Flight Safety Information November 10, 2015 - No. 225 In This Issue Kremlin confirms London gave Moscow certain data on A321 jet crash Egypt plane crash: Hotel workers 'may have hidden bomb inside Russian passengers' luggage' Egyptians not buying bomb theory in jet crash Russian plane crash: Who are terror group Al Wilayat Sinai? Air Force struggles to add drone pilots and address fatigue and stress Security Crackdown Looms as Bomb Blamed for Sinai Jet Crash International inspectors examine scanning of passengers, cargo and baggage at Cairo airport Plane Makes Emergency Landing At McCarran Airport After Hitting Bird Alaska Airlines Completes International Safety Audit The Disturbing Truth About How Airplanes Are Maintained Today The world of Nigeria's trainee pilots PROS 2015 TRAINING Stop By and Visit At NBAA - Booth N812 This is how dozens of major airlines got swallowed by the Big 3 These two guys spent 40 years building a working jetpack that uses real jet engines The Art Of Engineering: The World's Largest Jet Engine Shows Off Composite Curves UAE says signs MOU for 6 AgustaWestland AW609 tilt-rotor aircraft Middle East needs aircraft worth $590 billion CHC Safety & Quality Summit Press Releases and Save the Date 2016 Air Charter Safety Symposium Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) Kremlin confirms London gave Moscow certain data on A321 jet crash The Kremlin spokesman declined to provide details on what particular data were provided. Kremlin warns against linking A321 crash in Egypt with Russia's operation in SyriaExperts find components that are not of the crashed A321 airliner - source The UK has handed over to Moscow certain data on the Russian plane crash over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Naturally, we hope for cooperation with all countries, which may assist in the investigation of this tragedy," he said. "We can confirm that certain data has been handed over by the British side," Peskov noted. The Kremlin spokesman declined to provide details on what particular data he referred to, adding that so far he had no such information. For the same reason he did not answer the question whether these data had affected Russia's decision to suspend flights to Egypt. According to Peskov, it was up to investigators to confirm a particular version. Answering a question whether Russia sees any progress in the investigation of the Russian plane crash, he said "it was premature to talk about this, there have been no official statements yet about even some preliminary results from the investigators." He refused to comment on the fact that the Egyptian investigators are considering a terrorist attack to be the major cause of the crash. "At the moment I can say nothing," Peskov said. An A321 passenger jet of Russia's Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh. It fell down 100 kilometers south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al- Arish. The plane was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were four Ukrainian and one Belarusian nationals among the passengers. None of them survived. http://in.rbth.com/news/2015/11/09/kremlin-confirms-london-gave-moscow-certain-data-on-a321-jet- crash_538603 Back to Top Egypt plane crash: Hotel workers 'may have hidden bomb inside Russian passengers' luggage' Employees at the hotels used by the 224 people on board Metrojet flight 9268 are reportedly being questioned Russian emergency services personnel and Egyptian servicemen working at the crash site of a A321 Russian airliner in Wadi al-Zolomat, a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Getty Images Egyptian police are reportedly exploring a new theory that hotelstaff may have planted the bomb possibly used to down a Russian passenger plane in tourists' luggage. Maids, porters and other hotel staff are being questioned and having their backgrounds checked for any extremist links, The Telegraph reported. No suspects have been named following days of interviews with airport workers and with the Egyptian government "90 per cent sure" the plane exploded, police are looking for new leads. Thousands of holidaymakers remain stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh amid heightened security measures as investigations into the disaster on 31 October continue. All 224 passengers and crew on board Metrojet flight 9268 died when it crashed in the Sinai Peninsula less than half an hour into its flight from the Egyptian resort to St Petersburg. Extremist "chatter" intercepted by intelligence agencies indicated that a bomb was planted on board and the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have said a terrorist attack is the most likely cause of the disaster. British investigators believe the bomb would have been put in the hold and suspicion initially turned to airport workers and baggage handlers, but now the possibility that luggage was tampered with is being examined. Isis' Egyptian affiliate, Wilayat Sinai, immediately claimed responsibility for the atrocity and released footage, which was initially dismissed as fake, claiming to show an explosion on the plane before it falls out the sky. A written statement said jihadists were exacting revenge for Russia's intervention in Syria and militant leader Abu Osama al-Masri released an audio message last week claiming the bombing marked the one- year anniversary of the group's pledge of allegiance to Isis. The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, has said the thousands of British holidaymakers still stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh will be returned home by the end of this week. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-plane-crash-hotel-workers-may-have-hidden- bomb-inside-russian-passengers-luggage-a6728036.html Back to Top Egyptians not buying bomb theory in jet crash CAIRO -- Egyptian media have reacted with fury as Britain and the United States increasingly point to a bomb as the cause of the Oct. 31 Russian plane crash in Sinai, with many outlets hammering home the same message: Egypt is facing a Western conspiracy that seeks to scare off tourists and destroy the country's economy. U.S. Intelligence officials told CBS News on Monday they believe it is "likely" a bomb brought down the Metrojet Airbus A321, and the focus now is more on how it happened and who is responsible, reported CBS News' justice and homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues. New evidence bolsters bomb theory in Russian jet crash As CBS News reported on Sunday, U.S. Intelligence officials believe it is "likely" a bomb brought down the Russian Metrojet plane. killing the 224 people on board. The warnings of a plot have been widely promoted by opinion-makers in print, online, and on TV, sometimes hinting and sometimes saying flat-out that the West has restricted flights to Egypt not purely out of safety concerns for its citizens but because it wants to undermine the country or prevent President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi from making Egypt too strong. And though they seem wild, these conspiracy theories have apparently tapped into the Egyptian mindset -- so much so that when Russia last Friday grounded all flights to Egypt, some media speculated that Moscow had fallen victim to British pressure and manipulation. "The people defy the conspiracy -- Egypt will not cave in to pressures," the state-owned Al-Gomhuria newspaper proclaimed in a front-page headline this week. "Egypt stands up to 'the West's terrorism,'" an independent daily, El-Watan, headlined. The rhetoric reflects in part the deep reluctance in the press to level serious criticism or suggestion of shortcomings by el-Sisi's government. Egyptian President el-Sisi backs U.S. attacks on ISIS Government and independent media alike have constantly lionized el-Sisi and depicted him as Egypt's savior ever since -- as head of the military -- he led the army's 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after massive protests against Morsi and the power of his Muslim Brotherhood. Since el- Sisi's election as president the following year, most media have continued to laud him as working to bring stability. "Denial on behalf of the state that there is a crisis and then trying to point to some kind of third party is very normal" in Egypt, Hebatalla Taha, an Egypt-focused analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Associated Press. Conspiracy theories often run rampant in the Middle East for a variety of reasons -- poor education, suspicion of others, a lack of government transparency, limitations on speech, and the historical fact that powers inside and outside the region do often work behind the scenes to sway events and conflicts. Often, the theories are politically fueled. Taha said the rhetoric is the "standard fallback" for the state. Private citizens, she said, likely wouldn't have come up with the conspiracy theories on their own, "but they're very likely to adopt what state media is saying." Egypt's media often point to "foreign hands" amid crises. During the 2011 uprising that eventually toppled Hosni Mubarak, state papers accused foreigners of fomenting protests. Over the past two years, commentators have often accused the U.S. of supporting the Brotherhood, which has been declared a terrorist organization, and trying to impose it on Egypt, in response to Western criticism of Morsi's ouster by the military and the subsequent crackdown on Islamists. They also complain that the West is not helping Egypt enough in its fight against terrorism, including the Islamic State's branch in Sinai, which claimed to have downed the plane. But Taha said the reaction to the plane crash is also rooted in fear. Investigation reveals lax security in case of downed Russian airliner The Oct. 31 crash of the Russian jet just after taking off from the Sinai beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh could wreck the slow revival of Egypt's vital tourism industry after five years of turmoil -- particularly after Russia and Britain suspended tourism flights, demanding better airport security. Egyptian authorities have said they are looking at all possible scenarios in the