Flight Safety Information January 24, 2013 - No. 020 In This Issue 3 Canadians Missing on Antarctic Flight U.S. NTSB reviewing whistleblower claims in 787 case FAA: No timetable for returning Boeing 787s to skies DOT, FAA Chiefs Guarded When Questioned On Lithium-Ion Batteries L.I. Man Accused Of Pointing Laser At Plane, Police Helicopter 787 battery blew up in '06 lab test, burned down building PROS IOSA Audit Experts American Airlines Signs New Agreement To Begin Large Regional Jet Flying Indonesia tightens regulation for foreign pilots Ghana Civil Aviation Authority Grills Delta Airlines "Flying Wing" Uses Half the Fuel of a Standard Airplane 3 Canadians Missing on Antarctic Flight (WELLINGTON, New Zealand) (AP) - Three Canadian men are missing in Antarctica after their small plane disappeared. A search has been launched. The men went missing late Wednesday on a flight from the South Pole to the Italian base in Terra Nova Bay. An emergency locator transmitter was activated at about 10 p.m. in a mountainous area. But rescue crews have been unable to find the Twin Otter plane. New Zealand Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Mike Roberts said in a statement that a Hercules C130 aircraft flew to the Queen Alexandra mountain range but was unable to sight the aircraft, which he presumes has gone down. He said a joint New Zealand and US field rescue team will attempt to reach the site by helicopter when conditions improve. Weather conditions were poor early Thursday. *********** Date: 23-JAN-2013 Time: 10:00 LT Type: de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter Operator: Kenn Borek Air Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: / Occupants: 3 Airplane damage: mis Location: Northern end, Queen Alexandra Range, Antarctica - Antarctica Phase: En route Nature: Unknown Departure airport: South Pole Destination airport: Terra Nova Bay Narrative: A DHC-6 Twin Otter with 3 POB ( all Canadians ) has gone missing on a flight from the South Pole to the Italian Antarctic base at Terra Nova Bay. A distress beacon signal has been heard, but a sweep by a C-130 failed to produce a sighting of the plane. AP reports that the ELT was activated on the aircraft about 10pm Wednesday. Weather in the area was reported to be very dangerous with hurricane force winds, blowing snow and below zero temperatures. The aircraft was on a support mission from Amundson-Scott South Pole Base (USA) to an Italian base at Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. The search continues. Captain Bob Heath is a well known and much respected Canadian aviator with 25 years experience flying in the Artic/Antartic - hoping for positive outcome . . . DC-3 spent five hours circling over the site, heavy snow and 190 km winds, search currently in stand down mode - aircraft was carrying survival tent/equipment and 5 day supply of food. Next official update due 13:00 Jan 24 EST on link posted below in source; www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top U.S. NTSB reviewing whistleblower claims in 787 case WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is looking at issues raised by more than one whistleblower as it investigates battery failures that have grounded the global fleet of 50 Boeing Co (BA.N) 787 Dreamliners for a week. Michael Leon, one of the whistleblowers, said he spoke with an NTSB investigator this week and gave him extensive materials about his claim that he was fired around six years ago for raising safety concerns about Securaplane Technologies Inc., an Arizona company that makes chargers for the highly flammable lithium-ion batteries at the heart of the probe. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday and in earlier court papers, Leon said Securaplane was rushing to ship chargers that by his assessment did not conform to specifications and could have malfunctioned. A federal administrative judge later dismissed Leon's complaints after concluding he was fired for repeated misconduct, according to court documents. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded that the pieces of equipment he complained about were never installed in the aircraft, as they were prototypes. Leon appealed the federal court's ruling in 2011, but no decision has been reached. Now the NTSB is taking a closer look at some safety concerns people have previously raised as part of a widening investigation by U.S., Japanese and French authorities into two 787 battery failures this month. One involved a fire on a parked 787 at Boston airport, the other forced a second 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan. Kelly Nantel, NTSB director of public affairs, confirmed the NTSB was pursuing information provided by "more than one" whistleblower, but declined comment on any specific cases. "We have been notified about whistleblowers and are pursuing that information where warranted," Nantel told Reuters, adding it was "not uncommon" for individuals to come forward with information during such investigations. The number and identity of other possible whistleblowers being interviewed in the 787 case remained unclear. PLANT VISIT A team of U.S. safety investigators this week visited the Tucson, Arizona facility of Securaplane, a unit of Britain's Meggitt Plc (MGGT.L), where Leon worked before he was fired. The company declined comment on the NTSB investigation, but spokeswoman Fiona Greig told Reuters in an email: "There is no connection between the Dreamliner battery