Flight Safety Information May 4, 2015 - No. 086 In This Issue Alps plane crash: Search for victims' bodies ends Alaska Airlines Flight 76 Bound For Seattle Makes Emergency Landing In Vancouver Plane crash: US pilot, Chinese passenger dead Small Plane Crashes Into Pennsylvania Airport Building Federal judge ruling bars Allegiant Air pilots from going on strike Plane Struck by Green Laser Near Arlington Nepal shuts airports to big jets; more bodies found Loaded guns found in all major Tenn. airports in 1-week period FAA contractor charged in fire that canceled thousands of flights PROS 2015 TRAINING DGCA to issue licences to 2,000-odd Air Traffic Controllers PIA pilot compromises on air safety of travellers Battle Shapes Up Over Video Cameras in Airline Cockpits Harvard University Airline Pilot Health Survey Research Request GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Position) Alps plane crash: Search for victims' bodies ends The French authorities say they have ended the search for bodies at the site where a Germanwings co- pilot is said to have crashed his aircraft in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. Identification of the victims will continue with analysis of the DNA found and debris will carry on being removed. Meanwhile reports said the European Commission took issue with Germany's aviation authority before the crash. It was ordered to "remedy long-standing problems", reports say. The Wall Street Journal reported that the aviation authority, the Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA), was told in November to sort out problems including a lack of staff which could have limited its ability to carry out checks on planes and crew. In light of investigators believing co-pilot Andreas Lubitz crashed the plane deliberately, the way airline crew are vetted has come under scrutiny. The European Aviation Safety Agency "had pointed out several cases of non-conformity," spokesman Dominique Fouda told AFP news agency. A European Commission spokesman said: "All EU member states have findings and this is a normal and regular occurrence. "It is part of a continuous system of oversight - findings are followed by corrective action, similar to an audit process." A spokeswoman for the LBA said the authority had answered several criticisms levelled at it during the audits and those responses were now being assessed by the European Aviation Safety Agency. France's air accident authority has said its investigations will include a study of "systemic weaknesses" that could have led to the disaster, including psychological profiling. Lufthansa, the parent company of budget airline Germanwings, has said Lubitz disclosed that he had had severe depression in 2009 while training for his pilot's licence. It has also emerged that he received treatment for suicidal tendencies at one point before getting his pilot's licence. German prosecutors found torn-up sick notes at Lubitz's home, including one covering the day of the crash. He was also found to have researched suicide methods and cockpit security on a tablet computer in the days preceding the disaster. Lufthansa's chief executive Carsten Spohr has said he is "very very sorry that such a terrible accident could have happened" and that the airline was utterly unaware of any health issues that could have compromised Lubitz's fitness to fly. The company has put aside $300m (€280m; £200m) to cover possible compensation claims arising from the crash. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32186888 Back to Top Alaska Airlines Flight 76 Bound For Seattle Makes Emergency Landing In Vancouver Due To Electrical Issues Alaska Airlines Flight 76 had to make an emergency landing in Vancouver on Sunday after one of the plane's electrical systems reported problems. The Boeing 737-400, with 120 passengers and five crew members on board, was traveling from Juneau, Alaska to Seattle, Washington. It landed at the Vancouver International Airport around 5 p.m. on Sunday and no injuries were reported. A company spokeswoman said, according to the Associated Press (AP), the pilots were in control of the aircraft when the problems arose during the flight. She added that the landing was performed in accordance with the company's policy that required a plane to land at the nearest airport in case of emergency. A replacement aircraft would take the passengers bound for Seattle to their destination, the company spokeswoman reportedly said. According to a report by the Province, a Vancouver-based newspaper, technicians and maintenance crew were inspecting the plane after it landed. In April, an Alaska Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing after one of the airport workers was trapped inside the cargo hold of Flight 448, and called 911 from inside the moving plane. The worker was later barred from all future work with the airline. http://www.ibtimes.com/alaska-airlines-flight-76-bound-seattle-makes-emergency-landing-vancouver- due-1906632 Back to Top Plane crash: US pilot, Chinese passenger dead An American pilot and a Chinese passenger have been killed in a light airplane crash in eastern China, state media reported. The official Xinhua news agency said Sunday night that neither of the deceased had been identified yet in the accident in Anhui province in eastern China. Xinhua reported that the plane crashed within minutes of taking off Sunday afternoon and caught fire. It said the plane belonged to the George Heintz Aircraft Manufacturing Co, a US company operating