Flight Safety Information August 21, 2015 - No. 166 In This Issue FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones Lightning Strikes Delta Jet in Video at Hartsfield-Jackson Photos show damage to US Airways jet after Saturday incident Passenger jet takes out runway lights on rough landing Pilot lands Jet Airways flight between Doha and Cochin with only 250 kg fuel left (India) DGCA suspends two Jet pilots who landed in seventh attempt with fuel running dangerously low Pilots call for more fatigue regulations in Canada 7 killed, 31 survive as planes carrying parachutists crash in midair Alitalia Aircraft Punctured By Hail Made Emergency Landing in Italy Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing at D/FW Airport Aviation safety - Par for the course Thailand - Prayut wants swift end to aviation woes Former NM Airlines president arrested in Miami PROS 2015 TRAINING China Southern Airlines Flight CZ3938 emergency landing due to Cargo Fire Warning FlightSafety and West Virginia University Institute of Technology Announce an Exclusive Aviation Management Degree American Airlines to drop Phila.-Tel Aviv service Magnesium alloys to be used in aircraft seats as ban is lifted German space agency scopes out Suborbital Jet plan America's first fighter jet was designed before Pearl Harbor - but the Air Force rejected it Back To School with ERAU - Aviation Safety Seminars for Professionals GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST Digital Human Modeling Survey GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) FAA records detail hundreds of close calls between airplanes and drones An undated photo of the SkyLife Air Ambulance helicopter that was involved in a near collision with a drone. (Brett Schoenwald/ SkyLife Air Ambulance) On Sunday, a swarm of small rogue drones disrupted air traffic across the country on a scale previously unseen in U.S. skies. At 8:51 a.m., a white drone startled the pilot of a JetBlue flight, appearing off the aircraft's left wing moments before the jet landed at Los Angeles International Airport. Five hours later, a quadcopter drone whizzed beneath an Allegiant Air flight as it approached the same runway. Elsewhere in California, pilots of light aircraft reported narrowly dodging drones in San Jose and La Verne. In Washington, a Cessna pilot reported a drone cruising at 1,500 feet in highly restricted airspace over the nation's capital, forcing the U.S. military to scramble fighter jets as a precaution. In Louisville, a silver and white drone almost collided with a training aircraft. In Chicago, United Airlines Flight 970 reported seeing a drone pass by at an altitude of 3,500 feet. All told, 12 episodes - including other incidents in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina - were recorded Sunday of small drones interfering with airplanes or coming too close to airports, according to previously undisclosed reports filed with the Federal Aviation Administration. Before last year, close encounters with rogue drones were unheard of. But as a result of a sales boom, small, largely unregulated remote-control aircraft are clogging U.S. airspace, snarling air traffic and giving the FAA fits. Pilots have reported a surge in close calls with drones: nearly 700 incidents so far this year, according to FAA statistics, about triple the number recorded for all of 2014. The agency has acknowledged growing concern about the problem and its inability to do much to tame it. So far, the FAA has kept basic details of most of this year's incidents under wraps, declining to release reports that are ordinarily public records and that would spotlight where and when the close calls occurred. The Washington Post obtained several hundred of the rogue-drone reports from a government official who objected to the FAA's secrecy. An FAA spokeswoman, Laura Brown, declined to comment on the reports obtained by The Post. Click here for more information! The documents show that remote-control planes are penetrating some of the most guarded airspace in the country. Drones have also continued to pose a headache for Secret Service agents seeking to protect the president, according to the FAA reports. On March 29, the Secret Service reported that a rogue drone was hovering near a West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course where President Obama was hitting the links. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary confirmed the incident. He declined to provide further details but said the Secret Service "has procedures and protocols in place to address these situations when they occur." Two weeks later, just after noon on April 13, authorities received a report of a white drone flying in the vicinity of the White House. Military aircraft scrambled to intercept the drone, which was last seen soaring over the Tidal Basin and heading toward Arlington, Va., according to the FAA reports. Both episodes occurred after a widely reported scare in January, when a small quadcopter drone crashed on the White House grounds, briefly triggering a lockdown and reinforcing concerns about security at the executive mansion. U.S. officials have said they are growing more concerned about the possibility that terrorists might seek to use small drones. In a July 31 intelligence bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security said it had recorded more than 500 cases since 2012 in which unauthorized drones have loitered over "sensitive sites and critical installations." According to the FAA documents, military aircraft flying near U.S. bases or in restricted areas have also reported close calls with drones on at least a dozen occasions this year. On July 10, the pilot of an Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle said a small drone came within 50 feet of the fighter jet. Two weeks later, the pilot of a Navy T-45 Goshawk flying near Yuma, Ariz., reported that a drone buzzed 100 feet underneath. Pervasive intruders Despite a prohibition against small drones flying within five miles of airports or above 400 feet, the FAA documents show that the robotic aircraft have become pervasive intruders, hovering near runways and busy air traffic corridors. Pilots are also spotting the small drones at altitudes previously unheard of - higher than 10,000 feet. On May 30, crews from Caribbean Airlines and JetBlue separately reported seeing a drone with colored lights at an altitude of 12,000 feet about 25 miles southeast of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. The FAA reports are brief and preliminary in nature. In some cases, follow-up investigations determined that objects pilots had assumed to be drones were in fact something else. On May 9, the pilot of United Airlines Flight 863 - traveling from San Francisco to Sydney - reported that the Boeing 777 hit a drone at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet along the California coast. "Sparks were observed after contact," according to the FAA report, which said the 777 kept flying because it did not appear to be damaged. A United spokesman said it was later determined that the plane had hit a bird, not a drone. [Rogue drones a growing nuisance across the U.S.] In most cases, rogue drones disappear without a trace. The aircraft are usually too small to be detected by radar and do not carry transponders that would broadcast their locations. Unlike other planes, these drones are not marked with serial numbers, and their owners are not required to register them. No incident has resulted in a midair collision. But in dozens of cases, pilots reported that drones flew within 500 feet of their aircraft, so close that they usually had no time to react. On March 21, the crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 874 told air traffic controllers in New York that a small drone passed within 50 feet of the airliner's left wing near LaGuardia Airport. One month earlier, on Feb. 24, a Delta flight heading toward Los Angeles reported that a red and black drone coming from the opposite direction overflew the Boeing 757 by 100 feet. In an incident near Los Angeles International Airport, American Airlines Flight 287 reported on June 8 that a blue and silver drone appeared 50 feet off its left side, just above the wing. Elsewhere, regional carrier Air Wisconsin reported May 10 that a drone whizzed "right off the nose" of the passenger plane at an altitude of 5,000 feet near Charlotte. Nine days later, another Air Wisconsin flight reported that a drone passed within 10 feet of the aircraft outside Philadelphia. United and other air carriers declined to comment, referring questions to Airlines for America, an industry group. Melanie Hinton, a spokeswoman, said the trade association would continue to work with the FAA to educate the public about the proper use of drones. "The U.S. aviation system is the safest in the world, and nothing is more important to us than the safety of our passengers, crew and aircraft," she said in an e-mail. Rogue drones are posing a particular threat to small aircraft that often fly at lower altitudes than major air carriers. The pilot of a single-engine Piper P-28 reported making a "hard left bank" on June 20 to avoid colliding with a silver drone about 5,200 feet above Groton, Conn. On Aug. 1, a Cessna reported that a yellow drone the size of "a dishwasher" came within 50 feet as it was flying near Johnstown, Pa. Most of the drones were described as small and likely weighing only a few pounds, according to the reports. Aviation safety experts say that even tiny drones could trigger a disaster by crashing into a propeller or windshield, or getting sucked into a jet engine. Small drones have become hugely popular with consumers who fly them for recreation. Many models come equipped with sophisticated video cameras yet retail for less than $500 and can be flown with little or no training. The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that hobbyists will buy 700,000 of the aircraft in the United States this year. 