Flight Safety Information May 22, 2014 - No. 104 In This Issue Congressional Panel Warns Aging Ejection Seats Could Kill Pilots Aviation Industry Safety Experts in Bangkok for AAPA Event Tornado warning grounds flights at Denver airport Near miss at Newark airport spurs runway rules change, FAA says PRISM SMS ERAU Unmanned Aircraft Systems Short Course, Seattle Campus Upcoming Events Congressional Panel Warns Aging Ejection Seats Could Kill Pilots If you think that the military routinely hides problems from the public, then you must never have read the reports that congressional committees produce as part of their annual review of Pentagon budget requests. Those reports describe hundreds of problems that need to be addressed each year, and often result in legislative language directing remedies. Here's an example from page 324 of the House Armed Services Committee's report on the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. It's the kind of force- protection issue that might never see the light of day were it not for the tireless work of committee staffers and the legislators who hired them. Most of the fighters and bombers in the joint fleet are equipped with ejection seats that allow pilots to quickly escape when their aircraft face imminent destruction. The ejection seats are catapulted and/or rocketed out of cockpits after the canopy is blown away, and then a parachute opens once the seat has been stabilized. This only takes a few seconds - which sometimes is all the time an endangered pilot has, since ejections have been known to occur within a few hundred feet of the ground. It's a dangerous, last- ditch course of action, but the alternative is certain death when the plane hits the ground at high speed. Hundreds of such ejections have been successfully accomplished over the years. The Air Force has relied for many years on the Advanced Concept Ejection Seat II (ACES II) to save its pilots. The seat was originally developed by McDonnell Douglas, and today with many refinements is produced by United Technologies Aerospace Systems. It's an impressive piece of equipment, designed to automatically adjust its performance to the airspeed of the plane and the weight of the occupant. Thus, a female fighter pilot weighing half of what a male pilot does will still eject at the same speed, optimized for the plane's velocity and altitude. The system has an exemplary safety record - only 1% of pilots using it have suffered back injuries, compared with up to 40% of those using other makes. But the Armed Services Committee says there's a problem with the Air Force's ejection seats, and with those used by the other services. They were designed and installed before pilots started using sophisticated headgear like night-vision goggles and helmet-mounted displays. Wearing such devices when ejecting at high speed increases the likelihood of severe injury or death. To quote the committee's report, "Data indicates that the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System and helmet mounted displays in tactical fighter aircraft can structurally fail above 450 knots, which causes wind-stream aerodynamics on the pilot's helmet to generate neck tension loads over 700 pounds." Helmet-mounted cueing systems are a pilot's friend right up to the moment when he or she must eject, and then they can become killers. (Retrieved from Wikimedia) The report cites the case of a promising young officer who was killed while ejecting from an F-16 fighter off the coast of Italy at night last year. Air Force Times reported that he died from "severe head and neck trauma" which may have been due to the fact he was wearing both night-vision goggles and a helmet- mounted cueing system at the time of ejection. Although these devices greatly enhance situational awareness and safety under normal flying conditions, they can become killers in an emergency escape using current ejection seats. The committee report suggests that this violates Air Force regulations requiring that the performance of ejection seats reduce the risk of major injury to below 5%. Pursuant to its findings of an emerging safety issue, the committee directed the Department of Defense Inspector General to report back next year on which ejection seats currently in use by the joint force comply with aircrew survivability and airworthiness requirements. It also established two line items in the budget to implement an "Ejection Seat Reliability Improvement Program," funded in fiscal 2015 at $10.5 million. Authorization and appropriation of this money will depend on the action of other defense committees in both chambers, but Congress in the past has been highly sympathetic to funding of force- protection initiatives, and the ejection-seat issue would certainly seem to fall into that category. United Technologies Aerospace Systems, the last remaining manufacturer of ejection-seat systems in the U.S., has developed a fix for ACES II deficiencies in protecting pilots with extensive headgear. In essence, the fix - called ACES 5 - increases passive protection of a user's neck and head, prevents arms and legs from flailing, and upgrades parachute performance to stabilize the ejection seat more quickly and slow the rate of descent (the ACES II design uses a small parachute called a drogue for quick stabilization and then a much larger chute to carry the ejected pilot to the ground). The whole system