Flight Safety Information October 14, 2013 - No. 211 In This Issue 2 Life Flight helicopters grounded due to gov. shutdown Shutdown reveals significance of little-known FAA office UPS pilots complained of fatigue before fatal crash AirBaltic flight returns to Latvia when pilot falls ill Flight from Cleveland makes emergency landing Govt Tightens Foreign Pilot Regulations (Indonesia) Lost airplane door found on motel roof "Dry Ice Bomb" Causes Delays at LAX IFA Forum in Hong Kong 26-27 Nov 2013 Next GFSC Meeting 06 November 2013, Abu Dhabi Think ARGUS PROS Therapy dogs at Grand Rapids airport seek to soothe harried travelers Cambodia to establish first civil aviation school GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY 2 Life Flight helicopters grounded due to gov. shutdown LONGVIEW, Wash. - Two Life Flight helicopters that operate in Portland and southwest Washington have been grounded due to the government shutdown. Life Flight helicopters are often the first life-saving transport of seriously ill or injured patients at the scene of an emergency around the Northwest. Domenic Pomponio is the regional director for Life Flight in Lewiston, Idaho. He said helicopters in Longview and Dallasport, Washington cannot get routine inspections by the Federal Aviation Administration, and therefore they cannot fly. Pomponio said Life Flight has helicopters in Aurora and Eugene, Oregon that can still fly in the area. Life Flight also has helicopters in La Grande, Ontario, Pendleton and Redmond Oregon along with Boise, Lewiston, Pocatello and Sandpoint, Idaho. Pomponio said Life Flight is working to get the helicopters cleared to fly but Wednesday would be the earliest they would be cleared. Over the past 35 years, Life Flight's not-for-profit medical service has transported more than 75,000 patients. http://www.kgw.com/news/2-Life-Flight-helicopters-grounded-due-to-gov-shutdown-227521891.html Back to Top Shutdown reveals significance of little-known FAA office Like many others in the aviation industry, the government shutdown is hitting me hard due to the closure of a very small and (relatively) obscure department of the Federal Aviation Administration: the Office of Aircraft Registry. My husband and I have owned and operated Moro Aircraft Leasing, Inc. for nearly 15 years. We purchase, sell and lease aircraft to commercial operators primarily in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. This month we were scheduled to finalize a deal that was nearly a year in the making for an air ambulance operator in Oregon. Then came the shutdown and now like a lot of other companies we find our business on hold. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) is currently showing a substantial impact to their membership due to the shutdown. In a statement posted to the Aviation Today website, GAMA vice president of operations Jens Hennig explains, "With the FAA Aircraft Registry office closed, more than 150 newly manufactured aircraft worth more than $1.9 billion will be delayed by mid-October. Our message to the nation's political leaders is clear: End the shutdown now." The Office of Aircraft Registry is responsible for conducting title searches, registering liens and assigning N- numbers. Without their personnel on the job, the delivery of newly manufactured aircraft is now delayed as are aircraft such as our own, which are currently registered in countries other than the U.S. and thus require new N-numbers. (These aircraft can't be transferred with temporary registrations or so-called "pink slips" but require acceptance of fly-wires by the FAA.) The delay in our purchase has had a serious domino effect, impacting not only Moro Aircraft Leasing and the seller, but also our customer, his employees and his customers as well. There are also multiple banks and title agencies involved in these types of sales, every one of which is now on hold awaiting documents from the FAA. The problems created by the closure of this office are of growing concern in Alaska and may more directly affect commercial passengers as well, as Era Alaska revealed in a statement last week. In all of our years in aviation, my husband and I have never witnessed anything like the impact of the shutdown. Through the many weather, mechanical and operational delays he witnessed during 15,000 hours of commercial flying in Alaska (which originated with MarkAir Express and included the airspace closures after 9/11) there has never been a time when business itself was not allowed to function. While industry leaders pursue attempts to have the Office of Aircraft Registry designation changed from "nonessential" to "essential," as it was during the 1995-96 shutdown, we applaud their efforts and have contacted Alaska's Congressional delegation repeatedly in recent days, urging it be reopened. However if one thing is clear from the events of the last two weeks, it is that no matter how inconsequential the impact of a government agency or office may appear, the far-reaching effects of their closure are often wider than the nonflying public realizes. http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20131013/shutdown-reveals-significance-little-known-faa-office Back to Top UPS pilots complained of fatigue before fatal crash