'Only a matter of time' No city has seen more illicit drones than New York. Since March, pilots flying into or out of LaGuardia and Kennedy airports have reported encounters with drones 33 times, according to the FAA reports. In an interview, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that "the number of near misses is astounding" and predicted that it would be "only a matter of time" before a crash occurs. Schumer pledged to introduce legislation requiring manufacturers to install technology on all drones to prevent them from flying above 500 feet, near airports or in sensitive airspace. Such technology, known as geo-fencing, relies on satellite navigation to pinpoint a drone's location. "Every day without this law increases the chances that a bad accident will occur," he said. DJI, the world's leading seller of consumer drones, began programming such technology last year into all models sold in the United States. Brendan Schulman, the firm's vice president of policy and legal affairs, said the software upgrade and public education efforts have proven effective. "The vast, vast majority of drone users are flying safely and responsibly," he said. "The real issue is that there are a handful of outliers." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/faa-records-detail-hundreds-of-close-calls- between-airplanes-and-drones/2015/08/20/5ef812ae-4737-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html Back to Top Lightning Strikes Delta Jet in Video at Hartsfield-Jackson The plane was among a group of aircraft parked on the taxiway as a result of a ground stop on Tuesday. A passenger on a jet waiting to leave Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport captured a scary scene on his cell phone camera on Tuesday. YouTube user Jack Perkins was recording a torrential downpour at the airport when lightning struck a Delta jet parked ahead of his plane on the taxiway. The jets were being prevented from taking off due to a ground stop order which was in effect because of the heavy storms over the airport. Delta has not released any official information on which Delta flight suffered the lightning strike. "A lightning strike on an aircraft is neither rare nor dangerous," writes the official blog of Finnair, a Finnish airline. The blog says that the fuselage of most commercial jets is built to act as a Faraday Cage, deflecting the lightning strike away from the sensitive electronics and passengers inside the tube. http://patch.com/georgia/midtown/lightning-strikes-delta-jet-hartsfield-jackson-0 Back to Top Photos show damage to US Airways jet after Saturday incident This photo shows the damage done to a US Airways Airbus A321 when it hit runway lights Saturday at the Charlotte, N.C., airport. And a closer look at the damage. UPDATED 5:45 p.m. with second photo: The National Transportation Safety Board told us Wednesday that a US Airways jet landing at Charlotte, N.C., last Saturday had suffered "substantial damage" when the Airbus A321 hit runway lights as it was attempting to land. NTSB is looking into aborted landing that damaged an American Airlines jet at Charlotte airport Now, we have two photos from a faithful reader showing the damage done to the underside of the jet. We don't have an estimate on how long it will take to repair the damage, but it'll take more than a little paint to put it back into flying shape. The pilots did a go-around maneuver and landed safely on the second attempt. The NTSB is now investigating. http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/photo-shows-damage-to-us-airways-jet-after-saturday- incident.html/ Back to Top Passenger jet takes out runway lights on rough landing A passenger jet took out some runway lights as it tried to abort a landing at North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. (Screengrab/CNN) WASHINGTON - For a minute, Christine Malloy was very worried. As a frequent flier, she was used to rough landings once in a while. But Malloy could tell this landing was different. "Within seconds, the plane dropped to the ground," she told CNN on Wednesday. "And it dropped really hard." Malloy was one of 159 passengers and crew aboard American Airlines/US Airways Flight 1851 flying Saturday from Atlanta to North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas International Airport. As the Airbus A321 nearly touched down on the runway, the jetliner hit several runway lights, according to the FAA. "I remember just thinking, this is it." she said. "I tightened my seat belt and I just grabbed on to the seat really hard." "Things were really chaotic," she said. "We had people screaming. There were things kind of flying around in the air." Malloy and a fellow passenger comforted each other for a brief moment. "We put our hands through the seat and we held hands," she remembered. "I just said a prayer and held on really tight." Then Malloy said she could feel the plane gain altitude as the pilot aborted the landing. She wondered, "What's going on here, right? Is it the weather? Is it the pilot?" Minutes later, the plane landed safely on its second try. No injuries were reported, American Airlines the parent company of US Airways, said in a statement to CNN. The flight crew was performing what's called a "go-around," lining up the aircraft for another landing. Go-arounds are standard safety procedures that pilots use during approach when airliners aren't lined up properly for landing. They abort the landing and "go around" to set up for another attempt. The flight crew blamed wind shear for the aborted landing, according to the FAA. Wind shear is a weather phenomenon that results in a sudden downward burst of wind just before landing. Since 1943, 87 airline, military and business jet incidents have been blamed on wind shear and downdrafts, according to Aviation Week and the Flight Safety Foundation. In the 1970s and '80s, deadly wind shear crashes led to better flight training and robust radar technology that have helped pilots avoid this dangerous weather phenomenon. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating Saturday's incident and are examining weather conditions, in addition to the airliner's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. The airline said the captain discovered damage to the underside of the aircraft. Workers found debris and damaged lights on the runway, according to the FAA, prompting the temporary closure of the runway. The plane has been taken out of service, the airline said. http://www.reviewjournal.com/travel/passenger-jet-takes-out-runway-lights-rough-landing Back to Top Pilot lands Jet Airways flight between Doha and Cochin with only 250 kg fuel left (India) Passenger on a jet airways flights between Doha and Cochin had a close shave on Wednesday after the pilot landed with only 250 kg of fuel left. NEW DELHI: Passenger on a jet airways flight between Doha and Cochin had a close shave on Wednesday after the pilot landed the aircraft with only 250 kg of fuel left on the aircraft. The minimum a Boeing 737 aircraft would have after landing is about 1500 kg. "We have grounded the pilots of the flight and will audit the fuel uplift policy of Jet Airways," said a senior DIrectorate General of Civil Aviation official, who did not want to be identified. The flight between Doha and Cochin (9W 555) was operated with 142 passengers and eight crew members on board. The official added that the flight could not land on Cochin due to poor visibility and did three go around. The plane was then diverted to Trivandrum, where it landed after three failed attempts with only 250 kg of fuel left. The fuel left is a concern because a 737 aircraft requires at least 200 kg fuel to taxi for ten minutes, said the official. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/pilot-lands-jet-airways- flight-between-doha-and-cochin-with-only-250-kg-fuel-left/articleshow/48578012.cms Back to Top DGCA suspends two Jet pilots who landed in seventh attempt with fuel running dangerously low NEW DELHI: An aircraft trying unsuccessfully to land six times in two different cities and then finally touching down in the seventh attempt with fuel running dangerously low may sound too scary to be true. But this reportedly what happened with a Jet Airways aircraft flying from Doha to Kochi with 150 persons - 142 passengers, two pilots and six cabin crew - on Tuesday (August 18). "The aircraft tried to land in Kochi thrice but due to bad weather, heavy rains and low cloud cover could not do so. Then it diverted to Thiruvananthapuram where also due to bad weather it tried to land three times unsuccessfully. It finally landed there in the fourth attempt - the seventh for the aircraft that morning - with just 270kg fuel left in the aircraft," said a senior directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) official. Top DGCA officials say they do not recall any other instance of this kind where a plane tried to land unsuccessfully six times and then finally touched down in the seventh attempt - whether in India or abroad. "We have suspended both the pilots of that flight, 9W 555, operated on a Boeing 737-800 (VT-JFA). We are reviewing the fuel uplift policy of Jet Airways to check that right amount of fuel is filled on aircraft and that there are no cuts being made on that front," said the official. The DGCA is investigating that the diversion airport for the Doha-Kochi flight was listed as Bengaluru and so why did it go to Thiruvananthapuram. The regulator is probing if the pilots accepted the flight with the right fuel that is calculated on this basis globally: fuel for origin to destination; hovering fuel for 30 minutes at destination; fuel to go to a diversion airport if the destination runway is damaged or occupied by an aircraft stuck there and then holding fuel for 30 minutes at the diversion airport. "The fuel left in the aircraft when it finally landed was very low. Forget flying, a Boeing 737 burns 240kg of fuel while taxiing on ground for 30 minutes," said the official. "The India-Gulf flights are quick turn around flights where the same crew operates the flight to Gulf and then flies back to India. So, there is a tendency among pilots to try and land at main destination so that they can avoid going to the diversion and then from there coming to the destination," said the DGCA official. In a statement issued on Tuesday to TOI, Jet had said: "Jet Airways flight 9W 555 en route from Doha to Kochi, diverted to Trivandrum due to poor visibility in Kochi. Due to presence of low clouds that restricted sighting of the runway in Trivandrum, the aircraft had to discontinue the approaches on three occasions." "The combination of the diversion and the three discontinued approaches lead to the requirement of requesting priority landing in the interest of safety. The flight landed safely in Trivandrum at 7.10am and subsequently departed Trivandrum to Kochi after visibility improvement at Kochi. At Jet Airways safety is of paramount importance," the Jet statement had added. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/DGCA-suspends-two-Jet-pilots-who-landed-in-seventh-attempt- with-fuel-running-dangerously-low/articleshow/48579284.cms Back to Top Pilots call for more fatigue regulations in Canada It's been nearly 20 years since fatigue regulations governing pilots and crew members in Canada have been updated. "It is no exaggeration to say that Canada's FDT (flight duty time) regulations are vastly outdated, and continue to be among the worst in the world," stated Capt. Ian Smith, President of Air Canada Pilot's Association (ACPA). The governments in the U.S., Europe and Australia have already agreed to new international safety standards set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These regulations are based on fatigue science produced by NASA. They reduce flying hours, require pilots to take more breaks and rest periods to ward off safety issues sparked by fatigue. Dr. Atul Khullar with the Northern Alberta Sleep Clinic says fatigue can cause neurological dysfunction. "You are definitely not going to be a peak performance but whether that translates into errors on the task you've done a lot of times isn't as clear," Khullar said. For five years the various groups in the Canadian aviation industry have been consulting with government to amend the rules and made more than 50 proposed changes to regulations. Federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt has issued a notice of amendment to change Canada's regulations. The notice states amendments would consist of two phases to be implemented over five years. Raitt declined an interview to explain why she didn't adopt all the regulations many in the Canadian aviation industry had been lobbying for. Instead, they're limited to: * Annual flight time limitations - The annual flight time limitation would be reduced to 1 000 hours in 365 days. * Flight duty time (FDT) limitations - The daily flight time limitation would be amended to introduce a range of FDT from 9 hours to 13 hours, which would be determined based on the start time of the flight duty and by the number of segments of the flight. * Rest period - The minimum requirement for a rest period would be clarified in the CARs by modifying the current definition and by creating a new regulation in which a flight crew member would be afforded a period of 10 consecutive hours (for the purpose of obtaining the eight hours of sleep) plus travel time and time for meals and hygiene. * Requirements for time free from duty - The current requirement for time free from duty would be modified to 33 consecutive hours free in 168 consecutive hours in which the time free from duty would begin no later than 22:30 and end no earlier than 07:30 on the second subsequent morning * Fatigue Risk Management System - The proposed amendment would introduce the concept of a Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS), to implement on a voluntary basis, and would outline the required components of an effective FRMS. Should an operator have an FRMS in place, the proposed regulatory amendment may allow the operator to move outside of the prescribed limits for FDT by extending the maximum FDT per flight schedule by one hour. Phase one will apply only to large commercial carriers, like Air Canada and Westjet. In a statement, Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick says the airline already has stricter rules than required by current Canadian regulations negotiated into its collective agreement. "The duty day for our pilots ranges from 10 hours to 14 hours depending on the time of day for a two-pilot crew. If there are three or four pilots then the duty ranges from 14 hours to 18 hours." ACPA wants regulations extended to all pilots, so every Canadian is insured the same safety standard - whether it's a float plane or a jet. Under this proposal, small airlines like northern carriers and air taxis could continue to work longer hours. Any new regulations affecting small carriers could be brought forth in phase two. John McKenna, President and CEO of the Air Transport Association of Canada, says small carriers should be exempt from upgraded fatigue regulations. "For example northern carriers often fly to very remote regions," McKenna said from Ottawa. "Will they be able to do that with just one crew? Or will they have to double crew in order to do a round trip in one day?" Small carriers often operate planes with limited seating. Bringing additional crew to provide extra breaks or requiring overnight stays could increase costs by 30 per cent, McKenna estimates. "We don't think there's a dire need in this regard. The amendments that they tabled are very costly and have serious consequence for our industry," said McKenna. "The Transport Safety Board of Canada has never said that fatigue is an issue that needs to be addressed. When U.S carrier Delta Airlines, which employees approximately 12,000 pilots, adopted the ICAO standards it was forced to hire an additional 1200 pilots, according to Smith. When Europe's Lufthansa Airline, which employs approximately 4500 pilots, implements the ICAO fatigue regulations in early 2016 is looking to hire another 100-180 pilots. "Safety has to be enhanced in our industry," Smith says. "Safety is not negotiable and safety must be accepted by all members of our industry." http://globalnews.ca/news/2177082/pilots-call-for-more-fatigue-regulations-in-canada/ Back to Top 7 killed, 31 survive as planes carrying parachutists crash in midair Status: Preliminary Date: Thursday 20 August 2015 Time: 09:23 Type: Let L-410UVP Operator: Dubnica Air Registration: OM-ODQ C/n / msn: 841320 First flight: 1984 Crew: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Passengers: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 17 Total: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 19 Collision casualties: Fatalities: 3 Airplane damage: Destroyed Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Vrsatec ( Slovakia) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Parachuting Departure airport: Dubnica Airport (LZDB), Slovakia Destination airport: Dubnica Airport (LZDB), Slovakia Narrative: Two Let L-410 aircraft (registrations OM-SAB and OM-ODQ) crashed following a mid-air collision. According to preliminary information both aircraft were carrying two pilots 17 skydivers each for a practice jump in preparation for an upcoming air show. At an altitude of 1400-1500 meters a collision occurred. Most skydivers managed to parachute from the striken aircraft. Two pilots on board each plane and a total of three skydivers are reported dead. Two skydivers failed to exit from one of the aircraft, while one skydiver was killed while jumping from the other aircraft. Both aircraft came down in a wooded area. Video shows that OM-SAB was consumed by fire. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Alitalia Aircraft Punctured By Hail Made Emergency Landing in Italy The hail-damaged nose of an Alitalia aircraft is shown in Naples, Italy, on August 19, 2015. For the fourth time in just over a month, a plane was forced to make an emergency landing after damage sustained in a hailstorm. Alitalia flight AZ2016 destined for Milan, Italy, flew into "an extraordinary and violent hailstorm" just minutes after takeoff from Rome's Fiumicino Airport Wednesday morning, according to an Alitalia statement. Hailstones as large as tennis balls pelted the aircraft as it attempted to climb to cruising altitude. The pilots then turned abruptly south and made an emergency landing at Naples International Airport just over an hour after takeoff. The aircraft's nose was crushed and torn in several spots, one cockpit window was shattered, and some paint on the aircraft's wing was chipped away. There were no injuries reported among the 110 passengers on board. Passengers Stefano Olgiati and Mariagrazia Lacanea told La Repubblica, "We felt a strong jolt, a bit like there was a void, a hail on the roof." An infrared satellite image shows a group of thunderstorms near and to the north of Rome, Italy, on August 19, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. local time. Passenger video taken during the flight picked up the sound of hail hitting the plane, and some damage to the paint on one of the plane's wings. The passenger video also suggests lightning may have struck the plane, but that was not confirmed by Alitalia. Satellite images indicated an impressive eruption of thunderstorms over central and northern Italy Wednesday morning ahead of a powerful upper-level disturbance pivoting over the northern Mediterranean Sea. The southernmost thunderstorm in that morning cluster appears to have been the one flight AZ2016 attempted to fly through. This is the fourth incident involving hail-damaged aircraft in just over a month. http://www.weather.com/news/news/alitalia-flight-hail-damage-rome-naples-italy Back to Top Delta Flight Makes Emergency Landing at D/FW Airport: FAA A Delta Air Lines flight landed Thursday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after reporting a pressurization issue, according to the FAA. A Delta Air Lines flight landed Thursday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after reporting a pressurization issue, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Delta flight 1665, an Airbus A320 with 150 passengers and 5 crew members on board, scheduled from D/FW to Salt Lake City returned and landed without incident at about 4:14 p.m., FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford told NBC 5. A woman who said she was a passenger on the flight told NBC 5 that the flight crew told passengers "that we lost cabin pressure and needed to make an emergency landing." The flight was originally diverted to Amarillo, but due to the loss of cabin pressure, the pilot made the decision to safely return to D/FW, where maintenance technicians began evaluating the aircraft. Man Indicted in 18-Year-Old Murder Mystery There were no injuries and no reported customer concerns, a Delta spokesman said in a statement to NBC 5. "The safety of our customers and crew members is always Delta's top priority," the airline statement continued. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Delta-Flight-Makes-Emergency-Landing-at-DFW-Airport-FAA- 322453001.html Back to Top Aviation safety - Par for the course NO SOONER did Trigana Air flight 257 crash into the remote mountains of Papua on August 16th than Western aviation experts began taking Indonesia to task over its purportedly abysmal safety record. The accident, which claimed 54 lives, was the country's third air disaster in the past eight months: a military jet went down in June with 122 people on board, and last December an Air Asia plane carrying 162 passengers and crew plunged into the Java Sea. "Which regulator in their sane mind would allow an operator [like Trigana] to continue like that?" one consultant asked on CNN. "That problem should have been seen." "There are a lot of questions about safety compliance and about their ability to get qualified personnel," another expert said to ABC News. There's no doubt that flying in Indonesia is more dangerous than flying in, say, Japan, where commercial carriers have not suffered a crash since 1985. There are also well-founded concerns about the country's supervision of air travel: Indonesia ranks 151st of 181 countries in implementing the International Civil Aviation Organisation's safety guidelines. But the singling-out of Indonesia as an extreme outlier does not square with the country's safety record. After accounting for its degree of economic development and the size of its aviation industry, the country falls right in the middle of the pack. Overall, airplanes are a remarkably safe means of travel. Even on carriers registered in highly mountainous and desperately poor Nepal, which truly is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to fly in, just one out of every 60,000 passengers has died in aviation accidents since 2000. But gradations still remain between crashes being rare, extremely rare and unthinkably rare. And just like many other forms of health standards, cutting airborne fatalities to the bare minimum is a rich country's luxury. Excluding hijackings and external attacks, a mere one in 16m passengers has been killed on the airlines of the world's 30 wealthiest states and territories during the past 15 years. For carriers of the 30 poorest jurisdictions, the rate was 57 times higher, at one in 283,000. Indonesia has given the press good reason to highlight its air-safety failings: since 2004 its carriers collectively lead the world in accidents that killed at least ten passengers, which are sure to merit media coverage. But it would be highly surprising if a country like Indonesia did not appear near the top of this ignominious leaderboard. First, although it is often grouped with middle-income giants like China and Brazil, Indonesia is extremely underdeveloped: even after tripling during the past decade, its current GDP per head of $3,500 puts it in a class with Congo-Brazzaville and Guatemala. Moreover, the country has a gigantic population of 250m, which depends on airplanes to get around its 17,000 mountainous islands. As a result, Indonesians take a lot of flights-the country's carriers transported 95m passengers last year, the world's eighth-highest total-thus increasing the number of opportunities for an unlikely disaster to occur. After adjusting for these factors, Indonesia's aviation-safety performance looks entirely unremarkable. Since 2000, one of every 120,000 flights on its commercial airlines has reported an incident-anything from a mechanical hiccup to a crash-and one out of every 1.2m passengers has died in an accident. During the same time period, the 27 other countries within $1,000 of Indonesia's average GDP per person actually fared somewhat worse, with one incident per 90,000 flights and one death per 515,000 passengers. That group includes many of Indonesia's neighbours in Oceania, such as the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. None of this means the country's authorities should rest easy. After all, with rich-world safety performance, about 500 fewer passengers would have died on Indonesian carriers during the past 15 years. But it does mean that as long as Indonesia's economy continues to grow at a healthy clip of around 5% a year, it will probably invest some of those gains in more reliable aircraft, more rigorous maintenance and better-trained pilots, causing its accident rate to decline. Critics would be far wiser to turn their fire on Nigeria, which is roughly as wealthy as Indonesia but has a passenger-fatality rate 17 times higher. http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/08/aviation-safety Back to Top Thailand - Prayut wants swift end to aviation woes Transport works out new open sky policy Prime Minister Prayut Chanocha wants the aviation safety standard problems facing the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to be fixed within a fortnight, his deputy said Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, in