Flight Safety Information February 5, 2016 - No. 026 In This Issue PROS 2016 TRAINING Man Sucked from Somali Jet May Have Been Suicide Bomber UNFASTENED SEAT BELTS: PART TWO The International Society of Air Safety Investigators...SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR THE JEROME F. LEDERER AOPA endorses draft FAA policy on safety equipment Poland: New Inquiry Opened Into 2010 Crash Navy investigating rise of health issues among fighter jet pilots F-35 fighter jet development hampered by many flaws These 11 airlines offer fliers free in-flight Wi-Fi. The Moon or Mars? NASA Must Pick 1 Goal for Astronauts THE EIGHTH TRIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL...AIRCRAFT FIRE AND CABIN SAFETY...RESEARCH CONFERENCE Fractional Pilots needed for PhD Research Back to Top Man Sucked from Somali Jet May Have Been Suicide Bomber A view from inside the airliner after an explosion aboard on February 2, 2016. Investigators think the man used a wheelchair to conceal a bomb. A passenger sucked from a Somali commercial jet on Feb. 2 after an explosion blew a hole in its fuselage may have been a suicide bomber, according to a new report. Investigators suspect the bomber used a wheelchair to smuggle an explosive device on board the Daallo Airlines plane, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing an anonymous Western diplomat as a source. He was expelled from the cabin in the explosion, and authorities recovered his body about 20 miles from Mogadishu. "An individual got onto the plane in a wheelchair and is suspected of being the suicide bomber," the diplomat said. After the blast, the Djibouti-bound plane performed an emergency landing back in Mogadishu. The pilot told the AP he thought the explosion was a bomb blast, but officials said they had not determined the cause. Two people on board suffered minor injuries. http://time.com/4208448/suicide-bomber-somalia-flight/ Back to Top UNFASTENED SEAT BELTS: PART TWO A Flight Safety Information Special Report By Roger Rapoport Contributing Editor WASHINGTON, D.C. - Over the past seven years two of the three passengers who perished in American commercial airline accidents were not wearing their seat belts. The same mom or dad who can be arrested for driving an unbelted child under two to the airport, can leave that kid unbelted on any flight. During takeoff, landing and turbulence parents have to hold on tight to their small children and hope for this best. Add to this the growing number of passengers injured in turbulence and you can see why the NTSB has added occupant protection to its "Most Wanted" list of Safety Improvements for 2016. How do you convince every passenger on every plane to wear a seat belt. That's the challenge National Transportation Safety Board Vice-Chairman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, thinks about every day, a problem that confounds the airlines, flight attendants and aircraft manufacturers. The agency points out that while passengers are required to secure their luggage and even small items such as snacks and beverages on take off and landing "the FAA exempts the most vulnerable passengers - children under age 2- allowing them to travel unrestrained, on an adult's lap." Dinh-Zarr says that while her agency does not investigate every injury caused by turbulence the issue is critically important. The key to reducing injuries is to "make sure that there is some type of restraint that fits every passenger, regardless of their age or size. Everyone needs to be restrained in some way. We need to make sure that people understand the physics of flying. Too many people fail to anticipate the kinetic energy that is exchanged during turbulence. One problem may be that preflight safety videos prior to takeoff fail to persuade all passengers of the necessity of wearing their seat belts. A low key, even humorous approach at some airlines never shows the consequences of wearing seat belts. There has never been a video that shows valued customers what happens to an unbelted infant that slips out of a parent's grasp in major turbulence. "The airlines do a good job," explains the NTSB vice-chair, "but they don't show passengers the effect of not wearing seat belts. Teaching passengers how a seat belt reduces your risk of traumatic injury would give people the information they really need. Perhaps then they would be more willing to listen to flight crews." Many passengers fail to understand that major injuries can take place before a plane even leaves the ground. I recently spoke with an MD-80 pilot who had to stop short to avoid a potential runway incursion. One of his flight attendants securing the cabin sustained a traumatic back injury. Gary Helmer, chief of the NTSB's Safety Division points out that, "Newton was quite right when he theorized that a body in motion will remain in motion until it is negated by an equal and opposite