Flight Safety Information July 28, 2014 - No. 154 In This Issue Bangladesh Airlines aircraft catches fire at TIA ICAO to review air safety in conflict zones Taiwan Prepares Preliminary Report on TransAsia Plane Crash German pilots' union raps Lufthansa move to resume Israel route Effort to Secure Malaysia Airline Crash Site Falters in Eastern Ukraine Air Algerie jet's black boxes to be sent to France Air Algerie AH 5017: Spain's Pilots' Union Warned of 'Unsafe' Charter Company Swiftair U.S. fighters escort jet back to Canada after threat Airline Fatalities Worst Since 2010 PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA Virgin America Files for I.P.O. World's largest amphibious aircraft starts production in China Safe Flight Unveils Budget AoA Indicator for Aircraft Malaysia Airlines wants to rebrand, considering name change Edward Benthall named NTSB CFO THE ALPA 60TH AIR SAFETY FORUM Upcoming Events Employment Bangladesh Airlines aircraft catches fire at TIA KATHMANDU, JUL 28 - An aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines caught fire during landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Monday. No major incident occurred as the fire was immediately taken under control while all the passengers on board were rescued safely. The aircraft's rear right tyre caught fire while landing at TIA. "Smoke was seen because of high pressure while landing," said Birendra Sansar Shrestha, spokesperson at TIA. Following the fire , the 3.10 pm flight of the airlines has been canceled. The flight will only take place once a team of technicians from Bangladesh arrives tomorrow and studies the condition of the aircraft. http://www.ekantipur.com/ Back to Top ICAO to review air safety in conflict zones The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will hold a high-level meeting with the director generals of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Airports Council International (ACI) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) tomorrow to discuss the aviation risks in conflict zones. "This meeting will discuss the appropriate actions to be pursued in order to more effectively mitigate potential risks to civil aviation arising from conflict zones," ICAO said in a statement. The Association of European Airlines (AEA) had called for an international debate about airline security following the destruction of flight MH17. "The downing of Malaysian Airlines' flight MH17, which was flying in approved international airspace, triggers questions about how risk assessments are made", said the AEA's CEO, Athar Husain Khan. "Together with the International Air Transport Association and our member airlines we ask for an international debate about airspace security guidance, preferably organised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)." http://www.afm.aero/news/item/1767-icao-to-review-air-safety-in-conflict-zones Back to Top Taiwan Prepares Preliminary Report on TransAsia Plane Crash TransAsia Airways Black Boxes Still Largely Intact TAIPEI-Taiwan's aviation authorities said Friday a preliminary report on the crash of TransAsia Airways 6702.TW -0.43% Flight GE-222 is expected to be completed within one week as pressure mounts from victims' families to determine the cause of the disaster, which claimed 48 lives. Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council, the agency in charge of the probe, said the plane's flight recorders have been found. The exterior of the black boxes as well as the cockpit voice recorder are slightly damaged and damp, but are still largely intact. Some families of the crash victims are questioning why the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the airline gave the pilot approval to fly on Wednesday night. According to the Central Weather Bureau, the center of Typhoon Matmo, which had swept across Taiwan earlier on Wednesday had already moved out to sea when Flight GE-222 crashed. The weather bureau lifted all typhoon warnings across Taiwan about 90 minutes before the crash, but the storm was still bringing rain to Penghu, the outlying island where the plane crashed. CAA Deputy-General Lee Wan-li, said the pilot of the ill-fated flight, Lee Yi-liang, didn't inform the control tower of any sudden weather changes during his last communication at 7:06 p.m. local time Wednesday, shortly before the plane crashed. CAA officials said that visibility at Magong airport at the time of the crash was about 1,600 meters, wind speed was 20 kilometers per hour and the cloud ceiling-an essential factor when planning a flight that measures the distance between the base of the cloud and the ground-was 330 feet, all meeting requirements for landing. Moreover, two other flights, operated by Far Eastern Air Transport and Uni-Air, landed safely at Magong Airport shortly before the TransAsia crash, the agency said. "We only heard the pilot saying he had to 'go around,' we didn't have other information from him," Mr. Lee added. Mr. Lee said that pilots use their own discretion on determining if weather conditions are suitable for flying and landing. "It is the pilot who is flying the aircraft, not those in the control towers," he said. TransAsia spokeswoman Alison Kao said the carrier doesn't comment on any claims related to the crash and is awaiting the crash report from the Aviation Safety Council. The crash was Taiwan's deadliest aviation accident in more than a decade. The ATR-72, a twin turboprop aircraft, was carrying 54 passengers and four crew members from the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung when it crashed about a half mile from the runway of Magong Airport on Penghu during a second attempt at landing. The aircraft careened into five nearby homes. The government said 48 people were killed, 10 people onboard and five others on the ground were injured. The CAA said that as of Friday, coroners have issued 32 death certificates. A group of dentists have also been flown in to help identify the remaining bodies. Representatives from the French manufacturer of the TransAsia