Flight Safety Information May 13, 2013 - No. 096 In This Issue Safety protest seeks to block Boeing 787 ETOPS Military aircraft crashes in Yemen's capital, pilot killed Two pilots fined and suspended for a month in Vietnam after letting hot model pose for photos in the Cockpit 'Air Astana' aircraft flying from Tashkent makes emergency landing in Shymkent Annual SMS Audit Results Released Paint job but no 'rollout' party for newest Airbus jet Kuwait Airways to buy 25 Airbus planes, lease 13 aircraft FCC moves toward new airplane broadband service Safety protest seeks to block Boeing 787 ETOPS Two passenger advocacy groups are demanding the US government limits flights on the controversial new Boeing 787 until the safety of its lithium-ion batteries is proven. FlyersRights.org and the Aviation Consumer Action Project are petitioning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) for a two-hour limit from the nearest airport for the safety of passengers and crew. The Boeing 787, an advanced technology twin engine airliner made of lightweight composite materials with a range of over 9,000 miles, was certified to fly up to three hours from the nearest airport in 2011 by the FAA, based on Boeing testing and safety assurances. But the FAA grounded the entire 787 fleet in January 2013 after a battery fire on one 787 and smoke on another. "Our proposed actions are both urgent and necessary," said attorney Paul Hudson, leader of both organisations and a prominent aviation-safety advocate for 25 years. "The 787 lithium ion batteries have a long history of overheating, catching fire, even exploding. This could easily bring down an airliner, especially if it was not within easy reach of an airport for an emergency landing," Hudson said. "Such batteries have been labeled as hazardous by the FAA and banned from being carried as cargo on most passenger jets. In one year of operations of 52,000 hours there have been several 787 battery failures versus one for every 10 million hours of predicted by Boeing. Adequate testing of the batteries haven't been done and the fire investigation is not finished," he added. Limiting the 787 to flights within two hours of the nearest airport would ban 787 trans- Pacific flights, flights over the North Pole. Flights between the US and Europe over the north Atlantic and flights over land would not be affected by a two-hour limit. Losing extended operations, or ETOPS, would deal a blow to Boeing and its airline customers by limiting use of the fuel-saving jet, designed to lower costs on long-distance routes that don't require the capacity of the larger aircraft. The FAA grounded the American 787 fleet after two 787 battery incidents in January. A fire erupted in a lithium-ion battery on a Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport. Days later, another 787 battery incident forced an emergency landing in Japan by an All Nippon Airways 787. After the FAA's grounding order, other countries where the 787 is in use followed suit. Although US investigators still don't know what caused the batteries to overheat, the FAA has approved a proposed Boeing fix that the manufacturer claims would stop any fires that started. United Airlines, the only US carrier with 787s in its fleet, is scheduled to resume 787 flights on May 20. Foreign airlines will resume their 787 flights soon. On January 18, US transport chief Ray LaHood emphatically stated, "Those planes won't fly until we're 1,000 per cent sure they are safe to fly." "Four months is a very short time to be '1,000 per cent' sure about anything - much less a highly complex lithium-ion battery that's known to be prone to fire on board an aircraft carrying over 200 passengers and crew. It would be a shame for Secretary LaHood to culminate his many years of service with a reckless and hasty decision like this," said FlyersRights.org's Hudson. With over 25,000 members nationwide, FlyersRights.org claims to be the largest US- based non-profit airline passenger organisation, which pushed for and won a federal rule limiting tarmac flight delays to three hours. The Aviation Consumer Action Project has advocated for air safety, security and consumer rights for over 40 years. The advocacy groups' formal petition is backed up by testimony from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, a prominent battery-safety consultant and former DOT Inspector General Mary Schiavo. http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2013/05/safety-protest-seeks-to-block-boeing- 787-etops/ Back to Top Military aircraft crashes in Yemen's capital, pilot killed SANAA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A military aircraft crashed in a residential area in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Monday morning, killing the pilot, a security source told Xinhua. The military Sukhoi jet (Sukhoi SU-22) crashed on top of a residential building in the southern part of Sanaa, killing the pilot and set the building on fire, the source said, adding that no casualties among the civilians were reported. An official at the air base which is near the Sanaa International Airport