Flight Safety Information April 15, 2014 - No. 077 In This Issue Google to Buy Titan Aerospace as Web Giants Battle for Air Superiority Official: MH370 co-pilot had cell phone on Cathay Pacific Jet Stranded for 16 Hours in China. Airplane story has increased CNN ratings but decreased its credibility Co-Pilot of Southwest Wrong-Airport Jet Retiring Nominations sought for aviation safety award GPS based aircraft tracking mandated by 2020 in U.S American Airlines pilot caught with pistol at DFW Airport Tracking system nabbing drug dealers and law-abiding pilots PRISM SMS FAA wants to fine Hawaiian Airlines nearly $550k for failing to inspect plane Gulfstream confirms order of 60 aircraft from China's Minsheng Leasing Calls for Application for...The ISASI Rudolf Kapustin Memorial Scholarship Embry-Riddle Worldwide to offer UAS workshop in San Diego April 24, 25 International System Safety Annual Symposium Graduate Research Survey Upcoming Events Google to Buy Titan Aerospace as Web Giants Battle for Air Superiority Internet Giant to Acquire Startup That Was Courted by Facebook Google acquired a U.S. company developing solar-powered drones that could fly nonstop for years. Above, artist's rendering of Titan's Solara 50. Titan Aerospace/Associated Press Google Inc. on Monday acquired a maker of solar-powered drones-a startup that Facebook Inc. FB +0.62% had also considered acquiring-as the technology giants battle to extend their influence and find new users in the far corners of the earth. Google didn't disclose the purchase price for New Mexico-based Titan Aerospace, which is developing jet-sized drones that are intended to fly nonstop for years. Google said the technology could be used to collect images and offer online access to remote areas. Facebook had been in talks to buy Titan earlier this year, but Google offered to top any Facebook offer, according to a person familiar with the matter. Facebook later agreed to pay $20 million for Ascenta, a U.K.-based aerospace company that also has been working on solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. The drone makers are on the leading edge of a promising but largely unproven technology to beam Internet access to parts of the world not served by telephone wires or cellphone towers. However, industry observers say there are still technical challenges to overcome. Even Amazon.com Inc., AMZN +1.34% which is developing less sophisticated aerial vehicles for short-hop deliveries, says its drones remain four or five years in the future before regular use. Titan and its roughly 20 employees would stay in New Mexico and the company would continue to be run by Chief Executive Vern Raburn, a technology-industry veteran who previously headed Symantec Corp. and Microsoft Corp.'s consumer-products division. Founded in 2012, the Moriarty, N.M., aerospace company confirmed its sale to Google on its website on Monday, and referred further media inquiries to Google's press office. Google said Titan would work closely with its Project Loon, which is building large, high-altitude balloons that send Internet signals to areas of the world that are currently not online. Titan also may work with Makani, another early-stage Google project that is developing an airborne wind turbine that it hopes will generate electricity efficiently. Google has confirmed it is buying drone maker Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed amount. WSJ's Google reporter Alistair Barr joins the News Hub to discuss Silicon Valley's new version of Star Wars. Photo: Getty Images. One reason Facebook and Google are veering toward solar-powered aircraft is that balloons are at the mercy of weather, said Kurt Barnhart, director of the Applied Aviation Research Center at Kansas State University. Balloons "are larger and harder to control," he said, while solar power is a better choice for unmanned aircraft than batteries, which can only keep aircraft afloat for an hour or two. Fossil fuels are more expensive and would require regular refueling. Areas of focus for Google's teams include advanced material design for lightweight flying vehicles and algorithms for wind prediction and flight planning, Google said. Titan has said its drones could collect real-time, high-resolution images of the earth, carry other atmospheric sensors and support voice and data services. That type of technology could help Google businesses, such as its Maps division. "It is still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring Internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation," a Google spokesman said in a statement. Titan is developing two dragonfly-shaped drones powered by batteries charged by wing- mounted solar panels to remain aloft at night. The smaller model, the Solara 50, has a 164- foot wingspan, larger than a Boeing Co. 767 jetliner. WSJD is the Journal's home for tech news, analysis and product reviews. Titan claims that its drones can help deliver data at speeds of up to one gigabit a second using special communications equipment. That would be significantly faster than broadband speeds available in most developed countries. The company has said it expects "initial commercial operations" in 2015. However, experts say there are many technical challenges to overcome before such services become a reality. "The problem with solar planes is that they are limited to smaller payloads, at night you are not collecting energy from the sun and it takes a lot of power to broadcast Internet signals," said Patrick Egan, a drone expert and