Flight Safety Information December 3, 2015 - No. 242 In This Issue Indonesia to Inspect Airbus A320 Planes Following AirAsia Crash Investigation Army: 2 Pilots Killed in Helicopter Crash in Rural Tennessee Search for Malaysian jet refocuses in southern Indian Ocean Air Force hiring contractor pilots, sensor operators and maintainers for Reapers BUFFALO AIRWAYS GROUNDED BY TRANSPORT CANADA OVER SAFETY Asia Pacific Carriers Speak Out Against Safety Blacklists Singapore keeping close watch on Indonesian carriers flying here Aviation Safety: All Eyes on NCAA (Nigeria) PROS 2015 TRAINING Japan Set to Test Stealth Jet as Abe Boosts Defense Focus. The economics of aviation capacity...Do hub airports boost growth? Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) Indonesia to Inspect Airbus A320 Planes Following AirAsia Crash Investigation * Pilots to undergo more frequent training following crash that killed 162 people last year Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee Chief Investigator Marjono Siswosuwarno holds up a model plane as he explains the movement of AirAsia Flight 8501 before it crashed into the Java Sea on Dec. 28, 2014, during a news conference in Jakarta, Indonesia on Dec. 1, 2015. JAKARTA, Indonesia-Indonesia will inspect all 75 Airbus A320 jets flown by domestic airlines, following a report this week that cited component failure as one factor in the crash of an AirAsia jet last year that killed 162 people. Indonesia's Directorate General for Civil Aviation said Thursday that it would check for any rudder system issues on A320s flown by domestic airlines, including the budget carriers AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia X, Citilink and Batik Air. Earlier this week, investigators of the crash of Flight 8501, an A320 that plunged into the Java Sea on Dec. 28 while en route to Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya, pointed to a faulty solder joint that interrupted an electrical connection, resulting in repeated alerts concerning the jet's rudder system. Investigators said evidence indicated that pilots responded to one of the alerts by resetting circuit breakers that turned off autopilot and other protective flight systems. Soon after, the plane stalled and crashed. Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo said the inspections of the A320 fleets began today. He said Indonesian regulators would also address other issues highlighted in the crash report, including evaluating procedures related to repetitive errors. The AirAsia jet had experienced rudder system alerts 23 times in the year before the crash, with increasing frequency, according to maintenance records, but the issue wasn't identified as a repetitive error. Mr. Suprasetyo also said pilots would be required to undergo more frequent flight-skills training, taking part in training sessions for some skills every six months instead of 12. He said training sessions would focus also on flying manually, and on using standard "callouts," or cockpit instructions. The crash report had flagged a nonstandard callout from the captain of Flight 8501 as confusing during the flight's final minutes, leading the two pilots to perform contradictory actions. http://www.wsj.com/articles/indonesia-to-inspect-airbus-a320-planes-following-airasia-crash- investigation-1449129570 Back to Top Army: 2 Pilots Killed in Helicopter Crash in Rural Tennessee Two Army pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed near Fort Campbell in rural Tennessee, the military said. The two crewmembers were flying a two-seat AH-64D Apache during a routine training mission when the helicopter went down around 7 p.m. Wednesday, a news release from the Army's 101st Airborne Division said. The helicopter was found in a river bottom and was on fire when first responders arrived, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency Director Jerry Buchanan told Nashville newspaper The Tennessean. The Army says the scene was secured by military police from Fort Campbell and Montgomery County law enforcement. The cause of the crash has not been determined, the Army news release said. The crash was being investigated by the Army Combat Readiness Center. The names of the pilots were not immediately released, pending notification of next of kin. Fort Campbell is located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, about 60 miles northwest of Nashville. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/army-pilots-killed-helicopter-crash-rural-tennessee-35548328 ************** Date: 02-DEC-2015 Time: 19:00 Type: Boeing AH-64 Apache Owner/operator: 101st Combat Aviation Brigade Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Fredonia community, Montgomery County, Tennessee - United States of America Phase: En route Nature: Training Departure airport: Fort Campbell, Kentucky Destination airport: Fort Campbell, Kentucky Narrative: A Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade "Screaming Eagles" based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky was on a routine training mission when it went down about 12 miles south of Fort Campbell. The helicopter caught fire after it crashed. A four-wheel drive mini-pumper from the St. Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department doused the fire. http://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=181931 Back to Top Search for Malaysian jet refocuses in southern Indian Ocean The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion is seen on low level cloud while the aircraft searches for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, near the coast of Western Australia, March 31, 2014. (AP/Rob Griffith) The deep sea hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner has been refocused on the southern reaches of an expansive search zone based on new analysis released on Thursday of the Boeing 777's final hours and how it might have plunged into the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard after running out of fuel. Searchers have been combing a 120,000-square-kilometer expanse of the Indian Ocean since October last year but have yet to turn up any trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A wing flap found in July on the other side of the Indian Ocean when it washed up on remote Reunion Island is the only debris recovered. The new analysis by a Defense Department agency confirmed "the highest probability" the final resting place for the plane was within the southern end of the search zone. Two ships towing side-scan sonar have continued the search during the harsh southern hemisphere winter months. A third ship will join the search in the new priority area on Saturday, said Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan, who runs the search on behalf of Malaysia. The latest ship is equipped with a video camera inside an underwater unmanned submarine that can examine rough terrain and objects of interest detected by sonar that require a closer look. A Chinese ship will join the search in late January equipped with Synthetic Aperture Sonar, state of the art technology that provides higher resolution images than the standard sonar now being used, Dolan said. Some experts have been critical that the sonar was not used throughout the search and have questioned whether wreckage might have already been overlooked. Dolan said about 4 percent of the area already searched would have to be searched again because of gaps in the sonar mapping and because some objects that had been detected could not yet be ruled out. About 54,000 square kilometers of the 98,000 square kilometers of the highest-priority search zone have already been searched, the bureau's search director Peter Foley said. That area is 2,800 southwest of the Australian port of Fremantle. Foley said the Synthetic Aperture Sonar and the camera would be used to examine a trench that runs north-south through the high priority zone, the Geelvinck Fracture Zone. "It's very, very difficult terrain. Very steep drop offs. It's pretty bad," Foley said. "A lot of the area is hard and rocky and that's the hardest place to search." The latest analysis by a team of mathematicians and a satellite expert will likely be the last of the scant satellite clues that have been used to track the airliner's final hours after it disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. One of the engines sent an hourly signal to a satellite and a final signal when it apparently ran out of fuel. Team leader Neil Gordon said dozens of flights around the world were tracked to fine tune the analysis of these engine signals and to test the accuracy of their methodology. The methodology was also extensively tested against the actual routes flown by the doomed aircraft on four previous flights and by two different Boeing 777s. The routes calculated by the methodology proved close to the actual routes. Flight 370 apparently ran out of fuel after flying for 7 hours and 38 minutes, with the left engine running for up to 15 minutes after the right engine failed. Bureau accident investigator Alex Talberg said from that point, the airliner could have glided no further than 185 kilometers in the prevailing headwind of the time from an altitude of 10,000 meters. The search area was widened because of calculations by Boeing, flight simulations and evidence from previous accidents showed that the plane could have banked in a variety of ways and flown further off the automatic pilot course than had previously been thought, Talberg said. Analysis found it most likely turned to the east after running out of fuel. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the new analysis gave authorities "real encouragement" they were on the right track "We remain hopeful, indeed optimistic, that we will still locate the aircraft." Truss said. As well as the ship, China will contribute 20 million Australian dollars (US$14.6 million) to the search effort, marking its first financial contribution. In total, the search is expected to cost AU$180 million, with Australia contributing AU$60 million and Malaysia contributing AU$100 million, Truss said. Authorities are baffled by how and why Flight 370 disappeared. Among those who died were 153 Chinese nationals. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/03/search-malaysian-jet-refocuses-southern-indian- ocean.html#sthash.eY5yWs9B.dpuf Back to Top Air Force hiring contractor pilots, sensor operators and maintainers for Reapers Faced with an ongoing shortage of remotely piloted aircraft operators and the need to train more RPA pilots, the Air Force is hiring civilian contractor pilots, sensor operators and maintainers for MQ-9 Reapers, officials said. The contractors are only involved with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, said Maj. Genieve David, a spokeswoman for Air Combat Command. "Those intelligence collection missions do not involve an airstrike," David said in an email Tuesday to Air Force Times. "Therefore, these missions will not involve engaging targets or lasing targets." David stressed that Air Combat Command already uses contractors in support of RPA operations, so the latest move "represents an expansion, rather than a fundamental change" in contractor support. The planning and execution of the contractor missions will fall under the same oversight as missions flown by military aircrews, she said. "The resulting sensor information will be collected, analyzed, transmitted and stored as appropriate by the same military intelligence units," David said. "This information only addresses RPA lines flown by the U.S. Air Force - specifically ACC. We can't speak for other organizations that conduct RPA operations." In May, the Air Force announced it was reducing the number of combat air patrols that RPA pilots fly from 65 to 60 per day because the RPA community had been operating at a "pace [that] cannot be sustained without accepting risk," Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Karns said at the time. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James also indicated that the service would hire contractors to augment RPA operators in a May 19 news release. "Contractors can help support the insatiable demand for ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capability," Karns said in an email Wednesday to Air Force Times. "While contractors are restricted to ISR only, their services allow for an increased capability to understand adversary patterns of life and a complex global environment. Contractors are not shooters; however, they can help meet constant combatant commander ISR demands without adding additional responsibilities to a stressed force." Several contractors are working as instructor pilots at the Launch and Recovery School at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada; and the Formal Training Unit at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, Karns said. Contractors also serve in operations support roles within squadrons, such as schedulers and evaluators. Now the Air Force plans to hire civilian contractors to fly and maintain government-owned RPAs for 10 combat air patrols per day in addition to the 60 flown by the Air Force, said service spokeswoman Ann Stefanek. In June, the Air Force awarded two contracts for a total of $28.3 million for the first two combat patrols, said Stefanek, who declined to identify the companies that won the contracts due to security concerns. The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the story on Nov. 27, identified the companies as General Atomics and Aviation Unmanned, but Stefanek could not confirm that information. With multiple war zones and hot spots around the world, the Defense Department's demand for aerial reconnaissance has been insatiable, so RPA operators often fly six or seven days a week. That means they don't have time for professional military education and are often promoted less often than fighter, bomber and mobility pilots. AIR FORCE TIMES RPA operators to ACC: Fix this career field In October, Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, heard several recommendations from RPA operators about fixing the challenges they deal with, including adding more bases for RPA operators and putting a general officer in charge of the career field. Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told RPA operators earlier this year that he understands they will leave the Air Force if the service cannot make life better for them. "This workforce is tired and we've got the first group of people who are RPA-only pilots now coming up to the end of their initial commitment this year," Welsh said during a March 24 visit to Creech Air Force Base. "It's a small group. It's another small group next year. The year after that, it's a big group." But by turning to contractors to fly Reapers, the Air Force might inadvertently be providing an incentive to RPA operators to get out of the service because they can earn up to twice as much money as civilian contractors. "In a lot of ways, it's like: 'Wait, where's my incentive to stay?'" one RPA pilot, who declined to be identified, told Air Force Times in April. "The Air Force in a lot of ways has signaled that they really don't care about the community and the viability of it into the long-term future. They've made a lot of their decisions looking at the three to five years out, but