Flight Safety Information May 5, 2014 - No. 091 In This Issue The Missing Jet Hunt Goes Back to the Drawing Board Turbulence injures six on flight from Philadelphia to Florida Pilot killed in biplane crash at Travis air base show Illegal immigrants, guns and drugs 'smuggled into Britain on light aircraft' Turkish Airlines aircraft makes emergency landing at Stockholm airport Cute Commercial for Turkish Airlines PRISM SMS UAE GCAA Business Aviation Oversight Follows EASA Model Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide Offers B.S. Aviation Security Degree Graduate Research Survey Upcoming Events The Missing Jet Hunt Goes Back to the Drawing Board A crew member looks out an observation window aboard a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion maritime search aircraft as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean looking for debris from missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 April 11, 2014. The team investigating the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished with 239 people aboard on March 8, plans to re-examine its data and meet this week to discuss acquiring more sophisticated underwater search equipment All data gathered in the nearly two-month hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will be re-examined to ensure investigators are looking in the jet's most likely resting place, officials said on Monday. A trilateral meeting between Malaysian, Chinese and Australian representatives convened to discuss how best to proceed with finding the Boeing 777, which vanished shortly after departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board. Pioneering analysis of maintenance data transmissions by British satellite firm Inmarsat indicate the 200- ton, twin-engine aircraft crashed about 1,000 miles northeast of Perth, Western Australia. But after 334 air missions to scour 1.8 million sq. mi. (4.6 million sq km) of ocean, combined with a combing of 121 sq. mi. (314 sq km) of the seabed by underwater drone, not a single trace of the missing plane has been discovered. "Unfortunately all of that effort has found nothing," Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss told reporters in Canberra. "The operation must now enter a new phase." Operations will now be expanded to examine 23,000 sq. mi. (60,000 sq km) of ocean floor using more assets-most likely both towed side-scan sonar and unmanned submersibles-the acquiring of which will be discussed on Wednesday, but will likely be from private contractors. "We will continue to search in accordance with the consensus reached at this meeting. We are sure that the search will not be interrupted, not be suspended, not be given up, and not [slacken]," said Chinese Transport Minister Yang Chuantang. About two-thirds of the passengers on board the missing jet were Chinese citizens. Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein praised the "unprecedented" cooperation and "sense of urgency." The operation was "structured and focused, and I believe we are on the right track," he said. Officials admitted last week that the new phase could take up to a year to complete.http://time.com/87485/missing-jet-mh-370/ http://time.com/87485/missing-jet-mh-370/ Back to Top Turbulence injures six on flight from Philadelphia to Florida Turbulence injured six on US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Florida on Sunday PHILADELPHIA As the plane plummeted, Mark Pensiero said he felt his seat drop and his body press up against the seat belt. Gravity seemed to lose its grasp on the 58-year-old Burlington County man. The Orlando-bound Airbus rocked violently from side to side. "For a couple seconds there, nobody was controlling that airplane," he said. "It was doing what it wanted to do." The turbulence lasted five seconds, maybe 10, Sunday night. But six people - four passengers and two flight attendants - reported injuries, leading the captain to turn the plane back to Philadelphia, U.S. Airways said. Five people were taken to hospitals. The airline said the extent of their injuries was unknown, but appeared not to be life-threatening. Pensiero said he saw one person taken away in a stretcher and another person, a flight attendant, wearing a neck brace. He said a fellow passenger told him he saw the stewardess fly into the air "like it was a movie" and hit her head on a side wall, cracking the hard plastic interior. Pensiero said the woman was conscious when he got off the plane. Another flight attendant told him, "I've been doing this for 20 years, and I've never been through anything like that." Pensiero, of Moorestown, works for a defense contractor and was leaving for a one-night business trip. After takeoff, the plane broke through a cloud layer into blue skies that eventually turned gray before it hit turbulence at 17,000 feet. Bill McGlashen, a US Airways spokesman, said the pilots received reports of light turbulence before hitting an unexpected severe patch. The seat-belt sign was still on at the time. "Somebody described it as being on the 'ride of doom,' where the floor drops out and you drop," Pensiero said. "There were a lot of people on that flight who thought, 'Oh, that's it.' " After the pilots steadied the plane, they asked the passengers whether any medical professionals were aboard, prompting two people to volunteer. They then announced the plane would return to Philadelphia. "We're all happy to be back on the ground," Pensiero said by phone from Philadelphia International Airport. Stacy Jackson, an airport spokeswoman, said another plane carrying the shaken passengers took off at 8 p.m., bound for Orlando. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/ Back to Top Pilot killed in biplane crash at Travis air base show An emergency responder works to control a fire after a biplane crashed at an air show at Travis Air Force Base on May 4, 2014. A 77 year-old civilian pilot who had flown planes since he was a teenager was killed when he crashed his biplane Sunday while performing a low-to-the-ground stunt maneuver during an air show at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, authorities said. Officials said Eddie Andreini of Half Moon Bay was piloting the Stearman biplane when it crashed in an open field away from spectators at 2:05 p.m. Black smoke rose from the wreckage as the tens of thousands of people who had flocked to the "Thunder Over Solano" show were evacuated from the base. Andreini's plane was inverted and flying close to the ground, performing a maneuver known as "cutting a ribbon," when something went wrong, said Col. David Mott, 60th Operations Group commander at the base. The trick involves attaching a knife to the plane and slicing a ribbon just off the ground, Mott said. Angie Giles from Antioch, a spectator, said the plane "flipped over to do a trick and hit the ground and dragged over the ground." "It was a couple flames at first and then a lot of black smoke," said another spectator, Luis Alcocer, 18. "Everybody was just staring in awe." The crash happened on the second day of the weekend air show, the first day of which attracted 85,000 spectators. The rest of Sunday's performance was canceled. Andreini had flown planes since he was 16 years old and had performed stunts in shows for the past 25 years, Mott said. Winds were blowing Sunday at 11 to 17 mph, Mott said. He said that was not as windy as during Saturday's show, which the colonel called uneventful. Andreini's website says he put on "a fast-paced show that will delight any audience. ... Your audience will be thrilled at the sight of this huge biplane performing double outside loops, square loops, torque rolls, double snap rolls, and ... a heart-stopping, end-over-end tumble maneuver." The Stearman biplane is a World War II-era aircraft that was commonly used to train pilots. Andreini's two-seat, fixed-wing, single-engine plane was built in 1944, records show. Steve Stavrakakis, a pilot from Turlock (Stanislaus County), performed an hour before the crash in his Romanian military IAR 823 airplane. He had already packed up and left the base when a fellow pilot told him what had happened. "It's a tragic loss. We're a tight-knit group," he said. "Any time something like this happens, it's devastating to our family." Stavrakakis said Andreini was one of the last people he spoke with before leaving the show. "You never think that when you say 'bye' it's the last time," Stavrakakis said. "He was a heck of a nice guy. He was well respected in the industry by everybody. Nobody flew a Stearman better than Eddie." Andreini's air-show business was based at the Half Moon Bay Airport. The airfield's manager, Gretchen Kelly, called him "the patriarch of the airport community." "We are all just devastated," Kelly said. "He was a very kind man - just the nicest man you could ever meet." The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Pilot-killed-in-biplane-crash-at-Travis-air-base-5452405.php Back to Top Illegal immigrants, guns and drugs 'smuggled into Britain on light aircraft' People living near air fields and small landing strips are being asked to look out for suspicious behaviour in a new campaign launched by the National Crime Agency Law enforcement and border officials are increasingly worried that criminal gangs are using non-passenger flights to slip into the UK, landing away from major airports where most security measures are concentrated Law enforcement and border officials are increasingly worried that criminal gangs are using non-passenger flights to slip into the UK, landing away from major airports where most security measures are concentrated Illegal immigrants, guns and drugs are being smuggled into Britain on light aircraft landing on rural airstrips or in farmers' fields, the National Crime Agency has warned. People living in the countryside near air fields and small landing strips are being asked to look out for any