in neighboring Henan province. http://www.emirates247.com/news/plane-crash-us-pilot-chinese-passenger-dead-2015-05-04-1.589517 Back to Top Small Plane Crashes Into Pennsylvania Airport Building A small plane crashed into an unoccupied administration building at an Elk County airport after a pilot and his girlfriend attempted to hand prop the aircraft Sunday afternoon. The crash occured at St. Mary's Municipal Airport shortly before 1 p.m. when the pilot attempted to manually turn on the propeller outside the plane with his girlfriend inside, said Airport Manager Alan McPherson. Officials believe the woman did not know how to control the aircraft as it took off and struck the airport's empty administration building. The airport was originally scheduled to be closed today, but the runway remained open for use. The pilot and his girlfriend, who were not injured in the crash, were taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, McPherson said. A small fuel leak was discovered at the crash site and emergency services were called in to make repairs. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Small-Plane-Crashes-Unoccupied-Airport-Building-St-Marys- 302349871.html Back to Top Federal judge ruling bars Allegiant Air pilots from going on strike LAS VEGAS - A federal judge in Las Vegas has issued an order barring Allegiant Air pilots from going on strike while mediation is under way in their labor dispute. Judge Andrew Gordon ruled Friday that International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1224 can't strike in order to gain leverage over the airline while both sides are in mediation under federal law. The union argued that it is allowed to strike because the company had not obeyed a court order to restore work rules in its pilot-labor contract. Allegiant, which is based in Las Vegas, said in a statement that the order will prevent disruption of travel for thousands of passengers. The company said it will now spend its energy negotiating a contract that's beneficial to pilots and the company. Messages were left Saturday seeking comment from the union and its attorneys. Allegiant specializes in flying travelers from smaller cities to vacation destinations such as Las Vegas and Phoenix. It touts low base fares but charges for many extras including seat assignments and carry-on bags. It also offers packages that include hotel rooms and car rentals. About 53 percent of Allegiant's employees are represented by unions, which is less than United, American and Southwest but more than Delta. The airline is tiny compared with industry leaders such as American, Delta and United, but it is profitable. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/03/federal-judge-ruling-bars-allegiant-air-pilots-from-going-on- strike/ Back to Top Plane Struck by Green Laser Near Arlington A green laser struck two small planes overnight in Dallas, raising safety concerns in an incident that can be prosecuted as a federal crime. The Federal Aviation Administration reported Sunday that two pilots reported seeing the laser shortly after midnight. The planes were heading to Arlington and were about 12 miles south of Dallas Love Field airport when the incident occurred. They were at about 3,000 feet. Laser lights can obstruct the vision of a pilot, and unauthorized use of a laser is a federal crime. A Dallas man got 2 1/2 years in prison in 2013 after using a laser pointer in the direction of a police helicopter. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Plane-Struck-by-Green-Laser-Near-Arlington-302345641.html Back to Top Nepal shuts airports to big jets; more bodies found KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- Runway damage forced Nepalese authorities to close the main airport Sunday to large aircraft delivering aid to millions of people following the massive earthquake, but U.N. officials said the overall logistics situation was improving. The death toll climbed to 7,250, including six foreigners and 45 Nepalese found over the weekend on a popular trekking route, said government administrator Gautam Rimal. Nepal's Tourist Police reported that a total of 57 foreigners have been killed in the April 25 quake, and 109 are still missing, including 12 Russians and nine Americans. The main runway was temporarily closed to big planes because of damage. It was built to handle only medium-size jetliners, but not the large military and cargo planes that have been flying in aid supplies, food, medicines, and rescue and humanitarian workers, said Birendra Shrestha, the manager of Tribhuwan International Airport, located on the outskirts of Kathmandu. There have been reports of cracks on the runway and other problems at the only airport capable of handling jetliners. "You've got one runway, and you've got limited handling facilities, and you've got the ongoing commercial flights," said Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. coordinator for Nepal. "You put on top of that massive relief items coming in, the search and rescue teams that has clogged up this airport. And I think once they put better systems in place, I think that will get better." He said the bottlenecks in aid delivery were slowly disappearing, and the Nepalese government eased customs and other bureaucratic hurdles on humanitarian aid following complaints from the U.N. "The government has taken note of some of the concerns that we've expressed to them," he said. Kai Tabacek, a spokesman for the British charity Oxfam, said the main problem