crash. They say speculation should stop until the conclusion of the investigation, which el-Sisi has said could take months. They have bristled at what they call a rush to judgment by British and U.S. officials, who say intelligence suggests the IS branch in Sinai planted a bomb on the Metrojet plane, causing it to break apart in the air, killing all 224 on board. Since Morsi's ouster, the militants have waged a stepped-up insurgency in Sinai and have carried out multiple bombings and killings of police and soldiers in Cairo. Egypt's military has been battling them in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. In the Egyptian media, the flight suspensions and calls for better airport security were seen as unfair and malicious. Even if the cause was a bomb, "it doesn't require an instant and large-scale punishment and criminal defamation against Egypt," wrote the editor-in-chief of the Al-Maqal newspaper and one of Egypt's most prominent TV commentators, Ibrahim Eissa. British Prime Minister David Cameron has gotten the brunt of the criticism. Some saw it as particularly insulting that Britain's suspension of flights last week came the same day el- Sisi began his first official trip to London and that Cameron said at a press conference with el-Sisi that it was "more like than not" that a bomb downed the plane. Other commentators went further, hinting at some sort of collusion or at least a mutual interest between Britain and the Islamic State extremists. Hazem Moneim, a commentator with El-Watan, wrote that the West was "afraid" of Egypt. "Why would Britain issue this statement coinciding with the beginning of el-Sisi's visit, as if they know the truth from its source?" he wrote Saturday. He compared it to a TV drama in which "the evil side contributes to committing the crime, then accuses the other side." In the same paper, Lamis Gaber wrote that London "was very pleased" with the IS claim of responsibility. "As long as the English and (IS) are in political agreement and ideological and strategic harmony, then perhaps the information might be true," she wrote. Moscow's decision to suspend its flights as well threw some of the conspiracy theories into confusion, since Russian President Vladimir Putin is always depicted as a strong supporter of el-Sisi. "Even you, Putin?" the newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm's front page proclaimed. In the largest state newspaper, Al-Ahram, Taha Abdel-Aleem wrote that British and Americans statements on the crash were part of pressure "aiming to empower the Brotherhood and humiliate Egypt, as well as turn public opinion in Russia against its war on terror in Syria" - referring to Moscow's air campaign there. One well-known Egyptian actor even said on a TV talk show that the British prime minister - whom he identified as "John Brown," perhaps muddling the names of previous prime ministers John Major and Gordon Brown - "is in the Muslim Brotherhood." Al-Ahram and other papers also accused Britain of forcing its nationals vacationing in Egypt to leave. Al-Ahram ran a photo of a woman arguing with British Ambassador John Casson at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, with the caption, "We want to resume our trip and don't want to leave," as if she were saying that. In video footage that has gone viral online, the tourist, Clara Dublin, was in fact telling the ambassador, "We want to go home," angry over the confusion in arranging flights out. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/egypt-russian-metrojet-plane-crash-isis-bomb-theory-conspiracy-el-sisi/ Back to Top Russian plane crash: Who are terror group Al Wilayat Sinai? * The ISIS affiliate in Sinai is very different from ISIS in Iraq and Syria * Sinai has long been a place with a lot of jihadist activity (CNN)Governments and intelligence experts increasingly believe what brought down Metrojet Flight 9268 over Egypt was no accident. ISIS affiliate Al Wilayat Sinai has claimed responsibility for the crash, which killed 224 people. What do we know about Al Wilayat Sinai? ISIS in Sinai is very different from ISIS, the terror group that currently occupies large parts of Iraq and Syria. It is a mostly local group of jihadists that feed off long-standing grievances that the population of the Sinai peninsula has with the Egyptian state. The group has contact with and has pledged allegiance to ISIS's main group, which has its capital in Raqqa, Syria. But ISIS in Sinai operates largely autonomously, according to various media reports. How did the terrorist group emerge in Sinai? Sinai has long been a region with a lot of jihadist activity -- and the peninsula, with its desert in the north and its mountains in the south, is very difficult to control. Egyptian security forces can only deploy very limited equipment and troops there because the area is supposed to be a demilitarized buffer zone between Egypt and Israel. Furthermore, the indigenous Bedouin population has been cut off from economic and infrastructure development. Many Bedouin villages don't even have electricity and running water. While the vast majority of Bedouin tribal leaders are against religious violence and many even combat ISIS, some Bedouins have joined the group and make up parts of its rank and file. Security in Sinai deteriorated even further after the ousting of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. One of the main jihadist groups to emerge at that time was called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, or "Champions of the Holy House", a reference to Jerusalem and the group's main goal of battling against Israel. It claimed responsibility for various attacks on Egyptian security forces and several bombings of a main gas pipeline that connects Egypt with Israel and Jordan. In 2013 Abdel Fattah Sisi took power as president of Egypt and launched a major and very heavy-handed crackdown on jihadist groups in Sinai and other areas. This also further alienated many in the local population and led to the emergence of the group Wilayat Sinai or "Sinai Province" out of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis What do we know about the leader of Al Wilayat Sinai? Its leader is Abu Osama al-Masri. This nom de guerre is a reference to his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, while al-Masri is Arabic for "Egypt" to show that he is Egyptian. ISIS Fast Facts Al-Masri directed further attacks on Egyptian security forces and also on Israel. In 2014 he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The ISIS affiliate in Sinai is believed to operate mostly in the northern part of Sinai near the border with Gaza and Israel. According to reports it possesses mostly light weapons, but also some shoulder-fired anti- aircraft rockets. A video published by the group purports to show it taking down an Egyptian military helicopter -- but it is believed that such weapons could not take down a cruising airline. While experts believe that the ISIS affiliate in Sinai is fairly small in number, many say they are one of the most active ISIS affiliates. If Al Wilayat Sinai did bomb the Russian airliner, it could indicate that the terror group is far more dangerous than many previously believed. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/africa/egypt-al-wilayat-sinai/ Back to Top Air Force struggles to add drone pilots and address fatigue and stress An Air Force crew loads a missile on a Predator drone. (Airman 1st Class Michael Shoemaker / Air Force) Deep in the 60,000 acres of desert on this desolate air base, past a billboard that shows a Predator soaring in the sky, lies a high-security compound where America's drone pilots learn to hunt and kill from half a world away. But "the Farm," as the little-known Air Force boot camp is known, faces a crisis. Experienced pilots and crews complain of too much work, too much strain and too little chance for promotion operating the Predator and Reaper drones that provide surveillance and that fire missiles in Iraq, Syria and other war zones. Partly as a result, too few young officers want to join their ranks. See the most-read stories this hour >> The Air Force has struggled with a drone pilot shortage since at least 2007, records show. In fiscal year 2014, the most recent data available, the Air Force trained 180 new pilots while 240 veterans left the field. "It's extremely stressful and extremely difficult," said Peter "Pepe" LeHew, who retired in 2012 and joined private industry. He called the work, which sometimes involved flying surveillance in one country in the morning and bombing another in the afternoon, "mentally fatiguing." It hasn't helped that books, at least one Hollywood film and an off-Broadway play by the director of "The Lion King" have stigmatized drone pilots as the "Chair Force," tormented joystick jockeys who fight foreign wars by remote control and then stagger home each night. It's a far cry from the swaggering, adrenaline-laced exploits of Tom Cruise in "Top Gun," which inspired a generation of fighter pilots three decades ago. "All our pilots ever hear is that this work is difficult, underappreciated and fatiguing," said Col. Robert E. Kiebler, commander at Holloman. "We must change that image." Desperate to find a solution, the Air Force is expected to unveil plans this week intended to ease the workload for drone pilots, boost their prospects for career advancement, and upgrade living and working conditions on drone bases across the United States. The plans were developed after Air Force officials visited 13 bases and heard pilots and their commanders say drones may be the future of warfare but flying fighter jets into the blue yonder gets far more respect. "Looking into the eyes of the pilots out there, you can tell they're tired and worn out," said an Air Force official who interviewed many of the pilots but wasn't authorized to speak publicly. "There's a feeling of hopelessness that they can't continue doing this unless something changes." Some pilots were forced to work six days a week, they said, operating drones an average of 900 hours a year. Fighter pilots, by contrast, fly an average of 250 hours a year. The