Flight Safety Information January 30, 2013 - No. 024 In This Issue Japan airlines replaced 787 batteries many times Business jet will have sturdier batteries than Boeing 787 NTSB takes microscopic look at burnt 787 battery FAA Forms Committee to Study Portable Electronic Devices Laser pointer forces Coast Guard aircraft to abort landing Man snagged at National Airport with 13 weapons in luggage Kazakhstan: Second Fatal Air Crash Raises Safety Concerns American Eagle jet lands at D/FW with smoke in cargo hold PROS IOSA Audit Experts Anticipating domestic boom, colleges rev up drone piloting programs Hollywood Asks FAA For Permission to Use Drones Ozark aviation school to head state's first UAS maintenance program Singapore Airlines: Will Ask 76 Pilots to Leave Before Contracts Expire Jamaica Queen Airlines to operate eight aircraft PIA flight diverted to Lahore to drop officer's daughter Japan airlines replaced 787 batteries many times In this Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 photo provided by the Japan Transport Safety Board shows the distorted main lithium-ion battery, left, and an undamaged auxiliary battery of the All Nippon Airways' Boeing 787 which made an emergency landing on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, western Japan. Japan's All Nippon Airways said Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 it replaced lithium-ion batteries on its 787 Dreamliners 10 times before a battery overheating incident led to the worldwide grounding of the jets. Boeing was informed, but the airline was not required to report the battery swapping cases to Japan's Transport Ministry because they did not raise safety concerns and did not interfere with flights. TOKYO (AP) - All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines said they replaced lithium-ion batteries in their Boeing 787 Dreamliners on multiple occasions before a battery overheating incident led to the worldwide grounding of the jets. ANA said Wednesday it replaced batteries on its 787 aircraft some 10 times because they failed to charge properly or showed other problems, and informed Boeing about the swaps. Japan Airlines said it had also replaced lithium-ion batteries on its 787 jets but couldn't immediately give details. All 50 of the Boeing 787s in use around the world were grounded after an ANA flight on Jan. 16 made an emergency landing in Japan when its main battery overheated. Earlier in January, a battery in a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire while parked at Boston's Logan International Airport. Lithium-ion batteries are prone to overheating and require additional safeguards to prevent fires. ANA spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka said the airline was not required to report the battery replacements to Japan's Transport Ministry because they did not interfere with flights and did not raise safety concerns. She said that having to replace batteries on aircraft is not uncommon and that it was not considered out of the ordinary. Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, said in Washington that the agency was checking whether the previous battery incidents had been reported by Boeing. With 17 of the jets, ANA was Boeing's launch customer for the technologically advanced airliner. The airline has had to cancel hundreds of flights, affecting tens of thousands of people, but has sought to minimize disruptions by switching to other aircraft as much as possible. The battery problems experienced by ANA before the emergency landing were first reported by The New York Times. Japanese and U.S. investigators looking into the Boeing 787's battery problems shifted their attention this week from the battery-maker, GS Yuasa of Kyoto, Japan, to the manufacturer of a monitoring system. That company, Kanto Aircraft Instrument Co. makes a system that monitors voltage, charging and temperature of the lithium-ion batteries. On Tuesday, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was conducting a chemical analysis of internal short circuiting and thermal damage of the battery that caught fire in Boston. The probe is also analyzing data from flight data recorders on the aircraft, the NTSB said in a statement on its website. Back to Top Business jet will have sturdier batteries than Boeing 787 A lithium-ion battery for Cessna Citation business jets is designed to contain an overcharge explosion within an armored casing - unlike the Boeing 787 batteries that led to the plane's grounding. A 38-pound lithium-ion battery newly designed and built by EaglePicher Technologies of Joplin, Mo., which is slated to be certified by year's end for use as a main battery in Cessna's Citation business jets. Tests show the design can contain a battery overcharge explosion entirely within the box. While Boeing and federal safety regulators ponder why flames and hot electrolytes shot out of lithium-ion batteries on the company's flagship 787, prompting a grounding order that's now in its third week, business jet-maker Cessna is testing a new design for such batteries - one that can contain a worst-case explosion within an armored box. The new battery for Cessna's Citation jets is scheduled to fly within months and to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this year. A