an editor of sUAS News, a website covering the unmanned aircraft industry. Facebook began reviewing solar-powered drones about six months ago, according a person briefed on the company's "connectivity lab," a group focused on finding new ways to provide Internet services to places that are not online. This person said Facebook's acquisition talks with Titan lasted weeks. After the talks were disclosed, Titan was approached by Google, which said it could beat whatever price Facebook was offering. The talks broke down and Facebook set its sights on other companies, the person added. Google declined to comment on details of its Titan talks. As part of its work on a possible deal, Facebook had tested Titan's technology, and researchers at the startup were able to get a solar-powered aircraft 400 feet off the ground for a few minutes. Members of Ascenta worked on another solar-powered drone, called Zephyr, that stayed in the air for two weeks above the Arizona desert in 2010. Despite such problems, the potential for Internet service delivered from high-altitude drones or balloons is presumed to be large, suggesting a reason for Google and Facebook to pursue the technology. "If they can get past the technical challenge, they could build proprietary networks offering Internet and wireless bandwidth that are worth billions and billions of dollars," Mr. Egan said. Facebook and Google potentially could reach millions of new customers for their services as more of the world gets online, and the companies could also sell their bandwidth to other providers, he explained. The biggest opportunity may be in the developing world, where Google and Facebook are battling to be the first point of contact. The search giant has its Android mobile operating system, which last year captured 79% world-wide market share of smartphones shipped, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. Facebook hopes to boost its user base in poorer countries with two projects, including a version of its service tuned for cheap, feature phones called "Facebook for Every Phone." Another product, Facebook Zero, was launched in 2010 and is a stripped down mobile website launched in concert with mobile operators who don't charge data fees when the service is used. Facebook's plans to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion also gives it a new weapon to attract users in the developing world. The WhatsApp messaging app is particularly popular in countries such as India where telecom carriers still routinely charge for standard text messages. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304117904579501701702936522 Back to Top Official: MH370 co-pilot had cell phone on Australian ship finds oil slick, takes samples (CNN) -The phone of the first officer of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was on and made contact with a cell tower in Malaysia about the time the plane disappeared from radar, a U.S. official told CNN on Monday. However, the U.S. official -- who cited information shared by Malaysian investigators -- said there was no evidence the first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had tried to make a call. The official told CNN's Pamela Brown on Monday that a cell-phone tower in Penang, Malaysia -- about 250 miles from where the flight's transponder last sent a signal -- detected the first officer's phone searching for service roughly 30 minutes after authorities believe the plane made a sharp turn westward. The details do appear to reaffirm suggestions based on radar and satellite data that the plane was off course and was probably flying low enough to obtain a signal from a cell tower, the U.S. official said. The revelation follows reporting over the weekend in a Malaysian newspaper that the first officer had tried to make a telephone call while the plane was in flight. Asked Sunday by CNN about the newspaper report about a purported effort to make a call by the first officer, Malaysia's acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said, "As far as I know, no, but as I said that would be in the realm of the police and the other international (authorities) and when the time comes that will be revealed. But I do not want to speculate on that at the moment." U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN they have been told that no other cell phones were picked up by the Penang tower. Pilots are supposed to turn off their cell phones before pushing back from the gate. "It would be very rare in my opinion to have someone with a cell phone on in the cockpit," safety analyst David Soucie said. "It's never supposed to be on at all. It's part of every check list of every airline I am familiar with." When the plane first went missing, authorities said millions of cell phone records were searched, looking for evidence that calls had been made from the plane after it took off, but the search turned up nothing. Underwater search is shortened Efforts to find the missing plane and the 239 people aboard were focused beneath the choppy surface of the southern Indian Ocean on Monday as Australian authorities sent a U.S. Navy-contracted submersible diving toward the sea floor. But after completing just six hours of searching for underwater debris, the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 returned to the surface, according to the Joint Agency Coordination Centre in Perth, Australia. It should have taken the probe and its operators 24 hours to map the first portion of the search area: 16 hours to map, four hours' travel