plane, Avion de Transport Regional, and aviation-accident experts from France and Canada have also arrived in Taiwan to assist with the investigation, said ASC. According to a previous statement from TransAsia, the pilot of Flight GE-222 had 22 years of experience, had logged nearly 30,000 hours of flying time and was "extremely familiar" with the Kaohsiung-Penghu route. Based in Taipei, TransAsia Airways is Taiwan's third-largest carrier by fleet size after China Airlines Ltd. and Eva Airways Corp. It flies mostly to destinations within Taiwan, but also serves some cities in mainland China and other parts of Asia. The carrier last year received approval from the CAA to set up a low-cost airline operating flights within five hours of Taiwan. The airline, V Air, is slated to being operations in September. http://online.wsj.com/articles/taiwan-prepares-preliminary-report-on-transasia-plane- crash-1406281421 Back to Top German pilots' union raps Lufthansa move to resume Israel route FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's pilots' union criticised a decision by Air Berlin and Lufthansa [LUFT.UL] to resume flights to Israel, ending a ban imposed in response to fears that rockets fired from the Gaza Strip may hit aircraft. Lufthansa and Air Berlin said they will resume flights to Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday, the same day a 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Hamas began. The truce comes after nearly 3 weeks of conflict in which 940 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed, along with 37 Israeli soldiers and 3 civilians. Joerg Handwerg, a board member at German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit said the decision seemed driven by political and economic factors rather than by security reasons. "We should not be flying to locations where shots are being fired," Handwerg said. The truce was only temporary and Israel's rocket defence system appeared unable to hold up all rockets, he said. Handwerg said he had demanded that airlines ensure that staff only agree to go on flights on a voluntary basis. A spokesman for Lufthansa said the airline was constantly monitoring the security situation at Tel Aviv airport, using all available security information. "A decision on whether or not to fly is made purely on the basis of security considerations," Lufthansa said. Lufthansa Group also operates the airlines Germanwings, Austrian Airlines and Swiss. The European Cockpit Association, (ECA) which represents 38,000 European pilots from 37 European states, declined to comment on the lifting of the flight ban, but said they were concerned about a lack of transparency. "The main issue is that there is no common understanding of the risk assessment process being used or assurance that the assessment for all airline operators is being fed by the best available intelligence," ECA said in an e-mailed statement. "This makes it difficult to judge if the security situation has indeed changed or not, and whether the resulting action taken is appropriate." On July 22, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a ban on flights by U.S. airlines to Ben Gurion, Israel's main hub, in response to a Palestinian rocket that struck a building 2 kilometres away from the airport. The FAA has since lifted the ban. Israel said the damage was debris from a mid-air rocket interception by its Iron Dome missile defence system, which it says has been successful in protecting Ben Gurion Airport, along with a precautionary measure of narrowing of air corridors. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/26/uk-pilots-lufthansa-tech-israel- idUKKBN0FV0I320140726 Back to Top Effort to Secure Malaysia Airline Crash Site Falters in Eastern Ukraine KHARKIV, Ukraine - An international push to secure the crash site of a Malaysian passenger jet shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine stalled on Saturday, with the leader of a Dutch forensic mission announcing that scores of foreign police officers and experts gathered at a luxury hotel here would not start moving toward the site for at least five days. Jan Tuinder, the head of a Dutch mission comprising 40 unarmed military police officers and around 20 forensic specialists, said the delay was needed to give the Ukrainian Parliament time to vote on Thursday to provide a "legal basis" for the deployment of foreign police officers on Ukrainian territory. Efforts to reach the crash site had previously been hindered by heavily armed pro-Russia rebels, who control the area, but now another obstacle appears to be Ukraine, whose military has been gaining ground against the rebels and is wary of halting its offensive. The jet, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, crashed in territory in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russia rebels on July 17, and while most of the bodies of the 298 victims of Flight 17 have now been recovered and flown to the Netherlands for identification, forensic investigators have not been able to reach the area in sufficient numbers to ensure that all the bodies have been found and collect debris that could provide evidence of who brought the plane down. The Netherlands, whose citizens accounted for around two- thirds of the crash victims, is leading an international effort to get to the bottom of what happened to Flight 17. Officials from the Netherlands and other countries that lost citizens on the Malaysian jet had previously made no mention of any vote by Parliament and instead blamed the rebels for stalling access to the site. On Saturday morning, Dutch police officers assembled in Kharkiv said they expected to leave for the crash area in the next day or so. But Volodymyr Groysman, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister leading Ukraine's response to the crash, said at a news conference in Kiev, the capital, on Friday that Parliament needed to endorse the deployment of foreign investigators in Ukraine and that he hoped that this could happen "next week." A Russian rocket system, similar