told Xinhua that the jet was on a training mission and exploded before it hit the building. A witness said two buildings were slightly damaged and no civilians were injured. It is the third aircraft crash in six months in the capital following a military jet crashed in a residential area in Sanaa on Feb. 19, which killed 12 people including two children. A Russian-made Antonov warplane crashed in a deserted market in Hassaba neighborhood in northern Sanaa on November 21, 2012, which left 10 people on board dead. On October 15, 2012, another military helicopter crashed near the Anad air base in Yemen's southern province of Lahj due to technical problems and the pilot died from serious injuries. The frequent air crashes, especially in residential districts in Sanaa, have sparked anger among citizens who demanded a legislation to ban warplanes from carrying out training missions over residential areas. Back to Top Two pilots fined and suspended for a month in Vietnam after letting hot model pose for photos in the cockpit mid-flight The Vietnam Airlines pilots were fined and suspended for allegedly allowing model-turned actress Ly Nha Ky to sit in the co-pilot's seat during a flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi last month. The men were suspended after pictures of the former tourism ambassador for Vietnam posing in a pilot's hat and sunglasses with the pilots were found online and published by news website vietbao.vn. Two Vietnam Airlines pilots have been fined and suspended after photos emerged of them posing with model-turned actress Ly Nha Ky in the cockpit midflight Pilots punished: Two Vietnam Airlines pilots have been fined and suspended after photos emerged of them posing with model-turned actress Ly Nha Ky in the cockpit midflight The chief inspector for the Vietnam Aviation Agency said the pilots' actions were a 'threat to aviation security and should be punished,' according to the Toui Tre news website. The plane was flying on auto-pilot at the time but aviation safety regulations were breached because the co-pilot had left his seat and the pilots had allowed an unauthorised person into the cockpit. Model Ms Ky, a former tourism ambassador for Vietnam, posed with the pilots during a flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi In another photo, the model is seen hugging two flight attendants. A spokesman for Vietnam Airlines told Vietnamese media that they had been unaware of the incident and would conduct an investigation following an official report from staff. Captain Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Y was fined £216 while co-pilot Nguyen Xuan Hai was fined £92. Auto-pilot does not mean pilots can leave the cockpit. They have to be present to monitor the flight path and can turn off auto-pilot mode if required. The incident comes after two pilots were suspended from Air India when they allegedly left an Airbus carrying 166 passengers on autopilot and directed air hostesses to be in charge while they slept in business class. The flight on April 12 was travelling from Bangkok to New Delhi when both the co-pilot and the pilot left the cockpit after having spent some time instructing two flight attendants how to fly. But the pair had to rush back and seize the controls of the A-320 after one of them accidentally turned off the autopilot setting, sources said. The national carrier suspended the captain of the Airbus A-320 Bangkok-New Delhi flight, his co-pilot, and two flight attendants who had accidentally switched off the autopilot in the cockpit momentarily. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323742/Two-pilots-fined-suspended-month- Vietnam-letting-hot-model-pose-photos-cockpit-mid-flight.html#ixzz2TB9yjOnz Back to Top 'Air Astana' aircraft flying from Tashkent makes emergency landing in Shymkent Uzbekistan, Tashkent, May 13 / Trend, D.Azizov / A Boeing 757-200 aircraft of Kazakh airline "Air Astana" carrying out Tashkent-Almaty flight, made an unplanned technical landing at the airport of the Shymkent city, the airline reported. "The aircraft flew from Tashkent at 13:15 local time on Friday, and at 14:10 local time landed in Shymkent in connection with the problems in one of the air conditioning systems. None of the 136 passengers on board of the aircraft was injured," the statement said. The passengers of the flight were sent from Shymkent to Almaty by a Airbus A321 aircraft. The Boeing 757-200 aircraft made a technical flight to the base in Almaty. http://en.trend.az/regions/casia/kazakhstan/2149502.html Back to Top Back to Top Jet Air May Order More Than 100 Planes at Paris Show, CAPA Says Jet Airways (India) Ltd. may announce an order for more than 100 planes from Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS at the Paris Air Show next month, the CAPA Centre for Aviation said, after the carrier won investment from Etihad Airways PJSC. Jet Air, the nation's biggest listed carrier, may buy 50 737 MAX and about 10 777-300ER from Boeing and order 50 Airbus A320neos, the Sydney-based consulting company said in a report. The total value of the order is about $12 billion at list