Flight Safety Information June 13, 2014 - No. 120 In This Issue Delta flight makes emergency landing at XNA 'Unprecedented': 13 aircraft mysteriously disappear from radars in heart of Europe Air Malta renews IATA operational safety audit registration 2 bodies found in Gulf of Mexico helicopter crash search area PRISM SMS Air Force closer to requesting bids for new presidential jet Engineers use 'Big Bang' supercomputer to build a better jet engine Aviation Week ranks Allegiant at the top Flight Safety Business Aviation Safety Summit 2014 Upcoming Events Delta flight makes emergency landing at XNA Air lines officials say maintenance crews investigating problems leading to landing Flights were back to normal at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport after a Delta plane had to make an emergency landing Thursday morning. Kelly Johnson of XNA said Flight 5358 was departing for Atlanta with 50 people and three crew members on board. The plane turned back after the pilot lost directional steering of the nose wheel, and it landed at 10:22 a.m., Johnson said. "We climbed for the first five minutes and it was a little rougher than normal," said passenger Nancy Bohnhoff. "And then it became obvious he was no longer climbing in altitude, so we knew something was up." Bohnhoff said takeoff from XNA was otherwise normal. She said the plane was in the air for about 15 minutes before the pilot came over the intercom and said he would have to return to Fayetteville. There was a tire blowout, but no major damage to the plane. Johnson said no one was injured and passengers got off the aircraft and were bused to the terminal. Johnson said crews train for situations like this all year long. "We do live drills," Johnson said. "We've got plans in place. We've got different levels of alerts." Johnson said the airport handles about 20 to 25 cases where planes experience "aircraft alerts." "This was an alert two," said Johnson. "A little more significant than a level one with an aircraft, but we were all staged, ready to go." Other flights were delayed, according to @flyXNA. Emergency officials were also alerted. Delta Air Lines officials said their maintenance crews are investigating the problems leading to the emergency landing. http://www.4029tv.com/news/emergency-crews-respond-to-aircraft-emergency-at- xna/26456880#ixzz34WWuF2a4 Back to Top 'Unprecedented': 13 aircraft mysteriously disappear from radars in heart of Europe A total of 13 aircraft suddenly vanished off radars for about 25 minutes on two occasions over Austria and neighboring countries, Austria's flight safety monitor said, calling for an EU probe into the "unprecedented" incidents. The flights vanished from air traffic controllers' screens in Austria on June 5 and June 10 for 25 minutes each time, Marcus Pohanka of Austro Control - Austria's flight safety organization - said Thursday. Air traffic control in neighboring regions of Germany and the Czech Republic also reported similar problems. Pohanka said the location, height, and identity of the 13 aircraft vanished over Austria both times, in what he called "unprecedented" incidents, AP reported. He added that some neighboring countries had experienced similar problems. The daily Kurier, based in Vienna, elaborated that similar problems were experienced by flight controllers in Munich and Karlsruhe in Germany and in Prague, Czech Republic. Poahanka declined to say which airlines and planes were involved, but suggested that some may have been passenger jets, which fly at high altitudes. The EU's Eurocontrol and European Aviation Safety Agency will investigate the incidents. Poahanka stressed that at no time were any of the planes in danger, as extra air traffic controllers were immediately called to their posts and emergency measures were brought in, which included immediately establishing voice contact with the pilots and the widening of flight corridors. The Kurier cited an unnamed expert as saying that the problem was most likely to do with interference between the aircraft transponders and the ground. http://rt.com/news/165636-aircraft-disappear-radfars-austria/ Back to Top Air Malta renews IATA operational safety audit registration Air Malta has renewed its IATA operational safety audit (IOSA) registration following a comprehensive audit carried out by a foreign IATA-approved audit organisation. IOSA is an internationally recognised evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. The audit covers all the airline's operational departments namely: organisation and management system, flight operations, operational control and flight dispatch, aircraft engineering and maintenance, cabin operations, ground handling operations, cargo operations and security management. Each department is audited for the required documented policy and procedures, as well as the correct implementation. IOSA is consequently the benchmark for global safety management in airlines. All IATA members are registered and must remain registered in order to maintain IATA membership. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140613/local/air-malta-renews-iata-operational-safety- audit-registration.523222 Back to Top 2 bodies found in Gulf of Mexico helicopter crash search area Photo of a Bell 206L4 helicopter, similar to the one reported to have crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 60 miles south of Timbalier Bay on Wednesday. (Bell Helicopter) A dive team found two bodies Thursday in the area being searched for a helicopter that sank a day earlier, but it was not clear whether the bodies were those of the helicopter's two occupants, the Coast Guard said. Officials with the helicopter's owner, Westwind Helicopters Inc. of Santa Fe, Texas, confirmed recovery of the bodies in a statement Thursday. "Two people, the pilot and a passenger, were on board and sustained fatal injuries. The deceased have been recovered thanks to the tireless efforts of U.S. Coast Guard first responders and others on the scene," the company said in a statement. Identities of the deceased were not released. The company said it would release further information Friday. The helicopter crashed and sank Wednesday afternoon in the Gulf of Mexico about 60 miles south of Terrebonne Bay. Divers for Epic Divers & Marine of Belle Chasse, which had chartered the dive support vessel Adams Challenge, found the bodies, the company said. They were asked to help while working for a major operator about 5 miles north of the crash site, said Edwin Goldman, senior vice president of Epic's parent company, Tetra Technologies Inc. of The Woodlands, Texas. In a news release Wednesday, the Coast Guard said the crew of a nearby rig reported the crash. It says crew members launched a life raft but the aircraft sank before they could get to it. Westwind serves inland and offshore oil and gas operations, according to the company's website. "Everyone at Westwind offers their deepest condolences to the families and friends of our pilot and the passenger, and we are keeping those affected in our prayers during this difficult time," the company said. Westwind is working with investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the crash, the statement said. http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2014/06/2_bodies_found_in_gulf_of_mexi.html Back to Top Back to Top Air Force closer to requesting bids for new presidential jet SEATTLE - The Boeing VC-25 is the official military designation of the jet that carries the President. We know it as a 747 - Air Force One when the President is on board. Two VC-25s were delivered in 1990, 24 years ago. But this fall, Boeing and other airplane makers like Airbus can expect a request for proposals for a new presidential jet. Boeing could offer the 747-8, a much larger version of the plane, complete with its four engines and capable of staying aloft around the clock, with mid-air refueling capabilities like the current fleet. http://www.king5.com/news/local/Air-Force-closer-to-requesting-bids-for-new-presidential-jet-- 262966751.html Back to Top Engineers use 'Big Bang' supercomputer to build a better jet engine 'Big Bang' Supercomputer Simulates Jet Fuel Spray At California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the world's most powerful computers are working on some of our most fundamental questions about the universe. The Sierra supercomputer, for example, is delving into the Big Bang and trying to figure out why elementary particles have mass. View: Photos of the Day: 'Big Bang' Supercomputer Simulates Jet Fuel Spray But Sierra is also solving problems that are closer to home. This supercomputer and more recently the world's second most powerful computer called Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have been helping GE engineers to build a better jet engine. Jet engines started out as complicated creatures ever since GE built the first one in the U.S. in 1941, and their design has gotten exponentially more intricate since. Madhu Pai, an engineer in the Computational Combustion Lab at GE Global Research, is working on an elaborate part in the jet engine combustor called the fuel injector. "It delivers the lifeblood of a jet engine combustor," he says. Injectors atomize liquid jet fuel and spray it into the combustion chamber where it burns and generates energy for propulsion. "They are one of the most challenging parts to design and very expensive to produce," Pai says. (The next-generation LEAP jet engine is the world's first engine with 3D-printed injectors.) Pai has teamed up with researchers from Arizona State and Cornell universities to use Titan and Sierra to study what exactly happens inside a fuel injector. The time and processing power the engineers have at their disposal is equal to running 