his capacity as chairman of the government's strategic steering committee, was speaking after chairing a meeting on the problems raised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) with the DCA. In response to the DCA's failure to meet a 90day deadline to correct shortcomings earlier identified by the ICAO, Thailand received a red flag on June 18. Gen Prawit said a command centre was set up recently to cooperate with the Transport Ministry in fixing the problems. The shortcomings identified by the ICAO during an audit of the DCA earlier this year centred on the department's failures to meet aviation safety standards in regard to regulating aviation businesses and granting air operator certificates. There was also a lack of sufficient oversight to ensure effective implementation of ICAO standards, the organisation said after its audit. The new centre is headed by air force chief ACM Treetos Sonjaeng, Gen Prawit said. The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) aimed to solve these problems once and for all with the help of the air force, GenPrawit said. He did not give further details on what the air force is expected to do. In related news, the Transport Ministry is expected to wrap up drafting a new aviation policy called "Open Sky with Conditions" and seek cabinet approval for the draft by the end of next month. When the new aviation policy is implemented, a new system of managing air traffic will be adopted to re- regulate flight schedules so airports can accommodate the growing number of flights landing and taking off, said Woradech Hanprasert, deputy transport permanent secretary. Thailand will keep its open sky policy but direct and regular commercial flights will get priority over irregular chartered flights. This is so the number of flights does not overload Thai skies, he said. "Currently, flight schedules are limited and we are managing to respond to every request to land and take off at airports. Each year, about 700,000 flights land in Thailand. The number is expected to rise to 1 million next year," Mr Woradech said. To handle this, open sky policy implementation will be divided into three phases, he said. In the shortterm plan from this year until next year, the Airports of Thailand (AoT) and the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand will work on rearranging flight schedules, he said. The Transport Ministry also will work with the air force on the ministry's plan to ask for permission to use more military air space for commercial purposes, he said. In the middleterm plan between 2017 and 2019, the AoT will consider increasing the number of aprons, runways and air bridges at its airports, he said. As for the long term plan from 2020 until 2024, the AoT will develop and expand its main airports such as Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and Phuket, he said. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/663572/prayut-wants-swift-end-to-aviation-woes Back to Top Former NM Airlines president arrested in Miami Gabriel Kimbrell made $22,791 in fraudulent purchases with corporate credit card ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -The former president for New Mexico Airlines was recently arrested in Miami and faces grand theft and organized scheme to defraud charges. In March, Gabriel Kimbrell was fired by the commuter airline amid a Federal Aviation Administration investigation into the carrier. The airline was under investigation by the FAA in connection with the maintenance problems that pushed the airline to voluntarily ground its fleet in December of 2014. The airline's decision to ground its fleet led to widespread cancellations for weeks and many frustrated passengers at the Albuquerque International Sunport. At the time, passengers told KOAT that New Mexico Airlines gave them little heads up about their upcoming flights being cancelled and were frustrated by customer service which appeared to be hard to come by at the Sunport. Court documents say that from January 2014 to January 2015, Kimbrell used his corporate credit card, belonging to the airline's parent company Pacific Wings, to make $22,791 worth of fraudulent purchases. The purchases included vitamin supplies, personal travel, Amazon items, reloading a Starbucks card, and purchasing gas for Kimbrell's personal vehicle, the documents say. In the meantime, the FAA says that New Mexico Airlines has surrendered its operating certificate. As a result, spokesperson Lynn Lunsford says the investigation into the airline has ended. http://www.koat.com/news/former-nm-airlines-president-arrested-in-miami/34836674 Back to Top Back to Top China Southern Airlines Flight CZ3938 emergency landing due to Cargo Fire Warning Date: 20-AUG-2015 Time: 02:37 Type: Airbus A321-231 Owner/operator: China Southern Airlines Registration: B-9933 C/n / msn: 5736 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 131 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Shenyang-Taoxian International Airport (SHE) - China Phase: En route Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Changchun Destination airport: Qingdao Narrative: China Southern Airlines Flight CZ3938 carried out an emergency landing at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport (SHE) due to a fire alarm went off in cargo hold. After landing that the aircraft was evacuated via slides through all emergency exits. Four passengers were injured in the evacuation. Subsequent examinations showed there was no trace of fire or smoke in the cargo hold. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top FlightSafety and West Virginia University Institute of Technology Announce an Exclusive Aviation Management Degree Program Partnership New York (August 18, 2015) - FlightSafety International and West Virginia University Institute of Technology announce an exclusive aviation management degree program partnership. This articulation agreement will enable students to receive college credit from West Virginia University Institute of Technology for courses completed at FlightSafety Academy. In addition, WVU Tech and FlightSafety Academy will develop an FAA approved Bachelor of Science Aviation Management Program. Students will benefit from FlightSafety Academy's professional flight training and the comprehensive WVU Tech curriculum that includes general education, business, management, and aviation coursework. This unique combination is designed to fully prepare graduates to operate an aircraft at the highest levels of proficiency and safety and to give them an edge in the aviation marketplace. "Aviation has changed. Good stick and rudder skills simply aren't enough in the modern cockpit. To be successful in 21st century aviation, pilots need a comprehensive knowledge base, strong cognitive abilities and excellent flight skills. Combining FlightSafety's industry-leading flight training with WVU Tech's aviation-oriented academic program provides our next generation of pilots with the preparation they need to meet tomorrow's challenges," said Frank Robbins, Aviation Program Coordinator at WVU Tech. "We are pleased that WVU Tech has selected FlightSafety Academy as their premier ab-initio training partner for commercial airlines," said Nancy Ritter, Manager, FlightSafety Academy. "We have been meeting and exceeding the highest quality training standards set by airlines for over 48 years. This collaboration will undoubtedly help airlines to meet their future training needs." Upon completion of accelerated flight training at FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Florida, students will be able to satisfy the Bachelor of Science Aviation Management Program coursework requirements by taking online courses through WVU Tech. Other significant benefits include the opportunity to work as a flight instructor at the Academy which will enable them to meet minimum flight hour requirements while completing their WVU Tech degree. They will also be eligible for FlightSafety's approved Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program conducted at the company's Learning Centers located in the United States. A campus within the West Virginia University system, West Virginia University Institute of Technology is a four-year institution that offers more than 40 academic programs and 8 ABET-accredited engineering programs. WVU Tech is ranked #1 in the state and #6 in the nation for annual student return on investment. For more information, visit wvutech.edu. FlightSafety International is the world's premier professional aviation training company and supplier of flight simulators, visual systems and displays to commercial, government and military organizations. The company provides more than a million hours of training each year to pilots, technicians and other aviation professionals from 167 countries and independent territories. FlightSafety operates the world's largest fleet of advanced full flight simulators at Learning Centers and training locations in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12104490/flightsafety-and-west-virginia-university-institute- of-technology-announce-an-exclusive-aviation-management-degree-program-partnership Back to Top American Airlines to drop Phila.