Flight Safety Information February 29, 2016 - No. 042 In This Issue PROS 2016 TRAINING FAA's struggles in Alaska a problem for everyone who flies here Plane crash shines light on safety issues again (Nepal) Pilots push for domestic ban on battery air shipments Pilot shortage sends airline into bankruptcy Drone detection system exposes pilots flying dangerously close to airports Drone flies within 30 feet of passenger jet landing at Heathrow Jet that caught fire on McCarran runway has left Las Vegas Embraer says Republic Air had 24 jet orders at Chapter 11 filing SMS Industry Forum - 2016 Call for papers for ISASI 2016, Iceland, 17 to 20 October 2016 The 8th Triennial International Aircraft Fire and Cabin Safety Research Conference Research Survey Request RESEARCH SURVEY...MENTAL HEALTH & FLYING SURVEY FAA's struggles in Alaska a problem for everyone who flies here OPINION: Dangers of flying in Alaska are only made worse by lack of oversight staffing and smart decisions both before and during flights. Pictured: National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brice Banning at the site of the fatal Alaska Central Express crash northeast of Dillingham in March 2013. NTSB Last Friday the National Transportation Safety Board released final reports for two multiple-fatality accidents in St. Mary's (2013) and Kwethluk (2014). Both aircraft were operated by Hageland Aviation as part of the family of airlines known previously as Era Alaska and now Ravn Alaska. While the Kwethluk crash occurred during a training flight and was determined to be due to the check airman's actions, the board found that in St. Mary's the pilot, flight locators, company and Federal Aviation Administration were at fault. These crashes were the last in a line of accidents and incidents over two years that prompted the NTSB to issue an urgent safety recommendation to the FAA in 2014 regarding Ravn's safety and regulatory compliance. The FAA was also directed to audit its own oversight of the air group. A review of recent commercial aviation accidents in Alaska reveals that the agency's struggles with Ravn were not an isolated case. In an interview following the St. Mary's crash, FAA principal operations investigator (POI) Danny Larson was asked why the agency continued to allow Hageland to operate even though it had many documented failures and violations of "procedures and processes." Larson replied that "... he did not know what else he could have done. He felt they were doing all they could with current staffing levels, which he believed to be insufficient." According to the investigation, there were only three investigators assigned to Hageland, which operated 56 aircraft at the time and averaged 1,200 weekly operations. (Based on fleet size, it is the largest scheduled small commuter airline in the U.S.) The Anchorage FAA office made multiple requests to increase staffing but were denied, as Hageland did not meet the minimum FAA fleet requirements. This was a source of frustration for Alaska FAA frontline manager Dale Hanson, who told investigators: "They are the largest operator in Alaska, by far. Even the 121 operators (large air carriers) don't have as much activity or as much flights per week and carry as many passengers. I've tried to use those statistics to show that we need more people. I know they'd like to give them to me if the budget would allow it, but --" This disconnect between oversight requirements and available resources was also evident following Alaska Central Express's (ACE) fatality crash in March 2013. The ACE POI, Dee Rice, told investigators she was also responsible for Yute Air Alaska, three flight schools, five Part 91 operators and the designated pilot examiners in the Anchorage district. Rice further stated she was unsure how ACE conducted operational control of its flights and had not observed specific crew training in her three years as POI. The NTSB also noted that Rice was not qualified to fly any of the aircraft operated by ACE. During the investigation into the July 2013 accident in Soldotna that killed all 10 people on board, Rediske Air's POI stated that he visited the airline, located in Nikiski, "a couple of times a year." He was also responsible for 37 other air taxis and commuters. Most recently, in 2015, two fatality accidents occurred in Southeast Alaska that are still under investigation. Wings of Alaska and Promech Air were operating under regional requirements of "cue-based training," which mandates pilots maintain certain visibility standards in addition to standard regulations. The FAA was responsible for oversight of this training. For Wings of Alaska, then owned by SeaPort Airlines, the company POI was based 1,900 miles away in Portland, Oregon. Historically, the high number of plane crashes in Alaska were blamed on weather and geography, but in the 21st century this is no longer valid. In the St. Mary's accident, for example, the aircraft was equipped for, and the pilot rated for, instrument flight. The airport had the necessary navigational aids for an instrument approach. The pilot did not file an instrument flight plan, however, even though instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at