LOUISVILLE, Ky - The two UPS pilots killed in a crash in Birmingham, Alabama, complained of fatigue just before the accident. That's according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on the August 14 crash. The report says the cockpit voice recorder on UPS Flight 13-54 captured Captain Cerea Beal and first officer Shanda Fanning discussing how tired they were while in flight. They also talked about how tiring they felt the UPS overnight schedule could be just before their predawn approach to Birmingham. A UPS spokesman responded to the report saying scheduling was not a factor in the accident and that the company is compliant with FAA rules regarding crew schedules. http://www.wdrb.com/story/23675915/ups-pilots-complained-of-fatigue-before-fatal-crash Back to Top AirBaltic flight returns to Latvia when pilot falls ill RIGA, Latvia, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A passenger aircraft returned to the airport in Riga, Latvia, shortly after takeoff when a pilot began feeling ill, a passenger said. The AirBaltic flight was en route from Riga to Moscow when the incident occurred, RIA Novosti reported Monday. "The aircraft of AirBaltic carrier, which took off on Sunday at 10:45 p.m., local time, from Riga to Moscow's Domodedovo airport returned to Latvia," the passenger said. "As the second pilot announced on the speaker phone, the plane returned because the first pilot suddenly felt not well," the passenger said. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/10/14/AirBaltic-flight-returns-to-Latvia-when-pilot-falls- ill/UPI-44651381749732/#ixzz2hhPIzYU2 Back to Top Flight from Cleveland makes emergency landing BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Officials say a commercial flight carrying 34 passengers had to make an emergency stop in Buffalo after the crew reported smoke in the cockpit. The plane landed safely and no one was injured. WIVB in Buffalo reports that a Chautauqua Airlines flight operating as United Express made the emergency stop in Buffalo on Sunday. The flight departed from Cleveland and was scheduled to land in Boston at 12:18 p.m. NFTA spokesman Dan Hartmayer says that the crew reported smoke in the cockpit and pilots decided to divert to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The cause of the smoke was not immediately known. Passengers were being placed on other flights. Back to Top Govt Tightens Foreign Pilot Regulations (Indonesia) Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation seeks to limit the number of foreign pilots working in the country to provide more opportunities for local pilots. The Ministry of Transportation has issued a circular to limit the number of foreign pilots in the country, a move that the ministry said was aimed to provide more opportunities for local pilots to fill vacancies in the lucrative aviation industry. The ministry also made the move after it found several foreign pilots forging reports about their flight hours. "So, the number of flight hours was actually lower than what they reported," Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan was quoted as saying by Tempo on Friday. However, Bambang refused to reveal the names of the airlines that hired foreign pilots who faked flight-hour documentation. He did however add that it was likely the pilots forged documents to accelerate the process of becoming pilots in command. Under Indonesian regulations, a pilot can become a PIC after 1,000 hours of flying and a co-pilot must have 250 hours flying experience. "But we make selections. Only those with experience can obtain an Indonesian license," he said, adding that Indonesia needs foreign pilots but saying the country only had about 600 foreign pilots out of a total of 7,000. Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia declined to comment on the government's plan to curb the issuance of PIC licenses to foreign pilots, saying they had not received the circular. "I have to study the circular first," said Pujobroto, Garuda Indonesia's vice president of corporate communications. "We have not been informed of the curb on the issuance of licenses for foreign pilots," AirAsia Indonesia communications manager Audrey Progastama Petriny said. Previously, Merpati Nusantara Airlines said it hoped to fill the impending vacancies with graduates from its Merpati Training Center. "The vacancies for trained pilots in Indonesia can be filled by graduates ... so the country can save foreign reserves," Merpati's vice president and corporate secretary Riswanto C.P. told reporters last month. Riswanto said that by training local pilots, the airline could play a role in helping reduce unemployment and improve the labor force. He boasted that the quality of pilots that graduated from Merpati Pilot School was the same as those who graduated from pilot schools abroad. Lack of locals Indonesian Pilot Federation chairman Hasfrinsyah said Indonesia only has about 7,800 pilots and that it still needed more. Hasfrinsyah expressed concern over the curb on foreign pilots, saying Indonesia was not ready to fill the vacancies in terms of quality. "There are flying schools that continue to give ground schooling. Their students never flew," Hasfrinsyah said. Data from Boeing showed that Indonesia's