Flight Safety Information June 27, 2013 - No. 129 In This Issue ANA says Dreamliner jet had problem with AC power supply F-16 Fighter Jet Crashes in Arizona Rolls-Royce jet engine which exploded on Qantas A380 superjumbo flight failed due to a 'poorly built oil pipe' International System Safety Conference U.S. supports Taiwan's ICAO bid for air safety reasons Emirates airplane '3.5 seconds from midair collision' Annual SMS Audit Results Released Mitsubishi: We'll be a player in regional jet market Why the Airline Industry Needs Another Data Revolution Eurocopter Canada accepting nominations for Innovation in Safety Award India's first national aviation university soon Flight Safety Foundation Launches New Legal Advisory Committee ANA says Dreamliner jet had problem with AC power supply TOKYO (Reuters) - One of All Nippon Airways' 787 Dreamliner jets, made by Boeing Co, had a cockpit message saying that the aircraft might not be able to supply power for its air-conditioning system, the Japanese airline said on Thursday. The issue was not related to the lithium ion battery problems that had grounded the jets for three months from mid-January, Ryosei Nomura, an ANA spokesman, said. All Dreamliner jets are under the microscope after Boeing installed a re-designed battery system and they resumed flying. Last week, two United Airlines Dreamliner jets were diverted due to separate oil-related problems. More than 100 passengers who were supposed to fly on the ANA jet from Tokyo to Frankfurt on Thursday ended up taking a different plane that departed nearly eight hours later than originally scheduled, Nomura said. ANA fixed the problem by exchanging components of a computer that controls electricity supply to the air- conditioning system, said Shinsuke Satake, another company spokesman. Back to Top F-16 Fighter Jet Crashes in Arizona GLENDALE, Ariz. June 27, 2013 (AP) An F-16 fighter jet crashed near Luke Air Force Base in suburban Phoenix on Wednesday evening, but both pilots ejected safely, authorities said. The pilots were on a routine training mission when their jet went down just before 7 p.m. in a desert area just west of the airfield, officials at the base said. Both pilots were unhurt, the Air Force said, after initially reporting they had minor injuries. Their names weren't immediately released. The jet, part of the 309th Fighter Squadron, crashed in a field adjacent to the base and there was no damage to property, the Air Force said in a statement. There was no immediate word on what might have caused the crash, Sgt. Linda Rainey said. Police and fire departments from Luke and surrounding communities responded. "An incident like this highlights the close cooperation between our Fire and Emergency Services and their counterparts in the surrounding community," said Brig. Gen. Michael Rothstein, 56th Fighter Wing commander. Witnesses said they heard the jet's engine sputtering and popping just before the plane went down. Video from a TV helicopter showed plumes of smoke rising from the crash scene. Luke Air Force Base, about 15 miles west of Phoenix, is the world's largest F-16 training base. In March 1999, the Air Force temporarily suspended all F-16 fighter flights at Luke after one of the jets crashed in the desert. At the time, it was the fifth such accident at Luke since October 1998. Back to Top Rolls-Royce jet engine which exploded on Qantas A380 superjumbo flight failed due to a 'poorly built oil pipe' Rolls-Royce engine explosion forced an emergency landing in 2010 Superjumbo was forced to turn back with smoke trailing from its engine Rolls-Royce admits it 'fell short' on safety standards A mid-flight engine explosion on a Quantas superjumbo jet in 2010 was triggered by a poorly-built oil pipe, an investigation has revealed. A final report into the forced emergency landing on Thursday prompted Rolls-Royce to admit that it 'fell short' of safety standard. The mid-air failure resulted in Qantas grounding its entire fleet of A380 planes. Rolls-Royce later agreed to pay £58million in compensation to the Australian airline. Emergency crews in Singapore attending to the superjumbo in 2010 when it was forced into an emergency landing Damage: Emergency crews in Singapore attending to the superjumbo in 2010 when it was forced into an emergency landing The engine exploded shortly after take-off from Singapore on November 4 2010, becoming the most significant safety concern an A380 had faced since starting passenger flights in 2007. Debris dramatically started raining down onto Indonesia's Batam Island as the plane was forced to turn back. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's report confirmed the agency's earlier findings that an oil leak from a pipe inside one of the plane's massive Trent 900 engines sparked a fire. It concluded that the walls of several pipes were too thin and did not conform to design specifications. The damaged Rolls-Royce engine caused an explosion because of a crack in an oil feed pipe Blowout: The damaged Rolls-Royce engine caused an explosion because of a crack in an oil feed pipe 459 people had to disembark the superjumbo at Singapore's Changi International Airport while firefighters tended to the engine Evacuation: 459 people had to disembark the superjumbo at Singapore's Changi International Airport while firefighters tended to the engine The error prompted a disastrous domino effect, with the weak wall of the pipe breaking down, then cracking and finally releasing oil into the superheated engine, sparking the fire. The fire caused a disintegration of one of the engine's giant turbine discs, sending pieces of it blasting through the plane's wing. Rolls-Royce said it supported the agency's findings and had improved its manufacturing and design processes. 'This was a serious and rare event which we very much regret,' Colin Smith, director of engineering and technology for Rolls-Royce said in a statement. 'On this occasion we clearly fell short.' Improvements: Rolls-Royce said it supported the agency's findings and had changed its design process The transport agency said Rolls-Royce has since identified all the affected pipes, overhauled its quality management system and implemented a safety feature that should shut an engine down before it can blow apart if the same scenario ever happened again. 'This was an unprecedented event and, as the report confirms, all possible steps have been taken to ensure that it can never happen again,' Qantas said in a statement. No one was hurt in the incident. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2349454/Rolls-Royce-jet-engine-exploded-Qantas-A380- superjumbo-flight-failed-poorly-built-oil-pipe.html#ixzz2XQ3NeFxn Back to Top Back to Top U.S. supports Taiwan's ICAO bid for air safety reasons Taipei, June 27 (CNA) A U.S. congressman said Thursday in Washington that the U.S. supports Taiwan's bid to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for air safety reasons, adding that both the Senate and the House of Representatives are working together to secure Taiwan's entry into the organization. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, noted during a seminar organized by the Center for National Policy that after Taiwan was admitted to the U.S. visa-waiver program last year, air traffic between Taiwan and the U.S. has increased dramatically. As a result, it is more important than ever to help Taiwan gain access to the ICAO, an organization dedicated to promoting safe and efficient flying, he said. The Republican from California made the comments after the House passed legislation in early June with a vote of 424 to 0 that calls for the U.S. secretary of state to endorse Taiwan's entry into the ICAO as an observer. Taiwan is also home to the 10th-largest airport in the world, he noted, adding that the passage of the legislation is significant toward ensuring that Taiwanese airports and airlines have access to the latest technologies and aviation standards. A final version of the bill will be finalized between the House and the Senate, and will be signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama. Asked whether the U.S. administration will support Taiwan's ICAO bid at the ICAO's triennial assembly this September in Montreal, Canada, Royce replied in the affirmative. http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aall/201306270025.aspx Back to Top Emirates airplane '3.5 seconds from midair collision' An Emirates Airline flight carrying more than 400 passengers narrowly avoided a midair collision with a fighter jet as it took off out of Dubai international Airport, a preliminary report by accident investigators said. The Boeing 777 aircraft, which was bound for Istanbul, came within 3.5 seconds of hitting the Hawk military jet, which had been performing high speeds manoeuvres at a low altitude near the airport, the UAE Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report found. The incident, which occurred in February, saw the BAE Systems-made jet flying at a speed of approximately 400 mph towards the commercial flight. At their closest point, the aircraft were separated by just 100 ft vertically and 1,800 ft horizontally. The Emirates plane had been in the air for just 16 seconds when air traffic controllers warned the pilot of the incoming Hawk fighter, which was forced to bank and turn sharply to avoid a collision. "At this stage of the [Emirates flight's] climb, it was not possible to take any avoidance action," the CAA report read. Following the incident, which did not result in any injuries, the flight continued on its journey to Istanbul. A spokesperson for Emirates was quoted as saying the airline was "cooperating fully with the [investigation] and is awaiting the final report". The carrier said the incident was "being treated very seriously and with the highest priority". According to the CAA investigation, the military jet had