his destination. What failed in St. Mary's was the decision-making of the people entrusted with making the best choices both in the air and prior to departure. That the FAA was part of that failure, and others, has been determined by the NTSB, and the FAA's struggles are cause for concern to all Alaskans who fly. Modern technology can do only so much to improve the state's safety record; human factors in the air, and on the ground, are what will make the difference now. http://www.adn.com/article/20160227/faas-struggles-alaska-problem-everyone-who- flies-here Back to Top Plane crash shines light on safety issues again (Nepal) Issues of accountability and a general lack of safety culture are routinely cited by experts as the major factors behind the poor performance of airlines. Feb 26, 2016- The crash of Tara Air Flight 193 on Wednesday has again spotlighted Nepal's poor air safety record. The Canadian-made Twin Otter aircraft slammed into the Himalayan foothills on a flight from Pokhara to Jomsom killing all 23 aboard. In 2013, Nepali airlines had been put in the bad books of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) and the European Commission (EC) as being unsafe to fly. After the latest incident, getting the significant safety concern (SSC) tag given to Nepal removed will be even more difficult. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) had said last December that it expected Icao to remove the SSC tag by July 2016 as most of the safety problems it had raised had been dealt with. Caan is optimistic that after the global aviation watchdog cancels the SSC, the European Commission (EC) will take Nepal out of its list of airlines banned from flying in Europe by December 2016. Nepal was red-flagged on "operations", among the eight critical elements of safety oversight, due to the large number of aircraft accidents and incidents between 2009 and 2012, with at least two passenger aircraft crashing annually. On December 5, 2013, the EC had put Nepal on its air safety list, banning all carriers certified in Nepal from flying into the EU because of significant safety deficiencies requiring decisive action. International airlines and travellers hesitate to travel to a country whose air safety has been questioned by Icao and the EC. Wednesday's disaster was the first in nearly two years after Nepali aviation's long track record of mishaps. "Obviously, the situation has become difficult. Despite Tara Air's improvements in terms of safety over the past years, Wednesday's disaster was unfortunate," said Sanjiv Gautam, director general of Caan. "The SSC is directly related to Nepal's certification process for the issuance of air operator certificates. But the disaster could have indirect repercussions on Nepal's efforts to get the SSC tag removed." Issues of accountability and a general lack of safety culture are routinely cited by experts as the major factors behind the poor performance of airlines. "It's unfortunate that one of the most advanced planes has crashed in Nepal," said aviation expert Kumar Chalise. "Technology is power to enhance safety, but in the wrong hands it has the potential to wreak havoc." Although an investigation committee has been formed to ascertain the reason behind the crash, preliminary reports indicate that the pilot made a wrong decision to enter thick clouds. Chalise said that the aircraft's operation and safety during the flight is ultimately the pilot's responsibility, but in many cases they exhibit over-confidence. "The way the crash took place, it seems that the veteran pilot thought that his aircraft had cloud radar system and so went into the clouds; but it proved to be an unwise decision," he said. Experts said that the crash was likely to have far-reaching consequences. They said that a fall in passenger confidence in airline safety would likely lead to an initial reduction in demand. Domestic carriers in Nepal play a huge role in supporting tourism development; however, their poor air safety record could dampen growth prospects. The Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents on Thursday said that Wednesday's crash could hurt the country's tourism industry which is already struggling with multiple problems. It has asked the government and Caan to develop a firm policy to ensure the safety of travellers and prevent such accidents in the future. Foreign carriers connecting Nepal have been recording a healthy growth in passenger traffic since 2003, while domestic air passenger movement has continued to shrink for three straight years. http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-02-26/plane-crash-shines-light-on- safety-issues-again.html ************* Date: 26-FEB-2016 Time: 13:05 Type: Pacific Aerospace PAC 750XL Owner/operator: Air Kasthamandap Registration: 9N-AJB C/n / msn: 160 Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 11 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Chilkhaya, Kalikot District - Nepal Phase: En route Nature: Passenger Departure airport: Nepalganj Airport (KEP/VNNG) Destination airport: Jumla Airport (JUM/VNJL) Narrative: An aircraft operted by Air Kasthamandap is reported to have crashed in Kalikot district, Nepal. There were nine passengers and two pilots on board. Both pilots are feared dead, according to a Banke's Nepal Police spokesman. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=184849 Back to Top Pilots push for domestic ban on battery air shipments The union that represents pilots in Washington is pushing for a domestic ban on air shipments of lithium ion and metal batteries that are used to power rechargeable devices after international regulators weighed in on the risks of flying with the devices in cargo areas. The International Civil Aviation Organization has moved to ban shipments of most lithium ibatteries by air, which have been linked to fires on commercial and cargo airplanes. The ban was approved over the objection of battery makers and other technology groups in Washington. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said Congress should now enact a ban of its own as lawmakers debate a funding measure for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). "The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has recognized the very real threat of transporting lithium batteries and has banned cargo shipments of lithium-metal batteries (which power flashlights, smoke detectors, and non-rechargeable cameras, for example) on passenger aircraft because they are even more volatile than lithium-ion batteries, and FAA testing has shown definitively that lithium-metal fires are unresponsive to typical on-board extinguishing agents," the group wrote in a blog post on its website. "However, despite the same risk that these batteries pose on cargo aircraft, inexplicably lithium-metal batteries are still shipped in bulk on all-cargo aircraft," the post continued. Most major airlines are already banning passengers from carrying lithium batteries in their luggage after warnings from receiving federal regulators. Federal rules currently require the FAA to defer to international aviation rules for lithium batteries, which became a topic of concern in aviation circles after a series of incidents involving fires on the Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" during its 2013 rollout. Battery makers have protested the effort to convince lawmakers to go further than international regulators on banning the devices completely. The Portable Rechargeable Battery Association, the group that lobbies for battery markers in Washington, said the FAA's testing has shown that the risk of fires from lithium ion batteries can be diminished if the devices are not fully charged before they are shipped. "It is unfortunate that the recent decisions made by the ICAO Council and the Air Navigation Commission did not factor in the most recent U.S. Federal Aviation Administration test data on lithium ion batteries," the group said. "The FAA data conclusively demonstrated that the 30 percent state of charge limitation on lithium ion batteries adopted by the Dangerous Goods Panel and scheduled to take effect on April 1 prevents propagation between lithium ion batteries in packaging and eliminates the concerns regarding the release of flammable gases," the group continued. The pilots union is painting a starkly different picture of rechargeable batteries in cargo areas of airplanes sparking potential mid-flight fires. "Lithium batteries can self-ignite when damaged, defective, or exposed to a heat source," the ALPA wrote. "They also burn incredibly hot, and FAA testing has shown that fires involving lithium batteries are unresponsive to halon, the traditional extinguishing agent used aboard aircraft." The debate over air shipments of lithium batteries comes as lawmakers are debating a broader funding measure for the FAA that has become embroiled in arguments about a controversial plan to separate air traffic control from the agency. GOP leaders in the House pulled the plug on the controversial plan to restructure the nation's air traffic control system on Thursday, casting doubt on the potential for a broad aviation funding package to be approved this year. The pilots union said lawmakers should press ahead with a ban on lithium batteries, even if they opt for a short-term measure to temporarily extent the FAA's funding. "ALPA has been calling on Congress to provide proper guidance to our regulators to ensure that the U.S. continues to be a world leader on aviation safety," the group wrote. "Congress should expeditiously pass legislation to ensure all shipments of lithium batteries, both lithium-metal and lithium-ion, are fully regulated as outlined in dangerous goods standards and regulations, and to require labeling, quantity limits, crew notification, airline acceptance checks, and packaging standards so as to mitigate any risk a fire could pose to passengers, crewmembers, and the aircraft." http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/270905-pilots-push-for-domestic-ban-on-battery- air-shipments Back to Top Pilot shortage sends airline into bankruptcy A shortage of pilots has caused a major feeder airline to file for bankruptcy. Republic Airways (RJET), which flies smaller regional jets for United Airlines (UAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL), said