they're failing to see if this community stays around for 20 years." http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2015/12/01/air-force-hiring-contractor-pilots-sensor- operators-and-maintainers-reapers/76624190/ Back to Top BUFFALO AIRWAYS GROUNDED BY TRANSPORT CANADA OVER SAFETY Buffalo DC-3 after August 2013 crash landing All Buffalo Airways commercial air services have been suspended indefinitely by Transport Canada. In a statement on Tuesday, Transport Canada said it had taken "serious action in the interest of public safety because of Buffalo Airways' poor safety record". The federal department did not list specific infractions. In a news release, the airline said it was working to "resolve discrepancies" with federal authorities but did not elaborate on the nature of those issues. Buffalo said it had been taking "great strides" to improve its operational safety in recent weeks. The airline's suspension came into effect at the end of Monday, November 30, according to Transport Canada's statement, and no flights are believed to have operated on Tuesday. In full: Transport Canada statement regarding Buffalo Airways Transport Canada added it "will not allow Buffalo Airways to resume its commercial air service until it proves it can keep its operations consistently compliant with aviation safety regulations. "Transport Canada takes its aviation safety oversight role very seriously and expects every air operator to fully comply with aviation safety regulations. "When air operators, like Buffalo Airways, fail to comply with aviation regulations, the department takes appropriate action in the interest of public safety." The airline, which starred for six seasons in the hit reality TV show Ice Pilots NWT, is renowned for its fleet of ageing aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3 - a type which first flew in the 1930s. On the day of Ice Pilots NWT's final broadcast, in December 2014, a DC-3 experienced engine trouble shortly after departure from Hay River. It turned back and landed without any reported injuries. In September 2015, a Buffalo-operated Curtiss C-46 Commando dating to the 1940s was involved in a crash-landing in Deline. Nobody was hurt. An incident in August 2013, where another Buffalo DC-3 suffered an engine fire on take-off from Yellowknife, drew criticism from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). Though the flight's 21 passengers and three crew escaped unharmed, the TSB's report listed a series of failings in the airline's management and safety practices. "The organizational culture at Buffalo Airways was not supportive of a system that required the organization to take a proactive role in identifying hazards and reducing risks," said the report. Transport Canada has not yet publicly outlined the steps Buffalo must take for its suspension to be lifted. However, the department says it has been working with the airline and will continue to do so. http://www.myyellowknifenow.com/10139/buffalo-airways-grounded-by-transport-canada-over-safety/ Back to Top Asia Pacific Carriers Speak Out Against Safety Blacklists Some Asian airlines have had their operations inhibited by restrictions imposed by U.S. and European authorities over concerns about alleged poor safety oversight by their national aviation authorities. [Photo: Neelam Mathews} As Asia Pacific airlines experience strong passenger growth, the region continues to face a host of diverse challenges, not least of which involves effective safety oversight. At the recent Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) annual 59th Assembly of Presidents in Bali, delegates also called on governments to boost infrastructure investment, simplify passenger facilitation and moderate consumer rights legislation. But perhaps the foremost concern centered on what AAPA director general Andrew Herdman characterized as a heavy handed regulatory approach by world aviation bodies toward airlines whose countries' aviation authorities do not meet international standards. Authorities have restricted or even banned Asian carriers from Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines from operating to European Union and U.S. destinations due to a lack of effective regulatory oversight in their home countries. "AAPA remains opposed to the unilateral imposition of extra-territorial measures and operating restrictions," said Herdman. He added while the systems of some national civil aviation regulatory bodies need strengthening, "airlines should not be held responsible for their [authorities'] shortcomings, [as] the possibility of operations to various destinations being restricted or even banned could have a major detrimental impact on certain carriers from the region." Herdman called for "a more light-handed approach to the industry, rather than taking actions that involve more regulatory hurdles, additional legislation and unfair taxation." The Indonesian government, which imposed restrictions on airlines for failing to meet international standards, now plans significant investments in safety across all areas of transportation. "Next year the government will