Flight Safety Information February 6, 2014 - No. 027 In This Issue BAF training plane crash-lands in Jessore Flight school connected to plane crash has record with National Transportation and Safety Board Technical glitches ground Air India Dreamliner in Kuala Lumpur Save the Date: 6th Annual Aviation Human Factors and SMS Seminar - Dallas, TX Small plane crashes in northern Tanzania, one person injured FAA pilot safety training blamed for fewer flights UPS and Pilots Union Ask for Federal Mediation IAF widens probe into secret info stored on pilot cellphones PRISM SMS Calls for Application for The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship University Research Call For Papers Area 51 spy plane and other aviation tales BAF training plane crash-lands in Jessore A training plane of Bangladesh Air Force crash-landed into a paddy field due to technical glitch in Sadar upazila of Jessore this morning. Two pilots of the PT-6 plane - Pilot Officer Jamil and Squadron Leader Faruk -- received minor injuries, reports our Jessore correspondent. They were whisked off to Jessore Air Force base by a helicopter five minutes into the crash-landing that took place at Mahidia around 11:30am, air force sources said. The plane hit the paddy field just an hour after it took off from Jessore Airport, the sources added. http://www.thedailystar.net/baf-training-plane-crash-lands-in-jessore-10191 Back to Top Flight school connected to plane crash has record with National Transportation and Safety Board PHOENIX - ABC15 tracked down more details about a Valley flight school connected to a crash at Deer Valley Airport. Three men walked away from the crash near 7th Street and Deer Valley Road Tuesday afternoon. National Transportation Safety Board records show TransPac Aviation Academy is linked to four more crash investigations over the last few years. We also found the company was cited nearly five years ago by the Federal Aviation Administration. TransPac Aviation Academy was certified in 2007. Since then, the FAA has recorded 20 accidents and incidents at TransPac and even issued an enforcement action against the company in 2009. The FAA said Transpac violated three regulations. One focused on quality of training for the school's approved training course. Another involved instructor responsibilities, like making sure each student conducted tests at the end of training. The last one involved maintaining school standards. James Timm with the Arizona Pilots Association says it's important to keep in mind that the school deals with a huge volume of flights every day and hundreds of student pilots. "You have to really put that into perspective by the number of students that they have that are going through there, over that length of time. And goodness, you put it in perspective and I don't think it's a horrendous number," Timm said. The FAA tells us it does periodic inspections of flight schools that are certified. TransPac officials say "the safety and security of its instructors and students" are a priority. http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/north_phoenix/Flight-school-connected-to-plane- crash-has-record-with-National-Transportation-and-Safety-Board Back to Top Technical glitches ground Air India Dreamliner in Kuala Lumpur NEW DELHI: An Air India Dreamliner, flying non-stop from Sydney to Delhi, with 215 people on board, today landed in Kuala Lumpur under emergency conditions after its cockpit panels suffered a software malfunction. The pilots of the Boeing 787 who spotted the glitch on their panel while the aircraft was overflying Malaysia, immediately informed the Kuala Lumpur air traffic control and sought permission to land, airline sources said. The aircraft landed under emergency conditions at the airport, they said, adding it was a "normal" landing. The plane, operating flight AI-301, was coming to Delhi from Sydney via Melbourne. An Air India spokesperson said all the passengers have been provided hotel accommodation at Kuala Lumpur. As no Dreamliner engineers were available in the Malaysian capital, they were being flown in from Hong Kong. With the flight duty limit of the existing crew ending, a team of cockpit and cabin crew was also being flown from India and the flight is expected to arrive here tomorrow evening, the spokesperson said. Air India's Dreamliner aircraft have been facing a series of problems since they were grounded for almost four months from January last year. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Technical-glitches-ground-Air-India-Dreamliner-in-Kuala- Lumpur/articleshow/29914519.cms Back to Top Back to Top Small plane crashes in northern Tanzania, one person injured DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- One passenger was injured and four others, including a pilot, escaped unhurt when a six-seater plane crashed in a remote village near the Tarangire National Park in northern Tanzania on Tuesday afternoon. An aviation expert at the Arusha airport said on Wednesday that the C206 Cesna developed problems when it was about to land at Mkongonero airstrip near the national park. The ill-fated flight originated from Emboret village in Simanjiro district, Manyara region, said the expert working with the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) at the Arusha airport. According to him, the plane belonged to flying medical services and that it was still at the crash site by the afternoon, awaiting aircraft