force when an object impacts a wall, seat, floor, person, or whatever." "Even when a plane is on the ground traveling at a mere 20 miles an hour, a sudden stop would hurl a standing 180 pound passenger with approximately 3,600 pounds of force. Under this scenario, says Dinh-Zarr, a person standing in the aisle at the back of the plane could be flung nearly all the way to the front. In flight taller passengers are more vulnerable because their heads are closer to the ceiling, especially on small aircraft "The message we need to get across is that airplanes have a lot of hard surfaces and the head is very vulnerable, even at lower speeds." More Information From The NTSB: Here are links to NTSB studies that took the lives of passengers not wearing seat belts. * July 19, 1989; Sioux City, IA; DCA89MA063; 111 dead (some of the victims were unbelted children under the age of 2) * July 6, 2013; San Francisco, CA; DCA13MA120; 3 dead (two were not wearing seat belts) A previous story in this series published January 4 can be read here. FSI Contributing Editor Roger Rapoport is the producer of the feature film Pilot Error https://vimeo.com/110034584 . He welcomes your comments for future stories in this seat belt series at rogerdrapoport@me.com. Copyright 2016 Roger Rapoport. All Rights Reserved Back to Top The International Society of Air Safety Investigators SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR THE JEROME F. LEDERER AWARD CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS. No nominations for the award were received this past year. Usually we get one to three nominations per year. Surely there are some deserving investigators among us. Therefore, I urge ISASI members to nominate a person or persons who you believe deserves consideration for this award. The ISASI Awards Committee is seeking nominations for the 2016 Jerome F. Lederer Award. To be considered this year, your nomination letter must be received by May 31, 2016 The purpose of the Jerome F. Lederer Award is to recognize outstanding contributions to technical excellence in accident investigation. The Award is presented each year during our annual seminar to a recipient who is recognized for positive advancements in the art and science of air safety investigation. The nomination process is quite simple. Any member of ISASI may submit a nomination. The nominee may be an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. The nominee is not required to be an ISASI member. The nomination may be for a single event, a series of events or a lifetime of achievement. The ISASI Awards Committee considers such traits as duration and persistence, standing among peers, manner and techniques of operating, and of course achievements. Once nominated, a nominee is considered for the next three years and then dropped. After an intervening year, the candidate may be nominated for another three-year period. The nomination letter for the Lederer Award should be limited to a single page. This award is one of the most significant honors an accident investigator can receive; therefore, considerable care is given in determining the recipient. Each ISASI member should thoughtfully review his or her association with fellow investigators, and submit a nomination when they identify someone who has been outstanding in increasing the technical quality of accident investigation. Additional information regarding the award can be found on the ISASI website. Nominations should be mailed, or e-mailed to the ISASI office or directly to the Awards Committee Chairman, Gale Braden, 13805 Edmond Gardens Drive Edmond, OK 73013 USA, email address, galebraden@cox.net www.isasi.org List of Winners Recipients of the ISASI Jerome F. Lederer Award * 2015 - Ladislav Mika (Ladi) * 2014 - David King * 2013 - Frank S. Del Gandio and Myron P. "Pappy" Papadakis * 2012 - Curt Lewis * 2011 - Paul-Louis Arslanian * 2010 - Michael Poole * 2009 - Capt. Richard B. Stone * 2009 - Australian Transport Safety Bureau * 2008 - Don Bateman * 2007 - Tom McCarthy * 2006 - Richard H. Wood * 2005 - John D. Rawson * 2004 - Ron Chippindale (deceased 2/12/08) * 2003 - Caj Frostell * 2002 - Ronald L. Schleede * 2001 - John Purvis and The Transportation Safety Board of Canada * 2000 - Nora Marshal * 1999 - Capt. James McIntyre (deceased 11/19/01) * 1998 - A. Frank Taylor * 1997 - Gus Economy * 1996 - Burt Chesterfield * 1995 - Dr. John K. Lauber * 1994 - U.K. Aircraft Accidents Investigation Branch * 1993 - Capt. Victor Hewes * 1992 - Paul R. Powers * 1991 - Eddie J. Trimble * 1990 - Olof Fritsch * 1989 - Aage A. Roed (deceased 1/25/03) * 1988 - H. Vincent LaChapelle * 1987 - Dr. Carol A. Roberts * 1986 - Geoffrey C. Wilkinson * 1985 - Dr. John Kenyon Mason * 1984 - George B. Parker * 1983 - C.O. Miller (deceased 10/20/03) * 1982 - C.H. Prater Houge * 1981 - Dr. S. Harry Robertson * 1980 - John Gilbert Boulding * 1979 - Gerard