allocate around $1 billion for safety improvements, including sea, rail and air transport," said Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan. The figure represents the highest amount ever spent in a single year in Indonesia. Contradictions remain, however. "The challenge for Asia Pacific is how to counterbalance its development in market terms even as the U.S. and Europe still set the pace with intensity of regulation," said Herdman. "We are strong supporters of an ICAO that sets ambitious standards, but the problem is the degree of compliance by states on standards leaves a lot to be desired." Another hot topic centers on airspace risk assessment associated with flights over conflict zones, as the AAPA seeks further streamlining of the processes by which governments share intelligence and information related to flight safety. "Safety requires close cooperation between regulators, airlines and other involved stakeholders, with the sharing of data and best practices," said Herdman. Airline margins, meanwhile, remain sluggish. Fierce competition has led to reduced yields for all carriers in a region that contains many of the busiest air routes in the world. "Bleak results in a good year of traffic growth show how competitive the market is," said Herdman. "Slow growth of freighters is still looming over the sector as belly capacity grows at 6 percent." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2015-12-01/asia-pacific-carriers-speak-out- against-safety-blacklists Back to Top Singapore keeping close watch on Indonesian carriers flying here The Changi Airport control tower. Singapore's civil aviation authority has been monitoring Indonesian carriers that fly here closely since 2007. Singapore's civil aviation authority has been monitoring Indonesian carriers that fly here closely since 2007. This is after several countries highlighted safety concerns with these airlines, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said. Aviation experts noted that air safety regulators in the United States and Europe have in the past highlighted safety concerns and in some cases, banned Indonesian carriers from entering their airspace. The CAAS was responding to queries from The Straits Times on whether checks on Indonesian carriers have been stepped up after investigations into an Indonesia AirAsia crash on Dec 28 last year highlighted aircraft maintenance and pilot training concerns. The spokesman for CAAS stressed that the safety of air transport and travellers is paramount and, with this in mind, the authority conducts periodic ramp inspections on foreign carriers' aircraft when they are in Singapore. How often these checks are done depends on the authority's risk assessment of the carrier. In the case of Indonesian carriers, CAAS has been conducting more frequent ramp inspections over the last few years, she said. As part of an overall tightening of foreign aircraft surveillance, all airlines flying here must now have an operating permit issued by the CAAS. Before the new rule kicked in last year, foreign carriers could fly here as long as they were licensed by their respective civil aviation authorities. To date, the CAAS has issued permits to 90 foreign carriers that operate scheduled flights and 126 operators of non-scheduled services. The AirAsia group - comprising the main carrier in Malaysia, as well as affiliates in Thailand and Indonesia - is a key player in Singapore's air travel sector, with about 40 flights a day to Changi Airport. Despite the concerns raised by Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee in a 206-page accident report made public on Tuesday, there seems no significant impact on AirAsia's operations in Singapore. Flights in and out of Changi Airport operated normally yesterday with the usual two or three delays. Despite Indonesia's less than glowing air safety record, experts said the country is on the right track and seems committed to cleaning up the sector. The European Commission's newly appointed director-general for mobility and transport, Mr Henrik Hololei, told The Straits Times during a recent visit to Singapore: "I met the Indonesian minister for transport a couple of days ago and his message was very clear... Safety for him is the first priority and I was very much convinced of what he said." http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-keeping-close-watch-on-indonesian-carriers-flying-here Back to Top Aviation Safety: All Eyes on NCAA (Nigeria) Aviation industry pundits argue that the scrapping of a stand-alone Ministry of Aviation underscores the need for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to take its rightful position as the key aviation department, writes Olaseni Durojaiye The decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to scrap a stand-alone Ministry of Aviation and return it to the Ministry of Transportation from where it was initially carved out have thrust the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in the klieg lights THISDAY findings have revealed, even as stakeholders in the sector welcomed the decision, insisting that it was what