Flight Safety Information December 12, 2013 - No. 254 In This Issue Pilot concerned about landing Asiana jet before crash Pilots in Crash Were Confused About Control Systems, Experts Say China Asks Pilots to Master Low-Visibility Landing State Health Director killed in plane crash, 8 others survive Foreign-based airlines already have cell service New bill would expand driver's license medical Think ARGUS PROS Scorpion light attack jet in Wichita, ready for first flight Unmanned aircraft degree programs take flight as students prepare for big market Pilot concerned about landing Asiana jet before crash STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Pilot noted that airport navigation system wasn't working NEW: Comments from pilots revealed by crash investigators at hearing Trainee pilot was flying the Boeing 777 with an instructor beside him Investigators focus on concern that pilot relied too much on automated systems Washington (CNN) -- The pilot of an Asiana Airlines jet that crashed in San Francisco this year told investigators after the accident that he had been "very concerned" about landing without help from an airport navigation system that was out of order. Capt. Lee Kang Kuk, who was highly experienced in a Boeing 747 but was transitioning to flying a 777, told the National Transportation Safety Board that he found it "very stressful, very difficult" to land without the glideslope indicator that helps pilots determine whether the plane is too high or too low during approach. "Asked whether he was concerned about his ability to perform the visual approach while piloting Asiana Flight 214, he said 'very concerned, yea,'" the safety board revealed at a hearing on Wednesday on its investigation into the July 6 crash that killed three people and injured more than 180 others. The jet struck a sea wall and broke apart on the runway following a missed approach. Capt. Sully: Culture can be a problem Plane crash-lands in San Francisco Plane crash-lands in San Francisco New video released of Asiana plane crash Video shows plane's moment of impact The navigation aid that syncs up with aircraft instruments was out of service while the Federal Aviation Administration made runway safety improvements. But a second, visual lighting system was operable at the time of the daytime crash and the weather was clear. The safety board investigation is focusing on whether pilots have become overly reliant on automation to fly commercial planes, and whether basic manual flying skills have eroded. Investigators have also focused on the pilot understanding -- or misunderstanding -- of the plane's auto-thrust system, which controls aircraft power. Automated cockpit systems key to Asiana probe Some of the crew of the Asiana flight from Seoul told investigators the auto thrust was always engaged. But the safety board has said that system was not engaged, and the jet descended in altitude faster than it should have, and had a slower forward speed than intended. The combination put the plane into a perilous situation in the final minute of flight. The relief first officer, Bong Dongwon, who was sitting behind Lee and instructor pilot Lee Jungmin, said he observed the fast descent -- or sink rate -- and called out the excessive sink rate "more than four times." Bong told investigators the pilot appeared to be correcting the "sink rate" and did not advise further changes. But its speed was declining at about the same time. The plane was flying at 170 knots 73 seconds before impact, dropped below the target speed for landing of 137 knots at roughly 38 seconds before impact, and plummeted as low as 103 knots just seconds before the plane's front landing gear and tail hit the sea wall at the end of the runway. Will firefighter be charged after Asiana crash? The crew made its first reference to the plane's speed problem just seven seconds before the crash. The pilot called out a "go around" -- a command to abort the landing -- three seconds before impact. Boeing's former chief pilot for the B777 program said automated systems are intended to help pilots, but that they still need to exercise diligence. "We accept the fact that pilots, as all humans, make errors," he said. Automation is intended "as a tool to aid the pilot, not replace the pilot," he said. Information released at Wednesday's hearing also showed investigators are concerned about the role Korean and airline culture played in the crash. Bong said the crew practiced "cockpit resource management," training that encourages subordinates to speak up about safety concerns to other crew members, despite their senior rank, experience or seniority. But when Lee -- who was considered a student pilot in the 777 -- was asked whether he had contemplated an aborted landing as the plane descended, he said it was a "very hard" decision to make, given the deference shown to superiors in Korean culture. By the time Lee pushed the throttle forward just seconds before impact, he discovered his instructor had already done so. Three passengers died in the accident -- two in the crash and a third on the ground