Flight Safety Information January 23, 2015 - No. 017 In This Issue TSA finds record number of firearms in carry-on bags NTSB Calls for Better Ways to Find Aircraft Accident Sites and Retrieve Critical Flight Data NTSB Calls On FAA For Cockpit Video, Flight Data And Aircraft Locator Upgrades Drone operator fined after posting flight videos on YouTube Flight Safety Foundation Conducts 300th Safety Audit United's Seat Squeeze Equals 14 Additional Aircraft Smoke alarm forces jet from McCarran to return Why Doctors, Like Airline Pilots, Should Not Be Completely Trusted PROS 2015 TRAINING Someone Is Bringing A 747 Jumbo Jet To Burning Man This Year Call for Papers...The International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace (IJAAA) GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST Research Survey Request Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship ERAU NextGen 101 Seminar - Washington, D.C. Upcoming Events Positions Available TSA finds record number of firearms in carry-on bags WASHINGTON - A record 2,212 firearms - most of them loaded - were discovered in travelers' carry-on bags at U.S. airports last year, according to 2014 statistics released today by the Department of Homeland Security. Transportation Security Administration officers found an average of six firearms per day in passengers' carry-on bags or on their bodies. More than 80% of the guns were loaded. The total number of firearms discovered at airport security checkpoints rose 22% from 2013, the DHS statistics show. The No. 1 excuse given by passengers going through airport checkpoints with guns was that they forget they had the firearms with them. When TSA officers find the guns, they call in police officers working at the airport. Police interview the passengers to see whether their guns are licensed and determine whether or not they should be arrested. The gun-toting passengers face thousands of dollars in federal fines. Travelers with licensed guns are allowed to pack their unloaded firearms into checked bags only. The top five airports for firearms discoveries in 2014 were Dallas/Fort Worth International, Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Denver International Airport. An additional 1,400 dangerous objects - including stun guns, knives, razors and firearm components - were discovered. Among the more unusual finds: *An 8.5-inch knife was discovered inside an enchilada a woman traveler was carrying at the Sonoma County Airport in California. The TSA determined that the woman had no malicious intent. She had simply forgotten she had put the knife in with her food. *A hand grenade was discovered in a carry-on bag at Los Angeles International Airport. A terminal was closed while the bomb squad took the grenade away to be defused. Five flights were delayed for more than 200 hours, affecting 800 passengers. *A traveler was caught concealing small knives inside a combination pen/highlighter at the Philadelphia International Airport. Weapons weren't the only contraband discovered by federal agents. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than 23,000 counterfeit goods with a retail value of more than $1.2 billion last year. The agency seized more than $10 million in counterfeit Beats by Dre headphones, more than $1 million in counterfeit Gibson, Les Paul and other brand-name guitars, and more than $1 million in counterfeit soccer apparel with fake trademarks from popular teams such as Real Madrid, Celtic and Chelsea. Despite the record number of firearms discovered by TSA, about 99% of airline passengers waited 20 minutes or less in airport security lines last year, the DHS statistics show. That was partly because of increased enrollment in TSA Precheck and trusted-traveler programs run by Customs and Border Protection. Those programs allow pre-screened, low-risk passengers to go through expedited security screening lanes and customs lines. More than 40% of airline passengers received some form of expedited screening in 2014. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/23/firearms-airports-tsa-carry-on-bags/22169355/ Back to Top NTSB Calls for Better Ways to Find Aircraft Accident Sites and Retrieve Critical Flight Data WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board today issued a series of safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration calling for improvements in locating downed aircraft and ways to obtain critical flight data faster and without the need for immediate underwater retrieval. The Board also re-emphasized the need for cockpit image recorders on commercial airplanes. Recent accidents have pointed to the need for improved technologies to locate aircraft wreckage and flight recorders lost in remote locations or over water. In the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, it took almost two years and $40 million to find the recorders. Investigators are still searching for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. So far the search has involved 26 countries using 84 vessels and numerous aircraft. "Technology has reached a point where we shouldn't have to search hundreds of miles of ocean floor in a frantic race to find these valuable boxes,'' said NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart. "In this day and age, lost aircraft should be a thing of the past." Last October, the NTSB held a forum, Emerging Flight Data and Locator Technology, which explored these issues