issue and Michael Leon's dismissal from Securaplane." Boeing says a two-year multi-agency investigation concluded that an explosion that sparked a huge fire that burned a three-story administrative building to the ground at the Securaplane facility in 2006 was caused by an improper test set-up, not the battery design. The Senate Commerce, Technology and Transportation Committee said on Tuesday that it plans a hearing on aviation safety in coming weeks that will look closely at the Boeing 787 problems and the FAA's certification process. Representative Rick Larsen, who was appointed this week to be the top Democrat on the House Aviation Subcommittee, told Reuters his committee would probably look at the FAA's certification issues as well. Peter Knudson, spokesman for the NTSB, declined comment on any findings from the visit to Securaplane's Tucson facility. He said the safety board collected information from a variety of sources during the course of any investigation. "We're looking at everything that could have played some role in this battery mishap," he told Reuters. "There's a lot yet to learn." RUSH TO DELIVER? Leon, a 53-year old ex-paratrooper, claimed in his whistleblower case that he was unfairly targeted, racially profiled and ultimately fired after raising concerns that Securaplane wanted to ship battery chargers to Boeing that did not conform to product specifications. The company denied the allegations. Securaplane hired Leon as a senior engineering technician in 2004, the same year it won the contract to work on the 787 parts. The company, which was taken over by Meggitt in April 2011, makes three important battery-related systems for the 787 as a subcontractor to France's Thales SA (TCFP.PA). The lithium-ion battery is made by Japan's GS Yuasa Corp (6674.T), while Thales is responsible for electric power conversion on the 787, the world's newest and most electricity-driven airliner. The auxiliary power unit (APU), which powers the airplane's systems when it is on the ground, is built by a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N). The Securaplane spokeswoman declined to give details about the value of the company's contract with Thales for work on the 787, saying those details were confidential. She said she was not aware of any other whistleblower case filed by a Meggitt or Securaplane employee. Securaplane said it makes two battery charging units used on the 787, one for the APU battery in an aft bay, and one for the main ship battery used in a forward bay, which provides backup power for flight critical controls. WORKFORCE "RATTLED" In his lawsuit, and in the interview with Reuters, Leon said he raised concerns about the safety of the lithium-ion battery that he was using for testing about two weeks before it suddenly exploded in November 2006. Leon said he tried to put out the fire using halon, a liquefied compressed gas, but parts of the battery kept reigniting. The fire "rattled the workforce" at Securaplane, according to the judge who dismissed Leon's claim, after concluding that Securaplane had proved Leon was fired for repeated misconduct, including hostile behavior, not any safety complaints, court documents show. Leon said he refused to ship chargers that he believed had short-circuits, but company officials told him they needed to rush out the orders or risk losing the contract with Thales. Company officials have repeatedly disputed his account. The FAA looked into Leon's complaints in 2008 and 2009, but concluded that the equipment he had expressed concerns about were prototypes that were never installed on the 787, spokesman Laura Brown said. She added the FAA also determined that Securaplane's production of a particular printed circuit board complied with FAA requirements. Back to Top FAA: No timetable for returning Boeing 787s to skies TOKYO/WASHINGTON - Japanese regulators have joined their U.S. counterparts in all but ruling out overcharged batteries as the cause of recent fires on the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner, which has been grounded for a week with no end in sight. Solving the battery issue has become the primary focus of the investigation, though the head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday there are still no firm answers as to the cause and no clear timetable yet for returning the plane to flight. Meanwhile, as deliveries of the cutting-edge passenger jet back up, a key Chinese customer lamented the delays and said its growth plans were being hampered by its inability to get the planes on time. Regulators grounded the Dreamliner on Jan. 16 after a series of safety incidents, including battery fires on planes in the United States and Japan. The Japanese incident forced a plane to make an emergency landing. Last weekend the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said the fire on a Japan Airlines Co Ltd 787 in Boston was not due to excess voltage, and on Wednesday, Japanese officials all but ruled it out for the incident on an All Nippon Airways Co Ltd plane there. "On the surface, it appears there was no overcharging," said Norihiro Goto, chairman of the Japan Transport Safety Board, at a media briefing. "The fact that such electrical system-related incidents would occur consecutively, purely from my perspective, could not have been expected. We are finding it difficult trying to figure out what kind of investigative stance we should take." Late Wednesday, the NTSB said more tests are underway