Flight Safety Information September 1, 2015 - No. 173 In This Issue Stay Current on Aviation Safety - Follow FSI on Twitter Chicago-bound flight diverted, 6 detained after disturbance on plane FSF, NBAA Issue Call for Papers for Bizav Safety Event DGCA recommends pilots to undergosimulator refresher course (India) China's flights hit by new disturbance: fighting pilots Protecting civil aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles New Malaysia Airlines gets AOC Etihad service cut partly due to aircraft shortage The FAA Starts Moving To The Cloud PROS 2015 TRAINING Busier than Heathrow and Beijing! Atlanta airport remains world's busiest This 3D-Printed Working Model of a 787's Jet Engine Has Impressive Thrust Boeing on Schedule to Deliver First 777X Jet by 2020 Asian Pilot Demand Lifts Flight Schools Etihad Wants to Raise $500 Million to Expand Its Aircraft Fleet What 3 Airline Executives Wouldn't Talk About at a Travel Agents' Conference 200 join Saudi Aviation Flight Academy Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) Stay Current on Aviation Safety Follow Flight Safety Information on Twitter https://twitter.com/curtllewis01 Back To Top Chicago-bound flight diverted, 6 detained after disturbance on plane CHICAGO -- A flight from San Diego to Chicago had to make an unscheduled landing in Texas when a group of men created a disturbance. The flight has since arrived at Midway airport. Southwest Flight 1522 was ordered to land in Amarillo, Texas after six men, who were part of a San Diego soccer team, began talking loudly, acting rudely and eventually fighting with the crew, according to passengers. Fellow passengers say there were no violent altercations. The men were detained in Texas and, at the direction of the FBI, transported to the Randall County Jail and charged with Interference With a Flight Crew. No one was injured, but the flight to Chicago was delayed for several hours. Southwest Airlines released this statement: Southwest flight #1522 from San Diego to Chicago's Midway International Airport made an unscheduled stop at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport last night after several passengers traveling together became disorderly and, subsequently, refused to obey instructions from the crew. Out of an abundance of caution, the pilots in command of the flight diverted to Amarillo where law enforcement officials met the aircraft and detained six individuals. Additionally, six other members of the group chose to deplane and remain in Amarillo. The flight eventually continued to Chicago where it landed without further incident. Safety is the top priority at Southwest Airlines, and we will always take appropriate actions to ensure the safety and security of our crews and customers. http://wgntv.com/2015/09/01/chicago-bound-flight-diverted-6-detained-after-disturbance-on-plane/ Back to Top FSF, NBAA Issue Call for Papers for Bizav Safety Event The October 5 deadline is fast approaching to submit a paper at next year's Flight Safety Foundation and NBAA Business Aviation Safety Seminar (BASS), a forum for examining safety matters of special concern to corporate and business aviation operators. Almost any topic designed to improve business aviation safety will be considered. The best papers will be considered for publication and presentation at the BASS scheduled for May 5 to 6, 2016, in Austin, Texas. Potential topics range from pilot fitness for duty to the handling of operational data such as ASIAS and C-FOQA to safety leadership to methods of dealing with procedural non-compliance. More information on the submission process is available at the foundation's website. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2015-08-31/fsf-nbaa-issue-call-papers-bizav- safety-event Back to Top DGCA recommends pilots to undergo simulator refresher course (India) NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator DGCA has held the commander of a SpiceJet flight responsible for an incident, which took place at the airport here more than three years ago and has recommended the pilots to undergo simulator refresher course. The Directorate Civil Aviation, which today made public its final investigation report on the incident involving a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, has also recommended both the pilots the pilotincommand and first officer to undergo technical refresher course/crew resource management with special emphasis on taxing procedures as part of its safety recommendations. "Taxing procedure as per Boeing FCTM was not followed by the commander, which eventually resulted into the incident," the DGCA said in its report. "The commander executed an early left turn and did not follow the yellow parking bay line to join the taxi lane which eventually resulted into the incident. The FCTM procedure recommended by Boeing for executing a turn not followed by the commander is a contributory factor," the DGCA said in its report. The incident had happened when the port side winglet of the Hyderabadbound aircraft with 137 passengers and seven crew onboard, hit the light mast while executing a left turn during the taxing for takeoff. However, all 144 people onboard had escaped unhurt in the incident, which took place on December 12, 2012. The DGCA, in its report, found that weather was not a contributory factor to the incident, adding, "the first officer informed the ATC