video shows what happened when engineers disabled all the battery's protective systems, overcharged it and then deliberately ignited the hot chemicals: Nothing more than a few wisps of smoke puffed out of the battery box. "You are basically intentionally creating a fire that will simulate a thermal event within an individual cell, then you have to contain that within the battery enclosure," said Ron Nowlin, vice president of aerospace systems at EaglePicher Technologies of Joplin, Mo., which designed and built the battery. In contrast, during the recent battery fire on a 787 parked at Boston's Logan Airport, hot electrolytes sprayed out and flames engulfed the box, damaging structure and components around it in the electronics bay. And even when it works as planned, Boeing's approach to battery-fire protection on the Dreamliner does not envisage the fire being entirely contained within the battery box. With the 787 grounded worldwide, Boeing is struggling to understand why its multiple safety systems failed to prevent that Boston fire, and a later incident where a 787 had to make an emergency landing in Tokyo after its battery began to smolder during flight. It's not known if a redesign of the 787 battery similar to Cessna's battery would have prevented the two incidents, which have plunged Boeing into crisis. Yet such an approach might allow Boeing to stick with lithium-ion technology while controlling its volatility. Mike Sinnett, vice president of 787 systems, said the company chose lithium-ion batteries because they are light, compact and can deliver a large amount of power in a short period of time, then recharge quickly. Cessna, based in Wichita, Kan., declined to confirm information from industry sources that it will use the EaglePicher battery, saying only that "any future lithium ion battery usage" will be vetted by a thorough FAA certification process. Cessna adopted the beefed-up battery design after being burned once before by the lithium-ion technology. In 2011, a lithium-ion battery fire destroyed a Citation jet on the ground. Cessna and the FAA required the batteries on all planes of that particular model to be replaced by conventional batteries. EaglePicher's Nowlin said he expects the battery to be certified for the airplane this year. The company's website shows a video of the battery being tested for FAA certification. But this is not a quick fix for Boeing. Nowlin said the battery-certification process with the FAA, starting from scratch, typically takes 18 months. A Wall Street analyst, whose firm doesn't allow him to be quoted, estimated that it would take Boeing 12 to 15 months to update the 787 battery design to the EaglePicher standard and get it certified. How Boeing and Cessna took different paths to testing and certification is partly a matter of timing. The FAA has mandated that any aircraft using high-capacity lithium-ion main batteries - whether built by Boeing, Cessna, or any other manufacturer - must satisfy certain "special conditions." All possible dangers To do so, the manufacturers and the FAA agree in advance exactly what tests will satisfy them that all possible dangers from overheating are prevented. EaglePicher's key test - proving that a battery explosion is contained within the box - is one such certification test pre-agreed as satisfying the FAA's conditions. The company's website contends that overcharge explosion tests on its battery were repeated successfully multiple times and concludes that "even during this worst-case scenario, the (battery) is able to contain a thermal event." It's among a set of standard tests that were agreed to in 2008 by an aviation-industry committee that included senior Boeing electronics engineers and that the FAA approved in a 2010 draft policy memo as one way to comply with its certification conditions. But by 2008, Boeing's Dreamliner had already gone down a different test path toward satisfying the FAA. Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said the industry committee's test standards "were published after we had completed our certification plans and begun our testing efforts." Boeing did its own extensive testing and analysis to meet the FAA requirements, he said. The precise tests Boeing used to meet the FAA's certification conditions are proprietary. Containment plan However, according to a detailed account of the 787's battery-fire protection system provided by Sinnett, Boeing's containment plan did not envisage confining the accident entirely inside the battery box. Sinnett said Boeing had to demonstrate to the FAA that it had multiple redundant safety mechanisms that ruled out the worst-case scenario that EaglePicher's test simulates: an overcharged battery explosion. In addition, Boeing says it had to show that if an internal cell malfunctioned and overheated, that any hot, flammable chemicals that sprayed out of the battery into the electronics bay wouldn't damage surrounding equipment "in such a way as to cause a major or more severe failure." Sinnett said Boeing's design solution was to contain damage within the electronics bay until the cell burned out and to vent any smoke overboard, not into the passenger cabin or cockpit. Birtel said FAA certification testing validated the "robust Boeing requirements and