when hit by a rescue truck responding to the scene. The accident was the first fatal commercial airline crash in the United States since February 2009. Crash survivor Ben Levy told CNN he was forfeiting an opportunity to watch the proceedings. "I think something that I've done quickly after this plane crash has been to focus on work and family and things that matter to me," Levy said. "I'm extremely happy that something is being done to get to the bottom of what happened that day because it should not have happened." http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/11/us/ntsb-hearing-asiana-flight-214/ Back to Top Pilots in Crash Were Confused About Control Systems, Experts Say Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing at a hearing Wednesday about the fatal crash of an Asiana jet in July. WASHINGTON - The pilots of the Asiana jumbo jet that crashed in San Francisco on July 6 were deeply confused about the plane's automated control systems, and that is a common problem among airline pilots, according to experts who testified Wednesday in a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the crash. "We do have an issue in aviation that needs to be dealt with," the chairwoman of the safety board, Deborah A. P. Hersman, told reporters during a break in the hearing. The board will not produce a report on the accident until next year. The captain and the supervising pilot in the Asiana crash - in which a Boeing 777 hit a sea wall short of the runway, killing three passengers - said they thought a system that is used to control the plane's airspeed was running, although it was not. And all three pilots overlooked a prominent display that showed their airspeed was too low. According to documents released by the board, for 19 seconds leading up to the crash the pilots had a clear view of guidance lights on the field that indicated they were flying too low, but they did not follow company procedure to break off the approach. Government studies as far back as 1996 show a heavy reliance on automation that pilots often do not understand, witnesses said. One common problem is what they call "mode error," in which pilots become confused about what automated cockpit controls will do in a certain situation. The problem is akin to having trouble with the buttons on a remote control unit for a home entertainment system, but with greater consequences. One expert, Capt. Dave McKenney of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations, said that pilots "were taught to rely on the systems all the time." "They're not taught to question the systems," he testified. "They expect the systems to work, and when it doesn't, they're caught short." The plane's captain, Lee Kang Kuk, told investigators - although he was wrong - that he believed the protection system in the Boeing was similar to the one in the Airbus A320, which he had substantially more experience flying. In the Boeing, the throttle levers - one for each of the two engines and located on a center pedestal between the captain and the first officer - will move as the automatic system manipulates the engines. In the Airbus they will not move even when the auto-throttle adjusts the engines' power. The captain was supposed to keep a hand on the throttle levers to feel them move, and he did so on and off, he told investigators. Lack of movement in the throttle levers did not trouble him, he told investigators, because he thought the auto-throttle would "wake up" and maintain a safe minimum speed with no sign. Boeing's design leaves more discretion to the pilot and does not always ensure that the engines will maintain a minimum speed. Asiana ground school instructors warned the crews that the auto-throttle would be disabled when autopilot was being used by the crew to control the plane's descent to a certain altitude, according to one safety board document, but the lesson evidently did not stick. Interviews with pilots indicate that Korean culture may have played a role in the crash. (Asiana is based in South Korea.) Captain Lee told investigators that any of the three pilots on the plane could have decided to break off the approach, but he said it was "very hard" for him to do so because he was a "low-level" person being supervised by an instructor pilot. He also said that as the plane approached, he was momentarily blinded by a light on the runway, possibly a reflection of the sun, but that he would not wear sunglasses because that was considered impolite among Koreans. The pilots did know they were descending too fast. One said so about a minute before impact, in English, which the crew was using on approach, according to a transcript of the flight data recorder. The second mention was also in English, but the third, about nine seconds after the first, was in Korean, a clue in the transcript about the urgency in the cockpit. In the transcript, no one said that the plane was too low until the last 30 seconds of the flight. Three seconds before impact, Captain Lee made a comment rendered in the transcript as "oh # go around," indicating an attempt to re- engage the engines and abort the approach. Witnesses at the hearing also discussed the death of a 16-year-old passenger who the San Mateo County coroner said had injuries consistent with having been run over by a fire truck. Dale Carnes, the assistant deputy fire chief in San Francisco, said that three firefighters saw the girl on the ground, but that with only 23 rescue workers on the scene, they elected to help get trapped passengers out of the fuselage as the fire spread. Ms. Hersman said it was not clear how the teenager ended up outside the plane. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/us/asiana-airlines-crash-san-francisco-airport.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0 Back to Top China Asks Pilots to Master Low-Visibility Landing (AP) Chinese aviation authorities will soon require captains of domestic flights into Beijing to master low-visibility landings to combat chronic flight delays that have been worsened by heavy smog. Beijing Capital International Airport, China's busiest, has the worst record for flight delays of any major international airport, with only 18 percent of flights departing on time, according to travel industry monitor FlightStats. Thick smog has canceled or delayed flights at the Beijing airport when the city's visibility goes down to a few hundred meters (yards) - though officials typically blame the delays on weather conditions rather than pollution. The new requirement will take effect Jan. 1, an official at the Civil Aviation Administration of China said Thursday. The official, who like many Chinese officials spoke on condition of anonymity, said the new skills would be required of all captains on Beijing-bound flights from China's other major airports, including those in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen. The captains will have to learn to land their aircraft with the assistance of precision auto-landing equipment when visibility falls to 400 meters (1,315 feet). Currently, planes are diverted to other airports when visibility is that low. "The administration is promoting the technology to reduce the impact on flights by severe natural conditions," the aviation official said, adding that it will be up to the airlines to decide whether to use auto-landing in low visibility. Auto-landing allows a plane to land automatically with the supervision of a human crew. Experts say that the technology improves aviation safety, but that it requires additional pilot training to supervise the precision hardware both onboard and on the ground. The system is geared for three levels of visibility: 800 meters (half a mile), 400 meters and zero visibility. The new requirement will apply only to domestic flights because China doesn't have authority over the qualifications of foreign airlines' pilots. Many foreign airlines, however, have already been using auto-landing at major Chinese airports equipped with the proper instruments. The Beijing airport, which did not immediately respond to interview requests, is equipped with high-level auto-landing instruments. Chinese airlines also have fleets of aircraft capable of auto-landing. But aviation authorities previously did not require Chinese pilots to be trained for low-visibility auto-landing because of hefty training costs, said Shu Ping, dean of aviation safety at China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology. "The training is very expensive, and the low visibility was not a normal condition," Shu said. "Now with more smoggy days, the probability of landing with low visibility is higher." The Beijing airport's chronic delays are due to an assortment of factors, including a narrow air corridor for commercial aviation because of the powerful military's tight control over airspace. China's wide-ranging weather patterns - including fog, snow and sandstorms - also play a role, as does Beijing's severe pollution. An annual report says weather conditions caused more than 20 percent of the flight delays last year in China, though it does not elaborate on how many were attributed to air pollution. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-asks-pilots-master-low-visibility-landing-21188540 Back to Top State Health Director killed in plane crash, 8 others survive State Health Department Director Loretta Fuddy died in a Makani Kai commuter airplane crash this afternoon off Kalaupapa in which eight other people -- including the pilot -- survived. Fuddy's death was confirmed to the Star-Advertiser by several sources. Sometime before 4 p.m., a Honolulu-bound Cessna Grand Caravan carrying eight passengers and the pilot crashed about a half-mile off Molokai's north shore after taking off from Kalaupapa, officials said. Richard Schuman, president of Makani Kai, said a pilot flying over the crash site about half-mile offshore observed eight passengers in the water with life vests, he said. Soon after the crash, Schuman said "initial indications" were that everyone made it out of the aircraft, but a Maui Fire Department spokesman later confirmed that there was one fatality. Maui Fire Services Chief Lee Mainaga said three survivors were taken to Oahu, three went to Molokai General Hospital and two declined treatment and remained on Kalaupapa. Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said paramedics took two people -- a 74-year-old female and a 39-year-old male -- in stable condition to an Oahu hospital at about 6:30 p.m. from Honolulu Airport. A third person was medavaced directly to an Oahu hospital. Schuman said the pilot survived and called him after the crash. The pilot was flown to Oahu and drove himself to the Queen's Medical Center to be checked out, Schuman said. He said the pilot was "very experienced" and previously worked for Aloha Airlines. Schuman said the plane took off from Kalaupapa for Oahu at about 3:45 p.m. Fuddy became acting health director in January, after the governor's original nominee, Dr. Neal Palafox, withdrew his name at Abercrombie's request in January 2011. Just after being appointed and confirmed as director, Fuddy was involved in the release of President Barack Obama's birth certificate, at the president's request, in April 2011. Besides Fuddy, Health Department Deputy Director Keith Yamamoto was also on board. Yamamoto, dressed in blue swim trunks and a T-shirt, was seen being driven away from Makani Air's Honolulu Airport headquarters at about 7 p.m. A Coast Guard official confirmed nine people were on board, that one person swam to shore and that rescue crews pulled the other eight out of the water, but he would not give any details on their conditions. Crews from the Coast Guard and a Maui Fire Department helicopter responded, with the Coast Guard sending helicopters and C-130 aircraft. MFD officials said the plane went down about a half-mile northwest of Kalaupapa and eight people were seen in the water with lifevests. A Health Department spokeswoman confirmed Fuddy and Yamamoto were on the flight, and had said early this evening that the department had been told that both had survived. However confirmation of Fuddy's death came after 8 p.m. Makani Kai Air, established by Schuman Aviation Co. in 2009, uses two Cessna Grand Caravan turbine aircraft, two Piper Chieftain twin-engine airplanes, two Eurocopter AS-350 A-Stars, and an MD500. The parent company also operates Makani Kai Helicopters. In June, Makani Kai Air expanded its Molokai service to offer five daily round-trip flights between Honolulu and Kalaupapa. According to Makani Kai Air's website, the Cessna 208 Caravan is a single turboprop engine, fixed-gear short-haul aircraft built in the United States by Cessna. The airplane seats up to nine passengers and a pilot. According to FAA records, the plane that crashed was manufactured in 2002. Its last airworthiness certificate was issued in 2008 and is valid until 2015. http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20131211_Small_aircraft_crashes_off_Kalaupapa.html?id=235500801 ************** Narrative: The Makani Kai Air Cessna 208B Grand Caravan impacted ocean waters shortly after takeoff from Kalaupapa Airport (PHLU), on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. The airplane sustained unreported damage and one of the nine occupants onboard received fatal injuries. The injury status of the remaining eight rescued occupants that were onboard the aircraft have not been disclosed. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Foreign-based airlines already have cell service The Federal Communications Commission is considering lifting the 1991 ban because phones now connect through cellular towers aboard planes rather than searching for signals from ground towers. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Tens of thousands of flights each month offer cellular service Only 10% to 20% of passengers use cellular service for voice calls on flights; the rest is for texts, data The Federal Communications Commission holds a key vote on Thursday As U.S. regulators debate allowing cellular service on planes, airline passengers in Europe, the Middle East and Asia have been making calls, sending texts and checking e-mail for years. Foreign airlines now turn off the service as planes approach U.S. airspace. But if the Federal Communications Commission agrees to lift its ban on calls - the agency faces a key vote Thursday on the issue - cellular service could continue unabated on foreign airlines and be switched on quickly aboard U.S. airlines with the right equipment. Two dozen foreign airlines now offer cellular service that began eight years ago for calls, texts and data. Tens of thousands of flights each month offer the service. "Those subscribers are already using the service," said Kevin Rogers, CEO of AeroMobile, which provides cellular service aboard 170 planes of nine airlines for 400 flights a day. "What I'm sincerely hoping is that pragmatism will prevail here." Another major provider, Mobile OnAir, is aboard 250 planes of 14 airlines for 16,000 flights a month. An average of 380,000 passengers use the service each month, according to the company. "Outside the U.S., all the major airlines offer the service. If they haven't got it today, they're