Flight Safety Information May 20, 2016 - No. 099 In This Issue Egypt Says Wreckage Found From Missing EgyptAir Plane Searchers scour Mediterranean for wreckage of missing EgyptAir jet EgyptAir Flight Believed to Have Crashed at Sea; Egypt Cites Possible Terrorism Pilot and Co-Pilot Are Named France Sends Aviation Experts to Take Part in MS804 Crash Probe in Egypt Egypt Air Flight MS804 Preliminary Information XL Catlin leads insurance coverage for downed EgyptAir flight Massive Search Continues for Wreckage from Missing EgyptAir Flight Silk Way, EgyptAir crashes leave aviation industry shaken LAX Beefs Up Security in Wake of EgyptAir Jet Disappearance British Airways Runs First 787 B Check Mobile (Phone) battery behind A380 cabin smoke event China Southern B738 at Wuhan on Feb 25th 2013, collided with NDB antenna on approach China Eastern A320 at Wenzhou on Mar 20th 2011, clipped trees on approach High-Altitude 'Upset Recovery' Renews Ice Crystal Interest Sea-Tac Airport to hire 90 contractors to help shrink security lines Airlines Say Congress Is Contributing to Long Airport Lines An Inside Look at Flightradar24, the Team Watching Every Airplane in the Sky Malaysian-Saudi MoU promises cooperation in civil aviation training SpiceJet to lease over 100 new single-aisle aircraft soon Secret Airlines You Might Not Know About Zodiac Arresting Systems Offers RCAM Training Call for Nominations For 2016 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award Hubble snaps a beautiful new high-resolution portrait of Mars GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST Egypt Says Wreckage Found From Missing EgyptAir Plane EgyptAir Wreckage Found North of Alexandria: Report Plane was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board Lack of pilot distress signal suggests foul play, analyst says Egyptian authorities said they found wreckage and belongings from the missing EgyptAir plane that vanished en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board, marking the first breakthrough in the investigation. Egyptian military aircraft and naval ships Friday morning found personal items and parts of the plane about 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Alexandria, the country's military spokesman said on an official Facebook page. The search, which has been ongoing since the plane disappeared early Thursday morning over the Mediterranean Sea, is continuing. Salvage teams from Greece and Egypt have been joined by French investigators to find debris as authorities seek to piece together what happened to the Airbus A320 plane. The flight lost contact in the middle of the night in the wider area of the Strabo trench in the so-called Hellenic Arc in the sea south of Greece, where waters are as much as 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) deep. Authorities aren't ruling out any possible cause for the disappearance, including a deliberate act or malfunction, though Egyptian Minister of Aviation Sherif Fathy said the possibility of a terrorist attack is higher than a technical failure. The Airbus jet made sudden movements before swooping into a deep descent before air-traffic control lost contact, according to Greek radar reports. Pilots sent no emergency signal, and their final contact with controllers revealed no signs of distress. The Egyptian presidency expressed its "deepest sorrow" and offered its condolences to the families of the victims. EgyptAir said it would take all necessary measures following discovery of the debris. Salvage crews will focus on retrieving the flight and data recorders, so-called black boxes that store key flight metrics and voices and sounds from the cockpit that can help investigators pinpoint the cause of a crash. Finding a plane after an incident, particularly over water, can often take days. EgyptAir Investigators Race Against Time, Sea for Evidence Several factors come into play when searching for wreckage in an ocean. Sea currents, weather and the speed at which the jet hits the water are some issues to be taken into consideration, said Ken Mathews, a former accident investigator who's worked with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board as well as its U.K. and New Zealand peers. "If they narrow down the likely area, then it's only a matter of time," Mathews said. "The Mediterranean is not a vast area, or so deep as an ocean." Investigators focused on the last minutes of the flight, which took off at 11:09 p.m. in Paris with 56 passengers, 7 crew and 3 security personnel. The aircraft, a modern single-aisle jet manufactured in 2003, was traveling at cruising altitude before disappearing from radar off the Egyptian coast. French air safety investigator BEA will dispatch three experts, accompanied by Airbus technical adviser, to help with the search and retrieve the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders. While the cause of the incident hasn't been identified, mid-air emergencies are rare, especially for a relatively new plane. The weather in the area of the sea close to Egypt was also good, with no winds or clouds, the Hellenic National Meteorological Service in Greece said. The sudden disappearance of an airliner at cruising altitude and with no distress call from the pilot at least raises questions of foul play, said Paul Hayes, director of air safety at London-based Ascend, an aviation consultancy. "It is our duty to know everything about the causes," French President Francois Hollande said at a press conference Thursday. "As soon as we know the truth, we'll have to draw all conclusions, be it an accident or any other hypothesis," including terrorism. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-20/egyptair-hunt-enters-second-day-greece-says- debris-not-from-jet Back to Top Searchers scour Mediterranean for wreckage of missing EgyptAir jet Search teams scoured the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, hunting for wreckage of an EgyptAir jet carrying 66 people that disappeared in a crash that Egypt said may have been caused by a terrorist attack. No group had claimed responsibility more than 24 hours after the disappearance of flight MS804, an Airbus A320 that was flying from Paris to Cairo. Three French investigators and a technical expert from Airbus arrived in Cairo early on Friday to help investigate the fate of the missing plane, airport sources said. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to rule out any explanation for the disaster, while the country's aviation minister said a terrorist attack was more likely than a technical failure. There was confusion over the discovery of possible debris, with Egyptian officials initially saying Greek authorities had found "floating material" and life jackets likely to be from the plane. However, EgyptAir Vice President Ahmed Adel told CNN late on Thursday that the wreckage had not been found. "We stand corrected on finding the wreckage because what we identified is not a part of our plane. So the search and rescue is still going on," Adel said. Greek defence sources told Reuters the material was discovered in the sea 370 km (230 miles) south of the island of Crete. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the civil aviation ministry, the army's search and rescue centre, the navy, and the air force to take all necessary measures to locate debris from the aircraft. In a statement issued by his office, Sisi also ordered an investigative committee formed by the civil aviation ministry to immediately start investigating the causes of the plane's disappearance. Officials from multiple U.S. agencies told Reuters that a U.S. review of satellite imagery so far had not produced any signs of an explosion aboard the EgyptAir flight. The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the conclusion was the result of a preliminary examination of imagery and cautioned against media reports suggesting the United States believed a bomb was responsible for the crash. They said the United States has not ruled out any possible causes for the crash, including mechanical failure, terrorism or a deliberate act by the pilot or crew. Amid uncertainty about what brought down the plane, Los Angeles International Airport became the first major U.S. air transportation hub to say it was stepping up security measures. http://in.reuters.com/article/egyptair-airplane-idINKCN0YA094 Back to Top EgyptAir Flight Believed to Have Crashed at Sea; Egypt Cites Possible Terrorism CAIRO - The EgyptAir red-eye from Paris to Cairo, an Airbus A320 jetliner less than half full, had just entered Egyptian airspace early Thursday on the final part of its journey. Suddenly the twin-engine jetliner jerked hard to the left, then hard to the right, circled and plunged 28,000 feet, disappearing from the radar screens of Greek and Egyptian air traffic controllers. That began a day of emergency rescuers scrambling, officials issuing conflicting information and experts speculating about the fate of EgyptAir Flight 804, which carried at least 66 people from roughly a dozen nations and was presumed to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. EgyptAir initially said wreckage of the plane had been found with the help of searchers from Greece, but a senior official of the airline speaking on CNN retracted that assertion hours later. Egyptian officials suggested that terrorism was a more likely cause for the disappearance than mechanical failure, but others cautioned that it was premature to make that judgment. The loss of the flight was the second civilian aviation disaster to hit Egypt in the past seven months. It resurrected fears and speculation about the safety and security of Egyptian aviation, which has a history of lapses - as well as the specter of a security breach in Paris, where the plane took off. The mystery of the plane's demise also raised broader questions about the vulnerability of civilian air travel to terrorism. Flight 804 went missing against the backdrop of threats from militant extremist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, with networks linking Europe to the Middle East. By Thursday evening, no group had claimed responsibility. With differing reports about precisely what wreckage had been discovered, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt ordered the armed forces to "take all measures necessary" to