the shortage of pilots has caused it to ground so many of its planes that it was forced it to file for bankruptcy protection. The airline filed for bankruptcy in New York on Thursday. "We worked hard to avoid this step," said CEO Bryan Bedford. He said the airline plans to continue normal operations during the reorganization. Republic has a fleet of about 240 regional jets and operates about 1,250 flights a day to about 100 cities in the U.S. and Canada. They fly under the American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express names. It has about 6,000 employees, of whom 2,100 are pilots. But for the first three quarters of last year the number of hours it flew dropped by about 5%. And it faces a lawsuit from Delta charging it with breach of contract for failing to operate all of the flights it had contracted to fly. Regional carriers are a key part of the nation's air service, operating 45% of the flights and being the sole provider of service to many smaller cities. Republic pays its new hires about $40 an hour under a new contract that took effect in November, nearly double what they were paid under the previous contract. It also offers a $7,500 signing bonus. But Kit Darby, an expert on pilot pay, said regional pilots can only fly about 1,000 hours a year, so the $40 an hour isn't as much pay as it appears. "The pay is coming up very quickly, and it needed to," said Darby. "They were woefully underpaid before, making maybe $23,000 a year. But just increasing the pay doesn't create any more pilots." Related: Airlines saved $11 billion on fuel. You saved 8 bucks Darby said safety rules have tightened in recent years, and new regional airline pilots today must have 1,500 hours of flying experience compared to 250 hours previously. So filling the shortage of pilots at regional carriers won't be fixed quickly. "All the regional airlines are dealing with shortages," he said. "We've had shortages in the past, but they didn't last very long. This is different." http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/26/news/companies/pilot-shortage-bankruptcy/ Back to Top Drone detection system exposes pilots flying dangerously close to airports The FAA is working on technology to detect drones flying in sensitive airspace As hobby drones have wildly increased in popularity, so too has the need to keep pilots accountable. Following the launch of a mandatory drone registry last year, the US government is now exploring new technologies to detect drones flying too close to airports. Early testing has been labelled a success, and holds the promise of not just sniffing out rogue drones but the irresponsible people behind the joysticks as well. While it continues to work on new laws to safely integrate drones into national airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ramped up its public awareness campaigns. This has included educational materials offered at the point of sale, digital campaigns and a smartphone app. Now it is enlisting new technologies to further mitigate the risk to public safety. The number of instances of drones flying dangerously close to airliners has risen sharply over the last year, with the FAA saying it receives over 100 reports of such events each month. The new initiative, which was announced in October, sees the agency partner with private company CACI in an effort to avoid potential catastrophic collisions with manned aircraft. CACI's drone-detecting tech counts on radio frequency sensors placed strategically around an airport. These sensors detect the same frequencies used by drones, triangulates the signals and then zeroes in on the location of not just the vehicle, but the pilot too. The system was tested out for the first time at Atlantic City International Airport last month, where 141 operations were carried out over five days. "The results of testing under our PathFinder agreement with the FAA at Atlantic City International Airport demonstrate that CACI's proprietary system - SkyTracker - performed as designed," says CACI Chief Operating Officer John Mengucci. "SkyTracker successfully identified, detected, and tracked UAS in flight, and precisely located drone ground operators - all without interfering with airport ground operations." We have seen a number of inventive approaches to tackling rogue drone flights in recent months, ranging from drone-catching nets to radio beams and firmware updates from manufacturers that block flights in sensitive airspace. The FAA and CACI will continue testing their detection technology over the coming months and will deliver a final report by August 2016. Source: FAA http://www.gizmag.com/drone-detection-pilots/42076/ Back to Top Drone flies within 30 feet of passenger jet landing at Heathrow Multiple close-misses near London revealed in UK air safety report, plenty more in the US. Part of a report of a September near-miss between an Airbus passenger jet and a "helicopter drone" very close to Heathrow. File this under the category of "drone pilots trying to ruin it for everybody." According to a safety incident report published by the United Kingdom's Airprox air safety board, an Airbus A319 landing