Flight Safety Information December 19, 2013 - No. 259 In This Issue Southwest Airlines planes now gathering weather data as they fly Delta, Southwest Airlines chiefs don't like in-flight phone calls Incident: Ethiopian B763 at Arusha on Dec 18th 2013, fuel emergency General Atomics tests UAV that can "sense and avoid" other aircraft Federal Aviation Administration is testing the safety of commercial drones Russian bill would allow national airlines to hire foreign pilots USAF: F-16 pilot in midair collision lacked sleep Think ARGUS PROS AirAsiaX Orders $6B Worth of Airbus Aircraft Recurrent fog disruptions indicate gross mismanagement of Indian aviation Singapore Airshow 2014 to feature strategic conferences on aviation, defence, technology Southwest Airlines planes now gathering weather data as they fly Southwest Airlines has installed water vapor sensing systems on many of its aircraft Every 12 hours, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launches weather balloons from approximately 70 locations across the US. While these do provide valuable data, a lot can change between those intervals and those locations. That's why a new project is taking advantage of something that's already going up in the sky on a much more frequent basis and in a higher number of locations - Southwest Airlines jets. Along with NOAA and Southwest, the other partners in the initiative are SpectraSensors and Aeronautical Radio Incorporated. So far, 87 of the airline's Boeing 737s have been fitted with Water Vapor Sensing Systems (WVSS-II) made by SpectraSensors. These are the same sensors already used on balloons, to measure moisture distribution throughout the atmosphere. By observing how that distribution changes over time, aviation weather forecasters are able to make predictions regarding things like "location and timing of fog, cloud formation and dissipation, and altitudes of cloud ceilings." The streamlined air sampler (white) is the only part of the WVSS-II that's located on the outside of the aircraft The newly-deployed sensors will make measurements hundreds of times in one flight, as each aircraft ascends and descends through the atmosphere during take-off and landing. Readings will be automatically transmitted to the headquarters of Aeronautical Radio Incorporated, then processed and relayed to the US National Weather Service (part of NOAA) for use in weather forecasts and warnings. Plans call for additional WVSS-II's to be added to more aircraft in Southwest's fleet. The project is part of NOAA's Weather Ready Nation initiative, which is aimed at "building community resilience in the face of extreme weather events." More information is available in the video below. Sources: Southwest Airlines, SpectraSensors via Wired http://www.gizmag.com/southwest-airlines-noaa-weather-forecasting/30182/ Back to Top Delta, Southwest Airlines chiefs don't like in-flight phone calls The top execs at Delta and Southwest say their customers don't want to listen to cellphone calls during flights. Customers on at least two major airlines probably can rest easy that they won't have to listen to fellow passengers yak on their cellphones during flights. Last week, Southwest Airlines Co. chairman and chief executive Gary Kelly told CBS This Morning that the carrier's customers don't want that option if the longtime ban is lifted. On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson was even stronger. "Delta will not allow cellular calls or Internet-based voice communications onboard Delta or Delta Connection flights," Anderson stated in a memo to employees. "Our customer research and direct feedback tell us that our frequent flyers believe voice calls in the cabin would be a disruption to the travel experience," Anderson wrote. "In fact, a clear majority of customers who responded to a 2012 survey said they felt the ability to make voice calls onboard would detract from - not enhance - their experience." Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler told a House subcommittee last week that the agency is considering whether to lift the ban on in-flight calls. New technology allows those mobile calls to happen without interfering with ground-based networks, he said. While the FCC will consider the technical issues, it will be up to the U.S. Department of Transportation whether to raise the ban on other grounds. "But where there is new onboard technology that eliminates that potential for interference, then there is no need for an interference rule," Wheeler told the committee. On the CBS morning show last Friday, host Charlie Rose asked Kelly what he thought about in-flight telephone calls. "Well, I know that our customers don't want it. The vast majority of the polls that we've taken, 60 percent say they don't want cellphones in flight," Kelly said. "So it's a little premature, I think, to judge what the government may come out with in terms of guidelines, but so far I don't think our customers want it, and if our customers don't want it, then our employees are not going to be for it either," he said. American Airlines Inc., which merged with US Airways Inc. last week, was ambivalent on the issue. Spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said Wednesday that the airline's in-flight Wi-Fi currently doesn't allow for such calls. "We understand that this is an important issue to many of our customers, and we will certainly keep the wishes of our customers in mind should the rules governing cellphone use shift from the FCC to individual airlines," she said. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20131218-delta-southwest- airlines-chiefs-dont-like-in-flight-phone-calls.ece Back to Top Incident: Ethiopian B763 at Arusha on Dec 18th 2013, fuel emergency, landing on short runway at wrong airport and runway excursion An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration ET-AQW performing flight ET-815 from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) with 213 people on board, could not land in Kilimanjaro due to a disabled light aircraft on the runway and entered a holding for about 30 minutes. The crew subsequently declared emergency due to low fuel and began the approach to Kilimanjaro's runway 27 (length 3600 meters/11,800 feet) where the light aircraft was still on the runway near the threshold of runway 09/end of runway 27. The aircraft however touched down on Arusha's runway 27 (length 1620 meters/5300 feet) at 13:15L (10:15Z) and came to a full stop just prior to the runway end. Subsequently the crew turned the aircraft left for backtracking, the aircraft came to a stop with all gear on soft ground. No injuries occurred, the aircraft received no visible damage. The airline confirmed the aircraft diverted because a Cessna was disabled on the runway of Kilimanjaro, however, did not explain why the aircraft diverted to Arusha (27nm from Kilimanjaro Airport) with too short a runway rather than diverting to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania, 240nm from Kilimanjaro), Mombasa (Kenya, 154nm from Kilimanjaro) or Nairobi (Kenya, 127nm from Kilimanjaro) featuring suitable runways. An investigation has been opened into the occurrence. Ground witnesses report, that the crew managed to bring the aircraft to a full stop just before the end of the runway, but then attempted to maneouver the aircraft to backtrack the runway which is when they went off paved surface. A listener on frequency reported the aircraft was sent into a holding at Kilimanjaro NDB (KB, 293kHz) southwest of Kilimanjaro Airport and south of Arusha Airport. Arusha's runway was visible from the holding with the same orientation as Kilimanjaro's runway (09/27 at 3600 meters length). The crew thus obviously believing to land at Kilimanjaro Airport touched down at Arusha. Another listener on frequency reported the next day that the crew was advised the Cessna would soon be removed from the runway convincing the crew to remain in the hold. The crew finally called in declaring emergency and reporting that they no longer had sufficient fuel to reach Nairobi, Dar es Salaam or Mombasa (editorial remark: with required minimum fuel reserve remaining intact). Following the emergency the aircraft was cleared to land on Kilimanjaro's shortened runway 27, the crew was told the Cessna was still on the runway near the threshold of runway 09, the Boeing 767 however did not show up at the airport. Several passengers reported that after holding they were told they were now approaching Kilimanjaro airport, they would land to the west due to the Cessna still near the western end of the runway. The landing was rough as expected, only then it was discovered that they had landed at the wrong airport. After turning onto the grass they were stuck on the aircraft for about 3.5 hours until stairs arrived from Kilimanjaro Airport, in the meantime some emergency exits were opened to re-introduce some air circulation into the cabin and calm discontent amongst the passengers. Arusha's airport said the aircraft landed in Arusha by mistake, they were not supposed to land at Arusha and did not communicate with Arusha tower. The aircraft came to a complete stand still just before the end of the runway but then went off the runway. http://avherald.com/h?article=46d32419 Back to Top General Atomics tests UAV that can "sense and avoid" other aircraft A Sense and Avoid (SAA) system that allows UAVs to operate safely around other aircraft in flight has been flight tested on a Predator B General Atomics Aeronautical System, Inc. (GA-ASI), the maker of the Predator and Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has successfully completed the first of several flight tests of a prototype Sense and Avoid (SAA) system that allows a UAV to operate safely around other aircraft in flight. This marked the first time the entire system - consisting of a radar, transponder, and traffic alert system - worked together as a "system of systems" to detect the various types of aircraft it might encounter in the air. The FAA and international agencies have long insisted that UAVs have their own "sense and avoid" systems onboard that can detect other nearby aircraft and instruct either the onboard autopilot or the ground-based remote operator of the UAV how to avoid a collision. The lack of