10,000 computer processors simultaneously for over 9 months. "The supercomputer gives us a microscopic view of the inside of the injector," Pai says. "We can study the processes occurring in regions hidden behind the metal or where the fuel spray is too dense. This allows us to better understand the physics behind the design." This is physics with practical implications. Pai says that small changes to fuel nozzle geometry could lead to significant changes in engine performance. "These high-fidelity computer simulations help us understand how air and fuel mix and burn, and eventually reduce the number of trials," Pai says. "Ultimately, we want to build more powerful engines that consume less fuel and have lower emissions." Pai's simulations could also yield new insights beyond jet engines and improve injectors used in locomotives, land-based gas turbines, and potentially find applications in healthcare. "This is just the beginning," he says. http://www.ecnmag.com/news/2014/06/engineers-use-big-bang-supercomputer-build-better-jet-engine Back to Top Aviation Week ranks Allegiant at the top Allegiant was named the top-performing airline in North America by AVIATION WEEK for the third consecutive year, according to a press release issued by the airline. The airline ranks second overall top-performing airline worldwide, with just 0.3 points behind the top spot, and is the top-performer worldwide in the small carrier category for the second consecutive year. AVIATION WEEK's highly regarded top-performing airline study is based primarily on financial results from the last full calendar year and measures all public carriers worldwide. The five categories looked at are liquidity, financial health, fuel cost management, earnings performance, and asset utilization. http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/jun/12/aviation-week-ranks-allegiant-top/?nw#sthash.v3WZJsW7.dpuf Back to Top Flight Safety Business Aviation Safety Summit 2014: The corporate and business aviation sectors have posted strong safety numbers, recording few accidents, but that is no reason for operators to become complacent. That was the message from NTSB member Robert Sumwalt at the Flight Safety Foundation/NBAA annual Business Aviation Safety Summit (Bass), held in late April in San Diego. Sumwalt, former manager of aviation for Scana and a retired US Airways pilot, is a man obsessed with the pursuit of improving aviation safety. He reminded the audience that leadership is about influencing others. "Your job as leaders in business aviation is to make sure accidents don't happen on your watch," he said. "You must also be constantly trying to improve, too. You need a leadership obsession." Sumwalt said a real danger is that some people interpret the absence of an accident to mean everyone is doing everything right. "If you are on the right track, with a good safety record, pat yourself on the back, but don't get too smug, too complacent," he said. He challenged the audience: "Is safety the top priority at your company? Priorities come and go, but your [company's] values are the heart of the organization. Those should not change. So do you want safety to be a priority or a value? That chronic unease [about all things safety] is what keeps us on our toes." Polling the Audience In fact, Bass master of ceremonies Francois Lasalle, CEO of Morrison, Colo.-based Vortex FSM, raised questions about attendees' perception of the support they receive from their flight departments. Although the members of the audience possess important industry insights, he said, they are often reluctant to share some of that knowledge in public. Using the "Poll Everywhere" online software, Lasalle anonymously gathered useful safety information from the Bass attendees. All of the online answers were simultaneously projected to the audience, and those answers made it clear why many attendees didn't want to raise their hands to speak. One of the first questions focused on the challenges to safety business aviation people face in their flight departments. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents identified gaining company buy-in as their greatest hurdle, with 21 percent revealing that the attitude of people back at home base was the problem. Approximately 19 percent answered that a lack of funding gets in the way, and 17.5 percent cited plain ignorance. Some 16 percent said their department displays a complete lack of will to change anything. Lasalle asked the group how they convince senior management to implement safety protocols or equipment when the need is only voluntary. A sampling of the responses included, "Apprise management of the risk in writing...only writing changes their tune"; "Emphasize the downside of inaction"; "Highlight the final benefit and make them think it's their idea." Others included, "Provide data that supports my position" and "Wait until