Flight Safety Information July 13, 2016 - No. 136 In This Issue No injuries after aircraft makes hard landing at Calgary International Airport Hawaiian Airlines passenger arrested for interfering with flight crew ATR CEO Proposes Re-Engining ATR-72 NBAA Asks FAA To Drop New Expired Nav Database Policy US House approves FAA extension agreement to ensure aviation safety Iran's Sepehran Airlines secures AOC News BAE Systems Aerospace Lasers Sensors Cleveland Hopkins Airport receives $22 million in grants for snow removal, runway safety Air traffic between Russia and Egypt may resume within six months Boeing's jumbo jet receives lift from Russian order New British jet could blast passengers from London to Sydney in four hours Airbus Is Massively Cutting Production of the World's Biggest Passenger Jet The D.B. Cooper case has baffled the FBI for 45 years. Now it may never be solved East-west asymmetry of jet lag recovery due to oscillation of brain cells ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 No injuries after aircraft makes hard landing at Calgary International Airport An Air Canada plane made a hard landing at the Calgary International Airport on Tuesday morning. A media spokesman with the airport authority said an aircraft requested emergency equipment standby for its landing. According to airline spokeswoman Angela Mah, Air Canada Express flight AC7212 was coming in from Lethbridge. Fifteen passengers were aboard the Beechcraft 1900 aircraft when it landed safely on its main landing gear. However, the nose wheel collapsed when the aircraft came to a stop, Mah said. "We recognize that this would have been disconcerting to passengers, and can confirm that all of our operational teams are trained to handle events such as this and look after our customers with care," she said in an email. "Passengers were subsequently bused to the terminal and no injuries were reported. All passengers except for one are now rebooked on connecting flights and are continuing their travels today as planned." The flight was operated by Air Georgian, a partner of Air Canada Express. Mah said Air Georgian's maintenance professionals are looking into the cause of the collapse and examining the aircraft, which is now out of service. Operations at the airport were not affected. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada was notified and is monitoring the situation, said a department spokesman. http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/no-injuries-after-aircraft-takes-hard-landing-at-calgary- international-airport **************** Date: 12-JUL-2016 Time: Type: Beechcraft 1900D Owner/operator: Air Canada Express, opb Air Georgian Registration: C-GORF C/n / msn: UE-330 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Calgary International Airport, AB (YYC/CYYC) - Canada Phase: Landing Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Lethbridge Airport, AB (YQL/CYQL) Destination airport: Calgary International Airport, AB (YYC/CYYC) Narrative: Air Canada flight AC7212 departed Lethbridge Airport, Canada at 05:33 hours for a 47-minute flight to Calgary Airport. The Beech 1900D was approaching the runway at 06:02 when the nose landing gear failed to extend. The flight entered a holding pattern but the crew was unable to get the nose landing gear down. At 07:22 a safe nosegear-up landing was carried out. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=188628 Back to Top Hawaiian Airlines passenger arrested for interfering with flight crew A passenger on board a Hawaiian Airlines flight from American Samoa is in trouble with the FBI. FBI agents and state sheriff deputies arrested Togio Aumoeualogo, 35, at Honolulu International Airport Tuesday morning for allegedly interfering with a flight crew. According to authorities, the American Samoa resident was on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 466 from Pago Pago when he allegedly threatened the crew, and even bit a flight attendant. His initial appearance has not been set at this time. Violating Title 49 USC 46504 carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. Hawaiian Airlines says it is cooperating with the investigation. http://khon2.com/2016/07/12/hawaiian-airlines-passenger-arrested-for-interfering-with-flight-crew/ Back to Top ATR CEO Proposes Re-Engining ATR-72 Kingfisher Airlines FARNBOROUGH-In an effort to overcome different approaches of the company's shareholders, ATR CEO Patrick de Castelbajac is proposing a sequence of initiatives that includes re-engining the ATR 72, and could ultimately result in a new 100-seater. "Leonardo [formerly Finmeccanica] wants a 100-seater, and Airbus is favoring a stretched ATR with a new engine," de Castelbajac said at the air show here. "I am trying to get the two [parent companies] to converge." One way to reconcile differing views and address market needs is to do both. "We could re-engine the current platform to bridge some years, and then launch a 100-seater," de Castelbajac said. "A two-step approach could make sense." ATR has entered discussions about providing a new engine for a larger version of the ATR with both Pratt & Whitney Canada and General Electric. De Castelbajac said the current PW127M engine is still "doing a good job, but it is old." ATR hopes a new powerplant could deliver at least a 15% improvement in fuel burn, and a 25% reduction in maintenance costs. The fuel-burn improvement could even be higher with some aerodynamic changes the company is considering. "GE is quite eager to get into the regional market," de Castelbajac said. Providing a new engine to ATR could be its opportunity to address the segment. "We have two valid proposals on the