time to just above the ocean floor and back, and four hours for analysts to examine the data gathered. It is unclear how much of the area -- 5 kilometers by 8 kilometers (3.1 miles by 4.9 miles) - - the Bluefin scanned. It could take up to two months to scan the entire search area. Officials said a built-in safety feature recalled the underwater search vehicle after it exceeded its operating depth of 4,500 meters (14,763 feet). Capt. Mark Matthews, who heads the U.S. presence in the search effort, said the Bluefin aborted so the crew could refine the mission parameters. Charts indicated the ocean was at most 4,400 meters (14,436 feet) deep, so when the Bluefin went deeper than that, it was returned to the surface. "It happened in the very far corner of the area it's searching, so they are just shifting the search box a little bit away from that deep water and proceeding with the search," he told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." The decision to put the Bluefin-21 into the water for the first time in the 38-day search comes nearly a week after listening devices last heard sounds that could be from locator beacons attached to the plane's "black boxes." "We haven't had a single detection in six days," Australian chief search coordinator Angus Houston said. "It's time to go underwater." The probe is equipped with side-scan sonar -- acoustic technology that creates pictures from the reflections of sound. Such technology is routinely used to find sunken ships and was crucial in finding Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. Houston cautioned against hopes that the underwater vehicle will find wreckage of the plane, which disappeared on March 8 on a flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Beijing that should have taken about six hours. "It may not," he said. "This will be a slow and painstaking process." The bottom of the search area is not sharply mountainous -- it's more flat and almost rolling, Houston said. But he said the area probably has a lot of silt, which can "complicate" the search. The search area for the Bluefin is in what officials labeled the most likely area the plane could be. "It was the site of the highest signal strength or the loudest received signal," Matthews told CNN, referring to the pings detected by a towed pinger locator, a wing-shaped listening device connected to the ship by a cable. "It was also where we had an increase in signal strength as we drove through the area and then a decrease as we drove out of the area." Another possible clue into the plane's disappearance emerged Monday. Australian officials announced the Australian ship Ocean Shield had detected an oil slick Sunday evening. It is unclear where the oil came from. A 2-liter sample has been collected for examination, but it will take a few days to analyze. "I stress the source of the oil has yet to be determined, but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 meters (3.4 miles) downwind ... from the vicinity of the detections of the TPL on Ocean Shield," Houston said. CNN Aviation Analyst Les Abend, who flies a Boeing 777, said the engines on the plane have about 20 quarts of oil each. "It could be slowly dripping up to the surface," he told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "They're saying an oil slick. I'm wondering if it's just some sort of a fluid slick. It could be (from) hydraulics." If it is oil, it's not the first oil slick detected as part of the search. A similar find in the first days of the search was determined to be fuel oil from a freighter. Surface search nearing end Twelve aircraft and 15 ships participated in Monday's search efforts on the surface, covering an 18,400-square-mile (47,600-square-kilometer) area. The surface search was among the last, Houston said. "The air and surface search for floating material will be completed in the next two to three days in the area where the aircraft most likely entered the water," Houston said. That search was energized last week when searchers using the Navy-owned pinger locator and sonobuoys detected sounds that could have been from the plane's black boxes, or data and voice recorders. But after a week of silence, the batteries powering the locator beacons are probably dead, a top official from the company that manufactures the beacons told CNN on Sunday. They were certified to last 30 days, a deadline that's already passed. That means searchers may not be able to detect any more pings to help lead them to those pieces of the missing plane. "More than likely they are reaching end of life or already have. If (a beacon) is still going, it is very, very quiet at this point," Jeff Densmore told CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" on Sunday. The time is ripe to move on to other search techniques. "Every good effort has been expended, but it's now looking like the batteries are failing, and it's time to start mowing the lawn, as we say, time to start scanning the sea floor," said Rob McCollum, a CNN analyst and ocean search specialist. Catherine Tamoh Lion, the mother of the missing plane's chief steward Andrew Nari, said the news that no more pings have been heard is upsetting. "Our sadness is now just prolonged," she told CNN. "I feel like they are somewhere," she said of the passengers. "I don't know where. Just praying to God. Miracles can happen. " http://www.kesq.com/news/underwater-vehicle-to-be-used-in-mf-370- search/25461960?item=1 Back to Top Cathay Pacific Jet Stranded for 16 Hours in China A Cathay Pacific flight