specific 787 design features." Clearly though, the two recent 787 battery incidents bring into question the efficacy of Boeing's battery safety system. And before the 787s can fly again, Boeing has to find a way to bolster those safety measures. http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020241162_787battery29xml.html Back to Top NTSB takes microscopic look at burnt 787 battery The burnt auxiliary power unit battery removed from a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner is seen in a photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. The National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday that it was carrying out a detailed, microscopic investigation of a battery that caught fire on a Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner in Boston this month. All 50 Boeing Dreamliners remain grounded around the world, as the U.S., Japanese and French governments continue to investigate that fire and a separate battery-related incident that forced another 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan. The NTSB said experts at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center laboratories were looking at a second, undamaged lithium-ion battery pulled from the Japan Airlines plane that caught fire in Boston for signs of in-service damage and manufacturing defects. Both batteries were built by GS Yuasa, a Japanese company. Boeing was giving investigators fleet information about the 787, which would help investigators understand the operating history of lithium-ion batteries on those airplanes, the NTSB said. U.S., Japanese and French safety inspectors -- aided by industry officials -- have been trying to determine what caused the battery fire in Boston and a separate smoke incident that forced the other 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan the following week. After four weeks of investigation in Japan and various sites in the United States, officials do not have any answers, raising concerns that Boeing and the airlines that operate the world's newest airliner will face a bigger-than-expected financial hit while it remains grounded. Boeing's shares closed 0.5 percent lower at $73.65 on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. Investors are looking for news about how long the probe will take when Boeing reports its fourth quarter earnings Wednesday. A one-month delay in 787 deliveries could cost Boeing $1.2 billion in revenue this year, said Zafar Khan, an analyst at Society Generale. He has a "sell" rating on the stock. Neither the NTSB, nor the Federal Aviation Administration, which is looking at a broader range of problems with the 787, have set timetables for completing their work. On Tuesday, the NTSB said its work on the damaged battery from the Boston incident, part of an auxiliary power system, had transitioned from macroscopic to microscopic examinations and included chemical and elemental analysis of the areas of short circuiting and thermal damage. The undamaged battery being examined by Navy experts provides backup power for flight controls on the 787. They are using mechanical and electrical tests to determine the performance of the battery and to find signs of degradation in expected performance, the NTSB said. Other investigators were looking at data from the digital flight data recorders on the aircraft for any further clues about battery performance and peration of the charging system, which was built by Securaplane, a unit of Britain's Meggitt Plc. Investigations are also continuing in Seattle, where Boeing builds the planes, and in Japan. http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Back to Top FAA Forms Committee to Study Portable Electronic Devices Australian low-cost carrier Jetstar rents Apple iPads to passengers flying longer than two hours. The content includes movies, music, games and electronic books. The U.S. FAA has formed an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to make recommendations by next summer on safely allowing the use of portable electronic devices (PEDs) in flight. The committee will meet as in-flight entertainment and consumer electronics associations turn up the pressure to ease current restrictions on PEDs with new research on airline passenger demand. The FAA said last August that it would form an ARC to study airline procedures governing the use of PEDs such as smartphones and tablet computers in flight. It has expressed particular concern about wireless devices that connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cellular technologies. Such transmitting devices "can generate spurious signals at undesired frequencies," potentially interfering with communications and navigation radios on older aircraft and fly-by-wire controls and displays on newer aircraft, according to the agency. Current FAA regulations place the responsibility on the aircraft operator for determining which PEDs occupants may use on board, and during which phases of flight. The agency's guidance, followed by most airlines, allows for the broad use of non-transmitting PEDs such as electronic readers when an aircraft ascends above 10,000 feet. The Federal Communications Commission, a representative from which also serves on the ARC, bans the in-flight use of cellphones in