table," de Castelbajac said, without disclosing further details. Discussions about the new 100-seater are "still not very advanced" because of the ongoing lack of clarity about ATR's future shareholder structure. The company is jointly owned by Leonardo and Airbus Group. De Castelbajac does not expect any "significant change in the shareholder structure" over the next few months, but is unsure when a decision could be made. Leonardo has made clear that it would take full control of the joint venture, but Airbus Group has not agreed to sell its half. One of the motivations not to sell could be using the ATR as a platform for hybrid technology later, de Castelbajac said. But there are no discussions about the applications at this stage, he said. He conceded the start into the year has been "very slow". He stressed the "volatility of fuel was bad for us," as was the strong dollar. A key order for 20 aircraft from Iran Air has not yet been finalized because the relevant licenses are still missing. De Castelbajac hopes ATR can achieve a book-to-bill ratio of one this year. The manufacturer plans to deliver around 90 aircraft this year. It has a backlog of around three years of production, and de Castelbajac "would like to keep that." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top NBAA Asks FAA To Drop New Expired Nav Database Policy The FAA has proposed a revision of Master Minimum Equipment List Policy Letter-98, Navigation Databases (MMEL PL-98) that would eliminate the ability of operators to defer updating of expired navigation databases in accordance with a minimum equipment list. This capability is useful when operators are on multi-week trips in areas of the world where updates are difficult or impossible to accomplish due to lack of qualified facilities and limited Internet access. "The revision to Policy Letter-98 proposes to remove relief for expired navigation databases from Minimum Equipment Lists (MELs)," NBAA noted in a June 30 letter to the FAA. NBAA said this revision also conflicts with a 2012 FAA legal interpretation "which explicitly states that an aircraft may not be operated with an expired navigation database unless operated in compliance with an approved MEL." If the new policy is adopted, operators may find their aircraft grounded until the database can be updated, "resulting in significant financial impacts and lost operational efficiency. "NBAA believes that aircraft operators should be able to operate with an expired navigation database to facilitate private and commercial air travel, with additional steps taken to ensure navigational accuracy and safety," the association said. "These steps include complying with any published provisions in the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) when operating with an expired navigation database, or if not specifically published, establish procedures to ensure navigational accuracy by verifying navigational waypoints with current aeronautical publications such as en route and terminal charts." If operators are forced to comply with the new policy, this might "result in potentially unsafe operating behaviors," NBAA contended. Either grounded aircraft will cause an extra burden on FAA inspectors when operators seek special flight permits to return to a location where the database can be updated, or operators may try to fly VFR. "Aircraft operated under IFR have an increased safety net and take advantage of an enhanced margin of safety resulting from increased minimum separation standards provided by the air traffic control system. The FAA enacted regulations to encourage operators to fly under IFR for safety reasons and during periods of inclement or unfavorable weather conditions. Additionally, the FAA encourages flying IFR because it provides a greater level of safety for passengers compared to the alternative." Flying VFR would also be harmful to the environment as these flights would have to be conducted below FL180, where fuel consumption is far greater. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-07-11/nbaa-asks-faa-drop-new-expired- nav-database-policy Back to Top US House approves FAA extension agreement to ensure aviation safety The US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee have agreed on a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) extension to offer safety, security, and time-sensitive improvements for the country's aviation system. The bipartisan, bicameral agreement aims to stabilise the US aviation system while the Congress continues to develop a long-term reauthorisation of the FAA. In a joint statement, the committee members said: "We have reached an agreement on a FAA extension that provides much-needed stability for our aviation system through September 2017. "This bill includes significant airport security reforms as well as critical aviation safety provisions and time- sensitive enhancements for air travellers. "We look forward to sending this measure to the president before 15 July expiration of the FAA's current authorisation." The current legislation helps strengthen the security of the US's aviation system, which remains a target of terrorism worldwide. Under the extension, the system's processes will be streamlined for approval and interagency cooperation in order to deploy unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) during emergencies. UAS users will be prevented from interfering with emergency response activities, and new methods will be developed to detect, identify, and eliminate unauthorised drone operations around airports and other important infrastructure. The measure includes several other aviation safety and security provisions, including