accident inspectors from the Ministry of Transport in Dar es Salaam. The Arusha airport manager Alipidi Tesha, admitted details on the cause of the accident were scant because the crash happened in a remote area located over 100 km south west of Arusha. He said the injured passenger and four others who were on board the small aircraft were brought to Arusha late on Tuesday for treatment. "They were taken to different hospitals. I can't tell their condition but only one was seriously injured and others sustained mere bruises", Tesha said. He confirmed that the plane developed problems when about to land at Mkongonero airstrip but declined further details, "We are still collecting information on the mishap and becomes difficult because the area is remote." The Simanjiro and Tarangire areas, which had been sunny over the past weeks due to prolonged drought, was cloudy and rainy on Tuesday as was much of the northern zone highlands. Tuesday's mishap becomes yet another aircraft accident in Arusha and its vicinity in the past 10 months. The fatal one occurred in April last year when an aircraft piloted by a businessman Bob Sambeke crashed when it was about to land at the Arusha airport, killing him instantly. Last August, a plane that was flying from Bukoba to Zanzibar via Arusha plunged into Lake Manyara. Several people were injured, some critically. For months, the aircraft operated by TanzanAir, remained pitched in the middle of the shallow lake. Last September, a plane also operated by a flying doctors service crashed in Ngorongoro highlands. Several people were injured and had to be airlifted to Arusha for treatment. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=198415 Back to Top FAA pilot safety training blamed for fewer flights WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration chief told a House panel Wednesday that the agency pursued greater safety in requiring more pilot training, a move that some airlines blamedfor reducing flight service across the Midwest. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told the House Transportation subcommittee on aviation that after the fatal Colgan Air crash five years ago, the agency developed rules to increase minimum training for co- pilots, require more rest between shifts and enhance pilot training to prevent stalls. Congress demanded some of the changes in legislation. Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., questioned reports that the training "produced a few bumps" and led some airlines to reduce service because of a pilot shortage. "In drafting the rules, did the FAA consider the impact on the nation's pilot workforce, especially because the majority of our pilots are approaching the mandatory retirement age of 65?" Coble asked. Huerta replied: "As you know, the thing that we would have focused on and we did focus on in developing all these rules was how do we maintain the highest levels of safety." At least two airlines recently blamed the training rules for cutbacks in service, although the pilots' union disputes that claim. United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek said he was eliminating the hub in Cleveland and reducing regional flights through that airport by 70% because of financial losses and federal training rules. "Those new regulations have caused mainline airlines to hire regional pilots, while simultaneously significantly reducing the pool of new pilots from which regional carriers themselves can hire," Smisek wrote Feb. 1 in a letter to workers. "Although this is an industry issue, it directly affects us and requires us to reduce our regional partner flying, as several of our regional partners are beginning to have difficulty flying their schedules due to reduced new pilot availability." The same day, Great Lakes Airlines blamed the pilot shortage for suspending service from airports in North Dakota, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota. "Due to the unintended consequences of the new congressionally mandated pilot regulatory requirements, the company feels it is in the best interest of our customers, communities and employees to suspend service from these stations until we are able to rebuild our staff of pilots in order to provide reliable service," CEO Charles Howell said. But the Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 50,000 pilots, argued Wednesday that the training rules didn't force the reduction in service. The union president, Capt. Lee Moak, said thousands of pilots who are furloughed or working overseas would prefer to work for a U.S. airline. About 1,154 ALPA members are furloughed from their airlines and another 2,000 pilots are looking for work after four small domestic airlines closed, he said. The average pay for co-pilots at 14 U.S. regional airlines is $21,285 and $61,000 at Delta and United, Moak said. But Emirates Airlines is paying $82,000 plus a housing allowance, and Cathay Pacific is paying $72,000 plus a housing allowance, he said. "There may be a shortage of qualified pilots who are willing to fly for U.S. airlines because of the industry's recent history of instability, poor pay and benefits," Moak said. Colgan Flight 3407 crashed into a house in Clarence Center, N.Y., on Feb. 12, 2009, after stalling. All 49 people on board were killed, along with one person in the house. The crash focused attention on a variety of pilot flaws that the FAA sought to rectify, including fatigue, lack of experience and inadequate training. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2014/02/05/faa-pilot-training-regional-airlines-united- cleveland-great-lakes/5227839/ Back to Top UPS and Pilots Union Ask for Federal Mediation United Parcel Service Inc. UPS and its pilot union on Wednesday said they are jointly asking for federal mediation for contract negotiations, which have already lasted more than two years. The Independent Pilots Association, which represents about 2,600 UPS pilots, and the company said in a joint statement that they have "utilized their best efforts over the past two and a half years of negotiations," but are still at odds on issues including scheduling, compensation, pension, and benefits. The National Mediation Board will handle negotiations going forward, according to the statement. The board has successfully helped the two parties to come to an agreement on all three contracts between UPS and the IPA since the union was formed at UPS in 1990. The last contract took about two years of federal mediation before it was signed in 2006. The contract, which became amendable on Dec. 31, 2011, is governed by the Railway Labor Act, which keeps contracts from expiring and workers from striking, until all negotiation processes-including mediation-are exhausted. UPS is also currently working to wrap up labor negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. While a master contract was passed in June by the company's domestic package-delivery employees, several local groups have rejected supplemental agreements that must be reached before the master contract can take effect. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304181204579365394170583718 Back to Top IAF widens probe into secret info stored on pilot cellphones The Israel Air Force has widened a probe into the use of cellphones by airmen containing classified information and convicted 14 pilots from a squadron with security breaches. Investigators, led by the IAF's Cyber Defense Unit, took the devices of several pilots and navigators for analysis, days after two pilots were sentenced to five days in military prison for improperly using their cellphones and using them to store sensitive data in violation of data security rules. The probe began after one of the pilots lost his cellphone and reported it missing. An IAF data security officer recovered it, and discovered classified information on it, Army Radio reported. The phones contained information pertaining to training and operational activities, as well as intelligence, the report said. The IDF refused to confirm the story. It did confirm that the two pilots' phones contained classified photographs and messages, and that checks of additional devices found prohibited content as well. Twelve additional air force officers were tried and disciplinary measures were taken against them following the expanded investigation. The IDF Spokesman's Office said the air force took a grave view of the incident, adding that IAF chief Maj.- Gen. Amir Eshel held a meeting with senior officers at the rank of brigadier-general to discuss the issue. The air force is ordering commanders to stress information security protocols. Eshel said pilots must understand that there are alternative ways to store the information. "You, the commanders of the air force, must speak about this with your people," he told them. "Cultural changes take time," and talks to clarify the rules are the main vehicle of achieving this change, he added. The air force chief said he expected "total" changes to be implemented to prevent a recurrence of the security breaches. http://www.jpost.com/Defense/IAF-widens-probe-into-illegal-cell-phone-use-by-pilots-340442 Back to Top Back to Top Calls for Application for The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship DEADLINE for filling application 15 April, 2014 The 2014 ISASI Seminar will be held in the Stamford Hotel in Glenelg, near Adelaide, Australia 13-16 October 2014. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS 2014 The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship (In memorial to all ISASI members who have died) Purpose: To encourage and assist college-level students interested in the field of aviation safety and aircraft occurrence investigation. Funding: The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship fund will be established through donations and will provide an annual allocation of funds for the scholarship if funds are available. Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled as full time students in a recognized (note ISASI recognized) education program, which includes courses in aircraft engineering and/or operations, aviation psychology, aviation safety and/or aircraft occurrence investigation, etc., with major or minor subjects that focus on aviation safety/investigation are eligible for the scholarship. A student who has received the annual ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship will not be eligible to apply for it again. Administration of the Fund: The President of ISASI will appoint a two person committee to be executors and administrators of the fund. The ISASI Treasurer will oversee all expenditures. The Scholarship Fund Committee will check that the education program is at a recognized school and applicable to the aims of the Society, assess the applications and determine the most suitable candidate. Donors and recipients will be advised if donations are made in honor of a particular individual. Annual Scholarship: Funded attendance at ISASI Annual Seminar An award of $2000 will be made to each student who wins the competitive writing requirement, meets the application requirements and will register for the ISASI annual seminar. The award will be used to cover costs for the seminar registration fees, travel, and lodging/meals expenses. Any expenses above and beyond the amount of the award will be borne by the recipient. ISASI will assist with coordination and control the expenditure of funds. In addition, the following are offered to the winner(s) of the scholarship. 