this ability is a major reason why UAVs are not permitted to fly over much of the United States, and are restricted to special airspace that has been set aside just for that use. The addition of an SAA system to a UAV paves the way for them to operate in airspace with manned air traffic. "We are working closely with the FAA, NASA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security [DHS], and our industry alliances to advance the safe and efficient integration of unmanned aircraft systems into domestic and international airspace," said Frank W. Pace, president, Aircraft Systems Group, GA-ASI. "Our Sense and Avoid capability is a key part of that goal, and we continue to make ongoing progress towards this end." The technology demonstrated during General Atomics' flight test does not rely on optical detection, and would be able to operate in any weather. It combines three integrated systems - the BAE Systems' AD/DPX-7 Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF) transponder with Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver; the GA-ASI- developed Due Regard Radar (DRR); and Honeywell's TPA-100 Traffic Collision Avoidance System or TCAS. During the test, the system had 40 pre-planned encounters with other air traffic, including some not being tracked by Air Traffic Control. The test was conducted from the Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California, a facility on the edge of the Mojave Desert and located just south of Edwards Air Force Base. The test aircraft was a Predator B model. The three onboard systems were able to track two participating "intruder" aircraft that acted as targets for the exercise. The onboard software fused the data into a single set of tracking information that was relayed to the Conflict Prediction and Display Systems (CPDS) in front of the Predator's ground-based pilot. Ground Control Station of the Predator B UAV Modern aircraft have a variety of means to "see" each other in the air. It is still legal in certain areas of the US to fly with no radio at all - and even no electrical system in the aircraft. Sailplanes and gliders have no onboard power except for batteries, and ultralights can fly in uninhabited areas. The UAV SAA system would use its radar to see these targets. General Aviation aircraft, such as Cessnas and Pipers, carry transponders, which are special radios that automatically respond when "interrogated," or sent a special signal. Air Traffic Control normally uses transponders to tell aircraft apart on radar as each aircraft has its own code that it responds to. The TCAS - Traffic Collision Avoidance System - uses these transponders to detect the other aircraft. The newest method is ADS-B, where each aircraft sends out its own GPS position once a second to all the other aircraft in the area. The FAA has mandated that most aircraft will have ADS-B transmitters by 2020, which will make it possible to track aircraft from space. Since aircraft flying today may have no transponder, a current-style radar transponder, or a new, modern ADS-B radio (or some combination thereof), the General Atomics See and Avoid system uses all three techniques to detect other aircraft. The company reported that all possible combinations of radios, aircraft, and sensors were tried in the flight test. This test is a follow-on to other individual tests conducted previously. In October of last year, the company flew the ADS-B component on a Guardian UAV, the version of the Predator being flown by the US Border Patrol, while the DRR radar flew on the Predator B in February 2013. Follow up tests are planned to continue to validate the operation of the combined system. Source: General Atomics http://www.gizmag.com/uav-sense-avoid-test-general-atomics/30184/ Back to Top Federal Aviation Administration is testing the safety of commercial drones Congress has ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to identify six test sites to study the safety of commercial drones. (NBC News) Chris Vo and his friends fly drones for sport, filming landscapes including snow capped mountains in Virginia, but Chris is dreaming of much more. "One day these drones will be ubiquitous," he says. "We will have little robot helpers doing all sorts of tasks for us." Congress agrees, and has ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to identify six test sites to study the safety of commercial drones. 