-Tel Aviv service "At the six-year mark, we have yet to turn a profit on this route," American's Rhett Workman said. American Airlines will discontinue flights between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv, Israel, in January because the route was losing money with intense competition from the New York-area airports. American will close its station in Tel Aviv. The airline does not fly to Israel from another city. "At the six-year mark, we have yet to turn a profit on this route," said Rhett Workman, American's managing director of government and airport affairs. "We really tried to make a go of it. We were hoping that with the merger" of US Airways and American in December 2013, "and, more recently, with the significant reduction in fuel prices, the route would turn to the black. Unfortunately, that has not been the case." The Nutter administration called on Philadelphia's largest airline, with 76 percent of the market, to reevaluate the decision, saying it was "very disappointed." The mayor has made two economic development trips to Israel in recent years. "In the future, this business decision may be viewed as shortsighted as more Israeli businesses express interest in Philadelphia," the administration said. "Indeed, we're now seeing a trend where Israeli firms have decided to locate their operations in Philadelphia." Halting the flights "sends the wrong message about our city and region as an open and business friendly locale and damages American Airlines' reputation as an international business," the mayor's office said. Workman said: "We've kept the route in the market longer than we have other routes, even though it was underperforming, because of all the significant business and community links associated with it. "It's a very tough decision," Workman said. "We have 19 employees on the ground in Tel Aviv. We have colleagues and friends on that side, and a lot of strong partnerships with the Tel Aviv and Israel community." More than 70 percent of the passengers on the Tel Aviv flights were connecting from elsewhere, Workman said. American could not raise the fares enough to cover its costs because those customers would connect through another city. Richard Bendit, president of the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, said the nonstop daily flight between Philadelphia and Israel in July 2009 was "heralded as a 'game-changing' move, expected to boost both commerce and tourism between Israel and the Greater Philadelphia region." Since 2009, the Philadelphia area has "become a gateway for U.S.-Israeli trade," with about 25 percent, or an estimated $5 billion, "of all Israeli exports to the U.S. passing through our region," Bendit said. Passengers on the inaugural flight to Tel Aviv on July 2, 2009 said they were appreciative to have another option for flying directly to Israel, and said the fares were cheaper than those from other cities. Previously, Philadelphians bound for Israel flew out of Newark or New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Israel's El Al Airlines had dominated the market, although Delta Air Lines and United Airlines fly to Tel Aviv from the New York area. "We looked at every single option with every single aircraft that we have," Workman said. "The reason we've had the route in place for six years is because of the tremendous support we've had from the city," including political leaders and the business community. The 5,700-mile flight is about 12 hours to Israel and 13 hours back, and was the longest in the US Airways' network and its first to the Middle East. The route required two aircraft. US Airways used Airbus A330-200 planes with 258 seats. "The flights were full for the most part," Workman said. "But that's not an indicator of profitability. It depends on what yield you are getting from your customers," he said. "Any airline can fill any flight full if you drop your price low enough. We were not getting the revenue from the passenger side of the aircraft that we needed to make this flight profitable." http://www.philly.com/philly/business/ Back to Top Magnesium alloys to be used in aircraft seats as ban is lifted Aircraft seatmakers will soon start using lightweight, new-generation magnesium alloys in seat construction now that a long-standing ban has been lifted providing they meet strict flammability performance requirements. On 14 August, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) - which develops standards for aviation - published SAE AS8049 Revision C, in which a key paragraph has been changed from reading that 'Magnesium alloys shall not be used' to the new wording: "Magnesium alloys may be used in aircraft seat construction provided they are tested to and meet the flammability performance requirements in the FAA Fire Safety Branch document: Aircraft Materials Fire Test Handbook - DOT/FAA/AR-00/12, Chapter 25, Oil Burner Flammability Test for Magnesium Alloy Seat Structure." The method of compliance (MOC) represents the latest agreement obtained by the SAE's Aircraft SEAT Committee to adapt the content with FAA TSO-C127b (the applicable TSO for aircraft seating) and to reflect the latest industry needs. It comes after many years of work on the part of British company Magnesium Elektron and regulators to show that magnesium alloys can be safely used in aircraft seats (the material is already widely used in jet engines). RGN recently sat down with Magnesium Elektron managing director Graham Wardlow and VP divisional strategic development Bruce Gwynne to learn about their exhaustive work to remove the historical restrictions, and about where we may see the firm's Elektron 43 alloy technology emerge (Elektron 43 has passed all FAA flammability testing and is considered the 'gold standard' by which the test method was developed). In 2007, we started with the FAA and during a FAA/industry meeting we decided to do some preliminary bar burning testing. We just got magnesium bars about 20 inches long, 2 inches high and about ½ inch thick, and we put them in front of the oil burner - it is the same oil burner set up like they use for seat cushion tests. We were very new to this and quite honestly we weren't really sure what was going to happen in this severe test environment. We brought in a lot of the new-generation, higher tech magnesium alloys, the higher temperature, higher strength alloys that we developed and manufacture for use in aircraft and other high performance applications. We also brought in some of the more plain vanilla type commercial alloys used in many commodity applications to compare," recalls Gwynne. "The high performance alloys that we produce did very well. In the test the FAA exposed the bar to the burner for four, five, six minutes of flame. A lot of the people with the FAA observing the test thought that as soon as you hit the bar with the flame it was going to just burst into flame immediately; they even had explosion shields set up. In the end they were all standing up front, close up, just looking at the test with no barriers. The test revealed that certain new-generation magnesium alloys performed very well; they would actually self-extinguish shortly after they were ignited. Some of the older alloy systems, once ignited, wouldn't go out until all the magnesium was consumed or had to be manually extinguished. The FAA was impressed enough at that point and they suggested 'well let's look at this on a full scale basis' so they initiated the concept. It was early 2008 when the FAA acquired some seats that were removed from service in aircraft. We wanted them to be 16G seats, so they would be current editions of the type of seats used now. The plan was we would substitute the magnesium for the aluminum in a set of them to compare performance in a full scale test." A full-scale mockup was used in testing Gwynne continues, "We had a meeting about [the tests] with some of the seat manufacturers and we decided to substitute the cross tubes, spreaders, and leg assemblies. We later included the baggage bar and seat back frame. These made up the most mass of parts in the seats that were made of aluminum. So then the idea was, we will run a baseline flammability full scale test using the aluminum component seats. We would then bring in the seats that have the magnesium substituted and see what happens, to see if they are even comparable. Well it is a long story but in the end we did seven full-scale tests because there were odd things that did happen, but not with the magnesium. "The problem the FAA had was with the aluminum seats in the baseline testing. They couldn't get the aluminum structure to melt. This was considered necessary in order to properly compare the two materials. The conditions in the test aircraft were such that the fire was accelerating so fast that everything else was consumed and the test terminated