Flight Safety Information January 12, 2015 - No. 008 In This Issue Divers retrieve one AirAsia "black box" Divers find black boxes in AirAsia crash, retrieve 1 Ethiopian Cargo B737 Runway Excursion - Ghana After Jet Crashes, Aviation Industry 'Struggling' to Re-Train Pilots HOW $900 GLASSES MAY PROTECT PILOTS FROM LASER STRIKES Low salaries prompt Vietnam Airlines pilots to jump ship Navy safety boss grapples with '14 spike in aviation mishaps ANALYSIS: Airline safety performance in 2014 PROS 2015 TRAINING Jet stream blasts BA plane across Atlantic in record time Research Survey Request Air Force losing more drone pilots than it trains ERAU NextGen 101 Seminar - Washington, D.C. Upcoming Events Divers retrieve one AirAsia "black box", explosion theory questioned PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia/JAKARTA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - I ndonesian navy divers retrieved the black box flight data recorder from the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet on Monday, a major step towards unravelling the cause of the crash that killed all 162 people on board. But there was confusion about what happened in the final moments of Flight QZ8501, which crashed off the Indonesian coast on Dec. 28, with one official saying the plane probably exploded before hitting the water and another disputing that theory. The Airbus A320-200 airliner lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. "At 7:11, we succeeded in lifting the part of the black box known as the flight data recorder," Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters at a news conference. The second so-called black box, containing the cockpit voice recorder, is located about 20 metres away from where the flight data recorder was found, but divers have not yet been able to get to it. "(The cockpit voice recorder) seems to be under a wing, which is quite heavy," said Supriyadi, operations coordinator for the search and rescue agency. "So we will use air bags to lift it. This will be done tomorrow." The black boxes contain a wealth of data that will be crucial for investigators piecing together the sequence of events that led to the airliner plunging into the sea. Supriyadi said the wreckage indicated that the plane likely "experienced an explosion" before hitting the water due to a significant change in air pressure. He said the left side of the plane seemed to have disintegrated, pointing to a change in pressure that could have caused an explosion. "NO DATA" TO SUPPORT THEORY Supporting this possibility, he added, was the fact that fishermen in the area had reported hearing an explosion and saw smoke above the water. But another official disputed the likelihood of a blast. "There is no data to support that kind of theory," said Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at the National Transportation Safety Committee. The flight data recorder was brought by helicopter to Pangkalan Bun, the southern Borneo town that has been the base for the search effort, and then flown to Jakarta for analysis. The black box looked to be in good condition, said Tatang Kurniadi, the head of the transport safety committee. Investigators may need up to a month to get a complete reading of the data. "The download is easy, probably one day. But the reading is more difficult ... could take two weeks to one month," the NTSC's head investigator, Mardjono Siswosuwarno, said. Over the weekend, three vessels detected "pings" that were believed to be from the black boxes, but strong winds, powerful currents and high waves hampered search efforts. Dozens of Indonesian navy divers took advantage of calmer weather on Monday to retrieve the flight recorder and search for the fuselage of the Airbus. Forty-eight bodies have been retrieved from the Java Sea and brought to Surabaya for identification. Searchers believe more bodies will be found in the plane's fuselage. Relatives of the victims have urged authorities to make finding the remains of their loved ones the priority. "I told our soldiers that the search isn't over yet," Armed Forces chief General Moeldoko told reporters. "I am sure the remaining victims are in the body of the plane. So we need to find those." Indonesia AirAsia, 49 percent owned by the Malaysia-based AirAsia budget group, has come under pressure from authorities in Jakarta since the crash. The transport ministry has suspended the carrier's Surabaya-Singapore licence for flying on a Sunday, for which it did not have permission. However, the ministry has said this had no bearing on the crash. President Joko Widodo said the disaster exposed widespread problems in the management of air travel in Indonesia. http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/12/indonesia-airplane-idINL3N0UR1BV20150112 Back to Top Divers find black boxes in AirAsia crash, retrieve 1 Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia - Divers retrieved one black box Monday and located the other from the AirAsia plane that crashed more than two weeks ago, key developments that should help investigators unravel what caused the aircraft to plummet into the Java Sea. The cockpit voice recorder was found hours after officials announced that the flight data recorder had been pulled from beneath a piece of the aircraft's wing and brought to the sea's surface, said Suryadi Bambang Supriyadi, operation coordinator for Indonesia's national search and rescue agency. He said the voice recorder was about 66 feet away from the data recorder but remained lodged beneath heavy wreckage, and divers were struggling to free it at a depth of 105 feet. Searchers began zeroing in on the location a day earlier after three Indonesian ships picked up intense pings from the area, but they were unable to see the devices due to strong currents and poor visibility. The two instruments, which emit signals from their beacons, are vital to understanding what brought Flight 8501 down on Dec. 28, killing all 162 people on board. They should provide essential information about the plane and all of the conversations between the captain and co-pilot for the duration of the flight. "There's like 200-plus parameters they record," said aviation safety expert John Goglia, a former U.S. National Transportation Safety Board member. "It's going to provide us an ocean of material." The flight data recorder will be taken to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, for evaluation, and the other black box will be sent as soon as it is retrieved. It could take up to two weeks to download and analyze their information, said Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at the National Committee for Safety Transportation. The slow-moving hunt, which has often gone days with little progress, was boosted over the weekend when the Airbus A320's tail was lifted from the seabed. It was the first major wreckage excavated from the crash site, but the black boxes were not found inside as hoped. Search efforts have been consistently hampered by big waves and powerful currents created by the region's rainy season. Silt and sand, along with river runoff, have created blinding conditions for divers. Henry Bambang Soelistyo, head of the national search and rescue agency, said Sunday that divers had located a wing and debris from an engine. Officials have been working urgently to locate the main section of the plane's cabin, where many of the victims' corpses are believed to be entombed. So far, only 48 bodies have been recovered. Decomposition is making identification more difficult for desperate families waiting to bury their loved ones. Nearly all of the passengers were Indonesian. "I still believe many victims remain trapped there, and we must find them," said Gen. Moeldoko, Indonesia's military chief, who uses one name. He said more than 80 divers are involved in the recovery effort and have been ordered to make finding the fuselage their top priority. The last contact the pilots had with air traffic control, less than halfway into their two-hour journey from Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, to Singapore, indicated they were entering stormy weather. They asked to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid threatening clouds, but were denied permission because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the plane dropped off the radar. No distress signal was sent. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/world/2015/01/12/indonesia-plane/21621927/ Back to Top Ethiopian Cargo B737 Runway Excursion - Ghana Status: Preliminary Date: Saturday 10 January 2015 Time: ca 11:05 Type: Boeing 737-43QSF Operator: Ethiopian Airlines Registration: ET-AQV C/n / msn: 28493/2838 First flight: 1996-12-02 (18 years 1 months) Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-3C1 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Accra-Kotoka Airport (ACC) ( Ghana) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Lome Airport (LFW/DXXX), Togo Destination airport: Accra-Kotoka Airport (ACC/DGAA), Ghana Flightnumber: KP4030 Narrative: A Boeing 737-400 cargo plane, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, sustained substantial damage in a runway excursion on landing at Accra-Kotoka Airport (ACC), Ghana. The three crew members were taken to hospital. Photos from the accident show that the aircraft came to rest off the runway with a separated right hand main gear and engine. The nose was damaged by what seems to be the separated nr.2 engine. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top After Jet Crashes, Aviation Industry 'Struggling' to Re-Train Pilots As investigators hunt for what caused an AirAsia jet to crash in an equatorial storm on Dec. 28, the aviation industry is still struggling to apply the lessons of accidents in similar weather over the past decade. It is too early to say whether the Airbus A320 crashed into the Java Sea due to pilot error, mechanical problems, freak weather or - as most often happens in aviation disasters - a combination of factors. But its apparently uncontrolled plunge, coming after a series of other fatal crashes blamed at least in part on loss of control, has refocused attention on whether pilot training programs need to improve. Critics say pilots don't get enough training on how to react when an airliner stalls or loses lift, and that changes in guidance about best practices have been slow. "The lessons have not been learned to this day," said David Learmount, one of the aviation industry's leading safety commentators. "Everyone knows what the problem is, but nobody is doing anything about it." Though rare, loss of pilot control ranks as the single biggest cause of air travel deaths. Two crashes in particular forced the issue - the 2009 losses of an Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, and a Colgan Air turboprop near Buffalo, New York. In both, confused pilots ignored or countermanded warnings of an impending stall, a condition where a plane loses lift because the air flow over its wings is too slow. The Air France jet took a four-minute, 38,000 feet plunge into the ocean. Despite repeated stall alarms, the control stick was fatally yanked backwards. BACK TO BASICS Classic stall training calls for pilots to push the control stick forward, nosing the plane down so it will swoop lower and regain speed, which is effective but uncomfortable. But over the last 30 years, most airlines encouraged their pilots to hold the control stick broadly steady and gun the engines to power their way out of a stall, trying to keep the ride as level as possible. In examining stall crashes from that period, that procedure "wouldn't have helped and would have led to more accidents than it prevented," said Claude Lelaie, a retired former chief test pilot at Airbus. In a rare joint move from 2009, Airbus and Boeing called for a return to robust cockpit procedures that prevailed "when the old guys like me were being trained," Lelaie said. "We were told to push the stick at the first sign of a stall." But it took several years to set rules that ensure pilots receive regular refresher training and to root out the disputed cockpit procedures of past decades. The new voluntary guidelines by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which coordinates safety, took effect just six weeks before the loss of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, and will take years to be implemented around the globe. New U.S. rules on pilot training do not take effect until 2019. Regulators will require flight simulators to better model stall behavior, changes that will also take years to implement. ICAO also has proposed that pilots refresh their stall training by flying small aerobatic planes. But Learmount and others said most airlines would be reluctant to pay for it. Changes in training cannot be made overnight because they can create other risks. Even minor adjustments must be thoroughly researched to avoid sowing the seeds of future accidents. The industry is wrestling with a steep drop in the time pilots spend manually flying. Pilots now typically steer for only a few minutes at takeoff and landing, and rely on autopilot for the lengthy, boring cruise phase of flight. When a sudden upset occurs - such as icing or powerful air currents from a storm - even the best pilots can experience a "startle effect" and may struggle to recall manual flying skills for that rare situation. A study by Australia's Griffith University found a person's ability to process information is significantly impaired for 30 seconds after being startled, so being trained to cope with the unexpected is as important as knowing cockpit theory. FLIGHT SIMULATORS Flight simulators pose another challenge. The machines are crucial because pilots get little or no in-flight training for stalls after basic training. But most simulators still cannot accurately model a plane's behavior in a full stall. The Federal Aviation Administration has pressing to make them better in a rule-making process that closed this week. Simulator makers want better data about stalls to improve their machines. But plane makers say airliner stalls are so unpredictable that the data would be of little value - a dispute that could also have implications for any potential liabilities. "It's not clear how the simulation data will be collected," said Pat Anderson, director of flight research at Embry-Riddle Aeronautic University, the largest U.S. flight training school. Around the world, airlines, flight schools and governments vary widely in how swiftly and fully they adopt the changes. Some airlines train in-house and go beyond what's required. Others just meet minimum standards, said David Greenberg, a