24 states have applied for a spot. The goal is to allow drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, for commercial use by 2015. At Oklahoma State University students are studying how drones can help farmers monitor their fields for disease. Texas A&M University, meanwhile, has a new command center for drones. Both could be named test sites. The FAA predicts 7,500 drones will hit the sky by 2018, and industry groups believe that will translate into an $82 billion industry employing at least 100,000 people. Roofers want them for home inspections and Amazon is eyeing the devices for deliveries. Still, privacy advocates worry about misuse and mass surveillance. "You're going to have it from all angles - from the government, from commercial entities, from your neighbor and the person down the street," warns Amie Stepanovich of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The six test sites will help the FAA create rules to address air safety and privacy, among other things. The Inspector General has identified this issue as a top challenge for the FAA next year. http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/science_tech/federal-aviation-administration-is-testing- the-safety-of-commercial-drones#ixzz2nvA6CZqF Back to Top Russian bill would allow national airlines to hire foreign pilots Russian airlines may be allowed to hire foreigners to address shortage of homegrown pilots. The amount of air travel in Russia is growing quite considerably, by 13 percent to 15 percent every year. Experts say Russian pilot schools are unable to keep up with that growth. Source: RIA Novosti The government has submitted a draft law to the State Duma allowing Russian airlines to hire foreign pilots to alleviate an acute shortage that could compromise the safety of air travel. The government's decision to open Russian civil aviation to foreign pilots has been driven by several reasons. In particular, to give Russian airlines a non-discriminatory status within the Eurasian Economic Community and the CIS, according to a note to the draft law. In addition, Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov, whose ministry drafted the bill, explained that during the last four years the number of passengers using Russian airlines had nearly doubled, from 45 million to 83 million. Russia may trade overflight fees for more access to EuropeRussia may trade overflight fees for more access to Europe Russia may trade overflight fees for more access to Europe The main reason however is to address a shortage of qualified flying personnel, primarily captains. The amount of air travel in Russia is growing quite considerably, by 13 percent to 15 percent every year (compared to 4 percent to 5 percent globally). However, Russian pilot schools are unable to keep up with that growth. For example, between 1995 and 2007, they issued certificates to 150 to 200 civilian pilots a year, whereas the industry's annual requirement is estimated at 1,500 pilots. The situation with pilots qualified to be captains is even worse. The ability to hire foreign pilots would enable Russian airlines to fill the gap. If the law is passed, it will remain in force until January 1, 2019. "Given a rise in demand, some airlines are forced to work their pilots very hard, up to violating the norms setting a cap on the number of flights a pilot can have a month or a year. The authors of the bill expect that five years would be enough to tackle the acute shortage and after that to rely on pilots trained in Russia," the head of the Aviaport research service, Oleg Panteleyev, said. A representative of the UTair airline said that following an expansion of the company's fleet, it was hiring captains and retraining its existing pilots, with the main selection criteria being experience and qualification rather than citizenship. First deputy managing director of Transaero Dmitry Stolyarov said the company had no shortage of flying crews but he saw no point in restricting recruitment with quotas. Aeroflot also is in favor of allowing foreign pilots to work in Russia since the existing ban results in a disproportionate rise in pay. If it could hire foreign pilots, the company would have time to train captains from among copilots, who at the moment are unable to gain the relevant experience due to the shortage of captains. If the law is past, Aeroflot is ready to hire captains from CIS countries and from major foreign airlines. However, the Sheremetyevo Trade Union of Flying Personnel said it was opposed to the bill. "Recruitment of foreigners will affect safety of flights. I doubt that pilots from leading world airlines will come to work for Russian companies: top-class captains are in great demand all over the world. Besides, they are unlikely to be satisfied with the terms and conditions offered in Russia," said Igor Obodkov, an aide to the trade union president in charge of public relations. Vladimir Gerasimov, a pilot first class and an associate member of the International Academy of Human Problems in Aviation and Space, said American and German pilots are very well-trained, but at the same time they are very well-paid too and the benefits package there is much better than at Russian airlines. Meaning that Russia could see "an influx of pilots from CIS countries." The Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) public organization said that it is concerned Russia will be "inundated with second-rate pilots, while top-class captains will remain in their home countries." Russian aviation More about Russian aviation The only way to resolve the problem is to develop the Russian network of pilot schools. Although here, too, new problems arise. The president of the Russian trade union of pilots, Miroslav Boychuk, said that his trade union had received complaints from some 300 cadets at the Ulyanovsk Higher Civil Aviation School that some airlines