Flight Safety Information December 22, 2014 - No. 257 In This Issue FAA issues safety warning for homemade planes Air safety chiefs set to scrap rules on toy drones (U.K.) Air Do ordered to improve safety by Japan gov't. Delta Air Lines Fixes Bug, Claims No Impact On Safety Three Air-bag Accidents At Boeing Plant Lead To Extra Safety Measures Pilot shortage grounds flights at regional airports Aircraft Crashes in Congaree River PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA This app helps you land an airplane Airbus delivers first A350 jet, at long last Eastern Airlines returns to Miami with first Boeing 737 ERAU NextGen 101 Seminar - Washington, D.C. New...GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship Upcoming Events FAA issues safety warning for homemade planes An Experimental Lancair IV-P airplane lies beached on Hilton Head Island, S.C. / AP photo JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - High-performance homemade planes like the one that killed a beach jogger last week in South Carolina are prone to stall, especially when going slower while waiting to land, and have been involved in a disproportionately large number of fatal accidents, federal officials warned Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a safety advisory to pilots that the Lancair, which is built from kits, and others like it have design characteristics that allow the planes to fly much faster than most small planes. However, the agency says, those characteristics can also "expose pilots to additional risk during slowspeed operations while close to the ground and with little time to recover from an unintentional stall." The agency also cautioned that since the planes are built by amateurs each one "may have unique flight handling characteristics." An FAA analysis found that the planes have experienced fatal accident rates substantially higher than other small, personal use planes, including other types of planes made from kits, the advisory said. Lancair kits are made by Lancair International Inc. of Redmond, Ore. Joseph Bartels, owner of Lancair, said the planes won't stall if they are constructed and operated according to the company's specifications and FAA regulations. The problem, he said, is that pilots sometimes fly the planes at speeds slower than they are designed to fly. Pilots should know a plane's speed limits since that information is provided, Bartels said. The company's Web sites says it has sold 1,870 plane kits in 34 countries. The planes include both turbine and piston engine models, some capable of speeds up to 370 mph. A typical small plane is capable of speeds about 150 mph. Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones, 38, was listening to music while jogging on a Hilton Head Island beach when he was struck and killed by a Lancair. The plane took off from Orlando, Fla., and was en route to Virginia when it started leaking oil. The pilot was trying to land on the beach when the craft struck Jones. The pilot and a passenger walked away from the accident. Eighty-two people in the U.S. were killed in 2008 in accidents involving planes built from kits, according the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's safety foundation. Kit-built planes accounted for 18 percent of noncommercial plane accidents that year even though they logged less than 5 percent of the flight time, the foundation said. The accident rate for kit aircraft, including amateur-built helicopters, is more than seven times higher than for other noncommercial aircraft, the foundation said. Dick Knapinski, a spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association, disagreed with the foundation's calculations, saying there were fewer home-built aircraft accidents than portrayed. http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=435254#.VJgjv14AAA Back to Top Air safety chiefs set to scrap rules on toy drones (U.K.) AVIATION safety chiefs are set to exempt toy drones from strict rules that could land parents with a hefty fine this Christmas. Remote-controlled quadcopters - commonly referred to as drones - are one of the hit toys this Christmas with thousands of the machines set to be unwrapped on December 25. But even tiny toy drones made of foam and costing as little as £30 are subject to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) rules which mean they cannot be flown within 50 metres of a building. All drones, including small "toy" models, are banned from flying within 50m of buildings Breaking the rule could land the offender with a £5,000 fine. A CAA spokesman yesterday confirmed they were considering a rule change, although it is unlikely to happen before Christmas. He said: "With devices weighing less than a kilogramme there are much smaller safety risks and the CAA is considering introducing an exemption for these very small devices in the near future. "These are typically hand held devices and the toy end of the market." He added: "I don't think we will do it before Christmas." Riccardo De Felice, owner of