drone pilots complained as well about inadequate housing and child-care services at drone bases. Drone training Air Force pilots train on a drone simulator. (Senior Airman BreeAnn Sachs / Air Force) In early October, the review team gave its recommendations to Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, which oversees drone operations from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Va. The Air Force has offered a retention bonus of $15,000 a year for drone pilots to stay. It also lowered from 65 to 60 the number of drone missions, called combat air patrols, that are required each day. That freed up pilots to help become instructors at Holloman. Spread across the Chihuahua Desert, just east of the wave-like gypsum dunes on the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, Holloman is key to the Air Force effort to reboot its drone force. Commanders want to train 401 new drone pilots this year - about 40% more than last year - in a sun- blasted cluster of air-conditioned trailers deep inside the base. That includes 80 pilots previously assigned to fly bombers, cargo planes and fighter jets. "We've needed the help out here for a while now," Lt. Col. Steven Beattie, training squadron commander, said as he stood in the scorching heat. "Most people in this community love what they're doing. They're just getting burned out by the pace of operations." A total of 99 new instructors will arrive over the next year, part of a buildup that will make this base the largest air crew training facility in the Air Force. Training lasts four months. Pilots start with simulators, toggling a joystick and learning to operate the drone's high-powered cameras and sensors. They learn to avoid abrupt movements on the control panel that could break the drone's satellite connection. From there, they begin to remotely fly Predators and Reapers over Holloman's hundreds of square miles of restricted airspace. To provide targets, contractors built several fake towns in the desert with low-slung buildings, faux mosques and paid crews to pose as soldiers, militants and townspeople. The trainee pilots practice scenarios that include aerial surveillance of simulated mass beheadings, suicide bombings and U.S. special forces raids. When reporters visited on a recent afternoon, a pilot in his third month of training was ordered to find "high-value targets" previously identified in a faux intelligence briefing. Inside the darkened trailer, facing an array of glowing computer screens, the trainee, who could not be identified under Pentagon rules, patiently flew a Reaper at 25,000 feet for more than two hours over a fake town in a so-called SCAR mission (strike coordination and reconnaissance). A voice on his radio advised "No friendlies on the ground" as he studied images from the drone's infrared camera, switching at times to zoom lenses to pierce the clouds. Once he spotted the targets, he called in the coordinates and focused his targeting laser on it. In a real war zone, a fighter jet could then launch a bomb. Outside, ungainly gray drones took off and landed on a distant runway, and the unmistakable buzz of their propellers resounded off the desert floor. A Predator and a Reaper sat on a nearby tarmac for visiting photographers. "My wife wanted to take a picture with me and the kids in front of the plane," said an instructor who couldn't give his name because of Air Force policy. "I was like, 'It's been two years since I've seen this aircraft [so close].' I've just been too busy." http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-drone-pilot-crisis-20151109-story.html Back to Top Security Crackdown Looms as Bomb Blamed for Sinai Jet Crash As tourists abandon the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, government and aviation officials warned that global airport security will need to be reviewed if suspicions are confirmed that a bomb brought down a Russian jetliner over Sinai. While officials don't have enough evidence yet to conclude the incident was the result of a blast, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the view of the British authorities was that the disaster was "more likely than not caused by an explosive device." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the possibility of a terror attack "is being taken very seriously." Investigators are trying to tease as much as possible from the Metrojet Airbus A321's two black boxes, recovered from the Sinai peninsula, where the plane's pieces fell to the ground Oct. 31. All 224 people aboard died in the crash. A last-second noise heard on a cockpit recording has become the focus of an Egypt-led probe. "If this turns out to be a device planted by an ISIL operative or by somebody inspired by ISIL, then clearly we will have to look again at the level of security we expect to see in airports in areas where ISIL is active," Hammond told BBC Television's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. People purporting to represent Islamic State claimed the downing of the jet was retaliation for Russia's bombing the extremist group in Syria. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the airport at Sharm el- Sheikh had security problems, including lax searches and a frequently malfunctioning baggage scanning device. Tighter Rules Emirates airline, ranked world No. 1 by international traffic, is already looking at its security procedures in anticipation of tighter rules, President Tim Clark told reporters in Dubai on Sunday. "As we speak, we're reviewing our procedures in terms of security and ramp handling and access to our aircraft," Clark said. "We have 22 cities in Africa, multiple cities in west Asia -- India, Pakistan, et cetera -- all of these will have to be reviewed to make sure we're as safe as we can be." Britain banned commercial flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea in the wake of the crash, leaving thousands of vacationers stranded. Other countries, including Russia, followed and travel warnings ensued with Norway, Finland and Denmark all advising against all non-essential trips. Hammond said those trying to get home on unscheduled flights face delays of two to three days at most. Egypt's benchmark EGX 30 Index of stocks slumped 2.6 percent at the close in Cairo, the most in two months. Extra Costs "What we have got to do is ensure that airport security everywhere is at the level of the best and that airport security reflects the local conditions, and where there is a higher local threat level that will mean higher levels of security are required," Hammond said. "That may mean additional costs, it may mean additional delays at airports." Hammond said the position on whether to ask Parliament to approve British attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria had not changed. The government will only propose such a motion when there is cross- party support, he said. Islamic State's decade-old Egyptian branch, a Sinai-based group known originally as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, stepped up its campaign against the government after the military-led ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in 2013. The following year, it changed its name to Sinai Province and pledged allegiance to the rapidly expanding Islamic State, acquiring more powerful weaponry and ramping up the boldness of its attacks with an assault on an Egyptian frigate this past July. A senior Israeli official said Sunday that Sinai Province would see its prestige and arms pipeline grow if it turns out it planted a bomb on the Russian plane. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record, predicted Egypt would crack down harshly on the group if it embarrassed President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi with an attack. Russian Inspectors The first of three teams of inspectors Russia has sent to audit safety and prepare recommendations in key Egypt's airports has arrived, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on state TV. Clark said he expects U.S. and European aviation authorities will eventually make some "fairly stringent" demands of the industry as a result of the crash. "These are game-changers to our industry," Clark said. "There are many airports in the world where if people wanted to do some pretty bad things they could do them." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-08/hammond-sees-u-k-security-crackdown-if-jet- crash-caused-by-bomb Back to Top International inspectors examine scanning of passengers, cargo and baggage at Cairo airport FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, file photo released by the Prime Minister's office, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, right, looks at the remains of a crashed Russian passenger jet in Hassana, Egypt. Egyptian media have reacted with fury as Britain and the U.S. increasingly point to a bomb as the cause of the Russian plane crash, and many have hammered home to the public that their country is facing a Western conspiracy to scare off tourists and destroy the economy. (Suliman el-Oteify/Egyptian Prime Minister's Office via AP, File) CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian officials say European, Russian and Middle Eastern teams are inspecting security measures at Cairo's international airport relating to passenger and cargo aircraft travelling to their countries. The head of Cairo's international airport, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Genina says the officials from Russia, Holland, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are examining the scanning of passengers, cargo and baggage as they enter the airport and make their way to aircraft. Security guards and caterers are also being inspected. Several countries and airlines have suspended new flights to Egypt because of security concerns as suspicions focused on the possibility that a bomb caused an Oct. 31 plane crash of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people onboard. http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/11/10/international-teams-inspect-security-at-cairo- airport Back to Top Plane Makes Emergency Landing At McCarran Airport After Hitting Bird Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - An American Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing at McCarran International Airport Monday morning. The flight from Las Vegas to Chicago had hit a bird in the air shortly after takeoff and then returned to the airport around 5:30 a.m. Flight 334, which had 160 people on board, landed safely back at the airport. It had departed around 5:15 a.m. A passenger on the flight said about 10 minutes after taking off he heard a loud thump and then it felt like the plane dropped out the sky. After falling for a few seconds, he said the whole plane was tilted to the left. The passenger said a member of the crew came on the intercom and said they hit a bird so the pilot was turning around and heading back to the airport. This was the 16th reported bird strike at McCarran Airport this year. http://www.ktnv.com/news/plane-makes-emergency-landing-at-mccarran-airport-after-hitting-birds Back to Top Alaska Airlines Completes International Safety Audit SEATTLE, Nov. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines today announced that it has successfully completed the International Air Transport Association's Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and has been renewed on the IOSA Registry. The airline has been on the registry for 10 years, since 2006. "Alaska Airlines is focused on a culture of safety. Our top priority every day on every flight is to operate safely for our customers and our employees," said Alaska CEO Brad Tilden. "I'm proud of our 15,000 employees whose safety-centric focus has enabled Alaska to meet this internationally-recognized benchmark." The IOSA program is a key element of the International Air Transport Association's efforts to promote global airline operational safety. To be on the IOSA Registry, an airline must satisfy more than 900 standards and recommended practices in its operational areas, including flight operations, operational control and dispatch, maintenance, cabin operations, ground handling, cargo operations and operational security. The comprehensive week-long audit takes place every two years and is conducted by an independent organization accredited by the IATA. Since its inception in 2003, the IOSA program has improved aviation safety worldwide by establishing a universally accepted set of safety standards. Preparing for and completing IOSA registration is a condition of membership in IATA, which represents 83 percent of global air traffic. Alaska Airlines sister airline Horizon Air has also been listed on the registry since 2006. Safety Over SpeedLast year Alaska and Horizon renewed their commitment to safety with the launch of "Ready, SAFE, Go," an internal program that encourages employees to put safety first and supports them in stopping any flight at any time if there is a safety concern. "This program was launched to remind employees that safety needs to be at the forefront of everything we do," said Tom Nunn, the airline's vice president of safety. "It poses three questions to think about before beginning any task: Are you ready? Is everything safe? Only then, is it time to go." Nunn said customers may notice "Ready, SAFE, Go" messages on company equipment at the airport. "The "Ready, SAFE, Go" logo is emblazoned on safety vests, tugs and baggage carts as a constant reminder that safety trumps all other considerations at Alaska and Horizon including on-time performance and profits," said Nunn. "Every employee has the power to stop the operation if they have a safety concern." Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group ALK, -0.99% together with its partner regional airlines, serves more than 100 cities through an expansive network in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America" in the J.D. Power North America Airline Satisfaction Study for eight consecutive years from 2008 to 2015. Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan also ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Airline Loyalty Rewards Programs" in the J.D. Power 2014 and 2015 Airline Loyalty/Rewards Program Satisfaction Report. For reservations, visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit Alaska Airlines' newsroom at www.alaskaair.com/newsroom. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alaska-airlines-completes-international-safety-audit-2015-11-09 Back to Top The Disturbing Truth About How Airplanes Are Maintained Today WELCOME ABOARD Thanks to offshoring, the number of maintenance jobs at U.S. carriers has plummeted. In the last decade, most of the big U.S. airlines have shifted major maintenance work to places like El Salvador, Mexico, and China, where few mechanics are F.A.A. certified and inspections have no teeth. Not long ago I was waiting for a domestic flight in a departure lounge at one of the crumbling midcentury sheds that pass for an American airport these days. There were delays, as we've all come to expect, and then the delays turned into something more ominous. The airplane I was waiting for had a serious maintenance issue, beyond the ability of a man in an orange vest to address. The entire airplane would have to be taken away for servicing and another brought to the gate in its place. This would take a while. Those of us in the departure lounge settled in for what we suspected might be hours. From the window I watched the ground crew unload the bags from the original airplane. When the new one arrived, the crew pumped the fuel, loaded the bags, and stocked the galley. It was a scene I'd witnessed countless times. Soon we would board and be on the way to our destinations. As for the first airplane, the one with the maintenance problem-what was its destination going to be? When you have time on your hands, you begin to wonder about things like this. My own assumption, as yours might have been, was that the aircraft would be towed to a nearby hangar for a stopgap repair and then flown to a central maintenance facility run by the airline somewhere in the U.S. Or maybe there was one right here at the airport. In any case, if it needed a major overhaul, presumably it would be performed by the airline's staff of trained professionals. If Apple feels it needs a "Genius Bar" at its stores to deal with hardware and software that cost a few hundred dollars, an airline must have something equivalent to safeguard an airplane worth a few hundred million. About this I would be wrong-as wrong as it is possible to be. Over the past decade, nearly all large U.S. airlines have shifted heavy maintenance work on their airplanes to repair shops thousands of miles away, in developing countries, where the mechanics who take the planes apart (completely) and put them back together (or almost) may not even be able to read or speak English. US Airways and Southwest fly planes to a maintenance facility in El Salvador. Delta sends planes to Mexico. United uses a shop in China. American still does much of its most intensive maintenance in-house in the U.S., but that is likely to change in the aftermath of the company's merger with US Airways. The airlines are shipping this maintenance work offshore for the reason you'd expect: to cut labor costs. Mechanics in El Salvador, Mexico, China, and elsewhere earn a fraction of what mechanics in the U.S. do. In part because of this offshoring, the number of maintenance jobs at U.S. carriers has plummeted, from 72,000 in the year 2000 to fewer than 50,000 today. But the issue isn't just jobs. A century ago, Upton Sinclair wrote his novel The Jungle to call attention to the plight of workers in the slaughterhouses, but what really got people upset was learning how unsafe their meat was. Safety is an issue here, too. The Federal Aviation Administration is supposed to be inspecting all the overseas facilities that do maintenance for airlines-just as it is supposed to inspect those in America. But the F.A.A. no longer has the money or the manpower to do this. One of the fastest-growing of the offshore repair sites is on the perimeter of El Salvador's Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport. Named for the archbishop who was assassinated during Mass in 1980, the airport has become a busy hub, owing largely to a steady influx of foreign jetliners needing maintenance and repair. Jets flying the insignia of US Airways, Southwest, Jet Blue, and many smaller American carriers are a common sight as they touch down and taxi to the Aeroman complex at the edge of the field. Aeroman was once the repair base for El Salvador's modest national airline. It has mushroomed into a complex of five hangars, 18 production lines, and numerous specialty shops that perform virtually all phases of aircraft overhaul. The company has picked up the familiar multi-national technobabble, describing itself as a "world leader in providing aircraft-maintenance solutions." About 2,000 mechanics and other employees work in the company's tightly guarded airport compound, encircled by a fence and barbed wire. The airplanes that U.S. carriers send to Aeroman undergo what's known in the industry as "heavy maintenance," which often involves a complete teardown of the aircraft. Every plate and panel on the wings, tail, flaps, and rudder are unscrewed, and all the parts within-cables, brackets, bearings, and bolts- are removed for inspection. The landing gear is disassembled and checked for cracks, hydraulic leaks, and corrosion. The engines are removed and inspected for wear. Inside, the passenger seats, tray tables, overhead bins, carpeting, and side panels are removed until the cabin has been stripped down to bare metal. Then everything is put back exactly where it was, at least in theory. The work is labor-intensive and complicated, and the technical manuals are written in English, the language of international aviation. According to regulations, in order to receive F.A.A. certification as a mechanic, a worker needs to be able to "read, speak, write, and comprehend spoken English." Most of the mechanics in El Salvador and some other developing countries who take apart the big jets and then put them back together are unable to meet this standard. At Aeroman's El Salvador facility, only one mechanic out of eight is F.A.A.