Flight Safety Information October 9, 2014 - No. 206 In This Issue California grounds air tankers after fatal crash New NASA Technology Brings Critical Data to Pilots Over Remote Alaskan Territories Russia, China to jointly develop wide-body aircraft PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA Safety advocates seek stronger warnings on Chantix UI lab testing aircraft for pilotless future Rotorcraft "Moral Courage Safety Award Graduate Survey Research Request Upcoming Events California grounds air tankers after fatal crash; officials say other aircraft can fill gap SACRAMENTO, Calif.(AP) - California's fleet of 22 air tankers was grounded Wednesday after one of the planes crashed while battling a wildfire in Yosemite National Park, killing the pilot. A National Park Service helicopter and air tankers from the U.S. Forest Service were filling the gap and assisting firefighters tackling the blaze that prompted the evacuation of 60 homes in the community of Foresta, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said. It was not clear how long CalFire's grounding of the S-2T airplanes will last as the agency checks the safety of the aircraft and its pilots, CalFire spokeswoman Alyssa Smith said. The tankers are part of a CalFire fleet that includes 11 UH-1H Super Huey helicopters and 14 OV-10A planes used to guide the other firefighting aircraft. The tankers, however, are the backbone of the firefighting fleet and can each carry 1,200 gallons of fire retardant. "These are our initial attack aircraft," department spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff said. The crash occurred on Tuesday as four California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection aircraft, including three tankers, were fighting the blaze as it climbed a steep canyon wall north of the Merced River, Tolmachoff said. One of the planes hit the canyon wall and disintegrated, spilling pieces of the twin-engine aircraft onto State Highway 140. The body of pilot Geoffrey "Craig" Hunt was recovered Wednesday. It was draped with a flag and accompanied by an honor guard as it was turned over to CalFire officials. Hunt, 62, of San Jose was a 13-year veteran pilot of DynCorp International and flew the air tanker under a contract with the state. "We know wildland firefighting is an inherently dangerous job, but Craig made the ultimate sacrifice," CalFire Director Ken Pimlott said in a statement. Mike Lopez, president of the union representing CalFire firefighters, said Hunt had extraordinary skill and talent. Gov. Jerry Brown added his condolences in a statement, while ordering the Capitol flag to be flown at half- staff. The fire had grown to 252 acres by Wednesday afternoon, though some of the smoke had lifted, said park fire information spokeswoman Jennifer Wuchner. Electricity was out in Yosemite Valley because power lines near the crash site were shut down, and park facilities were using generators, she said. Highway 140 will be closed indefinitely because of rocks rolling onto the roadway and as the crash is investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board. Officials said the weather at the time of the crash was clear and winds were calm. Tolmachoff said it was unclear if smoke from the fire or isolated updrafts or downdrafts within the canyon might have played a part in the crash. Department spokesman Daniel Berlant said he was not aware of any radio distress calls from the pilot or any radio traffic from other pilots indicating problems with the weather or with the downed aircraft. DynCorp International provides pilots for all CalFire planes and maintenance for the department's aircraft. The downed tanker - like others in the fleet - had been built as early as the 1950s as an anti-submarine warplane, said Berlant. It was retrofitted to an air tanker in the 1970s and rebuilt again in 2001 so completely that the Federal Aviation Administration website lists it as manufactured in 2001. "It was rebuilt enough that it qualifies as a new manufacture date," Berlant said. Berlant said the age of the fleet has not been a problem in the past. However, that has not been the case for federal firefighting aircraft from the same era, some of which have lost their wings in midflight. The precautionary stand-down of the tanker fleet came in the midst of a fire season that has been extended by drought and unseasonably hot, dry weather. Department helicopters were available to help fight wildfires, said Smith, as was a DC-10 on standby and capable of dropping large amounts of fire retardant. The agency can also call on aircraft under contract to federal agencies, or request the use of specially equipped California National Guard helicopters and air tankers. The last time the S-2Ts were grounded was in 2001, when two of the aircraft collided while fighting a fire in Mendocino County, killing both pilots, she said. Pilots of a different type of aircraft were grounded for the same reason in 2006, when a fire battalion chief and a pilot were killed while observing a fire in a two-seat plane in Tulare County, she said. http://www.startribune.com/nation/278483281.html?page=2&c=y Back to Top New NASA Technology Brings Critical Data to Pilots Over Remote