prices on the planemakers' websites. Jet Air spokeswoman Ragini Chopra didn't immediately respond to three calls to her mobile phone and a text message seeking comments on the report. Jet Air, based in Mumbai, last month agreed to sell a 24 percent stake to Abu Dhabi's Etihad after the Indian government eased aviation investment rules to help carriers access funds. Airlines in India have struggled to convert rising travel demand into profits because of fuel costs and a price war that forced Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. to halt operations. "This represents the emergence of a new Jet Airways in the aftermath of the investment from Etihad," CAPA said. "Until recently the carrier was unable to order aircraft because export credit agencies were concerned about its leverage." The Paris Air Show begins June 17. IndiGo Order The "longer term order" from Jet Air may be as high as 200 planes that will be announced in phases, according to the CAPA report. The airline currently has 109 planes. IndiGo, the nation's biggest discount carrier, ordered 180 Airbus A320 jets in January 2011. Shares of Jet Air rose as much as 1.4 percent to 599.40 rupees in Mumbai trading. The stock has gained about 6 percent this year. SpiceJet Ltd., India's only listed discount carrier, fell 11 percent in the period. Jet Air, including unit, has posted annual losses in each of the five years through March 2012 and had total debt of 110 billion rupees at the end of that year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The country's aviation industry reported $6.6 billion of losses in the past five years. Competition is set to increase in India's aviation market as AirAsia Bhd.'s local venture with Tata Group will start operations later this year. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-10/jet-air-may-order-more-than-100-planes- at-paris-show-capa-says.html Back to Top Kuwait Airways to buy 25 Airbus planes, lease 13 aircraft (AFP) Kuwait's national carrier is due to sign a multi-billion-dollar deal with Airbus to purchase 25 new aircraft valued at $3.0 billion with the first delivery expected in 2019, a well-informed newspaper reported on Sunday. The deal will be signed "very soon," the privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper said quoting sources close to decision-makers. Last week Kuwait Airways Co. (KAC) board of directors decided to choose an offer made by Airbus because it carried a price tag $280 million lower than one made by Boeing, the report said. The deal includes 10 Airbus A-350-900 and 15 A-320 neo and the delivery of the planes will start after six years, Al-Watan said. KAC made no comment on the report but its new chairman Sami al-Nasef told AFP in January, after parliament passed a bill to transform the airline into a commercial company, that they planned to buy around 21 new aircrafts within two years. Back to Top FCC moves toward new airplane broadband service The Federal Communications Commission has taken a major step toward helping more airlines offer in-cabin wireless broadband, with the agency voting Thursday to explore using new spectrum for air-to-ground broadband service. The FCC voted to open a notice of proposed rulemaking, or NPRM, seeking comments on a proposal to assign 500MHz of 14GHz spectrum for new air-to-ground broadband service. In-flight broadband would share that spectrum with current occupants, including fixed satellite services and some U.S. government agencies. The FCC will look at potential interference concerns in the NPRM. In-flight broadband service is available now on about 3000 airplanes worldwide, but there are some customer complaints about slow speeds and cost. The new spectrum would allow faster service in airplanes and would allow more airplanes to offer wireless broadband, commissioners said. The new service could also provide competition and drive down costs of existing in-flight service, they said. Consumer demand for in-flight broadband is growing, and an estimated 15,000 aircraft will offer broadband service by 2021, said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. "Today's airline passengers expect the same level of broadband service that is available on the ground," she said. Currently, aircraft can offer broadband through two other bands of spectrum, but one band has only 4MHz available and the other is crowded with other services, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. A new service based on the 14GHz spectrum could provide data rates of up to 300Gbps, commissioners said. Qualcomm, which petitioned the FCC for a new air-to-ground broadband service, applauded the commission's vote. "This proposal takes the technology to the next level, allowing passengers to use their smartphones, tablets and other mobile broadband devices in the air with very high speed, high capacity mobile broadband connectivity, just as they do on the ground," Dean Brenner, the company's senior vice president for government affairs, said in a statement. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2038398/fcc-moves-toward-new-airplane-broadband- service.html Curt Lewis