at Heathrow International Airport last September narrowly avoided a collision with a drone flying at an altitude of 500 feet as the jet was on its final approach. The pilots reported the small hovering helicopter-style drone passed about 25 yards to the left of the cockpit and just 20 feet above the aircraft. The A319's wingspan is 112 feet, so that would mean the drone missed the airliner by as little as 30 feet. The pilot reported that there was no time once the drone was sighted to take evasive action. The pilot reported the drone to air traffic controllers, and the police were dispatched. However, the drone pilot was not found. The incident was classified as meeting risk category A-the highest level of incident covered by the reporting system short of an actual collision. The drone was not detected by air traffic control radar, so the only details of the event and how close the aircraft came to striking the drone are the pilot's estimate of distance. In the UK, drones are limited to flight below 400 feet and are banned from flying in controlled airspace (like that around Heathrow) without permission from air traffic controllers. As the report noted, UK Civil Aviation Authority rules require a drone to stay within visual line of sight of the pilot-a maximum of 500 meters (1,640 feet) horizontally and 400 feet vertically from the operator. This was hardly the only incident reported over London in the latest published details from UK Airprox. An Embraer E190 commuter jet had a less severe close call at an altitude of 2,600 feet over London just two days earlier, with a helicopter drone passing within 50 feet of its path. Less than a week later, a pilot of a Piper Cherokee reported a drone missing his aircraft by about 20 feet. There were hundreds of these types of incidents reported in the US last year. Most recently, according to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System database, the pilot of a Bombardier CRJ200 commuter plane landing in Pittsburgh reported coming within 200 feet of a drone. "While on approach to PIT the captain noticed a drone and called its position out," the first officer noted in his incident report. "I looked up and saw a drone with a camera attached to the bottom pass no more than 200 feet above and to the left of the aircraft. We were descending through 500 feet at about 250 (nautical miles per hour) on the visual approach. It is obvious that catastrophic damage would have occurred to the aircraft if we would have struck the drone." The first officer also complained that somebody should be enforcing the FAA's regulations restricting drones flying near airports. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/drone-flies-within-30-feet-of- passenger-jet-landing-at-heathrow/ Back to Top Jet that caught fire on McCarran runway has left Las Vegas The British Airways Boeing 777 that aborted a takeoff at McCarran International Airport in September flies out of McCarran International Airport on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. Courtesy, Clark County Department of Aviation The British Airways Boeing 777 that caught fire on a McCarran International Airport runway in September and has been parked ever since for inspections and repairs has left Las Vegas. McCarran and British Airways officials confirmed that the twin-engine jet departed McCarran at 1:33 p.m., landing at Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, Calif., at 3:06 p.m. Repair crews replaced the jet's left engine and tested it Thursday night. Workers also patched a section of the aircraft's port-side hull as part of the repair process. According to FlightAware, which tracks flights worldwide, the aircraft flew southeast over the Phoenix area before turning west, then northwest to land at the Victorville airport where the plane is expected to be painted before being flown to the United Kingdom. Southern California Logistics Airport was formerly George Air Force Base and has more maintenance capabilities than McCarran. Crews took advantage of Runway 25R/7L - McCarran's longest - being closed for repairs to put the replaced engine through a series of high-performance tests before the plane was flown. McCarran officials had warned people on social media that controlled aircraft engine testing could cause "intermittent noise, smoke and activity on the airfield" Thursday night, but didn't specify that it was the British Airways plane. The departure ends the jet's 171-day stay in Las Vegas, during which British Airways paid $375 a day in parking fees. The jet, a Boeing 777-200ER, was scheduled to fly as British Airways Flight 2276 from McCarran to London's Gatwick International Airport on Sept. 8. Midway through its takeoff run, before the plane lifted off the ground, the jet's left engine experienced an uncontained failure that started a fire. Debris spewed out of the engine and onto the runway. The pilot shut down the engine and aborted the takeoff and while McCarran's emergency response crews sped to the burning plane, the plane's 157 passengers and 13 crew members began evacuating on emergency slides. Officials reported 14 people suffered minor injuries, most of them as a result