in detail. Among the recommendations to the FAA are to equip commercial airplanes with a tamper-resistant method to broadcast to a ground station sufficient information to establish the location where an aircraft terminates flight as a result of an accident within six nautical miles of the point of impact. The NTSB also called for the FAA to coordinate with other regulatory authorities and the International Civil Aviation Organization to harmonize implementation of several of these recommendations. The NTSB also repeated recommendations for a crash-protected image recording system that would record the cockpit environment during the last two hours of a flight. A link to the recommendation letter can be found here: go.usa.gov/Jsaz A link to the recorder forum page is here: go.usa.gov/JsCW www.ntsb.gov Back to Top NTSB Calls On FAA For Cockpit Video, Flight Data And Aircraft Locator Upgrades Based in large part on the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the two-year search for Air France Flight 447, the NTSB is asking the FAA to require new and existing aircraft that fly oceanic routes to carry certain devices and features that will help first responders to more quickly find a downed aircraft and its data recorders and give investigators an early look at what happened. The recommendations-four new and four revisions of previously issued requests-come as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) prepares for a high-level safety conference in early February to address many of the same issues. That meeting will likely set the stage for new global standards in tracking and triggered position transmissions from aircraft in distress, largely to determine the position of a crash site. The NTSB recommendations in some cases are more narrowly defined than the ICAO proposals, applying only to aircraft engaged in extended overwater operations, but in others are more sweeping. The agency would like a minimum set of flight parameters to be transmitted by satellite before an accident occurs. "Our intent is to find aircraft that have been lost over water and retrieve data in a more timely fashion," says Joseph Kolly, director of the NTSB's office of research and engineering. Kolly says a deployable recorder could also satisfy the requirement for pre-crash data. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is readying similar new initiatives to be announced on the one-year anniversary of the MH370 disappearance in March, although the proposed rules have not been circulated. The FAA, by contrast, in not currently preparing new regulations on the topic, but plans to respond to the NTSB's recommendations within 90 days, a spokesman says. The NTSB is asking the FAA to coordinate whatever actions it might take with other international regulatory authorities and ICAO. The four new NTSB recommendations, all performance-based, call for all air carrier and charter operators to equip all existing and new aircraft already requiring flight data recorders (FDR) and cockpit voice recorders (CVR) with a "tamper-resistant" method to broadcast to a ground station "sufficient information" to establish the crash location of an aircraft to within 6 nm of the point of impact. Kolly says possible solutions include deployable recorders or triggered data streaming. The NTSB is also asking the FAA to require all existing and new aircraft to carry in the strongest part of the fuselage a low-frequency underwater locating device with a 90-day battery, similar to the "pingers" used to locate FDRs and CVRs, but operating on a lower frequency for longer-range detection, a position ICAO is also taking in new standards. Another recommendation calls for all newly manufactured aircraft to provide the means to gather approximately 88 performance parameters captured after a "triggering event" is detected, potentially sent to the ground over satellite connections before the crash or picked up in deployable recorders after the crash. "Data should be captured from a triggering event until the end of the flight and for as long a time period before the triggering event as possible," the NTSB says. The NTSB also reiterated and reformulated previously issued recommendations to prevent data recorders from being disabled during a flight and for adding cockpit video recorders, a request that applies to both the existing fleet and all new aircraft. http://aviationweek.com/business-aviation/ntsb-calls-faa-cockpit-video-flight-data-and-aircraft-locator- upgrades Back to Top Drone operator fined after posting flight videos on YouTube An Australian man has been fined for breaking aviation safety regulations while flying his drone, but while he wasn't caught in the act, the man was busted after posting videos of the flights to YouTube. An Australian man has been fined for breaking aviation regulations whilst flying his drone, after authorities discovered his flight footage posted on YouTube. The news comes as Australians prepare for the Australia Day national holiday long weekend, when the country heads outdoors for barbecues and a day at the beach -- and to give the drone they got for Christmas a whirl around the park. Australian regulations, set by the country's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, stipulate that recreational drone users may operate their Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (as CASA labels them) without a licence, but must obey rules for their