the marking of certain air traffic control (ATC) towers to make them more visible to low-flying aircraft. http://www.airport-technology.com/news/newsus-house-approves-faa-extension-agreement-to-ensure- aviation-safety-4947414 Back to Top Iran's Sepehran Airlines secures AOC Sepehran Airlines Boeing 737-500© Sepehran Airlines Sepehran Airlines Boeing 737-500 Sepehran Airlines (Shiraz) has been granted its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) by the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (IrCAO) a month after its first application was rejected. The Iranian Labour News Agency had previously reported the IrCAO had expressed reservations about the age of Sepehran's fleet given recently instituted ageing aircraft laws. However, that point of contention was recently resolved leading to the certificate's issuance The carrier operates one B737-300, three B737-500s, and one Do328-300. http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/47742-irans-sepehran-airlines-secures-aoc Back to Top News BAE Systems Aerospace Lasers Sensors BAE claims aviation first with laser airspeed sensor Engineers at BAE Systems have successfully trialled a highly accurate laser airspeed sensor that they claim could improve the performance and safety of future aircraft. BAEThe LASSI system could enable future aircraft to predict oncoming turbulence The Laser Air Speed Sensing Instrument (LASSI) which is being exhibited at this year's Farnborough International Airshow sets itself apart from conventional methods as it accurately measures velocity even at low speeds. Air speed is normally determined using pitot tubes - which protrude from aircraft and sense variations in air pressure with speed. Although usually heated, these tubes are vulnerable to blockage in icy conditions. They could also be damaged by collisions with birds and when the aircraft is on the ground. Operating on the same principle as roadside speed-guns, the new technique works by bouncing ultraviolet laser light off air molecules and measuring the change in 'colour' of the reflections caused by the Doppler Effect. The further away from the ultraviolet light the reflection is, the faster the aircraft is travelling. Although invisible to the human eye, the detector can identify minute changes in colour - which indicate the aircraft's airspeed. Dr Leslie Laycock, executive scientist at BAE Systems said: "Conventional air data sensors which protrude from the sides of aircraft must be carefully located to work properly and are inaccurate at low airspeeds. LASSI can be located completely inside the aircraft and is accurate at low airspeeds. It can even measure negative air velocities. These features should ensure that the equipment is robust against damage, require less maintenance and be easier to operate at lower airspeeds." "A significant benefit is that LASSI has the potential to detect air speed at a distance, meaning an aircraft could predict oncoming turbulence and change course accordingly." BAE trialled LASSI in a low speed wind tunnel and on ground vehicles, and engineers are now investigating how it could be integrated in future aircraft. http://www.theengineer.co.uk/bae-claims-aviation-first-with-laser-airspeed-sensor/ Back to Top Cleveland Hopkins Airport receives $22 million in grants for snow removal, runway safety Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will receive $22 million dollars in federal grants to improve the airport's snow removal fleet and the configuration of its taxiways. (Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Cleveland Hopkins International Airport more than $22 million in grants to improve the airport's snow removal fleet and reconfigure parts of the airfield to minimize the likelihood of future runway incursions. In grant award notices released Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Hopkins will receive $7.1 million to buy four multi-purpose vehicles, two blowers, two brooms, three plows, one spreader truck, and two liquid deicer trucks to keep the airport up and running during winter storms. However, Interim Airport Director Fred Szabo said in an interview Tuesday that the actual number and type of equipment will depend on the bids the airport receives. Another $15 million was granted for airfield safety improvements as part of the FAA's Runway Incursion Mitigation Program. The grant will provide funding for the first phase of construction and reconfiguration of taxiway connectors A, B, C and R, the announcement states. Szabo said the FAA's most recent guidelines on airfield geometry recommend 90-degree angles where taxiways intersect with runways to improve sightlines for pilots and airfield crews. He maintained that a runway incursion in January -- which occurred when an airfield supervisor led a team of snowplow operators across the path of a departing commercial flight -- boiled down to the "judgement of one person" and would not have been prevented by the reconfiguration. Szabo said the taxiway in that case was positioned at a 90-degree angle from the runway. The upgrades to the airport's snow removal fleet comes on the heels of a $200,000 FAA fine for failing to adequately clear snow from runways in recent winters. Szabo said the equipment purchase is part of the airport's five-year plan to upgrade nearly its entire snow removal fleet over the next several years, through a series of matching grants from the FAA. He said the new equipment would dramatically improve the performance of the snow removal team, allowing them to institute a "one-pass" system of clearing the runway. Until now, crews have had to plow half of the runway and turn around at the end before plowing the other half. The new multipurpose trucks will let airfield workers assemble 13 vehicles, nose-to-tail, to get the job done in one pass -- a system that can clear an 11,000-foot runway in about 15 minutes, Szabo said. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/07/cleveland_hopkins_airport_rece.html Back to Top Air traffic between Russia and Egypt may resume within six months Speaker of the Egyptian parliament Ali Abdel Aal insists Egypt implemented 75 per cent of proposed flight safety recommendations. The resumption of direct flights between Russia and Egypt may take place within six months, Russian State Duma lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov said Tuesday, SputnikNews reports. "I think regular flights will be resumed within half a year... At least regular flights and then charters," Gavrilov said, following the meeting with speaker of the Egyptian parliament Ali Abdel Aal, currently paying an official visit to Moscow. According to Gavrilov, the speaker of the Arab country's parliament said that Cairo had implemented 75 percent of the Russia-proposed recommendations on the safe stay of Russian tourists in Egypt. On October 31, Airbus A321 operated by the Russian air carrier Kogalymavia crashed in the Sinai Peninsula. The plane, carrying 224 people, was heading to St. Petersburg from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. Russia's Investigative Committee has officially classified the plane crash as a terrorist attack. Egyptian tourism industry has been hit hard after a number of countries, including Russia and the United Kingdom, suspended flights to Egypt over safety concerns after the aircraft crash. http://news.az/articles/world/110151 Back to Top Boeing's jumbo jet receives lift from Russian order Boeing and Volga-Dnepr Group confirmed an order Tuesday for 20 Boeing 747-8 Freighters AirBridgeCargo is an airline of Russian air cargo company Volga-Dnepr Group. Boeing Courtesy photo Boeing and Volga-Dnepr Group confirmed an order for 20 Boeing 747-8 freighters on Tuesday at the Farnborough International Airshow. The order includes four 747-8s that have already been delivered to Volga-Dnepr, a Russian company that specializes in transporting outsized and heavy cargo by air. Financial terms of the agreement and delivery schedule were not disclosed in the announcement. "Volga-Dnepr intends to provide strong evidence to the market that the unique An-124 and Boeing 747-8 four-engine freighters are still essential to serve the fast-changing requirements of our customers worldwide," Alexey Isaykin, Volga-Dnepr president, said in a news release. The order could stretch the life of the iconic Boeing jumbo jet, which in recent years has seen few new orders, and the production rate of which is set in September to decline to one airplane every two months. Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita manufactures the forward fuselage, wing leading edges, struts and pylons of the 747-8. On Tuesday, Boeing also announced several other orders and order commitments: ? An undisclosed Chinese customer committed to buying 30 737s - a mix of Next Generation and Max aircraft - in a deal valued at $3 billion at list prices. ? TUI Group finalized an order for 10 737 MAX 8s and one 787-9 Dreamliner in a deal valued at $1.4 billion at list prices ? Air Lease Corp. ordered six 737 MAX 8s - three of which were new and three were previously attributed as an unidentified customer - in a deal valued at $660 million at list prices. ? Kunming Airlines, an all-Boeing fleet customer in China, signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 10 737 Max 7s. http://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article89076987.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top New British jet could blast passengers from London to Sydney in four hours Picture Credit: Reaction Engines A new jet engine could change air travel forever - and make it possible to go anywhere on Earth in four hours. The Sabre engine can travel at 4,000mph, making it possible to fly from Britain to Australia in four hours. The European Space Agency invested $11 million in the Sabre engine this week - an engine which combines jet and rocket technology to hit five times the speed of sound. The first demonstrator engine could be ready by 2020. Plane could go from London to Sydney in four hours Reaction Engines The engine which powers it could also one day carry passengers from London to Australia in just over four hours - and drive airliners with twice the speed of Concorde. The SABRE engine is made by a small UK company, Reaction Engines, which has been perfecting the technology for 20 years - and whose founder believes that it could transform our world into 'something out of science fiction'. The engine could also mean that it's far easier to reach space - with the cost of putting cargo into orbit falling from £15,000 per kilo to £650. Instead of huge multi-stage rockets, a relatively light plane will take off from a conventional runway - and reach space in a single journey, without a pilot. A BAE Systems spokesman said, 'Once the technology is mature - in around 25 years - we aim to develop airliners capable of more than twice the speed of Concorde. Plane could go from London to Sydney in four hours Picture Credit: Reaction Engines 'The engine can be used for a whole new generation of aircraft, both for high speed flight over long distances and for space.' The idea isn't new: a variation on it was first mooted in 1955, and variations on it have been seriously researched several times. Alan Bond, who formed Reaction Engines in 1989, believes that the engine will work - and could create a world similar to Fifties sci fi comic strips. Plane could go from London to Sydney in four hours Picture Credit: Reaction Engines In a 2014 interview, he said, 'If we manage to pull this off, then by the time we get to 2030, access to space will be more like you see in science fiction films than the way it is today. 