from New York to Hong Kong was stranded for more than 16 hours in a Chinese city with all 256 passengers kept on board for the entire time late last month because of immigration regulations, bad weather and limits on the crew's work hours. Flight 831 was diverted to the southern city of Zhuhai on the night of March 30 because of a hail storm. The plane was left sitting on the tarmac for hours until Cathay Pacific sent in a new flight crew, with the first crew having reached work-hour limits. All passengers remained on board as required by Chinese immigration and customs regulations at Zhuhai, Cathay Pacific said in an emailed statement Saturday. According to the local Chinese customs district, Chinese officials worked continuously to accommodate the new 16 crew members, who took a high-speed ferry from Hong Kong and entered China through a Zhuhai port before arriving at the airport. Chinese customs officials set up a temporary workplace at the airport - which does not have a permanent customs office - to process the crew members' paperwork before they flew the plane out of Zhuhai in the early afternoon of March 31, the customs district said. Cathay Pacific said the plane took off at 1:08 p.m., more than 16 hours after it landed in Zhuhai. The flight arrived in Hong Kong a little over an hour later. The flight usually takes 15-16 hours, but this flight turned out to be more than 34 hours long with the stopover. U.S. broadcaster NBC quoted an unnamed passenger who complained that the passengers could not leave the plane while in Zhuhai. A Chinese government statement did not mention that the passengers were kept on the plane, but said local officials provided them with drinking water and food. http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/cathay-pacific-jet-stranded-16-hours-china- 23300244 Back to Top Airplane story has increased CNN ratings but decreased its credibility Australia Malaysia Plane In this map provided on Saturday, April 12, 2014, by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, details are presented in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean. With no new underwater signals detected, the search for the missing Malaysian passenger jet resumed Saturday in a race against time to find its dying black boxes five weeks after families first learned their loved ones never arrived at their destination. Dear CNN: Enough, already. Please, for the love of Cronkite, give us a break from the missing plane. Yes, we all wonder what happened to it. Yes, our hearts go out to the families seeking resolution. But really, CNN ... enough. Put your hands up and step away from the story. I'm in the doctor's office the other day, right? I'm waiting for my missus and the TV is on, and I'm half watching, half reading and you're covering the plane. And time passes. And you're covering the plane. And commercials intervene, and you come back and you're covering the plane. And my wife comes out and it's time to go and it's been a solid hour, and you're still covering the plane. Nothing but the plane. I'm on your website maybe six times a day, CNN, grazing for news. Have you had another lead story in the last month? Has nothing else of importance happened to any of 7.1 billion people on this planet? I look at you and I want to start screaming like Tattoo on "Fantasy Island": "De plane! De plane! De plane!" And CNN, is it really true your "coverage" includes asking whether aliens abducted Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? Or whether it was swallowed by the Bermuda Triangle? Did you actually wonder aloud if it had flown into a black hole? Sigh. You know what, CNN? I don't even watch cable news anymore. Haven't for years. Not interested in imbibing MSNBC's perennially aggrieved liberalism nor Fox's angry-all-the-time conservatism. Not interested in watching you play with your holograms, either But there are days when you've got no choice. There's been a school shooting, a terrorist attack, a national election. On those days, CNN, I always turn to you on the theory - or maybe just the faint hope - that there still flickers within you some faint, vestigial notion of what news is - some last bit of fealty to the ideal of getting the facts and telling the story, giving people information they need to understand their world and make decisions about their lives. Yes, you're right. That's so 1978 of me. Look, CNN, I know that before this happened your numbers were in the tank and you were down to your last dozen viewers or so. I'm not without sympathy. Still, there's something sadly ... whorish in the way you chase the ratings bump this story has given you. One struggles to imagine the aforementioned Cronkite, much less the sainted Edward R. Murrow - peace be upon him - selling their newsmen's souls so nakedly just so their network might charge a little more for toilet paper commercials. But then, Ed and Uncle Walter have left the building, haven't they? And yes, maybe they had the luxury of regarding the news as a public service, a sacred trust, consonant with Thomas Jefferson's belief that an informed electorate was vital to a self-governing nation. But you have no such luxury. What you have is a 24/7 news cycle and the need to fill it - if not with news, then speculation, if not speculation, then controversy, if not controversy, then opinion, if not opinion, then froth. Fine. But this is not a trend without impact, CNN. We are becoming a stupider people. You see it in test scores, but you see it more viscerally in the way some of