Flight Safety Information September 17, 2014 - No. 191 In This Issue First flight delayed for KC-46A test aircraft Video Shows Airplane Passengers Revolting Over Late VIPs NTSB Releases Agenda for Flight Data and Locator Forum NTSB to Release Investigative Documents on Air Taxi Crash in Alaska 3D Printing, Now With More Jet Engine Parts FAA and OSHA Memorandum of Understanding Effective August 26, 2014 PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA Hawaiian Airlines First to Commit to New Satellite Safety and Aircraft Tracking System Springfield airport wins FAA safety award Space tourism firm offers flight around the moon on Soyuz crafts ICAEA-ANAC-CIPE Aviation English Workshop Graduate Survey Research Request AIRPORT WILDLIFE HAZARD MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP ISASI 2014 - Annual Seminar, October 13-16, 2014 - Early Bird Registration Deadline Upcoming Events First flight delayed for KC-46A test aircraft A Boeing KC-46A prepares to refuel a B-1B bomber in flight in this artist's conception. The first flight of the KC-46 test aircraft has been pushed back to November. The first flight of the KC-46A program's test aircraft has been pushed back until mid-to- late November, with the first next-generation tanker not expected to fly until April, the program's top officer said today. The Boeing 767-2C, a test version of the KC-46A without the refuelling boom and other tanker equipment, was expected to take flight earlier this summer, an event that was pushed back due to production issues. The first full KC-46A will now follow with its first flight in April, months after it was originally expected to fly, Maj. Gen. John Thompson, the tanker's program executive officer said Tuesday at the Air Force Association Air and Space Conference outside Washington, D.C. "Scheduled performance has slipped a little in the last year due to the electrical work required on the first [engeinering and manufacturing development] aircraft," Thompson said. The question of when the engineering and manufacturing development plane will take its first flight has shadowed the program since spring, when Gen. Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, said publicly he expected the first flight by June. That never occurred, and Boeing said the flight would occur between July and September. The issue causing the delay relates tothe layout of wiring systems in the front of the jet. The aircraft has about 120 miles of electrical wire, compared with 70 miles in a commercial 767, Thompson said. The jet's electrical systems require multiple wires for the same systems to create redundancies in case of a failure. The redundant wires need to be spaced out to avoid one event - such as a fire - taking out all of the wires, Thompson said. During production, Federal Aviation Administration-certified Boeing employees found that the wires were too close together, violating both FAA and military standards. In response, workers have had to redesign the electrical layout of the jet, reinstalling 350 of 1,700 total wire bundles. "This is not a big performance issue, this is not 'we discovered something that is not going to work,'" Thompson said Tuesday. "This is a compliance issue, it is something I'd much rather handle early on." Meanwhile, the company had to take a $272 million hit when a wiring problem was discovered over the summer. In August, Welsh expressed confidence in the program but acknowledged growing concerns about the first flight. "If [first flight of the test plane] slips into next year, I think everybody is going to start to be concerned," Welsh said. "I do not like to worry too early about things that have not happened yet. But, I think every time there is a slip in a major program, especially one that is due to deliver starting here in 2016, we want to make sure we stay on track," Welsh added. "We are close to the first aircraft being delivered, and so anything that happens between now and then has an impact." The KC-46A is the first in a three-step process to replace the Air Force's tanker fleet, with a decision on the next step expected sometime in the 2020s. Boeing is locked into a taxpayer-friendly engineering and manufacturing development contract for the program that caps the Air Force's costs at $4.9 billion. The service is expected to field 179 of the aircraft, with delivery of the first 18 expected in 2017. Despite the delay in the first flights, the delivery of these aircraft, previously scheduled for August 2017, is now scheduled for March, Thompson said. The aircraft will replace the service's aging KC-135 fleet. ? The Air Force has trained 11 pilots, using Boeing's commercial 767 training program in Miami. The pilots are now stationed at Boeing Field in Seattle. Twelve boom operators are beginning training this month. The Air Force expects to have 46 pilots and 32 boom operators trained by 2017. http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140916/NEWS04/309160062/First-flight- delayed-KC-46A-test-aircraft Back to Top Video Shows Airplane Passengers Revolting Over Late VIPs ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - In a country where the ruling elite are accustomed to a life of privilege -- everything from special lounges at airports to evading taxes -- call it a case of the 99 percent getting a bit of revenge. A series of videos posted online show two high-profile Pakistani politicians being forced off a plane by a mob of angry passengers after the plane's