turbulence Amman, Nov. 7 (Petra)-- A Royal Jordanian aircraft was hit by turbulence on Nov. 7 over the British skies en route from New York's JFK international Airport to Amman. Seven passengers were slightly injured. The airline stated that the A340 aircraft suddenly entered in a moderate turbulence. As the skies were clear and absent of clouds, the captain did not get any warning from the air navigation systems in the cockpit of any expected turbulence. Thus, the aircraft was shaken by the turbulence and seven passengers, who were moving in the cabin, suffered minor injuries. The rest of the passengers who kept their safety belts fastened were not affected. RJ president/CEO Amer Hadidi, air safety officials at the Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission and the Civil Defense team received the aircraft upon landing at Queen Alia International Airport at 17:00 pm. First aid was provided to the injured and they were taken to a hospital as a precaution. The aircraft had 139 passengers onboard; 12 of which are crew members. Back to Top Mid-air scare: Man turns violent on Mumbai-Delhi flight, raises Islamic NEW DELHI: In what was described by a frequent flyer as the "scariest flight of his life", a passenger on board a Mumbai-Delhi IndiGo flight suddenly turned violent mid-air on Wednesday and started raising Islamic slogans while threatening to harm the aircraft. The situation turned so alarming that the cabin crew and passengers pinned down the flyer,Mursalim Shaikh, 41, and blocked the aisle with a food trolley to prevent him from making a dash for the cockpit. The IndiGo flight 6E 196 made a quick descent in Delhi after seeking priority landing, where Shaikh, a used car dealer from Babu Tansen Chawl in Virar, was handed over to security agencies. The drama began about an hour after the plane had taken off from Mumbai at 3.45pm and was flying over Jaipur. Shaikh, bearded and dressed in a pathani suit, was seated on seat 28 A. "He suddenly turned around on the seat to face an aged woman on 29A and started muttering menacingly to her," a flyer said. An airhostess reportedly asked Shaikh to sit properly, but he kept gazing at her before suddenly slapping her, turning very aggressive. Recalling the hijack scare on a Delhi-Mumbai flight, a co-passenger said, "Shaikh was waving a cellphone and threatening 'sabko dekh loonga' (I will teach everyone a lesson)." Male passengers and the crew together pinned Shaikh down. Then women and children seated in the rear were sent to the front and a food trolley was placed in the aisle to prevent Shaikh from going towards the cockpit. Confirming the incident, IndiGo said, "This unruly passenger started screaming and also physically assaulted a crew member. The passenger also got violent with co-passengers, and tried to access the forward of the aircraft. IndiGo crew made appropriate announcements and deployed security measures to block access to the front of the aircraft and the front galley." Said a passenger, "We landed soon after the man had been overpowered." The flight commander had requested for security personnel on arrival. The passenger was taken out at 6.13pm and handed over to the CISF. IndiGo said it was in the process of lodging an FIR. "An untoward conduct of this nature is of serious concern to us. We will take all necessary action to address this violation," IndiGo said. While passengers said the landing in Delhi came as a huge relief, the drama did not end there. For, the airline and airport personnel did not handle the situation as professionally as the crew had done in the air. "Once the aircraft door opened, we expected security personnel to rush in and arrest the flyer. But the airline's own security team came into the aircraft. We were first asked to alight and then a second announcement was made asking us to stay seated. We were wondering why security agencies did not just whisk the guy away?" said a passenger. The IGI domestic airport police have arrested Shaikh and registered a case for criminal intimidation, assault and threatening the crew. The Intelligence Bureau is quizzing him. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Mid-air-scare-Man-turns-violent-on- Mumbai-Delhi-flight-raises-Islamic-slogans/articleshow/17135286.cms Back to Top Aviation safety in Canada hits 10-year-high There were 230 accidents involving Canadian-registered aircraft last year, the lowest since at least 2001, according to statistics from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada OTTAWA - Aviation safety in Canada is at an 10-year high. There were 230 accidents involving Canadian-registered aircraft last year, the lowest since at least 2001, according to statistics from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). The majority - 138 - involved private airplanes. Forty-nine involved commercial aircraft, including five airliners, four commuter aircraft, 26 air taxis and 14 airplanes carrying out aerial work. Helicopters accounted for 35 accidents. The resulting accident rate, per 100,000 hours flown, was 5.7, also the lowest since at least 2001. Aviation safety experts say the most notable improvement was in the "risk of collision/loss of separation" category, with 120 such incidents reported in the last year, a 42-per-cent drop compared to 206 in 2010. The picture dims somewhat with fatalities. Thirty fatal accidents, up from 31 in 2010, claimed 65 lives, one more than the previous year. The sole fatal crash involving an airliner was