was that Kathmandu airport was too small "to deal with huge volume of traffic. Of course, there have been some delays, but these have more to do with the challenge of moving large volumes of goods than customs." Airport congestion was only the latest complication in the global effort to aid people in the wake of the April 25 quake, the impoverished country's biggest and most destructive in eight decades. Nepal's geography of high mountains and difficult road networks "is always going to be a challenge," McGoldrick said. Airlifting goods by helicopter "right now is quite limited," he said. People in Nepal - both in remote villages and the capital, Kathmandu - have complained about not seeing any rescue workers or international aid and about a lack of temporary shelters, with many sleeping out in the open because of fears of aftershocks bringing down their damaged homes. U.N. humanitarian officials said that they were increasingly worried about the spread of disease. They said more helicopters were needed to reach isolated mountain villages that were hard to access even before the quake. The true extent of the damage from the earthquake is still unknown as reports keep filtering in from remote areas, some of which remain entirely cut off. The U.N. says the quake affected 8.1 million people - more than a quarter of Nepal's 28 million people. The government said Sunday that the quake had killed 7,057 people. Laxi Dhakal, a Home Ministry official, said hopes of finding survivors had faded dramatically. "Unless they were caught in an air pocket, there is not much possibility," he said. Among the latest fatalities to be counted were the 51 people, including six foreigners, whose remains were found in the Langtang Valley in Rasuwa district, nearly 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Kathmandu. Most of the victims were Nepalese guides, hotel owners, workers and porters. The area, with a dozen inns near the trekking trail, was buried by a landslide after the earthquake. Nepal has been shaken by more than 70 aftershocks following the quake, and its people remain on edge. One brief aftershock Saturday afternoon shook the only paved road in the village of Pauwathok. Residents screamed and began to run, then stopped when the tremor eased. The small village is located in the district of Sindupalchok, where more deaths have been recorded than anywhere else in Nepal - 2,560, compared to 1,622 in Kathmandu. The U.N. says up to 90 percent of the houses in Sindupalchok have been destroyed. http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2015/05/03/nepal-closes-airport-to-big-jets/26834993/ Back to Top Loaded guns found in all major Tenn. airports in 1-week period NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) - The Transportation Security Association discovered loaded firearms at all major Tennessee airports over a one-week span. On April 20, a loaded Ruger .380 pistol was found at the Memphis International Airport. On that same day, a loaded Smith and Wesson .380 pistol was found at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. Then on April 27, three more loaded guns were at three other major airports. In Knoxville, a loaded North American Arms .22 caliber revolver was found at the McGhee Tyson Airport. At the Tri-Cities Regional Airport, authorities found a loaded Taurs .45 caliber pistol. And in Nashville, agents found a loaded Beretta .25 caliber pistol. Authorities said two more firearms, a loaded Glock 33 and a Smith and Wesson .38 special, were found in a passenger's carry-on at the Nashville International Airport on April 28. In each incident, the TSA immediately alerted police who took possession of the bags containing the weapons. While firearms can be transported in checked luggage, they are prohibited in carry-ons. Through March 31 this year, TSA officers discovered 555 firearms at checkpoints across the U.S. A total of 2,213 were discovered in 2014. http://wkrn.com/2015/04/30/loaded-firearms-found-in-all-major-tenn-airports-within-1-week/ Back to Top FAA contractor charged in fire that canceled thousands of flights A former Federal Aviation Administration contractor has been formally charged with setting the September fire at the Chicago-area air-traffic control facility that canceled thousands of flights. Brian Howard, 37, of Naperville, Ill., was charged Friday in U.S. District Court with willfully setting the fire at the Aurora center and using fire to commit a felony, according to U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon. Howard's arraignment hasn't been set yet. He has been in custody since his arrest in September. Howard had been an FAA contractor for about eight years working on telecommunications at the regional center, where controllers track flights above 18,000 feet in the air between airports. About 5 a.m. on Sept. 26, Howard carried a black Pelican suitcase into the center, prosecutors said. About 30 minutes after arriving, Howard posted a Facebook message that stated: "Take a hard look in the mirror, I have. And this is why I am about to take out (the center) and my life. April, Pop, love you guys and I am sorry. Leaving you with a big mess." Other workers discovered the fire several minutes later. Amid dense smoke, emergency responders found that a floor panel had been lifted to expose telecommunications cables, some of which had been severed and set on fire. A gas can sat next to the floor panel, along with the Pelican suitcase. The fire cost airlines an estimated $350 million as more than 5,000 flights at O'Hare and Midway airports were canceled in the week that followed. Hundreds of controllers from neighboring states pitched in for weeks to keep flights safe as the center was rebuilt. FAA has asked Congress for $8.8 million to improve FAA security. The FAA is also striving to organize communications and training to handle 90% of scheduled flights within 24 hours of a catastrophic outage such as a fire, rather than the several days it took to hit that mark in September. If Howard is convicted, the charge of willfully setting the fire carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the damage caused by the fire. The charge of using fire to commit a federal felony carries a mandatory penalty of 10 years in prison. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/03/faa-fire-chicago-aurora-air-traffic-control-brian- howard/26827403/ Back to Top Back to Top DGCA to issue licences to 2,000-odd Air Traffic Controllers NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator DGCA faces the uphill task of issuing licences to 2,000-odd Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) and over 60 aerodromes ahead of the audit by UN aviation body, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), later this year, sources said. The ICAO audit, the third in last nine years, would take place in November this year and cover issues such as aerodrome operations, air traffic control, airports, and air navigation mechanism. "As far as licensing to ATCOs is concerned, while the first stage - collecting data about the each ATC personnel - was completed long back, the second stage, which involves comprehensive health check-ups, has just began. "Licences would be issued by the DGCA to ATCOs only after this exercise gets completed," sources told PTI here. ATC is part of the air traffic management and comes under Airports Authority of India. There are around 2,300 ATCOs manning the Indian airspace at present. DGCA head M Sathiyavathy had said that India was bracing up for more reviews by international agencies after getting back the top aviation safety rating from the US aviation watchdog, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). "The audit of our civil aviation sector is not ending with the FAA audit. We will be briefing the European Aviation safety Agency (EASA) next month about the measures we are taking to maintain our safety ranking. In November, we will have another audit by ICAO which will be a very comprehensive," she had said. The decision to licence ATCOs was taken on the basis of recommendations of a committee on the civil aviation sector, headed by former Civil Aviation Secretary MK Kaw. The committee, set up to review the operations of the DGCA by the previous UPA government in 2005, submitted its report in 2006. As of now, pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers come in the licence category of employees in the aviation. "Besides, of the 125 aerodromes in the country, only 60 airports have been issued licences and the remaining ones have yet to get it. This exercise is also to be completed before ICAO takes a comprehensive review of the aviation safety oversight." "If India fails to meet any of the parameters regarding aerodrome operations or air traffic control during it would stand the risk of being put on the list of " non-compliant" on the ICAO website," sources said. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dgca-to-issue-licences-to- 2000-odd-air-traffic-controllers/articleshow/47143851.cms Back to Top PIA pilot compromises on air safety of travellers KARACHI: A very senior and highly influential pilot of Pakistan International Airlines caused a serious air safety hazard when he operated a Trans-Atlantic long haul flight without mandatory rest, putting the lives of over 350 passengers to unnecessary risk in April, it emerged on Sunday. Sources said the national flag carrier did not check the violation of air safety rules though the PIA spokesperson claimed a thorough inquiry would be conducted into the incident that happened in the first week of April. The sources said no punitive action was taken against the pilot, Qasim Hayat. The PIA did not share information about the inquiry with the media despite the passage of over three weeks. This was not the first such incident of compromise on air safety as another pilot, Amir Hashmi, had been involved in such violation at least twice in the past, the sources said. They added that no punitive action had been taken against him, lending courage to other pilots to put the life of air travellers at unnecessary risk. They said the record of pilot Qasim Hayat (ID No: 38790) was far from ideal / satisfactory. During his tenure in office as the PIA director (flight operations), he did not take any punitive action against Mr Hashmi, also the chief of Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (Palpa), who had violated at least twice the law regarding 24-hour rest. Even the Civil Aviation Authority did not take any punitive action against Mr Hashmi for violating the CAA law - Air Navigation Order (ANO) - which prescribed at least 24-hour rest for the crew before they operated long flights, the sources explained. The rest was made mandatory because fatigued crew could lead to a disaster, the sources said. They said Islamabad-based pilot Qasim Hayat was scheduled to fly from the capital on April 5 to Lahore, where he had to stay and take rest for around 39 hours before flying to Toronto on April 