before they could actually get the aluminum structure to melt. So they adjusted the conditions to the point where the aluminum structure did melt. We then brought in the magnesium seats; we ran the tests and sure enough the magnesium actually did as well or better than the aluminum. So that was pretty much the story." Wardlow notes that the base material will only ignite as it reaches its melting point. "When exposed to a heat source, it is just conducting the heat away, so it is difficult to get the metal up to its melting point. It was very important for the FAA that that material melted during those tests because they wanted to evaluate it in that situation. Overall, there was very little drama." Magnesium Elektron is mainly targeting the economy class market for its Elektron 43 product. Italian aircraft seat manufacturer Geven has already incorporated the material into a seat. Panasonic Avionics in collaboration with B/E Aerospace last year unveiled a new 'Jazz' seat that uses magnesium alloys in limited applications. But there are also opportunities to incorporate the material into business class seats. "You know we look at using magnesium as a way to save weight to reduce fuel and emissions, but of course when we speak to the design houses, they are all interested in improving the customer experience," says Wardlow. "And certainly with things like some of those business class table trays, when you are pulling them out, there is some real weight of metal in that. We can take 25% off that, and that then, in addition to the fuel benefit, [means] now we are talking about moving into the arena of improving the customer experience." Gwynne says he has always been a big advocate for using the material in business class seats, but notes that seatmakers really didn't have the desire. "They sell these seats for hundreds of thousands of dollars per pax; the revenue return on them is just incredible and there wasn't a real incentive to get weight out of them, even though they weigh hundreds of pounds per pax. But now that is beginning to change and we are now hearing from virtually all the premium seat manufacturers because they have big chunky structural components that are in aluminum. In a lot of them, with just a little bit of engineering, it would be quite a simple substitution and they would be able to save quite a bit of weight immediately." http://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/2015/08/20/magnesium-alloys-to-be-used-in-aircraft-seats-as-ban-is- lifted/ Back to Top German space agency scopes out Suborbital Jet plan Sketch of the SpaceLiner with passenger stage on top and booster stage at bottom position. Image courtesy Sputnik. A German aerospace company is revisiting plans to design a rocket-propelled jet that can take passengers to the other side of the world in just an hour and a half. And if they get enough funding, they can make it happen by 2040. DLR is a German aerospace agency that specializes in complex flight systems. In 2007, the agency designed a concept for a hypersonic airliner capable of flying 50 passengers from Europe to Australia in just 90 minutes. The plans were shelved at the time, but now, and nearly ten years later, the company is revisiting the concept and laying out a roadmap to make it real. "A new kind of high-speed transport based on a two-stage Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) has been proposed by DLR under the name SpaceLiner," the company said in a statement. Described as a suborbital, hypersonic, winged passenger jet, the idea is now being fully investigated by the DLR's Space Launcher System Analysis (SART). "We want to come up with a development road map," Martin Sippel, leader of the SpaceLiner SART told Aviation Week. "We need a mission definition and this year, we will do that in Phase A." The idea involves two stages, the first consisting of a 9-engine powered rocket. The rocket engine will be powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, making it environmentally friendly as well as effective. Propelling the passenger orbiter, the rocket would be capable of reaching 20 times the speed of sound in less than 10 minutes. The SpaceLiner would be able to reach an altitude of 50 miles in about eight minutes, reaching the Earth's upper atmosphere. At that point, the second stage of the concept begins after the rocket detaches from the passenger orbiter. The SpaceLiner will then continue on an unpowered gliding journey, at over 15,000 mph, before it descends to its final destination. DLR also plans to reuse the rocket stage of the SpaceLiner, by sending it back to Earth after it launches the passenger orbiter. This could potentially include having an aircraft fly out to the rocket, latch onto it, and tow it back to Earth. "The vision is seductive," a DLR statement said. "Boarding in Europe, sit back, and already 90 minutes at the other end of the world to get out again in Australia." Indeed, if DLR is successful in transforming this vision to reality, a trip from London to Sydney would take about one-tenth of the travel time on a regular passenger aircraft. Passengers can also travel from Europe to North America is just one hour. DLR plans to test the first prototypes of the design by 2035, with the goal of entering the aircraft into service in the 2040s. Sippel expects that if the project is successful, the SpaceLiners could make 15 flights a day. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/German_space_agency_scopes_out_Suborbital_Jet_plan_999.html Back to Top America's first fighter jet was designed before Pearl Harbor - but the Air Force rejected it The Lockheed L-133 was thought to be capable of flying at least 620 mph and moving even faster when it kicked in its afterburners. Members of the development team thought it might even be capable of supersonic flight. Shockingly, the L-133 wasn't an aircraft design from the 1950s, but from 1938. Lockheed-L-133-secret-jet-plane-design-fighter Photo: Youtube Lockheed pitched the L-133 to the Army Air Force in 1940, but the generals were focused on long-range bombers. The people at Lockheed who designed the L-133 would go on to be the major players in Lockheed's famed Skunk Works. They took many of their ideas from the L-133 and incorporated them into new designs for more than 20 years. When the Germans began developing jet fighters, the U.S. decided they needed one. They went to Lockheed in 1944 and asked for a new fighter within 160 days. Using the lessons from the L-133, Lockheed created the F-80 with a couple days to spare. The F-80 was the first American fighter with jet engines to reach production. P80--F-80-Lockheed-fighter-jet Photo: US Air Force Next the F-104 Starfighter was first flown in 1954. It incorporated the afterburners and "boundary layer control," a method of increasing control of planes with short wings, that were originally destined for the L- 133. Lockheed_F-104A-jet-fighter Photo: US Air Force The SR-71 Blackbird flew in 1964 and was the first American aircraft to have wings blended into the body for stealth, a design element the L-133 called for in 1940. SR-71-Jet-reconnaissance-plane Photo: US Air Force To learn more, check out the documentary below. http://www.wearethemighty.com/l-33-fighter-jet-design-2015-08#ixzz3jRhy3Ihf Back to Top CERTIFICATE OF MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION SAFETY Professional education seminars for aviation practitioners Embry-Riddle will host a variety of aviation safety focused executive education courses at its Daytona Beach Campus; all courses are offered in a face-to-face traditional classroom setting taught by subject matter experts from the aviation industry. Who Should Attend: These courses are tailored for industry professionals involved in the operations, management, and supervision of aviation organizations. What You Will Learn:The certificate is designed for participants interested in obtaining a strong safety foundation; the objective is to produce aviation industry professionals who are skilled in providing expertise in safety management and technical guidance on FAA, OSHA, DOT and EPA Compliance Issues. The certificate requires completion of three 5-day courses in Occupational Safety and Health & Aviation Ground Safety, Aviation Safety Program Management & Aircraft Accident Investigation and Management (Basic or Advanced). REGISTER TODAY ONLINE ERAU FALL 2015 CERTIFICATE OF MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION SAFETY SERIES: OCT. 19-23, 2015: OSHA & Aviation Ground Safety Oct. 26-30, 2015: Aviation Safety Program Management Nov. 2-6, 2015: Aircraft Accident Investigation LOCATION: DAYTONA BEACH CAMPUS, FLORIDA CONTACT INFORMATION: Ms. Sarah Ochs, Director of Professional Programs Email: case@erau.edu Phone: (386) 226-6928 www.erau.edu/cmas Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST Aircraft Maintenance Technician Decision-Making Purpose of Project My name is Robert Norcross. I am a doctoral student at Northcentral University in Arizona. I am conducting a research study about aircraft maintenance technician decision-making processes when aircraft repair information is not in the aircraft maintenance repair manuals. Focus group sessions will be held to gain your valuable experience, views, and opinions on nine questions pertaining to the research topic. Your views on the questions are important to me and I invite you to participate. The focus group sessions should last between 30 and 60 minutes and held at a date and time convenient for you. The focus group sessions will use www.gotomeeting.com and a conference call phone number. You are eligible to participate in this research if you: 1. 