on the battery damaged in the Boston fire, including CT scans of the individual cells. The board's chairman, Deborah Hersman, is due to provide a fuller update Thursday. The investigation has also renewed scrutiny on the FAA's 2007 decision to let Boeing use a highly flammable battery technology on the 787. A U.S. Senate committee will hold a hearing in coming weeks to examine aviation safety oversight and the FAA's decision, a congressional aide said on Tuesday. No timetable While the NTSB and JTSB hunt for a solution to the battery question, there is also an open issue around fuel leaks on the Dreamliner. In early December, U.S. officials warned of a manufacturing fault with fuel lines, and earlier this month a JAL plane in Boston leaked before takeoff. Industrial manufacturer Eaton Corp said Wednesday it was cooperating with investigators looking at the fuel leaks. "Without speaking about either the incident or investigation, I can tell you that we do supply pumps and valves to the program," a spokeswoman said. The 787 program was already years behind schedule before last week's grounding, which means Boeing cannot deliver newly manufactured planes to customers. Boeing's chief 787 engineer, Mike Sinnett, told an aviation conference in Dublin he could not say when that would change. "I can't really say anything about the timeframe of the investigation. The NTSB is really the only authorized authority in the U.S. to talk about this investigation and they made some recent statements, but I can't speculate on timeframe," Sinnett said Wednesday in remarks made by phone from Seattle. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the country's top transportation official, said Wednesday the goal was to return the 787 to service as soon as possible but that the government would not rush the plane back either. "We are working diligently with Boeing to figure out the problem and find a solution. Our goal is to get this done as quickly as possible, but we must be confident that the problems are solved before we can move forward," LaHood told the Aero Club of Washington, an aviation advocacy group. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, appearing at the same event, said the review was looking at the 787's certification, manufacturing and assembly processes, and that he could not speculate on an end date. 'Delayed so many times' For at least one Chinese customer, the uncertainty about the Dreamliner's production and delivery schedule has meant delays in launching new routes. "Frankly, it's a little disappointing the aircraft has been delayed so many times," said Chen Feng, chairman of Hainan Airlines Co Ltd parent HNA Group, in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We still think it's a good aircraft, but this has had some effect on our planning." Hainan has 10 of the planes on order. The grounding of the Dreamliner, an advanced carbon-composite plane with a list price of $207 million, has already forced Japan's ANA to cancel 151 domestic and 26 international flights scheduled for Jan. 23-28, affecting more than 21,000 passengers, the airline said on Monday. ANA, which flies the most Dreamliners of any airline, is due to announce further flight cancellation plans on Thursday. The airline also said it may have to scale back its next two-year business plan because the 787 was to have been such a central part of that forecast. Competition from Airbus Boeing has already delivered 50 of the 787s to date. Around half of those have been in operation in Japan, but airlines in India, South America, Poland, Qatar and Ethiopia, as well as United Airlines in the United States, are also flying the plane. Boeing's main competitor, EADS, said on Wednesday it did not expect the problems with the 787 to affect the certification of its own rival plane, the Airbus A350. "We will do what is needed to avoid the same problems," EADS strategy chief Marwan Lahoud told France's Radio Classic. Airbus has said it hopes to achieve the maiden flight of the carbon-composite A350 by the middle of this year. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/faa-no-timetable-returning-boeing-787s-skies-1C8088357 Back to Top DOT, FAA Chiefs Guarded When Questioned On Lithium-Ion Batteries U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, speaking to reporters yesterday after an Aero Club luncheon in Washington, were guarded on the safety of lithium- ion batteries for aircraft and on a time line of the government's investigation of Boeing 787 incidents. "We have to see where the data takes us," Huerta emphasized. U.S. , Japanese and French authorities are investigating two separate cases in which lithium-ion batteries on board the new aircraft failed. One of the batteries sparked a fire in a parked aircraft at Boston Logan International Airport , while the other forced an All Nippon Airways ( ANA ) crew to declare an emergency landing in Japan, leading to a worldwide grounding of the 50 787s in service. "The technical experts need to do their job and identify causes, and we'll take appropriate action to remediate them," Huerta said. LaHood also said he does not object to a congressional investigation . These comments came hours after Japan 's transport safety agency told reporters that a lithium-ion battery on the ANA 787 did not exceed its maximum voltage, according to an Associated Press report. But the data did show a sudden, unexplained drop in the voltage, the agency said. http://www.aviationweek.com