the U.S. The 25-member ARC is chaired by executives of the FAA and Delta Air Lines, and includes representatives of airlines, airframers, avionics manufacturers, trade associations and unions. According to its charter, the committee will submit a report to the FAA by July 31 containing recommendations on the technical, policy and procedural guidance that operators would need to "expand the use of various types of PEDs throughout the entire flight." A January 10 panel discussion at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas centered on the use of PEDs on aircraft. Moderator Jonathan Norris, representing the Airline Passenger Experience Association, said his organization and the Consumer Electronics Association have partnered to conduct research into consumer use of PEDs in flight. He said preliminary data reveals that nearly all U.S. airline passengers bring at least one PED on board with them, and that most consider it important to use the devices for personal or business travel. Paul Misener, Amazon vice president for global public policy, said the online retailer has surveyed its customers about PED procedures in flight, and "they're frustrated." Misener serves on the ARC. The committee's challenge "is either making meaningful changes to the policy that exists today or explaining why meaningful change cannot be made," he said. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ain-air-transport-perspective/2013-01-28/faa- forms-committee-study-portable-electronic-devices Back to Top Laser pointer forces Coast Guard aircraft to abort landing A Coast Guard HC-130H Hercules aborted a landing at the Kahului Airport on Maui and was forced to return to Air Station Barbers Point on Oahu after an individual on the Valley Isle with a laser pointer targeted the aircraft, the Coast Guard said Tuesday. The crew was conducting training missions at the time the laser targeted the aircraft Monday night. The laser affected the vision of the co-pilot, compromising his ability to fly the aircraft, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Casey Corpe said. Corpe said he didn't know if the so-called lasing was done maliciously or irresponsibly but the public needs to be made aware of the seriousness of lasing an aircraft. "Not only does it risk the health of the aircrew, it can seriously delay response times during rescue missions, risking the lives of the people that need help the most," Corpe said. Lasing an aircraft, a federal crime, can cause glare, flash blindness or temporary loss of night vision, which poses a danger to the crew, the Coard Guard said. Coast Guard rules dictate that if any air crew member's vision is compromised during a flight, the aircraft must abort the mission. Lasing an aircraft hinders the Coast Guard's ability to respond to people in distress, conduct training, and other essential missions, the Coast Guard said. http://www.staradvertiser.com/ Back to Top Man snagged at National Airport with 13 weapons in luggage A District of Columbia man was cited after he tried to board an airplane at Ronald Reagan National Airport with 13 expandible batons in his carry-on baggage. According to the Transportation Security Administration, inspectors found the 20-inch weapons inside the carry-on baggage on Monday. Police confiscated the batons and cited 42-year-old Alexander Annett with carrying a dangerous weapon on airport property. There was no impact to airport operations, authorities said, and Annett was allowed to re-book his flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York http://washingtonexaminer.com/ Back to Top Kazakhstan: Second Fatal Air Crash Raises Safety Concerns Kazakhstan suffered its second fatal plane crash in just over a month on January 29, when a domestic passenger flight arriving in Almaty crashed in bad weather, killing all 21 people aboard. The SCAT Airlines Bombardier Challenger CRJ-200 crashed at around 1:00 p.m. as it was landing at Almaty airport in heavy fog, hitting the ground five kilometers outside Kazakhstan's financial capital, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. The statement contained a preliminary list of the dead: five crew members and 16 passengers who were on the flight from the northern town of Kokshetau. The prosecutor's office said it had already opened a criminal case into the crash, the second in the space of just over a month: On December 25, a military aircraft crashed near Shymkent, killing all 27 people on board. The dead included the acting head of Kazakhstan's Border Service, Turganbek Stambekov, and other senior border officials. An investigation blamed technical failure combined with pilot error for that crash, which, like today's disaster, occurred in bad weather. Kazakhstan's airports are frequently closed due to adverse weather conditions, but - despite heavy fog blanketing the city on January 29 - Almaty airport was open for business. Concerns are frequently aired about the safety records of Kazakh airlines. In 2009 the EU blacklisted all the country's airlines (including SCAT) with the exception of the flagship national carrier Air Astana, which says it adheres to European safety standards. Air Astana is jointly owned by the Kazakh government and UK defense giant BAE