suspicious behaviour in a new campaign launched by the agency. Law enforcement and border officials are increasingly worried that criminal gangs are using non-passenger flights to slip into the UK, landing away from major airports where most security measures are concentrated. A senior officer at the agency even suggested that terrorist groups could be making use of small landing strips. According to the NCA there are almost 3,000 sites where small aircraft can land away from formal airports. They include aerodromes, small airfields, farmers' field strips, and helipads. There are almost 20,000 light aircraft registered in the UK, and 47,000 Civil Aviation Authority-licensed pilots. The agency said that organised criminals and terrorists use the aviation sector crimes ranging from illegal immigration, importing hard drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines, and trafficking firearms. In 2006 three members of a people smuggling gang who flew illegal immigrants into the country to secluded airstrips in Kent and the south east were convicted. Turkish nationals were flown from locations in France and Belgium to airstrips in England. A runway in Lamberhurst was one of the places used to transport the people in a six-seater Piper Cherokee light aircraft. David Armond, Director of the NCA's Border Policing Command, encouraged people living near potential landing sites to report anything unusual. He said: "You might have seen unfamiliar people in sensitive areas of the airport, or unusual patterns of activity such as night-time airdrops. That information could be key to an investigation into an organised criminal network or terrorist group." The National Crime Agency is asking farmers and airstrip operators to look out for planes that are "covered in mud" when only tarmac strips are listed on their flight plans. Aircraft that stay "very briefly" a foreign destinations despite a huge effort being made to get there should also be reported. And planes that regularly suffer minor damage and those modified to increase range or load should also be monitored, the agency says. The NCA say that the criminals will "exploit any opening they can find" in rural airfields, small club strips and old bomber bases. Pilots who are inexperienced, nervous or who appear to be vulnerable to pressure should also be reported under new guidelines issued by the NCA. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10808661/Illegal-immigrants-guns-and-drugs-smuggled-into- Britain-on-light-aircraft.html Back to Top Turkish Airlines aircraft makes emergency landing at Stockholm airport Turkish Airlines aircraft flying from Stockholm to Istanbul made an emergency landing at Stockholm Arlanda airport, Turkish channel Haber7 reported on May 5. The information about the bomb on board caused a forced landing, according to the channel. After landing the aircraft cabin was examined by the representatives of the Swedish law enforcement bodies. No explosive device was found on board. http://en.trend.az/news/incident/2270598.html Back to Top Cute Commercial for Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines Commercial When You Dream Igdir Airport Back to Top Back to Top UAE GCAA Business Aviation Oversight Follows EASA Model European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards will predominate in the UAE's efforts to develop a workable framework for the oversight of business aviation, which it hopes will serve as a model for the rest of the region, a UAE aviation safety official said last month at the Middle East Business Aviation Conference in Riyadh. One set of rules currently governs all types of aviation in the UAE, but business aviation sometimes presents a special case and must comply with rules that are not necessarily applicable to it. "What we need is a workable [set of regulations] and for that we have applied the EASA system. We are a small country. We don't have the resources for the R&D and to decide what are the limitations. If we adopt [EASA's] regulations, we will put our industry on an equivalent playing field, in terms of access to the market, and [allow for] the flow of qualified personnel to the UAE market," Ismaeil Al Blooshi, assistant director general for aviation safety affairs with the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), told AIN. On the subject of rules that do not take into consideration the specific case of business aviation, Al Blooshi raised the issue of crew standby as an example. "When a crew is on standby with a scheduled operator, this is considered part of their duty timing...In a private operation, [however,] the pilot is continuously supposed to be on standby, because he does not work to a fixed schedule. The model does not necessarily fit them. I know this is a challenge for everyone." The GCAA is working with the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) and the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) to find a means