Flight Safety Information October 28, 2014 - No. 219 In This Issue Majority of Australians say CASA doing good job FSF Endorses State Letter Arising From ICAO Task Force on Safety Information Protection Russia Air Safety Record Near Bottom of Global League US Airways Flight Blows Two Tires While Landing At Metro Airport Fire breaks out at Mexico City airport terminal, under control Honeywell Lets Google Glass Control Airplane Cabins Aircraft Carrying European Satellite Forced to Land in Ulyanovsk PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA China to Build Airstrip in Antarctica Aircraft design - Projected route Blow for former Blackwater tsar as Kenya Civil Aviation pulls air service license FAA Sends Plan To Congress To Accelerate Implementation Of NextGen Embry-Riddle UAS Challenge Upcoming Events Advertise with Flight Safety Information Majority of Australians say CASA doing good job CASA is looking to change the way community service flights are regulated. (CASA) A survey has found the public believe CASA is doing a good job. (CASA) More than five in 10 Australians believe the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is doing a good or great job, new figures show. The survey, commissioned by CASA and conducted by Galaxy Research, found 15 per cent of respondents believed the aviation regulator was doing a great job, while 41 per cent said CASA was doing a good job. Four per cent of respondents said CASA was doing a poor or very poor job. "The public generally believe Australia has a good safety record and attribute the low number of aircraft incidents to CASA's efforts and believe there are good regulations in place," the report said. Separately, the report found 80 per cent of Australians believed travelling on a commercial flight was just as safe or more safe than five years ago. Moreover, 60 per cent said commercial airline flights in Australia were safer than in the US or Europe. "There is a general impression among the public that aviation safety is improving due to developments in technology and stricter safety regulations," the report said. "However, a minority have raised concerns about maintenance regimes, safety checks and insufficient regulation across both charter and private aircraft operators." CASA's acting director of aviation safety (DAS) Terry Farquharson said it was "good news" Australians had a high level of confidence about aviation safety. "Everyone in Australian aviation can be proud that a large majority of the public views safety in a positive light and ranks safety in Australia ahead of the United States or Europe," Farquharson said in October's CASA Briefing published on Tuesday. "Overall, the news from this research is very good for Australian aviation and highlights how hard we must all work to protect and enhance our safety record." The survey of 1,019 respondents aged 18 years and over was conducted between September 2-4 2014. http://australianaviation.com.au/2014/10/majority-of-australians-say-casa-doing-good-job/ Back to Top FSF Endorses State Letter Arising From ICAO Task Force on Safety Information Protection Calls on all States to Position, Implement Recommendations to Protect Safety Information Alexandria, VA, October 27, 2014 - The Flight Safety Foundation announced today called for strong support and swift adoption of the recommendations developed by the ICAO Safety Information Protection Task Force (SIP TF), which were presented for comment to all the member states of ICAO for new amendments to Annex 6, 13, and 19 related to the protection of safety data. "If we are to enhance aviation safety along with increased traffic projections around the world, Contracting States must rely to a far greater extent on predictive, data-driven systems that rely on voluntary cooperation and agreements to ensure participation," stated Jon Beatty, FSF President and CEO, in the letter sent to ICAO today. "Yet, absent adequate SIP, these valuable open reporting systems will dry up and go away." Beatty added: "If some States continue to prosecute individuals and companies for well intentioned, but tragic mistakes, we may never learn why and how they made them to prevent it from happening again. If some States continue to introduce the entirety of official accident investigation reports into evidence to establish liability in civil litigation, then companies understandably will begin to take more adversarial and protective positions in accident investigations, which under Annex 13 are to be used solely for safety, not liability, purposes. If some State judicial systems sanction the compulsory discovery of voluntary disclosure reporting systems to establish liability, organized labor and companies will revisit their participation in these critical safety systems." According to Beatty, "States simply must take swift and comprehensive actions now to protect aviation safety data from its unintended use and abuse in both common and civil law justice systems." Beatty noted that the proposals embodied in the State