Systems. President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quick to express condolences over the latest crash, and to order his government to get to the bottom of the cause, indicating that this second fatal air disaster in just over a month has put air safety firmly on Astana's agenda. http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66464 Back to Top American Eagle jet lands at D/FW with smoke in cargo hold An American Eagle jet landed at D/FW International Airport Tuesday afternoon reporting smoke in the cargo hold. D/FW AIRPORT - No one was hurt Tuesday afternoon when an American Eagle jet reported smoke in the cargo hold after landing at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Flight 3302 from Moline, Illinois touched down safely at 1:17 p.m. and taxiied to Gate 28 at Terminal B without incident, where all 44 passengers and four crew members exited. The D/FW Airport Department of Public Safety closed three adjoining gates in Terminal B as a smoking bag was removed from the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet for further examination. The incident scene was cleared by 3:30 p.m. No further information about the contents of the suspicious luggage has been released. http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/dfw-suspicious-bag-188908151.html Back to Top Back to Top Anticipating domestic boom, colleges rev up drone piloting programs Fly over the mock wreckage of Disaster City with a Texas A&M student drone pilot. By Isolde Raftery, NBC News Randal Franzen was 53, unemployed and nearly broke when his brother, a tool designer at Boeing, mentioned that pilots for remotely piloted aircraft - more commonly known as drones - were in high demand. Franzen, a former professional skier and trucking company owner who had flown planes as a hobby, started calling manufacturers and found three schools that offer bachelor's degrees for would-be feet-on-the-ground fliers: Kansas State University, the University of North Dakota and the private Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. He landed at Kansas State, where he maintained a 4.0 grade point average for four years and accumulated $60,000 in student loan debt before graduating in 2011. It was a gamble, but one that paid off with an offer "well into the six figures" as a flight operator for a military contractor in Afghanistan. Franzen, who dreams of one day piloting drones over forest fires in the U.S., believes he is at the forefront of a watershed moment in aviation, one in which manned flight takes a jumpseat to the remote-controlled variety. Randal Franzen went from being unemployed to earning a six-figure salary as a drone flight operator in Afghanistan. While most jobs flying drones currently are military-related, universities and colleges expect that to change by 2015, when the Federal Aviation Administration is due to release regulations for unmanned aircraft in domestic airspace. Once those regulations are in place, the FAA predicts that 10,000 commercial drones will be operating in the U.S. within five years. Although just three schools currently offer degrees in piloting unmanned aircraft, many others - including community colleges - offer training for remote pilots. And those numbers figure are set to increase, with some aviation industry analysts predicting drones will eventually come to dominate the U.S. skies in terms of jobs. At the moment, 358 public institutions - including 14 universities and colleges - have permits from the FAA to fly unmanned aircraft. Those permits became public last summer after the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The government issues the permits mainly for research and border security. Police departments that have requested them to survey dense, high crime areas have been rejected. Some of the schools that have permits have been flying unmanned aircrafts for decades; others, like Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, received theirs recently to start programs to train future drone pilots. Alex Mirot, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle who oversees the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Science program there, said this generation of students will pioneer how unmanned aircraft are used domestically, as the use of drones shifts from almost purely military to other applications. "We make it clear from the beginning that we are civilian-focused," said Mirot, a former Air Force pilot who remotely piloted Predator and Reaper drones used to target suspected terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere for four years from a base in Nevada. "We want them to think about how to apply this military hardware to civilian applications." Among the possible applications: Monitoring livestock and oil pipelines, spotting animal poachers, tracking down criminals fleeing crime scenes and delivering packages for UPS and FedEx. With U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan winding down, drone manufacturers also are eager to find new markets. AeroVironment, a California company that specializes in small, unmanned aircrafts for the military, recently unveiled the Qube, a drone designed for law enforcement surveillance. The FAA hasn't allowed police agencies to fly drones over populated areas - because of concerns