operation. These rules include requirements to operate the drone in daylight and in line-of-site; to remain at least 30 metres from buildings, vehicles and people; to stay more than 5.5 kilometres from all airports and lower than 120 metres; and to stay away from populous areas such as beaches and other people's backyards. According to an infringement notice obtained by website EFTM, the Queensland man was fined AU$850 for breaching a number of these regulations. In addition, CASA advised him in the notice that the breaches were discovered thanks to YouTube videos he posted of the flights. "The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) was alerted to a number of videos posted on YouTube showing a Phantom DJI model aircraft being operated in contravention...of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998," the infringement notice read. "As a result of your actions a number of strict liability regulatory requirements were breached. While each individual breach was not major in itself, the number of breaches has caused me concern." The man only received a single fine for the breaches, but the infringement notice warned that continued operation of his drone in contravention of regulations would be taken as a "wilful disregard for aviation safety" and would result in further action from CASA. CASA acknowledged that the man had accepted his contravention of flight regulations and had removed the videos from YouTube. It also used the case as a warning for other drone operators, advising them to "abide by the basic safety principles" for flight and reminding users that it is illegal to fly drones for money in Australia if you're not a CASA-certified operator. http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/australian-drone-operator-fined-flight-videos-youtube/ Back to Top Flight Safety Foundation Conducts 300th Safety Audit Airline PNG, a domestic carrier in Papua New Guinea, is expected to attain gold accreditation following its successful completion of the Flight Safety Foundation's (FSF) Basic Aviation Risk Standard (Bars) safety audit. The recent Airline PNG audit also represents the FSF's 300th such evaluation since it launched the Bars program five years ago. Airline PNG will now be able to share in the audits of all participating operators to glean additional safety system insights. Bars was developed when the industry identified a need to establish a common global aviation safety protocol that could be applied to any onshore sector supporting aviation activities. The FSF calls Bars a consensus-based industry standard consisting of four components: a risk-based international safety standard, an auditing program tailored to that standard, a range of aviation safety programs and a global safety data analysis program. According to Greg Marshall, managing director of the Bars program, "Knowledge gleaned from a Bars audit, especially for aviation companies operating in remote areas, is already benefiting a wider community of fixed- and rotary-wing operators, including governments and humanitarian agencies." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2015-01-05/flight-safety-foundation-conducts- 300th-safety-audit Back to Top United's Seat Squeeze Equals 14 Additional Aircraft U.S. airlines, including United, are finally making sustained profits and they are scrambling to reward shareholders. Employees, such as Delta's, who participate in profit-sharing plans will benefit but there is only lip-service being directed at benefiting another important stakeholder - passengers. Too bad. - Dennis Schaal United Airlines United's p.s. configuration features 42 extra-legroom Economy Plus seats. United Airlines Why order new aircraft when you can cram in additional, thinner seats? During United's fourth quarter earnings call today, Jim Compton, United's chief revenue officer, said the airline has installed slim-line seats on 300 aircraft, making the project begun in 2013, 85 percent complete. When the installations are finished by the end of 2015 they will be the equivalent of adding 14 aircraft, he added. United, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and American are all adding slim-line seats to squeeze more revenue out of each aircraft by increasing the number of seats, coaxing additional ancillary revenue, and enhancing fuel efficiencies. "Each row of coach seats used to have 32 or 33 inches of space front to back for a seated passenger between seat backs - a measurement the airline industry calls seat pitch. But now many big airlines are down to 31 inches of seat pitch," writes Scott McCartney of the Wall Street Journal. "United goes as tight as 30 inches on some of its Boeing 737s." Although United believes the slim-line seat installations translate into 14 additional aircraft, it still, of course, plans on adding to its 700 aircraft mainline fleet. On tap for delivery this year are 34 Boeing jets, including , 787-9s and the 737-900ERs. On the regional front, United is also taking delivery of 49 new Embraer 175 aircraft for United Express. Those 76-seat Embraer 175s are largely replacing 50-seaters, and the switch meant a 15 percent gain in ancillary revenue per aircraft because of the added United First and United Economy Plus seats, Compton said. Like Delta, United doesn't plan on lowering fares because of the steep drop in jet fuel prices but instead is looking to use the windfall to reduce debt and accelerate its share buyback program while maintaining capacity discipline, which is the holy grail of U.S. carriers. http://skift.com/2015/01/22/uniteds-seat-squeeze-equals-14-additional-aircraft/ Back to Top Smoke alarm forces jet from McCarran to return An Allegiant Airline plane taxis along the runway at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas Thursday, May 10, 2012. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal) A smoke alarm in an Allegiant Air jet flying out of McCarran International Airport forced pilots to return to Las Vegas on Thursday, according to an airport spokeswoman. Flight 536, a McDonnell Douglas 80 jet with 160 people on board, was heading to Great Falls, Montana, airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said. It departed at 8:35 a.m. and landed safely about 20 minutes later after the alarm went off, Crews said. The Clark County Fire Department cleared the emergency about 9 a.m. Another jet was called and the flight was rescheduled and was on the way to Great Falls about noon, Allegiant Air spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler said. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/smoke-alarm-forces-jet-mccarran-return Back to Top Why Doctors, Like Airline Pilots, Should Not Be Completely Trusted I would never get on an airplane if I didn't feel highly confident that the pilot was fully competent. In order to fly a commercial airplane a pilot has to undergo rigorous and continuous training and testing. I'd walk before flying with a pilot whose only credential was his assurance that he'd been diligently "keeping up with his field" and that he was extremely confident in his abilities. I'm glad to know that the FAA and the airlines have extremely demanding programs to ensure the competency of pilots. I would trust 99% of pilots to remain competent on their own. But when it comes to flying 99%" isn't good enough. We need to know, within the bounds of what is reasonable, that all pilots are competent. Unfortunately, because of the few bad ones, the remaining 99% have to undergo all the rigorous training and tests. Doctors are like pilots: what they do is far too important to let them individually decide for themselves whether they are competent, or how they should demonstrate their competency. Just because the vast majority of pilots and doctors are competent doesn't mean that we should loosen our standards. This topic is important now because of a current red-hot debate over what physicians have to do during their career to maintain their certification- called maintenance of certification, or MOC. A short while back I posted my thoughts about this topic, in response to the growing and highly emotional rebellion within the medical community against a new MOC scheme. (To be clear: as I wrote earlier, I'm not a doctor and I don't have strong opinions about the specific details of this controversy. I am writing only to object to some of the more general arguments and ideas that have been put forward by the MOC rebels. I am certainly not defending the new MOC scheme.) There was a fair amount of pushback to my earlier piece, though unfortunately my critics didn't respond to my specific ideas. So let me be very clear: A major function of any MOC program is to help protect patients from being treated by doctors who are no longer competent. Unless, of course, you believe that there are no incompetent doctors. It is therefore completely illogical to maintain that the MOC program should allow physicians to attain MOC without some sort of rigorous, objectively determined MOC. One of my critics proposed that "it is the individual physicians who should be mainly responsible for their own learning needs, not some group of outsiders." I wouldn't get on a plane flown by a pilot who was "mainly responsible" for his or her own learning needs. The same logic is even more true for doctors. So when doctors say that they want to revise MOC, I think they need to take into account that MOC must help protect patients from incompetent doctors. I realize that this means that this process may not be pleasant for some doctors. But some degree of discomfort is probably inevitable if the process is to have any meaning. (And, again, let me restate that I am not defending the specific details of the current process.) The second point I want to discuss concerns the role of continuing medical education (CME) in this debate. Many of the MOC rebels have stated that they think CME has a large role to play in MOC. I pointed out that the current CME system is largely funded and controlled by industry and that, partly for this reason, CME in its current form should not play a significant role in MOC. I haven't seen a cogent response to my criticism of CME. The same critic mischaracterized my position. "If industry funding is involved there can be no educational value," was the way he stated my position. But of course I did not say that industry-funded CME has "no educational value." But because much CME has some value doesn't mean that it has enough value for this important purpose. More importantly, the main purpose of industry-supported CME is not to educate doctors, it is to further the interests of industry. More broadly, as I wrote in my earlier post, even if the content is factually correct, the overwhelming presence of industry-funded CME distorts the overall medical agenda and curriculum. Quite simply, most physicians don't need hundreds (and I am not exaggerating) of choices in free CME program to help them choose new oral anticoagulants. But there is an enormous need for programs on a vast array of noncommercial topics that are less likely to gain financial support from industry. As I wrote before, I'm sure industry would just love to replace the current MOC content with content funded by themselves. But I don't think this would be a good idea for anyone else. The aviation field has created a remarkable culture of safety over the decades. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for medicine. Now of course it is true that the analogy between the two fields can be stretched only so far. Pilots have a difficult job that requires intense training, but medicine is more complex by several orders of magnitude. What works for aviation won't necessarily work for medicine in exactly the same way. But for medicine to begin to implement a similar culture of safety a necessary first step will be the acceptance by physicians that a lifelong commitment to learning and training can not be left simply in the hands of the physicians themselves. http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2015/01/22/why-doctors-like-airline-pilots-should-not-be- completely-trusted/ Back to Top Back to Top Someone Is Bringing A 747 Jumbo Jet To Burning Man This Year A rendering of the finished "art plane" courtesy of the Big Imagination Foundation. The largest art car ever is in the works for Burning Man 2015. Reddit and the message boards began popping this month with the news that an ambitious crew of Burners was taking a Boeing 747 jumbo jet airliner to Burning Man 2015. SFist has tracked these individuals down, and indeed it's true. "We are planning on bringing a 747 to the playa this year," says southern California engineer Ken Feldman, whose previous work includes the Charlie the Unicorn art car. "This will be the largest moving structure to date at Burning Man." The ambitious crew of Burners in question is the Big Imagination Foundation, a non-profit formed in 2014 as an incubator for, you know, big art projects and such. Feldman, a veteran of the P. Diddy-endorsed art car Robot Heart, is joined by Rob Volkel (director of the Hula Fantastica Burning Man video, the most- viewed Burning Man video of all time) and venture capitalist Jonathan Teo. They are not planning on actually flying the aircraft at Burning Man. "While it might be theoretically possible to land a 747 on the playa, it is prohibited by the FAA for a variety of obvious reasons," Feldman told us. Instead, the aircraft will essentially be carted around. "We're not just dropping a 747 on the playa. There's going to be some heavy modifications to it. This will be heavily mutated. It's going to have some really unique interesting creative features. We're getting a lot of help from some really interesting people who are really putting their creative stamp on this." The guys surveying the 747 they just acquired. Photo courtesy of the Big Imagination Foundation. And it won't be some billionaire Burner playhouse, either. The Big Imagination folks see it as a 300-seat egalitarian "venue on wheels" where everyone is welcome. "It started out with, 'Wow. Can this be done? This is a formidable challenge'," said Volkel. "From there, it went a little beyond into, 'What can we do with it once it's on the playa? Is it just going to move around and entertain people, or can we do something really special with it? What can we do with it that has it act as a venue rather than just an art car, because this thing carries 300 people?'" As garish and enormous as a Boeing jumbo jet at Burning Man might sound, the gang is committed to keeping a small carbon footprint. "This is a great example of reuse," Feldman said. "This plane was going to be turned into scrap aluminum, and then it's just going to be beer cans. So what if we can do something more with that? Because I think just turning it into a bunch of beer cans is a shame." "We're definitely into the reuse, we've very focused on 'leave no trace'," he continued. "We're investigating a variety of ways to minimize our carbon footprint. We will not have four big jet engines blasting us around." While declining to say just what this would all cost, the gentlemen noted they are soliciting volunteers and donations for the 747 Project. "This is a complicated task that will require significant financial resources," Feldman said. "The Burner community has responded in really amazing fashion." "Right now we have a really strong engineering team, but you can never have enough people who know their way around the structures of an airplane, particularly around a 747," he said. "There's going to be a lot of other ways that people can participate, both before we get to Burning Man and also at Burning Man. We really want to expand and cross-collaborate with a lot of people." Want to see the 747 in action at Burning Man? Pre-sale Burning Man tickets are available now! High rollers can still pay $800 with registration, regular rollers can register for $390 tickets beginning February 4 and low rollers can register for low income tickets beginning March 4. http://sfist.com/2015/01/22/exclusive_someone_is_bringing_a_747.php Back to Top Call for Papers The International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace (IJAAA) is a peer-reviewed publication for scholars from a variety of backgrounds including