Flight Safety Information December 30, 2014 - No. 262 In This Issue Grim discovery: After 3 days of intense search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, debris and dead bodies At Least 40 Bodies Recovered in Search for Missing AirAsia Jet U.S.-bound jet makes safe emergency landing in U.K. Jet Airways Flight Makes Emergency Landing At Kathmandu Airport After Bird Hit Rapid Industry Growth Brings Western Pilots to Asia Air Tanzania pilots leave passengers to Comoros stranded Airlines cancel flights over untrained pilots and crew tantrums. PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA ERAU NextGen 101 Seminar - Washington, D.C. Upcoming Events Grim discovery: After 3 days of intense search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, debris and dead bodies (CNN) -- [Breaking news update 6:16 a.m. ET] So far, two bodies have been sighted, Indonesian Navy Official Manahan Simorangkir told CNN. The body of a woman has been recovered, but large waves have prevented crews from getting to the second body. [Breaking news update 6 a.m. ET] Hospitals in the Indonesian city of Surabaya are being prepared to help house and identify bodies being recovered off the coast of Borneo from a site where Indonesian officials think they've found debris from AirAsia Flight QZ8501, a search team official said. After three days of intense searching for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, Indonesian teams made the grim discovery Tuesday: debris and dead bodies in the waters off the island of Borneo. The crew on a military aircraft spotted the shadow of an object that looked like a plane in the water, said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency. Further searching located floating objects believed to be the bodies of passengers, and then what appeared to be an emergency exit of the plane, Sulistyo told a news conference. Officials sent other search teams racing to the area. So far, two bodies have been sighted, Indonesian Navy Official Manahan Simorangkir told CNN. The body of a woman has been recovered, but large waves prevented crews from getting to the second body. Hospitals in the city of Surabaya were being prepared to help house and identify them. The news dealt a heartbreaking blow to relatives of passengers who had been waiting anxiously for information at the airport in Surabaya, the Indonesian city where Flight 8501 began its journey Sunday with 162 people on board. The plane was carrying 155 passengers and 7 crew members. The overwhelming majority of those on board were Indonesians. There were also citizens of Britain, France, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. There were scenes of anguish as families watched a live news conference about the discovery of the debris and saw video of a helicopter lowering a diver down to what appeared to be a floating body. Some people fainted and stretchers were taken into the room. Family members burst into tears, dabbing their eyes as officials passed out tissues. Some sat with their eyes full of tears, hands covering their mouths, or heads buried in their hands. Others had phones jammed against their ears. 'Words cannot express how sorry I am' "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501," AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am." He said he was on his way to Surabaya. Search and rescue teams are diverting all their resources to where the debris is located, authorities said. The area is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the aircraft's last known location over the Java Sea, off the coast of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province on Borneo. Divers and ships with sonar equipment are being sent to the site, where the depth of the sea at the site varies between 25 and 30 meters, Sulistyo said. Ships, planes and helicopters have been scouring the sea for Flight 8501 since it went missing on its way to Singapore. READ: How can a modern airliner vanish? The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday shortly after the pilot requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude because of bad weather, according to Indonesian officials. Unanswered questions Authorities mounted a huge effort to find the aircraft, mapping out a search zone covering 156,000 square kilometers. Questions remain unanswered about why Flight 8501 lost contact with air traffic control and what happened afterward. Some experts have speculated that the aircraft might have experienced an aerodynamic stall because of a lack of speed or from flying at too sharp an angle to get enough lift. Analysts have also suggested that the pilots might not have been getting information from onboard systems about the plane's position or that rain or hail from thunderstorms in the area could have damaged the engines. The key to understanding what happened is likely to be contained in the aircraft's flight recorders. "Until we get the black boxes, we won't know what's going on with the engines," Bill Savage, a former pilot with 30 years of experience, told CNN. 