the Aug. 20, 2011 crash of a First Air Boeing 737 into a hillside just east of the Resolute Bay, Nunavut, airport. The accident killed 12 of 15 people aboard and was North America's only major fatal commercial jet disaster last year. One of three survivors was Carleton University student Nicole Williamson, who walked away from the destroyed fuselage and helped a seven-year-old survivor. A TSB investigation continues, with evidence suggesting the flight crew may have unintentionally flown the airworthy craft into the hill seconds after aborting an instrument-landing approach under reduced visibility, light drizzle and a low cloud ceiling. So-called "controlled flight into terrain" crashes have been singled out by the TSB as one of the country's most critical safety issues. Collisions with land and water account for five per cent of accidents, but nearly 25 per cent of all fatalities. Between 2000 and 2009, there were 129 such accidents in Canada, with 128 fatalities. Transport Canada is introducing regulatory amendments that will require terrain awareness warning systems for commercial airplanes with six or more passenger seats and in turbine-powered private airplanes. "However, until these regulations are in force, and this equipment is installed, the residual risk to Canadians will remain, and the board believes that this issue should continue to receive attention," the TSB said in an earlier statement. Meanwhile, two commercial turboprops crashed in Canada last year. On April 1, a twin- engined Casa 212 Aviocar belonging to an Ottawa geological surveying company crashed into a sound barrier along a busy street in Saskatoon, killing passenger Iaroslav Gorokhovski, 47, of Embrun, Ont. On Sept. 22, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter for Arctic Sunwest Charters hit a power line and crashed onto a residential street in Yellowknife, killing the two pilots. Seven passengers survived. Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ Back to Top Pilot killed in Central Otago helicopter crash (New Zealand) CRASH SEARCH: Emergency services workers land at Cardrona Valley after the wreckage of the crashed helicopter was found. A pilot has been killed in a helicopter crash in Central Otago tonight. The crash, near Cardrona Valley Rd, halfway between Wanaka and Queenstown, was reported to emergency services at 8.38pm. About 40 minutes later police found the wreckage of the Robinson R22 helicopter and the body of the female pilot, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Mike Richards said. She was believed to be the partner of the helicopter business operator, but this had not been confirmed, he said. Emergency services, including two police cars, a fire unit, a fire rescue van and an ambulance, set up a base outside a house at Spotburn Station while they searched for the wreckage, a person at the scene said. Two helicopters appeared to have been involved in the search, along with both search and rescue staff. Richards said a CAA safety investigation team would be on site tomorrow to inspect the wreckage and determine the cause of the crash, Richards said. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission would not be investigating, he said. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7926126/Pilot-killed-in-Central-Otago-helicopter-crash Back to Top Ajit Singh interfering with duty hours, pilots tell court (India) Accusing civil aviation minister Ajit Singh of undue interference, the Association of Indian Commercial Pilots has moved the Delhi High Court against the new flight duty hours. NEW DELHI: Accusing civil aviation minister Ajit Singh of undue interference, the Association of Indian Commercial Pilots has moved the Delhi High Court against the new flight duty hours. The petition, which is likely to be taken up for hearing on Thursday, blames Singh for tinkering with the duty hours of pilots without consulting them or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as is mandatory. Arguing that it was the sole prerogative of the DGCA to lay down maximum daily hours to be flown by pilots, the maximum daily duty hours as well as the daily landings permitted by a pilot, the pilots alleged that the minister had stepped beyond his jurisdiction. The petition said even private airlines couldn't set their own flight and duty time limitations (FDTL), yet the minister went ahead in September and decided that the FDTL for Air India pilots will be revised upwards. The pilots claimed the minister also directed AI to implement the revised duty hours along with revised route allocations in gross violation of statutory laws. "Bilateral agreements that protect pilots have been interfered with and revised by a third party which violates constitutional rights," the pilots said in their petition, urging the court to intervene and quash the revised duty hours. The pilots claimed Singh had failed to discharge the function as a "neutral nodal minister" for the airline industry but had taken a decision to influence Air India on FDTL that posed a threat to safety of the aircraft apart from violating Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) rules. The petition also said that since 1965, any change in FDTL was made after negotiation with pilots followed by approval of the DGCA. Yet, this time, in blatant disregard of established practices and conventions, the minister had issued new duty hours, the pilots complained. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ajit-Singh-interfering-with-duty-hours-pilots- tell-court/articleshow/17135695.cms? Back to Top Back to Top Emirates may replace fleet of 777s jets with new model The undercarriage for a Boeing 777 awaits installation at their assembly operations in Everett, Washington. DUBAI (Reuters) - Emirates will consider replacing its planned fleet of 175 Boeing 777s with a new version of the plane if it meets all the airline's needs, the president of the Gulf carrier said on Thursday. The comment by Boeing's biggest customer may put pressure on the aircraft maker to speed development of a revamped 777, provisionally called the 777X. Boeing has not yet offered the 777X for sale, though carriers such as Emirates and British Airways (ICAG.L) have been planning for it to enter service by the end of this decade. Boeing appears to be at least a year away from offering a new version of the 777, Reuters reported this week, quoting people familiar with talks between the plane maker and its customers. "If the aircraft meets our needs, Emirates would consider it as a replacement for our fleet of 175 current and ordered Boeing 777s, but we have no plans to place any orders at this time," Tim Clark told Reuters in an emailed statement. He added: "Boeing has not yet approved the next generation of the 777-300ER which is not slated to be available until 2019-20." Emirates has been pressing for the 777X to come out sooner rather than later. The 777 is one of the most successful jets of all time in terms of sales, and airlines are eager for a version that can go farther on less fuel with more passengers. Clark was quoted as saying in an interview with Dubai-based Arabian Business magazine, published earlier on Thursday: "If it's as good as we hope it'll be, it's a natural thing to say 'yes we would probably roll over what we have to what they're offering with the new aircraft'." The magazine also quoted him as saying: "We have been trying to get Boeing to build the 777-9x and 8x and we are working closely with them to try and persuade them that it's a good idea to build it. We are not there yet. "I guess if they had been there we would have done orders by now but they're not. The moment you read that Boeing are launching the new 777 you will probably find that Emirates is fairly close behind." Emirates has said it will need to replace its old 777s from 2017, which is prompting the push for a new version. Clark also told the magazine that rival planemaker Airbus' (EAD.PA) 350-1000 model was not attractive to Emirates at the moment, unless the plane was changed. The A350- 1000 is due to enter service in 2017. Back to Top Boeing board OKs offering bigger 787 Dreamliner to customers The Boeing board in October may have moved a step closer to formally launching soon a stretch version of the Dreamliner, the 787-10. Boeing has taken the first formal step toward launching a third version of the Dreamliner, the stretch 787-10. "We are beginning to discuss more details about the airplane with customers," spokeswoman Karen Crabtree said Wednesday. She said the talks are conditional "upon our obtaining final board approval to launch the program at a yet-to-be determined date." That implies Boeing's board gave the go-ahead at its October meeting for the last step before formally launching a new plane, known as "authority to offer." It means the sales force at Boeing's Commercial Airplanes can go out and talk terms and pricing with airlines. Once they have an attractive deal that's big enough to launch a new airplane program, airplane executives must go back to the board one more time to win a firm commitment to build the jet. That could come late this year or early next. Last month, Daniel Tsang, an industry analyst with Aspire Aviation, reported British Airways and Singapore Airlines are in advanced discussions about a launch order. Boeing had earlier targeted 2016 for delivering the 787-10 to customers, though that may have slipped a year or two. The jet, which will carry up to 40 more passengers than the 787-9 but not fly as far, is thought to have a large potential market with airlines seeking a fuel-efficient plane for international routes shorter than ultra-long-haul routes like, say, Seattle to Singapore. "We anticipate strong market demand for this third and largest member of the 787 Dreamliner family," Crabtree said. The 787-8, seating up to 250 passengers, is already flying; 35 have been delivered so far. With a range of 9,400 miles, it could reach Singapore from Seattle. The second model, the 787-9, seating up to 290 passengers, flies up to 9,800 miles. The first one is due to be delivered in early 2014. The 787-10 would be stretched 18 feet longer than the 787-9 and seat up to 320 to 330 passengers. It's a shorter-range airplane, ideal for flying less than 7,000 miles. That's long enough to cover the vast majority of airline routes. For example, it could fly direct Seattle to Tokyo. Aviation guru Stephen Udvar-Hazy, chief executive of Air Lease Corp., said in 2011 that the 787-10 would be "a great trans-Atlantic airplane" and would also be ideal for routes from the U.S. to Latin America, from the Middle East to Europe and Asia, and even from the West Coast to closer Asian cities. Boeing believes the 787-10's superior fuel efficiency could kill the market for Airbus' best-selling widebody, the A330, and claims it would even have better operating costs than Airbus' forthcoming A350-900. Crabtree stressed that the customer discussions on the 787-10 still fall