Back to Top L.I. Man Accused Of Pointing Laser At Plane, Police Helicopter What a pilot sees when someone on the ground shines a laser into the cockpit. CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) - A Long Island man was out of jail on $10,000 bond Wednesday, after being charged with aiming a laser pointer at two aircraft. Angel Rivas was arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Central Islip. Last August, Rivas allegedly pointed a laser beam at a commercial jetliner headed for John F. Kennedy International Airport, as well as a police helicopter. Three Suffolk police pilots ended up in an emergency room after being on the wrong end of the laser that Rivas allegedly pointed, police said. Sun Country Airlines Flight 8800 out of Reykjavik, Iceland, was on approach to Kennedy Airport in August when at 12,000 feet over Brookhaven, the pilots said they saw flashes of green laser beams. "Our pilots began to search the area and they, too, were stuck by a beam from a laser," said Capt. John Blosser of the Suffolk Police Aviation Bureau. As for the police officers, "They, too, were struck from a bead from a laser, emanating somewhere from the Shirley, N.Y. area," Blosser said, adding they were taken to the hospital "For possible eye damage, because headaches from the effect of having a laser hit them in the eye." Investigators were able to determine the beam came from near Rivas' home in Shirley. Once they pinpointed the location, they were able to track him down. If convicted, Rivas could be sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Pointing a laser can cause flash blindness for a pilot at a critical moment when a plane is landing, and can also cause involuntary sneezing fits for some people. The Food and Drug Administration has been cracking down on overpowered lasers - some are 100 times stronger than what police believe was used over Suffolk, but added even low-level lasers can cause damage. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/23/l-i-man-accused-of-pointing-laser-at-plane-police-helicopter/ Back to Top 787 battery blew up in '06 lab test, burned down building The Arizona lab fire showed the challenges facing Boeing's strategy to safely manage that energy, prevent such a blowout and contain any less serious battery problems. In 2006, a devastating lab fire in Arizona showed just how volatile Boeing's 787 Dreamliner lithium-ion battery can be if its energy is not adequately contained. A single battery connected to prototype equipment exploded, and despite a massive fire-department response the whole building burned down. On the finished Dreamliner, however, Boeing is confident its engineers can safely harness and contain that energy. The 787's battery-fire protection regime aims both to make a catastrophic blowout impossible through multiple independent controls and also to compartmentalize any less serious battery meltdown, venting smoke outside until the high-temperature reaction burns itself out. That approach was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with special conditions attached. Yet the All Nippon Airways (ANA) 787 emergency last week suggests Boeing's containment plan - even if the engineering is technically solid - may not work for airlines in operational terms. In the ANA incident, the pilot made an emergency landing when he received warnings of an overheated battery and smelled a burning smell in the cockpit. "If I've got an unexplained source of smoke or smell and messages indicating an overheat or a fire has been detected, frankly, I'm not going to pull out the book," said veteran airline captain and aviation expert John Nance. "I'm just going to get the ship on the ground." Unless such events will occur only very rarely, Boeing's engineering solution won't be tenable as a practical matter. Two 787 battery incidents in quick succession out of 18,000 in-service flights so far isn't close to rare enough. That's why the jet fleet is grounded worldwide as investigations continue. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) raised concerns about Boeing's battery-fire-protection plan in the course of the FAA certification process. During the public-comment period in 2007, the pilots union stressed that "a fire from these devices, in any situation, is unacceptable." ALPA quoted a 2006 FAA report on transporting lithium-ion batteries as cargo, which concluded that a relatively small amount of heat is sufficient to cause the flammable chemical inside a lithium-ion cell - called an electrolyte - "to forcefully vent ... through the relief ports near the positive terminal." "The electrolyte is highly flammable and easily ignites when exposed to an open flame or hot surface," the FAA report added. People familiar with the investigation so far confirm that electrolytes sprayed out of the battery in the ANA jet, leaving a dark sooty residue across the electronics bay. Photos show the insides of the battery burned out and blackened. The 787 carries two large lithium-ion batteries. One in a rear electronics bay is used mainly to start the plane's auxiliary power unit; the other in a forward bay is used to start the main engines. In an emergency, the two batteries provide backup power for flight-control electronics and emergency lighting. The forward electronics bay that housed the malfunctioning ANA battery is like the "brains" of the airplane, filled with critical flight-control equipment. Extinguishing fires In its 2007 comments, the