1. A one year membership to ISASI 2. The Southern California Safety Institute (SCSI) offers tuition-free attendance to ANY regularly scheduled SCSI course to the winner of the ISASI Scholarship. This includes the two-week Aircraft Accident Investigator course or any other investigation courses. Travel to/from the course and accommodations are not included. More information at http://www.scsi-inc.com/ 3. The Transportation Safety Institute offers a tuition free course for the winner of the Scholarship. Travel to/from the course and accommodations are not included. More information is available at http://www.tsi.dot.gov/ 4. The Cranfield University Safety and Accident Investigation Centre offers tuition-free attendance at its 5-day Accident Investigation course which runs as part of its Masters Degree program at the Cranfield campus, 50 miles north of London, UK. Travel to/from the course and accommodation are not included. Further information is available from www.csaic.net/ Application requirements: 1. A full time student who meets the Eligibility requirement stated above and has been enrolled for a duration of one year 2. The student is to submit a 1000 (+/- 10%) word paper in English addressing "the challenges for air safety investigators" 3. The paper is to be the students own work and must be countersigned by the student's tutor/academic supervisor as authentic, original work 4. The papers will be judged on their content, original thinking, logic and clarity of expression 5. The essay and application must be submitted in a format that can be opened by Microsoft Word. 6. The student must complete the application form with their paper by April 15, 2014 and submit it to ISASI by mail, fax, or email to isasi@erols.com. ISASI contact information - Ann Schull, International Office Manager 107 E. Holly Avenue, Suite #11 Sterling, VA 20164 703 430 9668 (Main) 703 430-4970 (FAX) Some advice to those applying: 1. Late submissions are not advisable 2. Handwritten applications are not advisable 3. Make sure to include your email address as indicated above Application Form 2014 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship (In memorial to all ISASI members who have died) Name: Date: Address: Course enrolled for: Year /Subjects Studied: Academic Institute: Address: Email: Telephone number: Student Signature:_____________________________________________________________ Tutor/Academic Supervisor title and signature:________________________________________ 1000 Word Paper ""the challenges for air safety investigators" NOTE: Students who wish to apply for the scholarship should visit www.isasi.org or send email to isasi@erols.com. The ISASI office telephone number is 1-703-430-9668. Back to Top University Research Dr. Rose Opengart is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration, and Dr. Kees Rietsema is Dean of the College of Business, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide. They are interested in examining how to increase recruitment and retention in the aviation field, especially that of women and minorities. They are requesting that anyone interested please complete a survey that is short and anonymous. It is found at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/womenandminoritypilots Rose Opengart, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Business Administration Assistant Program Chair - MSM Program Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide 256-603-7279 Rose.Opengart@ERAU.edu Back to Top Back to Top Area 51 spy plane and other aviation tales Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio (CNN) -- It looks like an upside-down bathtub with wings, pretty odd for a spy jet that was among the nation's most highly classified pieces of military hardware. As I stand in front of the plane code-named Tacit Blue at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, near Dayton, Ohio, I'm reminded that it still holds a bit of mystery. Engineers made fun of Tacit Blue's design by nicknaming it the Whale, but the program -- declassified in 1996 -- was deadly serious. It was all about stealth. Pentagon Cold War strategists desperately wanted to build planes that could evade Soviet radar. And so the Air Force launched a "black program" to develop Tacit Blue and tested it at a secret government airbase in Nevada called "Area 51," according to CIA documents released in 2013. The program, which lasted from 1978 to 1985, aimed to develop a single-seater jet for battlefield surveillance. Before last year's document release, the government never acknowledged the existence of Area 51. For decades, a fenced-off area surrounding Nevada's Groom Lake was rumored to be a testing ground for some of the nation's most secret technology. Two retired Air Force test pilots who flew Tacit Blue in the early 1980s, Ken Dyson