takeoff was delayed for more than two hours while the flight crew waited for the two VIPs to arrive. "We've taken this for too long," one passenger yelled at the flight crew, standing at the tunnel door that connected the plane to the Karachi airport terminal. The first to arrive was Ramesh Vankwani, a member of the country's national assembly. As he arrived, the angry mob surrounded him, yelling at him and telling him to get off the plane. "I was just sitting outside," he said. "They're waiting for someone else." Standing inside the plane, the crowd pushed Vankwani to reveal his name, but he refused, referring to himself only as Dr. Ramesh. After he managed to push through the crowd to get to his seat, he eventually admitted that he was a government official. At that point, the angry crowd -- many of whom were recording the episode on their mobile phones -- started yelling, "Shame, shame." "Get out. Out, out out!" The angry crowd didn't stop until Vankwani was forced to leave the plane in disgrace. The next to arrive was the country's former interior minister, Rehman Malik, who gained a reputation for his flamboyance while in office. He arrived to the door of the aircraft, but didn't get much further. "You should apologize to these passengers," one of the angry men demanded. As Malik noticed the crowd with mobile phones blocking the entrance to the aircraft, he quickly retreated back down the tunnel. But the crowd followed him. "You should be ashamed of yourself," one yelled. "You're not a minister anymore. You're not a minister anymore. And even if you are, we don't care anymore. You people have to become humans." "Shame on you you, stupid dog." The plane was scheduled to take off from Karachi, Pakistan, and land in Islamabad, the country's capital and home to its ruling elite. On his Twitter account, Malik denied being behind the flight's delay. "The flt was announced to be delayed at 6pm till 830" he tweeted. "i suffered equally.i reached at 835.it is wrongly thought that delay was b/c of me." Malik said he's demanding an inquiry. An official with Pakistan International Airlines told local Pakistani media the plane was delayed because of a technical fault and not because the crew was waiting for the arrival of the VIPs. The airline has suspended two of its Karachi-based managers as a result of the delay. http://abcnews.go.com/International/video-shows-airplane-passengers-revolting-late- vips/story?id=25532692 Former Pakistan Minister Rehman Malik thrown off a plane By Angry Plane Passengers Back to Top NTSB Releases Agenda for Flight Data and Locator Forum WASHINGTON - The preliminary agenda for a forum on flight data recorders and aircraft locator technology was released today by the National Transportation Safety Board. The one-day forum, Emerging Flight Data and Locator Technology, which will be held at the NTSB in Washington on October 7, was first announced on August 14 in an NTSB blog post by Dr. Joseph Kolly, Director, NTSB Office of Research and Engineering. The forum will focus on highlighting effective technologies currently being used, exploring technologies in development, and determining what policy, industry, and technological impediments need to be addressed. The last symposium the NTSB held on recorders technology in transportation was in May 1999. "In recent years, the international aviation community has been confronted with some challenging issues involving the location and recovery of lost airplanes and recorders," said NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart. "Since there have been so many advancements in both recorder and location technology in the last 15 years, it's clearly time for us to take a fresh look at what the possibilities are for improvements in both of these areas." Forum panelists will include those with expertise in the development, implementation, and deployment of innovative flight data and locator technologies. The forum will be held in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, located at 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W. Washington D.C. The forum, which is free and open to the public (no registration required), will also be webcast live at www.ntsb.gov. The preliminary agenda is now available on the forum web page: http://go.usa.gov/pcke A more detailed agenda, including a list of presenters and their biographies, will be made available on the website in the coming weeks. Organizations and/or individuals can submit input for consideration as part of the forum's archived materials. Submissions should directly address one or more of the forum's topic areas (identified by the panel titles) and should be submitted electronically as an attached document by October 21 to: recorder_forum@ntsb.gov. Back to Top NTSB to Release Investigative Documents on Air Taxi Crash in Alaska WASHINGTON - As part of its continuing investigation into the crash of an air taxi flight in Soldotna, Alaska, last summer, the National Transportation Safety Board will open the public accident docket releasing more than 400 pages of documents on September 17. On July 7, 2013, at 11:20 a.m. ADT, a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter operating as a 14 CFR Part 135 on-demand charter flight crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport in Soldotna, Alaska. The nine passengers and one commercial pilot were fatally injured; the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The documents being released are factual