pilots union initially asked that the FAA require "means for extinguishing fires" caused by the lithium-ion batteries. However, in a subsequent email to the FAA later that year, the union switched gears and asked that the focus be "preventing a fire and not reacting to one." ALPA did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. In any case, the FAA decided not to require fire suppressant in the electronics bay, and Boeing didn't include it. Mike Sinnett, Boeing vice president and chief 787 project engineer, explained why in a conference call last week and detailed Boeing's engineering solution. To completely rule out any catastrophic high-energy fire or explosion that could result from overcharging a battery, Sinnett said, Boeing designed four independent systems to monitor and control the battery charge. However, he conceded that if an internal cell shorts and overheats, "the electrolyte can catch on fire and that can self-sustain." "Something like that is very difficult to put out," Sinnett said. "Because the electrolyte contains an oxidizer, fire suppressants just won't work." Boeing's design solution is to contain that outcome until the combusting battery cell or cells burn out. "You have to assume it's not going to go out," Sinnett explained. "You have to assume that it's going to go and that it's going to expend all of its energy. "You have to be good with the amount of heat and smoke that's generated from that event," he added. Sinnett pointed out that the air flow in the electronics bay will be redirected when smoke is detected, so that the smoke is vented overboard, not into the passenger cabin or cockpit. Nance, the veteran pilot, said he assumes Boeing's engineers have got that right - in which case, it's possible the incident on board the ANA jet played out as they intended. But still, he said, Boeing "may not have adequately planned for the number of potential incidents" that might occur during a jet's lifetime. Calculating how often this kind of event might happen requires knowledge of the root cause of this month's battery incidents. The cause, or causes, remain unknown. If it was a bad batch of batteries, the number of malfunctions could be reduced with higher quality control in the manufacturing plant. If it's something inherent in the battery design, Boeing may be forced to switch from lithium ion. At least aviation-safety regulators appear close to ruling out, if not yet definitively, the worst-case scenario of a potentially explosive overcharging:in the two recent incidents. Japanese aviation-safety regulators said Thursday that the overheated battery aboard the ANA Dreamliner flight last week didn't seem to be overcharged. Their U.S. counterparts concluded the same about the battery that caused a fire on a Japan Airlines Dreamliner in Boston the previous week. Battery testing The potential dangers of the 787's lithium ion batteries were made vividly apparent in a 2006 incident when a single battery ignited during testing in a lab run by Securaplane Technologies of Tucson, Ariz. While Japanese company GS Yuasa manufactures the Dreamliner batteries, Securaplane makes the charging-control system. Both components are integrated into the overall electrical system by Thales of France. During testing of a prototype charging-system design in the 2006 incident, "the battery caught fire, exploded, and Securaplane's entire administrative building burned to the ground," according to a summary by the administrative law judge in a related employment lawsuit. The ruinous fire resisted the initial efforts of two employees with fire extinguishers, and escalated, despite the dispatch of a fleet of fire trucks, to destroy the 10,000-square-foot building. It reached temperatures of about 1,200 degrees and resulted in losses of millions of dollars. The cause of the battery explosion was not firmly established. The battery may have been overcharged, and human error in the testing was not ruled out. Indeed, Boeing insists it was an improper test setup. However, a local fire district's summary lists one of three possible causes as "a battery malfunction due to the batteries [sic] composition." And, apparently referring to the same possibility, the legal summary in 2011 says one possible cause is "a defect in a small corner of a cell." The FAA investigated the Securaplane incident in 2008 and 2009. "The investigation determined that the battery-charging units in the complaints were prototypes, and none are installed in Boeing 787 aircraft," the FAA said in a statement in response to questions about the incident. Sinnett, Boeing's 787 engineering chief, said the company is ready to deal with the investigation's conclusions and adjust its design accordingly. "Information will come in, we'll challenge our assumptions, and if we need to make some changes, we'll make those changes and we'll move on," he said. http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020199686_787batterysafetyxml.html?prmid=4939 Back to Top Back to Top American Airlines Signs New Agreement To Begin Large Regional Jet Flying Large 76 Seat Regional Jets Will Join the American Fleet for the First Time in its History FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- American Airlines announced today that it has signed a 12-year capacity purchase agreement with Republic Airways Holdings to provide large regional jet flying for the first time in the company's history. This agreement, which is subject to court approval, was