that they had stopped at the runway due to technical. However, the actual reason was not communicated to ATC by cockpit crew." The regulator as part of its safety recommendations, has asked the commander to undergo simulator refresher and practice in taxing procedure as per FCTM/company's operations manual as well as in executing various turns during taxing besides in powerin and power out on various parking bays. The commander has also been recommended to undergo two route checks with a training captain examiner/instructor to assess the performance and procedure. At the same time, the DGCA has also recommended the private airport operator, Delhi International Airport Limited ( DIAL), to undertake a study for considering reflective paints on the light mast as well as to carry out one time check on all power in power out bays for verifying necessary clearances as per the civil aviation requirement. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dgca-recommends-pilots- to-undergo-simulator-refresher-course/articleshow/48748433.cms Back to Top China's flights hit by new disturbance: fighting pilots Unruly passenger behaviour regularly makes headlines in Chinese media as air travel booms, with unfamiliar or drunken travellers even sometimes trying to open doors mid-flight Beijing (AFP) - After a series of flight disruptions by angry or unruly passengers, Chinese media on Tuesday revealed a new menace to air travel in the country: fighting pilots. Two of them came to blows in the cockpit of a China United Airlines (CUA) flight in June, the official news agency Xinhua reported. Few details -- such as the route the budget airline was operating, or how many people were on board -- were available. The incident only came to light when it was mentioned in passing in a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announcement of CUA's punishment -- a 10 percent cut in its flying hours and a ban on new routes, Xinhua said. The airline sought to play down concerns, saying the pilots only had "some physical contact" due to a misunderstanding and denying it escalated into a fight, the report said. But CUA said the pair had been grounded for six months, Xinhua added. The industry also scores poorly for customer satisfaction, with constant flight delays -- airspace is controlled by the military -- topping the list of complaints. In January Chinese police detained 25 angry passengers who opened aircraft emergency exit doors before take-off after their flight was delayed by snow. The previous month, a budget flight from Thailand to China was forced to return to Bangkok after a Chinese passenger threw hot water at a cabin attendant. CUA has had a string of safety incidents this year, including three in June and July that "seriously violated regulations", Xinhua cited the CAAC as saying. In one of the country's most high-profile air accidents to be blamed on human error, the pilot of a Henan Airlines flight that crashed in 2010, killing 44 people, was jailed for three years for trying to land when he could not properly see the runway. http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-flights-hit-disturbance-fighting-pilots-110630522.html Back to Top Protecting civil aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles One of the biggest dangers to civil aircraft these days emanates from Shoulder-Fired Missiles (SFM). An aircraft is most vulnerable to ground fire, while approaching land or after take off, when it is close to the ground and is flying at low speed with no major manoeuvring. A terrorist armed with SFM, operating outside the airfield perimeter, can easily target such aircrafts as they fall well within the range of SFMs and are basically, easy targets. Consequently, various countries are exploring ways to protect their aircraft from SFM threat. In USA, the Department of Homeland Security decided to equip the 7,000-plus-fleet of civilian airliners with suitable equipment to provide protection against such missiles. All airliners of El Al, the national airlines of Israel, are already equipped with proper protection systems. Even Singapore Airlines has evinced interest in such a protection system. In fact, all airlines that have operating routes over terrorist-affected areas in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia are also evaluating this concept seriously. Smart moves One of the best measures to deal with such threats is the Electronic Counter Measures (ECM), which is designed on the basis of military aircraft systems. This mechanism is devised to disrupt the surveillance systems of the enemy. There are two major ways in which ECM works - decoys and jamming. Jamming method involves jamming the enemy signals with false transmissions. Decoy method involves the use of flares, especially to counter heat-seeking missiles. One of the biggest advantages of ECM is that no major weaponry has to be loaded into the civil aircraft. And ECM will only deflect the incoming missile away from the aircraft. But one of the major issues in this measure is that the sensor of the warning device would be required to scan the surface of the earth below the aircraft and ought to be able to distinguish the oncoming SFM from ground clutter. Some firms have developed Ultra Violet (UV) band sensors to detect the missile exhaust plume. But looking at the frequency spectrum study of the exhaust plume of