Alaskan Territories (SitNews) - NASA has formally delivered to Alaskan officials a new technology that could help pilots flying over the vast wilderness expanses of the northern-most state. The technology is designed to help pilots make better flight decisions, especially when disconnected from the Internet, telephone, flight services and other data sources normally used by pilots. NASA's Traffic and Atmospheric Information for General Aviation (TAIGA) technology system is capable of showing pilots the altitude of nearby terrain via color. Yellow identifies terrain that is near the aircraft's altitude and red shows the terrain that is higher than the plane's altitude. Image Credit: ARC/Joseph Rios According to NASA, S. Peter Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and Thomas Edwards, Director of Aeronautics at Ames, met with Alaskan officials Monday to deliver the software innovation known as the Traffic and Atmospheric Information for General Aviation (TAIGA). This aviation technology, a collection of algorithms, concepts and data, is the result of a joint effort between Ames and the State of Alaska. Over the vast expanses of Alaska, with its mountainous terrain and extreme weather events, pilots often are disconnected from vital navigation aids and communication. Taking on these factors, NASA developed a satellite-based communication method through which regional data is sent only to that specific region. The customized data sets can be downloaded quickly and plugged into a mobile application. NASA has developed only a conceptual version of the mobile software application, which includes full 3-D terrain visualization. The algorithms, concepts and data are available as an open-source project for further development by industry and the aviation community into an end-user system. The 3-D terrain visualization software will be made available separately. "We are excited to lend a helping hand to general aviation pilots in Alaska," said Worden. "With the TAIGA app, Alaska pilots will be able to remain independent, but with a dose of safety when needed." In a recent test at Ames, data from a satellite-based messaging system was successfully received on the satellite receiver and viewed on the concept version of the mobile app while in flight. Since sending data via satellite can be expensive, NASA also developed a method for tightly bundling the data to be transmitted, thereby decreasing the cost of satellite data transmission using this technology. "Each data broadcast will go only to the areas that are appropriate for those data," said Joseph Rios, TAIGA engineer at Ames. "Once a pilot receives a data broadcast, it will be available for viewing on their iPad." The next step in development of the TAIGA concept will be for engineers with the State of Alaska to take the NASA concept and develop it to an app that meets the specific needs of Alaskan pilots. Ames will continue to investigate new functionalities, and according to NASA, Alaskan officials hope to distribute a production prototype app to general aviation pilots for testing early next year. Ames is a leader is developing decision support tools that help air traffic managers maintain and enhance the safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS). NASA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is a comprehensive transformation of the NAS, which includes all components, such as airspace, facilities, equipment, services, workforce and procedures that enable the nation's air transportation system. Part of the NextGen effort, TAIGA specifically focuses on increasing safety for pilots in Alaska. The technology is the product of a Space Act Agreement between Ames and the State of Alaska to collaborate on space exploration, advanced aviation, scientific research, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education initiatives http://www.sitnews.us/1014News/100814/100814_arctic.html Back to Top Russia, China to jointly develop wide-body aircraft A long-haul wide-body aircraft made by Airbus lands at Tianjin Binhai International Airport. (File photo/Xinhua) Russia and China may team up to mass produce wide-body aircraft jointly developed by the two countries by 2025, according to Aleksandr Tulyakov, executive vice president of Russia's JSC United Aircraft Corporation. The development of the aircraft can help Russia get around the economic sanctions of the West and can be remodeled into military aircraft, reports the website of China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times, citing a report from Russian state broadcaster the Voice of Russia. The company has signed an agreement with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China in May this year to produce the aircraft. Russia was forced to act after sanctions launched against it by the West in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, Global Times said. The Russian budget airline Dobrolet was forced to shut down after its aircraft leases were revoked by European companies. Since similar treatment could be extended to other Russian airlines, Moscow has proposed building its own civilian aircraft. China has been motivated to work with Russia as it is trying to develop its domestic