us equate higher volume with sounder logic, wear party as identity, refuse new information that challenges old beliefs, act as if everything must entertain us. Even the news. It seems like somebody ought to take a stand against that. Just saying. Granted, the missing jetliner is not an unimportant story. But neither is it a story deserving of the kind of round-the-clock-man-on-the-moon-war-is-over-presidential-assassination coverage you have given it. CNN, that jet isn't the only thing lost. Have you seen your credibility lately? http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/04/13/3147170/airplane-story-has-increased- cnn.html?sp=/99/447/#storylink=cpy Back to Top Co-Pilot of Southwest Wrong-Airport Jet Retiring Southwest Airlines Co. says that the co-pilot of a plane that landed at the wrong airport in January has retired, while the plane's captain has resumed flying. Airline spokeswoman Brandy King on Monday declined to identify the pilots, each of whom had at least 12 years with Southwest. Both had been on paid leave after the Jan. 12 incident. Instead of landing at the main airport in Branson, Mo., they landed at a smaller airport and had to brake hard to stop the Boeing 737 before a steep drop at the end of the shorter runway. No injuries were reported. Federal officials said the pilots told them they mistook the bright runway lights at the smaller airport for the bigger one 7 miles away. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/pilot-southwest-wrong-airport-jet-retiring- 23320941 Back to Top Nominations sought for aviation safety award The memory of a passenger who perished in an April 1945 airline accident continues to drive an effort to recognize notable achievements in aviation safety. Nominations are being sought for the 2014 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, conferred by the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Flight Safety Foundation for achievement in "method, design, invention, study or other improvement" in aviation safety. The 2014 award will be presented Nov. 11 at the sixty-seventh annual International Air Safety Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the foundations said in an announcement. The recipient will be selected "for a significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions," and a "significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities," the organizations said. They urged special consideration for nomination of "mechanics, engineers and others outside of top administrative or research positions." The contribution to safety "need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition." The award board will meet in June to review the nominations and select the 2014 recipient. Nominations may be submitted until the June 15 deadline by completing this online nomination form. On April 14, 1945, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 after visiting family in Pittsburgh when the aircraft struck Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, W. Va., killing all aboard. In 1956, Laura Taber Barbour's husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour, and son, Cliff, established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her memory. The 2013 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award was presented to Robert Key Dismukes, recently retired chief scientist in the Human Systems Integration Division of NASA's Ames Research Center. In 2013, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed from members of the Award Board, the aviation community and the Barbour family. With airline flights predicted to grow rapidly in the coming years, "continued advancements in flight safety will be imperative for assuring future years of air safety," the awarding organizations said. http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/April/14/Nominations-sought-for- aviation-safety-award.aspx Back to Top GPS based aircraft tracking mandated by 2020 in U.S. KUSA - The FAA is accelerating the implementation of the next generation of aviation tracking following the disappearance of the Malaysian Airline Boeing 777. The agency has been working on a system called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B, radio network. It allows controllers to monitor an aircraft from the time it takes off to the time it lands, using GPS satellite tracking, rather than ground-based radar. Of the 230 air traffic facilities across the country, only 100 use the system now. The FAA announced it will be mandatory for all facilities to use it by 2020. "One of the big questions with MH370 is the fact that they lost radar contact with the airplane and we had no other way of tracking that aircraft," said 9NEWS aviation expert Greg Feith. "And one of the big issues, of course, is if it had been equipped with an ADSB or GPS based system - we would have had full coverage." There are some planes now that have ADSB systems. "There are specific flight tracks that require an airplane to be equipped with this newer generation avionics. So that they can separate traffic, especially going over the ocean, like Atlantic or Pacific Ocean routes," Feith said. Right now there are spots on the earth without radar coverage. "Not only here in the United States, but around the rest of the world, as we've seen with MH370," Feith said. ADSB closes the gap, allowing controllers to have better surveillance of the aircraft, no matter where it is in the country. "Of course it'll provide information for pilots, including weather," Feith