man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) and taking into account the atmospheric absorption, others are of the opinion that infra red (IR) band is the most appropriate to detect an incoming SFM. But UV and IR sensors have their negative points too. The system is vulnerable to false alarms, as it can be confused by other heat sources like active chimneys, vehicles, blazing fire on the ground and so on. It would be worth mentioning here that the SFM moves at supersonic speed and the distance involved for the missile to travel towards the aircraft is small (10 to 20 seconds). So, the protective system must respond within this time frame to prevent the incoming missile from impacting the aircraft. Hence, the passive counter measures include dispensing of chaff i.e., aluminium foil or flares to disrupt the guidance system of the missile, deflecting it away from the aircraft. Active counter measures involve firing of high- power solid-state laser beam towards the incoming missile. It is, of course, expensive and such high power solid-state lasers are available from a few sources only. Since the time available is limited, the operation of the defence system is required to be totally automated. The pilot would not be required to execute evasive manoeuvres that could endanger the aircraft, if carried out while flying at low speed and low altitude during approach for landing or after take off. Considering the present situation, there is an urgent need to adopt these technologies for all our civil passenger aircraft. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/498354/protecting-civil-aircraft-shoulder-fired.html Back to Top New Malaysia Airlines gets AOC Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), the new entity spawned from the crisis-hit Malaysia Airlines, has been granted an air operator's certificate (AOC) by the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). The AOC came following months of audit activities, including airworthiness operations, MRO conformance and regulatory conformity, the airline said. Malaysian Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the AOC is "an important milestone in the evolution of Malaysia's [new] national airline." He said the Malaysian government is committed to ensuring the "new and rejuvenated Malaysia Airlines takes off on a strong note." The assets of the old Malaysia Airline Systems (MAS) were bought by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah last year for $1.6 billion, following several quarters of poor performance and the total loss of two aircraft, MH17 and MH370, last year. In March, MH370, a Boeing 777-200 with 239 passengers and crew, disappeared over the Indian Ocean while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Four months later, in July, MH17, also a 777-200, was shot down over Ukraine by a surface-to-air missile while on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 onboard were killed. New MAB CEO Christoph Mueller was hired in May this year, and said the new entity would start from scratch as a full service regional carrier, following extensive job cuts and route rationalization over recent months. Mueller, who was instrumental in the turnaround projects at underperforming carriers including Ireland's Aer Lingus and Belgian carrier Sabena, said the new entity would see a fresh approach for the Malaysian flag carrier. "It's not a continuation of the old company in a new disguise, everything is new," he said. Chairman of the new MAB entity, Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof, described the AOC as the start of a new beginning, and added that under the new management of CEO Mueller and new owners Kazanah, all staff would "endeavor ... and persevere to build a sustainable national icon." The new airline is to begin operations as the new entity Sept. 1. http://atwonline.com/finance-data/new-malaysia-airlines-gets-aoc Back to Top Etihad service cut partly due to aircraft shortage Etihad said it planned to cut its service from Dublin to Abu Dhabi to one service a day between January and June of next year Leases are up on a number of Etihad's aircraft and the airline has to replace them. As a result it has fewer aircraft to go around A shortage of aircraft is understood to be part of the reason behind Abu Dhabi-based Etihad's decision to cut back its Dublin service from next January. The airline recently announced it planned to cut its twice-daily service from Dublin to Abu Dhabi to one service a day between January and June of next year. Etihad will replace the A330s currently used on the route with Boeing 777s. The move will cut the overall number of business class seats on the service to 40 from its current level of 44. The number of economy class seats will fall by 120 to 340. The move is said to be partly driven by the fact leases are up on a number of Etihad's craft and the airline has to replace them. As a result it has fewer planes to go around. Demand from carriers such as Etihad itself and another big gulf player, Emirates, which flies between Dublin and Dubai, means there is a squeeze on the supply of long-haul craft. Growth Emirates also flies twice daily out of Dublin. Both carriers launched services from the Irish capital in the teeth of the recession, Etihad in 2007 and its rival in 2011. The two airlines subsequently stepped up their services to twice-daily in 2013. The numbers of Irish