civil aircraft industry. Over the next decade, the two countries will mass produce the Russian fly-by-wire Superjet-100 and the Chinese twin-engine regional airliner ARJ-21 as well as narrow-body jet airliners such as Russia's Irkut MC- 21 and China's C919. The decision to produce the wide-body jet could enhance cooperation between the aviation industries of the two countries and allow them to compete in new markets. China will benefit from the cooperation deal since the JSC United Aircraft Corporation is experienced in manufacturing various types of aircraft and Russia is the world's largest titanium producer. An alloy of the metal is widely used in manufacturing aircraft, ships, spaceships and missiles. Russian state-run VSMPO- AVISMA Corporation, the world's largest titanium producer, has signed a deal with China to supply titanium parts for China's C919. The collaboration could mean the two countries will export aircraft to countries such as Iran which are also under sanctions from the West. Global Times said the two countries could remodel wide-body aircraft into military transportation aircraft, as Western countries have done to civilian aircraft. Currently Russia and China have installed long-distant radars on military transportation aircraft but civilian aircraft would be more economically viable and can fly for longer and faster, as well as having built-in fuel and detection systems. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20141009000099&cid=1101 Back to Top Back to Top Safety advocates seek stronger warnings on Chantix WASHINGTON (AP) - Public safety advocates are asking the federal government to strengthen warnings on Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix, even as the drugmaker prepares to argue that a bold-letter warning about psychiatric problems should be removed from the medicine's label. Five advocacy groups petitioned the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday to expand Chantix's boxed warning, calling for more detailed language about potential side effects like suicidal behavior, hostility and depression. The groups also say that the prominent warnings should include information about blackouts, convulsions and other problems reported in some patients. "It would be illogical to discount the reports of thousands of consumers who told of frightening or destructive experiences with Chantix," states the petition, filed by Consumer Reports, Public Citizen, the National Center for Health Research, National Physicians Alliance and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. The groups urge the FDA to revisit the boxed warning, first added in 2009, arguing that it "substantially underestimated the psychiatric adverse effects and accident risks of Chantix." They also argue that Chantix should be contraindicated for people working in critical or hazardous occupations, like pilots, air traffic controllers, police and military personnel. The petition notes that the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense already restrict the use of Chantix among certain employees. A spokesman for Pfizer Inc. noted that the petition is based on patient reports of injury "which have several limitations, including missing data, reporting biases, and no ability to determine that the adverse event was caused by the drug." The company reiterated that its own studies "do not show evidence of an increased risk of serious neuropsychiatric events" in patients taking Chantix, versus other smoking- cessation products. The move by safety advocates comes just over a week before the FDA meets publicly to review Chantix's risks. Pfizer has conducted several studies showing no link between its drug and suicidal behavior and the FDA added information from those studies to the drug's label last month. Company executives say they plan to use next Thursday's FDA advisory panel meeting to argue that the boxed warning is no longer warranted. The FDA will hear input from the company, a panel of outside experts and members of the public. New York-based Pfizer has paid roughly $300 million to settle more than 2,500 lawsuits alleging that Chantix caused various psychiatric problems, injuries and suicides. Two experts who studied Chantix for the Institute for Safe Medication Practices - one of the petitioning groups - also served as paid expert in the litigation against Pfizer. The FDA first began investigating potential side effects with Chantix in 2007, the year after it hit the market. The drug's labeling tells patients to stop taking Chantix immediately if they experience agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thinking and other behavioral changes. Doctors are advised to weigh the drug's risks against its potential benefit of helping patients quit smoking. Pfizer's drug works by binding to the same spots in the brain that are activated by nicotine when people smoke. The drug, known chemically as varenicline, blocks nicotine from binding to those spots and prevents the release of "feel-good" brain chemicals that make smoking so addictive. Chantix had global sales of $648 million last year. That was down about 26 percent from the drug's peak sales of $883 million in 2007. Pfizer shares rose 59 cents