'It was to be his last vacation with his family' Details have emerged about some of the people on board the plane. They include Alain Oktavianus Siauw, whose fiance says she was on her way to the airport to pick him up when she heard the plane had gone missing. Louise Sidharta said Siauw was supposed to be enjoying a family vacation before the two got married. "It was to be his last vacation with his family," she said. Siauw's Facebook page says he lives in Malang, a province in Indonesia. The disappearance of Flight 8501 also stirred painful memories of the families of people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over the South China Sea in March. Nearly 10 months later, searchers are still combing remote reaches of the southern Indian Ocean for any trace of the Boeing 777 that had 239 people on board. "The lack of ability to close things down emotionally is just exhausting," said Sarah Bajc told CNN on Monday night. Her partner, Philip Woods, was on board Flight 370. When news broke that another plane had disappeared this week, Bajc said, "I just started to shake." http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/30/world/asia/airasia-missing-plane/ Back to Top At Least 40 Bodies Recovered in Search for Missing AirAsia Jet Indonesian officials have recovered at least 40 bodies from the sea near the wreckage of an AirAsia passenger jet that crashed during a storm Sunday. Local television Tuesday showed rescue helicopters pulling bodies from the Java Sea, about 160 kilometers off the coast of Borneo island. Families of some of the 162 people on board AirAsia flight 8501 burst into tears and hugged one another after seeing the images of the floating bodies, which were not wearing life jackets, and wreckage. No survivors have been found By nightfall, rescuers had recovered only a quarter of those on board the jet. None of the passengers or crew have been found alive. The bodies were located shortly after the discovery of wreckage, including what appeared to be an orange life jacket, luggage, and a red and white emergency door. Indonesian officials have also spotted a "shadow" under the surface of the water that is believed to be the main body of the plane, about 160 kilometers southwest of Borneo island. The Airbus A320-200 disappeared Sunday, about halfway through what was supposed to be a brief, two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. Tony Fernades, the CEO and founder of AirAsia, said via Twitter his "heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved," in the tragedy, and added that "words cannot express how sorry I am." At least 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters are looking for the plane in the Java Sea between Borneo and Sumatra islands. The search effort will be bolstered Tuesday with the arrival of a U.S. Navy warship. The USS Sampson, which was already on deployment in the area, is equipped with sonar devices that can scan underwater. The passengers include 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one each from Britain, Malaysia, and Singapore. The crew included six Indonesians and a French co-pilot. No distress signal The twin-engine plane gave no distress signals before disappearing, though pilots had asked permission to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a storm cloud. Indonesian officials say that permission was not granted because other planes were in the area. The jet was instead approved to fly around the storm. The plane was operated by the Indonesian affiliate of AirAsia, a Malaysian-based low-cost airline that previously had a spotless safety record. The disappearance comes at the end of a disastrous year for plane travel in Southeast Asia. In March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane, which was carrying 239 people, is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia, though no trace of it has been found. Two months later, in July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Western officials believe that plane was shot down by Moscow-backed Ukrainian rebels. http://www.voanews.com/content/rescuers-expand-search-for-missing-airasia- jet/2578542.html Back to Top U.S.-bound jet makes safe emergency landing in U.K. Virgin Atlantic emergency landing A U.S.-bound Virgin Atlantic jet that developed a stuck landing gear made a safe, "non- standard" landing Monday on the three remaining gears after returning to London's Gatwick Airport. Television images showed the Boeing 747 on the runway as fire trucks waited nearby. Flight 43, which left Gatwick at 11:45 a.m. with 447 passengers and a crew of 15, was en route to Las Vegas. The problem affected part of the jet's right main landing gear, forcing the pilot to land on only three of its four main landing gears, the BBC reports. The pilot initially tried to "shake" the stuck gear free by thrusting the plane forward rapidly while flying at low altitude, but then chose to return to abort the flight and return to Gatwick. The pilot dumped some of the jet's fuel offshore then circled off the coast of southwest England and over the London area for almost four hours before landing. A U.S.