to the one thought to have downed a civilian jet, at a 2011 show.Pentagon Plan Would Help Ukraine Target Rebel MissilesJULY 26, 2014 The delay could help reduce growing pressure on Ukraine to agree to a swift cease-fire with rebel fighters so that foreign investigators can travel to the crash site on a road heading south from Kharkiv, which runs through an area that saw heavy fighting on Saturday. A team of seven Dutch forensic experts who tried to reach the crash site on that route early Saturday gave up after running into fighting. A separate group of four Dutch experts managed to reach the crash site on Friday but planned to pull out after heavy fighting erupted overnight in Donetsk, the capital of the rebels' self-proclaimed republic. Ukrainian and American officials say the Boeing 777 was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired by the rebels. Russia and the rebels have denied any involvement and blame Ukraine. Russia, worried that the rebels, whose cause it supports, are losing ground, has repeatedly called for a pause in hostilities, a demand that Ukrainian officials dismiss as a ploy to give the rebels time to regroup and obtain new weapons from Russia. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia spoke on Saturday to the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, and according to a brief statement on the Kremlin website, the two men agreed on the need to implement a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire around the crash site to ensure the "unhampered work of international experts in the catastrophe area." Australia, which lost dozens of citizens in the plane crash, is sending 100 members of its federal police force, some of them armed, as well as members of its military to Kharkiv to join the hunt for any remaining bodies and evidence from Flight 17, Australian news media reported. Debris from the crash is scattered over dozens of square miles, and the site remains unguarded despite growing reports of tampering with the plane wreckage and passenger items there. Mr. Tuinder, the Dutch police official, said the focus of foreign experts assembling in Kharkiv was the recovery of any remaining bodies, not investigating who downed the plane. Asked whether he worried that the long delay in securing the crash site might hamper the collection of evidence, he said, "there is a bit of concern" that pieces of debris would "disappear" but added that progress was being made. Russia has said it supports efforts to investigate the crash, but a television station with close ties to the Kremlin added a potentially serious obstacle on Friday with a report that seemed intended to provoke hostility toward foreign investigators among the rebels. Life News, a Russian television station whose reports often veer into wild conspiracy theories, suggested that the Dutch government would use the crash investigation as a pretext to infiltrate special forces in rebel-held territory and hunt down and seize the separatists' military commander, a Russian citizen known as Igor Strelkov. The Dutch police reacted with horror to the report, noting that none of the military police officers currently in Kharkiv awaiting deployment to the crash site had weapons. "This whole story is total nonsense," said Esther Naber, a Dutch police spokeswoman. She said the Dutch Embassy in Moscow was working to assure the Russians that the Dutch had no secret plan to seize Mr. Strelkov. Its own on-the-ground investigation stymied for the moment, the Dutch National Police appealed for videos and photographs taken at the crash site and set up a website for the submission of video and images. Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, will fly to the Netherlands on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Mark Rutte about gaining better access to the disaster site and identifying the dead, Mr. Najib's office said in an email on Saturday. At least 30 more investigators are needed to cover the site, his office said. Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story "Unfortunately, events on the ground - including ongoing fighting between Ukrainian and separatist forces - prevent such a large contingent of investigators being deployed," said the email. In Moscow, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two statements on Saturday but did not address the question of investigating the crash. The foreign ministry instead criticized the European Union for sanctioning some of Russia's top security officials and blamed Washington for the continued fighting in Ukraine. "The additional sanctions list is direct evidence that the countries of the E.U. are determined to completely scale back cooperation with Russia on issues of global and regional security," the statement said. The European Union sanctions, announced on Friday, impose travel bans and asset freezes on 15 additional Russians and Ukrainians, including the director of Russia's main security service, the F.S.B., and the head of the country's foreign intelligence service, along with top figures in the breakaway republics of southeastern Ukraine. The measures also apply to 18 additional organizations, including nine companies in Crimea that were nationalized by Moscow. In two unusual episodes, the Ukrainian authorities reported that the mayor of the central town of Kremenchug was shot and killed on Saturday morning by an unknown assassin and that a grenade was fired at the home of the mayor of Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine. The Lviv mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, who was an active supporter of the pro-European demonstrations during the winter, was not home at the time. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said the attacks did not appear to be related. Reaching the Flight 17 crash site, a rural area east of Donetsk, has always been problematic, but it became even more difficult on Saturday after fighting flared around Horlivka, a town on the main road into Donetsk that is still controlled by the rebels. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said on Saturday that Horlivka was the last major rebel redoubt on the road to Donetsk, and that the military continued to gain momentum in its campaign to regain control of the Donets Basin region. In the city of Donetsk, the smoldering ruins of several homes hit by stray artillery shells, downed power lines looping across the streets, and blown-off tree branches scattered about the sidewalks in an outlying neighborhood testified to the Ukrainian Army's approach from the north and west. The streets were deserted but for elderly people, who apparently had nowhere to go as the fight closed in. The shells struck several vacant homes overnight, residents said. By afternoon, black smoke rose from the positions occupied by the Ukrainian Army at the city's airport and by rebels at a coal mine several miles away. For now, there was no sign of a ground attack into the city, where the neighborhoods are fortified with separatist foxholes and trenches in parks and the green space of traffic circles. On Saturday, Sergei Senikov, 53, a retiree, sprinkled the ruins of his home with a garden hose. A stray shell had landed on the roof around 11 the night before while he and his family were having dinner at a relative's home. "Thank God for that," he said. The house was demolished, charred. Cherry and apricot branches lay strewn about the yard. Asked who was at fault, Mr. Senikov said he had no way of knowing. "There are two contingents here," he said. "One is defending, the other attacking," and both are shooting. "There will be a big fight for Donetsk," he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/world/europe/efforts-to-secure-malaysia-airlines- crash-site-stall-in-eastern-ukraine.html Back to Top Air Algerie jet's black boxes to be sent to France BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - Black boxes from the Air Algerie plane that crashed in northern Mali last week will be transferred to France for analysis, the French embassy in Mali said Sunday, as officials prepared for the process of identifying the remains of the dead. U.N. peacekeepers located the second black box on Saturday amid the wreckage of the plane that took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and was heading to Algiers, Algeria when it crashed early Thursday in northern Mali near the border with Burkina Faso. The crash killed 118 people, 54 of whom were French. "The two black boxes from the plane will be transferred from Gao to Bamako and then the Malian authorities will give them to French gendarmes experts so they can be taken to Paris," said Didier Nourrison, a spokesman for the French embassy in Bamako. French authorities say extreme bad weather was the likely cause of the crash but aren't ruling out other possibilities, including terrorism. Northern Mali fell under control of rebels including al-Qaida-linked Islamist extremists following a military coup in 2012. Though a French-led military intervention last year scattered the extremists from the north's cities, the Bamako-based government has warned of their return in recent months. French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that he wants the remains of all passengers on the Air Algerie plane to be brought to France. He also said data from the two black boxes must be analyzed as quickly as possible. Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office said it has sent two identification experts to Paris to consult with French authorities on supporting the effort to identify the crash victims. Officials have said the victims included a German family of four. In Burkina Faso, French forensic experts were expected to arrive Sunday to begin DNA tests on the relatives of victims. Gen. Gilbert Diendere, a close aide of Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, said that five or six experts would conduct the tests, the results of which would be used to identify remains recovered from the crash site. Relatives also visited the crash site for a second day, said the psychologist who is helping to treat them. The site is being secured by 180 French soldiers and 40 Dutch soldiers from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in addition to Malian soldiers, French army spokesman Lt. Col. Michel Sabatier said. http://www.wsvn.com/story/26123119/air-algerie-jets-black-boxes-to-be-sent-to-france Back to Top Air Algerie AH 5017: Spain's Pilots' Union Warned of 'Unsafe' Charter Company Swiftair Part of the plane wreckage is seen at the crash site of Air Algerie flight AH5017 near the town of Gossi in Mali REUTERS/ECPAD Spain's pilot's union previously condemned the poor working conditions at the charter company which operated Air Algerie flight AH5017, and claimed they were endangering passengers' safety. The warning from the Spanish Airline Pilots' Union (Sepla), which was issued last year in its in-house magazine Mach 82, claimed Swiftair was preparing to savagely reduce wages in a new three-tiered salary structure, which would pay young staff just £665 a month. This structure was created for pilots flying MD and Boeing 737 planes and not the MD- 83, the model of the craft which crashed yesterday. However Spain's El Mundo newspaper reported that, sometimes, MD-83 co-pilots are forced to accept the extremely low wages. The Mach 82 article also claimed that Swiftair uses young and inexperienced co-pilots, acting as a "flight school" with staff learning on the job. Mach 82 advised that the poor working conditions could pose a risk to passengers, because crews in charge of an aircraft must be completely "alienated to the personal and professional circumstances that affect them". The task of ensuring high standards was, according to the union, "becoming more difficult to accomplish every day" as a result of the poor conditions. AH507 crashed on Thursday in Mali, probably due to bad weather conditions. All six crew members aboard the crashed plane were Spaniards. Wreckage is strewn across the ground, leading investigators to conclude it was unlikely to have been shot down AFP/EPCAD No survivors News of the union's concerns comes on the same day that French President Francois Hollande confirmed nobody survived the crash. He also revealed that rescue staff had recovered one of the plane's black boxes. The plane, an MD-83 carrying 110 passengers and a crew of six, took off at 1:17am local time on Thursday from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on a flight to Algiers. Air traffic control lost contact with the plane less than an hour later, after it had passed northward out of the country's air space. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/air-algerie-ah-5017-spains-pilots-union-warned-unsafe- charter-company-swiftair-1458345 Back to Top U.S. fighters escort jet back to Canada after threat Two U.S. fighter jets escorted a Canada-to-Panama flight back to Toronto after a passenger allegedly threatened the plane Friday morning. Sunwing Airlines Flight 772, which left Toronto Pearson International Airport at 7 a.m. ET, was over West Virginia when "an agitated customer made a direct threat against the aircraft" about 45 minutes into the flight to Panama City, the Canadian carrier said in a statement. The nature of the threat or why the passenger was agitated were not specified. CBS News reported that the passenger told a flight attendant, "I have a bomb and I will blow up Canada." The North American Aerospace Defense Command was alerted at 8:20 a.m. ET. Two Ohio Air National Guard fighter jets out of Toledo that were in the air on a training mission were diverted to intercept the plane after it turned around, said NORAD spokesman Preston Schlachter. The fighters, assigned to the 180th Fighter Wing, shadowed the Boeing 737-800 until it landed at the Toronto airport at 9:02 a.m. Peel Regional Police tactical officers then boarded the aircraft and removed the passenger without incident, said Constable Thomas Ruttan. Police searched the plane and found no explosives or anything suspicious, he added. Ali Shahi, a 25-year-old Canadian citizen from Mississauga, Ontario, was arrested on charges that include uttering threats, mischief to property and endangering the safety of an aircraft. He was being held Friday pending a bail hearing Saturday in Brampton, Ontario. Ruttan said Canadian law prevented him from releasing further information because the case is under investigation. The Sunwing flight took off again for Panama City at 3:35 p.m. and was due to land at 7:55 p.m. An airline official was not available for further comment. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/25/canada-bomb-threat-flight- panama/13180759/ Back to Top Airline Fatalities Worst Since 2010 More Than 600 Deaths From Ukraine, Other Disasters Top Average Total Deaths of Previous Five Years TransAsia Airways flight GE222 crashed this week near the airport at Magong, Taiwan, killing 48 people. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Commercial aviation is in the middle of its deadliest year since 2010, with the recent spate of air disasters making an abrupt break from three straight years of decline in airplane fatalities. Four air crashes in recent months, all involving Asian airlines, have cast a shadow following a record year for air safety in an industry that has invested heavily on crew training and modern equipment. The loss of two Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU -2.22% widebody jets combined with Wednesday's crash of a turboprop plane in Taiwan has left some 585 people killed or presumed dead, more already than the average over the prior five years. With the addition of 18 deaths from a commuter-plane crash in Nepal in February, air-travel fatalities already total 603 this year, more than the average of 517 over the prior five years. Another airliner was reported missing Thursday: An Air Algerie plane flying from Burkina Faso to Algiers with 116 people aboard. By comparison, there were 210 commercial aviation-related deaths last year globally, a 73% decline from 2010, even though passenger numbers have been rising, according by the International Air Transport Association, an industry group. In 2010, the industry saw 786 deaths, IATA said. Analysts say the recent air disasters don't necessarily reflect any major systemic problems with safety. Last week's downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine, for instance, had nothing to do with crew training and equipment. "No matter how well you train your crew, they can't prevent such an incident," said Martin Eran-Tasker, an aviation safety expert at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. Indeed, another measure of safety, accidents involving the loss of aircraft, shows the industry continues to improve. One accident involving the loss of aircraft occurred for every 2.4 million flights last year, an improvement from 2009's figure of one for every 1.3 million flights. The safest year on record was 2012, with one accident per 4.8 million flights. IATA said that air accidents have reduced so much over the years that even one incident can skew numbers. Air transport compares favorably with other modes of travel such as automobiles or railways in terms of deaths each year. While nearly 100,000 flights make it safely to their destinations globally each day, more than 30,000 people die each year on U.S. highways, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The improvement in flight safety came even as air traffic had expanded in each of the last few years. Global passenger traffic as measured in terms of revenue passenger kilometers, an industry measure of a passenger flying one kilometer, has grown in each of the last four years. Passenger traffic is forecast to grow 5.9% this year, accelerating from last year's 5.7% growth, according to IATA. "Flying is extraordinarily safe as a result of many years of close collaboration between governments and industry," the AAPA, which represents Asia's main full-service carriers, said in a statement Thursday. Still, industry experts call for added vigilance as new