to $29.38. Its shares are down more than 4 percent in the year to date. http://news.yahoo.com/safety-advocates-seek-stronger-warnings-134405548.html Back to Top UI lab testing aircraft for pilotless future Tom Schnell has flown countless test flights over Iowa City in the University of Iowa's research aircraft at the Operator Performance Laboratory. But on a testing day last month, Schnell found himself in the unusual position of being more passenger than pilot in his own cockpit. Schnell's engineering lab, in a joint project with Rockwell Collins, recently completed a successful series of tests demonstrating the potential of one of the company's commercial avionics systems to be used for unmanned flights. The tests, project leaders say, are an early step toward pilotless aircraft safely soaring through U.S. airspace and the Federal Aviation Administration one day certifying the use of such unmanned systems. "Think of it as a feasibility test to see if that approach is viable, and it sure looked like it was," said Schnell, an engineering professor who directs UI's Operator Performance Laboratory at the Iowa City Airport. "It was very successful." In a demonstration for Rockwell leadership, Schnell was on board his lab's Beechcraft A-36 Bonanza as a safety pilot, but his work was largely relegated to takeoffs and landings. Instead, operators below guided the test flights via a ground station. Although drones have been used for years by the military, there is big potential for unmanned aircraft use in U.S. skies, both commercially and beyond, project leaders said. Possible applications run the gamut from air freight to agriculture to law enforcement to firefighting. But receiving FAA certification remains the biggest obstacle to unmanned planes becoming a reality, said Alex Postnikov, manager with the Advanced Technology Center at Rockwell Collins. "No one has been able to crack the tough nut, which is flying by the FAA rules," Postnikov said. "There's still quite a few things we need to figure out, but we're kind of on the verge, on the edge, of getting over that hurdle. "The moment they get blessed by the FAA, so to speak, we expect to see explosive market growth." Schnell's team, which began work on the Rockwell Collins-funded project last year, swapped out the antiquated controls of the Bonanza airplane with Rockwell's Pro Line Fusion system. Schnell said that instead of the full system being installed in the plane, however, it was essentially split in half to create a ground station to control the aircraft remotely. Schnell said an operator on the ground managing a flight isn't much different than how commercial airliners are flown today, with pilots doing little if any maneuvering during the flight. "It takes something like 18 keystrokes to go to London," Schnell said of a passenger jet. "If you look at how an airline flies, the most fun part is taxiing to the takeoff location - you're actually doing stuff there. As soon as gear comes up, autopilot comes on, now you're on the flight management system, and you don't touch that stick until 200 feet above the ground on the other side." Still, finding a way to automate the little things - from taxiing to the gates or de-icing - will be just as challenging, said Schnell, who said it could be five or 10 more years before unmanned planes become a reality. Rockwell Collins has become Operator Performance Laboratory primary partner in the years since the Cedar Rapids-based company first contracted the UI lab 14 years ago. Postnikov said this project is the latest positive result of that collaboration. "This work would not be possible without Tom Schnell's personal dedication to this, and the overall OPL," Postnikov said. "We value that relationships extremely highly." http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/university-of-iowa/2014/10/07/university-iowa-lab- helps-pilotless-aircraft-soar/16891059/ Back to Top BacktoTop Graduate Survey Research Request My name is Peter Evonuk and I am a graduate student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott. As part of my graduate research project, I am studying fatigue related to the use of night vision goggles (NVGs). I would greatly appreciate your support by completing the survey and offering your perceptions on fatigue from NVG operations. The target audience for the survey is pilots with NVG experience. The survey is completely anonymous. The survey should only take between 5 and 10 minutes of your time. Every response is greatly appreciated. The link to the survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NVGfatigue If you have any questions, you can contact me directly at evonukp@my.erau.edu . I greatly appreciate your support. Thanks, Peter Evonuk Back to Top Upcoming Events: 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 ERAU SMS Seminars Daytona Beach, FL Nov. 17-18 & 19-21, 2014 www.erau.edu/sms 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 Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) NTSB Training Center, Ashburn, VA March 10-11, 2015 www.acsf.aero/symposium FAA Helicopter Safety Effort three-day safety forum April 21-23, 2015 Hurst, Texas eugene.trainor@faa.gov www.faahelisafety.org Curt Lewis