about airspace safety, as drones have crashed or collided with one another abroad. But that hasn't stopped some agencies from buying them in anticipation of their eventual approval. The Seattle Police Department, for example, has two small aircraft, which two officers occasionally fly around a warehouse for practice. For now, a police spokesman said, federal rules are too restrictive to use them outside. The domestic market is so nascent that there isn't even agreement on what to call unmanned aircraft - "remotely piloted aircraft," "unmanned aerial vehicles" - UAVs - or by the most mainstream term, "drones." The latter makes many advocates bristle; they say the term confuses their aircraft with the dummy planes used for target practice - or with the controversial planes used to kill suspected terrorists abroad. Industry attracting engineers and pilots Students at Embry-Riddle train on flight simulators that closely resemble the Predator, an armed military drone with a 48-foot wingspan, because the FAA will not issue a drone license to a private institution. Without guidance from the FAA, Embry-Riddle has struggled with how to create a robust program that will turn out employable graduates. "As of now there aren't rules on what an (unmanned aircraft) pilot qualification will be," Mirot said. "You have to go to employer X and ask them, 'What are you requiring?' And that becomes the standard." The bachelor's degree program also includes 13 credits in engineering, so students understand the plane's whole system, Mirot said. Embry-Riddle recently graduated its first student with a bachelor's degree, but those who graduated earlier with minors in unmanned aircraft systems have fared well, Mirot said. "I had a kid who deployed right away and he was making $140,000," Mirot said. "That's more than I ever made. Yeah, he's going into Afghanistan, but he had no previous military experience or security clearance." Mirot said many of his students aspire to be airline pilots. But with salaries for commercial airline pilots starting as low as $17,000 in the first year, they plan to start in unmanned systems to pay off their loans, then maybe apply for an airline job, he said. The University of North Dakota, which launched its unmanned aircraft systems operations major in 2009, has similar success stories. Professor Alan Palmer, a retired brigadier general of the North Dakota National Guard, said 15 of the program's 23 graduates now work for General Automics in San Diego, which makes the Predator and Reaper drones used in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Engineering and computer science students, too, are in demand by the drone industry. At least 50 universities in the U.S. have centers, academic programs or clubs for drone engineering or flying. Many of the engineering students work on projects making the drones "smarter" - that is building more sensitive sensors - and studying how the robots interact with humans. George Huang, a professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, who builds drones the size of hummingbirds, said nearly all his 20 students work as researchers for the Air Force. This means they're earning between $60,000 and $80,000 a year while still enrolled, instead of the $15,000 stipend that graduate students typically receive from their schools. At the University of Colorado in Boulder, doctoral candidate Sibylle Walter said unmanned systems appeal to her because the results are immediate. In the past, she said, aerospace students typically ended up at Boeing or another big company and spent years working on one element of a project. Instead, she is working with her adviser to build a supersonic drone capable of flying up to 1,000 mph. "The link between education and application is much more compact," Walter said of the unmanned aircraft. "That translates to this new boom. You can build them inexpensively - you don't need $100 million to build one." Ethical warfare? Despite the promise of numerous civilian applications, drones continue to be controversial because of their role as weapons of war. At Texas A&M University, which has an FAA permit to fly drones, computer science student Brittany Duncan is unusual among her peers: She's a licensed pilot, a computer scientist and a woman. She probably could land a high-paying job for a military contractor, but she's intent on staying in academia, studying robot-human relations, specifically how robots should approach victims of a natural disaster without scaring them. Doctoral candidate Brittany Duncan assembles an unmanned aerial vehicle in a lab at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. On a recent hot, dusty morning, Duncan, 25, pulled a small aircraft from the back of a 4x4 pickup. Wearing black work boots and Dickies, she quickly assembled a remote- controlled aircraft that resembled a flying spider, then launched the aircraft - equipped with sensors and a video camera - over a pile of rubble to practice capturing footage. At her side was Professor Robin Murphy, her adviser and a veteran of real-world unmanned aircraft operations, having flown over the World Trade Center after 9/11, the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan, after the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster there (although she stayed in Tokyo). She believes drones could revolutionize public safety. "I could show you a photo of firefighters from today, and it could be a photo of firefighters from 1944," Murphy said. "They haven't had a lot of boost in technology. [Unmanned aircraft] could be a real game-changer." Duncan knows there is resistance from communities where drones have been introduced. In Seattle, for example, the ACLU argued that drones could invade privacy. But as Duncan sees it, this makes her work even more relevant. "That's the most important thing to me - that people understand good can come from drones," Duncan said. "Every technology is scary at first. Cars, when they went only 6 mph, people thought there would be a rash of people getting run over. Well, no, it's going slow enough for you to get out of the way. And it'll change your life." Duncan said she considers the implications of working on machines that are for now mostly used for war. Despite conflicting reports on civilian casualties in drone strikes, she's convinced that unmanned aircraft offer a more-ethical battlefield alternative because they take the pilot's "skin" out of the game. Disaster City, a giant search-and-rescue training ground in College Station, Texas, is home to a destroyed strip mall, a mock-up movie theater and towering buildings all made to be torched in the name of emergency preparedness. Clint Arnett describes how Disaster City works. "If you're flying a UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter and look down and think someone has a surface-to-air missile, you're going to shoot first and figure it out later because you're a pilot and your life is in danger," she said. But with drones, "(You) can afford to make sure that someone is a combatant before they engage - because you don't have your life on the line. It takes your emotion out of the equation." While that debate continues, the Department of Defense is showing no loss of appetite for drones, despite the drawndown in Afghanistan. This year, it plans to spend $4.2 billion on various versions of the unmanned aircraft, 15 times more than it did in 2000. For Professors Mirot and Palmer, that is evidence that their programs will stay relevant, no matter how the domestic deployment of drones plays out. Looking ahead There is an ironic twist to Randal Franzen's move to climb aboard the cutting edge of aviation: When he went to Afghanistan, he learned that his assignment was to monitor surveillance video from a tethered balloon near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border - a military technology that - minus the cameras - dates to the Civil War. From the base miles away, he monitored the rural area for Taliban activity, but mostly watched Afghans going about their daily lives. The retrained drone pilot said he found it fascinating. "I grew up in Montana, swam in irrigation ditches, and they do the exact same thing - they're just trying to make a living, raise some cattle and kids and do the exact same thing as everyone else," Franzen said. There were moments that caught him by surprise - such as when he saw a man leading 10 camels through the desert while talking on a cellphone, walking several feet ahead of his wife, who was dressed in a full burqa. Now home in Colorado, Franzen figures he'll take at least one more far-flung military assignment as he waits for the domestic drone market to open. This time, though, he'd like to put his newfound remote flying skills to better use. "I had three offers yesterday to go back and do the same thing for three different companies," he said. "I talked to them about flying. I'd rather pilot something. I'd like to go play with something cooler http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16726198-anticipating-domestic- boom-colleges-rev-up-drone-piloting-programs?lite Back to Top Hollywood Asks FAA For Permission to Use Drones E.T. drone home? (Sorry...) The movie industry has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to operate camera-carrying-drones during the film production process. Via the Hill: Hollywood's lobbying group is pressing the Obama administration to allow filmmakers to use drones for aerial shots. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) revealed in a lobbying disclosure report this week that it had urged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow filmmakers to fly unmanned aircraft in U.S. airspace. The group had previously disclosed lobbying on the issue in a report last October. Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the MPAA, explained that putting a camera on an unmanned aircraft can be cheaper, safer and more useful than relying on a helicopter or a crane to get a difficult shot. "You can innovate in a number of different, interesting ways to shoot a scene [using unmanned aircraft]," Gantman said. The FAA is currently drafting rules to allow private groups to apply to fly drones. The agency aims to begin issuing private drone licenses by 2015. According to the article, the FAA estimates that some 30,000 private drones could be in the air by 2020. If Hollywood gets camera drones, can Tacocopters and Burrito Bombers be far behind? http://reason.com/blog/2013/01/29/hollywood-asks-faa-for-permission-to-use Back to Top Ozark aviation school to head state's first UAS maintenance program OZARK-Enterprise State Community College's Alabama Aviation Center in Ozark will be the first to implement an unmanned aircraft systems maintenance program in the state, officials announced Tuesday. According to a joint statement from the Ozark Economic Development Corporation and ESCC, the school received a $360,000 grant from the state's Workforce Development office to develop and launch the first phase of a program that would certify technicians for both manned and unmanned systems. A tentative start date for the program is January 2014. According to information ODEC provided from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, 23,000 unmanned aircraft systems jobs could be created in the U.S. over the next 15 years. The U.S. Air Force trained more unmanned aircraft pilots in 2010 than manned fighter and bomber pilots and the Pentagon purchased more unmanned aircraft than manned aircraft, according to the association. ODEC Executive Director Eric Basinger said ESCC's new program was supported by ODEC and private-sector companies interested in expanding their unmanned aircraft capabilities. "With its proximity to the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker and the many aviation businesses in our region, ESCC's ability to provide comprehensive aircraft maintenance training will boost our ability to recruit and retain employers seeking such expertise for their employees," Basinger said in the statement. http://www.dothaneagle.com/news/education/article_b4363c3e-6a6a-11e2-b9ac- 001a4bcf6878.html Back to Top Singapore Airlines: Will Ask 76 Pilots to Leave Before Contracts Expire Singapore Airlines Ltd. (C6L.SG) Wednesday said it will ask 76 pilots to leave before their contracts expire, as it grapples with surplus crew and slow business growth. The pilots are likely to leave by June 30, Singapore Airlines said in a statement. It said it had previously released pilots only when contracts expired. The airline said it has a pilot surplus because the global financial crisis of 2009-10 left it with excess capacity and slower-than-expected growth. Pilots employed on fixed-term contracts make up about 4% of the 2,350 total. The carrier said it will help the pilots pursue employment opportunities within the Singapore Airlines group and with other airlines. Last year it offered voluntary unpaid leave to pilots and suspended its cadet pilot recruitment program. Some of the carrier's pilots are flying with its budget long-haul unit Scoot. www.foxbusiness.com/news/ Back to Top Jamaica Queen Airlines to operate eight aircraft The newest local air passenger carrier, Jamaica Queen Airlines (JQA), will be seeking to fly to the United States and The Bahamas operating a fleet of eight Airbus planes, according to a statement of intent to the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA). Although the airline has communicated its intentions to the JCAA, it is yet to formally apply for a licence, but it is currently seeking to recruit a chief executive officer. However, a spokesman declined to confirm much else. "We will be using Airbus A320 and A321 less than seven years old," said JQA spokesperson Dennis Chong, in reference to the European manufacturer of jet airliners. Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Derby, director general of the JCAA, in emailed responses to questions posed by Wednesday Business, said, "The entity has submitted a pre- application statement of intent which was received ... on April 30, 2012 in the name of Jamaica Queen Airlines." Derby said, "The pre-application statement of intent indicates JQA wishes to perform scheduled international air transport operations from Kingston to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Orlando and Nassau." He added that the pre-application statement indicates the fleet size of four A320 and four A321 aircraft. The last airline to enter the local market is Fly Jamaica, which secured an air operating certificate in September 2012 from the JCAA. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130130/business/business5.html Back to Top PIA flight diverted to Lahore to drop officer's daughter Islamabad: A Pakistan International Airlines flight going from Karachi to Islamabad was diverted to Lahore so that an airline employee's daughter could get off, according to media reports on Wednesday. Passengers on Flight PK-562 of the state-run carrier were given various reasons for the unscheduled landing at Lahore. Initially they were informed that the aircraft was landing due to technical reasons. When the passengers began protesting, they were told the aircraft had landed to be refuelled as there was no fuel in Islamabad. However, passengers on board the flight told Geo News channel that the aircraft had landed in Lahore so that PIA Captain Tariq Javed's daughter could get off. They said they had seen the girl getting off the plane. The aircraft resumed its journey after a protest by the passengers. The loss-making PIA has been criticised by the public and lawmakers for numerous delays and cancellations of its flights in recent years. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130130/news-world/article/pia-flight-diverted-lahore- drop-officers-daughter Curt Lewis