-bound Virgin Atlantic flight that developed landing gear problems made a safe, "non- standard" landing Monday after returning to London's Gatwick Airport. VPC Passenger Mike Kaufman said the crew remained calm and professional throughout the crisis. There were no injuries during the evacuation. "Everybody gave the crew a big round of applause when we landed," he told Sky News from the plane. "I can't wait to get into the terminal and have a gin and tonic now." Gatwick airport confirmed the emergency on Twitter, saying that emergency procedures were activated "purely as a precaution." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/29/virgin-atlantic-emergency- landing/20998415/ Back to Top Jet Airways Flight Makes Emergency Landing At Kathmandu Airport After Bird Hit A member of the Nepalese army tries to shoot down an eagle before VVIP's arrival flights at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu ahead of the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Kathmandu on Nov. 25, 2014. Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar A Jet Airways flight from Mumbai, India, to Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, made an emergency landing Monday after being hit by a bird and catching fire, according to reports. The Boeing 737 reportedly had 125 passengers and six crew members on board. "Jet Airways flight 9W 268 Mumbai to Kathmandu B737 experienced a bird ingestion on approach and continued the flight with an uneventful and safe landing at Kathmandu," the airline said in a statement, according to the Press Trust of India. According to the Hindustan Times, a local daily, the plane's rear section caught fire during landing, but the fire was put out and the passengers and crew were evacuated without harm. "A bird hit the aircraft as it was about to land. But the aircraft landed without any problem at 12:05 Nepal time (11:50 IST) and all passengers are safe," a duty officer at Tribhuvan International Airport told the Hindustan Times. Tribhuvan International Airport is Nepal's only international airport, and is located at an elevation of about 4,400 feet above sea level. http://www.ibtimes.com/jet-airways-flight-makes-emergency-landing-kathmandu-airport- after-bird-hit-1768464 Back to Top Rapid Industry Growth Brings Western Pilots to Asia French Co-Pilot Among Thousands Drawn to Asia's Booming Commercial Aviation Industry The proliferation of budget carriers, especially in Southeast Asia, has underpinned the growth of commercial aviation in the region. Above, an Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-200 passenger jet. E The French co-pilot of AirAsia Flight 8501 was among thousands of foreign commercial pilots hired by Asian airlines in recent years amid frenetic growth in the region's air-travel market, now the world's largest. The Airbus A320 was under the command of Indonesian Capt. Iriyanto, assisted by Rémi- Emmanuel Plesel, a 45-year-old French national. Search crews have yet to find any signs of Indonesian jet, which disappeared Sunday on a short flight to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-biggest city. The supply of locally trained cockpit crews across Asia has fallen far short of the growth pace of fleets, which now stand at over 7,000 planes regionwide. The commercial airline industry's rapid expansion over the past decade has forced companies to hire foreign pilots-many from Western countries, where demand has plateaued-to fill the gap. Airlines in Asia account for half of the 330-odd pilot recruitment postings on the careers website of Flightglobal, an industry publication. Demand is strong for positions of captain, as pilots need several years to accumulate experience needed for promotion. "You can't train them so you have to buy them," said Mark Martin, chief executive at Martin Consulting LLC, an aviation consultancy, noting that the shortage isn't on a lack of pilots per se, but for those with experience. "We need senior pilots to impart their knowledge on younger pilots." Asian carriers offer pay packages that are often superior to those in the West. Pilots are also given flexible work rosters, allowing them to take a few months off at a time. Mr. Plesel, the French co-pilot on Flight 8501, left a "very successful career" as an engineer at Total SA in Paris to fulfill a childhood dream of being a pilot, said Lucien Plaisance, a pilot and friend of Mr. Plesel. After flight school in France, Mr. Plesel took a three-year contract in Jakarta with AirAsia. Mr. Plesel had one goal in mind: "To fly as much as he could, to get the most hours he could, so he could eventually qualify for a job with a major European airline that required more experience," Mr. Plaisance said. Underpinning the industry's rapid