Letter represent highly useful and effective means for States to implement adequate protection, regardless of their underlying legal systems. The SIP TF, with FSF general counsel Kenneth Quinn as vice-chair, was tasked in 2011 by ICAO to examine this issue and spent more than two years researching the issue of safety data protection. Its research included extensive sessions with family groups, prosecutors, aerospace companies, airlines, plaintiff's lawyers, and defense counsel. Several of its important recommendations include: * Create an environment that promotes the flow of safety information, voluntary reporting, and protection of those who voluntarily report; * Move away from voluntary guidance and require Contracting States to adjust their domestic legislation and regulations to meet ICAO's SIP Standards and Recommended Practices of Annexes 6, 13, and 19; * Provide Contracting States clear parameters on using safety information (i.e., providing a definition of appropriate and inappropriate uses) and require Contracting States to adopt formal procedures for the protection of safety information, with a clear focus on maintaining and improving aviation safety, balance of the Contracting States' need for the proper administration of justice, and cooperation with Contracting States' judicial authorities; * Permit flexibility for Contracting States to meet the SIP principles according to the laws and regulations of each State; * Call upon Contracting States to assign internal responsibilities with regard to SIP, requiring the establishment of a competent authority to determine exceptions to the protection of safety information under the particular facts and circumstances; * Recognize that the disclosure of safety information should remain exceptional (i.e., situations of gross negligence or willful misconduct) and justified (i.e., necessary to maintain and improve safety) for the use of such information in the administration of justice. The Foundation called on all States to support the important safety advances by endorsing this State Letter by October 31, 2014. Flight Safety Foundation is an independent, non-profit, international organization engaged in research, education, advocacy and publishing to improve aviation safety. The Foundation's mission is to be the leading voice of safety for the global aerospace community. www.flightsafety.org Back to Top Russia Air Safety Record Near Bottom of Global League Regardless of who is to blame for the death of Total's boss at the Moscow airport favored by President Vladimir Putin, it reinforces an indisputable fact: Russia's air-safety record is dreadful and the wave of crashes is not abating. Numerous official investigations and a crackdown in recent years have done nothing to raise Russia from near the bottom of the global league, largely due to weak regulation and the effects of sky-high alcohol consumption. Only a few hours after the private jet of Christophe de Margerie hit a snow plow on take off from Vnukovo Airport, fingers were already being pointed. Russian investigators accused the snow-plow's driver of being drunk, saying they were also examining the actions of air traffic controllers and the flight crew. The snow-plow driver rejected the allegations. "He considers himself guiltless as he followed all the instructions from the dispatcher," his lawyer Alexander Karabanov told Reuters. "Relatives are afraid that the airport authorities are just trying to make him ultimately responsible to avoid billions in lawsuits which are for sure to follow." Nevertheless, no one denies the plow drove onto a runway into the path of the jet, killing de Margerie, chief executive of the fourth largest Western oil company, and three crew in the crash around midnight on Monday. "This is a glaring fact and I think this will have big repercussions - and that's the last thing Russia wants,"Alexander Romanov, an air safety expert, told Reuters. Romanov declined to elaborate on these repercussions, but in the accident Putin lost a close associate at an airport that he himself uses for frequent flights around Russia and abroad, sometimes as often as several times per week. Total is one of the biggest foreign investors in Russia. The French oil and gas group expects its output there to double by 2020 and de Margerie vocally opposed Western economic sanctions imposed over the Kremlin's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment on whether the crash posed any security risks to Putin. Vnukovo, the smallest of three main airports serving Moscow, opened during World War II as a military base but has undergone a major modernisation in recent years. It handled more than 12 million passengers last year, most of them on flights that used the runway on which de Margerie died. Putin, along with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and some visiting heads of government use a separate terminal and another runway which crosses the one that normally carries commercial flights. "As such, this is unlikely to