people moving to the Middle East and Australia in search of work are thought to have aided both services' growth. The Dublin route is one of a number that Etihad is cutting back this winter. Others include Edinburgh and Kuala Lumpur. Load factors - the proportion of seats it is selling on the route - are understood to be more than 90 per cent. In a statement, Etihad said the changed service would continue to provide travellers with connections to other destinations in the gulf, India, Asia and Australia. http://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/etihad-service-cut-partly-due-to-aircraft- shortage-1.2335391 Back to Top The FAA Starts Moving To The Cloud The Federal Aviation Administration plans to move away from its own data centers and toward cloud services. Last week, the FAA signed a deal with Computer Science Corp. (CSC) to help it migrate its data and systems to a hybrid cloud environment that will include Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, and "other strategic business partners." The current 10-year deal is worth $109 million, though CSC notes that it has the potential to reach $1 billion. CSC, which is headquarters in Fall Church, Virginia, is among the top contractors in terms of money spent by the U.S. federal government. The FAA says it's now working with CSC to determine which applications are most suitable for the cloud. Once that process is complete, the FAA hopes it will be able to more easily keep up with industry standards and innovate faster by buying "IT as-a-service rather than buying expensive facilities and hardware that becomes outdated." It's no secret that government agencies don't exactly move fast and while both Amazon and Microsoft have won quite a few government contracts over the last few years, their work in getting certified for hosting government data is only now starting to pay off. "Government adoption of cloud computing for mission applications is accelerating rapidly, and we are pleased to help FAA's transition to the cloud," said Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Service's VP of Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services, Inc. "With AWS's security and compliance standards - like FedRAMP, ITAR and SRG - CSC will be able to rapidly enable FAA to realize the benefits of agility, cost savings, and flexibility." Greg Myers, the VP of Microsoft Federal, echoed this sentiment and also noted that the FAA already uses Office 365. It remains to be seen which services and applications the FAA plans to move to the cloud. Most of us never see any of the FAA's tools, but the organization offers a wide range of data services to airlines and private pilots, for example. Those range from making the most up-to-date aeronautical maps available to pilots, all the way to some of the data services that power the national air traffic control (ATC) system. Given that the FAA is still in the process of moving to an updated version of the ATC system, though, chances are it won't make any chances there right away. Chances are, the FAA will move its file hosting services and some of its back-office tools to the cloud first and then look at how it can use public clouds to augment some of its other tools later. http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/31/the-faas-future-looks-cloudy/ Back to Top Back to Top Busier than Heathrow and Beijing! Atlanta airport remains world's busiest with 96 million passengers a year * Atlanta is a hub for Delta Air Lines and travel through the southeastern US * Dubai's main airport had the most international travellers, with 69.9 million * Almost 147 million passengers travelled through London's airport network Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has held onto its crown as the world's busiest airport, staying clear of competition from Beijing and London. While it may appear to be an unlikely No 1, the airport serves as the headquarters for Delta Air Lines, the world's busiest airline in terms of passenger traffic, and is a major hub for travel through the southeastern US states. Hartsfield-Jackson had 96.1 million domestic and international passengers travel through its terminals in 2014, maintaining a comfortable lead over Beijing Capital International Airport (86.1 million) and London Heathrow Airport (73.4 million). Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport is a hub for Delta Air Lines and travel through southeastern US states TOP 10 AIRPORTS IN THE WORLD * Atlanta - 96.1 million (1.9% increase) * Bejing Capital - 86.1 million (2.9%) * London Heathrow - 73.4 million (1.4%) * Tokyo Haneda - 72.8 million (5.7%) * Los Angeles - 70.6 million (6%) * Dubai International - 70.4 million (6.1%) * Chicago O'Hare - 69.9 million (4.5%) * Paris Charles de Gaulle - 63.8 million (2.8%) * Dallas/Fort Worth - 63.5 million (5.1%) * Hong Kong - 63.1 million (5.9%) Tokyo Haneda (72.8 million) and Los Angeles International (70.6 million) rounded out the top five. Dubai's main airport, which ranked first for international passengers ahead of Heathrow, came in sixth spot overall once domestic figures were factored in, with a 6.1 per cent rise in traffic - the most of any airport in the top 10, according to Airports Council International's latest world airport traffic report. London, meanwhile, remains the world's largest airport system with almost 147 passengers handled at six airports in and around the capital (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, City, Southend). The report analysed data from more than 2,200 airports in more than 160 countries. It found global passenger traffic increased by 5.7 per cent in 2014 to more than 6.7 billion, despite deadly conflicts or disease outbreaks, and further growth is expected in 2015. Airports in Asia-Pacific had the most traffic, with 2.3 billion passengers (up 7.1 per cent on 2013), followed by Europe (1.8 billion, 5.5 per cent rise) and North America (1.6 billion, 3.2 per cent increase). Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World, said in a statement: 'Passenger traffic remained resilient in the face of the global uncertainties that beleaguered many economies in 2013 and 2014. London's system of airports, including Heathrow, remains the world's largest with 147 million travellers 'International tourism, in particular, was irrepressible in 2014 considering the geopolitical risks that have persisted in certain parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. 'The Ebola outbreak also presented significant challenges to the aviation sector. 'Notwithstanding, by and large, the international traveller in 2014 appears to have been immune to these potential dangers.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3218057/Atlanta-Hartsfield-Jackson-Airport- remains-world-s-busiest-96-million-passengers.html#ixzz3kU644O7B Back to Top This 3D-Printed Working Model of a 787's Jet Engine Has Impressive Thrust Given the challenges with precision, building functional machines with a household 3D printer isn't easy. And that's why it's all the more impressive that someone on the RC Groups forum has used a 3D printer to make a fully-functional scale model of a Boeing 787's GE-built turbofan jet engine. Harcoreta's scale replica, which includes over 60 3D-printed blades and vanes on the inside, isn't just a model destined to collect dust on a shelf. It actually produces more than enough thrust to power a remote- controlled airplane, and that's exactly what its creator intends to use it for. To make the design and build of the replica even more challenging, but also more accurate to the real thing, Harcoreta has even incorporated a functional thrust reverser into his engine. So when he's eventually bringing an RC airplane in for a landing, he'll be able to stop his creation in time before it runs off the end of a runway. http://toyland.gizmodo.com/this-3d-printed-working-model-of-a-787s-jet-engine-has-1727684811 Back to Top Boeing on Schedule to Deliver First 777X Jet by 2020 Boeing announced it has determined the basic design of its 777-9 jetliner, the first member of the 777X program to be developed. Production of the 777-9 will begin in 2017, and is on pace for its first delivery by 2020. The 777X program has already received orders and commitments for 320 airplanes from six customers worldwide. Before announcing the milestone for the 777-9, Boeing put the jet through wind tunnel tests, as well as aerodynamic performance and structural loads evaluations to ensure all requirements were met. "The program is right where we want it to be," said Bob Feldmann, Vice President and General Manager of the 777X program at Boeing. "We have an airplane and production system that are on track and on schedule, and we remain laser focused on meeting our commitments to our customers." The 777X will have carbon fiber composite wings and an aluminum fuselage. This is notably different from the design of Boeing's 787, which had a composite fuselage. One of the benefits of a composite fuselage, according to ACMA's CompositesLab website, is that in highly tension-loaded applications, composites help decrease fatigue and maintenance. Aluminum, on the other hand, is more sensitive to tension loads. Boeing expects the 777-9 to use 12 percent less fuel and be 10 percent cheaper to operate than competing jets, including the competing Airbus A350, which recently began production of its XWB carbon fiber wings. In a recent article by the Puget Sound Business Journal, Addison Schonland, a partner at aviation consulting company AirInsight, said the two jets are "neck-and-neck" in the aerodynamic efficiency of their respective wings. While the A350 currently has the largest carbon fiber composite wing (105 feet for each wing), the jets in the 777X program will be 106 feet long and will extend to 117 feet with a unique folding wingtip. The Boeing jets will also be able to carry close to 50 more people than the A350. http://compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2015/08/boeing-on-schedule-to-deliver-first-777x-jet-by- 2020/ Back to Top Asian Pilot Demand Lifts Flight Schools Boeing says region's carriers will need over 200,000 new pilots in next two decades Students outside the Australian Wings Academy in Coolangatta, Australia, in June. SYDNEY-The outback Australian airstrips of Glenn Innes and Mangalore were built to repel potential Japanese invaders during World War II. Now, these runways and some near California's wine country and in Arizona are looking to welcome droves of Asia's student pilots. These schools-some planned and some already operating-are aiming to tap the boom in commercial aviation in Asia, where a growing middle class with an itch to travel has made it the world's largest market by annual passenger counts, according to the