said. The world isn't covered yet by ADSB, but the United States has all the ground stations in place. Now it's just a matter of making sure all planes have the equipment too. "Right now, a lot of aircraft are being equipped with it. It's just that we didn't have the infrastructure built. Now the infrastructure is built to use ADSB here in the United States, the rest of the world will follow suit so that we will have almost worldwide coverage for any aircraft," Feith said. "There are going to be a number of air traffic control facilities coming online - that we have to have full equipment on the airplane - and use of it by 2020," Feith said. http://www.9news.com/story/news/2014/04/15/gps-aircraft-tracking/7726741/ Back to Top American Airlines pilot caught with pistol at DFW Airport An American Airlines pilot apparently forgot he left a loaded pistol in his backpack while going through a security checkpoint at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport last month, according to a police report obtained by News 8. Transportation Security Administration screeners in Terminal D found a stainless steel Smith & Wesson model 669 9 mm caliber semi-automatic handgun in Craig Ronald Calabrese's bag on March 16. Calabrese, 49, arrived at the airport to pilot American Flight 1501 to Cancun. "There were two magazines with the handgun, but no magazine loaded in the handgun," the police officer explained in the report. "I pulled the slide back to inspect the chamber and discovered one bullet loaded. Twenty three bullets were loaded between the two magazines. I did not notice any obvious, covert attempt to intentionally conceal the weapon from pre- board screeners." Still, police charged Calabrese with a violation of the "Places Weapons Prohibited" statute, but unlike other people who make the same mistake, officers did not arrest the airline pilot. "Calabrese was released on his own recognizance for purposes of minimizing impact to airline operations," the report stated. Police said the pilot forgot the handgun was in his bag but added that, "Calabrese was reckless in not thoroughly checking his backpack to ensure there were no prohibited items present prior to the pre-board screening process conducted by TSA." "Calabrese stated he doesn't regularly keep the handgun in his backpack, but recently traveled out of town in an RV and took it with him for protection and forgot to remove it prior to leaving his home to catch his flight," the report's narrative explained. "Calabrese has owned the gun a while now and frequently handles it." American Airlines said it was aware of the situation but had no further comment. http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/American-Airlines-pilot-caught-with-pistol-at-DFW- Airport-255230161.html Back to Top Tracking system nabbing drug dealers and law-abiding pilots A Customs and Border Protection tracking system is snaring many more law- abiding private pilots, who claim federal officers are searching their planes without legal justification. Ken Dobson, a retired police officer, said he received quite a welcome when he landed his single-engine Cessna in Detroit two days after leaving his home in Palm Desert. Five sheriff's cars surrounded the plane and deputies got out with guns drawn. Then a helicopter arrived with four federal agents and a drug-sniffing dog. They demanded to see Dobson's pilot's license, asked about the flight and mentioned that his long trip from Southern California was suspicious. Fearing he would lose his flight credentials if he didn't cooperate, Dobson consented to a search of his plane. But instead of uncovering a trophy-shot cache of pot or cocaine, the officers found luggage, golf clubs and an empty Thermos. "To investigate an innocuous concern like my flight was mystifying to me," said Dobson, who flew to Detroit to visit relatives. "My wife and I travel long distances in our car to Michigan. That alone does not give the police the right to stop me, question me and search my car." Dobson's Cessna was picked up by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection tracking system in Riverside that uses an extensive radar network to monitor flights across the nation. Casting such a wide net has helped authorities apprehend dozens of drug smugglers. But the operation also is snaring many more law-abiding private pilots, who say federal officers working with local police are detaining them and searching their planes without legal justification. The situation has attracted the attention of national organizations that represent about 570,000 pilots and 10,000 aviation-related businesses. Between them, the groups have logged complaints from 50 to 70 pilots whose flights were entirely within the U.S. All were let go, some with apologies. Those pilots included business owners, retirees, a real estate financier who was detained twice in one trip, a university professor whose car - after leaving an airport - was surrounded by dozens of officers. Even retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Hank Canterbury was tracked. Canterbury, a fighter pilot in Vietnam who now lives in Arizona, said he was stunned to learn that federal officers had inquired about him at a Texas airport where he landed. During the last three years and five months ending in February, the tracking operation investigated 1,375 flights. Of those, authorities intercepted 212 at airports and made 39 drug-related arrests. An additional eight were referred to the Federal Aviation Administration for possible