have implications for Putin, but for sure there will be increased checks, increased security before Putin's next trip," a high-ranking Russian security source told Reuters. Officers from Putin's Federal Protection Service and the Federal Security Service were sent to the airport after the crash, the source added. "The same runway or not, it is the same airport. You need to wonder how secure it is," said another security source, who declined to be named. Drunk-Tractor Factor According to the International Air Transport Association, Russia and the other former republics of the Soviet Union grouped in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have some of the worst air- safety records in the world. In its latest annual review, IATA said there had been a "significant deterioration in safety" in the CIS last year. The previous year it ranked the region as second worst in the world in terms of airline safety, just ahead of Africa, a marginal improvement from 2011 when it was bottom of the table. Analysis of accident statistics last year showed that flying as a commercial airline passenger in Russiawas roughly four times as dangerous as the world average. Worldwide, one passenger died for every 4.7 million that board a commercial airliner. In Russia, that ratio was one to 1.2 million, according to figures from IATA, the Aviation Safety Network website and Russia's Rosaviation agency. Aside from the disputed circumstances of de Margerie's death, alcohol is often a factor in fatal transport accidents in Russia, where people each bought on average more than 10 liters of hard liquor last year, according to consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor. Andrei Litvinov, an aviation expert and pilot with Russian flag carrier Aeroflot, said he had often seen clearly intoxicated drivers at the wheel of airport ground vehicles. "'Look, there's a drunk tractor driving' we used to say when someone was driving a tractor or a baggage cart," he told Reuters. "It happened really often." Frequently the blame has fallen on air crew themselves. Investigators determined that the pilot of an aircraft belonging to a domestic subsidiary of Aeroflot, which crashed in 2008 killing 88 people, had alcohol in his blood and had become disoriented. In 2012, investigators said both pilots were drunk when their An-28 plane slammed into a forest on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. Ten people were killed. In 2011, a drunken navigator contributed to a crash in Petrozavodsk that killed 47 people when his instructions led an inexperienced pilot to attempt a fatal landing in heavy fog, according to investigators. Alcohol misuse is only one problem in an industry that has also faced criticism over poor training and weak regulation. When a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing crashed in Kazan last November, killing all 50 on board, it led to a wide- ranging investigation into how Russia's airline industry is regulated. Investigators said the civil aviation watchdog had licensed training centers without appropriate credentials, and some had issued fake licenses to underqualified pilots. Despite the recent crackdown, critics say that regulation remains weak. "No one is dealing with it in a serious and systematic way," Litvinov said. "Unless we have a systematic approach to civil aviation we will have to plug these holes: someone got drunk, or some airfield was in poor condition, or some traffic controller was tired ... This will go on forever." http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2014/10/23/344529.htm Back to Top US Airways Flight Blows Two Tires While Landing At Metro Airport ROMULUS (WWJ) - U.S. Airways Flight 2088 was landing around 8:45 p.m. Monday evening when the A- 320 Airbus blew two tires. Flight 2088 originated in Atlanta, then went to Charlotte, before coming to Detroit. Detroit Metro Airport spokesman Mike Conway said that the plane had 150 people onboard. "The US Airways A-320 landed on runway 21-Right and blew a couple of tires, basically disintegrated the tires" Conway said. "The aircraft cannot taxi to the gate." No one on board the aircraft was injured and the passengers and crew are being taken to the terminal by shuttle buses. "The airport authority made arrangements for buses to go out to the aircraft and we have, at this point, unloaded all the passengers onto these buses," Conway said. "We've taken them over to gate D-17 at the North Terminal." At least two Delta flights were diverted to Cleveland when the incident occurred. "We have an aircraft that's disabled on one of our runways - actually an intersection of a runway and a taxiway," Conway said. "There's a lot of tire debris out there, so all of that's going to have to be cleaned up and the runway will need to be inspected for damage before we can reopen it." WWJ was tipped earlier that emergency vehicles had surrounded an unknown plane on the tarmac. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/10/27/us-airways-flight-blows-two-tires-while-landing-at-metro-airport/ Back to Top Fire breaks out at Mexico City airport terminal, under control (Reuters) - A fire broke out at Mexico international airport's Terminal 2 building on Monday, but the blaze was controlled without serious damage, an airport spokeswoman said. TV footage showed smoke billowing from an upper section of the building and local media reported the fire broke out in an area that houses fast-food restaurants. The airport spokeswoman said there were no reports of injuries. Mexico's government is planning to build a new $9.15 billion international airport near the current site that will ramp up capacity at the hub. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/28/us-mexico-airport-fire-idUSKBN0IH00Z20141028 Back to Top Honeywell Lets Google Glass Control Airplane Cabins We've seen reports of airports and airlines testing out Google Glass with employees on the ground, at the gate, and even while in flight to help improve customer service in new and innovative ways, but what about bringing cabin control to the customer via Glass? Honeywell International, producers of aerospace systems, engineering services and other commercial and consumer products, demonstrated Glass controlling the company's Ovation Select cabin management system for use in private jets at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention this year. Cabin functionality controlled by Glass includes temperature, access to flight information, cabin lighting, music volume, electronic window shades, and more. This is part of a "rapid-prototyping" effort in exploring functionality using Glass and other wearable technology such as smartwatches. Honeywell has been developing Glass control of their cabin management system since February of this year and released an informational video back in September of a flight attendant using Glass to prepare the cabin for a flight (embedded below). Customers that already have the Ovation Select system installed can request Beta access to Honeywell's Glass program if interested. No word on if Honeywell would provide Glass to customers, but seeing as how current customers probably own the private jets using Honeywell's Ovation Select system, it's safe to bet they will not have any problem scraping together the $1500 required to buy their own device if the need arises. Google Glass In Flight | Productivity | Honeywell http://glassalmanac.com/honeywell-lets-google-glass-can-control-airplane- cabins/6476/#sthash.M7B9czZI.dpuf Back to Top Aircraft Carrying European Satellite Forced to Land in Ulyanovsk to Depart in 2-3 Hours Antonov An-124 Ruslan transport aircraft KAZAN, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Antonov An-124 Ruslan transport aircraft carrying a European satellite forced to land in Ulyanovsk because of an engine failure will depart for the Baikonur space center within two or three hours, a representative of the Volga-Dnepr Group, Andrei Matveyev, told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. "Most likely, the defect will be fixed within two hours, maximum three hours, and the aircraft will be able to continue the flight," Matveyev said. According to preliminary data, the reason for aircraft's forced landing in Ulyanovsk was the failure of one of the engines, public relations specialist at the Ulyanovsk Department of Internal Affairs on Transport Galina Grigorenko told RIA Novosti earlier in the day. The plane was flying from Moscow to Baikonur with 20 people on board. The Volga-Dnepr Group, the owner of the plane, has announced that the cargo was not damaged during the forced landing. http://en.ria.ru/world/20141028/194722637/Aircraft-Carrying-European-Satellite-Forced-to-Land-in- Ulyanovsk.html Back to Top Back to Top China to Build Airstrip in Antarctica China will build an airstrip in Antarctica, a new step in the rapid strengthening of its presence in the white continent where it already has four research stations, reported Monday the state press. This infrastructure will be used to transport men and material, to the four bases that China has in Antarctica in the southern hemisphere, where it also plans to build a new station beginning in 2015, the newspaper Evening News Beijing said. Chinese researchers are currently "dependent on sea transport," which "seriously affects their capacity for scientific research" in waters often unnavigable due to ice, the paper said. Thirty nations have a research station in Antarctica, Beijing has devoted significant resources to strengthen the Chinese presence. These efforts were illustrated by the repeated tasks of the Chinese icebreaker MV Xue Long (Snow Dragon) in the region. On the other side of the globe, China, the world's largest energy consumer, is also looking to establish itself in the Arctic where the vast hydrocarbon reserves are still up for grabs. http://www.cubiclane.com/2014/10/27/china-build-airstrip-antarctica-51368 Back to Top Aircraft design - Projected route DESIGNING commercial aircraft would be a whole lot