enabled by the new pilot contract. It is designed to offer customers more choices with the right-size aircraft to match market demand, strengthen service from American's hubs and diversify its partnership with regional carriers. "This is a significant milestone in our company's history," said Chuck Schubert, American's Vice President - Network Planning. "Establishing a large regional jet fleet has long been part of our business plan and this agreement is another example of how we are executing on that plan in a way that benefits our business and our customers. We will offer more flights at the right intervals throughout the day in key markets while providing more opportunities for customers to travel in the First Class cabin to key business markets." Through the agreement, Republic Airways will acquire 53 Embraer E-175 jets featuring a two-class cabin with 12 First Class seats and 64 seats in the Main Cabin. The aircraft, which will be branded with the newly revealed American Eagle livery and operated by the Republic Airlines subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings, will phase into operation at approximately two to three aircraft per month beginning in mid-2013. All 53 aircraft are expected to be in operation by the first quarter of 2015. The new agreement will further enhance and strengthen American's relationship with Republic Airways, a longtime partner of American Airlines and the largest operator of large Embraer jets. Republic's Chautauqua Airlines subsidiary operates regional jet service for American from its hub at Chicago O'Hare with 15 Embraer E-140 aircraft. About American AirlinesAmerican Airlines focuses on providing an exceptional travel experience across the globe, serving more than 260 airports in more than 50 countries and territories. American's fleet of nearly 900 aircraft fly more than 3,500 daily flights worldwide from hubs in Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. American flies to nearly 100 international locations including important markets such as London, Madrid, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. With more than 500 new planes scheduled to join the fleet, including continued deliveries of the Boeing 737 family of aircraft and new additions such as the Boeing 777-300ER and the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, American is building toward the youngest and most modern fleet among major U.S. carriers. SOURCE American Airlines Back to Top Indonesia tightens regulation for foreign pilots JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian Transportation Ministry will tighten regulation for foreign pilots working for the national carriers. This step was taken to improve the aviation safety, in particular to prevent a number of serious incidents and incidents involving aircraft piloted by the foreign pilots. In a press statement, the Ministry of Transportation said the foreign pilot must have experience flying the type of aircraft flown, therefore, the Ministry of Transport in this case is requiring DGCA foreign pilots to validate the license and have a minimum of 250 hours of flying experience on the type of aircraft to be flown. Flight operators to employ foreign pilots will be required to meet all the requirements including a minimum experience requirement at the time of filing applications for foreign pilots for validation or endorsement with the DGCA. Conditions began to come into force from January 10, 2013 in accordance DGCA letter dated January 10 AU.403/1/1/DJPU.DKUPPU/2013 number on the Use of Foreign Pilot. It is now estimated about 600 foreign pilots working for the national airlines as Lion Air, Citilink, PT. Garuda, Air and Sriwijaya Air Wing. Source: iafs2013.com Back to Top Ghana Civil Aviation Authority Grills Delta Airlines The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has met with officials of the Delta Airlines, US carrier at the GCAA Head Office in a bid to resolve complaints from passengers stemming from flight delays, cancellations and poor customer service. The meeting, which was chaired by Air Cdre K-Mamphey (rtd), Director-General of the GCAA, was attended by senior directors of the GCAA and two (2) senior officials of the Delta Airlines Inc; Mr. Robert Bryan, Commercial Director, East and West Africa and Mr. Pak-Wo Shum, Managing Director, Delta GSA, Ghana and Liberia. The airline has been facing passenger criticisms for flight cancellations and delays, amidst poor service on United States to Accra route. The GCAA, which is the government's official regulator on aviation, said it was compelled to summon Delta Airlines as the airline's operations are critical to the growth of the aviation industry in Ghana as well as contributing to the economic development of the country. After the meeting, the critical issues emanating were as follows: Delta Airlines has within the last four (4) days, stationed a Maintenance Engineer in Accra in a bid to resolve all technical hitches contributing to flight delays and cancellations; In the United States, these issues are also receiving a high level attention with the formation of a committee which has in turn appointed a senior staff to review all processes for the US - Accra departure, taking a critical look at patterns and details; The airline will also be sending a Senior Maintenance Engineer to re-evaluate Delta's local maintenance partners; Delta Airline is also endeavouring to get the aircraft with the re-configured seats