regulatory enforcement. Officials of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. have taken their concerns to members of Congress, including Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). Wanting to ensure that federal law enforcement is complying with constitutional protections against unwarranted searches and seizures, they have asked Customs and Border Protection for an explanation. "There is no evidence of any criminal activity in the AOPA incidents," Graves said. "If law enforcement is screwing this up, they have done a huge disservice to the public. An erratic flight, a long flight or not filing a flight plan is not probable cause" to stop pilots. Customs and Border Protection officials defend their tracking operation, saying it plays an important role in the war on drugs and protecting national security, especially since 9/11. They say drug smugglers often rely on aircraft, and that in two acts of domestic terrorism since 2002, pilots rammed small planes into buildings, including an IRS office in Texas. Agency officials say they dispatch officers to check flights and detain pilots based on a legal standard known as reasonable suspicion, which can be deduced from a series of facts that suggest the possibility of wrongdoing. Planes are not searched, they say, unless pilots consent or officers have warrants based on probable cause; that is, enough evidence to indicate a crime has probably occurred. Warrants are not required for searches at the border or if evidence is in plain view, people are in imminent danger or evidence faces immediate destruction. Determining what flights to intercept starts at the Air and Marine Operations Center at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside. Able to tap 700 radar installations in the U.S. and neighboring countries, the center can track up to 50,000 aircraft and ships at any time. Staff members scrutinize thousands of flights each day looking for what they consider abnormalities. Usually, one or two aircraft warrant further investigation. Out of those, only one every few days is checked out at airports by federal and local authorities. During the initial review, trackers consider such things as aircraft type, routes, altitudes, flight distances, where flights originate, whether flight plans are filed, the use of small airports and the identities of pilots, passengers and registered owners. Tips from confidential sources also are important. Constitutional law and civil rights attorneys say, however, that detentions of private pilots and searches of their aircraft can raise 4th Amendment issues. The amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. In drug-smuggling cases, lower courts have both thrown out and upheld the causes used by federal law enforcement to stop and search airplanes. But there are no U.S. Supreme Court decisions related to aircraft, said Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law expert and dean of the UC Irvine law school. Because the high court has given police some latitude to search cars during a legitimate vehicle stop, Chemerinsky said justices might grant similar leeway for aircraft searches if such a case came before them. Though customs officials contend their results are reasonable, pilot association officials say arrests occurred in only 18.3% of the stops and about 3% of all the flights scrutinized. Two AOPA pilots, one from California and one from Louisiana, said their hotel rooms were searched without warrants. Still others reported that they were confronted at gunpoint by authorities wearing SWAT gear and that officers who were not trained mechanics removed aircraft panels and engine cowlings during searches, raising safety concerns. Other pilots said they were told their flights were intercepted because of long travel distances, frequent course changes, landings at remote airports and questionable profiles such as flying east from California - all things they considered common occurrences in general aviation. "It's supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but here we have Big Brother watching," said AOPA President Mark Baker. "The number of arrests are laughable for all the work they do. This looks like an agency in search of a mission." http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-aircraft-searches- 20140415,0,7828658.story#ixzz2ywyKxhmH Back to Top Back to Top FAA wants to fine Hawaiian Airlines nearly $550k for failing to inspect plane Hawaiian Airlines may have to pay a civil fine of nearly $550,000 for flying a Boeing 767- 300 jet more than 5,000 times over an eight-year period when it wasn't in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration safety regulations, including 14 flights after the FAA warned the company that a key part of the jet was required to undergo inspection, the FAA said Monday. The FAA said that the plane was not in compliance with a July 2000 Air Worthiness Directive that required repeated inspections of the plane's thrust reverser for wear and tear, and the replacement of the part within four years. The inspections were to prevent the thruster from coming off mid-flight, which would cause decompression in the cabin, the FAA said. However, a July 2012 FAA inspection revealed that records wrongly reported that this particular plane was exempt from the directive. The FAA says that it told Hawaiian that about the erroneous report, but the airline flew 14 more passenger flights after the warning. The FAA claims that Hawaiian also did not keep required directive records for