find the remains of the plane, his office said in a statement. The statement also said work had begun immediately "to unravel the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the Egyptian aircraft and establish its causes." As news of the missing plane spread in Cairo, relatives of those aboard rushed to the airport, some overcome with grief and anger over the lack of information. "Pray for them," said a relative of a flight attendant who had just married. "We don't know anything." Earlier in the day, Egypt's civil aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, acknowledged at a news conference that the cause might have been terrorism. Mr. Fathi said that "if you analyze the situation properly," the possibility of "having a terror attack is higher than the possibility" of technical failure. EgyptAir said the pilot and co-pilot had nearly 9,000 hours of flying time between them. Officials from the Interior Ministry and Cairo Airport described them as experienced fliers with no known political affiliations. EgyptAir Flight 804, en route from Paris to Cairo, disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday morning after it abruptly turned and dropped in altitude. The jetliner departed Paris at 11:09 p.m. on Wednesday. The pilot spoke to Greek air traffic controllers at 2:26 a.m. and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, officials said. Three or four minutes later, the plane made its last normal radar contact. At 2:37 a.m., shortly after entering Egyptian airspace, the plane made a 90-degree turn to the left and then a full circle to the right, first plunging to 15,000 feet from 37,000 feet and then to 9,000 feet. At that point it disappeared from radar, the Greek defense minister, Panos Kammenos, said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon. There was also conflicting information about precisely how many passengers Flight 804 was carrying - 66 or 69. EgyptAir said early in the day that 56 passengers were aboard, along with seven crew members, and three members of airline security personnel. But three infants also were reported to have been aboard and it was unclear if they had been counted. At least 30 of the passengers were from Egypt, according to the airline, with others from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Chad, France, Iraq, Kuwait, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The aircraft was delivered to EgyptAir in November 2003 and had accumulated 48,000 hours of flying time, according to data compiled by Flightradar24, an aviation website. Such aircraft are typically built to last 30 or 40 years, and there was no indication anything was mechanically amiss. But the aircraft's North Africa itinerary in the previous two days was possibly more worrisome. Flightradar24 data showed it had flown round trips between Cairo and Asmara, Eritrea, and between Cairo and Tunis before going to Paris. American and European officials have expressed concerns about security gaps in North African airports. EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday shortly before it was due to land. Here are some of the people who were on board. By NEIL COLLIER and SHANE O'NEILL on Publish Date May 19, 2016. Photo by via Facebook. Watch in Times Video » Officials in Egypt, who have been under intense scrutiny since a bomb brought down a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board, declined to describe the events as a crash. The aviation minister's quick acknowledgment that terrorism might be a cause this time was in stark contrast to the government's handling of the loss of the Russian airliner, which Egyptian officials had insisted for months could not have been the result of terrorism. The French president, François Hollande, after speaking by telephone with President Sisi of Egypt, also raised the possibility of terrorism. "The information that we have been able to gather - the prime minister, the members of the government, and, of course, the Egyptian authorities - unfortunately confirm for us that this plane crashed at sea and has been lost," Mr. Hollande said at the Élysée Palace. Mr. Hollande said that "no hypothesis was being ruled out," and that search teams from France, Greece and Egypt were hoping to recover "debris that would enable us to know the truth." He added, "When we have the truth, we must draw all the conclusions, whether it is an accident or another hypothesis, which everybody has in mind: the terrorist hypothesis." Security at Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, where Flight 804 departed, was tightened after the terrorist attacks in and around the French capital in November, and scrutiny of passengers and luggage was also stepped up in the wake of the bombing of Brussels Airport in March. PAST EGYPTAIR DISASTERS * May 7, 2002A Boeing 737 that had taken off from Cairo crashed four miles from its destination, Tunis, killing at least 14 of the 62 on board. It was making its second approach, after the landing gear failed the first time. * Oct. 31, 1999The co-pilot of a Boeing 767, en route to Cairo from Kennedy Airport, deliberately flew into the Atlantic off Massachusetts, the National Transportation Safety Board found. All 217 people aboard died. * Nov. 23, 1985Three armed men hijacked a Cairo-bound flight and force it to land in Malta. Sixty people died, most of them when Egyptian commandos set off an explosive device under the aircraft and rushed the plane. * Dec. 25, 1976A Boeing 707 going to Bangkok from Cairo crashed into a factory near the runway in the Thai capital. All 52 on board were killed, as well as scores of textile workers. * Jan. 30, 1973A Soviet-built Ilyushin 18 turboprop airliner crashed into a mountain near Nicosia Airport in Cyprus, killing all 37 people on board. President Obama was briefed by Lisa O. Monaco, his adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism, and the administration offered "support and assistance," the White House said in a statement. Administration officials said it was too early to say what had caused the plane to vanish. But they said they were sharing information from a terrorist watch list as well as other data with Egyptian, French and other investigators. EgyptAir said the last radar contact with the plane had been about 2:30 a.m., when it was 175 miles off the Egyptian coast. (Greek officials put the last radar contact at a minute earlier.) At 3:14 a.m., the Greek authorities began a search operation, deploying a C-130 military transport plane. At 4:26 a.m. - nearly two hours after the last radar contact - the plane emitted a signal, although it was not clear whether that was an emergency distress signal sent by a crew member or an automated signal from the plane's onboard computers. "We don't know if the pilot had something to do with this or if it is just the plane sending it," said Ihab Raslan, a spokesman for the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry. In the October crash of the Russian jetliner, the plane broke up in midair 23 minutes after takeoff from the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el Sheikh. The Islamic State, whose local affiliate is fighting the Egyptian military in the Sinai Peninsula, claimed that it had brought down the plane, an Airbus A321-200. Relatives of passengers on the EgyptAir flight that vanished on Thursday said they had received little information about what might have happened to the plane. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and REUTERS on Publish Date May 19, 2016. Photo by Khaled Desouki/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images. Watch in Times Video » The crash dealt a crippling blow to Egypt's tourism industry, which had already declined sharply in recent years. It also helped precipitate a decline in the value of the Egyptian currency in recent months. Russia and Britain have suspended flights to Sharm el Sheikh since the crash. The Egyptian investigation has yet to officially identify the cause. But President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Mr. Sisi discussed the resumption of flights in a telephone call on May 10, according to a statement from the Kremlin. The last major crash involving an EgyptAir plane occurred in 2002, when a Boeing 737 traveling from Cairo struck a hill near the Tunis airport, killing 18 of the 62 people on board. In March, a hijacker wearing a fake explosives vest diverted an EgyptAir domestic flight to Cyprus, but a standoff ended with his arrest and no injuries. The Cypriot authorities later described the man, Seif Eldin Mustafa, as "psychologically disturbed." He is currently battling extradition to Egypt. Egypt has come under criticism in the past for its lack of transparency in aviation accidents. In 1999, an EgyptAir flight crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from New York, killing all 217 on board. Although American investigators concluded that the co-pilot had steered the airplane into the sea, Egypt rejected the idea of suicide and still insists that the crash was caused by an unspecified mechanical failure. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/20/world/middleeast/egyptair-flight-804.html?