planning to," said Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir. "In the coming years, it will be standard on all commercial aircraft." The technology already exists at home. Gogo, which provides wi-fi service aboard 2,000 commercial planes when they are at least 10,000 feet in the air, says the same technology will handle voice calls and texting after downloading an app from Apple or Google. MORE: Airline cell service can be pricey "The great part about this technology is that it doesn't require us to install anything new to an aircraft and we can bundle it with or without connectivity," said Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo's chief marketing officer. Gogo airlines include American, Alaska, Delta, Frontier, United, U.S. Airways and Virgin America. Gogo hopes to launch the texting service in the first three months of 2014, but the open question is whether airlines will allow voice calls. MORE: In-flight calls? Here's what U.S. airlines think "Our airline customers show little interest in the phone service," said Gogo spokesman Steve Nolan. The FCC is considering lifting the 1991 ban, with an initial meeting scheduled Thursday, because phones now connect through cellular towers aboard planes rather than searching for signals from ground towers. Several lawmakers complained about the prospect of voice calls during flights. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and the head of the House transportation committee, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., have introduced legislation to keep the ban in place by law rather than regulation. "Let's face it, airplane cabins are by nature noisy, crowded and confined," Shuster said. "For those few hours in the air with 150 other people, it's just common sense that we all keep our personal lives to ourselves and stay off the phone." American voters oppose by a nearly two-to-one margin allowing cell-phone calls on planes, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday. The poll found 59% opposed and 30% supported voice calls on flights, according to 2,692 registered voters surveyed by phone Dec. 3 to 9. "'Buckle up, hang up and shut up on airplanes,' chatter-weary American voters say," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Foreign providers of cellular service on planes The Federal Aviation Administration and its European counterpart have been certifying the equipment for use aboard for years aboard Boeing 737s, 747s, 777s and 787s, and Airbus A318s, A320s, A330s, A340s and A380s. A demonstration of how cellular service would work for U.S. passengers - if the FCC lifts its ban - is available overseas. OnAir and AeroMobile have agreements with phone companies to serve customers of AT&T, T-Mobile and hundreds of other phone companies while flying. For example, Aer Lingus offers connectivity on all its A330 aircraft. Etihad offers connectivity on every flight between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK aboard a 777-300ER. If a passenger is an AT&T or T-Mobile customer with a contract allowing international roaming, all the traveler has to do is turn on the phone. Billing from the phone company doesn't even mention AeroMobile as service provider on the flight. OnAir's Dawkins said an average of nearly 24 passengers a flight use the cellular service and about 10% make voice calls, with the rest using text and data. AeroMobile's Rogers said about 10% of a plane's passengers use the cellular service, with about 20% of them making voice calls and the rest using text and data. Both companies say calls average less than 2 minutes long. "Even though there's an emotive reaction to voice, most of the usage that comes on these aircraft is from text and data," Rogers said. "When you're on one of these aircraft, you do not have lots of people hanging on phone calls." Part of the reason the companies expect U.S. passengers to use cellular service is because travelers already prefer it to wi-fi on foreign airlines. Cellular service doesn't require passwords or a credit card sign on. "The number of passengers using the phone is higher than the number of passengers using wi-fi," Rogers said of flights where both services are available. "My firm belief is that is because everybody knows how to use the phone." http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2013/12/11/cellular-planes-service-airlines-onair- aeromobile/3784733/ Back to Top New bill would expand driver's license medical New bill would expand the driver's license medical standard to most single-engine aircraft, like the Beech Bonanza, as well as light twins.After nearly two years of FAA inaction on the AOPA-EAA third-class medical petition, Congress has taken matters into its own hands, offering up legislation that would vastly expand the number of pilots who could fly without going through the expensive and time-consuming third-class medical certification process. Reps. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), a member of the House General Aviation Caucus, and GA Caucus Co-Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) on Dec. 11 introduced the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act. The legislation would dramatically expand the parameters for flying under the driver's license medical standard. Rokita and Graves are both AOPA members and active pilots. "We have waited far too long for the FAA to expand the third-class medical exemption to more pilots and more aircraft," said AOPA President Mark Baker. "Congressmen Rokita and Graves stepped forward to take decisive action in the best interests of general aviation when the FAA refused to act. We appreciate their outstanding leadership on this issue and look forward to seeing this bill move forward." The General Aviation Pilot Protection Act would allow pilots to use the driver's license medical standard for noncommercial VFR flights in aircraft weighing up to 6,000 pounds with no more than six seats. That includes virtually all single-engine airplanes with six or fewer seats, including Beech Bonanzas, as well as many light twins like the Piper Aztec, Beech Baron 55 and 58, and Cessna 310. By way of comparison, most large SUVs on the roads today weigh more than 6,000 pounds and can carry six to seven passengers, making them larger than the aircraft that would be operated with proof of a valid driver's license under this new bill. Pilots would be allowed to carry up to five passengers, fly at altitudes below 14,000 feet msl, and fly no faster than 250 knots. The act also would require the FAA to report on the safety consequences of the new rule after five years. "As a pilot, I am pleased to introduce this important legislation with my colleagues and fellow pilots," said Rokita. "This bill eliminates a duplicative and therefore unnecessary medical certification regulation that drives up costs for pilots and prevents the general aviation industry from fulfilling its economic potential." "For many recreational pilots, the FAA's third class medical certification process is nothing more than a bureaucratic hoop to jump through," said Graves. "It discourages new pilots and does not truly improve safety. As a pilot, I have gone through this process several times. However, like all pilots, I am responsible for determining whether I am medically fit to fly during the time between my mandated medical certifications. Expanding the current exemption makes sense and will promote greater recreational aviation activity across the U.S. without an impact on safety." In addition to Rokita and Graves, the bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), and Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). All four co-sponsors are members of the GA Caucus. The legislative action comes after the FAA has repeatedly declined to rule on a March 2012 petition filed by AOPA and EAA. That petition asked the FAA to expand the driver's license medical standard already used by sport pilots for nearly a decade. Under the petition, pilots would be able to operate noncommercial VFR flights in single-engine aircraft with 180 horsepower or less, four or fewer seats, fixed gear, and a maximum of one passenger. To participate, pilots would need a valid driver's license and would be required to take recurrent safety training to help them accurately assess their fitness to fly. More than 16,000 overwhelmingly favorable comments were filed during the public comment period on the petition. But despite strong support from the aviation community and solid evidence that the exemption would maintain or improve safety, the FAA failed to act, so AOPA turned to supporters in Congress for help. Building support for the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act will be critical to its passage, and AOPA will be calling on members to show their support in January after Congress returns from recess. Look for details about how you can help in upcoming issues of AOPA ePilot and on AOPA.org. http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2013/December/11/new-bill-would-expand-drivers-license- medical.aspx?CMP=ADV:1 Back to Top Back to Top Scorpion light attack jet in Wichita, ready for first flight The prototype of the Scorpion jet sits in a Cessna hangar near an East Pawnee facility on Wednesday. The jet was developed by Textron AirLand LLC, a joint venture between Textron Inc. and AirLand Enterprises. Textron AirLand's military light attack jet, the Scorpion, is ready to fly. Now it just needs the Kansas winds to cooperate. The first Scorpion prototype is sitting inside a hangar at Cessna Aircraft's facility on East Pawnee just waiting for the right conditions. Waiting, too, are the two test pilots, engineers and scores of others who have worked on the project over the past two years. A north wind scratched Wednesday's planned first flight. But the forecast looks good for Thursday. "The winds are out of our control," said Dale Tutt, chief engineer on the Scorpion project. "I think the team is excited to get it done." The twin-engine jet is expected to take off for the 1 1/2-hour flight next door at McConnell Air Force Base. During the flight, the pilots will climb 10,000 to 15,000 feet, then