it's mandated or there's enough peer pressure to force their hand." Duty/Rest Guidelines In addition to establishing a culture of safety, operators need to familiarize themselves with day-to-day challenges that could pose a danger to the safety of flight. The FSF and NBAA released the 2014 version of their duty/rest guidelines for business aviation at the event. The previous guidelines were released in 1997. Although these new guidelines are not regulatory, they offer general and business aviation a consensus of operational and safety goals equivalent to the major airlines' recently adopted Part 117 and help flight departments determine whether the current guidelines still provide the expected safety margins. Leigh White, CEO of Alertness Solutions and the update coordinator noted that fatigue management is a shared responsibility between the pilot and the operator. "We wanted science to be at the core of this document, but we also did not want to create a negotiated, political outcome. We wanted a safety tool for business aviation that works and educates the people in the back [cabin] seat." Despite a considerable amount of work being done in Europe about fatigue, this working group looked at the duty/rest guidelines from a U.S. science perspective, "as well as 17 years of operational experience to see what had changed since the 1997 guidelines were released," White said. Another goal of the duty/rest working group was to produce results that will blend easily with the international community guidelines being created by IBAC, ICAO and FSF. With advancements in fatigue management practices since 1997, the guide is expected to help operators understand where duty/rest guidelines fit into their overall fatigue management efforts and better understand what to do if an operator is required to operate outside the guidelines. The duty/rest guidelines were updated with input from a U.S.-based scientific panel experienced in laboratory research, medicine and operational research, as well as regulatory development and operational design. Aviation industry leaders from around the world served as observers. Keep a Close Eye on Lithium Ion Batteries "I never paid attention to lithium batteries before 1999," Tom Anthony told the Bass audience, "until one day in April 1999 when one of my team told me a pallet of lithium ion batteries was on fire at LAX and they couldn't put the fire out." Anthony, now the director of the safety and security program at the University of Southern California (USC), was then the FAA's Western Pacific division manager for the office of Aviation Security that had jurisdiction over hazmat incidents. He shared recent updates to the rules about lithium batteries, as well as the primary causes of failures and the lessons the industry has learned to date. Lithium batteries come in two forms: lithium metal and lithium ion. The metal batteries are not rechargeable and are typically found in flashlights, while lithium ion batteries are rechargeable and often found in smartphones, laptop computers and iPads. "The battery incident last year aboard the Ethiopian 787 at London Heathrow involved a lithium metal battery in the ELT. The UPS 747 that crashed in Dubai in 2010 was carrying 80,000 lithium batteries." He added, "The regulations are changing quickly. ICAO expects its dangerous goods council will soon prohibit lithium metal batteries aboard all commercial aircraft as we do in the U.S." Lithium ion batteries are typically organized in packs of individual cells containing a microprocessor to prevent the cells from ever draining completely, a condition that causes thermal runaway. Lithium ion batteries are also pressurized and should have a vent on the site to expel the flammable electrolyte should it begin overheating. Lithium batteries do not like being dropped or punctured. "When carrying spare batteries for laptops or phones, carry them in the cabin so an overheat can be detected quickly," Anthony said. Anthony also demonstrated one of the primary reasons lithium ion batteries are so popular today. "A commercial Anti-Gravity 16 lithium ion battery used to start racecars is physically 6 x 3 x 5.5 inches, about the size of a typical motorcycle battery. The Anti-Gravity 16 produces an incredible 720 cranking amps yet weighs just five pounds. By contrast, a Sears Die Hard battery delivering a similar current is much larger and weighs 48 pounds." For readers who wondered, the cause of the fire at LAX that Tom Anthony mentioned was eventually tracked to the forklift driver dropping the pallet of lithium ion batteries not long before they caught fire. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2014-06-03/flight-safety-business- aviation-safety-summit-2014 Back to Top Upcoming Events: Gulf Flight Safety Council Doha, Qatar 22nd of June 2014 membership@gfsc.aero 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