_r=0 Back to Top Pilot and Co-Pilot Are Named The pilot of Flight 804, Mohamed Saeed Shaqeer, was 36 years old and had 6,275 hours of total flying time, including 2,101 hours at the controls of an Airbus 320 like the one used on the Paris to Cairo flight, according to a spokeswoman for the civil aviation ministry and EgyptAir. His co-pilot, Mohamed Ahmed Mamdouh, 24, had 2,766 flying hours, the airline said. An Egyptian Interior Ministry official said the men had no known political affiliations, and had passed their periodic background security checks. A Cairo airport official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, described Mr. Shaqeer as kind and responsible. He also dismissed any suggestion that either of the pilots might have downed the plane, calling the idea preposterous. http://www.nytimes.com/live/egyptair-flight-missing-paris-cairo/pilot-and-co-pilot-identified-by-egyptair/ Back to Top France Sends Aviation Experts to Take Part in MS804 Crash Probe in Egypt Experts of the French Bureau of Inquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) accompanied by an Airbus technical adviser will arrive in Egypt in the coming hours, according to the statement of the BEA. * NATO Ready to Help Investigate EgyptAir Flight MS804 Disappearance MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The French Bureau of Inquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) sent a team of investigators to be accompanied by an Airbus plane manufacturer expert to Egypt to take part in the probe into the crash of the EgyptAir flight MS804, the BEA said in a statement issued on Thursday. The Airbus A320 disappeared from radar screens earlier on Thursday. Following the plane's disappearance, the Egyptian Civil Aviation authorities informed the BEA about opening a safety investigation, according to the statement. "A team of three BEA investigators accompanied by an Airbus technical adviser will arrive in Egypt in the coming hours," the statement said. The BEA's work will reportedly include advising the Egyptian authorities in organizing underwater searches to locate the flight recorders. According to international laws, the BEA, representing the state of aircraft's manufacturer, has to be involved in the investigation. The EgyptAir flight departed from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 23:09 GMT on Wednesday. The aircraft was heading for Cairo International Airport. According to the airline, there were a total of 66 people on board the plane, including 56 passengers. Later in the day, the airline confirmed that searches found the wreckage of the aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea. http://sputniknews.com/world/20160519/1039920912/france-experts-ms804.html#ixzz49BrcrsTE Back to Top Egypt Air Flight MS804 Preliminary Information Status: Preliminary Date: Thursday 19 May 2016 Time: 02:29 Type: Airbus A320-232 Operator: EgyptAir Registration: SU-GCC C/n / msn: 2088 First flight: 2003-07-25 (12 years 10 months) Engines: 2 IAE V2527-A5 Crew: Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10 Passengers: Fatalities: 56 / Occupants: 56 Total: Fatalities: 66 / Occupants: 66 Airplane damage: Destroyed Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: 200 km (125 mls) N of Egyptian coast ( Mediterranean Sea) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG), France Destination airport: Cairo International Airport (CAI/HECA), Egypt Flightnumber: MS804 Narrative: EgyptAir flight MS804, an Airbus A320 impacted the Mediterranean Sea some 200 km north of the Egyptian coast line. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, departed Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, at 23:21 hours local time on May 18. Scheduled departure time was 22:45 hours. Last contact with the flight was at FL370, about 02:29 hours. Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 suggests the aircraft had just entered the Cairo FIR via the KUMBI waypoint and was about 10 miles inside Egyptian airspace when contact was lost. About 19:00 hours local time EgyptAir confirmed that pieces of wreckage were located at sea. Greek military authorities earlier reported that their primary radar showed the aircraft suddenly taking a 90 degree turn left, followed by a 360 degrees turn in the opposite direction as it descended from FL370 to FL150 before disappearing off radars. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20160519-0 Back to Top XL Catlin leads insurance coverage for downed EgyptAir flight The EgyptAir plane making the following flight from Paris to Cairo, after flight MS804 disappeared from radar, takes off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, May 19, 2016. XL Catlin is the lead underwriter for the EgyptAir Flight 804 airliner that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, industry sources said, and Marsh L.L.C. is the broker. The plane, an Airbus A320, was flying from Paris to Cairo when it swerved sharply upon entering Egyptian airspace and crashed into the water, media reports said. Sixty-six people were on board. Both Marsh and XL Group P.L.C. declined to comment. Heliopolis, Egypt-based EgyptAir had said on its Facebook page that the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was reporting that wreckage of the missing aircraft has been found near Greece's Karpathos Island, but later media reports said the wreckage was ultimately not from Flight 804. Media reports said that France's Accident Investigating Bureau has sent a team of three investigators to Cairo, along with a technical expert from Leiden, Netherlands-based Airbus Group S.E., which manufactured the plane. The Egyptian civil aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, said during a news conference in Cairo that it was too soon to draw conclusions about the cause of the crash, reports said, but also said that a terror attack is more likely than a technical failure. http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20160519/NEWS06/160519758/xl-catlin-leads-insurance- coverage-for-downed-egyptair-flight Back to Top Massive Search Continues for Wreckage from Missing EgyptAir Flight The disappearance of an EgyptAir jetliner carrying 66 people over the Mediterranean Sea triggered a massive search for evidence amid concern that a deliberate act may have knocked the plane from the sky. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said floating materials found near Karpathos Island may have come from the plane wreckage, EgyptAir said in a tweet in Arabic. However, Athanasios Binis, chairman of the Greek Air Accident and Investigation Safety Board, said the debris didn't come from the aircraft, broadcaster ERT reported on its website. Egyptian Minister of Aviation Sherif Fathy said the possibility of a terrorist attack is higher than a technical failure, after French President Francois Hollande said the Airbus Group SE A320 jet had crashed. "It is our duty to know everything about the causes," Hollande said Thursday at a press conference. "As soon as we know the truth, we'll have to draw all conclusions, be it an accident or any other hypothesis," including terrorism. Investigators focused on the last minutes of the flight, which took off at 11:09 p.m. in Paris with 56 passengers, 7 crew and 3 security personnel. The aircraft, a modern single-aisle jet manufactured in 2003, was traveling at cruising altitude before disappearing from radar off the Egyptian coast. The plane made sudden movements before swooping into a deep descent before air-traffic control lost contact, authorities said. Pilots sent no emergency signal, and their final contact with controllers revealed no signs of distress. While the cause of the incident hasn't been identified, mid-air emergencies are rare, especially for a relatively new plane. The weather in the area of the sea close to Egypt was also good, with no winds or clouds, the Hellenic National Meteorological Service in Greece said. The sudden disappearance of an airliner at cruising altitude and with no distress call from the pilot at least raises questions of foul play, said Paul Hayes, director of air safety at London-based Ascend, an aviation consultancy. "I hate to say it but the immediate thing that comes to mind when you see something like this is the possibility of a bomb," said Hayes. "And if it is a bomb, how did it get on board?" Hollande said no hypotheses are being excluded on the EgyptAir incident, as debris is searched for. Fathy said separately in Cairo that it was too early to call the incident an accident. Search and rescue teams from Greece are contributing to hunt for the aircraft or its remains, joining crews from Egypt and other countries. Security Review In Europe, from where Flight MS804 took off, authorities have been on high alert since terror attacks in Paris and Brussels prompted a review of security procedures. About 130 people died in the French capital after three teams of men linked to Islamic State blew themselves up outside a stadium and attacked a cafe and a concert hall in November. Bombings at the airport in the Belgian capital and on a subway in March killed 35 people. As authorities pieced together the final moments of the flight, a picture of sudden disruption emerges. Before leaving Athens air space, the pilot was in a good mood and thanked local air-traffic controllers in their native language, according to the Greek aviation authority. A short time later about 10-15 miles in Cairo air space, the plane swerved 90 degrees left, then 360 degrees right before dropping to 10,000 feet and being lost from radar, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told state-run ERT TV. Communication with Flight MS804 was lost at about 2:30 a.m. Cairo time, according to the airline. The EgyptAir plane had traveled around North Africa and back and forth to Europe in the days before the crash, according to jet tracker Flightradar24. After returning to Cairo from Paris on May 16, the A320 flew back and forth to Brussels and then made trips to Asmara in Eritrea and Tunis before heading to Paris on Wednesday. The wreck of the Paris-Cairo plane follows a string of aviation-related incidents involving the North African country, including a Russian airliner en route from Sharm-el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg that crashed soon after takeoff in October allegedly after a bomb exploded, killing 224 people. An EgyptAir flight was hijacked to Cyprus in March by a man claiming to be wearing an explosive belt, but later found to be unarmed. "You'd expect security to be very, very tight at a first-class airport, especially after what happened in Paris and Belgium," said Nick O'Brien, associate professor for counter terrorism at Charles Sturt University in Canberra. Black Boxes Salvage crews will focus on retrieving the flight and data recorders, so-called black boxes that store key flight metrics and voices and sounds from the cockpit that can help investigators pinpoint the cause of a crash. Finding a plane after an incident, particularly over water, can typically take hours if not days. The MS804 pilot has 6,275 flying hours and the co-pilot 2,766 hours, according to the airline. The plane's manufacturing date makes it a relatively young aircraft compared with EgyptAir's fleet which has an average age of 20 years. The A320 is Airbus's best-selling aircraft series, which started operating in 1988 and has a global fleet of about 6,700 jets in operation, according to Ascend. There have been 13 fatal crashes of