M. Bruggink * 1978 - Allen R. McMahan * 1977 - Samuel M. Phillips Back to Top AOPA endorses draft FAA policy on safety equipment By Elizabeth A Tennyson AOPA is endorsing a draft FAA policy that would make it easier to install non-required safety enhancing equipment (NORSEE) in existing general aviation aircraft. AOPA issued the endorsement in formal comments filed in response to a draft policy statement on "approval of NORSEE." The association noted that making it easier to install safety equipment is a reasonable expansion of existing FAA policy and can help reduce loss of control accidents, which account for 40 percent of fatal GA accidents. "AOPA is pleased to see the FAA recognizing the enormous safety benefits new equipment and technologies can bring, and has already brought, to the GA community," the association wrote in its comments. The draft policy is aimed at standardizing the approval process for installing NORSEE based on the premise that the equipment offers safety benefits that outweigh the potential risks. It provides guidance and procedures for issuing a design, production, and installation approval to a U.S. manufacturer or individual for equipment installations that are considered minor changes to type design and whose failure is also consider minor. This includes equipment such as a traffic, weather, or terrain advisory systems; attitude indicators; crashworthiness equipment such as seatbelts, airbags, and energy-absorbing seats; autopilots; fire extinguishers; and more. NORSEE equipment installations that require major changes to type design would still need a supplemental type certificate or other traditional form of certification. "The goal is to establish one policy that is scalable and adjustable to accommodate and encourage the installation of new technology safety enhancements into all aircraft product types," the draft policy states. And that could have significant safety impacts on the general aviation community. "Once an airplane rolls off the assembly line, current FAA certification rules have made it really hard and expensive to install new equipment that would enhance safety. Hopefully, that's all about to change," said George Perry, senior vice president of the AOPA Air Safety Institute. "With the adoption of a commonsense approach and the approval of this NORSEE policy, pilots might soon be able to install all kinds of safety enhancing equipment in older aircraft. This policy has the potential to be a game changer for aviation safety." AOPA has long advocated for making it easier and more affordable to bring modern safety equipment into existing GA aircraft. With relatively few new GA aircraft being produced each year and the advanced age of the GA fleet, it has become increasingly important to make existing aircraft safer. "This policy is another important step in moving toward a more risk-based approach to regulation," said Justin Barkowski, AOPA director of regulatory affairs. "The FAA has embraced that approach when it comes to putting angle of attack indicators in aircraft, and this is the next logical step." http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2016/February/04/AOPA-endorses-draft-FAA-policy-on- safety-equipment Back to Top Poland: New Inquiry Opened Into 2010 Crash The government on Thursday opened a new investigation into the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, with the defense minister saying that evidence pointing to Russian involvement was covered up in an earlier inquiry. The new investigation could exacerbate Poland's already strained relations with Russia. Mr. Kaczynski was the twin brother of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the current governing party, Law and Justice. Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said an earlier Polish investigation that declared the crash an accident resulting from pilot error and bad weather covered up evidence pointing to "Russian responsibility on the course of events." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/world/europe/poland-new-inquiry-opened-into-2010- crash.html?_r=0 Back to Top Navy investigating rise of health issues among fighter jet pilots The Navy is investigating a rise in health issues among pilots of its fleet of F/A-18 and EA-18G fighter jets, the chairman of a House Armed Services Committee subpanel said Thursday. "We've been informed that the Navy has organized a Physiological Episode Team, to investigate and determine the causes of these physiological episodes in aviators," Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, said at a hearing Thursday. "As symptoms related to depressurization, tissue hypoxia and contaminant intoxication overlap, discerning a root cause is a complex process." The Navy started noticing a rise in physiological episodes among pilots in 2009, Turner said. In 2006, the rate of episodes per 100,000 flight hours on the F/A-18 was 