-certified. At a major overhaul base used by United Airlines in China, the ratio is one F.A.A.-certified mechanic for every 31 non-certified mechanics. In contrast, back when U.S. airlines performed heavy maintenance at their own, domestic facilities, F.A.A.-certified mechanics far outnumbered everyone else. At American Airlines' mammoth heavy-maintenance facility in Tulsa, certified mechanics outnumber the uncertified four to one. Because heavy maintenance is labor-intensive and offshore labor is cheap, there's a perception that the work is unskilled. But that's not true. If something as mundane as the tray of a tray table becomes unattached, the arms that hold it could easily turn into spears. There are 731 foreign repair shops certified by the F.A.A. around the globe. How qualified are the mechanics in these hundreds of places? It's very hard to check. In the past, when heavy maintenance was performed on United's planes at a huge hangar at San Francisco International Airport, a government inspector could easily drive a few minutes from an office in the Bay Area to make a surprise inspection. Today that maintenance work is done in Beijing. The inspectors responsible for checking on how Chinese workers service airplanes are based in Los Angeles, 6,500 miles away. Lack of proximity is only part of the problem. To inspect any foreign repair station, the F.A.A. first must obtain permission from the foreign government where the facility is located. Then, after a visa is granted, the U.S. must inform that government when the F.A.A. inspector will be coming. So much for the element of surprise-the very core of any inspection process. That inspections have had the heart torn out of them should come as no surprise. It is the pattern that has beset the regulation of drugs, food, and everything else. A facility in El Salvador What effect does all this offshoring have on the airworthiness of the fleet? No one gathers data systematically on this question-which is worrying in itself-but you don't have to look far in government documents and news reports to find incidents that bring your senses to an upright and locked position. In 2011, an Air France Airbus A340 that had undergone a major overhaul at a maintenance facility used by U.S. and European airlines in Xiamen, China, flew for five days with 30 screws missing from one of its wings. The plane traveled first to Paris and then to Boston, where mechanics discovered the problem. A year earlier, an Air France Boeing 747 that had undergone major maintenance at another Chinese facility was grounded after it was found that some of the plane's exterior had been refinished with potentially flammable paint. In 2013, yet another Air France aircraft, this one an Airbus A380 en route to Caracas from Paris, had to make an unscheduled landing in the Azores when all the toilets overflowed and two of the airplane's high- frequency radios failed. The Air France pilots' union said the incidents occurred on the airplane's first commercial flight after heavy-maintenance work in China. The company that performed the work also does maintenance for American. (Air France has denied that the problems were associated with maintenance done in China.) You don't have to look far to find incidents that bring your senses to an upright and locked position. In 2009, a US Airways Boeing 737 jet carrying passengers from Omaha to Phoenix had to make an emergency landing in Denver when a high-pitched whistling sound in the cabin signaled that the seal around the main cabin door had begun to fail. It was later discovered that mechanics at Aeroman's El Salvador facility had installed a key component of the door backward. In another incident, Aeroman mechanics crossed wires that connect the cockpit gauges and the airplane's engines, a potentially catastrophic error that, in the words of a 2012 Congressional Research Service report, "could cause a pilot to shut down the wrong engine if engine trouble was suspected." In 2007, a China Airlines Boeing 737 took off from Taiwan and landed in Okinawa only to catch fire and explode shortly after taxiing to a gate. Miraculously, all 165 people on board escaped without serious injury. Investigators later concluded that during maintenance work in Taiwan mechanics had failed to attach a washer to part of the right wing assembly, allowing a bolt to come loose and puncture a fuel tank. China Airlines does maintenance work for about 20 other carriers. Airline mechanics at U.S. airports who perform routine safety checks and maintenance tasks before an airplane takes off report that they are discovering slipshod work done by overseas repair shops. American Airlines mechanics contended in a lawsuit last January that they had been disciplined by management for reporting numerous safety violations they uncovered on airplanes that had recently been serviced in China. Mechanics in Dallas said they had discovered cracked engine pylons, defective doors, and expired oxygen canisters, damage that had simply been painted over, and missing equipment, among other violations. An American spokesperson denied the allegations, contending that the airline's "maintenance programs, practices, procedures and overall compliance and safety are second to none." Citing a lack of jurisdiction, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit. The F.A.A., however, is investigating the allegations. With huge subsidies, the Chinese government has created an aircraft-maintenance industry almost from scratch-building hangars, hiring mechanics, and aggressively courting airlines to have work done in the People's Republic. Even engine repairs and overhaul-the highly skilled aircraft-maintenance work that has remained largely in the U.S. and Europe-may follow heavy maintenance to the developing world. Emirates, the airline owned by the Gulf states, is constructing a $120 million state-of-the-art engine-repair-and- overhaul facility in Dubai. A 2007 explosion, traced to maintenance in Taiwan Not everyone in official Washington is oblivious to what has been happening. The inspector general's office of the Department of Transportation has repeatedly called for the F.A.A. to demand more stringent reporting requirements. It needs to know where maintenance work is being done, and by whom. In 2003, the inspector general called on the F.A.A. to require drug testing of workers at foreign repair stations as a condition of F.A.A. certification. Twelve years later, the agency still has no such requirement. Similarly, there are no mandatory security checks for workers at foreign airplane-repair stations. In 2007, workers on a Qantas jet undergoing heavy maintenance in Singapore were reportedly members of a work-release contingent from a nearby maximum-security prison, though the airline denied the allegation. In addition to sending work offshore, airlines are also outsourcing more maintenance work-including heavy maintenance-to private contractors in the U.S. Many of the issues that plague the foreign shops-unlicensed mechanics, workers who don't speak English, and poor workmanship-are also present at some of these private American repair shops. The F.A.A. at least has the capability to inspect domestic facilities more frequently than it does those overseas. (Despite frequent attempts, the F.A.A. did not respond to requests for information or comment on the issues raised in this story.) The reality is that from now on it's going to be up to the airlines to police themselves. With the F.A.A. starved for funds, it will be left to the airlines to oversee the heavy maintenance of their aircraft. Have you noticed that this sort of arrangement never works? The F.A.A.'s flight-standards office in Singapore-the only field office it maintained in the entire developing world-once had half a dozen inspectors responsible for visiting more than 100 repair stations in Asia: not enough, to put it mildly, but they could accomplish something. By 2013 the number of inspectors was down to one. Now there is no one at all. And I will confess that thinking about all this in the departure lounge puts the prospect of endless delay into perspective. Yes, I'll happily wait a little longer to board my flight-and then hope for the best. http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/airplane-maintenance-disturbing-truth Back to Top The world of Nigeria's trainee pilots ...at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology A good knowledge or flair for sciences, five O' level credits that must include mathematics, physics and geography remain the major academic entry rerequirements for aspiring pilots to gain admission into the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT). But cadets will insist the cost (school fees) could most times pose perhaps the greatest challenge to many students' dream. Established by the Nigerian government in partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 1960, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) sited in the ancient city of Zaria has over the last five decades served as the sole training ground for thousands of Nigerian pilots (for both commercial and military aircraft) as well as those from neighbouring West African countries. "At present, it costs about N7.5million to train as a pilot at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology," said Valerie Ashiekara, a female cadet pilot at the college. "But that is relatively cheap; if you were to go outside Nigeria, the fee could go up to between N10 and N13million depending on the country." "The huge cost remains perhaps the biggest challenge because you can get the basic entry requirements and then the admission, but without the funds to proceed the dream dies," said Jethro Baka, one of male cadets. "And I tell you that there are so many young men and women who dream to be pilots but had to bury those dreams because they just could not afford to foot the bills." Ashiekara and Baka, sponsored by the Benue State Government, and rounding off their training programmes at NCAT, shared their experiences - their motivations and challenges - with Education Review in Zaria