consultant and former head of flight operations at Delta Air Lines. "Training is still a patchwork quilt," he said. http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2015/01/12/353747.htm Back to Top HOW $900 GLASSES MAY PROTECT PILOTS FROM LASER STRIKES LASER STRIKES AGAINST PILOTS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS. Lasers striking airplanes seems like a joke, but it's a real thing-and although a laser-struck flight has never injured anyone, they are being taken increasingly seriously by federal authorities. Last year, a federal court sentenced one man to 14 years in prison as a result. Laser strikes are typically carried out by people standing at the end of a runway, firing a miniature laser into the cockpit of a aircraft while it is landing or taking off. Things have gotten so serious that an official FBI post on the matter has described laser attacks as reaching "epidemic level." Technology may be coming to the aid of pilots, though. Aerospace firm Sierra Tango LLC is reportedly working on a pair of $900 glasses designed to filter out certain lasers-including green lasers and high- power blue lasers, both of which can cause dizziness and temporary blindness on the part of anyone they are directed at. "We've got one major U.S. airline that is running trials, we've had some helicopters in police departments that are trying it," company president Tony Reed told Ars Technica, although he refused to elaborate on which company or agency was involved with the testing. It is hoped that pilots' unions will help subsidize the cost of the glasses. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that three new instances of laser strikes against Delta aircraft took place last Sunday alone, on their approach to Los Angeles International Airport. In 2014, there were 101 reported laser strikes against pilots in L.A. http://www.fastcompany.com/3040713/fast-feed/how-900-glasses-may-protect-pilots-from-laser-strikes Back to Top Low salaries prompt Vietnam Airlines pilots to jump ship HANOI - High taxes, expensive imports cause turbulence for Vietnam airline industry Vietnam faces pilot shortage, looks abroad The Ministry of Transport has instructed Vietnam Airlines to review its salary policy, citing the high number of pilots who wish to leave the company for better pay. Highly trained employees, including pilots, air traffic controllers and aircraft maintenance workers have filed requests to resign. The turnover threatens to destabilize Vietnam Airlines's ongoing operations, according to Transportation Minister Dinh La Thang. The national carrier was ordered to increase salaries and allowances for these workers in the first quarter of the year. Lai Xuan Thanh, director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said he has declined to accept resignations from many Vietnam Airlines employees prior to implementing the ministry's directive. However, he did not confirm the reason for the attempted mass exodus from Vietnam Airlines. Meanwhile, local media has blamed the salary gap between Vietnam Airlines and its competitors (and foreign and local pilots) as the underlying reason. Last October, more than ten pilots in the 919 Flight Crew Division attempted to resign, Dan Tri newspaper reported. So far, none have been allowed to leave Each Vietnamese pilot at Vietnam Airlines earns around VND80 million (US$3,742) a month, depending on his or her position and aircraft, while a foreign pilots gets $8,000-13,000 a month. Vietnam's per capita income was $1,890 in 2013, according to the World Bank. The difference was questioned several years ago and Vietnam Airlines explained that it did not have to pay to train foreign pilots, at a cost of around VND2.5 billion ($117,000). News website VnExpress on Monday quoted an anonymous pilot as saying that the private budget carrier VietJet Air is paying their pilots salaries 2.5 times higher with less flying times. VietJet is hiring around 300 pilots, at least 10 of whom used to work for Vietnam Airlines. Vietnam Airlines requires each of its pilots to commit to working for the company for at least 15 years if it covers the cost of their training. The company has about 600 local pilots, who represent roughly 70 percent of the firm's fleet. In November 2013, many engineers at the Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company complained that they had been forced to sign 20-year contracts with Vietnam Airlines, afterr announced plans to recruit aviation engineers for salaries that were up to three times higher. http://www.thanhniennews.com/business/low-salaries-prompt-vietnam-airlines-pilots-to-jump-ship- 37506.html Back to Top Navy safety boss grapples with '14 spike in aviation mishaps NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. - Fresh off its safest year on record, the Navy saw its manned aviation Class A mishaps - the most serious type of mishap - more than triple Manned aviation experienced only four Class A mishaps in fiscal 2013, a rate of 0.48 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. But there were 14 Class A mishaps - those involving a fatality, permanent total disability or upwards of $2 million in damage - in fiscal 2014, according to official summaries. The head of the Naval Safety Center isn't sounding the alarm yet, noting that "one year, a trend does not make." Rear Adm. Christopher Murray, a career fighter pilot, is launching a threefold strategy aimed at changing aviation culture to rid the Navy of the "cancer" of the Class A mishap, he said. His plan is to train and implement safety petty officers or officers in each command, conduct root cause analysis to eliminate emerging trends, and launch a marketing campaign that more directly speaks to those at risk. "A lot of people will tell you that safety is just about writing good procedures and having people adhere to them," Murray said in a Dec. 12 interview. "In a perfect world, they are exactly correct. But the operational Navy is not a perfect world." Last year's 14 Class A mishaps matched 2006 and 2008 for the highest number in the past decade, but are far from the Navy's worst year. Navy aviation had a combined 822 Class A mishaps (to include 665 fatalities) from 1980-2000, which represented a rate of 2.55/100,000 flight hours. Fiscal 14 ended with a rate of 1.69, which is slightly higher than the 1.10 average over the past 10 years. The year's last Class A flight mishap was also the worst. Two FA-18Cs launched from the carrier Carl Vinson on Sept. 12 and collided west of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. Despite a 3,000-square-mile search, Lt. Nathan Poloski was lost at sea and both aircraft were destroyed, at a cost of $149.3 million. The aircraft were proceeding to initial stations when they collided roughly seven miles from the ship. The other pilot safely ejected and was pulled from the ocean by helicopter. Roughly two-thirds of aviation mishaps are caused by the pilot, though human error is involved in about 85 percent, officials say. But pilots were at fault fewer times in fiscal 2014, while materiel and maintenance causes jumped from an average of 10 percent to 40 percent, Murray said. The exact numbers are not yet known, as some investigations are still pending. "If anything happens in an airplane that is unexplained, or is not what the engineers thought it was going to be, they red stripe the fleet," Murray said. "I haven't seen anything that is a trend in a type airplane or engine, so this could be a blip." Still, aviation type commanders are diving deep while Naval Air Systems Command tackles the materiel side, Murray said, as part of an analysis to identify any trends and prevent them from continuing. In afloat Class A mishaps, human error is the "overwhelming contributor," Murray said. Those mishaps dropped from 10 to six in 2014. This represents a rate of 1.94 mishaps per 100 ships. That's down from the 10-year average rate from fiscal 2004-13: 2.50 mishaps. Murray's team is also assessing whether guidance is being followed aboard ships, where rules ban the stockpiling of hazardous materials. Hazardous material storage has been the cause of five shipboard fires in as many years, including the major fire in April aboard the cruiser Hue City. The ship's executive officer was fired two months later for failing to ensure proper HAZMAT storage, which led to an estimated $23 million in damages. Murray and his team looked deeper into the discrepancies. "The reason they are [stockpiling HAZMAT] is because there are not as many places they can get a hold of this material," he said. "So you look into the supply chain and into the root cause of why people behave in this way. My personal belief is no Marine or sailor wakes up in the morning and goes, 'You know, this is the day I'm going to violate direct guidance from my superiors!' They do it because they are pressed into a situation; they feel that to be operationally ready, they need to violate procedure. "We need to look at the thing holistically and ask, 'Are we enabling them to do their job in a correct manner?' " he continued. As such, Murray looks to change the Naval Safety Center into a predictive organization, which provides assessments of safety programs. "I'm the only one who can stand outside of the lifelines," he said. "I don't have an op-tempo. I'm not sailing a ship, a submarine, or launching sorties out of a flight line. All I care about is safety. I am the only one. I can look at this from 40,000 feet and see if a trend is developing they really can't see because they are down in the weeds trying to fix problems." Sailors will soon see a "safety professional" at every command. Instead of someone simply getting tagged for the additional duty of "safety officer," the petty officer or officer will be formally