of a rough escape down the emergency slides. The runway was closed for four hours. http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/jet-caught-fire-mccarran-runway-has-left-las- vegas Back to Top Embraer says Republic Air had 24 jet orders at Chapter 11 filing Republic Airways Holdings Inc had outstanding orders for 24 Embraer E175 passenger jets when it filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in a U.S. court last week, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer SA said on Sunday. Embraer has already delivered four E175 jets to the U.S. airline out of 28 total firm orders. The remaining 24 were scheduled for delivery between August 2016 and December 2017. Sao Jose de Campos, Brazil-based Embraer said it is waiting to see how the reorganization proceeds to determine how the situation will affect the outstanding orders. "Despite the bankruptcy protection filing, Republic continues to operate normally, as is the case with other airlines that have passed through Chapter 11 in the past," Embraer said in a statement. Indianapolis-based Republic Airways has a fleet of 230 Embraer aircraft. These include 50 ERJ 140/145 model jets and 180 E170/175 aircraft, Embraer said. Republic said last week it filed for bankruptcy protection because it has lost revenue as a result of grounding aircraft for lack of pilots. On Friday, Republic Airways shares fell 73 percent to 92 cents, the stock's biggest one- day drop in at least 20 years. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-embraer-republic-air-hld-orders-idUSKCN0W10ZZ Back to Top SMS Industry Forum - 2016 Greetings everyone! With the release and implementation of 14 CFR Part 5, American Airlines Corporate SMS team will be hosting the Safety Management System (SMS) Industry Forum. This event will include speakers from the FAA and industry partners and provide interactive SMS learning workshops, tips and tools. The SMS Industry Forum is scheduled for May 10-11, 2016, (travel days May 9 and May 12), in Fort Worth, Texas. The meeting will begin on Tuesday, May 10th at 8:00 a.m. Meeting location and lodging information is listed below. There is no official room block for this event. Attached is a registration form. If you plan to attend, please fill out the form and return it to safety.assurance@aa.com at your earliest convenience. If you have additional folks coming, please have them fill out the registration form as well. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. We look forward to seeing you in May! Thank you, Shelley Corzo Corporate SMS, American Airlines 817-967-1010 **************** Back to Top Call for papers for ISASI 2016, Iceland, 17 to 20 October 2016 The International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) will hold their 47th annual seminar at the Grand Hotel Reykjavik, Iceland, from the 17 to 20 October 2016. The seminar theme is: "Every link is important" Papers are invited to address this theme in conjunction with other contemporary matters on aviation safety investigation, including recent case studies, new investigation methods and aviation safety trends or developments. For those interested in presenting a paper, submissions of abstracts are due by 15 April 2016. Abstracts should include a title and up to 300-word summary of the main points of the proposed paper. Please also include your name(s), affiliation, position, and a brief resume. Submissions, or any inquiries regarding submissions, are to be sent to: papers-ISASI2016@ESASI.EU. The panel reviewing the submitted abstracts will consider criteria such as the quality of the paper and the relevance to the seminar theme and air safety investigation. The panel will also endeavour to ensure that a broad range of topics are covered during the seminar. Decisions on the selected abstracts will be made by the 1 June 2016 and details on the required format of the papers and presentations will be issued at that time. Presenters will be required to submit their papers by 1 August 2016. Further information on ISASI16 is available at www.esasi.eu/isasi-2016. Back to Top The 8th Triennial International Aircraft Fire and Cabin Safety Research Conference will be held at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, October 24-27, 2016. The conference aims to inform the international aviation community about recent, ongoing, and planned research in transport category airplane fire and cabin safety. The conference is jointly sponsored by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). 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. The crash dynamics sessions will include studies focusing on aircraft-level crash impact performance, as well as studies that address new and emerging occupant injury criteria. These sessions will also include studies regarding the use of analytical modeling in various aspects of occupant protection, particularly where gathering statistically meaningful empirical data is difficult. Previous conference sessions have addressed ditching behavior, energy absorption characteristics of nonmetallic materials, and human tolerance to high levels of lateral loading, among many others. The fire safety sessions will include presentations on research in lithium battery fire hazards and mitigation, engine/powerplant fire protection, cabin/cockpit fires, magnesium use in aircraft cabins, fire test method development (interior materials), cargo fire protection, and advanced fire research. Previous conference sessions have addressed battery fires, development of new test methods for Appendix F, fire research projects in Europe, full scale lithium battery testing, fire research materials and characterization. 