expansion in Asia is the proliferation of budget carriers, especially in Southeast Asia, which is home to a large number of first-time fliers. Fares often run as low as $30 for the 90-minute one-way flight between the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and Surabaya. Hundreds of population centers across Southeast Asia's archipelago are now connected by airline travel, forming the backbone of the region's mass transportation infrastructure. As a result, Asia's low-cost carriers now account for over 25% of the continent's total passenger traffic, compared with just 9% in 2006. Indonesia's Lion Air has grown into Asia's biggest budget carrier by fleet size, through shuttling passengers across the nation's many islands. It now serves over 30 domestic destinations, plus a handful of international routes, providing multiple daily connections between cities like Ambon and Fak Fak, mostly unfamiliar names to foreigners. Meanwhile, rapid air travel growth in countries like China and India amid rising incomes is also fueling the industry's expansion in Asia, helping Asia-Pacific become the world's biggest air- travel market in 2011, with a 30% share of all global passengers. The region's share rose further to 31% for 2014, based on preliminary figures from the International Civil Aviation Organization. By contrast, North America's share of global traffic fell to 25% from 29% in 2011. The rapid pace of capacity growth in Asia is likely to continue. AirAsia and its main regional rival Lion Air together have another 1,000 planes on order, more than a third of which will be used to develop new routes-and that is on top of the hundreds of planes ordered by Chinese and Indian carriers. Such growth in fleet size would ensure continued demand for foreign pilots, even as airlines are ramping up their training capabilities. "Every week you hear [an airline[ announcing a new simulator or buying up a training school...but they can never really have enough pilots because you have so many aircraft coming in," said Greg Waldron, Flightglobal's Asia managing editor. An airline needs to have four to five separate crews for each new single-aisle jetliner, "so you need a much larger number of trained pilots," he said. However, intensifying competition among low-cost and legacy carriers in the region are hurting profit margins, and may help slow the breakneck pace of expansion in the near term, say analysts. AirAsia is among a few Asian airlines that stayed profitable in 2014 despite the more crowded skies, but it has been forced to ease the pace of its growth by cutting back on aircraft deliveries. http://www.wsj.com/articles/french-co-pilot-on-qz8501-among-thousands-of-foreign-pilots- drawn-to-asian-market-1419880033 Back to Top Air Tanzania pilots leave passengers to Comoros stranded More than 100 passengers are stranded after pilots at Tanzania's main airport failed to report to work following their Christmas break, officials said. They were due to have flown on 27 December from Dar es Salaam to Comoros and other destinations. Angry passengers accused the carrier, state-owned Air Tanzania, of treating them badly. An Air Tanzania spokeswoman said it did not know why the pilots had failed to turn up for work. The pilots were off on Christmas Day and the next day and were expected back at work on Saturday. "We feel that there could be a problem because this is not a normal occurrence," said the spokeswoman, Lily Fungamtama. "We apologise to all our passengers for the inconvenience and we have done all we can to book alternative flights so they can go back to their travel schedules," she added. One passenger told the BBC she is no longer sure she can trust what the airline says, as it had repeatedly broken its promise about when the flight would leave. Passengers flying to the Tanzanian towns of Kigoma in the north-west and Mtwara in the south had been stranded, along with those heading for Comoros, reports the BBC's Tulanana Bohela from Dar es Salaam. The passengers, who include women and children, are being accommodated in small hotels in and around the city, she says. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30627861 Back to Top Airlines cancel flights over untrained pilots and crew tantrums.. and blame it on Delhi fog (India) Foggy weather in Delhi is not the only reason airlines are keeping passengers stranded at the city airports during the year-end. In reality, incapable pilots, non-compliant aircraft, and tantrums by crew members have hampered nearly 70 per cent of the total flight operations in the Capital over the past six days. On December 24, Jet Airways diverted Delhi-bound flight S2 4315 as the pilots were not trained to operate it under poor weather conditions. Untrained pilots, planes unequipped with navigation system and tantrums from the crew are said to delay more flights than fog Similarly, Air India diverted a flight on Christmas Day as the plane was not CATIIIB compliant. Airlines are also giving bizarre