educators, industry personnel, and government researchers. http://commons.erau.edu/ijaaa/ The editorial focus is on the global issues that are currently facing the aviation, aeronautics, and aerospace segments. Example subject areas that would be appropriate for inclusion in the journal are: * Current aviation problems and solutions (e.g. NextGen, airport delays) * Space launch and operations/missions * Air traffic control * Aeronautical engineering * Unmanned systems (limited to aerial and space) * Government research in aviation/aerospace * Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education * Aviation/aeronautics/aerospace primary, secondary, and higher education * Aviation/aerospace manufacturing * Aviation/aerospace safety * Aviation/aerospace security * Aviation/aerospace training * Aviation/aerospace education * Aviation/aerospace meteorology * Aviation/aerospace navigation and avionics systems * Aviation/aerospace maintenance * Aviation/aerospace finance and management * Aviation/aerospace logistics * Aviation/aerospace legislation and regulation * Aviation/aerospace medicine * Aviation/aeronautics/aerospace human factors * Crew and general resource management * Flight operations issues and management * Aviation/aerospace risk management * Aviation/aerospace decision support systems * Aviation/aerospace vehicle research * Underrepresented groups in Aviation/aerospace Any other topics related to aviation, aeronautics, and aerospace will be considered. Please contact the editor if you have questions about the appropriateness of your manuscript. Submissions should be well-researched articles utilizing both sound methodologies and the most current references related to the topic. The Journal also accepts book reviews and non-peer-reviewed position papers on contemporary issues. Contact the editor to discuss the potential solicitation for non-peer- reviewed work. The Journal is a refereed publication in which manuscripts are blindly reviewed by members of the editorial staff and industry or academic reviewers with experience related to the article topic. Acceptance and publication are conducted on a rolling basis and the goal of the Journal is to provide writers with an outstanding publication experience. It is the aim of the Journal to provide authors with a decision on their article within two weeks of submission acceptance. David C. Ison, Ph.D. MAS Program Chair Assistant Professor of Aeronautics College of Aeronautics Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide Editor, International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace Office (Cell): (503) 507-5697 email: isond46@erau.edu Website: http://worldwide.erau.edu/ Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST A fellow aviator of over 10 years is conducting doctoral research on factors of manager motivation. The study explores how having your career's biggest motivators influences your work engagement level. The researcher focuses on career motivation and workplace engagement - the perception of your values, needs, and desires, and the ability to successfully achieve them through work! At the end of the research study, you'll have the option of learning the results of the study, and/or volunteering to participate in an interview for further research. Researcher intent is to conduct interviews in person, on the phone, or via email. Each confidential interview will be recorded and is expected to last about 30-45 minutes. Please help improve your workplace by better understanding your career engagement! If you are interested in participating in this study, click on the following link, or email the researcher directly at alesko6595@my.sullivan.edu Thanks so much! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Career_Engagement Ashley Lesko PhD Candidate Doctoral Researcher Back to Top Research Survey Request CASR's Limited Job Task Analysis Validation Survey Extended to February 28, 2015 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 February 28, 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 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 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: Fundamentals of IS-BAO February 3, 2015 Atlanta, GA USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1628307 IS-BAO Auditing February 4, 2015 Atlanta, GA USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1628308 Fundamentals of IS-BAO February 10, 2015 Long Beach, CA USA https://www.regonline.com/eventInfo.asp?eventID=1651572 Fundamentals of IS-BAH February 10, 2015 Long Beach, CA USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1651575 IS-BAH Auditing February 11, 2015 Long Beach, CA USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1651581 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 ERAU OSHA & Aviation Ground Safety Seminar Daytona Beach, FL Apr.13-17, 2015 www.erau.edu/cmas ERAU Aviation Safety Program Management Seminar Daytona Beach, FL Apr.20-24, 2015 www.erau.edu/cmas ERAU Aircraft Accident Investigation Seminar Daytona Beach, FL Apr. 27-May 1, 2015 www.erau.edu/cmas ERAU Advanced Aircraft Accident Investigation Seminar Prescott Campus, AZ May 4-8, 2015 www.erau.edu/cmas ERAU Aviation SMS Seminar Daytona Beach, FL May 12-14, 2015 www.erau.edu/sms Back to Top Positions Available: Director Safety Assurance Alaska Airlines http://alaskaair.jobs/seattle-wa/director-safety-assurance/32B51332CBA14B28B14EFF0F793F90CB/job/ Curt Lewis