7. But the PIA pilot preferred to delay his travel to Lahore until April 6 night. While he reached Lahore in the late hours of April 6 via PK 655, he did not take complete rest and embarked upon the journey to Canada early next morning (April 7). By doing this, the senior pilot exposed the life of over 350 Toronto-bound passengers to serious and unnecessary danger, the sources said. When the airline was asked by Dawn about the departure and arrival time and date of the Islamabad- Lahore flight that the senior pilot had taken and the departure time of the Lahore-Toronto flight in the first week of April, the PIA did not answer initially. But after repeated requests by this reporter to get an answer, PIA spokesperson Aamir Memon said: "Your query highlights the concern PIA considers sacrosanct. We are verifying the matter in all areas of airline operations and will conduct a thorough inquiry and take appropriate action." Attempts to approach Mr Hayat could not succeed as he left for the US to spend his vacation soon after his return from Canada to Pakistan on April 10. http://www.dawn.com/news/1179811/pia-pilot-compromises-on-air-safety-of-travellers Back to Top Battle Shapes Up Over Video Cameras in Airline Cockpits International air-safety watchdogs are poised to advocate installing video cameras in airliner cockpits, putting pilots groups on the defensive and prompting them to recast their opposition strategy. The aviation arm of the United Nations is expected to make a big push later this year for such changes, according to industry officials, safety experts and others familiar with the issue. Those efforts have been stoked to some extent by a spate of high-profile crashes in the past year, including a presumed suicide crash by the 27-year-old co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525, who flew his jet into a French mountainside, killing all 150 people aboard. The tussle over cockpit video recorders is likely to take years, and its outcome is uncertain. In any case, individual countries will retain the ultimate enforcement authority. Pilots unions and other who oppose video cameras on commercial flight decks are organizing more aggressively than ever, revising their arguments and seeking out new allies. The unions have successfully blocked the recorders for decades, largely by focusing on privacy concerns and raising the prospect of images being misused by crash investigators, criminal prosecutors or the news media. Those arguments remain central to the debate. But some union leaders have been putting more emphasis on the issue of cost to the airlines as they face what is likely to be an uphill battle. Officials at the U.N.-backed International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets global safety standards for airlines, have the option of mandating video in cockpits or merely encouraging air carriers and national regulators to move in that direction. Backed by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and agencies in other countries responsible for investigating aircraft accidents, the video devices are intended to supplement black-box voice and flight- data recorders found on commercial planes, and not to provide routine monitoring. Last month, Christopher Hart, chairman of the NTSB, told a Senate panel that "imaging systems can provide the information needed to help determine the cause of [certain] types of accidents and to identify revisions needed to prevent a recurrence." The cameras could be set up to capture cockpit displays along with the hands of pilots, but not their faces. With support for cockpit video recorders growing, some pilot leaders hope they can derail the momentum by highlighting the price tag, joining forces with airline representatives worried about the cost. "We're getting a little bit smarter about finding allies in this area," Martin Chalk, the newly elected president of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations, said in an interview last week. Mr. Chalk and other pilot representatives say the limited capital devoted to safety efforts should focus on other improvements. They say videos wouldn't add significantly to information routinely captured by today's black boxes. In a separate interview last month, Tim Canoll, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents more than 50,000 aviators across North America, was asked if potential privacy violations remained the primary objection. "That's not our lead concern. That's way down the list," Mr. Canoll said. "When you make a decision to spend money on that system," Mr. Canoll said, "you are foregoing many other systems" that would ensure "we're getting our biggest bang for the buck." On Friday, Mr. Canoll said his organization has cited cost issues since the 1990s and is now convinced cockpit cameras amount to "an overreaction and won't improve safety." He predicted that the "desire to write rules will wane quickly," and pilots will step up their campaign "when the discussions begin in earnest." ICAO policy makers haven't indicated how soon they intend to take up the matter, or what type of language they might consider. But in a speech to an international pilots-union conference in Madrid last month, Don Wykoff, a Delta Air Lines Inc. captain and IFALPA's outgoing president, made it clear that pilots anticipate the Montreal-based ICAO will mount an all-out push for cockpit video within a few months. He urged a formidable response by pilots. Arguments over imaging are "coming to Montreal this