been observed on radar straying across some airspace sectors and identified confusion between air traffic controllers and the fighter as the one of key causes of the near collision. The UAE Air Force is conducting its own investigation into the incident. http://www.arabiansupplychain.com/article-8839-emirates-airplane-35-seconds-from-midair- collision/#.Ucw1MFAo6Uk Back to Top Back to Top Mitsubishi: We'll be a player in regional jet market WASHINGTON - Mitsubishi Aircraft projects airlines will want more than 5,000 regional jets over the next 20 years, and the manufacturer wants a piece of that market. Regional jets already carry half of U.S. airline passengers, funneling travelers from smaller communities to larger cities or connecting flights. Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer have dominated the market for regional jets with 100 seats or fewer. But as demand grows, Mitsubishi is promoting its next plane, the MRJ100X, for fuel efficiency from quieter engines and passenger comfort. The 18-inch seats will be as wide as Boeing's 787 Dreamliner configured with eight seats in a row. "This really just a smaller-size mainline aircraft," Howard Thrall, senior vice president for Mitsubishi Aircraft America, told about 70 industry officials and reporters at a Japanese International Transport Institute meeting Wednesday. "That's why we think this MRJ is going to compete and succeed in a very tough, competitive market." Mitsubishi is aiming for a test flight by the end of the year and going into service in late 2015 or early 2016. Mitsubishi jets have a range of about 2,000 nautical miles. Airlines worldwide will want 5,280 regional jets over the next two decades, according to Mitsubishi. The company projects nearly one-third will be in North America, and one in five in each of Europe and Asia. The growth is expected even as the fleet of 50-seat jets declines, as airlines abandon them as too small for economical jet-aircraft operations. In their wake, Mitsubishi is forecasting much greater demand for 70-seat to 100-seat jets. Of concern to potential passengers on the jets, Thrall said the MRJ100 would be able to hold the largest roller bags allowed under International Air Transport Association guidelines, which are 22 inches by 18 inches by 10 inches. The MRJ's aisle is 18 inches wide, which is narrower than the 19.75 inches of an Embraer 170 or 190. But Thrall said the 18-inch wide seats are the same as the Dreamliner with eight seats in a row, and wider than the 18.25-inch seats in Embraer 190 or 17.3-inch seats in Bombardier's CRJ. "The idea of flying around in a regional jet is not one that has always been warm and fuzzy to me," Thrall said. "We focused a lot on what we could offer to the flying public in the way of enhanced experience." The key to the fuel efficiency is quieter geared turbofan engines from Pratt & Whitney that turn slower and burn less fuel. Still, Bombardier's C-series planes could beat Mitsubishi to carrying passengers with those engines. Another question for Mitsubishi is how the company will support the planes after delivering them to airlines. Mitsubishi has 165 orders for MRJ100 aircraft, of which 90% are in the USA. The jets will be flying passengers within the USA by the end of the decade. Utah-based SkyWest has orders for 100 MRJs while Missouri-based Trans States has ordered 50. Together, those two regional carriers offer feeder flights for all four of the biggest airlines, meaning MRJs could by flying for airlines such as United, American or Delta. Thrall said Boeing will provide technical and material support, with training supported by CAE. But he said the U.S. network for maintenance, repairs and operation is still being developed. "We're here to stay and this plane is going to be a player going forward," Thrall said. "It's going to have market share. It's going to be flying in the U.S." http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/06/26/mitsubishi-regional-jet/2460731/ Back to Top Why the Airline Industry Needs Another Data Revolution American Airlines was forced to ground all of its flights for several hours on April 16 after a nationwide problem with its computer systems. Over the years, airline travel has been a prime testbed for advanced computing and data tools. In the late 1950s and 1960s, American Airlines and I.B.M. teamed up to develop the Sabre computerized reservations system, perhaps the most impressive private-sector computer system of its day. More recently, airline data has served as the raw material for predictive data-mining applications like Farecast, which tells consumers whether the price of a plane ticket, for a specific trip on a specific day, is likely to rise or fall. (Farecast, founded in 2003 by Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer scientist, was sold to Microsoft in 2008. It is now part of Bing Travel.) But the airlines themselves have become laggards in data-handling