Flight Safety Information March 2, 2015 - No. 040 In This Issue FAA investigates jet crash at Marco Island Airport Australia says hunt for missing MH370 jet may be called off soon Aircraft ocean-tracking trial set Entire Family Kicked Off Airplane for Toddler's Bad Behavior PROS 2015 TRAINING Graduate Research Survey Research Study 2015 AMERCA Flight Standards Meeting...April 7-8, 2015 Upcoming Events FAA investigates jet crash at Marco Island Airport MARCO ISLAND, Fla. - According to the Collier County Sheriff's Office, a challenger jet carrying nine passengers ended up 60 feet off the runway Sunday evening. It happened at the Marco Island Executive Airport just before 5 p.m. Authorities told WINK News one person was taken to a local hospital, but they did not say the extent of the injuries. The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the crash. http://www.winknews.com/2015/03/01/faa-investigates-jet-crash-at-marco-island-airport/ ************** Date: 01-MAR-2015 Time: -16:45 Type: Canadair CL-600 Challenger Owner/operator: Six Hundred NP LLC Registration: N600NP C/n / msn: 3002 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 9 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Marco Island Airport (KMKY), Marco Island, Florida - United States of America Phase: Landing Nature: Passenger Departure airport: Florida Keys Marathon (KMTH) Destination airport: Marco Island (KMKY) Narrative: The aircraft experienced a runway overrun and subsequent nosegear collapse upon landing at the Marco Island Airport (KMKY), on Marco Island, Florida. The airplane sustained unreported damage and one possible injury was reported among the nine occupants onboard. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Australia says hunt for missing MH370 jet may be called off soon Relatives of some of the Chinese passengers who were on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 outline their demands to the airline at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur February 20, 2015. REUTERS/Olivia Harris (Reuters) - The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 cannot go on forever, Australia's deputy prime minister said, and discussions are already under way between Australia, China and Malaysia as to whether to call off the hunt within weeks. No trace has been found of the Boeing 777 aircraft, which disappeared a year ago this week carrying 239 passengers and crew, in what has become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. MH370 vanished from radar screens shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, early on March 8. Investigators believe it was flown thousands of miles off course before eventually crashing into the Indian Ocean. The search of a rugged 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq mile) patch of sea floor some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, which experts believe is the plane's most likely resting place, will likely be finished by May. Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss told Reuters that a decision would have to be taken well before then as to whether to continue into the vast 1.1 million sq km area around the primary search zone if nothing has been found. Discussions had already begun about what to do in that event, including the possibility that the search might be called off, said Truss, who is also transport minister. "For many of the families onboard, they won't have closure unless they have certain knowledge that the aircraft has been located and perhaps their loved ones' remains have been recovered," Truss said in an interview. "We clearly cannot keep searching forever, but we want to do everything that's reasonably possible to locate the aircraft." Truss compared the search, already the most expensive of its kind, with another great mystery from an earlier era, the hunt for missing aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937 during an early attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Four vessels owned by Dutch engineering firm Fugro, equipped with sophisticated underwater drones, have searched about 40 percent of the previously unmapped expanse of sea floor that has been designated the highest priority. DECISION TIME Australia and Malaysia contributed to evenly split the costs, estimated at up to A$52 million ($40.5 million), but Truss warned that continuing the search beyond that area would be impossible without more international help. "We put in the amount of money that we believed was necessary to do this job well and thoroughly with the best available equipment," he said. "We have to make other decisions, then, about how long the search should continue." Military radar showed the plane turned back across Peninsular Malaysia after contact with it was lost. A handful of faint "pings" picked up by a commercial satellite for around another six hours helped narrow down its likely final location. Martin Dolan, Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau which is leading the search, said he remained confident that the plane would be found in the remainder of the so-called "priority search area". If, however, the search has to be expanded into the much larger surrounding area, the costs could prove prohibitive. "It's almost impossible to get your head around the scale of what's involved here," he told Reuters. "If you take the theoretical maximum of the possible area for the aircraft - 1.1 (or) 1.2 million sq km - you're talking about orders or magnitude in terms of cost and time above what we're currently doing, and that's something that governments will obviously have to bear in mind." Most of those on board the lost flight were Chinese or Malaysian. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Australia, China and Malaysia had cooperated closely on the search. "The Australian side has put in a large amount of personnel and material resources and we are deeply grateful for their help," Hong said. "The search effort is still ongoing and we hope the relevant work will produce progress." The Malaysian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Loss-making Malaysia Airlines, whose fortunes worsened when another of its Boeing 777's was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people on board, was delisted at the end of 2014 as part of a $1.8 billion government-led restructuring. Rounding out a bad year for Malaysian-affiliated carriers, an Indonesia AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore crashed on Dec. 28, killing all 162 people on board. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/01/us-malaysia-airlines-australia-idUSKBN0LX1RS20150301 Back to Top Aircraft ocean-tracking trial set a-chinese-family-member-of-a-passenger-on-board-the-missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-370-cries-after- praying-at-a-temple-in-kuala-lumpur-malaysia-sunday-march-1-2015 SYDNEY -- Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia will lead a trial of an enhanced method of tracking aircraft over remote oceans to allow planes to be more easily found should they vanish like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australia's transport minister said Sunday. The announcement comes one week ahead of the anniversary of the disappearance of Flight 370, which vanished last year during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing with 239 people on board. No trace of the plane has been found. Airservices Australia, a government-owned agency that manages the country's airspace, will work with its Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts to test the new method, which would enable planes to be tracked every 15 minutes, rather than the previous rate of 30 to 40 minutes, Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said. The tracking would increase to 5 minutes or less if there is a deviation in the plane's movements. The trial is expected to use satellite-based positioning technology already on board 90 percent of long-haul aircraft that transmits the plane's current position and its next two planned positions, said Airservices Australia chairman Angus Houston, who helped lead the search for Flight 370. The trial will boost the frequency with which planes automatically report their position, allowing air traffic controllers to better track them, Houston said. "This is not a silver bullet," he said in the nation's capital, Canberra. "But it is an important step in delivering immediate improvements to the way we currently track aircraft while more comprehensive solutions are developed." There is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft and ever since Flight 370 disappeared, air safety regulators and airlines have been trying to agree on how extensively planes should be tracked. The Boeing 777 veered sharply off-course and vanished from radar shortly into its flight March 8. An international team of experts that analyzed a series of hourly transmissions between the plane and a satellite later determined that the plane traveled for another seven hours before crashing somewhere within a remote 23,000-square-mile patch of the Indian Ocean. An extensive, months-long search of that area is ongoing, but nothing has yet been found. Houston warned that new method being tested would not necessarily have allowed air traffic controllers to monitor Flight 370 -- whose transponder and other tracking equipment shut down during the flight -- to the point where it crashed. "I think we've got to be very, very careful because you can turn this system off," he said. "What would have happened while the system is operating, we'd know exactly where the aircraft was. If somebody had turned the system off, we're in the same set of circumstances as we've experienced on the latter part of the flight of MH370." http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/mar/02/aircraft-ocean-tracking-trial-set-20150/ Back to Top Entire Family Kicked Off Airplane for Toddler's Bad Behavior airplane Flying with kids isn't easy. There are tricks we have to do, sometimes even bribes, to get our kids to sit still for the duration of the flight and not kick the seat in front of them. Or cry the whole time. It's tough stuff. Which is why I feel for the parents who got kicked off a flight when their 3-year-old refused to put on his seatbelt. This happened on-board a Cathay Pacific flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Hong Kong. Mother and father were with their 3-year-old son who didn't want to sit down. Do you know many 3-year-olds who do? It seems that as mom and dad were trying to convince their son to buckle up, the flight attendants maybe tried to help speedy up the process. And you know what happened next? Stress. Emotions. Patience lost. Things got heated and it was reported that the parents tried to convince the flight attendants to just let the child sit on mom's lap, but that's not allowed. There was yelling. Another passenger shouted to "call police" and the child's father yelled that they were being bullied. You think the kid was going to sit in his seat now? More From The Stir: Mom With Baby Kicked Off Plane After Fight With Flight Attendant I really feel for the parents. I know there are rules and kids over 2 must sit in their own seat with their seatbelt fastened. When the child refused, I imagine that the parents did all they could to keep the child calm and not disturb the whole plane. Sadly, it appears things escalated fast and an argument broke out. A little kindness and patience could have helped this situation. But the plane has to take off on time and the flight attendants were just doing their job in the name of safety. A plane just can't wait for a toddler to settle in. And parents of toddlers know how long it takes sometimes to get a toddler to do anything. The family ended up being kicked off the flight. More From The Stir: 10 Tricks for Traveling by Plane With Toddlers How could this have been avoided? Prepping your child prior to your flight is a great idea. You can make the whole experience like an adventure where the child needs to buckle up like the pilot to soar high in the sky. Maybe you can practice sitting in a seat and working the seatbelt in your car (without it running and not while driving anywhere). It's possible the parents did as much as they could to prepare, but as we know, kids can be unpredictable. Once the arguing began, there was little hope for the child to keep calm and sit in his seat. A child will feed off his parents' stress, and sadly that's why this situation spiraled out of control. We all have to remember to keep calm as much as possible -- this goes for the parents and the