1. Are older than 18 years of age. 2. 2. Hold a Federal Aviation Administration issued Airframe and Power Plant certificate. 3. 3. Issued the Airframe and Power Plant certificate on or before 1 January 2010. 4. 4. A resident of the United States. Risks: There are minimal risks in this study. Some possible risks include: discomfort sharing views about the proposed research questions, other participants knowing your identity. To decrease the impact of these risks: you can refuse to answer any question, stop participating at any time, or request to answer the questions with a phone call to the researcher. Benefits: If you decide to participate, there is no direct benefits/compensation to you. The potential benefits to others are improved efficiency and less time and money spent reworking aircraft discrepancies. If you are interested in participating please contact me, Robert Norcross at R.Norcross4749@email.ncu.edu or 757-281-9289. Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST Aircraft Maintenance Technician Decision-Making Purpose of Project My name is Robert Norcross. I am a doctoral student at Northcentral University in Arizona. I am conducting a research study about aircraft maintenance technician decision-making processes when aircraft repair information is not in the aircraft maintenance repair manuals. Focus group sessions will be held to gain your valuable experience, views, and opinions on nine questions pertaining to the research topic. Your views on the questions are important to me and I invite you to participate. The focus group sessions should last between 30 and 60 minutes and held at a date and time convenient for you. The focus group sessions will use www.gotomeeting.com and a conference call phone number. You are eligible to participate in this research if you: 1. 1. Are older than 18 years of age. 2. 2. Hold a Federal Aviation Administration issued Airframe and Power Plant certificate. 3. 3. Issued the Airframe and Power Plant certificate on or before 1 January 2010. 4. 4. A resident of the United States. Risks: There are minimal risks in this study. Some possible risks include: discomfort sharing views about the proposed research questions, other participants knowing your identity. To decrease the impact of these risks: you can refuse to answer any question, stop participating at any time, or request to answer the questions with a phone call to the researcher. Benefits: If you decide to participate, there is no direct benefits/compensation to you. The potential benefits to others are improved efficiency and less time and money spent reworking aircraft discrepancies. If you are interested in participating please contact me, Robert Norcross at R.Norcross4749@email.ncu.edu or 757-281-9289. Back to Top SIZE NORTH AMERICA .com Digital Human Modeling Survey We are looking for participant companies nationwide. Survey of Human Body Dimensions, Measurements with associated demographic data. First standardized 3D body scanning representative of the United States population. Ideal, current data for statistical, market analysis in Aerospace, Aviation, Automotive, Fashion industries. For more info: diego@ddurrelltech.com Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear Aviation Colleague, Despite efforts to prevent aircraft accidents, they tragically continue to happen. While one may think "What is there left to improve?" research continues to be the foundation of finding areas to be perfected. For the purpose of my Masters project in Air Safety Management at City University London, UK, I am studying what underlying factors may influence decision-making/communication in the cockpit. I have kindly requested a friend/colleague of yours to assist me by forwarding this E-Mail to you. Your professional experience shared through this short online survey will greatly assist me. May I invite you to participate in this 5-10 minute survey? I would very much appreciate your contribution and thank you in advance for investing your valuable time in this questionnaire, which consists of 19 questions. Protecting your identity is important to me. This web-based survey is for study purposes only. It is anonymous and your answers consist of de-identified data strings. No personal details are asked and no computer IP-address is stored that may identify you. Upon completing the survey, all data will be removed from the server. By clicking on the link and participating in the survey you are voluntarily giving your informed consent for the extracted data to be used in my research. May I ask that you complete this survey before 25.08.2015 (25AUG2015), at which time the survey will be closed. Click the following link to start the survey (or copy/paste it directly into your internet browser window if the hyperlink does not work): http://maq-online.de/evaluation/users/www.php?l=maq&u=IXJP8B3dgd&p=FBy6Ncj3 For questions about this survey or if want to share your knowledge with me you may contact me using the following e-mail address: cockpitdecisionmaking@pobox.com Thank you for your participation! Wolfgang Baumruck Back to Top Upcoming Events: Fundamentals of IS-BAO August 25, 2015 Denver, CO USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1737105 IS-BAO Auditing August 26, 2015 Denver, CO USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1737126 Fundamentals of IS-BAO (En Español) August 25, 2015 Monterrey, Mexico https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1736215 IS-BAO Auditing (En Español) August 26, 2015 Monterrey, Mexico https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1736218 Fundamentals of IS-BAO September 15, 2015 St. Louis, Missouri USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1660854 IS-BAO Auditing September 16, 2015 St. Louis, Missouri USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1660878 Fundamentals of IS-BAO August 30, 2015 Casablanca, Morocco https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1725994 IS-BAO Auditing August 31, 2015 Casablanca, Morocco https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1725997 Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection & Investigation Course 9-11 Sept. 2015 Hotel Ibis Nanterre La Defense (near Paris) France http://blazetech.com/resources/pro_services/FireCourse-France_2015.pdf AViCON - Aviation Insurance Conference September 10th and 11th, 2015 Stevensville, MD 21666 http://www.rtiforensics.com/news-events/avicon Regulatory Affairs Training Course September 15 & 16 Fort Worth, TX http://jdasolutions.aero/services/regulatory-affairs.php Suspected Unapproved Parts (SUPS) Training Course September 15 & 16 Fort Worth, TX http://jdasolutions.aero/ Safeskies 2015 Aviation Safety Conference 22 to 24 September 2015 Realm Hotel, Canberra www.SafeskiesAustralia.org 2015 International Air Safety Summit (IASS) Flight Safety Foundation November 2-4, 2015 Miami Beach, Florida http://flightsafety.org/meeting/iass-2015 OSHA & Aviation Ground Safety Training Course (ERAU) Oct. 19-23, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/cmas Aviation Safety Program Management Training Course (ERAU) Oct. 26-30, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/cmas Aircraft Accident Investigation Training Course (ERAU) Nov. 2-6, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/cmas Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) Seminar (ERAU) Nov. 17-19, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/sms Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Seminar (ERAU) Dec. 8-10, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/uas 'DTI QA & SMS Workshops are Back in Town!' (Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Melbourne FL, and YOUR town just contact us) www.dtitraining.com Back to Top JOBS AVAILABLE: Staff Engineer ALPA https://jobs-alpa.icims.com/jobs/1193/staff-engineer/job Assistant Airline Safety Manager - Investigation (AASM-I) Cathay Pacific https://cathaypacific.tms.hrdepartment.com/jobs/1580/Assistant-Airline-Safety-Manager-Investigation- AASM-IHong-Kong-Hong-Kong Operations Integrity Risk Specialist Air New Zealand https://careers.airnz.co.nz/jobdetails?jobmc=111020RE Assistant Director, Flight Standards NetJets http://www.netjets.com/careers , requisition #843 Maintenance Program Developer NetJets http://www.netjets.com/careers requisition #926 Director, Aviation Safety NetJets www.netjets.com/careers Curt Lewis