the aircraft. The FAA wants to fine the airline $547.000. "If we are unable to settle a proposed civil penalty more than $400,000 against a large company, we would refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution in U.S. District Court," FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told PBN in an email. Alison Croyle, a Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman, said that the company does not comment on pending litigation. "Hawaiian's first commitment is always to safety," she said. "We have requested an informal conference with the FAA to discuss the matter." Hawaiian Airlines, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: HA), has never had an air fatality or an accident with a hull loss in its entire 85-year history. http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2014/04/14/faa-fines-hawaiian-airlines-nearly- 550k-for.html Back to Top Gulfstream confirms order of 60 aircraft from China's Minsheng Leasing (Reuters) - Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, wholly owned by General Dynamics, said it has sold 60 aircraft to China's Minsheng Financial Leasing Co in what it called one of the biggest single orders for jets in Gulfstream's history. The aircraft order, signed in the fourth quarter, represents firm sales and an option for additional jets, Gulfstream said in a statement without disclosing financial terms. The sale includes a range of aircraft, from the mid-size G280 jet to the ultra-large cabin G650. Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream is competing against Brazil's Embraer SA, Cessna Aircraft Co, and Bombardier Inc to gain a foothold for business jets in the fast-growing China market, which each company sees as a crucial region for future growth. Minsheng Financial Leasing was established in 2008 by China Minsheng Banking Corp and Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Co. The company reports more than 190 billion yuan ($30.6 billion) in assets. ($1 = 6.2191 Chinese Yuan). http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/15/china-gulfstream-idUSL3N0N72HV20140415 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, oremail 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. www.isasi.org Back to Top Embry-Riddle Worldwide to offer UAS workshop in San Diego April 24, 25 Daytona Beach, Fla., - Professionals looking to gain a better understanding of the emerging unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry can take advantage of a two-day course being offered in San Diego April 24 to 25 by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide. Topics to be discussed include: introduction and impact of UAS; UAS designs; legislation, certification and regulation; industry concerns; applications; operational profiles; business opportunities; and the future of UAS. The course is developed and taught by Embry-Riddle Worldwide faculty with UAS operations and research experience. The cost of the course is $550, and continuing education units are available. For more information, click here or email training@erau.edu. About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 60 baccalaureate, master's and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real- world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.worldwide.erau.edu , follow us on Twitter (@ERAUworldwide) and www.facebook.com/EmbryRiddleWorldwide , and find expert videos at http://www.YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv. Back to Top http://issc2014.system-safety.org Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Hello, We are graduate students at Purdue University currently conducting research on Title 14 C.F.R. Part 117 which addresses fatigue risk for Title 14 C.F.R. Part 121 pilots. The new regulation recognizes fatigue related risks to safety, such as changes to natural circadian rhythm and "jetlag." We are seeking your assistance in completing an anonymous online survey. Your responses are greatly appreciated by the researchers, and the feedback provided by your survey responses will provide valuable information that will be used to help process the findings of this study. In order to complete the survey, you must be at least 18 years of age, and you may not complete the survey more than once. It is anticipated that the survey will take 5-10 minutes to complete. If you have already completed the survey, the researchers would like to thank you for your participation and input. The survey link can be accessed via: https://purdue.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0TUBgrhMpM1vO8B Sincerely, Lauren Sperlak, Lukas Rudari, Gilbert Jones, and Rob Geske Back to Top Upcoming Events: Flight Safety Foundation Business Aviation Safety Summit 2014 April 16-17, 2014 San Diego, CA http://flightsafety.org/files/doc/2014FSF_Prospectus.pdf Embry-Riddle Worldwide to offer UAS workshop San Diego April 24, 25, 2014 www.erau.edu Airport Show Dubai May 11-13, 2014 Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) www.theairportshow.com/portal/home.aspx International Humanitarian Aviation Summit 12-14MAY Toledo, Spain wfp.org National Safety Council Aviation Safety Committee Annual Conference Savanah, GA - May 14-15, 2014 Contact: tammy.washington@nsc.org http://cwp.marriott.com/savdt/artexmeeting/ Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar 21-22 May 2014, Bangkok, Thailand http://bit.ly/APASS2014 International System Safety Society Annual Symposium 04-08AUG2014 - St. Louis, MO http://issc2014.system-safety.org Curt Lewis