refused to hire them in view of the Transport Ministry's plans to allow the recruitment of foreign pilots. "This initiative runs counter to the policy of the state, which presents itself as a welfare state and a state that defends the interests first of all of the country's native population," Boychuk said. http://rbth.ru/society/ Back to Top USAF: F-16 pilot in midair collision lacked sleep NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - An overconfident pilot who got less than half the sleep he needed before a night training mission was responsible for causing a midair F-16 collision over the summer that forced the other pilot to eject over the Atlantic Ocean, according to a U.S. Air Force report released Wednesday. The accident investigation report by Air Combat Command says the pilot had trouble balancing his Air National Guard and civilian careers and only had about four hours of sleep each night in the 48 hours prior to the August collision. The pilot needed about 10 more hours of rest to be considered fully rested, and his lack of sleep was a direct result of working at his civilian job during the day and flying training missions at night, according to the report. That lack of sleep resulted in the pilot having the same level of impairment as someone with a blood alcohol level of .05, the report says. The effects of that level of fatigue include impaired judgment, lowered alertness, difficulty steering, reduced coordination and reduced response to emergency driving situations. "At the time that day, I believed that I was fit to fly. I was obviously wrong in the self- assessment as evidence by my monumental mistake the night of the mishap sortie," the unidentified pilot told Air Force investigators, according to the report. The Air National Guard has not released the names of the pilots involved, but it has said both were experienced pilots. One is a captain, and the other is a lieutenant colonel. According to the report, the pilot who caused the collision said he believed he could handle his civilian and Air National Guard duties the week of the collision by cutting back on his social commitments. "I admit that I was grossly mistaken in this assessment and did not demonstrate sound judgment," he said, according to the report. Investigators wrote that the pilot overestimated his personal capabilities and underestimated the effects fatigue would have on him because he had become accustomed to working long and demanding days. At the time of the collision, the Air National Guard pilots were participating in night, tactical, air-intercept training off the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The jets were from the 113th Wing D.C. Air National Guard, whose pilots are frequently called upon to intercept aircraft that enter restricted airspace or lose communications in the Washington area. Those intercepts typically require aircraft to fly in close proximity. During the training, the pilot who lacked sleep was serving as an instructor pilot and showing a third plane how to intercept an aircraft. The report says that as he was approaching the other aircraft involved in the collision that he failed to notice a warning from a display telling him that he needed to maneuver away. Three seconds later, his right wing hit the back part of the other jet, according to the report. The jet that was hit then went into a slow barrel roll and it stopped responding to the pilot's controls. Waiting for the jet to be upright, that pilot ejected and was 'thrown around like a rag doll' for five to seven seconds and injured both of his legs, according to the report. A third jet that had been part of the training helped track the pilot's location. About two hours later, the ejected pilot was safely plucked out of the water about 35 miles southeast of Chincoteague by a Coast Guard helicopter crew from Elizabeth City, N.C. The other jet safely returned to Joint Base Andrews, Md. Navy divers retrieved the downed jet from the ocean floor several weeks after it crashed, although it was a total loss and no information could be retrieved from its flight data recorder. The value of the jet was about $21.9 million. The other jet experienced about $1.1 million worth of damage. http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/virginia_politics/usaf-f--pilot-in- midair-collision-lacked-sleep/article_de373f6a-6848-11e3-acbe-001a4bcf6878.html Back to Top Back to Top AirAsiaX Orders $6B Worth of Airbus Aircraft Malaysian long-haul budget carrier AirAsiaX announced an order for 25 Airbus A330-300 aircraft on Wednesday in a deal valued at $6 billion at list prices. Malaysian airline entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, whose AirAsia group has already ordered more than 542 smaller Airbus planes, described the move as a bid to set up the low-cost equivalent of a major connecting carrier such as Emirates. AirAsiaX will continue to focus on its core Asian market but hopes to restart flights to Europe, which were suspended during the region's financial crisis, from around 2016, he said. "We are stepping into a new direction for low-cost carriers ... We are going to