innovation, according to Thomas H. Davenport, a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School. "They were early adopters, and they have not done much for many years," Mr. Davenport said. Their loyalty programs and per-seat revenue management systems, he said, both date to the 1970s. Mr. Davenport is a longtime expert on information management and data analysis. From his main perch at Babson College, he has been researching and writing about the field for a few decades, tracking the evolution of the technology and the terms used to describe it - from business intelligence to analytics to Big Data. Thomas H. Davenport, a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, said airlines have been laggards in data-handling innovation.Thomas H. Davenport, a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, said airlines have been laggards in data-handling innovation. Mr. Davenport, co-author of a new book, "Keeping Up With the Quants" (Harvard Business Review Press), with Jinho Kim, does his research on the quantitative world the qualitative way. He interviews people and does case studies. His comments on the airlines result not from his work for the book, but from research for a study published on Wednesday, "At the Big Data Crossroads: Turning Towards a Smarter Travel Experience." His research was sponsored by Amadeus IT Group, the big European computer reservation system and technology services company. But Mr. Davenport said it did not guide his research. ("We're just trying to facilitate the debate," said Hervé Couturier, an executive vice president of Amadeus.) For the 28-page report, Mr. Davenport interviewed executives at 21 companies involved in one way or another in travel, but representing a cross-section of airlines, hotel chains and technology companies. The companies included Air France-KLM, Applied Predictive Technologies, Facebook, Hipmunk, Intercontinental Hotels and Marriott. The report includes short case studies on companies that are doing innovative data projects. Mr. Davenport's exemplary airline is British Airways for its new personalized service and offers program, Know Me. It collects and tracks an usual amount of data on individual passengers, their preferences and travel history. If a person's bag went astray on a flight, that individual might be offered a free upgrade for his or her next flight. The system has the ability to identify customers and instantly suggest tailored offers at check-in counters or lounges. On planes, service personnel with iPads can make authorized offers for custom services. "If it's really personalized and appropriate for the context, it can be seen as a service instead of a marketing program," Mr. Davenport said. The software technology behind the Know You program is supplied by Opera Solutions, a New York-based Big Data analytics company. It assembles data on the online behavior and buying habits of 20 million British Airways customers, creating hundreds of predictive signals that suggest a person's "behavioral DNA," Arnab Gupta, chief executive of Opera Solutions, said in an interview. Such signals, he said, might include a person's tendency to book an airline ticket a month or more in advance or buy a ticket a few days ahead. Other signals might be a person's history of booking two-star versus five- star hotels. Online behavior might include visits to BA.com and whether a person booked with a few clicks or frequently abandoned digital shopping carts. A key conclusion from Opera Solutions' work with companies in many industries, including travel, Mr. Gupta said, is that "90 percent of the predictive value is in the behavioral data." That is, by monitoring what people do online and in the physical world rather than demographic profiles that seek to predict what people will do based on gender, race, age and income. "It's liberating," Mr. Gupta said. "We cluster more by behavior than by demographics." http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/why-the-airline-industry-needs-another-data-revolution/?_r=0 Back to Top Eurocopter Canada accepting nominations for Innovation in Safety Award Wednesday June 26th 2013 - Eurocopter Canada Press Release Eurocopter Canada Limited is looking to recognize outstanding achievement in the rotary wing industry with the Annual 'Innovation in Safety Award'. Eurocopter Canada Limited (ECL) will celebrate outstanding achievement at the Helicopter Association of Canada annual conference, November 8th-10th in Vancouver, BC. The winner(s) of the 'Innovation in Safety Award' will be chosen by a committee selection process and receive a cash prize of $5,000.00 as well as, recognition of industry professionals. "It is Eurocopter Canada's intention to highlight the achievement of an individual whose ability to think outside the box has improved safety procedures," said Guy Joannes, President & CEO, ECL. "Aircraft safety is our first priority and we look forward to recognizing those