the series, including, most recently, the crash of a Russian Metrojet airliner brought down by a suspected Islamic State bomb over Egypt's Sinai. http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2016/05/19/409263.htm Back to Top Silk Way, EgyptAir crashes leave aviation industry shaken Within a matter of hours between Wednesday afternoon and this morning, two unexplained fatal aircraft crashes - one an Antonov An-12 cargo plane, the other an EgyptAir A320 passenger aircraft - have shaken the aviation industry, sending investigators scrambling to find the causes. On the afternoon of Wed., May 18, the An-12 freighter, owned by Baku-based Silk Way Airlines, crashed shortly after takeoff from Dwyer Airport in Afghanistan's Helmand province, killing seven of the nine crew members on board. According to Azerbaijani aviation officials, both survivors were technicians from Ukraine; the deceased crew members are believed to include five Azerbaijanis, one Ukrainian and one Uzbek, the captain of the aircraft. The four-engined, propeller-driven An-12 had flown in from Bagram Air Force Base and was headed to Mary International Airport in Turkmenistan for refueling when the crash occurred. No cargo was aboard the aircraft, and no cause has yet been determined from the early investigation. The Silk Way An-12 had been reportedly leased to another carrier, but details were not yet available. Meanwhile, early this morning, EgyptAir Flight 804, flying from Paris to Cairo, disappeared soon after crossing into Egyptian airspace over the Mediterranean. Later in the day, French and Egyptian officals located floating wreckage of the A320 and determined that all 56 passengers and 10 crew members perished. Because the otherwise routine flight suffered a sudden disturbance at 37,000 feet with no communication from the crew before it plunged into the sea, some aviation officials have suspected that a bomb took down the EgyptAir jet, perhaps as an act of terrorism. Investigators and EgyptAir officials, however, have said it's far too early to determine a cause. Speculation, however, is rampant. French newspaper Le Figaro quoted a French border police source as saying that the ground crew at Flight 804's source, Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, are under investigation for potential security breaches. According to the source, also reported by the BBC, there have been a number of reports that suspected terrorists had connections to the ground handling operations at the airport, but nothing has yet been confirmed. Last November, Russian investigators confirmed that a homemade bomb brought down a Metrojet airliner in October 2015 over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula shortly after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport. http://aircargoworld.com/silk-way-egyptair-crashes-leave-aviation-industry-shaken/ Back to Top LAX Beefs Up Security in Wake of EgyptAir Jet Disappearance Officials say move was based on updated intelligence assessment, no specific threat Transportation Security Administration agents walk on the departures level at Los Angeles International Airport. By ANDY PASZTOR Los Angeles International Airport boosted security measures Thursday, including stepped up police presence in the central terminal area, as a precautionary effort in the wake of EgyptAir Flight 804's disappearance en route to Cairo from Paris. Airport officials said the move was based on updated intelligence assessments but wasn't in response to any specific terrorist threat against the sprawling hub, which straddles Santa Monica Bay and is the country's busiest airport in terms of a final destination for travelers. The ramped up security means there are extra police patrols near the terminals, and motorists entering the airport are subject to random checks along the roadway. Such entrance checks have been implemented many times before at the airport, particularly after major terrorist attacks or failed attempts elsewhere. Officials at LAX, as the airport is commonly called, "constantly review the security measures we have in place, and will enhance and improve security as needed," according to the police spokeswoman Thursday's moves aren't expected to lead to flight or passenger-screening delays. airport officials said. Another element of the enhanced security focuses on the roughly 48,000 employees at LAX. After reviewing employee access points to secure areas of the airport, officials said they restricted access to more than 150 doors and reduced the number remaining open "to an operational minimum." Airport officials also assigned additional law-enforcement resources to monitor employee access points and conduct random screening of aviation workers inside secure areas. http://www.wsj.com/articles/lax-beefs-up-security-in-wake-of-egyptair-jet-disappearance-1463702917 Back to Top British Airways Runs First 787 B Check CHICAGO-British Airways' engineering team in Cardiff has completed its first B check on a Boeing 787. The aircraft, with registration G-ZBJA, is the airline's first of 42 Dreamliners. The check took 12 days, as planned, and involved checking emergency evacuation slides, overhauling cabin seats, refreshing the cabin and performing engine runs. British Airways' interior engineering facility in Blackwood, Wales, overhauled the seats. British Airways Maintenance Cardiff started planning for the B check about one year ago to ensure smooth completion. British Airways has trained 120 specialists to work on the 787, including 16 licensed aircraft engineers who completed the 45-day 787 training course. British Airways operates 16 787s, and expects to receive eight more of the -9 variant this year, an airline spokesman said. Boeing is scheduled to deliver all 42 787s to the airline by 2021. www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Mobile (Phone) battery behind A380 cabin smoke event The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating a recent cabin smoke event on a Qantas- operated Airbus A380, which was traced to a mobile phone battery. The A380, registration VH-OQD, was operating a flight from Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth on 16 May when the incident occurred. The Bureau says on its investigations and reports webpage that the jet was around 3,000km west-south- west of Dallas when smoke was detected in the aircraft's cabin. "It was subsequently determined that a mobile phone battery was the source of the smoke," it adds. The occurrence has been classified as a serious incident by the ATSB, which is gathering more information from the operator, and plans to finish its investigation in September. Flightglobal's Fleets Analyzer shows that the A380, MSN 026, was built in 2008 and is owned by a Qantas- linked special purpose vehicle. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top Incident: China Southern B738 at Wuhan on Feb 25th 2013, collided with NDB antenna on approach but managed to climb away A China Southern Boeing 737-800, registration B-5192 performing flight CZ-3367 from Guangzhou to Wuhan (China), was on a NDB/DME approach (minimum 1200 meters visibily required, MDA 430 feet) to Wuhan's runway 04 in visibility of 1500 meters occasionally reduced to 1200 meters in light rain and light fog and cloud ceiling 690 feet. The aircraft had been configured for landing before reaching the final approach fix and was maintaining 1800 feet when the aircraft reached the final approach fix at the outer marker 5.1nm before the runway threshold. The aircraft descended with the captain being pilot flying, when descending through 1000 feet the captain disengaged the autopilot. When the aircraft reached 430 feet there was no visual contact with the runway, the first officer called for level flight, reset the flight director and selected the go-around altitude into the master control panel. Still no approach lights were seen, the aircraft appeared low. A ground proximity warning "too low" activated, the first officer called for a go-around without response from the captain, another GPWS "too low" sounded, this time the captain called "go-around" and initiated the go-around, unusual sounds however occurred while the aircraft was still rotating up and it became obvious the aircraft had hit obstacles, but the aircraft climbed out to safety. The crew subsequently decided to divert to Hefei for a landing without further incident. The event became known through rumours that surfaced on China's Weibo service (similiar to Twitter) in February and got confirmed by a preliminary report by China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) on Mar 5th 2013. The CAAC reported that the aircraft sustained damage (penetrations and dents) to the left main gear door and left main gear gear proximity cover actuator, the left main gear outboard tyre received cuts. The antennas of the southern NDB "D" and inner marker were damaged, two other antenna pillars were damaged as well. The CAAC annotated that the approach was continued below MDA without necesssary visual reference putting the aircraft below the approach profile, in addition the crew did not initiate the go- around after the first ground proximity alert. http://avherald.com/h?article=45eb3067&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: China Eastern A320 at Wenzhou on Mar 20th 2011, clipped trees on approach The crew of a China Eastern Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration B-2400 performing flight MU-5577 from Shanghai Hongqiao to Wenzhou (China), had prepared for an ILS/DME runway 03 approach to Wenzhou based on ATIS broadcast. Upon initial contact with Wenzhou approach the crew was told however that winds had changed and runway 21 was now in use, the aircraft was subsequently cleared for the VOR/DME approach to runway 21. On tower the crew was reminded by tower that their minimum descent altitude (MDA) was 120 meters/394 feet (116 meters/381 feet AGL). Upon reaching MDA the crew had visual contact with the runway established, continued the approach still on autopilot and descended below MDA, but then lost visual contact. At the 50 feet call by GPWS both crew were able to see the ground but did not see the runway, the first officer called go-around twice, the captain disengaged the autopilot and initiated a go-around at around 12:10L (04:10Z). The airplane climbed