Marionville Models in Edinburgh,said there has been a "boom" in the drone business. "On Christmas day the skies will be black," he said. "The thing with drones is you can buy one from £20 to £1,000. The size of the market is huge." He said the CAA is facing an increasingly difficult task keeping up with developments. "The drone market didn't exist 20 years ago," he said. "Some are so small and light if you get hit by one it isn't going to injure you. It isn't going to be pleasant but it's not a big deal." He said an exception for devices under 1kg would be a "clever move" as the law as it stands would be unenforceable. "There will be no arrests of little Johnny on Christmas day," he said, although technically many children will be on the wrong side of the law. He continued: "Even a multirotor made from foam flying in a congested area is technically breaking the law. "I'm sure the CAA will do the right thing in the end. This would definitely be a step in the right direction." Short URL: http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/?p=66296 Back to Top Air Do ordered to improve safety by Japan gov't TOKYO -- Japanese transport authorities on Friday ordered a budget airline to boost safety standards after it promoted a trainee to a full-blown pilot despite worries over ability. Air Do, which links Tokyo to cities in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido in a tie-up with major carrier All Nippon Airways, was also found lax on aircraft maintenance check-ups. The government said a co-pilot on training at Air Do bungled a landing at Chitose airport in Hokkaido on Sept. 11 by coming in too quickly. The instructor gave a good mark, paving the way for promotion, but when the company examined flight data, the error became apparent. They nevertheless let the trainee's promotion stand. "The company's training systems for flight crews is not functioning properly," the transport ministry said in its order to Air Do. The ministry also noted Air Do was found to have put off necessary regular check-ups on aircraft. The company was ordered to submit measures for improvement by Jan. 30. No immediate comment or details were available from Air Do. The incident came to light as Japan grapples with a growing shortage of qualified pilots. Other Japanese budget airlines canceled flights earlier this year because they did not have enough people to fly their planes. The U.N.'s aviation agency warned two years ago that demand for pilots is expected to double by 2030, with the shortage of crew particularly acute in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where markets are expanding rapidly. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/company-focus/2014/12/20/424420/Air-Do.htm Back to Top Delta Air Lines Fixes Bug, Claims No Impact On Safety Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) recently released a statement regarding the boarding pass bug that allowed passengers to access someone else's boarding pass. Delta Air Lines This particular security glitch could not have come at a worst time now that we're in the holiday travel season. Thanks to this bug, passengers could easily use the website to trade their own boarding pass URL with another passenger's boarding pass and then use it for themselves. The bug was initially discovered on Monday when a security researcher named Dani Grant who works as a Buzzfeed intern and is a founder of Hackers of NY. A concern for safety Grant claimed the bug allowed her to switch URLs to generate boarding passes for flights on Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL). Paul Skrbec, a representative for Delta, reports the bug has since been fixed and that Delta's information tech teams resolved the issue quickly to prevent future problems. Skrbec also said there was no impact on flight safety with the bug. At press time, Delta does not know of any compromised accounts. He added, "We routinely monitor and perform analysis of data to ensure privacy for our customers. We apologize for any concern this [the bug] may have caused." Grant opens up about security flaw Grant added on Twitter that the security flaw could have been taken advantage of for nefarious purposes, but airport safety procedures would have prevented lapses. Gizmodo contacted Grant for more information involving the incident. She sent two URLs. The first URL was used in early November for a flight between Los Angeles and San Francisco. She claimed she changed one single digit on her pass URL. She could even log into Delta's site as other passengers and change seating assignments or access other personal details. In the age of technology, the need for safety and security has become even more important. The fact Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) got to the bottom of the matter right away is a good thing, but only time will tell how this affects the company's image. http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/12/delta-airlines-fixed-boarding-pass-bug-claims-it-had-no- impact-on-flight-safety/ Back to Top Three Air-bag Accidents At Boeing Plant Lead To Extra Safety Measures Boeing 787 Dreamliner under construction is pictured at the Boeing facility in Everett SEATTLE (Reuters) - Workers at planemaker Boeing's Everett plant near Seattle are following extra safety measures after three air bag-related accidents, including the death of a technician last month, the company said on Friday. No one was seriously hurt when an air bag deployed on Dec. 13 as a seat supplier technician was working on a Zodiac Aerospace seat on a plane being readied for delivery, Boeing spokesman Wilson Chow said. "We understand that employees are concerned," Chow said, adding the company was holding meetings with workers and was implementing additional safeguards and inspections. "We are confident the system is safe to work on and to be around, and the seat-belt air bag poses no risk to the flying public," Chow said. The accidental discharge of a seat-belt airbag happened because a bent connector pin caused a short circuit, he said. Chow confirmed a third incident but could not provide specifics, such as injuries or cause. A technician for aircraft interior supplier Jamco America died after being struck in the face when a passenger seat air-bag inflator discharged while he and another technician from a different supplier were working on a 777 on Nov. 13, the Seattle Times newspaper reported. A source who declined to be named said that workers were now following extra safety measures, including using caution tape to cordon off the seats. The Dec. 13 incident involved an actual air bag deployment, Chow said, while the Nov. 13 incident happened as the system was partially assembled. "There is widespread concern," Connie Kelliher, spokeswoman for International Association of Machinists, District Lodge 751, told the newspaper. "We are actively involved and working to ensure our members concerns are addressed." http://www.businessinsider.com/r-three-air-bag-accidents-at-boeing-plant-lead-to-extra- safety-measures-2014-12#ixzz3MdLEAz2e Back to Top Pilot shortage grounds flights at regional airports At 7:30 in the morning, the terminal inside Cheyenne, Wyoming's regional airport looks like a weary traveler's dream. It's quiet, there are no lines and parking is free. But Susan Mark is still tense. "I'm just hoping there is a plane and a pilot," she says. "Because I have had both not show up before." Fellow passenger Julia Tipsword says more than half the time her flight out of Cheyenne is canceled. The airline does accommodate her, she says - by putting her on a bus to the Denver airport. These sorts of experiences may explain why it's so empty here: This morning's flight to Denver has seven people on it. Jim Schell, aviation manager at Cheyenne Regional, isn't surprised the flight is so empty. Daily flights out of Cheyenne have been cut in half in the last year, and cancellations have skyrocketed. Small airports need to have 10,000 people get on and off planes each year to qualify for the full amount of Federal Aviation Administration infrastructure funding. For Cheyenne, that comes to $1 million a year. This year, the airport won't even get half that many passengers and as a result its federal funding will drop by about $800,000, Schell says. That money means "being able to reconstruct portions of our runaway when we need it," Schell says. "It definitely is a big deal, and it is not going to go away." Lots of small airports are on track to lose FAA funding this year, and that is going to hurt. In Wyoming alone, regional airports generate $1.4 billion in annual economic activity. Regional airports may be suffering but it is not their fault. The problem is a lack of pilots. A few blocks from Cheyenne Regional is Wings of Wyoming, a local flight school that used to train a lot of pilots who flew for the local airline. But last year, Congress raised the minimum number of flight hours needed for a commercial pilot license from 250 to 1,500. Members were reacting to a deadly crash caused by an inexperienced pilot. The change has had a big effect on the airline industry. Putting in a few hundred hours to get hired at a regional airline was doable, says flight instructor Ron Burnett. "But to get 1500 hours, that takes a long time. That could take a couple years," he says. Traditionally, young pilots joined regional airlines, which served as a feeder system for national carriers. But Burnett says the new flight-hour standards have made it extremely difficult for young pilots to even qualify for a regional job. Roger Cohen, head of the Regional Airline Association, says regional airlines and airports are hurting now, but bigger cities are next. About a quarter of the pilots at major airlines are expected to retire over the next six years or so, and they're going to need to be replaced, he says. "And where are those pilots going to come from? The pipeline has not only been shrunk, the pipeline has been severed," Cohen says. There is some hope for small airports like Cheyenne Regional: A House Republican has proposed a law that would require the FAA to keep them fully funded. That would help in the short term, but without a fresh crop of pilots, these airports won't be bustling anytime soon. http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/pilot-shortage-grounds-flights-regional-airports Back to Top Aircraft Crashes in Congaree River Calhoun County, SC (WLTX) - The Department of Natural Resources says a Mooney 20 aircraft landed in the Congaree River Saturday afternoon. Authorities say the single engine aircraft crashed at approximately 2:15 p.m. near the Carolina Eastman Facility. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft departed from the Jim Hamilton- LB Owens Airport. The plane is completely submerged in the water. The pilot was taken to the hospital and has been released. He was not injured. The crash remains under investigation by the FAA. http://www.wltx.com/story/news/local/2014/12/20/plane-crashes-in-congaree- river/20699663/ Back to Top Back to Top This app helps you land an airplane The new iPad app Xavion connects with a small plane's autopilot via Wi-Fi that would guide you to the nearest airport or safe landing area. WASHINGTON: Here comes an app that would help you land your plane in case the aircraft engine fails. The new iPad app Xavion connects with a small plane's autopilot via Wi-Fi that would guide you to the nearest airport or safe landing area. The Xavion App extracts data from the autopilot to provide additional aid to the pilot. The pilot can then make an informed decision and land the plane safely. "Our tests took us practically all the way down to touchdown. If the pilot didn't take over, he would have just had a hard landing, broken the landing gear, and everyone would have walked away," Austin Meyer, who has developed the app, was quoted as saying in online portal Popular Science. The app can help the pilots navigate their way to a safe landing spot, be it at an airport or a vacant field. It can provide weight and balance checks, and also estimate fuel burn and time to your destination at various altitudes. A new update will let App take control of the autopilot making any human intervention unnecessary. Priced at $199, the app is available now on the Apple App store. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/apps/This-app-helps-you-land-an- airplane/articleshow/45602982.cms Back to Top Airbus delivers first A350 jet, at long last An Airbus A350 XWB flies on display during Farnborough International Air Show, Farnborough, England, Monday, July 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Sang Tan) PARIS * Airbus has at last delivered its first A350 jet, handing over the wide-body plane to Qatar Airways after years of delays and a multibillion-dollar redesign. The European planemaker hopes the A350 XWB will help it catch up in a long-haul market dominated by rival Boeing's 777 and 787. Airbus revamped the original A350 design to make it more fuel-efficient and marketable. Hoping to turn the page on the plane's difficult beginnings, Airbus delivered the first A350 to Qatar Airways on Monday in a ceremony in Toulouse in southern France. It's the company's first new-generation passenger jet since the superjumbo A380. Qatar is working to transform itself into a major aviation hub as the natural gas-rich Gulf nation prepares to host the soccer World Cup in 2022. http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/airbus-delivers-first-a-jet-at-long- last/article_1912a942-35ea-5755-ba9a-cfb14777fd56.html Back to Top Eastern Airlines returns to Miami with first Boeing 737 Eastern Airlines planes can again be spotted at Miami International Airport. A start-up outfit that hopes to reboot the Eastern Airlines brand took delivery of its first aircraft Friday in Miami. The jet received a water-cannon salute upon arrival to the airport. The aircraft shown Friday is a Boeing 737-800 that previously flew for Kenya Airways, according to Airways News. Beyond that first aircraft, Eastern has placed orders with Boeing for 10 new 737-800s. The carrier also has options for 10 newer-version models of the jet. The Sun Sentinel of South Florida writes "the effort to relaunch the U.S. passenger airline is spearheaded by Miami-based Eastern Air Lines Group Inc., which bought the intellectual properties of the former iconic airline brand in 2011." The company intends to start with charter flights before expanding into regularly scheduled passenger airline service. Eastern said in January 2014 that it had hoped to begin flying this month, but now has projected March 2015 for its debut, according to CNN. It was unclear what the initial destinations might be for the Miami-based airline, though Airways pointed to Cancun and the Bahamas as possibilities for the company's early charter routes. The original Eastern began flying in 1927 and went on to become one of the USA's biggest and most-identifiable airline brands before falling into hard times and abruptly shutting down in 1991. The "new" Eastern's attempt to