many in the sector have long clamoured for. The NCAA, the only civil aviation authority in the country recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), in response to THISDAY enquiries insisted its lost its independence as an independent regulator to the Ministry of Aviation since 2006. They are of the opinion that the loss of independence has led to a number of airlines and airport safety and security related challenges in the sector. No More Excuse Due to meddlesomeness in the work of the agency on the part of the ministry under different ministers, the agency has been handicapped in performing its oversight functions including enforcing some of the reports of investigations into air mishaps in the country. But with the scrapping of the ministry of aviation, the agency can no longer give excuse of being held back in its quest from thorough professionalism, as industry pundits now expect the agency to generate revenue for the government especially with the slump in the country's earnings from oil. Besides, industry sources maintained that NCAA has not been able to generate as much revenue as it would have been able to do due to pressures from the ministry to grant debt concessions to errant operators as well as granting undeserving operators huge intervention grants. In an interview with THISDAY, aviation sector insider, John Ojikutu, stated that "our prayer for the scrapping of Ministry of Aviation has now been heard. The ball is now in the court of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the agency must rise up to the demands of its oversight functions and can no longer hide under the cloak of any ministry. There are lots of work to be done on airport and airlines security and safety. NCAA must ensure that all safety recommendations by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) that has been neglected for many years are enforced and do away with debt concessions for operator that violate or breach regulations," he stated. Another aviation sector insider, Olumide Ohunayo, also welcomed the scrapping of the Aviation ministry and described the ministry as an albatross on the sector. According to him the change in the sector must start with the ministry and all aviation related Senior Special Assistant positions. "The change in the industry must start with the scrapping of the Ministry of Aviation and all aviation related Senior Special Assistant positions. The Ministry and the SSAs to president have increased the cost of service delivery, bureaucracy, processing time, and are irritating interlopers. They have over burdened the agencies with personnel and bills to the detriment of efficiency, safety and profitability." "Agencies are forced to pay for their chartered flights and tickets of family members. The norm in other climes is that non aeronautical services and general aviation revenue are used to oil the wheels of operations and improve profitability. It is on thi basis that the incoming government should devise new strategies that will effectively capture and increase revenue from these sources by increasing the deployment of IT facilities and removing all waivers and subsidies granted to non schedule operators/ private operators who have deliberately latched on the umbilical cord of scheduled operators. These waivers and subsidies are robbing Peter to pay Paul," Ohunayo argued in his response to THISDAY enquiries. Yet another industry source who pleaded not to be quoted told THISDAY that "NCAA is grossly lagging in the area of enforcing air safety. Can you imagine that a single operator recorded six accidents previously between August 2007 and February 2013: 5N-BIQ, August 2007; 5n-bkj, November 2009; 5N-BGS and 5N-BDD collision in December 2009; 5N-BFU, April 2011; 5N-BMM, July2011; and 5N-BOA, February 2013. How do you explain that to the public even if safety recommendations were made on each accident report. One would have expected a professional NCAA to conduct a special survey instead of audit on the operator," the source wondered. Aviation fuel issue Speaking further, Ojikutu noted that the policy around aviation fuel also needs to be looked into with a view to setting clear cut standard as some of the air accidents that have been recorded in the industry have been traced to substandard aviation fuel and charged NCAA to be up and doing in that regard. According to him, the solutions to the issue of bad fuel in the industry goes beyond registering fuel marketers adding that the part of the solution to the issue was contained in the AIB report following three different aircraft crashes in the country. "The issue of bad fuel is not just about registering fuel marketers; it is more about what NCAA has as the quality or standard JET A1. When standards are established, a fuel inspection unit can be set up to enforce the standard and enforce compliance for the marketers. A requirement for fuel inspection unit had been in the AIB safety recommendations following the crashes of Police aircraft 5N-POL in 2012; EAS aircraft ESF in April 2002 and Network Aviation Services 5N-ATE in June 2001. That is why there has been