aviation industry needed around 4,000 new pilots between 2011 and 2015 or about 1,000 every year, as well as 7,500 technicians and 1,000 air traffic control officers. Thirteen pilot schools in Indonesia were only able to produce 650 pilots every year, assuming that every school produces 50 pilots per year, which means that Indonesia was still 300 to 400 short of its necessary target. Meanwhile, the Transportation Ministry's head of human resources development Bobby R. Mamahit said Indonesia had only been able to produce about 400 pilots per year out of the 1,000 needed. He said the minimum 250 hours flight requirement for foreign pilots would not discourage foreign pilots from applying to Indonesian airlines, adding that the regulation will not pose any problem for the local aviation industry. "It's impossible that the flight hour regulation for foreign pilots will cause a shortage of pilots. Indonesia is a very lucrative place for them," Bambang said. He pointed out that Indonesia was experiencing continually strong aviation growth. Bambang said Garuda Indonesia had even set a higher standard by requiring pilot captains to have at least 1,000 hours flying experience and co-pilots at least 500 hours. "The standard set by the operator is higher than the one set by the Ministry of Transportation as the regulator. This means that the potential supplies for pilots with high flying hours is still very big," he said. Bambang said the new regulation was aimed at increasing flight safety, "especially to prevent incidents that involved foreign pilots," he had said previously. The dramatic crash of a Lion Air plane into the sea off Bali a few months ago raised concern that Indonesia's fastest-growing carrier may be putting passenger safety at risk with its huge expansion plans, analysts said. Wawan Mulyawan, an aviation expert at the University of Indonesia who specializes in crew health issues, said the crash - in which all 108 on board survived despite the Boeing jet splitting in two - highlighted a "ticking time bomb" under the country's aviation sector with a lack of experienced crew to meet fast-growing demand. He said that since the plane was new, a cause of the accident could have been pilot exhaustion. Pilots being exhausted and overworked could become more of an issue for the country's aviation sector as a whole, he said, as airlines expand rapidly and there are not enough qualified crew to fill their rosters. "If the number of pilots cannot grow as fast as the number of planes and flights, we can expect worse cases in the future. It's a ticking time bomb," Wawan said. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/govt-tightens-foreign-pilot-regulations/ Back to Top Lost airplane door found on motel roof A door fell off a small private plane leaving the Monterey Regional Airport on Thursday afternoon, landing in a spot unknown until Friday morning when it was found on a motel roof. "The strange part is, nobody noticed it," said A.J. Panchel, the front desk manager at the El Castell Motel on North Fremont Street. The room was unoccupied at the time, and neither the guests nor the motel staff heard the door crash into the tile roof. A contractor working outside noticed the door around 8 a.m. and alerted Panchel, who contacted the Monterey Police Department. The police notified the Fire Department, which saw to the removal of the 75-pound door in a matter of minutes. Though the roof tiles sustained damage, the interior of the motel was not affected. The door came from a Beechcraft King Air, a common twin-turboprop plane, said Thomas Greer, general manager of the Monterey airport. The pilot took off at 3 p.m. Thursday and flew west over the Monterey Pines golf course and the Monterey County Fairgrounds, Greer said. The pilot heard a pop, and believing that the door had opened, he immediately turned around to land, the airport manager said. It wasn't until he was back on the ground that he realized the door was missing. The pilot and his passenger were not injured, Greer said. Greer contacted the fairgrounds as well as the Coast Guard, hoping to locate the door. He waited all afternoon and all night before learning of the door's fate in the morning, he said. Greer has no idea why the door fell, but he notified the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB will examine the door and the plane to find an explanation for the mishap, he said. Fortunately, these events are unusual. In his entire aviation career, Greer said he has only dealt with two other objects falling off a plane. "You don't hear about it often," he said. However, "anything that can come loose, somewhere, sometime will come loose," he said. http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20131012/NEWS09/310120019/Lost-airplane-door-found-motel-roof Back to Top "Dry Ice Bomb" Causes Delays at LAX An apparent dry ice bomb explosion in a Los Angeles International Airport restroom Sunday night prompted the airport to halt departing flights for hours while police investigated, authorities said. The explosion occurred about 7 p.m. in a bathroom near Terminal 2, Gate 27. No injuries were reported. Normal operations resumed just before 9 p.m., officials said. The "dry ice bomb" was described as a plastic bottle with dry ice inside. An airport employee heard the explosion from the tarmac and discovered the object inside an empty, non-public restroom. The Los Angeles Police Department's bomb squad arrived at the scene and investigated the incident. The FBI has taken over the investigation. Sources told NBC News that investigators suspect the bomb was intended as a prank. No arrests were immediately made. It was unclear just how many flights were delayed. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller released the following written statement: "Earlier this evening, law enforcement and airport officials responded to a report of an explosion in an employee bathroom in Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport. In a restricted area of the terminal (not accessible to the general public), responders found evidence of a plastic bottle containing dry ice. "A chemical reaction caused the explosion. No injuries were reported and the area is being examined for evidence. As a precaution, the terminal was closed temporarily, however, has since been reopened. The FBI and partners with LAPD, LAX PD, LA Fire, CBP, TSA and other officials will investigate the incident to determine the individual or group responsible." The incident bears some similarities to the commotion caused by a dry ice bomb left in a trash can at Disneyland's Toon Town earlier this year. In that case, part of the park was evacuated. No injuries were reported and a Disneyland employee was arrested for allegedly placing the object. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Dry-Ice-Bomb-Causes-Delays-at-LAX-227617821.html Back to Top Back to Top Subject: NOTICE - Next GFSC Meeting 06 November 2013 To: "GFSC Membership" Dear GFSC Members, The GFSC Executive Committee is please to announce the details of the next Gulf Flight Safety Council meeting. The details are as follows: Date: Wednesday 06 November 2013 Venue: Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies, Al Bateen Airport, Abu Dhabi Time: 0830 - 1600 We would like to once again thank GCAS for their generous support in sponsoring the venue for this meeting. Thanks and kind regards, Mark Captain Mark Trotter Secretary - Gulf Flight Safety Council membership@gfsc.aero www.gfsc.aero Mobile: +971 50 120 9503 Back to Top Back to Top Therapy dogs at Grand Rapids airport seek to soothe harried travelers Lisa Hawkins, who has a 12-hour lay over, visits with Gunner, a 10-year old Black Lab at Gerald R. Ford International Airport on Monday, October 8, 2013. The airport is launching a new therapy dog program to help take the stress and anxiety out of travel. Gerald R. Ford International Airport Launches Therapy Dog Program Amy Meinecke poses with Gunner, her 10-year old Black Lab, at Gerald R. Ford International Airport on Monday, October 8, 2013. The airport is launching a new therapy dog program to help take the stress and anxiety out of travel. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Flying isn't always a smooth endeavor, especially when you're caught in an airport during the middle of an eight-hour delay. Lisa Hawkins of Spirit Lake, ID, looked downright exhausted - "bored," she said recently while waiting for a flight to New York City's LaGuardia Airport. Thunderstorms along the East Coast pushed back her departure time, with a final destination to Montreal, Canada. Then Gunner, a 9-year-old black Labrador retriever, came over to console her. "When you're having these moments where things don't go as planned, this definitely takes some of the stress out of the day," Hawkins said. Gunner is part of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport's new therapy dog program, in partnership with West Michigan Therapy Dogs Inc. Throughout the week, one of two trainers and their dog walks around the common and terminal areas of the airport to provide assistance to anyone who just wants to de-stress, said Tara Hernandez, the airport's spokeswoman. The program comes at no cost to the airport thanks to their partner's nonprofit status and its volunteers - with the exception of dog treats. "As much as we want to be perfect at the airport, we know that travel isn't," said Hernandez, who discovered similar programs at four airports across the U.S., including in Los Angeles. "We wanted to have something that people could relate to, that would kind of ease that tension." Dogs undergo an eight-week training course with West Michigan Therapy Dogs and are subjected to noisy environments, including hospitals and schools, said Amy Meinecke, director of programs for the nonprofit. Before even stepping foot into the airport, the dogs already are adjusted to the hustle and bustle of the terminals and loud noises, she said. However, an airport provides a different layer of complexity for both the dogs and their handlers. "It's having to go through the TSA checkpoint, going through the metal detector ... that was new, and we didn't know what would happen the first time we came with our dogs," Meinecke said. "But we prepared. "The dogs were like, 'Whatever;' they slid right through." Airport officials and the trainers understand some travelers might give pause to having a dog in the airport, whether they don't like them or they're allergic, Meinecke said. If that's the