flight attendants and the fellow passengers. That would have helped this child sit in his seat. What do you think of this story? Should the family been kicked off the flight? What tips would you share on how to help your child sit in his seat with the seatbelt on an airplane? http://thestir.cafemom.com/parenting_news/183153/entire_family_kicked_off_airplane Back to Top Back to Top Graduate Research Survey The survey is being conducted as part of a Master's thesis in Human Factors Engineering at Tufts University. It explores differences in opinions and perceived use of voluntary reporting practices at several major airlines that utilize a similar system. The end goal is to recommend best practices for the successful implementation and continued use of such systems to maximize the benefit to an organization and its employees. This survey is voluntary and can be stopped at any time without consequence. Participants only need to answer questions that they feel comfortable answering and Katherine (the creator of the survey), GE Aviation, and Tufts University will have no knowledge of the name or identity of any person who submits a response to this survey. It is completely anonymous. Additionally, airline names will never be disclosed. The survey should take less than 5 minutes. Please contact her if you have any questions: katherine.darveau@ge.com W: 781-594-7799 C: 781-439-7431 Mechanic/Technician survey link: https://tufts.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6x6T69RkMwDJvA9 Manager survey link: https://tufts.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5i5oyQqRSqruyy1 Back to Top Research Study The Human in Complex Systems (HCOM) Lab at the University of Waterloo is conducting an online study that looks at the effect of information asynchrony, or time delays in the transmission of surveillance information, on pilot-ATC communication. We are currently seeking subject-matter experts including active or retired professional pilots (commercial or higher rating) and air traffic controllers (terminal / enroute) as our participants to the study. This is an online experiment that can be conducted from your personal computer. We recognize that the approximate 2.5 hour commitment is significant; while we cannot provide compensation for your time, in appreciation of the time you have given to this study, you can enter your name into a draw for 1 of 10 prizes. The prizes include a $100 amazon.com gift card. Your odds of winning one of the prizes is approximately 1 in 4. The study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee. However, the final decision about participation is yours. For clarity, this experiment is not an official FAA / NASA funded/sponsored/endorsed research activity but is part of Samuel Lien's graduate degree research project at the University of Waterloo. To find out more about the study and to register if you wish to participate, please visit the study website: http://rbhagat.uwaterloo.ca/IDEA/ or please contact Samuel Lien slien@uwaterloo.ca or Dr. Jonathan Histon jhiston@uwaterloo.ca Back to Top 2015 AMERCA Flight Standards Meeting April 7-8, 2015 Sheraton Tysons Hotel Tysons, Virginia The FAA Flight Standards Service is hosting a meeting with the States from the Africa/Middle East/Russia/Central Asia Region. The meeting will take place at the Sheraton Tysons Hotel on April 7-8, with meeting material pickup and check-in beginning the afternoon of April 6. This meeting provides a unique opportunity to share information on FAA best practices in the safety oversight of operations and continuing airworthiness with civil aviation authorities in the region. Continuing a tradition of other FAA international outreach activities, this meeting offers a forum for aviation safety leaders to delve more deeply into the FAA Flight Standards Service activities, as well as receive information on safety oversight topics key to the Region. The two-day meeting will be open to civil aviation authorities and industry. Industry attendance will also bring focus on topics related to air carrier operations and continuing airworthiness activities involved between the United States and the regions. Who Should Attend * Government aviation standards, certification, operations, and maintenance personnel * Industry representatives from the United States and the regions Registration Registration is now open! To complete your registration, please use the "Register Now" button located on the top-right-hand side of this page. The registration fee is $200.00, which covers the cost of your attendance as well as refreshments and lunch service for both days of the conference. All registrations must be completed by March 27. http://www.regonline.com/FAAflightstandards-AMERCA Questions about registration? Contact us at DOT.FAAeventsupport@sidemgroup.com Hotel Accommodation Please note that you are responsible for securing your own sleeping accommodations. Should you require a hotel room, The Sheraton Tysons Hotel has a special rate of $199.00 per night (exclusive of taxes and fees) for participants. This rate will only be available until March 7, 2015. Important Deadlines * Hotel Reservations: Discounted sleeping room rates must be booked by Saturday, March 7, 2015. * Meeting Registration: All registrations must be completed by Friday, March 27, 2015. No late registrations will be accepted. Back to Top Upcoming Events: Fundamentals of IS-BAO March 5, 2015 HAI Heli-Expo - Orlando, FL USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1628315 IS-BAO Auditing March 6, 2015 HAI Heli-Expo - Orlando, FL USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1628316 Fundamentals of IS-BAO March 31, 2015 Houston, TX USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1657515 IS-BAO Auditing April 1, 2015 Houston, TX USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1657517 Fundamentals of IS-BAO April 15, 2015 Toluca, Mexico https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1657510 IS-BAO Auditing April 16, 2015 Toluca, Mexico https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1657512 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 Safety Smackdown Partnership for Corporate Aviation Training San Antonio, TX April 20-22, 2015 http://www.p4cat.org/ 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 Curt Lewis