back on the Accra route, however, air fares have been reduced to reflect the unavailability of this particular aircraft; Customer complaints are being tracked by flight and crew to provide a more detailed analysis for quicker resolutions; all passengers who have been affected by delays are duly compensated; and the GCAA would increase the rate at which the Safety Audit of Foreign Aircraft is conducted for the airline. The Director General (DG) rebutted claims that the GCAA had joined forces with its Liberian counterparts to perform an audit on the airline, saying that GCAA was perfectly within its own rights to commission an audit if need be. While the DG acknowledged that although the issues discussed did not border on safety and security of the aircraft, it was imperative that the airline assures the traveling public of its commitment to the provision of a reliable air transport service. Officials of the airline also reiterated their commitment and support and said that the airline would endeavour to give the best service to passengers and that in no case has safety been compromised. Air Cdre Mamphey (rtd) said passengers were becoming increasingly aware of their rights and cautioned all airlines to quickly adapt to the changing environment. http://allafrica.com/stories/201301240636.html Back to Top "Flying Wing" Uses Half the Fuel of a Standard Airplane NASA has demonstrated a manufacturing breakthrough that will allow hybrid wing aircraft to be scaled up. Why It Matters Air travel accounts for a significant portion of carbon emissions. Wing it: NASA has built a remote-controlled prototype of its hybrid wing design. Aerospace engineers have long known that ditching a conventional tubular fuselage in favor of a manta-ray-like "hybrid wing" shape could dramatically reduce fuel consumption. A team at NASA has now demonstrated a manufacturing method that promises to make the design practical. Combined with an extremely efficient type of engine, called an ultra-high bypass ratio engine, the hybrid wing design could use half as much fuel as conventional aircraft. Although it may take 20 years for the technology to come to market, the manufacturing method developed at NASA could help improve conventional commercial aircraft within the next eight to 10 years, estimates Fay Collier, a NASA program manager. The manufacturing technique lowers the weight of structural components of an aircraft by 25 percent, which could significantly reduce fuel consumption. The advances are the culmination of a three-year, $300 million effort by NASA and partners including Pratt & Whitney and Boeing. There are two key challenges with the flying wing design. One is how to control such a plane at low speeds. NASA previously addressed this by building a six-meter-wide remote-controlled test aircraft (the X-43B) to demonstrate ways to control hybrid wings. Based on those tests and wind tunnel tests, NASA built a larger remote-controlled aircraft that started test flights last year. The second challenge is building a full-scale version of the aircraft with pressurized cabins that is structurally sound. One reason tubular airplanes have persisted is that it's relatively easy to build a tube that can withstand the forces acting on it from the outside during flight while maintaining cabin pressure. The hybrid wing design involves a flatter, box-like fuselage that blends with the wings. The flatter structure, which includes some near-right angles, is much more difficult to build in a way that's strong enough and light enough to be practical. NASA's manufacturing process starts with preformed carbon composite rods. The rods are covered with carbon fiber fabric and stitched into place. Fabric is then stitched over foam strips to create cross members. The fabric is impregnated with an epoxy to create a rigid composite structure. The researchers found that the stitching was key to arresting cracks. Sections of a fuselage built with the technique were tested and shown to withstand up to the forces that would be applied to a finished aircraft. Tests also showed that when enough pressure was applied to cause the parts to fail, elements of the design stopped cracks from spreading-a key to avoiding catastrophic failure in flight. The researchers are now building a 30-foot-wide, two-level pressurized structure that will be used in an attempt to validate the manufacturing approach. That structure is scheduled to be finished by 2015. To achieve a 50 percent reduction in fuel consumption, the hybrid wing design will need to incorporate an advanced engine design. Collier says ultra-high bypass engines are a good match. In an ultra-high bypass design, the front fan on the engine is far larger than the core of the engine, where air is compressed and combustion takes place. Such large fans can be difficult to mount under the wing, as engines are mounted in most conventional airliners. The hybrid wing design involves mounting the engines on top of the plane, rather than under the wings, (The top-mount design also cuts noise levels.) NASA has helped Pratt & Whitney develop prototype ultra-high bypass engines, which are slated to go into commercial use for the first time next year, starting on Bombardier's C-Series aircraft. NASA is further optimizing the engines to take advantage of the top-mount design in the hybrid wing airplane. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/509916/flying-wing-uses-half-the-fuel-of-a-standard- airplane/ Curt Lewis