case, the trainer and their dog understands to back off. Hernandez hopes the program becomes something the airport becomes known for, perhaps expanding it with additional volunteers and more dogs to cover each weekday. Gunner appeared to enjoy his time in the airport, wagging his tail at anyone who'd stop to visit. A vest on his body gives the OK to pet him, and a group of Army cadets waiting for their flight to South Carolina's Fort Jackson couldn't resist the temptation. "You just want to pet him," said Kirk Brown, a cadet. "Can't help but smile." http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/10/gerald_r_ford_international_ai_4.html Back to Top Cambodia to establish first civil aviation school Cambodia planned to set up the first ever Civil Aviation Training Center with South Korean assistance in order to boost development of air transport industry and tourism, a spokesman said Saturday. "South Korea agreed to provide $10.1 million in grant aid to Cambodia for the project," Ek Tha, deputy director of the Press Unit of the Council of Ministers, told Xinhua. Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Sok An and Baek Sook Hee, head of the Korean International Cooperation Agency in Cambodia, signed the project agreement on Friday, he said. "The center will provide Cambodia with ability and mechanism to develop aviation human resources and it will maximize the aviation sector's vital contribution to the socio-economic development of Cambodia," Ek Tha said. The construction of the center will start in the second half of 2014 in the eastern compound of the Phnom Penh International Airport on the area of 8,000 square meters, he said. The construction will be completed in a year with necessary facilities for training airline staff, he said. South Korea will dispatch its experts and instructors to train Cambodian airline crew at the center until 2017. Cambodia received 4.3 million air passengers in 2012, up 14.7 percent year-on-year, according to the data of the Cambodia Airports. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/817380.shtml#.Ulvf6VCRB8E Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY: Dear Colleagues, Hello - I am currently a Senior Researcher at Saint Louis University and have graciously been offered the opportunity by your moderator to post a web link for the remainder of Oct 2013 to my web-based, dissertation research survey. My career has spanned 33 years in four flavors of aviation. My first job was spent hunting submarines with the US Navy on active duty for eight years and then an additional 12 1/2 years in the US Navy Reserves. My corporate career was spent in aerospace at McDonnell Douglas / Boeing where I spent all of my 23 years on advanced development projects, things that are not in the mainstream, yet. A very influential assignment was with Boeing's Air Traffic Management group. We were way ahead of the state-of-the art in 2001 and were advocating a space-based infrastructure with significant automation for both the airplanes and how they would be managed (not controlled as they are today). The essential guts of these ideas exist today in the FAA's NextGen program. Now, I am pursing a final career chapter in academia. Concurrent through these three career phases has been my continual General Aviation participation, since 1978, as a Private, Commercial and Certified Flight Instructor pilot. It is a very expensive hobby, but there is no better way to travel than to fly yourself, if you can swing it. My dissertation research is exploring the factors which may be essential for passenger travel on unmanned, autonomous airliners. Current public policy concerns with unmanned systems are focused more on privacy. A longer-range view envisions unmanned systems continuing to make inroads into all segments of aviation. The likely last adaptation of unmanned technology would be passenger airlines. Thus, my dissertation is focused on the trust, safety and cost factors that may make you (1) more comfortable traveling on such an airliner, (2) factors that would make you less comfortable traveling on such an airliner and, (3) factors that do not matter in this decision. For this research I have chosen to use a fractional factorial survey. It is factorial because multiple factors (8), at two opposite levels each, are embedded in a short, one-page, story which you read. And, it is fractional because while there are 256 possible combinations of these factors in the story, you will randomly be presented with one of 16 versions of the story (a ?16 fraction of 256). The survey link leads to one lead-in question, the 1-page vignette, five follow-up questions and four demographic questions. Total completion time takes about 5-7 min, unless you would choose to comment, which you are most welcome to do. Will you please consider having your voice counted in the evaluation of a potential future of commercial aviation? Here is the link to the survey: this: https://slu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4Ip3MItQKUYHSXr) Thank you !! Sincerely, Matt Vance Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology Saint Louis University 3450 Lindell Boulevard McDonnell Douglas Hall, Room 1036 St. Louis, MO 63103 office: 314-977-8244 svance1@slu.edu Curt Lewis