Flight Safety Information December 22, 2015 - No. 255 In This Issue 19 US-bound Indian students stopped from boarding flight to join blacklisted universities Federal Aviation Administration opens its drone registry India plane crash: Ten die in Delhi's Dwarka district JetBlue program speeds path to cockpit for untested pilots Jet Airways passenger coach crashes into stationary Air India plane at Kolkata airport Southwest Airlines Agrees to Penalty Over Jet-Fix Problems Insurance indemnity to Kogalymavia for A321 aircraft crashed in Egypt exceeded $23mln PROS 2015 TRAINING CAE to train pilot cadets for Chinese airline at aviation centre in Phoenix Indonesia Scraps Import Tax on Airplane Spare Parts Students' amphibious airplane design wins international prize SpaceX Makes History With 'Insane' Launch, Proving Rockets Can Be Reused Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) 19 US-bound Indian students stopped from boarding flight to join blacklisted universities India's national carrier Air India barred 19 Indian students from boarding its flight from Hyderabad to San Francisco on Sunday night, after US authorities informed the airlines that the universities they had got admission in were blacklisted. However, the two Californian universities in question have denied these charges. Air India justified its action by stating that the US Customs and Border Protection agency had communicated that two universities - Silicon Valley University in San Jose and North Western Polytechnic College in Fremont - were both were under scrutiny and that students heading to these Californian universities were not allowed to enter the country. This wasn't an isolated incident. Last week, there were reports of 14 Indian students heading to the same universities being deported from the US after being detained and questioned by the FBI for around 15 hours in San Franscisco. A third group of students also said that they were detained for three days in the US, before being deported. Air India has offered to refund the tickets of these students and issued a notice to its travel agents asking them not to issue tickets to students travelling to these two Californian universities. It said that this is a "precautionary" measure to avoid "inconvenience" to students. "Students travel on a one-way ticket to US and in the event of deportation, the student incurs huge expenditure to buy a ticket back to India on first available service. Further, seats are often not available on any airlines to travel back," Air India said in a statement. Meanwhile, the two universities have issued statements that they had not been blacklisted and dismissed these reports as "rumours". They added that there were stricter screening procedures being applied to all travellers heading to the US after the Paris attacks, and not just students of these two universities. "Due to the recent attack in Paris, stricter customs screening measures are being applied to all travelers to the U.S. Therefore, NPU strongly urges that you please make sure to bring with you all necessary original documentation in order to make your customs screening as smooth as possible," the Northwestern Polytechnic University said in a statement. India's External Affairs ministry said that it has taken up the matter with thte US government and hopes to resolve it soon. Approximately 1.3 million students travelled to the US for higher education in 2014-15. http://mashable.com/2015/12/22/indian-students-stopped-air-india/#pG2qO8RJ5qqk Back to Top Federal Aviation Administration opens its drone registry ANCHORAGE - Monday was day one for drone owners to register their aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration. About one million drones are expected to sell this holiday season, according to the FAA. They're one of the most polar gifts this holiday season - the Anchorage House of Hobbies said they sell 20 drones a day. "It's been good, we sell a lot of them," said Jim Raffuse, owner of the store. Starting Dec. 21, users over the age of 13 must register any kind of drone weighing between half a pound and 55 pounds with the FAA. Registration, which is valid for three years, is free until January 20, 2016. After that, it's $5. If you already have a drone, you have until Feb. 19, 2016. The FAA has also issued a warning urging the public to stay away from companies that register drones for a fee, because it's unnecessary. Raffuse said the change is drawing mixed reactions. "They're trying to track whoever is causing problems with them, those people probably aren't going to register their models anyway, so I don't know how well that will work," he said. The FAA said there's been about 800 unsafe drone sightings so far this year. That's up from 238 in 2014. Pilots like Carol Zerbe said this will help protect manned aircraft and minimize close encounters in our drone filled skies. "It'll encourage responsibility and accountability in case a drone is not operated responsibly, but I think the most important thing to do is to participate in community education programs," Zerbe said. Anyone caught using their drone without a registration could be fined up to $27,000 and face prison time. To register your drone, visit the FAA's website. http://www.ktva.com/federal-aviation-administration-opens-its-drone-registry-988/ Back to Top India plane crash: Ten die in Delhi's Dwarka district A light aircraft has crashed on take-off near the airport in the Indian capital, Delhi, killing 10 people. The Beechcraft King Air plane chartered by India's Border Security Force (BSF) came down after hitting a wall in Dwarka district and burst into flames. The plane was carrying members