reasons for cancellation of flights. On December 26 and 28, Lufthansa cancelled international flights LH 761 and LH 736 due to Christmas celebrations. Strange reasons "Due to last-minute cancellations, almost 500 passengers headed for Frankfurt and Munich suffered losses. The airline gave a strange reason for these cancellations - Christmas celebrations," a senior airport official told Mail Today. Apart from incapable pilots and ill-equipped aircraft, passengers are also reportedly facing problems due to moods of the crew. On December 26, Air India delayed flight AI 213 following late reporting by the crew. According to the officials, passengers were stuck at terminal-3 for hours due to non-availability of crew members. "Bad weather in Delhi is not the actual reason for almost 70 per cent of the delayed flights. Most of the time, flights are delayed, cancelled or diverted due to airlines' own reasons. But, airlines escape easily by blaming bad weather in Delhi," a senior airport official said. According to Delhi airport's operator, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), 30 flights were delayed due to bad weather in Delhi on Sunday. Similarly, 73 flights were late due to dense fog on Saturday. However, according to data accessed by Mail Today, a total of 194 flights were behind schedule on Sunday and 241 were not on time on Saturday. Almost 164 flights in other cities had to be postponed for different reasons, including bad weather. According to a senior airport official, airlines are using small aircraft, forcing cancellations and deferments. Untrained pilots and not-compliant aircraft are also primary reasons behind delays in winter. The Dreamliner aircraft is not CAT IIIB compliant, and thus cannot land in dense fog, while other certified planes can. Air India is Delhi-based, but their most famous aircraft - the Dreamliner - cannot operate in and out of the airline's hub in dense fog. On the other hand, Air India is blaming the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for not giving CAT IIIB certificate to Dreamliner aircraft. A senior official said that DGCA had recently ordered all the airlines to deploy CAT IIIB compliant plane and crew trained to fly under low visibility conditions while operating in and out of the IGI airport during foggy hours. The DGCA had also ordered the airlines to reschedule flights with non-CAT IIIB compliant aircraft in case visibility conditions are not favourable, but airlines are citing excuses of crew shortage, the official added. According to a senior official, Delhi airport provides the best technology for safe landings during fog, but airlines are using weather as an excuse. He added: "The Delhi airport is one of the finest airports, equipped with most advanced technology in the aviation industry. But, airlines are operating with untrained pilots and not CAT IIIB compliant aircraft." Week starts with clearer skies but fog will return today You could say Monday brought Delhi's vision back. After the blanket of fog that enveloped the Capital and NCR on Sunday night and almost entirely diminished visibility, the start of the week arrived with a clear sky and slight relief from the recent spell of biting cold. From a season-low of 2.6 degrees Celsius, the minimum temperature rose to 4.8°C on Monday, three degrees below normal for this time of the year. The maximum temperature was recorded at 21.2°C, a notch above the season average. According to Met department officials, visibility was as low as 50 metres at 5.30am, but rose gradually to 1,000 metres by 5pm. "The fog was densest from 11.30pm on December 28 to 9.30am on December 29, covering almost 10 hours. But the runway visual range (RVR) was above 100 m, so flights quipped with CAT IIIB were able to operate, while the non-equipped ones were severely affected," said Dr R.K. Jenamani, Director of the India Meteorological Department office at IGI Airport. "The Gurgaon side was heavily affected. Compared to 27-28 December, there was only a slight reduction in the density of fog. But afternoon had totally clear skies," he added. As many as 98 trains were delayed due to the reduced visibility, with the schedule of nearly 30 flights disrupted. According to a Northern Railways official, 10 trains, including the Mahabodhi Express, Brahmaputra Express and Swatantra Express, were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. The humidity level on Monday was recorded as high as 100 per cent, while it was 32 per cent on the lower side. The Met department has predicted overcast conditions for Tuesday, with the possibility of moderate to dense fog in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 20 and 4 °C. -Mail Today in New Delhi http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2890568/Airlines-cancel-flights- untrained-pilots-crew-tantrums-blame-Delhi-fog.html#ixzz3NNqUgvCB Back to Top 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 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