and Russ Easter, spoke about why this plane was important and what set it apart. Although the plane flew 135 times and was never put into production, without Tacit Blue, there would have been no B-2 Spirit bomber. The plane proved that aircraft with curved surfaces could evade radar. "The airplane flew pretty solid, I'd say," Dyson remembered. Could sightings of Tacit Blue have contributed to UFO reports? "I'm not aware of any circumstance like that," Easter said. Dyson also says no. But Cynda Thomas, widow of the first Tacit Blue test pilot Richard G. "Dick" Thomas, said she was with her husband in Los Angeles when an airline pilot accosted her husband during a test pilots' banquet at the Beverly Hilton. As she remembers it, "The pilot came over, and he said, 'Mr. Thomas, I'm so-and-so, and I fly for Continental, and I'm sure I saw you flying the Tacit Blue -- and you know, I reported you as a UFO.' " "Airline pilots have, over the past, reported some stuff that could have been black aircraft in flight tests," Dyson said. "One and a half" Tacit Blue planes were built, Dyson said, so that "if we lost one, we could have a second one up and flying in short order." What happened to the other half of Tacit Blue? "I think it was done away with -- with total respect to secrecy." Mechanical remnants from a related black program called Have Blue "are buried at Groom Lake," according to a 2011 Air Force report. Groom Lake is inside Area 51, according to those released CIA documents. "I don't know anything at all about that Have Blue stuff and wouldn't answer it if I did," said Dyson, who also tested Have Blue airplanes. Dyson is aware of the CIA documents but said he didn't want to talk about Groom Lake or Area 51 or to even mention those places by name. "That's just because of the secrecy that was drilled into me," he said. Maintaining Tacit Blue's secrets and preventing leaks, Dyson said, was proof of the success of a tightly knit and dedicated team. Pursuing a career centered around a secret job takes discipline. "My wife had no clue what I was doing for a long time," Dyson said. "I just didn't talk about it to her or to anyone else who wasn't cleared on the program. It just wasn't done." Richard Thomas also kept details about his work from his family, Cynda Thomas said, although in 1978 he did reveal to her that he was "going into the black world." Secrecy made professional relationships complicated at times. Associates outside Dyson's and Easter's secret circle wanted to hear "war stories" about what it was like to work in the world of black programs, Easter said. "Sometimes I wish we could tell more stories more freely so that some of the lessons learned could be passed on freer." Three unique things about Tacit Blue * Pantyhose made it safer: According to Cynda Thomas' book "Hell of a Ride," an air compressor was blowing tiny flammable aluminum shavings through inlet pipes and into the cockpit, creating a fire hazard. The engineers' unorthodox solution: cover the inlet pipes with filters made of pantyhose, Thomas wrote. "That could be true," Easter acknowledges. * They created an artificial wind tunnel with a huge transport aircraft. Developers used a huge C-130 Hercules plane to create artificial winds that hit the side of the plane so they could test Tacit Blue's performance. Dyson described it as a sort of "wind tunnel" that was set up "in the black of the night so no one could see us flying overhead with a satellite." * It was very hard to pilot: Tacit Blue at the time was "arguably the most unstable aircraft man had ever flown," ex-Northrop engineer John Cashen told Air Force Magazine. Richard Thomas died in 2006, at age 76. Cynda Thomas said her husband had been battling Parkinson's disease. At Tacit Blue's 1996 unveiling ceremony at the museum, Thomas was able to sit inside the airplane's cockpit one more time. "That's when they let me point my camera up the steps of the airplane to take his picture," recalls Cynda Thomas. "I'm so thankful he got to do that before he passed. That plane was my husband's legacy." The plane that wouldn't quit: 'Spare 617' Outside the museum's doors, at the Air Park, sit several giant planes -- each with their own stories. One of them, the Air Force Museum says, saw "one of the greatest feats of airmanship of the Southeast Asia War." In April 1972, a huge C130-E Hercules transport plane code-named Spare 617 was ordered to fly over a raging battle in South Vietnam and parachute-drop giant pallets of ammunition. If all went well, the ammo would resupply South Vietnamese soldiers fighting on the ground. But all did not go well. Preparing to make his drop, pilot William Caldwell flew the plane low over the town of An Loc. But the enemy had put a machine gun nest high above the town in a church steeple, Caldwell recalled. "So, we were just a sitting duck for him." Caldwell remembers machine gun fire ripping through the cockpit, smashing a circuit breaker panel and the plane's windows. Flight engineer Jon Sanders died instantly. The attack wounded copilot John Hering and navigator Richard Lenz and damaged two of the plane's four turboprop engines. Gunfire ruptured a duct designed to bleed hot air from the plane's powerful engines. The scalding air severely burned cargo loadmaster Charlie Shaub, as Caldwell put it, like a "600-degree hurricane." Then it got worse. The attack set fire to some of the plane's explosive cargo. But despite his burns, Shaub