3.66, according to written testimony from Navy and Marines leaders. By the period from Nov. 1, 2014, to Oct. 31, 2015, the rate was 28.23, according to the testimony. For the EA-18G, the rate was 5.52 from Nov. 1, 2010, to Oct. 31, 2011. From Nov. 1, 2014, to Oct. 31, 2015, it was 43.57. "While episodes of decompression sickness typically accompany a noticeable loss of cabin pressure by the aircrew, the cause of most physiological episodes is not readily apparent during flight," the testimony says. "Reconstruction of the flight event is difficult with potential causal factors not always readily apparent during post-flight debrief and examination." The testimony was written by Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for aviation; Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, director of the Air Warfare Division of the Navy; and Rear Adm. Michael Moran, program executive officer of tactical aircraft of the Navy. Of the 273 cases adjudicated so far by the investigation team, 93 involved some form of contamination, 90 involved an environmental control systems (ECS) component failure, 67 involved human factors, 41 involved an on-board oxygen generating system (OBOGS) component failure, 11 involved a breathing gas delivery component failure, and 45 were inconclusive or involved another system failure. In response to the episodes, the Navy has put in place mandatory cabin pressurization testing, environmental control systems pressure port testing and annual hypoxia awareness training for pilots, among other steps. "Many other solutions are in the process of being fielded or under development as well," the testimony says. "Future projects include technology to collect better sample data throughout the ECS and OBOGS, increased capacity for the emergency oxygen bottles, and physiological detection of symptoms." http://thehill.com/policy/defense/268221-navy-investigating-rise-of-health-issues-among-f-a-18-pilots Back to Top F-35 fighter jet development hampered by many flaws The F-35 has been in development for many years and has cost over $1 trillion A list of serious flaws has been found in a jet fighter in development for 15 years. The F-35's ejector seat "failed to meet neck-injury criteria" and the jet had a "limited ability to respond to threats", the US defence department has said. The jet's development, by Lockheed Martin, has already cost $1 trillion (£0.7tn), partly funded by the UK. Previously, its UK planned deployment date was put back from 2012 to 2023. "It's one of the most delayed and problematic fighter programmes in history," said Justin Bronk, a military analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). "If this sort of news keeps coming out in terms of continued problems with the testing... it's potentially embarrassing," he told the BBC. Mr Bronk said that while the aircraft could be deployed in its current state, pilots would not be able to fly with as much freedom as planned because of the many technical limitations. But he added: "They will make this thing work because they have no choice, there's no alternative. "They will chuck whatever money they need to at it." http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35494003 Back to Top These 11 airlines offer fliers free in-flight Wi-Fi Virgin America in-flight Wi-FiStaying productive inflight is much easier with inflight Wi-Fi. Photo credit, Virgin America Travelers made it clear that they want free Wi-Fi and they want it now. But few airlines are willing to give the fliers what they want - especially in the U.S., where the cost and quality of in-flight internet vary wildly. However, there are a few airlines around the world that understand travelers' desire to connect for free while they're in the sky. The following carriers have various free internet offerings. Emirates: This Dubai-based airline offers free Wi-Fi on its large fleet of Airbus A380s flying to or from its base. Emirates offers up to 10MB of free access to all passengers on the world's largest aircraft, which makes it easy to check email or chat on social media. Faster bandwidth costs only $1, which is also available aboard its Boeing B777 fleet, and the proceeds are donated to charity. Norwegian: Unlike most of its low-cost competitors, this few-frills airline offers free Wi-Fi for all passengers aboard its flights within Europe and between the U.S. and the Caribbean. Icelandair: Business class and elite members in the airline's frequent-flier program, Saga Club, can connect to a free Wi-Fi signal aboard the airline's fleet, even on long-haul flights. Finnair: With the launch of its new Airbus A350 aircraft, Finnair offers all business-class customers and elite members of its frequent flier program free wireless internet throughout the flight. Aer Lingus: Business class passengers aboard Aer Lingus' Airbus A330 aircraft can access free Wi-Fi, but everyone else has to