of the border patrol force, officials said. In May 2011, 10 people died after a small medical ambulance aircraft flying a critically ill patient crashed in Faridabad town near Delhi. Tuesday's incident occurred as the twin-engine plane was on its way to Ranchi in the eastern state of Jharkhand from Delhi's international airport. "The crash took place at around 09:50 India time (04:20GMT) moments after the technicians lost contact with ground control," AK Sharma, chief of Delhi Fire Services, told AFP news agency. Junior Civil Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma told the Press Trust of India news agency that "all 10 [passengers] onboard BSF plane that crashed in Dwarka [are] dead". Suraj, an eyewitness, told reporters that the plane hit a wall, caught fire and crashed in a field outside the airport. "There were about 10 people on the flight. I saw two bodies. There were some labourers working on the ground where the plane fell," he said. More than a dozen fire engines and emergency workers have been rushed to the spot to douse the blaze. The last major crash in India happened in the city of Mangalore in May 2010, killing at least 160 people. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35158084 ********************* Status: Preliminary Date: Tuesday 22 December 2015 Time: ca 09:40 Type: Beechcraft B200 Super King Air Operator: Border Security Force (BSF) Registration: VT-BSA C/n / msn: BB-1485 First flight: 1994 Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10 Airplane damage: Damaged beyond repair Location: near Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) ( India) Phase: Approach (APR) Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL/VIDP), India Destination airport: Ranchi Airport (IXR/VERC), India Narrative: The Beechcraft B200 Super King Air was destroyed when it impacted terrain near Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), India. All ten on board were killed. The airplane took off from runway 28 at 09:37. Shortly after takeoff the crew radioed that they wanted to return to land. The aircraft was approaching runway 10 when it impacted terrain. http://www.aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20151222-0 Back to Top JetBlue program speeds path to cockpit for untested pilots Some 18,000 airline pilots will reach the mandatory retirement age over the next seven years, but finding replacements is becoming a huge challenge. After the deadly 2009 crash of a commuter plane near Buffalo, New York, Congress raised the requirements to fly, increasing the training cost to more than $100,000 a pilot. Now, one major airline is exploring a controversial solution, reports CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave. Usually when someone makes it into the cockpit of one of JetBlue's multi-million dollar simulators, he or she is already a seasoned pilot, but that is about to change as the airline is experimenting with a new way to hire pilots. As part of a new program, "Gateway 7," JetBlue will soon accept 24 people with little-to-no aviation experience and train them to be a co-pilot by 2020. "It doesn't matter how many hours of pilot time you have -- thousands and thousands or a few -- the standards are the same. You have to meet the proficiency standards to be qualified and have the FAA certification or certificate," Warren Christie, senior vice president of safety, security and training of the JetBlue training center told CBS News earlier this year. "It's a very scientific method that we use to train. We collect a lot of data on pilot training performance, along with all of our other groups so we know where additional emphasis is required," Christie said. The airline says these new pilots will meet the FAA's mandated minimum 1,500 hours of flight time to start work as a commercial pilot, while going through an unprecedented level of screening. "It's almost like a STEM program and it's going to attract young people into a profession, possibly that they had not considered before," said aviation consultant Dan Elwell, a former airline pilot and FAA official. "And getting them when they're just starting flying, I think, is a good idea." This comes at a time when smaller airlines are already having trouble finding enough pilots. "There has been a reduction of young people that are getting in to flying, and there are tremendous amounts of people that are retiring from flying at the same time, so it's kind of losing it on both ends a little bit," Elwell said. "So we need to find more innovative ways to get young people flying." The Regional Airline Association, which presents smaller carriers, is hoping to create a faster path to the cockpit with a new proposal that calls for airlines to run a program to train pilots. It said in a statement it "contains substantial enhancements that reach a higher level of safety than current flight training pathways... And offers a meaningful and quantifiable measure of experience for pilot training." But the Airline Pilots Association is expressing concern about these ideas, saying in a statement: "Programs like the one currently being discussed at JetBlue should not be used to undermine or weaken today's current FAA regulations that ensure safety is paramount." http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jetblue-gateway-7-program-to-hire-train-new-pilots/ Back to Top Jet Airways passenger coach crashes into stationary Air India plane at Kolkata airport Jet Airways passenger bus rams into stationary Air India flight at Kolkata airport, no casualties. Airport officials said the plane was preparing to leave for Silchar when the driver of the Jet Airways bus lost control and hit it. (Source: @ANI_news/Twitter) A plane of Air India subsidiary Alliance Air was damaged after a Jet Airways passenger coach rammed into the stationary aircraft at the NSCB International Airport here early today. There was no report of any casualty. kolkata-crash-759Airport officials said the plane was parked at Bay no. 32 in the airport and was preparing to leave for Silchar when the driver of the Jet Airways bus lost control of the vehicle and hit it near its left wing at around 5.25 AM. Also read: Ranchi-bound BSF aircraft crashes at Dwarka in Delhi, 10 feared killed Air India officials said the plane suffered major damage and has been grounded. The airline has cancelled two flights to the North East. Officials said there was not much fog in the morning and the air traffic was unaffected. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/jet-airways-passenger-coach-crashes-into- stationary-air-india-plane-at-kolkata-airport/ Back to Top Southwest Airlines Agrees to Penalty Over Jet-Fix Problems Carrier to pay $2.8 million penalty, improve oversight of maintenance contractors Southwest Airlines planes are seen at the Los Angeles Airport on Oct. 22. The federal government had alleged the airline violated safety regulations for more than 40 planes between 2006 and 2012. Southwest Airlines Co. agreed to pay a $2.8 million civil penalty and improve its oversight of outside companies that maintain its jets, the Justice Department said Monday. The federal government had alleged Southwest violated safety regulations affecting more than 40 Boeing Co. 737s it operated between 2006 and 2012. Southwest faces as much as $5.5 million in additional penalties if it doesn't implement the changes laid out in the settlement. A district court in Seattle was notified of the settlement last week. "The safety of our aircraft remains our top priority, and to that end, we remain committed to meeting or exceeding all applicable FAA safety regulations," Southwest said in a statement. The bulk of the alleged violations related to maintenance on 44 jets contracted to Aviation Technical Services Inc., according to court documents. The Federal Aviation Administration found the firm failed to repair fuselage panels correctly or secure planes properly during the maintenance. Separately, the agency said Southwest didn't fix drains on two other jets correctly following a directive related to the potential impact of lightning strikes. "The settlement requires operational changes by Southwest designed to enhance its oversight of and control over third parties that perform maintenance on Southwest aircraft," the Justice Department said in a statement. http://www.wsj.com/articles/southwest-airlines-agrees-to-penalty-over-jet-fix-problems-1450754456 Back to Top Insurance indemnity to Kogalymavia for A321 aircraft crashed in Egypt exceeded $23mln On October 31, the A321 aircraft of Russian airline Kogalymavia flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St.Petersburg crashed in Sinai killing all 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board Russian airline seeks compensation from Egypt after A321 jet crash MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Russian insurance company Ingosstrakh paid the insurance compensation worth more than $23 million to the Kogalymavia airline for the Airbus A321-200 aircraft that crashed on October 31 in Egypt, the insurer said in a statement on Tuesday. Until now, the insurer did not name the sum of compensation citing commercial secret. "Ingosstrakh paid the insurance indemnity under the aviacasco agreement to the Kogalymavia airline for the sum more than $23 million in connection with the total loss of the aircraft Airbus A321-200," the insurer said in a statement. Kremlin spokesman: A321 crash causes not discussed at interstate level Egypt says no evidence Russia's A321 plane was brought down by terrorist attack Air safety audit in Egypt completed - Russian deputy PM Investigation into terror act downing A321 can take long - Kremlin On October 31, the A321 aircraft of Russian airline Kogalymavia flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St.Petersburg crashed about half an hour after departure, 100 km south of the provincial capital of North Sinai town of El Arish near the village of El Hasna. There were 217 passengers and seven crew members on board, all of them died. This crash became the largest in the history of the Russian aviation. After that crash Russia suspended all flights to Egypt. On November 17, at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, head of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov said that the crash had been caused by a terrorist act. Russian Airbus A321 crash in Egypt http://tass.ru/en/politics/846002 Back to Top Back to Top CAE to train pilot cadets for Chinese airline at aviation centre in Phoenix MONTREAL - Shenzhen Airlines has chosen CAE Inc. to select and train additional pilot cadets at a U.S. aviation centre starting this month. It was one of several contracts announced Monday by CAE. Total value of the equipment and services is about $100 million. Under the Shenzhen Airlines contract, the Montreal-based company (TSX:CAE) will select, assess and train additional cadets over the next 12 months at a CAE Oxford centre in Phoenix, Arizona. CAE also receved an extension of a long-term pilot-training agreement at Spring Airlines in Japan and another pilot training contract from a European customer, which CAE didn't identify. It has also sold four full-flight simulators and other training equipment to various customers. The Airbus Asian Training Centre in Singapore is buying a full flight