Flight Safety Information July 1, 2013 - No. 131 In This Issue Heatwave grounds US flights 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, July 23-24, 2013 Helicopter crashes in river; Pilots escape without injury 2 Killed in Glider Plane Crash: FAA (California) Passengers escape after aircraft tyres burst on landing at Delhi NTSB, FAA Investigating Hudson River Helicopter Crash Think ARGUS PROS Pilot Briefing: New York to Tokyo in two hours GoAir Flight Attendants: Airline To Employ Only Lightweight Female Flight Attendants (India) RESEARCH SURVEY Heatwave grounds US flights Several flights have been cancelled due to the record-breaking heatwave affecting parts of the US. Eighteen US Airways flights scheduled to take off from Phoenix were cancelled on Saturday as temperatures reached 48.3 C (119 F). Planes are certified to take off for temperatures up to 47.8C (118), Todd Lechmacher, a US Airways spokesman said. Temperatures reached 53.3C (128 F) in Death Valley, California on Sunday and Saturday, while Las Vegas hit a record high of 118F on Saturday, breaking the city's previous high of 47.2C (117 F), according the US National Weather Service. Concerns were also expressed for visitors to the area. "I'm not worried as much about the people who have lived here a while," Troy Stirling, a police spokesman in Lake Havasu, Arizona near the California border, told CNN. "It's more the tourists coming into the area, even from Southern California, who aren't used to this kind of heat". "It's pretty dangerous... we advise everybody to avoid being outdoors," said Charlotte Dewey, a meteorologist in Phoenix. The heat is also thought to have fuelled some of the worst wildfires in Arizona for 80 years. Nineteen fire-fighters have lost their lives battling a fire that started to the north- west of Phoenix on Friday. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10152512/Heatwave-grounds-US- flights.html Back to Top 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, July 23-24, 2013 Just under a month until the 2013 Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar in Dallas, July 23-24 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, from 8-5 each day. The seminar fee is $100. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. We have a great speaker lineup, entertaining venue and a chance to share best practices with your fellow professionals. FMI: http://www.signalcharlie.net/Seminar+2013 Registration: http://www.signalcharlie.net/Seminar+Registration+2013 Kent B. Lewis (850) 449-4841 www.signalcharlie.net Back to Top Helicopter crashes in river; Pilots escape without injury Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Kennedy carries rescue rope bags from the scene of a helicopter crash in the Clark Fork River on Friday afternoon northwest of Missoula. Neither of the two pilots were injured. A firefighting helicopter practicing bucket drops in the Clark Fork River crashed into the water Friday afternoon, requiring one pilot to swim to shore while emergency crews assisted the second to safety. The Missoula Rural Fire District responded to reports of the downed helicopter shortly after 1 p.m. Witnesses living at the Wagon Wheel Trailer Court - off Big Flat Road northwest of Missoula - saw the aircraft go down behind a bank of cottonwood trees and enter the river. "There was one pilot still inside the helicopter when we arrived," said Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Kennedy. "The other pilot was on the shore across the river." Kennedy said both occupants were safe and suffered no injuries in the crash. Officials said it was unknown what caused the helicopter to go down, although Kennedy said the pilot reported mechanical troubles. The helicopter, identified as Bell model 206L-3, is apparently owned by a company in Lewiston, Idaho. The pilot was working to earn his annual U.S. Forest Service recertification to conduct bucket work on wildfires. "The pilot said he was doing a recertification with the Forest Service to keep up his license," Kennedy said. "That's what they were doing today." Locating the helicopter posed an initial challenge, and the crash site proved difficult to reach. Kennedy said officials, including those with the helicopter company, are working to determine how to extract the aircraft from the river. Brent Christopherson, assistant chief of the Missoula Rural Fire District, said no fuel appeared to be leaking into the river, as the helicopter remained intact. http://mtstandard.com/news/state-and-regional/helicopter-crashes-in-river-pilots- escape-without-injury/article_f580dd12-e066-11e2-90bf-0019bb2963f4.html Back to Top 2 Killed in Glider Plane Crash: FAA (California) 2 Killed in Jacumba Glider Plane Crash The county medical examiner's office has just released the names of the two men killed in a glider plane crash in San Diego's Jacumba area Saturday. According to the report, Richard Noble, 63, and Martin Rothwell, 54, were killed in the crash. The report says the glider was towed and the towline was released at about 100 feet. For unknown reasons, the glider lost control, rapidly decelerated and struck the ground. The FAA said the accident happened just before 12:30 p.m. near the Jacumba Airport (pictured below) in the 45000 block of Old Highway 80, about 75 miles from San Diego. An Allstar PZL glider was involved in the crash. Law enforcement officers surrounded the plane following the crash and blocked off the site. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will now take the lead on the investigation into the fatal accident. According to the FAA, the glider is registered to the Associated Glider Clubs of Southern California (AGCSC). The AGCSC website says their glider group was set to fly in Jacumba all weekend long. A photo of the exact glider that went down in Saturday's crash can be seen here. According to the AGCSC website, the glider that crashed is a relatively new aircraft called a "Perkoz" that was put into production in 2011. The aircraft seats two people and has a wingspan of 65.5-feet, with a maximum airspeed of 149 mph. A person who witnessed the crash but wished to remain anonymous told NBC 7 that the deadly accident happened as the glider was taking off. Gliders do not have engines, and the club uses a winch and cable assembly at the airfield to launch the plane. In this particular case, the glider plane was launched with a winch and cable assembly, and it separated from the tow cable at an altitude of around 100 to 300 feet, the witness said. It launched with its nose high, then immediately spun to the right and into the ground. NBC 7 spoke exclusively with Rolf Schulze, the former president of the AGCSC Saturday afternoon, who said that if the plane separated from the tow cable at that altitude, that's nearly 1,000 feet short of the normal release altitude of around 1,200 feet at Jacumba field. "We call them 'sailplanes.' They are propelled primarily from being flown in thermals or other rising air and since they do not have an engine, the aircraft is purely designed to be flown whenever there is sufficient lift for the airplane to stay in the air," explained Schulze. Understandably so, Schulze said he was very distraught over the accident. "I'm deeply saddened because I'm afraid both victims are people I know quite well and I'm even more afraid that it may have been one of the flight instructors that I know very well," Schulze told NBC 7. A report released by the medical examiner's NBC 7 has learned the name of the glider pilot killed in the Jacumba crash, but we will not be releasing his name until we are certain his family has been notified. http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/2-Killed-Glider-Plane-Crash-Jacumba-Airport- 213707451.html#ixzz2XnMEFg4r Back to Top Passengers escape after aircraft tyres burst on landing at Delhi COLOMBO - Passengers on board a Sri Lankan flight had a fortunate escape on Saturday, when the tyres of the aircraft burst after landing at the IGI airport in New Delhi, India, according to media reports. The incident occurred around 6.55 pm, when Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL 195, carrying over 70 passengers and a crew on board from Colombo, was able to land after the second attempt, airport sources said. The first attempt at landing was aborted due to turbulence caused by the crosswinds at the airport and the pilots were asked by the air traffic control tower to take a go-around for a second attempt. A team of officials from the Delhi International Airport Limited were finally sent to tow the aircraft to the terminal building, but they found two rear tyres of the Boeing 737 plane had burst on landing. The passengers, who were all safe, were offloaded at the taxiway, as towing the aircraft was not possible, and taken in buses to the terminal building, the airport sources said. Flight movement at the airport was affected, with the aircraft stuck on the taxiway which was closed for operations while other aircrafts had to take detours to reach the terminal. http://www.emirates247.com/news/sri-lanka/passengers-escape-after-aircraft-tyres- burst-on-landing-at-delhi-2013-07-01-1.512644 Back to Top NTSB, FAA Investigating Hudson River Helicopter Crash NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - An investigation is under way to determine what caused a sightseeing charter helicopter carrying a family of four to plunge into the Hudson River after losing power on Sunday. Deputy Fire Chief Thomas McKavanaugh said the helicopter had taken off from the Wall Street Heliport and lost power after 12 minutes in the air. A mayday message was broadcast over air traffic control radio: "Mayday! Mayday! New York 5 is going down. Boat basin. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! New York 5 is going down." Pilot Michael Campbell deployed the craft's pontoons, which it kept it upright and afloat, and landed the helicopter safely in the water. The passengers were two adults and two children from Sweden, authorities said. Jetskiers and boaters quickly rescued Campbell and four passengers. No one was injured, but the tourists were taken to the hospital for observation, authorities said. "The pilot did a terrific job considering he'd lost his engine power," McKavanaugh said. "This is a pilot that knew exactly what he was doing at the time he was doing it," said NYC Office of Emergency Management Deputy Commissioner Frank McCarton. But Campbell said he was "just doing my job." "That's all you can do at the end of the day," he said. The Federal Aviation Administration said the helicopter, a Bell 206, is registered to New York Helicopter, which offers sightseeing tours ranging from $139 per person for a 15- minute flight to $295 per person for a 25-minute flight. A crew from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers hoisted the helicopter out of the water. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. The emergency landing on the Hudson River was reminiscent of another one where all aboard escaped unharmed. In 2009, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III safely landed a US Airways flight after striking a flock of geese. All 155 people aboard survived. But other aviation incidents over the waterways surrounding Manhattan have been deadly. In 2011, a helicopter crashed into the East River. Two passengers were killed at the scene, and a third died a month later. In 2009, a collision between a tour helicopter and a small plane over the Hudson River killed nine people. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/07/01/ntsb-faa-investigating-hudson-river-helicopter- crash/ Back to Top Back to Top Pilot Briefing: New York to Tokyo in two hours Bizjet concept aims to shatter sound barrier in near-silence Artist's rendering of the SonicStar business jet concept. Image courtesy HyperMach Aerospace Industries. If Richard Lugg has his way, the next generation of supersonic civilian aircraft will shoot through the sky powered by engines that turn out a massive electrical charge, much of it converted into thrust with megawatts left over to silence the sonic boom. Lugg, a veteran of past NASA efforts to shatter the sound barrier, founded HyperMach Aerospace Industries and SonicBlue Aerospace, which have worked quietly for more than a decade to refine designs aimed at near-silent supersonic flight-one focused on the airframe, and the other building the powerplant. Building an aircraft that can turn New York to Tokyo into a two-hour trip remains an elusive and coveted goal. To make such an aircraft economically feasible, it must have engines that push it faster than the Concorde on a fraction of the fuel. The engine would incorporate turbine stages not connected by a shaft, each able to rotate independently at the optimal speed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency in flight. They would spin in electromagnetic fields, using the same principle that allows high- speed trains to float frictionless above an energized track. The engine is a hybrid of turbofan, turbojet, and turbo ramjet, able to generate 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity. It uses about 9 MW of electricity to power a plasma field generator reshaping airflow around the aircraft and taming the pressure wave, turning sonic boom into a sound similar to rustling leaves on the ground. Mach 4 at 62,000 feet SonicStar is the first concept aircraft to take shape that will utilize the patented Magnetic Advanced Generation Jet Electric Turbine (MAGJET) system, which has evolved into supersonic and hypersonic variations (S-MAGJET and H-MAGJET). SonicStar is a design with visual similarities to concepts being developed by Aerion Corp. That and other efforts are funded in part by NASA, which is also collaborating with Boeing. SonicStar has upped the ante from Mach 3.3 to Mach 4 at 62,000 feet, edging toward the top end of the supersonic speed range (hypersonic speeds begin at Mach 5). The final engine design may run on traditional jet fuel formulations, or hydrogen, which would yield virtually emission-free performance. That and many other questions remain to be resolved. Lugg hopes SonicStar will be ready for certification in 2023, though much of the technology still needs to be refined and perfected for that to happen. SonicStar is not the only aircraft Richard Lugg has in mind: He also plans to produce a suborbital Transport-clategory aircraft using another hybrid engine technology. "We've got our hands full, we're very much aware of that," Lugg said. http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2013/July/1/Pilot-Briefing-New-York-to- Tokyo-in-two-hours.aspx Back to Top GoAir Flight Attendants: Airline To Employ Only Lightweight Female Flight Attendants (India) Indian airline GoAir is--apparently--doing everything in its power to lighten its aircraft and improve fuel efficiency. Like (who else?) Ryanair before it, the airline has decided to only hire lightweight female flight attendants in the future, since males are--in general--heavier. Taking a page right out of Ryanair's playbook, the airline will also reduce the size of the in-flight magazine and the amount of water in their fleet's water tanks. The airline currently employs about 130 male flight attendants, who will not be dismissed. Yet over the next seven years, GoAir plans to induct about 80 aircraft, and the expected 2,000 future cabin recruits will be female only. But will it actually work? An unnamed former executive with an Indian legacy carrier told the First Post, "There are umpteen number of things an airline can do to reduce weight. For example, it can reduce the weight of food and water that is carried on board, use lighter cutlery, uplift only as much fuel as is necessary depending on flight duration etc. GoAir uses Airbus 320 fleet which means it would have, on an average, four crew members per domestic flight. If even one of them is male, does it make such a huge difference to aircraft weight?" The physicial characteristics of flight staff has been a concern of airlines in many past instances, too. In August 2010, Turkish Airlines gave 28 flight attendants six months to lose weight or they'd be sacked. In March 2011, Thai Airways provided employees with required BMI and waist line measurements and told them they has six months to lose the weight. And finally, in March of this year, Nok Air released qualifications for its ideal cabin attendant on its Facebook page. She "must have a weight in proportion with their height" and "must not wear dental braces," for example. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/goair-female-flight- attendants_n_3517114.html Back to Top RESEARCH SURVEY Over the next month, licensed pilots will be asked to take the survey at this link. A $50.00 Visa Gift Card will be given to a randomly chosen survey taker. This survey seeks information from licensed pilots - especially in general aviation - who operate in the United States Airspace System (NAS). The transition from ground radar based air traffic control to space based (ADS-B) air traffic management using GPS accuracy presents a number of opportunities, and choices. The survey asks pilots to identify their preferences; and their responses will help guide efforts to design and manufacture certified avionics that they would like to see in NextGEN. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W6QFWJX Thank you. Curt Lewis