pay a fee. Southwest: Southwest honors its most loyal fliers, A-List members, with free Wi-Fi on any equipped aircraft. jetBlue: JetBlue already offers free broadband wireless internet to all customers in most of its planes. And the Wi-Fi - at least in theory - works faster than the home internet of the average American. The airline recently announced plans to become the first U.S. carrier to provide free high-speed Wi-Fi across its entire fleet. Garuda Indonesia: This newly knighted SkyTrax 5-star airline now offers free wireless internet to its first-class customers. Only a select number of its Boeing 777 planes offer first class, but those that do certainly provide a convenient and productive flight. Hong Kong Airlines: This small airline operates a modest fleet of Airbus A330-200 planes, which fly mostly between London and Hong Kong, and feature free wireless internet from start to finish. Nok Air: This mostly regional, Bangkok-based low-cost carrier is another one of the world's few budget airlines to offer free wireless internet. The no-cost Wi-Fi comes on many of its flights, and more aircraft are slowly being equipped with internet capabilities. Turkish Airlines: This carrier offers free internet on its Boeing 777 aircraft, even when flying over the ocean. It is yet to be seen when the rest of the fleet will be equipped. http://roadwarriorvoices.com/2016/02/04/these-11-airlines-offer-fliers-free-in-flight-wi-fi/ Back to Top The Moon or Mars? NASA Must Pick 1 Goal for Astronauts, Experts Tell Congress NASA is targeting a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s, but big challenges loom for a trip to the Red Planet. NASA can't afford to put humans on Mars while also pursuing missions to put astronauts back on the moon, according to a panel of experts who testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space yesterday (Feb. 3). "Today the future of NASA's human spaceflight program is far from clear," said Tom Young, former director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "There has been continual debate about should we go to the moon or Mars or both ... It is clear, again, that we cannot do both. And there is a need to focus our attention, capability and resources on one option." NASA has been advertising its "Journey to Mars" campaign, with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden saying that humans could go to the Red Planet as early as the 2030s. But in addition to the technological and fiscal hurdles, the three panelists agreed that without a solid plan in place, none of the proposed human-spaceflight goals would come to fruition. Sommerer contributed to a report that Congress asked the National Academy of Sciences to assemble, which looked at the feasibility of human spaceflight endeavors. The results of its investigation were released in a report called "Pathways to Exploration," in 2014. The report concluded that "the first crewed Mars landing might be possible 20 to 40 years from now, after a cumulative expenditure on the order of half a trillion dollars," Sommerer said. If the current budget of $9 billion spent on human spaceflight "remains constant, with the addition of inflation," Young said, then approximately $180 billion "with today's spending power" will be spent on human spaceflight over the next two decades. "Just as it is not feasible to take a cross-country trip on a child's allowance ... we may well never be able to get to Mars at current expenditure levels," Sommerer said. "It might be better to stop talking about Mars if there is no appetite in Congress and the administration for higher human spaceflight budgets, and no willingness to cut programs that do not contribute to progress." Subcommittee member Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., spoke enthusiastically to the panel about the possibility of a human mission to Mars, and pointed out some of the young people in the room who might be the ones to go to Mars. He showed the panel a bumper sticker that read "Mars 2033: We Can Do This." He pressed Sommerer to confirm that, if given a sufficient budget, NASA could put humans on Mars in only 17 years. "If you give [NASA] the date, and the money, and help with the discipline, the answer is yes," Sommerer said. "If any of those three things is missing, the answer is almost certainly no." Mo Brooks, R-Ala., noted that the United States is currently facing serious budget concerns. He mentioned the Constellation program - which aimed to put humans back on the moon by 2020, but which was defunded in 2010 - and asked the panelists to talk about how to avoid putting money into missions that would ultimately not come to fruition, and what lessons could be learned. Young spoke about the desire to have fewer "tombstones" for cancelled projects and more "memorials" to successful ones. He reiterated the thesis of his opening remarks, that what NASA needs more