individuals who contribute to our goal of safe flying practices." This award was established as a point of reference to measure the advanced accomplishments of organizations or individuals in sustaining Canadian helicopter safe flying practices, while employing an exceptional or groundbreaking approach. The 'Innovation in Safety Award' will be presented to the nominee whose exceptional or groundbreaking approach has demonstrated an impact on the overall goal of safe flying procedures, as recognized through the analysis of skill development, training and any additional resources, while sustaining Canadian helicopter safe flying practices. To be eligible, nominees must: * Be a Canadian-owned organization, group, company, agency or resident of Canada. * Demonstrate a commitment and exceptional dedication to Canadian rotor wing operational safety over an extended period of time (three years or longer). * Successful completion of a program or research project that has had a significant impact on safety in the Canadian rotor wing industry. * An outstanding act, effort, contribution or service to safety in the Canadian rotor wing industry. The 2012 'Innovation in Safety Award' application is located on the Eurocopter Canada website at: http://www.eurocopter.ca/safetyaward/. Deadline for submission is Friday, September 6th, 2013. Please email applications to: Laura Senecal Director, Communications & Corporate Affairs Laura.Senecal@eurocopter.ca http://skiesmag.com/news/articles/19300-eurocopter-canada-accepting-nominations-for-innovation-in- sa.html Back to Top India's first national aviation university soon If everything goes as planned, the nation will soon have its first national aviation university. The Centre would seek Parliament's nod during the monsoon session beginning next month for the university scheduled to come up in Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The law ministry has already endorsed the civil aviation ministry's draft bill for the university, to be named after former prime minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi. The centre has sanctioned an initial amount of Rs. 80 crore and around 26 acres of land for the university. "Despite existence of a large number of private institutions in India that provide aviation education and training, there is a general consensus among stakeholders that the number of programmes offered, depth of course content and existing infrastructure facilities are not sufficient to meet the industry requirements," the civil aviation ministry stated in its note. "The proposal for creating an institution for the country's civil aviation sector should be done in the form of a central university for specialisation in aviation," the law ministry stated in its note, supporting the move. http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/India-s-first-national-aviation-university- soon/Article1-1082997.aspx Back to Top Foundation Launches New Legal Advisory Committee Alexandria, VA, June 26, 2013 - The Flight Safety Foundation announced today the creation of its new Legal Advisory Committee (LAC). The committee will be composed of leading plaintiff and defense accident lawyers, regulators, and airline/aerospace counsel throughout the world, including FSF General Counsel, Ken Quinn. "The formation of the Legal Advisory Committee (LAC) at the Flight Safety Foundation should be a positive step forward in the effort to address legal issues that impact safety, especially our ongoing work to protect safety information data," stated Kevin Hiatt, President and CEO of FSF. "Collection and analysis of data, and then the sharing of meaningful safety and operational information are the future of safety in aviation." "It's become readily apparent that legal regimes are lagging far behind in protecting an ever-increasing amount safety information that is being gathered, shared, and analyzed, which is critical to saving lives," Quinn noted in remarks at the 4th Pan American Aviation Safety Summit In San Jose, Costa Rica. "The global aviation bar needs to work together far more closely and urgently to ensure that information gathered for safety reasons is used solely for safety-related purposes, absent evidence of gross negligence or willful misconduct." The new FSF initiative comes in the wake of the recent conclusion of the ICAO Task Force on Safety Information Protection, which Quinn served as Vice Chair, along with Australia's CASA's Jonathan Aleck, who has agreed to serve on the Committee. Their recommendations are now under final ICAO review. ### About Flight Safety Foundation Flight Safety Foundation (www.flightsafety.org) is an independent, non-profit, international organization engaged in research, education, advocacy and publishing to improve aviation safety. The Foundation's mission is to be the leading voice of safety for the global aerospace community. Flight Safety Foundation Emily McGee Director of Communications Curt Lewis