out, positioned for another approach and landed safely. A post flight inspection found scratch marks on the right main landing gear, slats and flaps of right main wing and the inlet of the right hand engine (CFM-56). An inspection of the right hand engine revaled damage (dents sized up to 0.2 mm) to all 36 fan blades, scratch marks (13cm in length) at and twigs embedded in the oil discharge. Following cleaning, thorough examination of the airframe, borescopic inspection and repairs of the right engine the aircraft was able to return to service 6 days later. China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) reported that a low level cloud bank with cloud ceiling at 90 meters/295 feet MSL was moving inland from the sea causing the visibility to drop below 2000 meters. The autopilot was disconnected at an altitude of 104 feet (radar height 38 feet) and a go-around initiated, the radar height reduced to 10 feet until the airplane began to climb again. The CAAC said, that the crew did not immediately discontinue the approach after losing visual reference but tried their luck by continuing on autopilot until the "50 feet" call, only then the go-around was initiated. Due to the late decision by the crew the right hand wing, right hand engine and right hand main gear impacted and clipped treetops outside the airport perimeter. An investigation of the serious incident is under way. No Metars are available. http://avherald.com/h?article=43b9fb1f&opt=0 Back to Top High-Altitude 'Upset Recovery' Renews Ice Crystal Interest Inaccurate airspeed readings due to ice crystals prompted unnecessary dives on a United flight The crew of a United Airlines Boeing 757-200 descending into Dublin on a flight from Newark, New Jersey, early on the morning of Oct. 20, 2013, acted in a "nonstandard" manner in responding to an unreliable airspeed indication, an issue most likely caused by ice crystals that entered and overwhelmed the heating and drainage system for the right-side pitot probe. The actions-two successive pitch-down maneuvers to counter what the first officer incorrectly judged to be an aerodynamic stall-contributed to minor injuries to 13 passengers and four flight attendants. An excessive dive speed caused damage to external sections of the aircraft and one of three hydraulic systems. The incident raised a broader question on the performance of pitot probes-which measure airspeed-when flying through ice crystals at high altitude, an issue connected to several recent accidents or incidents. * A United Airlines 757-200 flew through high- altitude ice crystals, causing pitot probe issues and a flawed reaction. While pitot probes for new air transport aircraft certified after January 2015 must be shown to correctly operate in an envelope of convective cloud ice crystal conditions that include the parameters of the incident flight, ?37C (?34.6F) at 23,500 ft., the probes for aircraft certified before that date do not. Evaporating ice crystals requires more thermal energy than evaporating liquid water. The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) in its final report on the incident, published May 10, called for the FAA, as the certifying authority of the 757, to "study whether a safety deficiency exists in pitot probe icing protection" for aircraft certified before January 2015. Problems with ice crystals clogging pitot probes became more noticeable after the June 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, an AirbusA330-200 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Investigators determined that a temporary inconsistency between the airspeed measurements on the first officer's and captain's displays-most likely caused by ice crystals-initiated the chain of events that ultimately led to a pilot- induced stall and loss of control. As in the United incident, the Air France pilots had also noticed "St. Elmo's fire" on the windscreens before problems erupted. St. Elmo's fire, a luminous plasma, is an indicator of the presence of ice crystals that can affect not only the pitot probes but the engines. More recently, the AAIU cited four high-altitude ice crystal events, including two incidents in 2012 involving the same Airbus A321 and two separate BombardierCRJ700 incidents in which pilots experienced the loss of all air data in the cockpit. Transport Canada issued an airworthiness directive in April 2015, followed by other authorities, calling for changes to the flight manuals for all CRJ models to add procedures "to guide the crew to stabilize" the aircraft's speed and attitude. Bombardier also issued an emergency procedure with guidance on unreliable airspeed. * The United aircraft's second dive broke the center hydraulic system, causing a fluid leak. The loss did not affect aircraft functions. Credit: Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit The AAIU's pitot probe recommendation is one of eight issued in the Dublin final report, along with two probable causes: A temporary blockage of the right main pitot tube due to ice crystal icing, leading to an artificially low airspeed on the first officer's display; and the crew's nonstandard response to the low- airspeed reading. Contributing to the incident was the "startle effect" of that low-airspeed on the first officer just after the aircraft had experienced turbulence. Investigators said the aircraft flew through, or close to, an area of "convective cloud activity" with ice crystals predominantly in the "water phase" as the aircraft descended through 25,000 ft. when 80 nm southwest of Dublin, with the first officer on the controls. The seat-belt sign was on in the cabin. The first officer told investigators that after a bout with turbulence, the airspeed on his display had decreased to approximately 90 kt., a speed that would likely denote an aerodynamic stall. He "immediately" pushed the control column forward and applied full power without disengaging the autopilot or autothrottle, and without alerting the captain. The airspeed increased, but as soon as the first officer began raising the nose, the speed dropped again and he commenced a second pitch-down maneuver. Data from the flight data recorder (FDR), which was linked to the captain's displays, showed that the aircraft experienced a maximum negative acceleration of ?0.36g during the pushovers and a maximum pull-up of 1.72g, forces that partly caused the injuries to unbelted passengers and flight attendants. Aircraft speed increased from 300 kt. during the initial descent to as high as 380 kt., with vertical speeds as high as 12,000 ft./min. during the maneuvers. Investigators said it was likely that the high speed and rapidly changing G-loads during the second dive, approximately 50 sec. faster than the maximum cruise speed of 350 kt., dislodged and damaged the center hydraulic system servicing the bay door (beneath the aircraft) and the center hydraulic system itself, causing a loss of hydraulic fluid. The aircraft's wing-to-body fairings were also damaged, but the forces did not exceed the Boeing 757's certified limit load factor. After the second pitch-down, the pilots determined that the captain's airspeed indication was correct and began leveling the aircraft. Recommendations for United include reviewing weather radar operational guidance (investigators said the convective weather which led to the turbulence should have been visible if the weather radar was appropriately adjusted); reviewing its "unreliable" airspeed training (standard operating procedures call for checking the captain's and first officer's gauges before acting), and emphasizing to pilots the importance of using standard callouts, especially during "nonnormal" flight maneuvers. Evidence that the crew was not proceeding with standard callouts came only from postincident statements from the two pilots rather than the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which had been overwritten. The CVR has a 2 hr. duration. According to a written report from the co-pilot, a "lady from Dublin" arrived in the cockpit after the uneventful landing and asked the crew to "pull" the CVR and FDR circuit breakers, a standard practice called for by the International Civil Aviation Organization to preserve information after incidents or accidents when requested by authorities. However, due to the commotion in the cockpit at the time, the first officer says he missed shutting off the CVR breakers. The incident led to a recommendation for United to review its operations manual, which investigators said could be interpreted as requiring the preservation of CVR data only for accidents and only if authorized by airline officials other than the pilots. The first officer's unilateral decision to perform what he termed a "high-altitude stall recovery maneuver" without first considering an unreliable-airspeed anomaly yielded several recommendations to Boeing. Included is a call to review the "effectiveness" of the 757's indicated "airspeed disagree" warning, which appears as text on the center display and is accompanied by a Master Caution light on the glare shield and an audio tone. Boeing, from its analysis of the FDR, noted that the first of two "Master Caution" alerts triggered during the event was most likely the result of the airspeed disagree alert, a condition not captured by the FDR, most likely due to sampling rates. United's procedures call for checking pitch attitude and thrust levels, and later cross-checking the captain's airspeed indicator, which in this case functioned normally--reading approximately 300 kt. while the first officer's indicated 90-125 kt., according to his statements. "Other than the co-pilot suddenly perceiving a very low indicated airspeed, there were no major changes to the aircraft's angles of pitch, roll or bank," says the AAIU. "This of itself should have indicated that an airplane upset and a stall were unlikely to be occurring, and that an unreliable-airspeed indication may have been present." A speed difference of more than 15 kt. would have required the first officer to select the alternate air data source that derives airspeed from the captain's unblocked pitot probe. The AAIU says several factors-turbulence, decaying airspeed and the autothrottles increasing thrust in response to the faulty airspeed-may have convinced the first officer that the aircraft was in an upset and nearing