easier if manufacturers didn't have to consider the pesky customers. Take windows. They are a pain to include on a plane because they must be reinforced, as must the fuselage that houses them. That adds weight, complexity and, ultimately, expense in the form of higher fuel costs. Yet for reasons best known to them, airline passengers like to be able to look out of a porthole while zooming down the runway or flying over a mountain range. CPI, an organisation that helps firms develop new technology, thinks it might have found an answer. It is working on a fuselage in which there are no windows. Instead, a high-resolution digital display, made up of panels running the entire length of the cabin wall, would project the image from outside the plane, captured by external cameras. This would make the plane seem as if it had one long, continuous window (see picture above). According to CPI's blurb, the system could correct the displayed images for parallax, which would: ...increase the sensation of looking out of a window, rather than looking at a projected image. Internal tracking cameras could be used to project the image onto the screen from the point of view of the passenger- moving the image in accordance with the movements of the passenger's head. Images would be relayed from a series of cameras mounted on the fuselage, potentially giving each display an uninterrupted view of the exterior (avoiding the wings and engines). If the view at 30,000 feet got boring, any image would do-perhaps some mood lighting to help passengers sleep. Potentially everyone wins. Display panels are much lighter than building windows, so flying costs come down. Passengers, meanwhile, get a panoramic view rather than neckache from peeking through an oversized peephole. Even better, it will mean the end of that jealous moment when you realise that the other side of the plane is enjoying a particularly stunning view over London or the Golden Gate Bridge while you only have sky to stare at; the windowless plane can just project the same view to both sides of the aisle. CPI reckons the technology could be included on aircraft within a decade. The big problem, Gulliver reckons, is a philosophical one. One might call it "The Matrix" conundrum. If you are flying past the Northern Lights, and the view have of them is being projected onto the cabin, can you claim to have really seen them? http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2014/10/aircraft-design Back to Top Blow for former Blackwater tsar as Kenya Civil Aviation pulls air service license Erik Prince "No Blackwater shenanigans in Kenya" appears to be the message sent out by Kenya's Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) when news emerged that Kijipwa Aviation Limited, a locally-incorporated airline with a base at their own airfield in Kilifi county, Kenya coast, was denied the renewal of their air service license, effectively grounding them. Blackwater founder Erik Prince, through the Hong Kong-based FSG company where his is now serving as Chairman of the Board, had acquired a 49 percent stake in Kijipwa earlier this year, surprising pundits and aviation observers what purpose such an acquisition could have, considering the location and size of the airline, and yet appears to have paid for the share in what appears way over market price. This was then followed by the acquisition of Phoenix Aviation which is based at Nairobi's Wilson Airport, first again a 49 percent minority share before reportedly taking over the company altogether in an outright buyout. A source close to the KCAA has indicated that the licensing committee had raised questions on the actual control of Kijipwa, cognizant of the fact that Kenya's laws permit only a foreign shareholding of up to 49 percent, which if correct will also throw some serious doubts over future license renewals for Phoenix, where no doubt similar questions are already being asked by the regulators. Foreign investors have often negated such limitations by using local law firms or proxy shareholders to hold the critical majority share in trust, with trusted individuals then acting in meetings of the board or annual or extraordinary general meetings of the company strictly on directives by the true owners, in many cases often backed up by signed but undated share transfer forms and resignation letters as directors, held over the individuals to ensure compliance with "instructions and orders." In the case of FSG and Kijipwa, the 49 percent barrier does not appear to have been breached, unless the regulators came across additional information not yet in the public domain, while for Phoenix this threshold appears to have been crossed when FSG got permission from the competition watchdog for a full acquisition and then, according to business and financial media in Kenya, proceeded with the buyout. Considering the hard push by Chinese companies into the emerging oil businesses in Eastern Africa, in South Sudan, Ugand,a and Kenya, it remains to be seen what inevitable