International Air Transport Association. But that surge has left carriers short of pilots, and safety concerns have underscored the need for good schools. World-wide, the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization says as many as 8,000 new students a year are needed at commercial flight schools to keep up with demand, primarily from Asia. Recent training-academy acquisitions indicate that establishing schools to accommodate those needs could cost more than US$3 billion. Training a pilot takes about a year, depending on the student's aptitude. Asia has few flight schools or instructors, and the U.S. and Australia are popular places to train cadets because of their strong safety records. Fatality rates per one million departures for large commercial passenger aircraft from 2009 through 2013 were 29.9 for Asia, and 1.2 for North America, according to the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization. The pilot training crisis is growing so acute that even manufacturers such as Boeing Co. and Airbus Group SE have begun calling for global action to develop more schools. Without new pilots, some of the 14,330 new planes Boeing predicts Asian airlines will need across the next 20 years won't be able to be put into service, costing manufacturers billions in lost orders. In total, Boeing forecasts Asian airlines need 226,000 new pilots in the next two decades, more than North America, Europe and Africa combined. Among the student pilots at the Australian Wings Academy, a school near the Gold Coast, is Kelvin Hsu, a 38-year-old former office worker from Taipei, Taiwan. He says that last year, after he quit his job and left his family to chase his dream of being a pilot, he chose the Australian school over an Asian one because he felt the best airlines would hire only those pilots trained overseas. "I decided to come here to get a higher-quality pilot training," he says, adding that he expects his job prospects are good. "By the end of my training there will be a huge pilot shortage." Despite the boom, however, it is tough to make a profit training pilots. New colleges require fleets of aircraft, runway refurbishments and boarding houses. After that, operators still face the difficulty of getting contracts with airlines-a task that can be fickle because the business is cyclical. Many schools are small, training 100 students or fewer, making profitability a challenge. School operators also complain that some students have fabricated English credentials, which can make training more time-consuming, because the instruction must begin at a more rudimentary level, and more costly, because full-time English tutors might be needed. Phil Sweeney, who runs a pilot training academy in California's Napa Valley, plans to double its student numbers to 400 in the next few years. But he adds that this isn't likely to solve Asia's pilot shortage because many other schools are struggling to stay open. "It is a very risky area to get into," says Mike Drinkall, general manager at the CAE Oxford Aviation Academy in the suburbs of the Australian city of Melbourne. New schools are banking on scale to help them succeed, and looking to take over remote airports in the U.S. and the Australian outback to cut the costs often associated with training pilots at busy city airports. CAE this year announced a rare deal to train as many as 650 China Eastern Airlines Corp. cadets during the next five years. CAE, a Canadian training firm, sold a 50% stake in its Melbourne school to China Eastern for an undisclosed sum as part of the deal to ensure the two parties shared this risk. In Glenn Innes, a town in Australia's New South Wales state once famed for tin and sapphire mines, a consortium known as Australia Asia Flight Training, led by airline veterans including the former deputy general manager of defunct national carrier Ansett Australia, reached a deal with the local council to take over the airport there. The consortium is trying to raise about 25 million Australian dollars, or roughly US$18 million, to build the first stage of what could be the world's largest pilot training facility, with the potential through further investment to train 1,000 new pilots each year. The students would mostly come from Asia, according to Neil Hansford, one of the businessmen behind the project. The school plans to seal contracts with airlines after its facilities are built, Mr. Hansford said. In Kempsey, an old sawmilling town less than 200 kilometers away from Glenn Innes, Hainan Airlines Co., China's biggest privately owned carrier and its fourth-largest in terms of fleet size, recently announced a plan to build a 300-cadet-per-year pilot academy at the small local airport. China Southern Airlines Co., which has grown to become Asia's largest carrier, already trains 250 cadets a year at a college in the Western Australian wheat farming town of Merreden, and roughly 100 more in a remote former military base in Mangalore near Australia's southeastern seaboard. New pilot training schools are also popping up across the U.S. In California's Napa Valley wine district, Mr. Sweeney in 2014 reopened a training academy that had failed when it was operated by Japan Airlines Co., which spent roughly two years in bankruptcy protection starting in 2010, mainly because of its high debt combined with a slump in travel after the global financial crisis. Mr. Sweeney plans