a stall. www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Sea-Tac Airport to hire 90 contractors to help shrink security lines Passengers wait in long lines Thursday before going through a security checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. (Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times) As passengers, below, wait at a security checkpoint at Sea-Tac International Airport Thursday morning, Nat Newcomer, a trainer with HSS (at right, in blue) talks with recently hired contractors who will be helping the TSA so passengers can get through the lines more quickly. (at right, in blue) talks with recently hired contractors who will be helping the TSA so passengers can get through the lines more quickly. (Ellen M. Banner) Passengers wait in long lines Thursday before going through a security checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. (Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times) The extra staffing at the airport comes amid pressure from frustrated travelers across the country to shorten security lines that cause hours of delays. Long, slow lines at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport security checkpoints may improve starting next week, when screening officers will open more lanes in time for the peak travel season. That's what airport and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials promised Thursday when they announced Sea-Tac's move to hire 90 full-time, temporary private contractors before an expected record number of passengers maneuver through the airport's terminals this summer. "We've seen this nationwide issue in reduction in TSA staff," said Daniel Zenk, senior operations and customer-service manager for Sea-Tac. "These contractors will help support the TSA," he said. Officials estimate the extra staff could speed up lines by about 10 to 15 minutes. The change comes amid pressure from frustrated travelers across the country to shorten security lines that are causing hours of delays. At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, for example, officials have urged passengers to arrive three hours before their departure time. A Seattle traveler reported standing in line there for two hours on a recent trip. Zenk said the additional workers will make more TSA agents available to open lanes when the contractors start Monday and work through September. The change comes before the hectic Memorial Day weekend, when officials predict a half-million fliers to pass through the airport. They say the busiest day will be May 27. The private contractors, whom Sea-Tac hired through the Denver-based company HSS Inc., will help with customer-service duties, such as telling passengers to remove electronics from bags and to take off their shoes. They've undergone background checks and a week of training, Zenk said. Other airports, such as the Denver International Airport, have hired staff from the company, too, he said. Under TSA's Screening Partnership Program, 22 of about 450 commercial U.S. airports, including San Francisco International Airport, use private screeners, who must follow TSA procedures. They handle security functions, not just customer-service tasks like the new private contractors at Sea-Tac. Other airports are considering such hires, too. Some transportation experts point out, however, that airports with them are still experiencing longer wait times as passenger volume increases. Sea-Tac officials say the airport is the nation's fastest growing of its size. They expect this year's number of passengers to surpass the past year's record of more than 42 million, continuing a five-year growth trend. More than 3.5 million fliers used the airport in April alone, according to airport spokesman Perry Cooper. The Port of Seattle Commission approved $3.3 million for the private contractors, an operations cost that airport users cover in fees and rates, officials said. Last week, Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the TSA would pay more overtime for screeners, speed up hiring and increase the use of bomb-sniffing dogs. Congress has moved $34 million in the TSAs budget to help the agency pay for 768 additional screeners. The agency is also moving bomb-sniffing dogs that screen passengers from smaller airports to larger ones. Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the TSA, said Sea-Tac will receive 48 additional screening officers in the coming months with the change. She said the airport has the equivalent of 835 TSA staffers among its part-time and full-time employees and plans to have 855 by the peak of summer. The airport has five bomb-sniffing dogs, with a goal of 10 by the beginning of next year, Dankers said. Cooper said in an email that airport officials and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., continue to emphasize to the TSA that adding agents, dogs and screening lanes will help the problem here. Training screening officers locally also helps shrink lines, officials say. All federal airport-screening officers had been required to travel to Georgia, but the training backlog only further slowed airport checkpoints, they said. The new screening officers are being trained locally, Dankers said. During the midmorning news conference, lines moved relatively quickly, and some travelers said they noticed. About an hour before, though, they waited in wrapping lines that filled security checkpoints. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sea-tac-airport-to-hire-90-contractors-to-help- shrink-security-lines/ Back to Top Airlines Say Congress Is Contributing to Long Airport Lines As airport security lines get longer, the finger-pointing over blame is growing too. The nation's leading airlines, already feuding with the Transportation Security Administration, are now taking on Congress. The trade group Airlines for America on Thursday says Congress should reverse a 2013 decision that diverted $12.6 billion in passenger-security fees to reducing the federal budget deficit. The airlines want that money to pay for airport security screening. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has joined a handful of senators in asking airlines to waive fees on checked bags. They say that would lead to fewer carry-on bags for TSA to screen. Neither side is giving ground, and passengers are stuck in the middle. Airlines say lines are long because TSA is understaffed while travel is expected to hit a record high this summer. Congress has advanced TSA money to hire 768 more screeners and pay overtime this summer, but airlines say that won't be good enough. They have honed in on a 2013 budget bill in which Congress raised security fees on airline tickets and ordered the Homeland Security Department to set aside $12.6 billion over 10 years to reduce the deficit, including $1.25 billion this year. "That decision has come home to roost," said Nick Calio, president of the airline trade group. He said in a letter to senators that Congress should immediately put that money into screening passengers, "where it belongs." Earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asked the airlines to suspend fees on checked bags, which encourage passengers to take more carry-on luggage through TSA checkpoints. "Inspecting carry-on luggage has a lot to do with the wait time," Johnson told reporters in Washington on Tuesday night. "We have asked the airlines to consider possibly eliminating the checked-baggage fee to encourage people to check their luggage rather than putting it in the carry on." Airlines are resisting. They say that bag fees have been common since 2008 and that long lines were not a big problem until this year. They also point out that some of the longest lines have been at Chicago's Midway Airport, where the dominant carrier, Southwest Airlines, charges only for three or more bags. U.S. airlines raised $3.8 billion from bag fees last year, according to the government. Airlines and TSA agree that lines would be shorter if more passengers paid for expedited screening. The airline trade group says TSA should make that happen by waiving the $85 fee for "PreCheck," which speeds things up because passengers don't have to remove shoes, belts and light jackets and can leave laptops in their bags. The TSA says that about $35 of the fee - which is good for five years - goes to the cost of vetting passengers and the rest is paid to the vendor who signs up passengers, MorphoTrust USA, so there is nothing to waive. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/airlines-congress-contributing-long-airport-lines-39239479 Back to Top An Inside Look at Flightradar24, the Team Watching Every Airplane in the Sky Fredrik Lindahl and Mikael Robertsson stand in front of a receiver at the Flightradar24 headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Keeping track of every airplane in the sky -- all 14,000 of them or so at any given moment -- is a heady task but one a team of travel enthusiasts in Stockholm, Sweden, are able to do it with unparalleled detail due to a high-tech network of receivers positioned around the world. Flightradar24, which had its first breakthrough in 2010 after an Icelandic ash cloud grounded thousands of flights, has since grown into the go-to source for everyone from aviation enthusiasts to media outlets and even governments looking for answers after an air traffic disaster. "I would say that the credibility of our data has grown tremendously. Media turns to us immediately," Mikael Robertsson, one of the co-founders of Flightradar24 told ABC News recently during a visit to the company's Stockholm headquarters. Government agencies are also looking to Flightradar24 and its trove of data, Robertsson said, noting that a group of government officials recently visited the company's headquarters. "They use our data and want to know how to access it quicker," he said. How They Do It What began as a secondary business to an airfare price comparison website has grown into a lucrative business for Flightradar24, which sells its app for $3.99 and also offers subscriptions geared toward businesses and consumers. Fredrik Lindahl, CEO of Flightradar24, told ABC News the company has about 1.5 million users per day from around the world. The competitive edge behind Flightradar24 is the company's network of 10,000 receivers scattered around the world. They're