recently. The motivation For Ashiekara who attended the Queen of the Rosary Secondary School, Gboko, Benue State, the motivation to become a pilot did not occur until she was about 18 years, some years after completing her secondary education. "As a child, I was this kind of girl that always wanted to do things that other girls of my age would dare not attempt," she said. "Many girls would say they don't like science subjects; they don't want to be engineers or technicians. But for me, that's the kind of area I will say I want to go into. I was good in physics, mathematics, and geography. At 18, I flew a commercial plane as a passenger for the first time, and I said to myself, 'oh Valerie, I want to be a pilot' and from that day the journey started as I started asking questions on how to realize my dream." It was in the course of that, that she stumbled on a sponsorship advertisement by the Benue State government seeking for bright secondary school leavers to train as pilots. Of the many that applied, only six were eventually selected. "I applied and passed the exams, and I found myself at NCAT," she said, with a broad smile. Unlike Ashiekara, Baka's dream to fly started right from his secondary school days. "I attended the Special Science Senior Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State and that is where the I started dreaming or having the passion of becoming a pilot," he said. "Anytime in those secondary school days I looked up into the sky and saw an aircraft, I couldn't stop imagining the men and women who defied the law of gravity to take off with this machine from ground into the air and then also bring it down. One day I said to myself, after completing my studies here I want to be a pilot; I want to be among those group of men and women who could defy the law of gravity." Baka's entry into NCAT to fulfill his childhood dream was also realized, courtesy of the Benue State government. "NCAT boasts of the best training equipment and highly skilled instructors as could be obtained anywhere in the world, but many Nigerian students who study here do so, however, under some form of government scholarships," he said. "It is one-year-and-six months training here and I have barely a month to complete the training and then get a Commercial Pilot Licence (CLP) and a Diploma Certificate in Standard Piloting and my lifelong dream will be fulfilled." First flight experience "Oh, I can't say I was jittery or really scared," Ashiekara recounts. "We had done so many flight simulations with instructors for months ahead of the inaugural flight. Simulator gives you almost the same experience and challenges you will confront in a real flight. And I think I was doing well. And then this day came and I was there in the aircraft. It was my first practical flying experience on an aircraft. I told myself I could do it. And I did it; I took off and returned safely and my instructors were excited." Ashiekara said after a successful first flight, she thereafter haboured no fear of flying. "I use to be scared of flying," she confessed. "And when I took off after taxing I was still scared. But then as I went up the more into the sky I saw nature. I was tearing through the clouds with speed. It was a beautiful sight to behold and a lovely experience for me. And I said, 'wow, I have done it' and I was full of smiles. And I returned and landed safely. After that first experience, fear vanished. And in the last couple of months, I have flown so many times successfully." Was her initial fear in any way associated with the fact that she was a female in an industry that is apparently male-dominated, you asked. Ashiekara's response: "I cannot say whatever fears I had were as a result of the fact that I am a woman. The first time I arrived here, I was told we are all men and that no one is a woman. And so I allowed that to sink into my head. And I said I am a man here." Like Ashiekara's, Baka's first flight experience was not, in any way, different. "I wasn't really scared. I had practised severally on the simulator," he said. "That day when I went inside the cockpit the only prayer I said was, 'let me land safely' because to take off with an aircraft might be easy but landing on an inaugural flight requires a lot of concentration. In fact, landing is the major challenge. When I landed successfully, I told myself, 'I have done it.' And from that day I have enjoyed flying. It is fun for me." Asked if he was scared he might crash-land his inaugural flight, he said: "not really. The courage to defy the law of gravity and that of nature's numerous fluctuating weather conditions up in the sky with an aircraft remains the greatest constant challenge to making a successful career as a pilot. So I was fully prepared and was not really scared I could crash the aircraft. It is not the dream of any pilot to crash; it is not my wish and it won't even happen to me." Baka explained that because the mechanics of an aircraft is science-based, it is therefore important for prospective student pilots to be above average in their knowledge of sciences. "No one says art student cannot be a pilot," he explained. "But an above average knowledge of science subjects like physics and mathematics gives you the edge because the concept behind the manufacture of an aircraft, how it takes off and lands, how the parts work, and all the safety processes involved in ensuring a safe flight for the crew and passengers are all science-related. I wonder how someone who doesn't love sciences can be a good pilot." The challenges Baka and Ashiekara said the major challenge as trainee pilots is gaining the requisite scores in all subjects so as to be awarded the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) and the Diploma in Piloting by NCAT. "Once admission is given and a trainee resumes in school, the main challenge is how to pass your courses because the minimum you can get in any subject to be considered as having passed that subject is 75 per cent," Ashiekara informed. "And that is certainly not an easy task because day and night you must be up and doing, reading and practising," she added. "Flying an aircraft as a trainee pilot may appear challenging, but the Herculean task is however that of passing theoretical exams with scores that are not less than 75 per cent in all subjects," Baka agreed. "We work extra hard on the theory and on the practical. But we get scared more on the theoretical exams because in all subjects you must score at least 75 per cent before you can graduate. For the period of our studies here, there is no time anyone can say is for leisure. In fact, piloting is not a career for lazy people." The challenge of staying fit and healthy at all times to keep the job is also an ever-present one, Baka added: "Piloting leaves you with no room for a careless lifestyle at any time. You must be disciplined, on and off work; you must stay off alcohol, and must maintain a healthy body and mind and this to some people can also be a huge challenge." Ashiekara noted one other challenge: weather which she calls, "the pilots' greatest friend or enemy." "From the moment you switch on the engine on the ground, to when you taxi, take off and then land, it is all about the management of the weather conditions," she said. "Information on weather is therefore very vital to the pilot if he must have a successful or safe flight." The reward Baka said though piloting appears to be risky, it is a career for only those with the passion and courage to fly. "It may not be the best remunerated career, but it is also not the least-paying," he said. "But if you have the passion to fly, it is a career that comes with lots of benefits, like you get to see the world and meet different peoples of the world as a pilot more than any other career option." Ashiekara, said as a woman, piloting brings in more income than any other paid job a woman could venture into. "Once I am done with NCAT, I plan to move to overseas to another flying school and study and be type-rated (a form of higher certification) on the bigger aircraft as a commercial pilot," she said. "I don't know of any other job that pays like this and allows you to enjoy your life, I am speaking as a woman." Aside being a successful pilot flying the bigger Boeing and Airbuses, Ashiekara also nurses the dream of being an ambassador for NCAT. "One day I hope to return to my Alma Mater, Queen of the Rosary Secondary School in Gboko to speak to more young girls and see how I can bring them into this school," she informed. "I want to see more female pilots in Nigeria than we currently have. That's my next dream." http://sunnewsonline.com/new/the-world-of-nigerias-trainee-pilots/ Back to Top Back to Top Stop By and Visit At NBAA DATE Nov. 17 - 19, 2015 LOCATION Booth N812 Las Vegas Convention Center 3150 Paradise Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89109 Back to Top This is how dozens of major airlines got swallowed by the Big 3 In October, US Airways flew its final flight before being completely swallowed up by American Airlines, and leaving only a half-dozen or so major U.S. airlines standing. For those out there that missed out on the luxury of air travel during the swank 60s and swinging 70s, or were too young to really remember the over-the-top aviation days of the 80s, it may come as a surprise to learn that the major carriers used to have dozens and dozens of peers. By the 1960s, dozens of mergers and acquisitions had already taken place, with some major players beginning to take shape. The foundational airlines that would become the American, United and Delta of today really began to consolidate their power bases during this period. Here's a peak at the airlines that the three legacy carriers acquired in the decades since, and a few facts from our flight down memory lane. Plenty of competition: In the 20s, 30s and 40s, there were at least 30 different domestic airlines operating in the U.S. at the same time, and they weren't even the same 30 from one decade to the next. Many of these airlines focused on regional routes or even agricultural transportation, and compared with today's flight maps and routes, you'd certainly