trained in safety programs and oversight and will serve as the commanding officer's direct representative for safety, responsible to train the unit on safety issues and provide risk assessments for all activities. Formalized safety schools will be organized much like the School of Aviation Safety at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. They will train students in baseline safety as well as warfare-specific skill sets. The surface community will combine a variety of schools in the coming year, while the submarine force will launch a safety school at Naval Submarine Base New London, in Groton, Connecticut. Murray's goal is to set up a Safety Center of Excellence in Norfolk and do all the training here. These safety professionals won't be the only ones getting word out. Murray, who has a business background, sees it as "a marketing thing." "You have to go after your target audience; you find out what they value and what stimulates their behavior," he said. For example, the Navy initiated the first of two motorcycle safety courses after 33 sailors were killed in 2008. Two years later, the number of deaths dropped to 13. "We drove the numbers down, and we patted each other on the back and said 'we fixed it.' But now it's creeping up again," Murray said. Twenty motorcyclists were killed in fiscal 14, and the fatality rate of 5.91 per 100,000 sailors exceeded the 10-year average. The majority of these accidents and fatalities involve 18- to 26-year-olds, and they are usually on sport bikes. Instead of listening to another safety brief from some salty chief or commander, the center looks to enlist the help of people those sailors value. This may include famous singers and musicians, NASCAR drivers or athletes. Murray pointed to the Marines' "Semper Ride" program in which professional motorcycle riders shared safety habits and perspective. He also wants to start a mentorship program in which riders from the same command or ship can participate in organized rides. Overall, private motor vehicle fatalities dropped from 38 in fiscal 2013 to 36, which is fewer than half the number killed in 2004 or 2006. The 2014 mishap rate was 10.63 per 100,000 sailors. The 10-year average rate is 14.03 mishaps. "What we are really looking at is a culture change," Murray said. "The data mining provides good indicators, but we must always keep a careful eye on trends. You handle it like damage control on the ship: You see a leak, you patch it, and make sure that whatever caused it doesn't cause any more." http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/01/04/naval-safety-2014-christopher-murray- aviation-mishaps-training/20808523/ Back to Top Airline Safety & Losses - Annual Review 2014 Download our free Annual Safety Review here http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-airline-safety-performance-in-2014-407718/ Back to Top Back to Top Jet stream blasts BA plane across Atlantic in record time Boeing 777 reported at speeds of up to 745mph as it flies from New York to Heathrow in just 5 hours 16 minutes The Boeing 777-200 jet reached a ground speed of 745mph as it rode winds of more than 200mph across the Atlantic Concorde may have been retired but a British Airways passenger jet approached supersonic speed this week as it rode a surging jet stream from New York to London. The Boeing 777-200 jet reached a ground speed of 745mph as it rode winds of more than 200mph across the Atlantic. At ground level, the speed of sound is 761mph. The happy result was a flight time of just five hours and 16 minutes for BA114, which arrived an hour and half before schedule, according to the tracking website, FlightAware. Dozens of other flights also benefited from the jet stream's winter surge, but those same windshave also triggered severe storms across Britain. Pilots have long used jet streams - which flow across the globe from west to east - to cut journey times and save fuel. Although airlines advertise the route at seven hours, it is not uncommon for flights to save an hour in the air, said Alastair Rosenschein, a former British Airways pilot who flew 747s between London and New York. "It's just like surfing. It's extraordinary how fast you can go," he said. But at only 10 miles across and about 2000ft deep it takes skill, planning and a bit of luck to ride one for an entire route. "You try to sit in the core of the jet where it's not too turbulent and where you can pick up some free mileage. It's not unusual to get 100mph tailwinds but they have got more than that," he said. "This must be a record." Wednesday's weather charts show the jet stream was running at 220 knots (250mph) and was unusually wide, he added, making it easier for pilots and their passengers to benefit. Concorde's fastest transatlantic crossing was on 7 February 1996 when it completed the New York to London flight in 2 hours 52 minutes They are generally found between 