bust open a new market and make the world smaller," Fernandes said. The deal is the largest single airline order for the current-generation Airbus wide-body jets. AirAsiaX Chief Executive Azran Osman Rani said he expected strong Asian demand in the future given that low-cost airlines had not penetrated the market in that part of the world as much as in Europe or the United States. "I will bet my bottom dollar that this is not the last order we will place," he told Reuters. The carrier, the long-haul arm of Asia's largest low-cost airline by passengers, AirAsia, said it had options for another 10 of the same Airbus A330 planes which would be configured to hold 377 passengers. It plans to build long-haul hubs on the back of existing AirAsia short-haul networks, focusing initially on a corridor of demand from North Asia to Australia via Southeast Asia. AirAsiaX said it would have 57 owned or leased wide-body jets by 2019. http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2013/12/18/airasiax-orders-6b-worth-airbus- aircraft/ Back to Top Recurrent fog disruptions indicate gross mismanagement of Indian aviation Dense winter fog over vast parts of north India has severely hit aviation across the country. On Tuesday, over 250 flights were delayed, 19 cancelled and seven flights meant to land in Delhi were diverted to other airports. With foggy airspace over the national capital, commuters in other parts of the country too felt the cascading effects of delayed connecting flights. While officials blamed sudden advent of fog for the chaos, it's difficult to understand the lack of preparedness. Winter fog conditions in north India are an annual phenomenon and shouldn't catch airlines and airport authorities unawares. Yet, every year commuters have to put up with flight delays during winter, leading to substantial losses to the economy. Given the country's growing aviation sector, such mismanagement is unacceptable. In fact, for India to emerge as an aviation hub it must inject a sense of professionalism into its airlines industry. For this each cog of the aviation business must work in harmony. Clearly that is not the case at present. A US Federal Aviation Administration audit in September found 33 deficiencies with India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation. This had even raised prospects of a downgrade by the former. Similarly, the country also faces a significant shortage of quality pilots, forcing airlines to hire foreign flight commanders. This in turn has forced carriers to cut costs elsewhere, especially in the safety upgrade department. Unless and until basic infrastructure is improved across airports and airlines in the country, the Indian aviation dream can hardly take off. For example, ensuring that all aircraft, crew and pilots are CAT-III compliant and trained for fog conditions is a bare minimum. Airlines are the modern equivalent of the shipping industry of the European Renaissance, providing economic mobility and opportunities galore. The civil aviation ministry cannot afford to drop the ball. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Opinion/Edit-Page/Recurrent-fog-disruptions- indicate-gross-mismanagement-of-Indian-aviation/articleshow/27604807.cms Back to Top Singapore Airshow 2014 to feature strategic conferences on aviation, defence, technology The elite acrobatic Black Knights from the Singapore Airforce flys in formation during the full dress rehearsal for the aerial display at the site of the Singapore Airshow in 2008. Next February's edition of the Singapore Airshow will feature three conferences that address the latest developments and challenges in civil aviation, defence and technology. Next February's edition of the Singapore Airshow (11 - 16 February 2014) will feature three conferences that address the latest developments and challenges in civil aviation, defence and technology. These conferences will bring together hundreds of industry leaders, military and government officials, regulators and academics from around the world. For instance, the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit on aviation issues will feature key speakers such as Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director-General Tony Tyler. The Asia Pacific Security Conference will gather defence experts, military officials and other industry leaders to discuss security topics including the emergence of China as regional military power and its impact on the East Asian security environment. The third conference is the A*STAR Aerospace Technology Leadership Forum, which will focus on aviation technologies. Said Mr Jimmy Lau, director of Experia Events which organises and manages the bi- annual airshow: "Singapore Airshow has always included a strategic conference component. This gives our delegates the opportunity to go a step beyond networking and doing business to updating themselves on the latest trends and challenges facing the industry and exploring solutions with other industry experts." http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/singapore-airshow-2014- feature-strategic-conferences-aviation-defence- Curt Lewis