fall, not maybe," Mr. Wykoff said. "We must engage in our home countries," and "we need to stop this," before it builds up a head of steam, he told hundreds of pilots from around the globe. "We cannot wait for this" debate to formally kick off, he said, and "think that we can be 100% successful ensuring this does not happen; we need to get the work done before then." The maneuvering comes amid heightened public interest throughout the U.S. in wearable video cameras intended to record the actions of police officers, sheriff's deputies and other law-enforcement officials. It also comes as some helicopter manufacturers equip certain models with video-imaging recorders able to capture pilot actions and flight instruments. Selected jetliner models also have video cameras taking images outside the plane. But currently, no major commercial-aircraft maker has taken steps to install video cameras inside cockpits as investigative tools. http://www.wsj.com/articles/battle-shapes-up-over-video-cameras-in-airline-cockpits-1430696606 Back to Top Research Request Back to Top Research Request Research Request for Pilots Assistance in Validating a Prototype Knowledge & Competency Exam The Center for Aviation Safety Research (CASR) at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO (USA) requests your help recruiting volunteers to validate a new exam they have just created to test pilot's knowledge in certain topic areas. Professional Aviation Board of Certification (PABC) is a recruiter and registrar for this research effort and we hope you will: (1) take the exam yourself, (2) invite your fellow pilots to take it, or (3) both. Please note: All testing must be completed by May 29, 2015. * Qualifications to Participate - Pilots who hold current Commercial Licenses / Certificates with Instrument Ratings and higher, including: o A Multi-crew Pilot License (MPL) or ATP-level license with type ratings on modern jet transport aircraft o Retired ATP-holders who currently serve as Type Rating Instructors/Evaluators or Simulator Instructors/Evaluators. * This Exam is: o For research by CASR, with the pilots' answers kept anonymous and the study findings only showing data in aggregate form. o Conducted on a computer in testing centers located around the world. o Taken at a time and place that are convenient for each individual pilot. o Free - no cost to the pilot. o Expected to be completed in 1-3 hrs, but allow 4 hrs if needed. o To support follow-on research on aviation training, testing and safety. * In Return - Volunteers will not be paid, but will be given a letter of appreciation by PABC for their contribution to the vital air safety study. If you are willing to serving as a volunteer, please email the Registrar at: pjwolfe@pabc.aero If you know of other pilots who might be interested and willing, please pass this notice on to them. Thank you in advance for considering this request Pete Peter J. Wolfe, PABC Executive Director & Exam Registrar PO Box 58250, Houston, TX 77258 (O) +1 281-326-3938 Skype: pjwolfe pjwolfe@pabc.aero Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST Hello, you are receiving this message as a courtesy to Mr. Hussain Alhallaf, a Ph.D. candidate at Florida Institute of Technology's doctoral program in Aviation Sciences in the College of Aeronautics. He is examining the relationship between factors affecting the aviation profession and the concept of aviation professionalism, specifically understanding aviation professionalism, and is seeking your assistance to complete an online questionnaire, which would take 10-15 minutes to complete. Mr. Alhallaf endeavors to understand why the aviation profession is such an important career and how can we improve ourselves as professionals within the aviation profession. In addition to taking the survey we also are seeking your generosity in distributing the survey's link. Your assistance and participation are totally appreciated. To participate, you may access the online survey via the following link: http://questionpro.com/t/ALRnkZSa9Y If you have any questions or are unable to distribute the email to your members, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail at halhallaf2014@my.fit.edu or by Cell phone at (386) 847-7671. Thank you for your cooperation. Yours faithfully, Hussain Alhallaf Ph.D. candidate in Aviation Sciences Back To The Top Upcoming Events: ERAU Advanced Aircraft Accident Investigation Seminar Prescott Campus, AZ May 4-8, 2015 www.erau.edu/cmas IATA Cabin Operations Safety Conference May 5-7, 2015 Paris, France www.iata.org/cabin-safety-conference ERAU Aviation SMS Seminar Daytona Beach, FL May 12-14, 2015 www.erau.edu/sms Aircraft Accident Investigation - Fire and Material Failures New course offered by BlazeTech Corp. Woburn MA USA 19-21 May 2015 www.blazetech.com Fundamentals of IS-BAH June 15, 2015 St. Hubert, Quebec Canada https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1659069 IS-BAH Auditing June 16, 2015 St. Hubert, Quebec Canada https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1659079 6th Pan American Aviation Safety Summit June 22-26th Medellin, Colombia http://www.alta.aero/safety/2015/home.php Fundamentals of IS-BAO May 12, 2015 Toluca, Mexico https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1698113 IS-BAO Auditing May 13, 2015 Toluca, Mexico https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1698115 Back to Top JOBS AVAILABLE: Managing Director, Safety Airlines for America http://airlines.org/careers/ Curt Lewis