to rapidly ramp up capacity to keep costs down. TransPac Aviation Academy at Deer Valley Airport near Phoenix has also been strengthening its relationship with Hainan Airlines, and now aims to train about 400 Chinese pilots each year. http://www.wsj.com/articles/asian-pilot-demand-lifts-flight-schools-1441047277 Back to Top Etihad Wants to Raise $500 Million to Expand Its Aircraft Fleet Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi state-owned carrier, is seeking to raise as much as $500 million for fleet expansion, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The fundraising may include financing from export credit agencies, operating leases and bank loans for five aeroplanes, the people said, asking not to be identified as talks are private. Several groups of local and international banks are bidding to provide the financing, the people said. An Etihad spokesman declined to comment. Etihad is the third-biggest carrier in the Gulf after Dubai's Emirates Airlines and Doha-based Qatar Airways. The airline has invested in minority equity stakes in eight carriers from Australia to Italy as it seeks to funnel traffic through its Abu Dhabi hub and compete with larger regional peers, especially in markets where aviation rights are restricted or competition is tough. Etihad, which has more than 200 aircraft on firm order, took delivery of one Airbus A380 in August and is set to receive another in November. It will take four Airbus A321s from August through to November and a Boeing 787 in April 2016, the spokesman said. The A380 scheduled to fly to New York will feature the Residence, its uber-luxurious offering, starting Dec. 1 for $32,000 flights between Abu Dhabi and the U.S. city. The airline has 111 passenger and cargo destinations worldwide, which it serves with a fleet of 118 Airbus and Boeing aircraft. http://skift.com/2015/08/30/etihad-wants-to-raise-500-million-to-expand-its-aircraft-fleet/ Back to Top What 3 Airline Executives Wouldn't Talk About at a Travel Agents' Conference A Lufthansa aircraft lands while a United aircraft taxis in San Francisco. What happens when you ask three airline executives some tough questions in front of a crowd of travel professionals? Not much, apparently. Travel Leaders Franchise Group president Roger E. Block had one-on-one time with airline execs in front of a few hundred travel agents yesterday at the ASTA Global Convention in Washington, D.C. With the Lufthansa Group slated to impose its 16 euro surcharge beginning today, travel agents are upset that Lufthansa's move will effectively make them less competitive than the airline group's own sites, which don't charge the extra fee. United, American, and Delta executives, who are likely jittery about a U.S. Department of Justice probe into possible price collusion, didn't have anything to offer about a response to the surcharge, or whether they would adopt a similar policy in the future. In fact, they wouldn't even appear together in what was supposed to be a panel discussion but instead Block interviewed them one-on-one. "Lufthansa is a great partner of ours, but I can't speak on behalf of Lufthansa," said David Hilfman, senior vice president of sales for United, which has a codeshare partnership with Lufthansa. "They have obviously come to the conclusion that its in their best interest, and they've articulated those things publicly and in meetings with their partners and the travel agency community. They have to make the decision on what's right for them in terms of their business objectives. The market always tells you whether you make the right business decision. That was pretty good, wasn't it?" Hilfman then stood up and started dancing, humming a tune, to applause from the travel agents on hand. None of the other executives were asked about the surcharge or their companies' reaction to it. Barring any last-minute announcements, no airline has yet disclosed that it would match Lufthansa's move and that's leading to conjecture that Lufthansa might eventually have to withdraw the surcharge because it would face unsustainable losses. Many travel agencies and corporations plan to book carriers other than Lufthansa where possible because of the new fee, which would be passed along to flyers. One airline industry consultant argues that if other airlines planned on matching Lufthansa's surcharge they would have done so already. On the subject what exactly the airlines plan to do with their surging profits, the message was also clear: Serving customers is less important than creating value for shareholders. "Shockingly, we're actually supposed to be for-profit corporations," said Hillman. "We actually have shareholders. It's great to see the airline industry turning into a business. While we've always had to focus on doing right by our customers and our best business partners... we always wanted to do better by our shareholders. Conditions in the industry weren't always as favorable as they are today." The others noted that after billions of dollars in fleet and technology investments, their airlines are finally investing in service training. "In 2012 we placed the aircraft industry's largest aircraft order in history," said Derek L. DeCrosse, vice president of global sales for American Airlines. "There's another $2 billion spent converting all 747s and 757s to all lie-flat [seating]. New lounges, new aircraft facilities. Then