was somehow able to eject the burning pallets of ammunition. It was just in time. Seconds later, the ammo exploded as it fell to the ground. Then, Shaub astonishingly snuffed out the fire in the cargo hold. Caldwell closed the bleed air duct and shut down the damaged engines. Next problem: how to save the wounded crew. Caldwell pointed the plane toward an air base with the best medical facilities. He would have to land a giant C-130E with only two working engines -- both on the same side of the aircraft. Things looked grim, he said, but "I got more confident with every mile we got closer to the air base," said Caldwell. Again, things went further south. A hydraulics system that was needed to lower the landing gear became useless. Using nothing but sheer muscle, Lenz and cargo loadmaster Dave McAleece lowered the wheels by hand using crank handles, Caldwell said. Caldwell landed the plane fast: pushing about 170 mph. With hydraulics busted, he had trouble steering the plane. "I used the inboard right side engine to guide the plane down a high-speed runway turnoff," he said. After rolling to a stop, "I got out of the airplane," Caldwell recalled. An airman on the ground asked, "Are you OK?" Caldwell replied, "You bastards didn't prepare us for THIS." Three notable details about the mission * What recognition did the crew receive? Caldwell and Shaub received the Air Force Cross, the Air Force's second-highest award for valor. * Did the plane have any weapons? Spare 617 flew with virtually no defensive weaponry. "We only had 38 revolvers," said Caldwell, 70, now a retired colonel who teaches aviation at the University of Southern Illinois. It was the airplane itself, he said, that helped save them. "That airplane was just as responsible for getting us home as any of the crew." * How hard was it to lower the landing gear? The attack knocked out the plane's hydraulic system, forcing the crew to lower the plane's gigantic landing gear manually. "I think it takes roughly 650 turns of that crank to get a landing gear down on both sides of the airplane. It's an endurance thing more than strength thing." Angel' of freedom: The Hanoi Taxi A third piece of flying history at the museum has come to symbolize freedom for former U.S. POWs captured during the Vietnam War. They call it the Hanoi Taxi, the first U.S. plane to ferry newly freed troops out of North Vietnam. Photos of the ex-captives taken aboard the C-141 Starlifter clearly illustrate the joy and relief the men felt that day in February 1973. Until the POWs left enemy airspace, they had refused to give their captors the satisfaction of showing happiness for being released. When they crossed over international waters, stoic silence immediately turned to joyful pandemonium. A few hours later, with the Starlifter in the background, TV viewers watched stunning, emotional reunions in the Philippines between the ex-POWs and their loved ones. Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier, a retired Air Force fighter pilot who spent nearly six years as a North Vietnamese prisoner, rode aboard the plane as it carried him back to the United States from the Philippines. "This plane looked like an absolute angel coming to get us," he remembered. Now, the plane sits at the museum's Air Park, at the mercy of the wind and cold. Walking around the aircraft and running your hand across its metal exterior, you get a sense that you're touching a piece of history. "It's a hallowed place," said museum curator Jeff Duford. "And you can definitely get a sense of that when you step aboard it." But right now, that's not possible for visitors. The Taxi's interior is off-limits, and its flight deck windows are covered. The plane -- along with Spare 617 -- is slated to be housed in a new $35.4 million building in 2016. Duford says the museum hasn't decided whether visitors will be able to board either aircraft when they move inside. The Hanoi Taxi flew two freedom missions carrying ex-POWs out of Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport. Overall, the aircraft's total passengers to freedom numbered 78 POWs and two civilian returnees. The plane also flew four freedom missions from the Philippines to the United States, carrying a total of 76 ex-POWs. For four decades, the airplane served around the world, until it retired in 2006 to the Air Force museum. Three unique things about the Hanoi Taxi * The plane returned to Vietnam in 2004: Mechenbier, by then a major general, flew the Hanoi Taxi back to Vietnam on a mission to repatriate the newly recovered remains of two U.S. service members who were killed in action during the war. * It served in the Iraq War: The plane helped transfer wounded troops from Baghdad to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and to Washington for treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. * It served as a disaster evacuation plane: The Hanoi Taxi airlifted survivors to safety after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Like many of the museum's other hundreds of aircraft, these three planes -- Tacit Blue, Spare 617 and the Hanoi Taxi -- contributed to history. "These really aren't airplanes anymore," Duford said. "They're artifacts. And so we want to make sure, as a responsible institution, that we protect those artifacts. That's more important than anything else." http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/05/travel/air-force-museum-spy-plane/ Curt Lewis