than anything is a concrete plan for how it should proceed. "I am personally passionate about humans going to Mars, but I'm equally passionate about a good, disciplined plan that is not frivolous," he said. "A plan that does what is required, but also ... doesn't just do what's possible." In a response to Brook, Sommerer brought up the possibility of defunding human spaceflight and relying entirely on robotic missions, which are "much more cost effective." "That's a choice that, in really grim financial straits, the country might be forced to make," Sommerer said. "But it doesn't seem to be something people want to stand up and proudly say, 'Let's end the human space endeavor and rely on only robots.'" He added, "Although the robot stuff is pretty cool." The third member of the witness panel was Paul Spudis, a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute at the Universities Space Research Association. Spudis' research is focused on the geology of the moon. In his opening remarks, Spudis laid out reasons why NASA and humanity should not only return humans to the surface of the moon, but also develop an entire infrastructure in cislunar space (the space between Earth and the moon) that would include "transport vehicles, staging nodes, deep-space habitats, power stations and fuel depots." In the journey to send humans to other planets, a pit stop at the moon might be the right way to go, Spudis argued. A moon base might help humans develop technologies and know-how to survive on Mars. Humans could potentially harvest resources from the moon, like water, which can be used to keep humans alive - as well as broken up into oxygen and hydrogen to fuel spacecraft. Having access to those resources could make a trip to Mars more feasible, he said. (This is a discussion going on in congress for some time). "America's space program is in disarray," Spudis said. "What we need is a logically arranged set of short- term, realizable space goals that are not only interesting in and of themselves, but whose attainment will build capability in the long term." Spudis also spoke about the need to have crewed spacecraft that can be used to visit satellites that humans are relying on more and more for communications and other daily services, such as GPS. "Many of these satellites are national security assets. Satellites upon which we are critically dependent," Spudis said. Currently, when those satellites break, often the only option is to let them die and replace them, Spudis said. "If we could move people and machines throughout various locales in cislunar space, we would be able to replace, construct, upgrade and maintain satellites," he said. Spudis also said that China is developing the ability to "travel throughout and loiter within cislunar space," which might enable the country to disable satellites belonging to other countries. Such a move would put the United States at a disadvantage if it didn't have the same capabilities, he said. A cislunar program would also offer NASA a set of goals that could be obtained on much shorter timelines than a human mission to Mars. The appeal of financing a set of shorter-term goals, rather than a single, long-term goal, was echoed by subcommittee member Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who expressed concern at the prospect of investing in a human Mars mission, only to have it set aside if a more pressing priority arose. A panel of witnesses testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space about the path forward for NASA's human spaceflight program. The witnesses were (l to r) Tom Young, former director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, John Sommerer, retired director of the Space Department at Johns Hopkins University, Paul Spudis, a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute at the University Space Research Association. Moving forward It is highly unlikely that the United States would be able to afford to simultaneously pursue a human mission to Mars while also deploying human missions to the moon or cislunar space, said Young during his testimony. If congress decided to push for NASA to pursue a human mission to Mars, Young said, the agency would need to develop a specific plan in the near future "that takes us from today to humans on Mars." He listed a dozen things that such a plan would need to address, including defining intermediate missions that would be needed to prepare for a Mars trip, assessing risk, getting an idea of the resources that would need to be allocated and applying those resources "in the most effective manner." "An argument against a plan at the current time is that we are not ready to finalize the necessary elements of the plan," Young said. "I believe a strength of NASA program management is to establish a plan relatively early, with the recognition that as new information becomes available, the plan can be