airlines, many of them low-cost carriers fueled by demand for cheap travel, take to the skies in Asia and other parts of the world. "The events of 2014 certainly will rewrite all books, standards and regulations of airport security and safety for aviation and this certainly will bring about several changes which will make air travel safer and security standards stricter," said Mark Martin, the founder of Martin Consulting, a Dubai-based aviation consulting firm. The changes may come at a cost to airlines, airports and passengers, but in the long run, they will have a very positive impact in making air travel safer, said Mr. Martin. http://online.wsj.com/articles/airline-fatalities-worst-since-2010-1406213531 Back to Top Back to Top Virgin America Files for I.P.O. Virgin America, the sleek low-cost American airline partly owned by Richard Branson, filed for an initial public offering on Monday after posting its first annual profit. The airline gave a placeholder fund-raising target of $115 million, a figure used only to determine filing fees. Virgin America, known for its stylishly upholstered aircraft replete with purple lighting and fancy touch-screen seat displays, has tried to be the latest disruptive airline to take flight in the United States. But it was only last year that the company reported its first yearly profit in its decade of existence, earning $10.1 million on $1.4 billion in operating revenue. Still, revenue has been climbing since at least 2009. Though sharing its name with Mr. Branson's Virgin empire, Virgin America counts the British billionaire as only a minority shareholder. Mr. Branson's Virgin Group owns about 22 percent of the company's voting stock, limited in part by American regulations that restrict foreign ownership in domestic airlines to under 25 percent. Another major shareholder is Cyrus Capital Partners, a hedge fund. The I.P.O. will be led by Barclays and Deutsche Bank. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/virgin-america-files-for-i-p- o/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 Back to Top World's largest amphibious aircraft starts production in China A model of the TA600 aircraft. Trial production of the TA600 aircraft, intended to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft, has started in China following completion of the design process, a company executive said Sunday. The aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 53.5 tons and a maximum range of more than 5,000 kilometers, is larger than a Boeing 737 and could be used for firefighting and air-sea rescue, said Fu Junxu, general manager of China Aviation Industry General Aircraft's Zhuhai branch. China began developing the aircraft five years ago. Its maiden flight is expected to happen in late 2015, said Fu. "After a period of trial flights, the aircraft will be put onto the market," he said. Upon completion, it will replace Japan's ShinMaywa US-2 aircraft as the largest amphibious aircraft in the world. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass- cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20140728000068 Back to Top Safe Flight Unveils Budget AoA Indicator for Aircraft SafeFlight AoA sensor Out on the wing, where angle of attack really counts, the SCx lift transducer measures angle of attack with great accuracy and responsiveness. Safe Flight invented the stall warning horn in 1946, and refined the concept with its "lift transducer" beginning in 1953. Now the company is at EAA AirVenture 2014 with a new product-the SCx Leading Edge AoA (angle of attack) indicator. It's priced to be competitive with other AoA indicators, especially considering its $200 show discount. AirVenture buyers will pay $1,295 when they buy a system at the Safe Flight booth (No. 18). The regular price is still-attractive at $1,495. AIN had the chance to fly with the SCx in Safe Flight's Cessna 172, and the system certainly performs. Unfortunately, the Skyhawk is necessarily registered in the Experimental category, since the SCx is still only available for Experimental and LSA- class aircraft. The company expects to have a Part 23-certified version available by year- end, but does not have a price yet and cannot take orders. The FAA has put approval for AoA indicators on a fast track, and that ought to speed the process of certifying the Safe Flight system for certified aircraft, but, for now, owners of regular factory airplanes will have to wait. Safe Flight maintains its SCx system is superior to existing systems such as the Bendix- King KLR 10, which use pressure differential input from an under-wing differential pressure sensor, similar to the aircraft pitot static system. The sensor is typically mounted on an inspection cover site and the readings can become less accurate in slip and skid flight configurations, said Safe Flight's Ken Bannon-just the condition when a pilot needs the most accurate indication of angle of attack. Also, pressure differential systems incorporate three components; the sensor, a module that processes the pressure differential and the cockpit indicator, while the Safe Flight system has only two components. In contrast, the SCx is based on a leading-edge transducer, which looks like a stall- warning switch. But the standard stall warning is an "on-off" switch that sends an electric signal to the horn when the angle of the wing increases in relation to the relative wind. That tipping point is usually set about five to 10 knots above stall speed. The transducer, however, moves in a graduated manner and is able to calculate precisely how close the wing is to its "stagnation point" or stalling angle of attack, unaffected by aircraft weight, wing loading, gear configuration, air density or slip/skid. It can also show trend information-when the airplane is approaching a stall or emerging from a dangerous condition. In the cockpit, the pilot sees a bank of LED lights, green at the top, amber near the bottom and red at the very bottom. Not surprisingly, amber means you're "getting close" and red is the "danger zone." There