can be installed in one day, and is easier to maintain than legacy ejection seats due to its modular design and longer service life. Installation of an upgraded ejection seat on Air Force aircraft would undoubtedly feed into the broader issue of what escape system should be used on future U.S. tactical aircraft. Martin Baker of the United Kingdom, the only other ejection-seat producer of any consequence, is equipping the F-35 fighter that will eventually replace most of the tactical aircraft in the joint force. But it will be a long, long time before legacy combat aircraft like the F-16 fighter and B-1 bomber exit the force, and virtually all of their pilots will be wearing headgear during the intervening decades that could contribute to the problem the Armed Services Committee has identified. Thanks to the committee's work, it looks like this emerging danger to pilots may finally be fixed after years of inaction. http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2014/05/21/congressional-panel-warns-aging-ejection-seats- could-kill-pilots/ Back to Top Aviation Industry Safety Experts in Bangkok for AAPA Event More than 140 safety professionals representing the region's regulators and airlines gathered in Bangkok, Thailand this week for the Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar 2014 (APASS 2014), organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). Discussions focused on organisational lessons to be learnt, how to effectively use data in safety management and addressing particular safety concerns. The seminar included practical workshops addressing safety performance indicators, flight operations and cabin safety, enabling participants to openly discuss practical issues, safety threats and challenges, and innovative solutions. The seminar, endorsed by the Flight Safety Foundation, and Airports Council International - Asia Pacific, is being hosted by Thai Airways International, with additional support from Eva Air, Airbus, Boeing, CEFA Aviation, SAGEM (SAFRAN Group), and Teledyne Controls. AAPA Director General, Mr. Andrew Herdman said, "Flying is now part of everyday modern life. Around the world, nine million passengers a day take to the skies with the knowledge that air travel is safe, secure and convenient. The aviation industry has established an excellent safety record, due to the collective efforts of industry safety professionals over the years, constantly striving to make flying even safer." "Over the past decade, as an industry we have been able to demonstrate continuous improvement in aviation safety performance. This can be attributed to regulatory and industry collaborative efforts, including improvements in technology, designs and certification standards applied to aircraft over the years, further enhanced by refinements to operational performance standards and safety training. This explains why 2013 was one of the safest years ever in terms of commercial airline jet fatalities," Mr. Herdman added. "Nevertheless, there is no room for complacency, as we continue to strive to prevent further accidents. The recent tragic loss of MH370 remains a mystery, but has again highlighted the challenges of air traffic management in keeping track of more than thirty million flights a year. AAPA is a member of the industry task force led by IATA which is assessing various technologies and operational changes that could support enhanced global surveillance of all commercial aircraft movements." Closing his remarks, Mr. Herdman emphasized, "Safety requires close cooperation between regulators, airlines and other involved stakeholders; with the sharing of data and best practices, as well as effective consultation processes and communications. AAPA is committed to working with stakeholders and playing a critical role in ensuring that airlines in the region remain vigilant in maintaining the very highest safety standards." Delivering the APASS 2014 keynote address on behalf of the Ministry of Transport was Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thai Airways International, who emphasised that, "In the constantly growing global market for air services, the safety, security and sustainability of air navigation are paramount. Ensuring safety remains the top priority. The continuous improvement in global aviation safety is fundamental to ensuring that air transport continues to play a major role in driving sustainable economic and social development around the world. It is also important that we focus on strategies to promote the manufacturing industry for aircraft parts and engines, developing maintenance and overhaul facilities as well as training pilots and crew to accommodate the growth of the industry. Cooperation and collaboration in the aviation safety and aviation industry are keys to achieving sustainable growth in aviation." http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news14/225-AviationSafety.shtml Back to Top Tornado warning grounds flights at Denver airport DENVER (AP) - Denver International Airport has been cleared to resume operations after severe thunderstorms and a tornado warning grounded flights. Flight delays of about an hour are expected Wednesday afternoon. Some flights were diverted to Colorado Springs and other airports during the grounding, and airport spokesman Heath Montgomery says more diversions are expected even after flights resume. At least one