23,000ft and 39,000ft - perfect altitudes for cruising airliners - and are caused by a combination of the earth's rotation and heat from the sun. This week's extreme effects are thought to be the result of plunging temperatures in the United States hitting warmer air from the south. Whatever the cause, it has proved a boon to travellers. Online flying forums were abuzz with passengers describing their own experiences of flights that had taken less than five and a half hours to cross the Atlantic, along with reassuring messages from pilots that the speeds were well within the tolerances of modern planes. But while it may help trans-Atlantic passengers arriving from New York, pilots have to plot routes that avoid the high winds when they fly west. And they can be responsible for what is known as "clear air turbulence", forcing pilots to switch on the fasten seatbelts sign when planes are buffeted by disturbed air surrounding the smooth core. Man-made climate change is blamed for making the problem worse. For many people in Britain there has been no avoiding the jet stream's effects. Meteorologists say its high winds are responsible for bringing two ferocious Atlantic storms to northern Britain. The high winds sparked a string of severe weather warnings, forcing train services to be suspended across Scotland, where record-breaking winds of up to 113mph lashed the country - and leaving thousands of homes without power. Meanwhile, meteorologists say disturbances in the jet stream have brought a cold snap to America's eastern seaboard and midwest, forcing cold air south from Canada, closing schools and even freezing fountains. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11337617/Jet-stream-blasts-BA-plane- across-Atlantic-in-record-time.html Back to Top Research Survey Request Limited Job Task Analysis Validation Survey The Center for Aviation Safety Research at Saint Louis University (USA) invites active and recently retired pilots, check airmen and instructors to validate a Limited Job Task Analysis for professional pilots. This task analysis focuses on a select set of phases of flight and seeks your opinion regarding the criticality of the underpinning knowledge requirements. This task analysis was developed with the help of an international panel of subject matter experts and practicing professional pilots. We are requesting you to kindly take this 45-minute online survey (https://slu.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0GuI969wyJB4snP ) to validate our draft of the task analysis. Please note that we need to have all survey responses by January 15, 2015. And, if you have friends who are qualified to support this research, we respectfully ask that you forward this invitation to them, as well. If you have any trouble accessing the survey, please feel free to contact Dr. Manoj Patankar, Executive Director of the Center for Aviation Safety, at patankar@slu.edu or 314-977-8725. Back to Top Air Force losing more drone pilots than it trains The Air Force expects to lose more remotely piloted aircraft pilots to attrition than it trains this fiscal year, Air Combat Command spokesman Benjamin Newell said Friday. The active-duty Air Force already has a shortfall of RPA pilots, in part because more RPA pilots are joining Air National Guard units, an Air Combat Command official told reporters Thursday. On Friday, Newell told reporters that the loss of active-duty RPA pilots to the Air National Guard is not the main reason why the Air Force projects that it will train fewer RPA pilots than it loses in fiscal 2015. "We are losing them through a combination of factors," Newell said in an email to Air Force Times and other media outlets. He did not elaborate what those factors are. "Factors leading to a decrease in the number of pilots available to fulfill surge level mission requirements are manifold, but we're in the planning and coordination stage at the moment," Newell said in a follow-up email to Air Force Times. "We're not able to discuss specific measures, because we don't yet know which ones we'll use." The head of Air Combat Command recently wrote a memo to Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh explaining the RPA community was coming under increasing stress to fly all of the combat air patrols being asked of pilots, as first reported by The Daily Beast. "We are above our program of record," Col. Ray Alves, of Air Combat Command, told reporters Thursday. "We're actually at surge capacity right now - and surge, by definition, we cannot maintain forever. So we need to start looking at ... how do we ensure that the enterprise is correctly manned to continue to meet the levels of demand that the combatant commanders are putting upon us." http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/careers/2015/01/09/air-force-losing-drone-pilots/21503301/ 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