leverage if not brute pressure will be brought to bear on Kenyan authorities to take a fresh look and it is already understood that Kijipwa Aviation and by prolongation FSG will appeal the KCAA decision, seeking to have the company's air service license restored and renewed. Any contracts already signed between Kijipwa and clients in the oil industry, will no doubt now be hanging in suspense and with the potential revenues lost this will no doubt be an added incentive for Kijipwa and FSG to pull out all stops to regain their license and resume operations. Meanwhile, according to a message received from an aviator from Nairobi, several glasses were raised at the Aero Club of East Africa's bar at Wilson Airport when the news broke, which if true would signal the strength of sentiment against FSG in general and Prince's past track record as a defense contractor in Iraq in particular. http://www.eturbonews.com/51911/blow-former-blackwater-tsar-kenya-civil-aviation-pulls-air-servi Back to Top FAA Sends Plan To Congress To Accelerate Implementation Of NextGen After receiving widespread criticism from Congress and the aviation industry for the slow rollout of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), the Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) collaborated with the aviation community to devise a plan to pick up momentum. Earlier this month, the FAA and aviation community sent a plan to Congress to show how the FAA will accelerate the benefits of NextGen-a 20-year initiative developed to usher in a new generation of aviation by switching to technologies and procedures that enhance the FAA's ability to track aircraft safely, securely and efficiently. Throughout 2014, the FAA collaborated with the NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC)-which includes officials from the airlines, airports, general aviation, pilots, labor unions and safety specialists, manufacturers, international aviation, environmentalists and the Department of Defense-to determine which activities the FAA could accomplish in the next three years and which industry commitments could help them reach those goals. "We are finishing the foundational pieces of NextGen," said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. "Now is the time to increase our focus on deploying benefits and capabilities to the airlines and flying public. Collaboration like this with our stakeholders-airlines, pilots, controllers, manufacturers-is the key to the success of NextGen." In July 2013, the FAA tasked the NAC with reviewing its current modernization plans to identify the NextGen capabilities that would provide the highest value to stakeholders. Later, the House Aviation Subcommittee asked the FAA and the NAC to define milestones, locations, timelines, costs and metrics for this work in a report to Congress. Under the plan, the NextGen Priorities Joint Implementation Plan, the FAA will work with aviation industry stakeholders to meet specific milestones and timelines in an effort to improve several key areas including multiple runway operations, performance-based navigation, surface operations and data communications. The FAA's plan to institute new NextGen procedures through the use of Multiple Runway Operations at 36 locations nationwide "to increase airport efficiency and reduce flight delays." "The flying public and all of the involved parties will benefit from aircraft flying more directly to their destinations throughout the country," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "We'll all enjoy improved safety and efficiency, while reducing carbon emissions and noise pollution." The agency also plans to deploy satellite-based navigation procedures known as Performance Based Navigation at three key metropolitan areas - Northern California, Atlanta and Charlotte. According to the plan, "Benefits include shorter and more direct flight paths, improved airport arrival rates, enhanced controller productivity, increased safety due to repeatable and predictable flight paths, fuel savings and a reduction in aviation's adverse environmental impact." In addition, the plan also calls for enhanced surface operations and data sharing with stakeholders. The FAA hopes that these enhancements will increase predictability and provide actionable and measurable surface efficiency improvements. "Some of the greatest efficiencies can be gained while an aircraft is still on the ground," the report stated. By enhancing data communications services between pilots and air traffic controllers, the FAA hopes to enhance safety by reducing communication errors, increase controller productivity by reducing communication time between controllers and pilots, and increase airspace capacity and efficiency while reducing delays, fuel burn and carbon emissions. According to the plan, "Data Comm is critical to the success of NextGen, enabling efficiencies not possible with the current voice system." However, the success of the Data Comm program leans on collaboration between the FAA