fly at a speed of 172 to 230 mph to evaluate the plane's handling characteristics. They may fly to a small, nearby airport to do an approach in a landing configuration. And they will fly to a controlled test plan, Tutt said. "We're trying to be as safe as possible," he said. The plane is equipped with a large parachute and more than 1,000 pounds of flight test instrumentation loaded in the payload bay. The Scorpion was designed from scratch and built at Cessna's east Wichita site in secrecy beginning in early 2012. It's expected to fly at a maximum speed of 517 mph, have a service ceiling of 45,000 feet and a ferry range of 2,400 nautical miles. Low-volume production is slated for 2015. "The last couple of weeks have been surreal," Tutt said. The plane has had the necessary inspections to be licensed as an experimental aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration. And testing has continued. Testing and early production on the project will occur in Wichita, officials have said. Beyond that, it remains to be seen where production would be handled. The nearly all-composite plane borrows technology, but not the design, used in Cessna's Citation business jets. It was built without government funds, and the company didn't go through the usual procurement process in which the military issues specifications and companies compete for the project. The Scorpion is designed for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance missions and will have strike capabilities. The plane was built for a world of tight defense budgets, the company has said. It will cost less than $20 million to buy and less than $3,000 an hour to operate. The Scorpion is being built by a new Textron division, Textron AirLand, a joint venture with AirLand Enterprises. It was introduced at the Air Force Association Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition in National Harbor, Md. http://www.kansas.com/2013/12/11/3173805/scorpion-light-attack-jet-in-wichita.html Back to Top Unmanned aircraft degree programs take flight as students prepare for big market for drone operators Dozens of schools offering courses in UAS GRAND FORKS, North Dakota - A growing number of American students are eager to cash in on expected boom market for drone operators after more unmanned aircraft become legal to fly in U.S. airspace, which could happen in the next few years. The University of North Dakota's unmanned aircraft degree program, the nation's first, exploded from five students in 2009 to 120 students last year. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Kansas State University have since added similar programs. Dozens of other schools offer some courses in what's known as UAS -- unmanned aircraft systems -- which range from drones as big as small planes to 2-foot-wide mini-helicopters. Drones are best known for their use by the U.S. military, but other markets beckon. Amazon made a splash earlier this month by unveiling an embryonic effort that might someday deliver packages by drone, though the company acknowledged practical use is years away. Among those banking on a boom is Andrew Regenhard, an aviation student at the University of North Dakota and self-proclaimed video-game junkie. Instead of tapping his fingers on a controller, he is learning to fly the plane and use onboard equipment that includes a camera with a zoom lens. "Some people argue that nothing is going to be like flying an actual airplane. Granted, looking down and seeing you're 5,000 feet above the ground is pretty exciting, but I've always been addicted to video games, and this is awesome," Regenhard said. The skills needed to fly larger unmanned planes are not unlike those required to fly modern aircraft with computer- based flight controls, professors say. The toughest part of unmanned flying comes with doing it from the ground: You can't feel what's going on. Most of the potential civilian drone market is in precision agriculture. Unmanned aircraft are already used for seeding and spraying in Japan. Drones may be used someday to detect disease in crops, depending on the development of sensors. The potential applications for other unmanned aircraft are endless, said Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. The Boeing ScanEagle, which can fly for 20 hours on a couple of gallons of fuel, was originally developed to help commercial fishermen find and track schools of tuna. The Navy has used the plane to watch pirates. The Federal Aviation Administration projects some 7,500 commercial drones could be aloft within five years of getting widespread access to American airspace. An industry commissioned study last spring predicted more than 70,000 jobs would develop in the first three years after Congress loosens restrictions on U.S. skies. But concerns about security, privacy and whether drones will be able to detect and avoid other aircraft could push the grand opening beyond a 2015 deadline set by Congress. http://www.10news.com/news/unmanned-aircraft-degree-programs-take-flight-as-students-prepare-for-big-market- for-drone-operators-121213 Curt Lewis