repeated cases of fuel contamination as causes of subsequent air accidents not excluding the Dana air crash of 2012," he stated. Technical Safety Speaking in same vein, Ohunayo stressed that, "The NCAA should focus on technical and safety oversight, their core competence. Incidentally, the idea of an independent regulatory body tallies with the new Civil Aviation Policy, that is the IATA position on effective governance and the World Bank Report presented to stakeholders last year. If the unit is not politicised or made an appendage of any ministry, it will be the most important legacy of the incoming administration," he stated. Meanwhile, THISDAY checks also revealed that while the civil aviation economic regulations empowers NCAA to quarterly scrutinise the balance sheets of airline operators, the agency shied away from doing so allegedly due to fear of reprimand from the ministry leading to many private airline operators owing the agency for months on end. Interestingly, the retiring Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Mrs. Binta Bello, also highlighted indebtedness as part of the problems bedeviling the sector. She stated so during a ceremony to mark her handover to the new Permanent Secretary Sabiu Zakari and the Minister of State Transportation,Hadi Sirika in Abuja on Tuesday. According to media reports, Bello disclosed that the ministry of aviation was carrying a debt of N100 billion in its books, many of it due to third party indebtedness which also drew concern from Ohunayo when he observed that: "The norm in other climes is that non-aeronautical services and general aviation revenue are used to oil the wheels of operations and improve profitability. It is on this basis that an independent NCAA is expected to devise new strategies that will effectively capture and increase revenue from these sources by increasing the deployment of IT facilities and removing all waivers and subsidies granted to non-schedule operators and or private operators who have deliberately latched on the umbilical cord of scheduled operators." http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/aviation-safety-all-eyes-on-ncaa/226609/ Back to Top Back to Top Japan Set to Test Stealth Jet as Abe Boosts Defense Focus Why Japan Wants Its Own Stealth Jet Japan is closing in on becoming the fourth nation to test fly its own stealth jet, a move that could further antagonize neighboring Asian countries who've opposed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to strengthen the role of its armed forces. The aircraft is scheduled to make its maiden flight in the first quarter of 2016, Hirofumi Doi, a program manager at the Ministry of Defense, said in an interview in Tokyo. The plane, called Advanced Technology Demonstrator X, will then be handed over to the nation's self-defense forces, which will start conducting their own tests, he said. The plane made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will strengthen Abe's military ambitions after he succeeded in pushing through U.S.-endorsed legislation to allow Japanese troops to fight in overseas conflicts, despite concerns abroad and at home. Japanese militarism is a particularly sensitive topic for China and South Korea because of the aggression they endured before and during World War II. "The security environment around Japan is becoming increasingly complex and Japan needs to maintain air capabilities commensurate to those of other air forces in the region," said Rukmani Gupta, an analyst in New Delhi at IHS Jane's. "Should the ATD-X test be deemed successful, it is very likely that Japan will pursue production of a next-generation fighter." Missile Space The 14-meter-long (46-foot-long) jet, equipped with engines from IHI Corp., will cost 40 billion yen ($324 million) to develop, Doi said. The ATD-X could become the basis for a new fighter jet to replace the nation's F-2, said Takahiro Yoshida, a director in the ministry. If Japan decides to make a fighter jet version, its engines would be about three times the strength of the stealth jet's, and the plane would have enough space to store missiles, Doi said. It's not a given that Japan will go ahead with the project. "These experimental fighters are an exercise in the realm of the possible," said Lance Gatling, head of aerospace consultancy Nexial Research. "In terms of international relations, it's a bargaining chip. They can say: 'We did a credible job on this, we may just build our own if you don't give us a better deal or you don't give us a portion of the production in Japan.'" Fifth Generation IHI is supporting flight tests of the latest jet, said Yuki Takahashi, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman. Hideo Ikuno, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy in Tokyo, declined to comment on the jet's development. The U.S., Russia and China have all built and flown stealth planes, known as fifth-generation jets, which are harder to detect by radar. Other countries such as India and Turkey also are developing stealth jets, according to Gupta at IHS Jane's. South Korea and Indonesia are also investing in the joint development of a next-generation fighter aircraft, he said. Japan will have a stealth fighter jet capability in coming years even without replacing its F-2s. The country placed an order for 42 of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 jets in 2011. The planes are the Pentagon's costliest weapons program, and Japan will use them to replace jets made more than three decades ago. The Japanese government will make a decision on a replacement for its F-2 fighter jets by the end of March 2019, Doi said. "We're building this in preparation for the development of a new fighter jet," Doi said. "Neighboring countries are developing stealth jets and so this research is to allow us to understand what technology is needed for such a project." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-02/japan-set-to-test-stealth-jet-as-abe-strengthens- armed-forces Back to Top The economics of aviation capacity Do hub airports boost growth? OVER the weekend, several newspapers suggested that Britain's Conservative government will finally be making a decision on where to build a new runway for London and the South East of England. This has become an urgent issue as the two runways at Heathrow, the capital's biggest airport, have been operating at more than 98% capacity since 2003 and cannot add any more flights or routes. In spite of this, aviation capacity is an issue that politicians have perennially kicked into the long grass. No new full- length runway has been built in the South East since the second world war. Mainly due to opposition from local residents, plans to increase airport capacity have repeatedly been shelved: at Cubbington in Buckinghamshire in the 1960s, at Foulness in the Thames Estuary in the 1970s and several attempts to build a third runway at Heathrow in the 2000s. The current two options which the government is deciding between are a third runway to the north west of Heathrow and a second runway at Gatwick airport, to the south of London. Earlier this year, the commission set up to recommend which the government should choose came out in favour of Heathrow. The case for it is largely based on the idea that hosting a hub airport, connected to a large number of destinations and with much through traffic, would benefit Britain's economy more than simply building the same amount of extra capacity at a smaller airport such as Gatwick. Pooling passengers from many different points of departure, boosters argue, makes it possible for airlines to offer flights to places that would otherwise be uneconomic. But as we pointed out in a briefing back in 2013, academic research suggests that the additional economic benefits of a city having direct links to lots of destinations has been overstated, compared with just adding more capacity: ...there is a surprising lack of evidence to support the common assumption that direct connections to lots of cities boosts economic growth. Adie Tomer of the Brookings Institution, an American think-tank, says research shows that a big flow of arriving and departing passengers, rather than the number of destinations reached, is what boosts growth. Take for example a recent study of American cities by Zachary Neal of Michigan State University, which looked at jobs in the creative industries. The number of other cities to which the cities' airports connected directly appeared to have no relevance; what mattered, as earlier research had suggested it would, was the sheer flow of passengers in and out of a city. There are two possible explanations for this. The first is that investment goes to cities that are attractive in their own right, rather than because they are easy to get to for businessmen. The second is that air travellers do not mind having to connect flights in a foreign hub as much as they did in the past, because it is now easier to work on the go using tablet computers, smartphones and the like. That, in theory, should damage Heathrow's economic case for expansion, and boost Gatwick's. But there is a feeling that central government may already have been persuaded of the wisdom of expanding the country's main hub, particularly as the political headwinds have now swung around to its advantage. Expanding Heathrow, it was assumed, would damage the fortunes of Conservative MPs in several marginal constituencies near Heathrow. It would also tarnish Zac Goldsmith's campaign to succeed Boris Johnson as mayor of London in May 2016. But, with the opposition Labour party suddenly in such disarray, it may feel that it can now push ahead with Heathrow expansion, as proof of its commitment to growth-boosting infrastructure projects, without the the collateral damage in those Tory seats that would be directly affected. There is plenty of time for more twists. Earlier today, MPs on the environmental audit committee released a report suggesting that the government should not propose a third runway at Heathrow until it could guarantee that legal air pollution levels would not be exceeded. It also recommended a ban on night flights. Such restraints may not prove practical. 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