tornado touched down in the town of Watkins, southeast of the airport, and more severe weather is possible. The storms dropped pea- and marble-sized hail that piled up like snow around the airport. Cars slid on the hail on Interstate 70 in Aurora, and snow plows cleared the hail from the main airport access road. http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/local/colorado/2014/05/21/tornado-warning-grounds-flights- denver-airport/9389015/ Back to Top Near miss at Newark airport spurs runway rules change, FAA says STORY HIGHLIGHTS The FAA changes runway rules at site of near miss at Newark Airport in April The aircraft were operating on intersecting runways during the April incident As a result, one of the runways will not be used for arrivals when the other has takeoffs Washington (CNN) -- The rules for takeoffs and landings at Newark Liberty International Airport have changed after two planes came within yards of colliding last month, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday. United Express Flight 4100, an Embraer ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet, was cleared to take off on runway 4R at the same time United Airlines Flight 1243, a Boeing 737, was landing on the intersecting runway 29 on April 24. The 737 flew 135 yards vertically and 50 yards laterally from the smaller regional jet. "The FAA has investigated the recent air traffic incident at Newark and has taken steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future," according to a statement from the agency. Runway 29 is no longer used for arriving flights when planes are taking off on the intersecting runway 4R. In the April incident, on air traffic control radio captured by the website LiveATC.net, the tower can be heard telling the pilot of the 737 to "go around" and circle the airport. The controller told the ERJ to watch out for the larger plane on the right. "Yeah, we were putting the nose down, and, he was real close," the pilot responds. Close calls at Newark have happened before, including four in 2008, according to a Department of Transportation inspector general's report. In one instance, on January 16, 2008, a 737 from Continental Airlines (which has since merged with United) was at risk of hitting an Embraer 145 operating as Continental Express. It happened at the same intersection and involved the same type of aircraft as April incident, but the planes never got within a mile of each other. That case was attributed to a mistake by an air traffic controller. The National Transportation Safety Board will not make a determination of what caused the most recent incident until it releases its final report, which is expected to take months. United Airlines is working with the agency to investigate the incident, an airline spokeswoman has told CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/20/travel/newark-airport-planes-too-close/ Back to Top Back to Top View this email in a web page TWO-DAY CONTINUING EDUCATION UNIT (CEU) COURSE UAS Applications, Operations and Support: Key Topics of Industry This two-day, continuing education unit (CEU) course is specifically designed for professionals and specialists seeking to expand their understanding of the application, operation and support of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Discussions will focus on the considerations, regulations, policies, business opportunities and challenges of the industry. This course is developed and taught by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide faculty with UAS operations and research experience. Who Should Attend: ? Business Developers ? Executive Leadership ? Small Business Owner/Entrepreneur ? Engineers (including aerospace, communications, electrical, GNC, hardware, logistics, software, systems, quality assurance and test) ? UAS Operators, Pilots, Sensor Operators ? Analysts (system, data management, manufacturing, operations, procurement, research and quality) ? Managers (account, contracts, program, project and operations) ? Training Developers/Coordinators ? Administrators (government, contracts, IT and property) ? Planners (mission, facilities, schedule and strategic) ? Technicians (avionics, electronics, manufacturing and radio frequency) ? Writers (technical, grant and proposal) Key Topics: ? Introduction and Impact of UAS ? UAS Designs ? Legislation, Certification and Regulation ? Industry Concerns ? Applications ? Operational Profiles ? Business Opportunities ? Future of UAS When: Where: Course Fee: Thursday, June 5 to Friday, June 6 Embry-Riddle Worldwide Seattle Campus 1000 Oakesdale Avenue SW Suite 110 Renton, WA 98057 USD $700 Time: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with an hour lunch For more information: Al Astbury, Office of Professional Programs Tel: (866) 574-9125 * email: training@erau.edu CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS AND REGISTRATION Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 600 S Clyde Morris Boulevard Daytona Beach, FL 32114 USA If you wish to be removed from this group's mailing list, click here Upcoming Events: SMS & Risk Management Training Tampa, FL June 4-5, 2014 http://atcvantage.com ERAU Unmanned Aircraft Systems Short Course Seattle, WA June 5-6, 2014 http://proed.erau.edu/programs/specialized-industry-training/unmanned-aircraft-systems-workshop-nv/index.html 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