you get into the fact that customer service training since 9/11 has all been around safety. To now turn the corner to true customer service training is a wonderful place to be in. All those dollars make our job as a sales team much easier. We have a good story to tell." Delta Air Lines also doubled-down on the importance of investing in people, after investing in everything else first. "The truth of the matter is that everything can be replicated, in our estimation," said Bob Somers, vice president of global sales for Delta Air Lines. "We all have similar airline seats, food, wine and lounges. We believe the only thing you cannot replicate is the culture of your company, your service people and the level of the service they provide. We think that's a difference maker for Delta. It's hard to believe in two weeks, it will have been 10 years since we declared bankruptcy, the darkest day in the history of our company." Block asked about the complaint filed by U.S. airlines against Gulf airlines, alleging unfair business practices. The thesis offered by United, Delta and American? Gulf governments are unfairly subsidizing their airline so the U.S. government should swoop in and make things more fair for U.S. airlines. "We don't mind competing with the world's best," said Hilfman. "In fact, we've gotten dramatically better. Qatar, Emirates, these are all fine airlines and products... but we're not competing against airlines, we're essentially competing against arms of the state. The UAE and Qatar have determined their airlines are part of national policy; the only way you do that is to help your airlines grow in anyway you can. They get $42 billion in subsidies." "You can't compete against countries; you compete against companies," said DeCrosse. DeCrosse's views aren't shared by the U.S. Travel Association, many U.S.-based hotel chains and airports, which support Open Skies agreements and opposed the call for a crackdown on the Gulf carriers. http://skift.com/2015/09/01/united-exec-dances-around-lufthansa-surcharge-issue-and-others-dont- address-it/ Back to Top 200 join Saudi Aviation Flight Academy SUCCESSFUL CAREER: SAFA graduates have been employed by different airlines and in the private sector. RIYADH: As many as 200 students have enrolled into different courses at the Riyadh-based Saudi Aviation Flight Academy (SAFA) with 70 percent of them being Saudi nationals, said Saleem Bava, head of marketing and admission at SAFA. SAFA offers a mix of technically advanced training aircraft and simulators ensuring that students receive the most cost effective, high quality training available. According to him, the range of programs offered includes private pilot, instrument rating, commercial pilot, jet transition and upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT). Bava said SAFA will be conducting open-day sessions on Saturday to provide potential students the opportunity to gather information on different aspects of training. According to him the minimum qualification required to enroll for a pilot training program is a high school certificate or its equivalent. Very good command of English is also required to enroll in the courses. The official told Arab News that currently they are discussing with various industry partners and human resource development authorities for a program to help Saudi students with scholarship in deserving cases. He said close to 30 students have completed SAFA programs and many of the graduates are working for different airlines and the private sector, including Saudi Arabian Airlines and NAS. He added: "Those who qualify for admissions may be eligible for a free introductory flight and/or up to five hours of free flight toward their training." SAFA is a Gainesville Alachua County Assoc. of Realtors (GACAR) Part 141 approved, pilot training academy with ultramodern facilities contained on a purpose-built campus at the Thumamah Airfield, located 28km northeast of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Last year Aviation Performance Solutions (APS), an Arizona-based and headquartered global training organization, announced the opening of its fourth worldwide training center in Riyadh. In a previous statement, SAFA said it already has its new Extra 330LX on-site in Riyadh and their primary APS UPRT instructor, David Radford, has just completed the six-week APS on-airplane upset instructor train-the-trainer program in Arizona. SAFA professional pilot UPRT services started on Nov. 16, 2014 where SAFA airline cadets, executives and instructor staff were the first to receive APS programs. Earlier Capt. William Roe, the managing director at SAFA, said that joining APS is in direct alignment with SAFA's mission to fuel the growth of aviation in Saudi Arabia through their world-class center of excellence for pilot training. http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/799921 Back to Top Upcoming Events: 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 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 Southern California Aviation Association "Safety Standdown" September 14, 2015 Carlsbad, CA http://tinyurl.com/pg2yh4g 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 BARS Auditor Training October 6-8, 2015 Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://flightsafety.org/bars/auditor-training 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 Curt Lewis