resume flying from South Florida appears to have struck a sentimental chord in Miami, where the original Eastern was based and was one of the region's biggest employers. "I never thought it would be back, and we are pleased," Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez is quoted as saying by Airways at Eastern's event to show off its new plane on Friday. "Eastern's headquarters has returned to Miami after 23 years." http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/12/20/eastern-airlines-returns-to- miami-with-first-boeing-737/20687387/ Back to Top ERAU NextGen 101 Seminar - Washington, D.C. "The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide Office of Professional Education is pleased to announce a two-day seminar entitled NextGen 101. The course is designed to identify the key concepts, attributes, and challenges of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Government and industry employees with an interest in NextGen, aviation stakeholders and members of the military transitioning to a career in civilian education should attend. The course will take place in Washington D.C. on April 21-22, 2015. Course fee is $750 per person or $675 per person with five or more people registering from the same group. For more information and to register, please visit us online at http://proed.erau.edu/programs/specialized-industry-training/nextgen-101- seminar/index.html" Back to Top New GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Below please find the introduction paragraph and link for my graduate research survey. Thank you for your help! My name is John Betson Uku. I am an airline pilot. I am a graduate student studying Air Safety Management at City University, London. As part of my dissertation I am conducting a survey of pilots' perception of Just Culture and the effect on safety management. If you work as a pilot your participation in this survey would be greatly appreciated. The survey is completely anonymous and should take about ten minutes to complete. Please contact me if you have any questions. The survey can be accessed via the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JBU1431BHX Thank you for your help, John B Uku John.Uku.1@city.ac.uk Back to Top Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship The Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship was established by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to shape the next generation of researchers in aviation weather, honoring the late Najeeb Elias Halaby, an eminent aviator and administrator, for his vision and more than five decades of extraordinary contributions to aviation (http://www.ral.ucar.edu/halabyfellowship.pdf). The Fellowship The recipient of a Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship will spend three months (in 2015 or early 2016) in residence with NCAR's Aviation Weather Research Program, which Mr. Halaby was instrumental in establishing in the 1980s. As the nation's leader in addressing aviation weather research, NCAR plays a unique role in meeting user needs by transferring research results to operations through its Research Application Laboratory (http://www.ral.ucar.edu/). The Fellow will conduct research broadly aimed at improving the integration of weather into decision support tools for improved weather avoidance and air traffic management. The Fellowship will provide: * a monthly stipend for three months, including temporary living expenses * round-trip travel expenses to and from Boulder, CO * travel to a conference to present results * page charges for one publication of key results Eligibility and Application The Halaby Fellowship targets graduate students (late Masters or early PhD level) enrolled in an aviation-relevant department or program of a domestic or international university. Interested candidates should have advanced research skills, far-reaching vision, and dedication to get things accomplished. Consideration for this Fellowship will be given to candidates based on the following submitted material: * Curriculum vitae * Proposal (maximum five pages) presenting the research to be conducted at NCAR, the anticipated outcome of that, and how the proposed effort ties into the candidate's ongoing graduate research project(s) * Contact information for three references (one of which should be the student's primary advisor) NCAR will accept applications for the Halaby Fellowship each year. Email Applications by February 28, 2015 to halabyfellowship@ucar.edu Back to Top Upcoming Events: IS-BAO Workshop Information and Registration 13 - 14 Jan. 2015 Baltimore, MD USA https://www.regonline.com/CalendarNET/EventCalendar.aspx?EventID=1592658&view=Month 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 ERAU NextGen 101 Seminar April 21-22, 2015. Washington D.C. http://proed.erau.edu/programs/specialized-industry-training/nextgen-101- seminar/index.html FAA Helicopter Safety Effort three-day safety forum April 21-23, 2015 Hurst, Texas eugene.trainor@faa.gov www.faahelisafety.org Curt Lewis