in nature and do not provide any analysis. They include factual reports, interview transcripts, photographs, diagrams and other documents from the investigation. All of these materials will be made available at 11:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 17, on the following page of the NTSB's website: http://go.usa.gov/prmF www.ntsb.gov Back to Top 3D Printing, Now With More Jet Engine Parts From GE: Engineers at the Italian aerospace company Avio have developed a breakthrough process for 3D printing light-weight metal blades for jet engine turbines. The method builds the blades from a titanium powder fused with a beam of electrons accelerated by a 3-kilowatt electron gun. The gun is 10 times more powerful than laser beams currently used for printing metal parts. This boost in power allows Avio, which is part of GE Aviation, to build blades from layers of powder that are more than four times thicker than those used by laser-powered 3D printers. As a result, one machine can produce eight stage 7 blades for the low pressure turbine that goes inside the GEnx jet engine in just 72 hours. "This is very competitive with casting, which is how we used to make them," says Mauro Varetti, advanced manufacturing engineer at Avio. The Electron Beam Melting process which was developed along with Arcam, a Swedish firm, has the added advantage of allowing aerospace manufacturers to use titanium aluminide, wich allows for strong engine parts 20 percent lighter than those made with traditional alloys. Other techniques for working with the stuff apparently result all too often in fragile scrap. Jet engine fuel nozzles are next on the list of items to be 3D printed (those will be made in Alabama), with other parts to come. Again, this isn't hobbyist technology, and won't be for years to come (if ever). But as evidence of how far 3D printing technology is pushing the business of manufacturing and creating improved processes and products, this is pretty impressive. http://reason.com/blog/2014/09/16/3d-printing-now-with-more-jet-engine-par Back to Top FAA and OSHA Memorandum of Understanding Effective August 26, 2014 In August, 2013 we posted an article "OSHA in the Sky - FAA Policy on Application of OSHA Standards for Aircabin Crewmembers" - reporting on the FAA's August 27, 2013 final policy statement outlining three areas where OSHA could regulate for cabin crewmembers while on board an aircraft in operation. Flightcrew members (i.e. pilots and co-pilots) do not fall within the definition of "cabin crewmembers" and, therefore, are not covered by the new regulations. The three standards which OSHA began enforcing are: hearing conservation standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.95), bloodborne pathogen standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.30), and hazard communication standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200). Although the policy took effect on September 26, 2013, OSHA only began enforcing the standards this year on March 26, 2014. The recent Memorandum of Understanding which became effective on August 26, 2014, spells out the procedural process whereby the FAA and OSHA will enforce those three standards. Complaints or referrals received by OSHA pertaining to noise, bloodborne pathogens and/or hazard communication will be subject to OSHA's phone/fax method. Under this "inspection" method, OSHA will respond to a complaint or referral by telephoning the employer, describing the alleged hazard, and follow up with a fax or letter. The employer then will have 5 days to respond to OSHA in writing, identifying any hazards it has found and the corrective action taken or planned to fix the hazard(s). If OSHA is satisfied with the employer's response, an onsite inspection is unlikely and the only action will be to send a copy of the employer's response to the employee who filed the original complaint. If the employee is not satisfied with the employer's response, he/she may request an onsite inspection. In the event that an inspection would be required while an aircraft is in operation, OSHA and FAA will coordinate the process. OSHA and the FAA will meet semi-annually for the next two years to monitor the implementation of the policy statement. There are no plans to expand the scope of OSHA's jurisdiction over airline aircabin crewmembers beyond these three standards, and the previously approved regulations on recordkeeping and access to employee exposure and medical records. However, should a decision be made in the future to add more standards, OSHA and the FAA will go through a process, including notifications in the Federal Register, similar to the process they went through to implement the hearing conservation standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.95), bloodborne pathogen standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.30), and the hazard communication standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200). To read more about this, go to: http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/ashp/media/OSH-standards-aircraft-cabin- crewmembers.pdf http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/ashp/media/FAA_OSHA_MOU_2014.pdf http://www.natlawreview.com/article/faa-and-osha-memorandum-understanding- effective-august-26-2014 Back to Top Back to Top Hawaiian Airlines First to Commit to New Satellite Safety and Aircraft Tracking System Hawaiian airlines has selected Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband Safety service to better track and communicate with its aircraft over water. This service gives airlines global cockpit communications back to base of operations and to Air Traffic Control, via satellite. The airline will use Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband Safety for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) data messages, live Electronic Flight Bag updates and Airline Operational Communication (AOC) voice and data. "We fly from Hawaii to the US mainland, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific," said Ken Rewick, Vice President of flight operations at Hawaiian Airlines. "We fly mostly oceanic routes so VHF is of limited use and satellite communications will help us achieve real- time data far more effectively than before. "What is particularly important is that SwiftBroadband enables us to provide our pilots with real-time weather updates on their Electronic Flight Bags. It will make our flights even more efficient, because we can avoid the storms, inclement weather and turbulence, whilst also providing the most comfortable experience for our passengers." As airlines consider the various options available for flight tracking, and await recommendations from the Aircraft Tracking Task Force (ATTF), Hawaiian Airlines will serve as an effective case study for Inmarsat's aircraft tracking solution. The airline will initially trial the service on its Boeing 767-300 aircraft, for an evaluation period. Leo Mondale, President Aviation, Inmarsat is confident of a positive result. "ACARS over SwiftBroadband is already flying on an Airbus A319 Corporate Jet which flies internationally on a regular basis, Mondale says, "We fully expect to have FANS1/A approval by early 2016." http://skift.com/2014/09/16/hawaiian-airlines-first-to-commit-to-new-satellite-safety- and-aircraft-tracking-system/ Back to Top Springfield airport wins FAA safety award SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -For the 10th year in a row, Springfield's airport has received a discrepancy-free safety inspection from the Federal Aviation Administration. On Monday, the FAA recognized the airport by awarding it the "Airport Safety Enhancement Award." The award goes to airports that receive discrepancy-free safety inspections three years in a row. Getting one discrepancy-free inspection is a great accomplishment for any airport. Doing it 10 years in a row is a rare achievement. "Every airport employee is, in some way, responsible for the safety of our customers," said Shawn Schroeder, airport director of operations. "Having their hard work validated by the FAA is much deserved." The annual FAA safety inspection is a demanding review of everything at the airport that affects aircraft safety. FAA inspectors review a long list. It includes runway pavement condition, airfield marking and lighting, the readiness of the airport fire department, snow and ice removal, fencing, the height of grass, and wildlife control. Wildlife was a hot topic with the public five years ago after a flock of Canada geese brought down a US Airways flight after take-off from New York City (the plane landed in the Hudson River with no loss of life). Airports, however, have talked about wildlife for years - as in, "how do we control it?" The airport must show FAA inspectors that it knows what wildlife is on the airport, and that it has a plan to deal with it. "Runway inspections are one way we track wildlife," said Troy Morehouse, airfield maintenance worker. "You look for any remains of an animal hit by an aircraft. We collect it and record where it was found on the runway." Even small birds get attention. "Smaller birds can be very dense. So, when a plane hits them, it's almost the equivalent of getting hit by a baseball," he said. Dealing with wildlife is just part of the airport's role in keeping planes safe. When an aircraft is on the ground it depends on airport lights, signs and paint to figure out where to go in a safe manner. The Springfield airport has about 1,400 lights along the edges of the runways and taxiways. Add to that several hundred signs, along with miles and miles of painted lines. If you could put all the paint in a six-inch line, it would be 40 miles long. And all of it - lights, signs, paint - has to be nearly perfect. After so many years of acing the inspection, is there any way to make things even better? Morehouse says there is. "We all try to better ourselves every day and improve on what we've done. That may sound kind of crazy - we've done so well the past 10 years - I mean, what is there left to improve on? There's always something to improve on," he said. http://www.ky3.com/news/local/springfield-airport-wins-faa-safety- award/21048998_28087716 Back to Top Space tourism firm offers flight around the moon on Soyuz crafts US space tourism firm Space Adventures is offering a spaceflight around the moon to private tourists on "proven" Russian Soyuz spacecraft - saying that the sponsors will not have to wait for long for their trip. Space Adventures has posted a statement describing its 'Circumlunar' mission on its website. "Using flight-proven Russian space vehicles we will fly two private citizens and one professional cosmonaut on a free return trajectory around the far side of the moon. They will come to within 100km of the moon's surface," the statement said. The exact price of the space trip is not listed. "The price of the spaceflight depends on the vehicle you