to address the issue. In addition, the UAE is considering different systems to benefit from experience in the industry, Al Blooshi said. Airworthiness, flight operations and personnel licensing were based on the European system, which was undergoing a major [overhaul]. "Obviously there are existing industries in Europe. A set of regulations has been out there for almost two years now. It has reached a level of maturity. "We also have our own industry, an entire industry, not just business jets. We are not going to take the European regulations off the shelf and ask the industry to comply with them. We have to look at the impact. It will take some time," he said. "We are waiting for this to be implemented, used, which will remove the teething problems you always have with anything new. We want to make sure that it has reached a level of maturity where we can adapt it. We will adapt the European regulations to what suits the industry." He said the UAE regulations would not suddenly change in a turn-key solution on a certain date. "We will gradually implement the regulations across the board. We will start with business aviation. The new European regulations are a modular structure. I think this will fix most of the challenges we see today." Asked if the GCAA's goal is to be the preeminent civil aviation authority in the region, Al Blooshi said safety knowledge needs to be shared because development of aviation safety is in the interests of all nations. The UAE is therefore working with neighboring countries and external regions to exchange knowledge and information. "We have in the past provided, and will continue to provide, support to the GCC and [other] neighboring countries. [In the past two years] we provided training to other states. Our objective is not to be the leader. Our objective is to drive everybody to develop standards, and if we can learn from someone else we are more than happy to do that." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2014-05-02/uae-gcaa-business- aviation-oversight-follows-easa-model Back to Top Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide Offers B.S. Aviation Security Degree The demand for aviation security professionals continues to outstrip the available supply of individuals with the advanced education and skills required in today's society. That's why Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide has developed the first-ever online Bachelor's Degree in Aviation Security. The Aviation Security curriculum is designed to meet the needs and demands of the aviation and aerospace industry, as well as the security profession as a whole. Students will be introduced to both the science and practical application of aviation security with courses of study in airport security, airline security, general aviation security, corporate security, physical security, aviation legislation, airport management, and national security issues. http://worldwide.erau.edu/degrees-programs/programs/bachelors/aviation-security/index.html Back to Top Graduate Research Survey I am doing a MSc course at Cranfield University (England) in "Human Factors & Safety Assessment in Aeronautics." As part of my Thesis I am doing a survey related to the degradation of manual flying skills and looking at pilot attitudes towards manual flight. I am trying to get as large and varied background of airline/biz jet pilots from all over the world to take part in it. The main aim of my research is to get data from current line pilots about the issues they face regarding manual flying. Issues such as airline policies, fatigue, workload, training and display design. I am looking to gather data from pilots in many countries. The survey should only take about 10-15 minutes hopefully and it is totally anonymous. Here is the link to the survey https://cranfielduniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1Tf2GY6mkpyR8Il Many thanks Pete Wilson MSc Student and Airline Training Captain Back to Top Upcoming Events: 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 www.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/ Embry-Riddle to offer Aviation SMS Workshop Daytona Beach, FL May 20-22, 2014 www.erau.edu/case ICAO Loss of Control In-Flight Symposium 20-22 May 2014 - Montreal www.icao.int/meetings/loci Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar 21-22 May 2014, Bangkok, Thailand http://bit.ly/APASS2014 SMS & Risk Management Training Tampa, FL June 4-5, 2014 http://atcvantage.com 6th Annual Aviation Human Factors & SMS Seminar June 24th & 25th 2014 Dallas, TX www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1384474 21st Century Pilot Reliability Certification Workshop June 30th and July 1st, 2014 Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07605 Please contact Kacy Schwartz kacy@convergentperformance.com 719-481-0530 International System Safety Society Annual Symposium 04-08AUG2014 - St. Louis, MO http://issc2014.system-safety.org Curt Lewis