2013 conference proceedings are available at http://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/2013Conference/proceedings.asp. Conference registration is free and is open to anyone with an interest in aircraft fire and cabin safety research. Past attendees have included aviation safety professionals in the areas of engineering, design, operations, maintenance, and research. Attendance at this year's conference is expected to reach 600-700. Conference registration and hotel reservation details are available at http://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/2016Conference/conference.asp. Conference presenter bios and presentation abstracts will be available on this website a few months prior to the conference date. Please contact April Horner, CMP, Conference Manager, with any questions at april.ctr.horner@faa.gov. Back to Top Research Survey Request For my Research on future cockpit layouts, I kindly request 10 minutes of your time to answer the attached survey. The topic Gamification might surprise some, but it is a growing discussion for modern workplaces and its often fatiguing conditions. http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/PilotInteractionInModernCockpits/ Thank you, Capt. Tilmann Gabriel MBA FRAeS ISO/IEC 17024 Certified Global Aviation Expert Assistant Professor Programme Director MSc Air Transport/Aircraft Maintenance Management City University of London Back to Top RESEARCH SURVEY MENTAL HEALTH & FLYING SURVEY Hi, my name is Daniel Danczyk. I am soliciting participation in my survey on mental health and flying. If you are involved in seeing pilots with mental health or substance abuse issues, or are involved in their cases, please complete my anonymous survey (link below). On average, completion takes no more than 5-7 minutes. You do not need to be a clinician to participate; I am looking for anyone that is involved in the medical treatment or certification of pilots, whether they are doctors, airline employees assisting with monitoring, private consultants, HIMS participants, government, or other experts. Below the survey link is a more detailed description of my study including consent and contact information. Thank you so much for your time! Daniel Danczyk, MD Fellow in Aerospace Medicine AME/Flight Surgeon/Pilot/Psychiatrist Mental Health and Flying Survey https://src.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0xLGAkp4CAtv36d STUDY/CONSENT INFORMATION IRB #: 15-008911 Mayo Clinic: Office for Human Research Protection Protocol Title: Airline transport pilots and mental health: A Comparison of the medical certification process between the U.S. and various European countries. Principal Investigator: Lawrence Steinkraus, MD You are being asked to participate in a research study about pilots and their mental health. The purpose of this research is to study how mental health medical certification is processed for pilots in their respective country. You are being invited to participate because you are involved in some aspect of their aeromedical-mental health certification. If you agree to participate you will be asked to complete an online anonymous survey questionnaire. This will take no more than 10-15 minutes of your time. No information will be recorded about you other than your country of origin. Confidentiality will be maintained by NOT being able to trace back your responses to you. In other words, your survey response will be assigned a random number for tracking/statistical purposes but cannot be traced back to you. You will receive no payment for your participation. There are no known risks to you from taking part in this research study. You may refuse to answer any question(s) that you do not wish to answer. The benefits which may reasonably be expected to result from this research study are to improve the process for mental health medical certification of pilots in your country. Please understand your participation is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw your consent or discontinue participation at any time without penalty. Your submission of the survey questionnaire signifies your consent to participate. Moreover, your current or future medical care at the Mayo Clinic will not be jeopardized if you choose not to participate. If you have any questions about this research study you can contact my co-investigator, Dr. Daniel Danczyk, at danczyk.daniel@mayo.edu. If you have any concerns, complaints, or general questions about research or your rights as a participant, please contact the Mayo Institutional Review Board (IRB) to speak to someone independent of the research team at 507-266-4000 or toll free at 866-273-4681. Curt Lewis