have difficulty orchestrating connecting flights via competing airlines across the country, Airlines, Air Lines and Airways: As much as we'd like to believe there was some reason, deeply rooted in history or maybe regional dialect, explaining why some carriers named themselves airlines, air lines or airways, no such secret seems to exist. All three names have been commonplace throughout the past 70 or so years. Notably, Delta Air Lines remains the only major carrier to use that particular descriptor, and American Airlines got its start as American Airways before rebranding in the 1940s. The king is dead. Long live the king: The dominant airline in the industry for much of the history of air travel was Pan Am, which got its start as Pan American Airways. It gobbled up competitors like National Airlines, West Indian Aerial Express and Aviation Corporation of America, before disappearing entirely in the 1990s. Let's play the name game: Some seriously sleek, and altogether silly airline names were lost to the halls of history. In an alternate universe, Empire Airlines, Monarch Air Lines, and Air California may still be going strong. But then again, so might Ozark Airlines, Stout Air Services, and Bonanza Air Lines. Late to the party: While these three legacy carriers successfully played the Game of Airline Thrones over the course of many decades, a few of today's most popular American carriers started off fresh in the not too distant past. JetBlue is a child of the 90's, and Virgin America got its start in just 2007. For an even fuller look at the mergers and acquisitions that whittled down the competition to today's major carriers dating back to the 1920s, check out this monster chart below! http://roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/11/09/this-is-how-dozens-of-major-airlines-got-swallowed-by-the-big- 3/ Back to Top These two guys spent 40 years building a working jetpack that uses real jet engines Amazing-Looking Personal Jetpack Gets Flight Permit For Manned Test Watch this man fly around the Statue of Liberty in a jetpack This guy flew a real jetpack 100 feet in the air When it comes to "the technology of the future" - whether it be flying cars, teleportation, or robot maids - many still wonder when the inventions dreamed up by Hollywood will become a reality. But JetPack Aviation has finally created something that's only been done a couple of times since 1919: build a working jetpack that's powered by actual jet engines. JetPack Aviation claims its JB-9 jetpack is "the world's only true JetPack" due to its reliance on real jet engines. And while that might not be entirely accurate - DARPA built a working jetpack powered by a turbojet engine back in 1965 - there's no doubt the JB-9 certainly looks like a giant step forward in the personal VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) industry. For its public debut on November 3rd, JetPack Aviation's CEO and test pilot David Mayman flew the jetpack across the Hudson River and circled the Statue of Liberty. The Australian entrepreneur has spent the last 10 years helping design prototypes of the personal flying machine with Nelson Tyler, a Hollywood-based inventor and three-time Academy Awards winner, which explains the grand spectacle for its public unveiling. The jetpack seems like something straight out of an episode of "The Jetsons." The JB-9 is an agile, lightweight machine that has the same grace as a helicopter, swaying seamlessly left to right and gaining and dropping altitude with ease, as demonstrated in its promotional videos. JetPack Aviation / YouTube The flying backpack has a 10 gallon tank that runs on kerosene and is propelled by two vectored jet engines, which can keep it in the air for over 10 minutes, depending on the pilot's weight. This jetpack has been an on-going project since the 1970s, and after over 40 years, it seems to have finally gotten the formula for personal flight right. The two say they've "spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours secretly developing the device" to bring the JB-9 jetpack to the public. The invention is approved for flight by the FAA and US Coast Guard, and could technically begin selling models in the "ultralight category" - or packs with a 5-gallon tank that could run for 5 minutes - tomorrow, as Mayman told GizMag in a lengthy interview. But that doesn't mean those with deep pockets will be getting one that soon. "I'd wanna feel like we have an infrastructure to train them," Mayman explained, adding that people have approached the company with checks in hand. "We could technically just send them the unit in a box and say 'good luck' but it's not necessarily going to end well if you're doing 200 km/h, 5 feet off the ground, you know? It could be a monster. But we're working on it." http://www.businessinsider.com/two-guys-build-working-jetpack-using-real-jet-engines-2015-11 Back to Top The Art Of Engineering: The World's Largest Jet Engine Shows Off Composite Curves The GE90 powers many Boeing 777 jets, including this China Airlines plane. Nick Kray is no Picasso, yet his work is on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art. A decade ago, MoMA's design collection picked up a composite fan blade from the GE90 jet engine that Kray helped create. The blade's onyx black sinuous curves are pleasing to look at, but for Kray they are no longer state of the art. "We are now working on the fourth generation of that technology," Kray says. Kray works as a consulting engineer for composite design at GE Aviation. In the 1990s, he was part of a GE high-stakes gambit to make the front fan of its largest jet engine from epoxy and carbon fibers. The blades from the material, called carbon-fiber composite, allowed GE's aerospace engineers to design the GE90, still the world's largest and most powerful jet engine. It's also GE Aviation's most profitable machine. "Our competitors make jet engine fans from titanium and steel and even some of our own people weren't initially so hot about using composites," Kray says. "Nobody had tried this before." The engineering is so difficult that to this day, GE is the only company with composite fan blades in service. They work inside the GE90 and the GEnx engines that power many Dreamliners. The material allowed GE engineers to design blades that result in lighter and more efficient engines, allowing airlines to save fuel by shedding precious pounds. Now Kray and his team are busy building the future. They are working on a fourth generation of the blade for the GE9X, GE's largest engine yet, designed exclusively for Boeing's next-generation wide-body jet, the 777X. GE has already received orders and commitments for 700 GE9x engines valued at $28 billion (list price) from several growing Middle Eastern airlines like Emirates, Qatar and Etihad, as well as Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and All Nippon Airways. Emirates, Qatar and Etihad, which are present at this year's Dubai Air Show have ordered 150, 60, and 25 GE9X powered 777X aircraft, respectively. On Monday, Emirates also signed a $16 billion deal with GE Aviation to service its GE9X engines for a dozen years after they enter service. A drawing of GE9X engine. Where the GE90 has 22 fan blades, the GE9X will have just 16 blades made from 4th-generation carbon fiber composite. The blades will feature several new components, Kray says. They will use stiffer carbon fibers so GE can make them longer and thinner. Their trailing edge will be made from a special structural glass fiber composite that can better absorb impact energy. "Carbon fiber is very stiff and not that flexible so that when a bird or something else hits the blade, it creates a shockwave deep inside it," Kray says. "But the glass composite can deform better and deflect stress on the blade." GE will also replace the titanium leading edge that is currently used on GE90 and GEnx blades with steel. "It's a strong material that allows us to keep the new blade thin in shape to maximize performance," he says. "If you are an aero guy, thinner is always better. We want the best performance that's humanly possible." Where the GE90 has 22 blades and the GEnx holds 18, the GE9X will have only 16, even though it is the largest of the three. Besides making the engine lighter, the fewer and thinner blades will also spin faster. "This is great for overall engine performance by matching the entire low pressure fan and turbine system to peak performance," Kray says. "It's something the engineers have been asking for." The blades still retain their beautiful, sinuous curves, forward sweep, a hook at the top and the belly in the center. Says Kray: It's an amazing technology." When GE designed the GE90 carbon-fiber composite fan blade, it was not starting from scratch. In the 1980s, the company developed the experimental GE36 open rotor engine. It had used carbon fiber composite blades in an unusual hybrid design that combined features from turbofan and turboprop engines. Although the engine demonstrated fuel savings of more than 30 percent compared with similarly sized conventional jet engines, it did not catch on. GE is testing the new design for the GE9X blades on a scaled-down testing rig at Boeing. Back in the lab, challenges abounded. Typical titanium blades absorb energy and bulge when they hit obstacles such as a bird. But ordinary composites can delaminate and break. "We didn't know how this new material would respond to stress," Kray says. The team ran hundreds of intensive tests simulating bird strikes, rain, snow and hail storms at GE's jet engine boot camp in Peebles and the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, both in Ohio. "We'd test almost daily and make changes based on what we learned," Kray says. "The results gave us enormous confidence in the material when we saw how durable it was." By 1993, the team had the right material and blade design, but they were far from done. They still had to produce it. GE Aviation teamed up with its European jet engine partner Snecma. The French aerospace company was experienced in making high-tech composites. They formed a joint-venture called CFAN and built a new composites