short of a firm decision to launch the airplane. "The timing of a decision to launch the program will depend on market response during this next phase of our discussions about the airplane," she said. The launch of the initial 787 program came four months after the board granted the authority to offer in December 2003. Boeing doesn't yet have an answer to one key 787-10 question that's important to the Puget Sound region: Given the extra length in the 787-10 fuselage, will the center fuselage section still fit inside the big Dreamlifter cargo jets that ferry Dreamliner parts around the globe? All the 787 center fuselages are assembled in North Charleston, S.C. If the 787-10 mid- fuselage were too long for the Dreamlifter, then they couldn't be transported to Everett for final assembly, and all would have to be built in South Carolina. T Crabtree expected that question, but said the company doesn't yet have an answer. "It's too soon to know," she said. "We have more work to complete." http://seattletimes.com/html/boeingaerospace/2019631619_boeing78710xml.html Back to Top Qantas to axe 400 engineering jobs QANTAS will axe another 400 engineering jobs as it finishes refurbishing its Boeing 747- 400s and rationalises its line maintenance operations. The announcement comes after hundreds of job losses earlier this year as a result of the airline's decision to consolidate its three Australian maintenance bases and shut down operations at Tullamarine in Melbourne. The end of the 747 project will see about 250 Forstaff contract jobs go at the airline's Avalon facility in Victoria while the line (daily) maintenance decision will see 200 positions axed in Sydney. Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association federal secretary Steve Purvinas condemned the moves as "another step towards turning our national carrier into an unsafe airline". "It beggars belief that Qantas management's answer to a recent spate of maintenance errors, many being investigated by CASA, is to sack more staff," he said. "In our view, the current levels of understaffing are becoming dangerous and Qantas management are disregarding basic laws of aviation safety. This needs to stop or Qantas risks becoming an unsafe operator." The airline says it has 40 engineers for every aircraft compared with 22 at alliance partner British Airways. Qantas Defence Services will also lose about 40 people who maintain the Australian Defence Force's C130 Hercules aircraft, and there will be other jobs losses due to the consolidation engineering training facilities in Sydney and Melbourne. Offsetting this will the addition of up to 120 jobs at the airline's Brisbane facility as maintenance is transferred from Tullamarine. The airline said the Brisbane jobs were in addition to 100 jobs created since May and the recruitment of 30 apprentices. But the net affect of the restructuring would be the loss of 150 Qantas and 250 contractor jobs. Qantas Domestic chief executive Lyell Strambi said the airline's fleet of more modern aircraft had reduced the amount of maintenance required. Mr Strambi said the airline's outstanding track record in aircraft maintenance would not change and the Qantas group fleet age was at its lowest level in 20 years after the addition of 122 new aircraft in the past 4 1/2 years. But he said it was also important that Qantas maintenance was competitive with airlines and maintenance repair organisations around the world. "Aviation is an extraordinarily competitive industry and we have the added pressures of the high Australian dollar and high costs relative to the rest of the world," he said. "Our cost base in heavy maintenance is more than 30 per cent higher than our competitors, who do the vast majority of their maintenance overseas. "We must close this gap to secure Qantas' future viability and this restructure will assist in making Qantas maintenance facilities in Australia more competitive." The airline said it would work with the NSW and Victorian governments as well as offer support packages for affected employees that included redundancy packages above legislative requirements, career transition, access to skills and training programs and counselling for them and their families. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-to-axe-400-engineering- jobs/story-e6frg95x-1226512980716 Back to Top Alliance Airport receives $15.6 million FAA grant for runway extension Alliance Airport received a $15.6 million grant from the federal government for its runway extension project at the industrial airport. The airport, located in north Fort Worth, will use the grant to extend its 16R/34L runway to 11,000 feet. Alliance is currently extending both of its runways, giving the airport the runway space needed to allow fully loaded cargo planes to make non-stop flights to Europe or Asia. Earlier this year, Alliance was awarded $15.1 million in grants from the FAA for its runway extension project. So far, Alliance has received $215 million from the FAA, Texas Department of Transportation and Tarrant County, and has secured 80 percent of the funding it needs for the project. "Grant funding from the FAA brings us one step closer to realizing our master plan for Fort Worth Alliance Airport," said Tim Ward, president of the airport. Alliance expects the runway extensions to be completed by 2016. Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/11/alliance-airport- receives-156-million-faa-grant-for-runway-extension.html#storylink=cpy Curt Lewis