changed." "We have our work cut out to us," subcommittee chair Brian Babin, (R-Texas, 36th District) said in his closing comments. "I agree that whatever NASA puts their mind to we can do. But we do have the parameters of an almost 20 trill dollar national debt that we have at this time. ... I think we have our marching orders. We just have to get organized on this." http://www.space.com/31835-nasa-needs-single-mission-goal-congress.html#sthash.cdDAVAwS.dpuf Back to Top THE EIGHTH TRIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL AIRCRAFT FIRE AND CABIN SAFETY RESEARCH CONFERENCE Tropicana Hotel Atlantic City, NJ, USA October 24 - 27, 2016 Call for Papers Background The Aircraft Fire and Cabin Safety Research Conference is held every three years and organized by the Cabin Safety Research Technical Group (CSRTG). CSRTG members are drawn from major aviation regulatory authorities including the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the United Kingdom, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the European Aviation Safety Agnecy (EASA). Abstracts for paper presentations at the conference should be no more than 400 words and should be submitted electronically by April 1, 2016, to: Ms. April Horner Email: april.ctr.horner@faa.gov Presentations based on the papers should have a duration of approximately 20 minutes, allowing for up to 10 minutes of questions. General topic areas are as suggested below although other applications will be considered within the general constraints of airplane fire and cabin safety research. The general focus is to be large public transport airplanes. Background information and previous conference topic areas may be reviewed at www.fire.tc.faa.gov. The Cabin Safety Evacuation and Operational Issues sessions of the conference will comprise studies related to in-flight safety, and crash/post-crash survivability. Traditionally, research topics have included exit and escape slide performance, aircraft interior arrangements, water survival equipment standards, cabin crew procedures, passenger education, and evacuation computer modelling, presented by researchers from around the world. Additional topics include: Fire Research Aircraft Fire Safety Materials Fire Safety Systems Fire Safety Test Method Development Cargo fire, Batteries and Oxygen Halon Replacement Engine and Fuel Tank Fire Safety Advanced Material Research Cabin Safety and Operational Issues Evacuation Computer Modelling Human Behaviour in Emergencies Data Analysis Passenger Education Cabin Crew Training Cabin Crew Procedures Safety Briefings Passenger Management Crash Dynamics Structural Strength and Load Attenuation Analytical Modelling Human Injury Criteria www.fire.tc.faa.gov Back to Top Fractional Pilots needed for PhD Research Dear Fractional Jet Pilot, Fractional jet pilots have achieved an amazing safety record over the last 25 years. Research shows that your pilot group has achieved significantly better safety results when compared with similar jet pilot groups. This research investigates why are fractional jet pilots better than these other pilot groups? Is it due to training/skills, safety culture, union or company leadership? Safety culture has been studied for over a decade at the commercial airline level, and has consistently demonstrated a predictive capability. In recent years, safety culture has been concluded to predict safety performance. Safety culture is an important factor to investigate. My name is Kevin O'Leary and I am a Ph.D. candidate at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I am completing my dissertation by researching the safety culture of fractional jet pilots. This research has the potential to begin the understanding of why fractional pilots have a superior safety record. Due to the nature of this research, the survey respondents have been required to be pre-qualified to participate in this survey. Please follow the link below and fill out the pre-qualification form so that your pilot status can be verified. After verification, an untraceable survey link will be emailed to your email address. This link will be completely separate and remain separate from your pilot verification data. Your identity will never be disclosed and is not connected with the survey answers you provide. The research survey you will receive after completing the pre-qualification form will not include any identifiable data about the pilot, pilot's place of employment or the aircraft primarily flown. The research survey will take about 11 minutes. Please note that these responses will generate a donation to the Corporate Angel Network and potentially improve general aviation safety. https://www.research.net/r/Curt-Lewis-PreQual Thank you very much for your help! Principal Researcher Kevin O'Leary Ph.D. Candidate Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 617-600-6868 Olearyk1@my.erau.edu Curt Lewis