slimulator and a pilot trainer for Airbus A350s. Two additional A350 and one Boeing 787 full flight simulators are being sold to undisclosed customeers in North America. http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Back to Top Indonesia Scraps Import Tax on Airplane Spare Parts Jakarta. The Indonesian government has scrapped its import tax on 21 categories of airplane spare parts as part of its latest economic stimulus package to counter headwinds faced by the country's airlines. The move expands on a similar incentive in September that gave the airlines some relief amid a weakening rupiah against the US dollar, which has caused operational costs to spike. "In the past few years, our airline transport and airplane rental industry has grown strongly, but we notice that most of the airplane maintenance is conducted overseas," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said late on Monday. "Based on our study, that was due to [lack of] spare part [availability]," Darmin said. "Therefore we released this policy to make importing spare parts easier." Tengku Burhanuddin, a deputy chairman at the Indonesia Air Carrier Association (Inaca), welcomed the policy, saying it would improve the country's airlines' competitiveness, by reducing their operational costs. While it clearly benefits major airlines like flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia, and Lion Mentari Airlines, the country's largest budget carrier, the policy would also boost the business of aircraft manufacturers like Dirgantara Indonesia, said Tengku. The government had scrapped its value added tax for imported aircraft and any related components in September, as part of a wider policy package to lessen the burden from a stronger dollar, which has gained 14 percent against the local currency so far this year. Indonesian airlines typically operate Boeing or Airbus jets to serve domestic routes and operate in-house maintenance units. Aircraft maintenance at Garuda Indonesia makes up 15 percent of the company's total operational costs, which amounts to about $3.8 billion per year, according to Garuda's president director Arif Wibowo. Still, Garuda managed to make a net profit of $50.1 million in the first nine months this year, compared with a $222.3 million loss a year ago, thanks to decline in global oil prices. http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/indonesia-scraps-import-tax-airplane-spare-parts/ Back to Top Students' amphibious airplane design wins international prize A team of Kansas University aerospace engineering students just won an international prize for an amphibious aircraft design called the BATWinG - envisioned to transport people in coastal cities cheaper, faster and greener than other modes of public transportation. BATWinG, an acronym for "Bay Area Transport, Wing-in-Ground-effect," took first place in the sixth annual Power Electronics Systems and Applications Conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday, according to KU aerospace engineering professor and team adviser Ron Barrett-Gonzalez. The BATWinG aircraft. Illustration courtesy of KU Aerospace Engineering. "Multiple teams from Asia, Europe and the Americas went head to head in this international competition, which was intended to advance environmentally responsible transportation systems," Barrett-Gonzalez said. He said their BATWinG plane is designed to pick up and drop off passengers from existing ferry terminals; generate very little noise or wake to disturb marine mammals; leave no pollutants behind in the air or water; and travel over marshes, water, sand or pavement. The KU team's competition paper presents all kinds of calculations too over-my-head (and maybe yours?) to explain here. But here are a few explanations the paper offers about why the odd looking aircraft is designed the way it is: The nine-passenger plane would have a flight altitude of 10 feet and a max flight speed of 120 knots. The plane features gull-wing doors envisioned for fast and easy passenger exchange, including passengers in wheelchairs. The cockpit is above and behind the passenger cabin, an unconventional configuration envisioned to improve the pilot's lateral visibility. Propulsion is from an electric motor. There is a single aft fan - with a protective wire cage to shield the blades from birds - and "electric trolling motors" in each wingtip float. Students traveled to San Francisco in May to conduct market research for the project. Their paper even includes a business plan suggesting BATWinGs could be in the air by 2020, and that a fleet of 66 of them could break even on the investment less than two years after launching. The BATWinG aircraft design, illustration courtesy of KU Aerospace Engineering. The students who worked on this were team leader Eric Bodlak, of Wayne, Neb.; deputy team leader Lauren Schumacher, of Rolla, Mo.; Dhruv Chawla, of Mumbai, India; Sagar Jaju, of Panjagutta, India; Jeevan Kolli, of Hyderabad, India; and Ankur Patil, of Bangalore, India. Their winning one of the world's biggest competitions for transportation systems is pride-worthy, Barrett-Gonzalez said. And who knows, maybe BATWinG could eventually save the day in congested coastal city like San Francisco? http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/heard_hill/2015/dec/21/students-amphibious-airplane-design-wins/ Back to Top SpaceX Makes History With 'Insane' Launch, Proving Rockets Can Be Reused The private company's rocket hauled 11 satellites into space, then landed back on Earth to huge congratulations. SpaceX made history Monday night when it successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit, deployed 