on top of office buildings, at airports or even on the roofs of homes owned by aviation enthusiasts. An antenna on the roof is wired to a receiver inside that collects the data. "With 10,000 receivers, we cover more or less the land mass around the world. We have some gaps in China, Africa but pretty much all the land is covered," Robertsson said. Every airplane is equipped with a transponder and sends out what's called an ADS-B signal. If an airplane is flying off the coast, it can make contact with a receiver 150 to 200 miles away, Robertsson said. The receivers upload data to Flightradar24's servers every five seconds. "The transponder is transmitting data twice per second," Robertsson said. "So, during five seconds the receiver is picking up ten times from an aircraft but uploading only one package, so we are dropping a lot of data." A receiver, which captures signals from nearby aircraft, is seen on the roof of Flightradar24's headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. When Disaster Strikes Robertsson and Lindahl said their busiest day ever was due to the Icelandic ash cloud, when people were apparently fascinated by the empty airspace and checking their website. But perhaps the most puzzling day was when Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH370 disappeared. "The news came out just before midnight Swedish time," Robertsson said. "I remember I was just about to go to bed and I saw on some media there was an aircraft missing so I started to check our data and I could see that we had this aircraft in coverage as it left the Malaysian coast. I think about 20 minutes later it just disappeared and then media started to report this aircraft has crashed in China, Vietnam, some reported it landed. So much different information was coming out and it was just a big mess." Robertsson pulled the last data point Flightradar24 had for MH370, which was just off the Malaysian coast, and said he tweeted about it and posted on Facebook, hoping to help bring some clarity to what had turned into an echo chamber of misinformation. For about 12 hours, there were numerous incorrect reports "about crashing and fires and landing," he said. "And then media started to go back and check, 'What do we really know?' I think that is the first time maybe that media trusted the data we had and started to report the last position was outside the Malaysian coast. It took between 12 and 24 hours, I think, before the reporting was more correct." Four months later, after MH17 was shot down and crashed in Ukraine, it took just five minutes before Flightradar24's servers crashed. After the first Malaysia Airlines incident, Robertsson said Flightradar24 began recording all of the data from a receiver so they could easily retrieve it in the event of a disaster. "Everything is saved in the box, so if something happens we can go back and download the data," he said. "A receiver can only have five to ten hours of data before it is running out of memory so it's overwriting and we have to act quite fast when something happens to go back and get the data." Immediately after the March 24, 2015, crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps, the Flightradar24 team downloaded the data from their receivers and saw a clear picture of what appeared to be a controlled descent, signalling the crash was intentional. "We didn't go public with until the authorities said he [the co-pilot] basically committed suicide, but we could see," Lindahl said. "We figured it wasn't our place to do that before the authorities but after that we shared the data [with authorities]." A screen grab made from Flightradar24.com shows the planes in flight near New York City on May 18, 2016. Watching It Live The unanswered questions of a tragedy are part of what brings people to Flightradar24, but Robertsson and Lindahl said they have also noticed a spike in curiosity when people want to follow an aviation event as it unfolds. Visitors watched as an American pilot and his wife, who were unresponsive, flew past their destination in Naples, Florida, and continued flying to the Caribbean before the plane crashed off the coast of Jamaica, killing the couple. Traffic spiked another time when a cargo aircraft needed to return to the airport in Amsterdam but first needed to shed some weight by dumping fuel. "They were circling outside the coast of Holland for one or two hours and someone in Dutch media picked up this aircraft is holding outside the coast and they put it on the first page and other media in Holland picked this up and it was everywhere in Dutch media that this aircraft is holding," Robertsson said. "This is something that happens more or less every hour anywhere so it isn't big news but it was more or less the first time Dutch media picked this up and they made it so big so we had 50, 60, 70 thousand people from Holland on the site watching this aircraft go around and around in circles." Covering the Oceans While their network is expansive, Robertsson and Lindahl said they're looking to make their coverage truly global, which means tackling a difficult problem: how to cover the oceans. The company's 10,000 receivers are dispersed around the world and cover ranges of up to 150 to 200 miles, but this leaves coverage gaps for the thousands of flights that cross oceans every day. Among the options the company is considering, according to Robertsson, are satellites or ships equipped with receivers. Balloons have also caught the attention of the Flightradar24 team. Google has experimented with launching internet-beaming balloons into the stratosphere, something Robertsson said could be a solution for achieving global coverage for Flightradar24. "Google, for example, is sending up balloons that can stay up for 100 days, so we are not talking balloons that stay up a couple hours but maybe we can send up balloons that could stay up for weeks or months," he said. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/inside-flightradar24-team-watching-airplane-sky/story?id=39175779 Back to Top Malaysian-Saudi MoU promises cooperation in civil aviation training Growing wings: (From left) Transport Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kassim, Liow, Al- Hamdan, Civil Aviation Department director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad chairman Tan Sri Dr Wan Aziz Wan Abdullah with managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali. KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has strengthened co-operation and its partnership with Saudi Arabia in civil aviation training programmes, says Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai. The Transport Minister said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed towards mutual cooperation in training of aviation personnel. Liow said through this MoU, Malaysia would share its training programmes and courses with participants from the Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC). "We are confident that this mutually-beneficial partnership will pave the way for greater collaboration in civil aviation, which in turn will spur economic growth and development," he said in a statement. Liow said Malaysia was committed to encouraging knowledge-sharing amongst nations under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), particularly in terms of capacity building. He said this was in line with its support for the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) "No Country Left Behind" initiative. "From technical expertise to development of necessary skills set, the MTCP courses conducted by the Malaysia Aviation Academy (MAvA) will offer participants on-site training, including aerodrome certification, runway safety and aviation security. "We look forward to welcoming aviation personnel from ACAC to MAvA in the near future," he said. Liow was in Saudi Arabia for the ACAC's 23rd general assembly. Describing his working trip as "fruitful," he said discussions were held with Saudi Transport Minister Sulaiman Al-Hamdan to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations, particularly in the rail and aviation sectors. Liow also met with ICAO secretary-general Dr Liu Fang and discussed a wide range of topics relating to global civil aviation matters. He extended an invitation to his peers from ACAC to take part in the third joint ICAO-World Customs Organisation Conference on Enhancing Air Cargo Security and Facilitation, scheduled in July in Kuala Lumpur, on behalf of the Malaysian Government. http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/05/20/a-partnership-for-better-pilots-malaysiansaudi- mou-promises-cooperation-in-civil-aviation-training/ Back to Top SpiceJet to lease over 100 new single-aisle aircraft soon This is the fifth straight quarter where SpiceJet has reported a net profit. SpiceJet plans to induct over 100 narrow-body planes in the next few months as the budget carrier seeks to tap growing domestic demand. Asserting that the carrier would now start with a "clean slate", SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh claimed that every single financial issue emanating out of legacy has been addressed. The airline reported more than three-fold rise in net profit at Rs 73.19 crore in the March quarter. Aided by higher revenues and lower fuel costs, SpiceJet remained profitable for the fifth straight quarter posting a net profit of Rs 73.19 crore in the fourth quarter of last financial year. It had a net profit of Rs 22.52 crore in year-ago period. Supreme Court slaps Rs 10 lakh fine on Spicejet for offloading disabled flyer In the latest March quarter, the airline took a "one-time expense of Rs 173 crore towards stabilising and improving the reliability of its fleet". During the latest March quarter, the airline's total income from operations climbed to Rs 1,474.99 crore from Rs Rs 790.91 crore in the same period a year ago. SpiceJet 11th anniversary sale: Domestic tickets from Rs 511, international Rs 2,111 "We think that we are now in a position to start with a clean slate. We hope to build up on this in the following quarters," Singh said, adding that three pending settlement claims are being worked out. He also said that discussions are going on for placing an order for more than 100 single aisle aircraft. SpiceJet's new policy to retain its pilots: Offer cars worth Rs 25 lakh Noting