Flight Safety Information May 5, 2015 - No. 087 In This Issue Airplane Pilots Reporting Increase In Drone Encounters In The Sky Passengers Get Scare After Pilots Pull Up, Abort Landing At SFO Europe toughens up pilot training rules to prevent accidents Strategies Funded to Help Boston Airport Guard Against Effects of Climate Change Airlines Bring in More Money From Bag, Reservations Fees Regional Airline Body Wants to Review Safety, Security at Indonesian Airports FAA CAUTIOUSLY SUGGESTS RELAXED 'LINE-OF-SIGHT' RULES FOR DRONES $425 Million FAA Contract Awarded to McLean's SAIC Court tosses United Airlines lawsuit over a cheap ticket website PROS 2015 TRAINING Harvard University Airline Pilot Health Survey Research Request GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Position) Airplane Pilots Reporting Increase In Drone Encounters In The Sky CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (CBS4) - The Federal Aviation Administration bans the commercial use of drones but the high-flying devices are so popular with hobbyists, they are becoming a threat to airplanes. Reports obtained by CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger found nearly 200 FAA reports of drone interference with planes and helicopters. The reports come from across the country. There are also highly publicized incursions, such as the drone landing on the White House lawn and one flying over an appearance by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And YouTube is filled with videos of drones crashing into everything from power lines to smokestacks and skyscrapers. Companies that sell drones in Colorado are now trying to prevent problems. Josh Gilson is a co-owner of "Multicopter Warehouse" in Castle Rock, a store that offers free classes for drone users. "There's always a danger of crashing," he said. "It's just using your better judgment and not flying over people and cars." The FAA strongly encourages recreational users not to fly drones near people and especially not stadiums or other large crowds. The drones are already banned in national parks because they can intrude on wildlife. But that restriction doesn't cover all animals, which can actually put low-flying drones in danger of being attacked by animals, like dogs. The rules on drones are just for commercially operated drones. Those drone operators must pass a knowledge test, be vetted by the TSA and keep the drones in visual sight at all times. The FAA does have recreational guidelines but they simply suggest drone users avoid being careless or reckless. "Can you regulate stupidity?" asked Multicopter Warehouse co-owner, Kerry Garrison. "That's what it boils down to, and we have known throughout history that doesn't work." http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/05/04/airplane-pilots-reporting-increase-in-drone- encounters-in-the-sky/ Back to Top Passengers Get Scare After Pilots Pull Up, Abort Landing At SFO SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Passengers on a flight coming into San Francisco got a scare when pilots suddenly pulled up to perform a go-around maneuver. "It felt like we were going pretty fast going down, and then all of a sudden he pulled straight up," passenger Abby Morimura said. Just as her flight from New York was approaching SFO, Morimura says Flight 15 made a sudden change. "It was scary. You're going down and all of a sudden you feel the plane go back up, and you throw your back in your seat because it's going up so quickly," Morimura said. Abby says the sharp ascent knocked a flight attendant to the floor. "She just completely fell, and we were all gasping, a little alarmed," Morimura said. An FAA spokesman told KPIX 5 that the Jet Blue pilot reported to the tower he was simply doing a routine movement called a go-around, which is an aborted landing. More specifically, he believed that the tower had him at too high an altitude for a safe landing. "You're looking for a nice stabilized approach, three degrees to the runway," Jonathan Bishop, a flight instructor at California Airways said. Bishop says a steeper approach can be dangerous. "If it's not within the confines of safety, then a go-around would be warranted there. You just go around and try another landing. But, Abby insists she and other passengers heard the captain say it was actually a near- miss. "The captain said that as we were trying to land that another plane was trying to run on the same runway, and that's why we suddenly had to stop what we were doing, and go back up into the air," Morimura said. But after speaking with the plane's crew, Jet Blue says the maneuver was just a go- around, and no other plane was in sight. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/05/04/passengers-get-scare-after-pilots-pull-up- abort-landing-at-sfo/ Back to Top Europe toughens up pilot training rules to prevent accidents European aviation safety regulators introduced new training requirements on Monday (4 May) to help prevent accidents by pilots losing control of planes in-flight, such as during a stall or in bad weather. The International Air Transport Association said that while these incidents were rare, they were deadly. In one such accident, an Air France jet flying between Rio de Janeiro and Paris plunged into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm in June, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. The new rules will include training on stall recovery, dealing with situations where the plane's nose is too low or too high, and also include more training on environmental hazards such as thunderstorms and weather zones like the turbulent Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The move by the Cologne-based European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) follows voluntary guidelines made by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) last year, and prescribe training on both preventing and recovering from in-air upsets. EASA said it expected the new requirements, which European airlines and commercial business jet operators have until May 2016 to implement, to result in a one-off cost of €12.5 million. The new training should also cover the "startle" effect that pilots can experience when unexpected problems arise, as well as how to deal with other issues such as spatial disorientation. The Air France flight was flying through the ITCZ when it crashed, as was an AirAsia A320 plane that crashed on Dec. 28 into the Java Sea, though the final results of that investigation are still pending. The investigation into the Air France disaster showed that despite repeated stall warnings, the confused co-pilot kept pulling backwards on the stick, rather than pushing the nose down to recover from the stall. "A number of accidents in the recent years have demonstrated that Loss of Control remains a major area of concern for aviation safety and should be tackled with the highest priority," EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky said in a statement on Monday. Pilot associations in Europe have been pushing for improved training standards and especially for more focus on basic flying skills, which many feel have been neglected due to increasing automation of cockpits and cost pressures. The European Cockpit Association, which represents over 38,000 pilots in 37 European countries, said pilot training had been gradually slimmed down over the past decade, both by the EU regulator and by the airlines. "What Europe needs is to stem this trend," said Philip von Schoeppenthau, the ECA secretary general. "EASA's focus on training for loss of control and upset recovery is very welcome." http://www.euractiv.com/sections/transport/europe-toughens-pilot-training-rules- prevent-accidents-314303 Back to Top Strategies Funded to Help Boston Airport Guard Against Effects of Climate Change BOSTON - Officials at Boston Logan International Airport have announced a broad multimillion-dollar plan to make the airport, which is almost surrounded by water, more environmentally sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change. The plan calls for investment in measures like flood doors and the relocation of generators to higher floors to make the facility better able to withstand higher sea levels and increased storm surges. It was released last month by the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport. "Over time, there's reason to believe that we would experience some kind of a storm system that would create that kind of flooding," said Thomas P. Glynn, the chief executive of Massport, who said $9 million had been budgeted to make a quarter of the airport's "critical assets" more resilient in the next five years. The report says the rest of those assets should be made more resilient over the next 10 years. The plan also sets efficiency targets for Massport's operations at the airport, like cutting energy consumption by a quarter by 2020, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by the same year. The plan curbs water usage, increases composting and seeks to reduce waste generated per passenger by 2 percent a year through 2030. Logan is one of 44 airports that have received grants from the Federal Aviation Administration to create these plans to manage sustainability. Airport officials here and other experts say the Boston plan is among the first to incorporate resiliency planning, although the F.A.A. was unable to immediately confirm whether this was the case. "There's only a handful of airports that have had pretty comprehensive strategies, though more are starting to look at it," said Katherine Preston, the senior director of environmental affairs for the North American arm of Airports Council International. The issue of airports' exposure to climate-related risks has drawn attention in recent years, especially after Hurricane Sandy flooded New York City's airports. According to the 2014 National Climate Assessment, 13 of the country's 47 largest airports, including New York's John F. Kennedy and La Guardia Airports, have one or more runways that are vulnerable to moderate or high storm surges. A growing number of airports have begun to address the risks associated with climate change. The sustainable management plan developed for Newark Liberty International Airport, published in October 2012, called for officials to develop a risk assessment and a "climate change adaptation action plan" by the end of this year. Other airports have examined the issue outside the scope of sustainability reports. According to a federally funded study by the Airport Cooperative Research Program, those airports include Oakland International in California, where planners are factoring sea level rise into their design changes, and the Jacksonville, Fla., and San Diego airports. Denver's climate adaptation plan, published last year, found that city's airport was also vulnerable to climate change. "They are considering things like sea level rise, increasing temperatures, increasing storm events as they plan for the future," said Katy Maher, a fellow at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. She added, "It seems like Boston and New York have kind of taken the first steps of really taking action." Some environmental advocates in Massachusetts said the Massport plan lacked specifics, especially on how it plans to meet its sustainability targets. "It's not as detailed as I would have liked to have seen," said Greg Cunningham, the director of the clean energy and climate change program at the Conservation Law Foundation, who added that San Francisco International Airport had set more ambitious emissions goals even while it served more passengers. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/us/strategies-to-help-bostons-logan-airport- guard-against-climate-change-effects-are-funded.html?_r=0 Back to Top Airlines Bring in More Money From Bag, Reservations Fees U.S. airlines are earning billions, and they are collecting more in fees on checked bags and reservation changes. Whether airlines are making more or less profit than before depends on which figures you use, although the parent company of American and US Airways comes out on top either way. The Department of Transportation said Monday that airlines collected $3.5 billion in bag fees last year, a 5 percent increase over 2013, and $3 billion in reservation-change fees, a 6 percent hike. Fees began escalating in 2008, when airlines were losing money and facing a sharp rise in fuel prices. Today, they make up a growing share of airline revenue. At Spirit Airlines, which touts low fares and adds lots of fees, only 63 percent of its revenue comes from fares. Southwest still lets customers check two bags or change a reservation for free; it gets 95 percent of revenue from the ticket price. Charlie Leocha of the Consumer Travel Alliance said airlines should reduce fees, but he doesn't expect that to happen because the fees bring in too much money. He favors a proposed federal rule that would require airlines to improve disclosure of how much fees will increase a traveler's total bill. Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the industry trade group Airlines for America, said that fees let airlines charge customers for things they value while keeping base fares low. She said airlines are using "modest" profits and savings from lower fuel prices to invest in new planes and facilities and to reward employees and shareholders. Net income at the 27 airlines counted by the government fell to $7.5 billion last year from $12.2 billion in 2013. However, net income can include one-time gains or losses, and analysts usually prefer to look at operating profit. On that basis, the airlines did even better in 2014 than 2013 - pretax operating profit rose to $14.6 billion from $11.3 billion. One carrier, Delta Air Lines, accounted for more than the entire industry's decline in net income because it scored a one-time tax gain of $8 billion in 2013. That caused net income to plunge from $10.54 billion to $649 million in 2014. But take away the 2013 tax gain and 2014 losses on fuel-hedging contracts, and Delta saw a more modest decline in pretax operating profit - $2.93 billion last year, compared with $3.84 billion in 2013. Other than Delta, both net income and operating profit rose at all the other leading airlines - American, US Airways, which is now part of American, United and Southwest - according to government figures. Those carriers control more than 80 percent of the U.S. air-travel market. American Air Group Inc. had the highest revenue, net income and operating profit. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/airlines-bring-money-bag-reservations-fees- 30792938 Back to Top Regional Airline Body Wants to Review Safety, Security at Indonesian Airports Jakarta. The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, or AAPA, has announced plans to inspect airports in Indonesia to improve aviation safety and security. The association will examine "technical aspects" of the airports' operations and plans to start at Sokearno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang. "We will start from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport as it is the most crowded airport," AAPA chairman Arif Wibowo said last week. " [The] AAPA technical director team has sent an official letter to Angkasa Pura II but we have not received a reply." Angkasa Pura II is Indonesia's state-owned airport operator. The announcement comes after several worrying aviation incidents in Indonesia in recent months, including a security lapse at Pekanbaru airport that enabled a man to to clamber into the wheel well of a Jakarta-bound Garuda Indonesia flight. In January it was revealed the Indonesia AirAsia flight that crashed into the Java Sea enroute from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people onboard, was flying on an unauthorised schedule at the time. AAPA will work with Indonesian National Air Carriers Association, or INACA, for the review. Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Singapore Airlines, All Nipon Airways, Air Astana, and Bangkok Airways, are members of the AAPA. The government announced its own review of aviation safety in wake of the Indonesia AirAsia crash. The Transportation Ministry said in March it would like to implement a safety ranking for airlines operating in Indonesia and impose minimum fleet size of 10 planes by July. http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/aapa-to-inspect-airports-in-indonesia- aviation-safety/ Back to Top FAA CAUTIOUSLY SUGGESTS RELAXED 'LINE-OF-SIGHT' RULES FOR DRONES Like trying to map the clouds, the legal and regulatory landscape of unmanned aerial vehicles in the United States is subject to frequent change. Projects like AirMap are attempting to map that world, but it's new changes from the FAA that might clear the runway for drone users. When the FAA announced its new drone rules earlier this year, they were a step forward for many commercial drone users. However, they also placed an insurmountable obstacle for drone delivery companies: Drones, at all times, had to be within line of sight of the pilot. This was a foreseeable problem for Amazon's planned autopilot drone delivery services. So even though the FAA granted Amazon an exemption to test drones, Amazon blasted the rules as still too restrictive for what, by design, has to be an out-of- sight service. Now it looks like the FAA is considering a change to its strict rule that drones only be operated within line of sight of their pilots. First-person-view piloting, where the drone pilot sees what the drone sees as it flies, might be a feasible alternative to line-of-sight flying. That is, if future goggles can give drone pilots better midair situational awareness. The FAA's reasoning behind their line-of-site rule goes back to the reason the FAA exists at all: midair collisions are awful, and the government is genuinely worried about drones flying around near airplanes. Manned aircraft, with humans in the cockpit, can always have the pilot look out the window to see if there's another vehicle too close, but drone pilots' eyes are back on the ground, where it's easy to be distracted by land-based concerns. For planes, the term for this kind of evasion is "see and avoid." The FAA's proposed technical solution for drones is "sense and avoid," an elaborate and unclear proposed system that has drones inform other aircraft of where they are and automatically steer clear. Hobbyists have countered that drones piloted through first-person-view headsets bring some of that situational awareness back into play. Jim Williams, manager of Unmanned Aircraft Systems for the FAA, told Gizmodo that future goggles, ones with greater peripheral vision, could work, as they'd provide a more cockpit-esque view for drone pilots. Approving first-person-view alone wouldn't be enough for purely automated delivery services, but it would be a great improvement over the current environment, where that's simply impossible. Letting pilots steer aircraft remotely, without being physically near the drones themselves, would open more tasks to drones and drone operators. http://www.popsci.com/faa-cautiously-suggests-better-line-sight-rules-future Back to Top $425 Million FAA Contract Awarded to McLean's SAIC The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded McLean headquartered Science Applications International Corp. ( SAIC) a contract to provide all training and training program support services under the FAA Controller Training Contract. The contract value is $425 million, with a maximum contract ceiling of $727 million. Work will be performed mainly in Oklahoma City, Washington, D.C., and air traffic control sites nationwide, according to a news release from the company. During the next five years, the FAA expects to hire as many as 6,000 new air traffic controllers to replace a retiring workforce, according to the news release. Under the contract, SAIC will provide support services to the FAA Academy and Air Traffic Control (ATC) Facilities to help FAA fulfill controller training requirements. These services include program management support; classroom training; simulation and laboratory training; monitoring of student progress; training development, maintenance and revision; air traffic training program support; administrative support; and innovation support. "We are pleased to provide FAA with this critical training support to help their mission. Through SAIC's creativity and collaboration, we aim to bring innovative solutions to FAA that demonstrate new technologies and techniques in order to provide the highest quality instruction," said Dan Harris, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Federal Civilian Customer Group. "We are honored to continue our longstanding support to FAA by providing these services to new and existing ATC employees." http://patch.com/virginia/mclean/mcleans-saic-awarded-425-million-controller-training- contract-faa-0 Back to Top Court tosses United Airlines lawsuit over a cheap ticket website United Airlines can't sue Skiplagged for exposing a loophole in ticket prices... at least, for now. A Chicago court has tossed out United's lawsuit because the airfare website doesn't operate in that jurisdiction. The move lets site owner Aktarer Zaman breathe a little, although he may only get a temporary reprieve. While United hasn't said whether or not it will sue again, it notes that the dismissal was based purely on "procedural grounds." The company still believes that Skiplagged's "hidden city" ticket shopping (where you stop at connecting cities, not the final destination) is verboten -- don't be surprised if it finds another way to take legal action. http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/04/court-tosses-united-lawsuit-vs-skiplagged/ Back to Top 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