is also an audible "Geiger counter" clicking heard through the headset that increases in speed the closer the SCx shows to the critical angle of attack. Aircraft owners can mount the indicator where they want to, but Bannon recommends placing it right in the center of the pilot's field of view so the display is constantly in line of sight, even as the pilot is looking out the windshield. While there is obvious value in the AoA indicator at close to stall speeds, the SCx can also optimize angle of attack in cruise flight. A sliding reference arrow points to the green LED that represents the ideal AoA for cruise, and it is refined enough to have separate LED indications representing optimum cruise in still air or with or without a tailwind. The result is maximum fuel efficiency. Another advantage for the Safe Flight system is that it is electrical, so installation is less complex than a differential pressure system, which requires running air hoses to and from the vane and the processing unit. With the SCx, installers cut a hole in the leading edge of the wing at least two feet outside the prop arc (preferably near an inspection panel), install the adjustable leading edge lift transducer, back it up with an internal doubler and then route the connecting wires to the cockpit indicator through the wing ribs' lightening holes. Also, there is no temperature compensation required, as can be the case with pitot-static-type systems. With the airplane leveled as per installation instructions, the installer can calibrate the adjustable leading-edge transducer to optimum placement in relation to the wing mean aerodynamic chord. Flying the SCx We took off from my home airport, Somerset Airport in Bedminster, N.J., which has a 2,700-foot runway. I was watching airspeed, with my field of view also including the AoA indication mounted on the glareshield. The indicator includes a cluster of green LEDs at the "sweet spot" for approach speed, which corresponds pretty closely to climbout speed for the Skyhawk. So that's where the indicator stayed as we climbed to altitude. Bannon then let me put the unit through some slow flight, and right up to the stall. The LEDs were responsive and clearly showed where we were in relation to the stall. In steep turns and slips, the indications remained accurate. But what impressed me most was the second takeoff. Bannon took the controls and made a short-field takeoff, with angle of attack close to the edge, still showing green, but sometimes dipping into amber territory. It was midday by the time we did this exercise, and summertime gusts were beginning to kick up. A couple of times, the AoA indicator showed red and the clicker increased in speed as a wind gust altered the Skyhawk's angle of attack-almost imperceptible to the seat of my pants, but showing clearly on the AoA. The airspeed indicator didn't budge, and even the overly conservative stall warning horn remained silent. That experience, more than all the diagrams and speeches I'd seen and heard brought home to me how valuable an instrument the AoA indicator can be, when a pilot is distracted during a stressful takeoff or landing approach. All the conversation about AoA indicators makes sense. We have navigation instruments that precisely measure our deviation from airways in tens of feet. But when aircraft control is really critical, airspeed readings, the VSI and the stall warning horn measure only various symptoms of critical angle of attack, and they do it with measurable lag. For less than $1,500, it makes much more sense to me to go straight to the horse's mouth and measure the actual angle of attack out there on the wing, where it lives. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/eaa-airventure/2014-07-27/safe-flight-unveils- budget-aoa-indicator-aircraft Back to Top Malaysia Airlines wants to rebrand, considering name change After the back-to-back tragedies of MH17 and MH370, Malaysia Airline's reputation has been tarnished, and the airline is considering a complete brand makeover, from seeking new investors to a name change. Rebranding may include a different investment structure, a new name, a restructuring of the airlines' 20,000 staff, and new flight routes for the 50,000 passengers it serves daily. Since the two tragic crashes, the company has lost 35 percent of its value, but the airline's commercial director is convinced it will "emerge stronger". "Our majority shareholder, the Malaysian government, has already started a process of assessing the future shape of our business and that process will now be speeded up as a result of MH17," the company's commercial director, Hugh Dunleavy, told the Telegraph. The airline is controlled by the Malaysian government through its sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which owns a 69.4 percent stake. Between the bizarre disappearance of Flight 370 in March and the shooting down of Flight 17 over Ukraine , the airline has seen 597 fatalities for the year, more than double the total for all the world's commercial airlines last year. Passengers are worried about safety, and investors are worried about profitability. Bloomberg News reported that the company needs at least $629 billion in the next year to stay afloat. The share price had already been losing altitude before the two incidents in a four-month period. Before flight MH370 mysteriously disappeared, the carrier had seen its stock price fall more than 80 percent in five years. Passenger numbers are down and cash on hand is low. It has been reported that the Khazanah group had planned to take the airline private, and other sources suggest private investment could come from rival airlines, like Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. "There are several options on the table but all involve creating an airline fit for purpose in what is a new era for us, and other airlines," Dunleavy said. In the interview, Dunleavy also called for a more unified approach to airspace regulation. Malaysia flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, in an air