choose, the timing and the exact mission profile." The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft (Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov)The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft (Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov) Meanwhile, Space Adventures estimates that the first mission will kick off by 2018. Some of the main attractions on the journey will include an "illuminated far side of the moon" and "Earth rising above the surface of the moon." The space adventure will begin with the launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. The travelers will then disembark at the International Space Station where they will spend 10 days. A second rocket will then launch a Lunar Module, which would consist of a lunar living module and a propulsion module. The Soyuz spacecraft will rendezvous with the Lunar Module in low-Earth orbit. The other part of the journey will take six days, according to the company. Space travel has been making waves in the entrepreneurial world of space discovery. In May, Russia's Energia Rocket and Space Corporation announced that anybody willing to go to orbit may travel to the International Space Station for $45-50 million via the Soyuz spacecraft for a two-week tour. Back in 2012 US space entrepreneur Art Dula, founder and chief executive of Excalibur Almaz, said he is planning to send 30 people to the moon and back by 2025. He has bought two 1970's-era Soviet space stations and four re-entry capsules from Russia. Tthe Earth rising over the limb of the Moon much as the Harvest Moon does from our planetary perspective. (AFP Photo / HO / NASA)Tthe Earth rising over the limb of the Moon much as the Harvest Moon does from our planetary perspective. (AFP Photo / HO / NASA) Meanwhile, an ambitious crowd-funded project Mars One has narrowed down the candidates for its first Mars colonization project to just 705 out of 200,000 earlier this year. Of the shortlisted 418 men and 287 women from all over the world, only six teams of four will be eventually selected, according to the project's plan. Despite massive enthusiasm surrounding the project, many are still skeptical it will be able to raise even the very modest set sum of $6 billion to cover the flights, the equipment and the preparations for establishing a human settlement on Mars. So far, a total of $544,000 has been raised, as of February 28. However, the project's team hopes to turn the first Martian settlers' work into a reality show to help raise the money. http://rt.com/news/188324-space-moon-tourism-soyuz/ Back to Top ICAEA-ANAC-CIPE Aviation English Workshop Buenos Aires, Argentina. International Civil Aviation English Association Workshop, hosted by Argentina ANAC and CIPE. "Skills and competencies needed in aviation communications: The Latin American Challenge." Open to anyone interested in aviation English. Nov. 20-21, 2014. www.icaea.aero Back to Top Graduate Survey Research Request Dear fellow pilots/Dear Colleagues: Apart from still very actively flying airplanes like all of us, in my case the Airbus, I'm also about to write a thesis with the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich, Switzerland, on the topic of culture and Crew Resource Management. Part of my research consists of a questionnaire for pilots, which takes about 10 minutes to fill in and is completely anonymous. Not even the IP-address is logged or traced, absolutely nothing. It would be great if you could take a few minutes to answer the survey which can be accessed using this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UNI-HWZ Every additional reply is of great help. So, please feel free to answer my questions. For any feedback, comment or expression of doubt, just drop me a line. Many thanks and very kind regards, Thomas Thomas Häderli Captain Hadlaubstrasse 39 8044 Zürich Switzerland Cell +41 79 638 48 38 tom.h@me.com skype: thaederli Back to Top Back to Top INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATORS ISASI 2014 45TH ANNUAL SEMINAR "Investigations and Safety Management Systems" This year's seminar will take place at the Stamford Hotel in Glenelg, near Adelaide, Australia, from 13 -16 October, 2014. All current information regarding seminar registration, hotel reservations and speakers can be found on the official seminar website at www.asasi.org. Please note the deadline for Early Bird Registration and the discounted rate at the hotel is midnight September 4. Questions can be directed to: Mr. Lindsay Naylor ISASI 2014 Seminar Chair lindsaynaylor77@gmail.com or Ms.Barbara Dunn International Seminar Chair - ISASI avsafe@shaw.ca Back to Top Upcoming Events: 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 ISASI 2014 - Annual Seminar October 13-16, 2014 Adelaide, Australia www.isasi.org IASS 2014 Abu Dhabi, UAE November 11-13, 2014 http://flightsafety.org/meeting/iass-2014 ICAEA-ANAC-CIPE Aviation English Workshop. Buenos Aires, Argentina. International Civil Aviation English Association Workshop, hosted by Argentina ANAC and CIPE. "Skills and competencies needed in aviation communications: The Latin American Challenge." Open to anyone interested in aviation English. Nov. 20-21, 2014. www.icaea.aero ERAU UAS FUNDAMENTALS COURSE December 9 - 11, 2014 ERAU Daytona Beach Campus, FL www.daytonabeach.erau.edu/uas FAA Helicopter Safety Effort three-day safety forum April 21-23, 2015 Hurst, Texas eugene.trainor@faa.gov www.faahelisafety.org Curt Lewis