and industry stakeholders. "One of my first actions as Deputy Administrator was asking our industry stakeholders for a prioritized list of NextGen capabilities," said FAA Deputy Administrator Mike Whitaker. "Today's agreement lays out a clear path for the delivery of four of those capabilities and, more importantly, reflects what can be accomplished when industry and FAA work together," Whitaker said, adding, "The priorities outlined in this plan will deliver real benefits to the traveling public in the near- term: reducing flight delays, enhancing safety and increasing predictability." MITRE's independent assessment of NextGen At the FAA's request, MITRE conducted an independent review of the NextGen program to determine where NextGen is today and to help refine plans and expectations for the future. "All told, the MITRE assessment is a valuable reminder of the course we set out on, an objective look at where we stand, and most importantly, a timely and educated view of areas where we might consider adjustments to improve the outcome," the FAA said in a statement. MITRE, a not-for-profit organization that operates research and development centers sponsored by the federal government, asserted the FAA has made great strides toward the modernization of the national airspace system. However, the report indicated that, "There are many gaps between the FAA's documented descriptions of NextGen and what can reasonably be accomplished by 2020." MITRE's assessment found the FAA's long-term success in implementing the NextGen initiative hinges not only on funding, but also on enhanced collaboration with the aviation community. "The FAA created its mid-term NextGen plans when federal budgets were less constrained than they are today. MITRE's observations will inform our ongoing deliberations about tradeoffs and prioritization," the FAA said. "The assessment and recommendations point to areas where improved training, national policies or clearer governance could improve the realization of NextGen benefits." In particular, MITRE stressed three fundamental challenges facing the FAA: user adoption, operational transition and technical maturity. In moving forward with NextGen, the report recommended the FAA take more than 35 specific actions to advance the program. MITRE's report arrived on the heels of the fire at the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center at the end of September. Although authorities expect arson, the FAA was criticized for not having an effective back-up system. Huerta pointed to the development of NextGen, which will provide a new air traffic control system with backup systems that could address a similar situation in the future. "It will provide us the infrastructure that we need to seamlessly and quickly transition between facilities, as well as give us additional operational capabilities," Huerta said. However, as Homeland Security Today reported at the end of August, numerous red flags regarding the FAA's new air traffic control system -- the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) - were raised in a recent Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit. The OIG expressed concerns that the failure of STARS could affect the success of NextGen, stating that, "Because STARS is on the critical path to introducing NextGen capabilities, these risks also impact the long-term viability of NextGen." http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/daily-news-analysis/single-article/faa-sends-plan-to-congress-to- accelerate-implementation-of-nextgen/1641a49adfc0ea665a8819ae93347f4c.html Back to Top Embry-Riddle UAS Challenge We're holding another Challenge at the Wings Over Houston Airshow, 1-2 Nov 14 and would appreciate any publicity you would offer. Below is our official press release and the registration/rule info is located at: http://worldwide.erau.edu/Assets/worldwide/data/Houston%20UAS%20Challenge.pdf Back to Top Upcoming Events: ERAU UAS Challenge November 1-2, 2014 Houston, TX http://worldwide.erau.edu/Assets/worldwide/data/Houston%20UAS%20Challenge.pdf 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 2014 Global FOD Prevention Conference Birds, Bolts, Budgets - Tracking the Dangers of Foreign Objects and What We Can Do About It Reagan National Airport 2 December 2014 www.stopfod.com ERAU UAS FUNDAMENTALS COURSE December 9 - 11, 2014 ERAU Daytona Beach Campus, FL www.daytonabeach.erau.edu/uas A3IR CON 2015 January 16-17, 2015 Phoenix, AZ http://commons.erau.edu/aircon/2015/ 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 IS-BAO Workshop Information and Registration 12 - 13 Nov. 2014 Omaha, Nebraska USA 18 - 19 Nov. 2014 Houston, TX USA 2 - 3 Dec. 2014 Orlando, FL USA 6 - 7 Dec. 2014 Dubai, UAE 13 - 14 Jan. 2015 Baltimore, MD USA https://www.regonline.com/CalendarNET/EventCalendar.aspx?EventID=1592658&view=Month Back to Top Advertise with Flight Safety Information Reach a large domestic & global customer base Reasonable rates. Contact: curt@curt-lewis.com (817)845-3983 Curt Lewis