11 satellites, and then brought the 15-story booster back to Earth for a soft, vertical landing just six miles from where it took off at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It marks the first time billionaire Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, has attempted to land a rocket on land and the first ever successful attempt to recover a rocket from an orbital flight, NBC News reports. As the rocket came to rest on its landing pad, a SpaceX webcast commentator confirmed, "The Falcon has landed," drawing an eruption of applause from those gathered at the based private space flight company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Monday's breakthrough comes just six months after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded shortly after takeoff while carrying supplies to the International Space Station. Several other previous attempts to land a Falcon 9 on floating platforms in the Atlantic also were unsuccessful. In an attempt to explain just how complicated the mission was, one SpaceX commentator compared it with "launching a pencil over the Empire State Building, having it reverse, come back down, and land on a shoebox on the ground during a windstorm." "It's an insane thing to try and do," he said. The successful landing actually was a second objective of the mission, according to SpaceX. The first was to deploy the rocket's payload -- 11 ORBCOMM satellites -- into low orbit, which company officials said went smoothly. A SpaceX goal is to develop rockets that can be reused, ultimately making space flight cheaper. But Musk said the one launched Monday won't fly again. "I think we'll probably keep this one on the ground, just [because] it's kind of unique," he reportedly said during a press call. "It's the first one we've brought back." The congratulations SpaceX received from the space community following Monday's success were extensive. As The Associated Press reports, Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, the top commander at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, noted that the returning booster "placed the exclamation mark on 2015." "This was a first for us at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and I can't even begin to describe the excitement the team feels right now having been a part of this historic first-stage rocket landing," Monteith said in a statement. Blue Origin, billionaire Jeff Bezos' rocket company, successfully landed a booster last month in West Texas. That rocket, though, had been used for a suborbital flight, according to AP. See below for a the full webcast of SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/spacex-history-rockets-reused_5678aefee4b014efe0d69a72 Back to Top Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship The Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship was established by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to shape the next generation of researchers in aviation weather, honoring the late Najeeb Elias Halaby, an eminent aviator and administrator, for his vision and more than five decades of extraordinary contributions to aviation (http://www.ral.ucar.edu/halabyfellowship.pdf). The Fellowship The recipient of a Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship will spend three months (in 2016 or early 2017) in residence with NCAR's Aviation Weather Research Program, which Mr. Halaby was instrumental in establishing in the 1980s. As the nation's leader in addressing aviation weather research, NCAR plays a unique role in meeting user needs by transferring research results to operations through its Research Application Laboratory (http://www.ral.ucar.edu/). The Fellow will conduct research broadly aimed at improving the integration of weather into decision support tools for improved weather avoidance and air traffic management. The Fellowship will provide: * a monthly stipend for three months, including temporary living expenses * round-trip travel expenses to and from Boulder, CO * travel to a conference to present results * page charges for one publication of key results Eligibility and Application The Halaby Fellowship targets graduate students (late Masters or early PhD level) enrolled in an aviation- relevant department or program of a domestic or international university. Interested candidates should have advanced research skills, far-reaching vision, and dedication to get things accomplished. Consideration for this Fellowship will be given to candidates based on the following submitted material: * Curriculum vitae * Proposal (maximum five pages) presenting the research to be conducted at NCAR, the anticipated outcome of that, and how the proposed effort ties into the candidate's ongoing graduate research project(s) * Contact information for three references (one of which should be the student's primary advisor) NCAR will accept applications for the Halaby Fellowship each year. Email Applications by February 28, 2016 to halabyfellowship@ucar.edu Back to Top Upcoming Events: 2016 DTI SMS/QA Symposium January 3, 4, & 5 2016 Disney World, FL 1-866-870-5490 www.dtiatlanta.com 6th European Business Aviation Safety Conference 2016 February 23-24, 2016 Frankfurt, Germany www.ebascon.eu 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 | Back to Basics: Prioritizing Safety in a Challenging Economy 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: Manager Flight Operation FedEx Express https://www.appone.com/MainInfoReq.asp?R_ID=1186411 Deputy Director of Flight Operations & Technical Services Helicopter Association International https://www.rotor.org/AboutHAI/Employment.aspx Curt Lewis