corridor that was not blocked, but many airlines had stopped flying it because of the on-going civil war. http://rt.com/business/176048-malaysia-air-change-name-brand/ Back to Top Edward Benthall named NTSB CFO National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart has announced the selection of Edward Benthall, Jr. as NTSB's chief financial officer (CFO). Benthall has served as acting CFO since January 2014 and has been the agency's deputy CFO since 2011. He has served a critical role in effectively managing the agency's budget of more than $100 million dollars. Benthall is a seasoned financial and management expert, working for more than 20 years in government, corporate, and public accounting. His diverse background includes experience in consulting, auditing, bank examination, and information systems. He came to the NTSB in 2001. "Ed's efforts have contributed to more than a decade of consecutive clean audit opinions and completion of Government Accountability Office recommended actions," said Acting Chairman Hart. "He has been instrumental in establishing the sound financial management that NTSB has today." Prior to working as deputy chief financial officer, Benthall served as the NTSB's chief financial management and quality assurance officer. In that capacity, he developed a strategic plan for establishing solid financial policies and procedures. The plan enhanced the agency's organizational performance management, improved agency-wide internal controls, and strengthened the NTSB's working relationships with other agencies and with Congress. Benthall holds a Master's degree with an emphasis in management information systems, and a Bachelor of Science degree with an emphasis in accounting, both from Bowie State University. He has also attended executive programs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, the Federal Executive Institute, and the Office of Personnel Management. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer manages the NTSB financial resources, develops the Board's budget requests for submission to the Office of Management and Budget and Congress, and executes the budget for resources appropriated to the Board by Congress. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer also prepares the agency financial statements required by the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act, oversees the agency property and inventory control programs, and analyzes the fee structure for services that the agency provides on a reimbursable basis. Additionally, the Chief Financial Officer is responsible for ensuring the NTSB's compliance with the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act. http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/41948?c=infrastructure_protection Back to Top THE ALPA 60TH AIR SAFETY FORUM A Celebration of Pilots Helping Get the Job Done Safely & Securely August 4-7, 2014 | Washington Hilton Washington, DC _______________________________________________________ AGENDA AT A GLANCE - Visit http://safetyforum.alpa.org for full agendas MONDAY - AUGUST 4, 2014 8:30-9:00 General Session-ALPA Air Safety Organization Update (Open to all ALPA Members Only) 9:30-6:00 ALPA ASO Group Workshops & Council Meetings - (invitation only) 9:30-4:30 Jumpseat Forum (invitation only) 12:00-5:00 Aviation Security Forum (invitation only) TUESDAY - AUGUST 5, 2014 8:00-6:00 ALPA ASO Group Workshops & Council Meetings - (invitation only) 9:00-5:00 Joint Aviation/Security Forum - (invitation only) WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 6, 2014 - 60TH AIR SAFETY FORUM 8:30-9:00 Opening Ceremony Captain Lee Moak - President, Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l General Edward Bolton - Assistant Administrator, NextGen, Federal Aviation Administration 9:00-10:30 Panel: Surviving a Main Deck Lithium Battery Fire: New Technological Solutions 11:00-12:30 Panel: Smoke In the Cockpit-Where Seconds Matter 12:30-1:45 Keynote Luncheon-100 Years of Commercial Aviation Mr. Paul Rinaldi - President, National Air Traffic Controllers Association 1:45-3:15 Panel: Responding To the Emergency - Using All the Tools 3:45-5:15 Panel: Landing A Distressed Airliner-What's Waiting at the Airport? 5:15-5:25 Presentation of the ALPA Airport Safety Liaison and ALPA Airport Awards 5:25-5:30 Closing Remarks 5:30-6:30 Hospitality Reception (Sponsored by Boeing) THURSDAY - AUGUST 7, 2014 - 60TH AIR SAFETY FORUM 8:30-10:00 Panel - Current Security Threats and Countermeasures 10:30- 11:30 Panel: A Discussion With Key Regulators 11:30- 11:40 Presentation of the ALPA Presidential Citation Awards 1:00-2:30 Panel: Pilot Health & Occupational Safety 3:00-4:30 Panel: Modernizing Our National Airspace System: The Flight Path, The Potholes and the Promise 4:30-5:00 Closing Ceremony Astronaut Garrett Reisman-Commercial Crew Program Manager, SpaceX 6:00-7:00 Awards Reception (Sponsored by Airbus) 7:00-10:00 Awards Dinner 10:00- 11:00 Post Awards Reception SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBITING OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE Contact Tina Long at tina.long@alpa.org for more information or click here to download the sponsorship brochure. Back to Top Upcoming Events: International System Safety Society Annual Symposium 04-08AUG2014 - St. Louis, MO http://issc2014.system-safety.org ACI-NA Annual Conference and Exhibition Atlanta, GA September 7 - 10, 2014 http://annual.aci-na.org/ IFA - Maintaining Airworthiness Standards and Investing in the Most Important Asset 'The Human Element' 17 - 18 September, 2014 Emirates Eng Facility, Dubai www.ifairworthy.com Public Safety and Security Fall Conference Arlington, VA October 6 - 9, 2014 http://aci-na.org/event/4309 IASS 2014 Abu Dhabi, UAE November 11-13, 2014 http://flightsafety.org/meeting/iass-2014 Back to Top Employment: NTSB Position Available - Mechanical or Aerospace Engineer https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/375124300 or https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/375127300 Curt Lewis