that the idea is to get the aircraft order right, Singh said, "we need the costing right, the delivery slots right and put in place the maintenance arrangements norms for the order". Besides, SpiceJet is negotiating with aircraft makers for 50 planes that would be used for regional air connectivity. "We need to add capacity and we are doing this by way of dry leasing. We will continue to add aircraft on dry lease. "... By June, we would have added six dry lease aircraft, basically as replacement for the wet leased ones," Singh said. Operations have stabilised with on-time performance at around 90% and cancellations rates being the lowest in the industry, SpiceJet said. In the 2016 March quarter, the carrier's total expenses went up to Rs 1,460.39 crore from Rs 888.83 crore in the year-ago period. During this period, Singh said fuel expenses fell by 25% while fares also came down. For the financial year 2015-16, SpiceJet saw its net profit surging to Rs 407.19 crore against a net loss of Rs 687.05 crore in 2014-15 fiscal. "We had inherited a deeply stressed company last year. We are delighted that we have made significant progress both financially and operationally, and have significantly strengthened our balance sheet," Singh said. http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-spicejet-reports-three-fold-jump-in-profit-to-lease-over-100-new- aircraft-2214537 Back to Top Secret Airlines You Might Not Know About When it comes time to book an international flight, you probably go to the major carriers. But it turns out there are other options-if you know where to look. From Asia to South America, flying one of these secret airlines could save you time, aggravation, and maybe even a little money. Why are these secret airlines? They are listed in the flight schedules, but not everybody knows about them. And they often don't come up on internet searches. Hainan Airlines If you're flying to Asia from North America try an airline you probably haven't heard of: Hainan Airlines. They fly nonstop to Beijing and once you get there, you can travel from there to anywhere else in the world. One added bonus: on the way back, if you take their nonstop flight from Beijing to Seattle, you clear U.S. Customs in Seattle. Guess what? Very little wait times, and that's worth everything. Hainan Airlines started in 1993 as a domestic and then regional carrier. But when they saw opportunities in the U.S. market, they expanded their reach. The first American city they connected to was Seattle. At the time, that was as far as their A330 airplanes could reach. Today, Hainan flies to six North American cities. In addition to Seattle, there's now Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Toronto. But Seattle remains their North American hub. With cheaper tickets than a lot of other carriers, there's high demand in both directions. "We will depend on Chinese outbound traffic first, but we also enjoy the strong traffic demand from Seattle to China as well, especially those corporate travelers, because there are a lot of companies in Seattle which have a very strong link to China," said Liu Jichun, General Manager of Sales & Marketing at Hainan Airlines. La Compagnie Now what if you're flying in the other direction to Europe? There's a secret airline that can take you there as well. Another airline you may not have heard about or even seen is the one behind me: La Compagnie. They started flying in July of 2014 with just one 757 between Charles De Gaulle and Newark. La Compagnie has positioned itself squarely in the business traveler market as a lower-cost alternative to major carriers. Their service begins with access to premium airport lounges at Charles De Gaulle and Newark. And inside the plane there's nothing but business class seats-and just 74 of them. But what the airline doesn't have in frequency-they only fly in one direction once a day-they more than make up for in airfares. Consider this: the normal business class fare on a New York to Paris round trip flight can be as much as $8,000, sometimes even more. But on La Compagnie, it's as low as $1,400. Copa Airlines For the Caribbean and South America, the super secret hub is Panama. Who knew? Think about this: You need to go from Chicago to Nassau in the Bahamas, they tell you every flight is full, especially through Miami. Guess what? You can get there if you come through Panama. Take Copa Airlines, they got 95 planes, they go to 69 cities in 30 countries. Copa Airlines got its start back in 1947 with some help from the iconic airline Pan Am. Originally a domestic carrier, Copa now has a flight network that spans two continents with a central hub in Panama. "Actually we have the most complete network in Latin America," said Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines. "We fly from here as far south as Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Uruguay, and as far north as LA and Toronto, and we pretty much cover everything in between, and it all hubs through Panama." What that means is that Copa can often find you the flight you need-even when all the other carriers are fully booked. That also means traveling to Cuba. The airline has at least six flights per day from Panama City to Havana. On top of that, their service includes actual service. "When we inaugurated Chicago-Panama nonstop flights a few years ago," said Heilbron, "our flight attendants came out and started serving. They had to go back to the PA system and announce that on Copa, drinks and meals were included, were free. Because passengers, mostly Americans, were saying no thanks because they thought they were gonna be charged." In the end it's not just about meals and drinks. It's about common sense and connectivity and thinking outside the box-through different hubs. You can fly through Paris, Beijing, and Panama City on three very different but very efficient airlines. http://petergreenberg.com/2016/05/19/secret-airlines/ Back to Top Call for Nominations For 2016 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) are now accepting nominations for the 2016 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, honoring a leader in aviation safety. The award will be presented during the 69th Annual International Air Safety Summit, taking place Nov. 14-16 in Dubai, UAE. Presented since 1956, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award recognizes notable achievement in the field of civil or military aviation safety in method, design, invention, study or other improvement. The award's recipient is selected for a "significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions," and a "significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities." Mechanics, engineers and others outside of top administrative or research positions should be especially considered. The contribution need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition. Nominations that were not selected as past winners of the Award can be submitted one additional time for consideration. Please note that self-nominations will not be considered. The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award's story dates back 70 years. On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed into the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In the years following, her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr., established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her honor. The Award Board, composed of leaders in the field of aviation, meets in June of each year to conduct a final review of nominees and selection of the current year's recipient. Please help us honor this year's most deserving recipient. Nominations, including a 1-2-page narrative, can be submitted via the Laura Taber Barbour Foundation website at http://ltbaward.org/the- award/nomination-form/ or the Flight Safety Foundation website at http://flightsafety.org/aviation- awards/laura-taber-barbour-air-safety-award. Nominations will be accepted until June 1, 2016. For more information, including a complete history of Award recipients, see www.ltbaward.com. ABOUT THE LAURA TABER BARBOUR AIR SAFETY AWARD: The Award was established in 1956 through early association with the Flight Safety Foundation and from its founding has enjoyed a rich history of Award Board members, nominees and Award recipients. In 2013, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed from members of the Award Board, the aviation community and the Barbour family. As the foundation plans to broaden the scope of its intent, with great purpose, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to spotlight those champions who pioneer breakthroughs in flight safety. Back to Top Hubble snaps a beautiful new high-resolution portrait of Mars Mars, seen from the Hubble Space Telescope on May 12th. (NASA, ESA, et al.) On May 30th, Mars will be the closest it has been to Earth in 11 years. To celebrate the occasion, Hubble scientists pointed the eponymous telescope at the red planet and took the photo above. Though better- known for snapping pictures of things much further away, the Hubble has frequently been used to to survey celestial bodies within our own solar system. The new photo captures details of the Martian surface between 20 and 30 miles across. The orange region in the center of the image is Arabia Terra, a 2,800 mile region that NASA believes may be the oldest terrain on the planet. The white wisps around the edges are clouds. NASA provided this guide to the major features visible in the new photo.(NASA, ESA, et al.) Among the details you can't make out are the landing sites of three Mars missions. Put your eyes at the center of the planet and then move down and to the left, to where the orange landscape hooks down around the blue. If you could zoom really, really, really close then you would see the Opportunity Rover- still tooling around after more than 4,000 days on Mars. http://qz.com/688491/hubble-snaps-a-beautiful-new-high-resolution-portrait-of- mars/?utm_source=YPL&yptr=yahoo Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST: I am a Masters student at City University London and write my dissertation about Aircraft Engine Selection Process. Would you kindly take 10 minutes of your time to help me with a survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Engine_selection_process Curt Lewis