factory in San Marcos, Texas. Even with the help, making the blade was a hard climb. "The manufacturing of composites remains a manual process," Kray says. "The material goes through chemical changes and tends to move around. We had to learn how to get it right." The workers inspected every single blade with X-rays, ultrasound, laser and other tools for defects. Initially, only 30 percent of them passed. (The current yield is about 97 percent.) The Texas workers weren't learning about composites alone. GE also had to explain the material to regulators, and even to Boeing, who wanted to use it on its 777 long-range jet. The first one was scheduled to leave its plant in 1995. "On top of everything, we were racing against time," Kray says. "It was a very steep learning curve." Ultimately, the wager paid off. Even though the GE90 engine had fan diameter of 128 inches, larger than its predecessors, the composites shaved 400 pounds off the machine. The GE9X's fan will be 134 inches in diameter. This GE90 got the rocks flying near GE Aviation's flight test center in Victorville, Calif. The Federal Aviation Administration certified the engine and the composite blades in February 1995. "The engines essentially opened the globe up to incredibly efficient, twin-powered, wide-body planes," says David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation. The engine wasn't shy about showing its power and grace. In December 2002, the GE90-115B version of the engine achieved a Guinness World Record as the most powerful jet engine ever built, generating thrust in excess of 127,000 pounds - more than early space rocket engines. In 2005, a GE90-powered Boeing 777 set another world record, this time for distance traveled non-stop by a commercial jetliner. The plane covered 11,664 nautical miles between Hong Kong and London in 22 hours and 42 minutes. In 2007, the Museum of Modern Art in New York included the curved composite blade in its design collection. Even after 20 years, GE is still the only jet engine maker with engines using composite blades in service. Kray and other engineers are currently working on a fourth-generation blade for the GE9X engine for the 777's successor, Boeing 777X. That plane will be the largest and most efficient twin-engine jet in the world. "Next-generation composites will go even further," Kray says. "We are never going back to metal." http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2015/11/the-art-of-engineering-the-worlds-largest-jet-engine- shows-off-composite-curves Back to Top UAE says signs MOU for 6 AgustaWestland AW609 tilt-rotor aircraft DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA, to buy six AW609 tilt-rotor aircraft for search and rescue operations. Major General Abdullah al-Hashimi, the ministry's executive director of strategic analysis, told reporters at the Dubai Airshow that the aircraft would improve the capabilities of the entire UAE armed forces. The AgustaWestland AW609, formerly the Bell/Agusta BA609, is a twin-engined tilt-rotor aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter, but flies like a plane. AgustaWestland said in a statement that three of the aircraft would be delivered starting in 2019, with UAE's Joint Aviation Command also taking options for three more aircraft. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/10/dubai-airshow-emirates-finmeccanica- idUSL1N1350EK20151110 Back to Top Middle East needs aircraft worth $590 billion Al Fursan aerobatic team performs at the Dubai Airshow Middle East traffic will grow 30 per cent faster than world average traffic growth in the next two-decades that will require around 2,460 new passenger and freighter aircraft worth $590 billion, according to latest estimates by Airbus. Aviation growth in the Middle East has been so impressive; few regions of the world can match it, top officials of Airbus said at a news conference on the second day of Dubai Airshow 2015. In the last decade, travel to from and within the region has quadrupled earning the region the title of today's aviation crossroads as over 90 per cent of the world's population can connect via the Middle East. Latest estimates say aviation supports two million jobs and $116 billion in GDP in the region. In the next 20 years (2015-2034), traffic in the Middle East will grow at six per cent well above the world average of 4.6 per cent. This will drive a need for nearly 2,460 new passenger and freighter aircraft valued at $590 billion. Of these nearly 1,890 will be for growth and 570 for replacements. By 2034, the fleet of passenger and freighter aircraft in the Middle East region will almost treble from nearly 1,100 in 2015, to over 2,950 by 2034. "The impressive rise of the Middle East as the world's aviation crossroads is in large part due to wide-body aircraft," said John Leahy, chief operating officer for Customers at Airbus. Long haul is at the heart of international traffic growth, this is possible through the use of wide-body aircraft like the A380, A330, and increasingly in the future the A350 and the A330neo. In the next 20 years, the region will require some 1,570 wide-body aircraft to meet demand. Domestic and inter-regional growth is becoming increasingly significant also growing at nearly six per cent. Fuelled by urbanisation, an increase in the number of mega-cities from four to nine, and a doubling in the propensity to travel for business and tourism (leisure and cultural), by 2034, the Middle East will need an additional 890 single aisle aircraft driven by these trends. Emerging economies are now the real engines of worldwide traffic growth. Economic growth rates in neighbouring economies such as China, India, and Africa will average 5.8 per cent per year, doubling the number of middle classes to four billion people. By 2034, the 6.3 billion people in these economies will account for 40 per cent of private worldwide consumption compared to 31 per cent today, a trend that is good for their economies and for growth in air travel. "Regional and domestic routes are also growing with our single aisle products. Emerging economies with growing aspirational middle classes will continue to be a strong catalyst for air traffic growth," Leahy said. In the next 20 years (2015-2034), according to Airbus' Global Market Forecast, global passenger traffic will grow at an average 4.6 per cent a year, driving a need for some 32,600 new aircraft (31,800 passenger sized 100 seats and above and 800 freighters) worth $4.7 trillion. By 2034, passenger and freighter fleets will more than double from today's 19,000 aircraft to 38,500. Some 13,100 less fuel efficient passenger and freighter aircraft will be retired. Average aircraft size has grown by 40 per cent since the 1980s with airlines up-sizing to make more efficiently use of slots particularly at airports where adding frequency is difficult. A focus on sustainable growth has enabled fuel burn and noise reductions of at least 70 per cent in the last 40 years and this trend continues with innovations like the A320neo, the A330neo, the A380 and the A350 XWB. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/dubai-airshow-2015/me-needs-aircraft-worth-590b Back to Top Back to Top March 8-9, 2016 | NTSB Training Center | Ashburn, VA Register now for the 2016 Air Charter Safety Foundation Safety Symposium at the NTSB Training Center in Dulles, VA. The event takes place March 8-9, 2016. Don't miss out! The event will explore Safety as A Smart Investment for a Rich Future: * Maximizing Safety Bang for the Buck--Lessons Learned from NASA Charlie Justiz, Ph.D., Managing Director, JFA Inc. * Standardization--Why Bother? Dann Runik, Executive Director, Advanced Training Programs, FlightSafety International * System Safety Curt Lewis, President, Curt Lewis & Associates * Reducing Risk Chairman Chris Hart, NTSB Board Member * Safety Metrics Troy Smith, Special Agent, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation * And Much More Call Bryan Burns at (202) 774-1515. Onsite registration is available. Registration Includes Admittance to the ACSF Symposium both days, all scheduled group meals, breaks, and social functions, and transportation to and from hotel to symposium events. Member Fee: $625 Nonmember Fee: $795 Online registration requires immediate payment by credit card. Substitutions are permitted at any time. Visit www.acsf.aero/symposium for more information and to register online today! The ACSF Symposium is the annual gathering of the air charter industry where current and emerging safety challenges are investigated. Sponsors Executive Fliteways Gama Aviation Gulfstream Jet Aviation Jet Professionals NATACS NBAA Sheltair Signature Flight Support Wheels Up Sustaining Members CAE Flexjet Flight Options Gulfstream Landmark Aviation NATA Sentient Jet Skyjet Textron Aviation Sponsorship Opportunities A variety of sponsorship levels are available. Contact Bryan Burns at bburns@acsf.aero or call 888-723-3135. Hotel Information Courtyard Dulles Town Center 45500 Majestic Drive Dulles, VA 20166 The ACSF has secured a block of rooms at the discounted rate of $139++ for single/double occupancy at the Courtyard Dulles Town Center. Please use the link above to make your reservations. Rate good through February 8, 2016. To opt out of receiving emails from this list, please reply to this email with the subject "unsubscribe". Back to Top Upcoming Events: 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 New HFACS workshop Las Vegas December 15 & 16 www.hfacs.com 2016 DTI SMS/QA Symposium January 3, 4, & 5 2016 Disney World, FL 1-866-870-5490 www.dtiatlanta.com 2016 Air Charter Safety Symposium | Safety: A Small Investment for a Rich Future March 8-9, 2016 | NTSB Training Center | Ashburn, VA http://www.acsf.aero/events/acsf-symposium/ CHC Safety & Quality Summit Press Releases and Save the Date April 4-6, 2016 Vancouver, BC www.chcsafetyqualitysummit.com BARS Auditor Training Washington DC? Tuesday-Thursday 5-7 April http://flightsafety.org/bars/auditor-training Back to Top JOBS AVAILABLE: Flight Data Analyst Air New Zealand https://careers.airnz.co.nz/jobdetails/ajid/Q3W3g/Flight-Data-Analyst,111690 Curt Lewis