'So regular vehicles flying into orbit and back again on a daily basis, and all that sort of stuff, carrying out all sorts of useful tasks. That will actually be with us and that is something pretty exciting to look forward to.' http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/13/new-british-jet-could-blast-passengers-from-london-to-sydney-in-four- hours-6003376/#ixzz4EHrKMxEO Back to Top Airbus Is Massively Cutting Production of the World's Biggest Passenger Jet The A380 superjumbo isn't as popular as the company had hoped. Europe's Airbus on Tuesday cut the delivery target for its A380 superjumbo to 12 a year from 2018, down from 27 in 2015 and about half what is projected for this year, to prevent a glut of unsold planes as airlines shun the industry's behemoths. It announced the cutback late on the second day of the Farnborough Airshow, taking the shine off a $20 billion haul of orders for smaller jets, after the decision was reported in French newspaper La Tribune. The move raises the possibility that Airbus EADSY 3.99% could revert to losses on the double-decker jet after breaking even for the first time last year, but averts the need to start ordering parts for unsold planes: something it has pledged not to do. Parts for A380s must be ordered up to two years ahead. Airbus said it would still break even with 20 deliveries next year, but gave no specific commitment beyond that. "The company will continue to improve the efficiency of its industrial system to achieve breakeven at 20 aircraft in 2017 and targets additional cost reduction initiatives to lower breakeven further," Airbus said in a statement. Sales of large four-engine airliners like the 544-seat A380 have been hit hard by improvements in the range and efficiency of smaller two-engined models, which can be easier to fill. The trend became starker on Monday when one of the mammoth plane's earliest advocates, Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, opted for 12 of Airbus's A350-1000 twin-engined jets after progressively shelving its longstanding order for A380s. Airbus chief Fabrice Bregier insisted the aircraft was "here to stay," while sales chief John Leahy said earlier he was talking to some potential A380 buyers. It is the second time that Airbus has moved to cut production of the A380, reflecting a more hard-nosed attitude to a jet hailed at its birth as a European industrial symbol. "We just took this decision; it is business driven. The focus is now on maintaining breakeven," said a senior executive. In April, Reuters reported it had asked suppliers to slow production to support a production assembly rate of 1.7 a month from 2017 from just over 2 a month, equating to 19.6 deliveries a year after adjusting for European holidays. No 'White Tails' Planemakers cannot afford to build undelivered "white tails," or aircraft with no buyers lined up in advance, because of the cost of keeping such inventory on their books. Each A380 is worth $432.6 million at list prices, but after discounts it would sell for significantly less. Dubai's Emirates, which strongly backs the A380, recently stepped in to buy two A380s stranded by a Japanese airline bankruptcy, but the output cut suggests that although by far the largest customer, it won't always be a buyer of last resort. Rival Boeing BA -0.93% has been cutting production of its 747 jumbo as interest all but evaporated in the passenger version and weak cargo markets dampened interest in a freighter version. The U.S. planemaker however said on Tuesday it had finalised terms for Russia's Volga-Dnepr to take 20 747-8 freighters, including four that had already been built and lacked buyers. Industry sources say Airbus is considering ways of improving the A380's performance as it weathers a dry period in sales, while putting aside costlier plans for an engine upgrade. With doubts intensifying about the global economy, the planemaker believes airlines may lack the confidence to consider the A380, even though the case in favour has been helped by lower oil prices. Pressure from large twin-engined jets is rising, meanwhile, as Airbus itself considers expanding its A350 jet family to take 400 people, and Boeing ponders stretching its already heavily upgraded 406-seat 777-9 to take another 40-50 passengers. http://fortune.com/2016/07/13/airbus-a380-superjumbo/ Back to Top The D.B. Cooper case has baffled the FBI for 45 years. Now it may never be solved. An artist's sketch of D.B. Cooper, who vanished in 1971 with $200,000 in stolen cash. (Courtesy of the FBI) Out of all America's skyjackings, only one remains unsolved. The case has confounded FBI investigators for decades - its astonishing details, clues and alleged participants have become the stuff of American criminal lore. The story has inspired songs, T-shirts and books, and the main character has, at times, bordered on American folk hero status. Now, after one of "the longest and most exhaustive investigations" in FBI history, the agency is finally moving on from the search for the notorious skyjacker known as D.B. Cooper, according to a statement released by the FBI. The riveting search - which Washington Post reporter Cynthia Gorney once described as "Jesse James meets the Loch Ness monster" - is more or less over. "During the course of the 45-year NORJAK investigation, the FBI exhaustively reviewed all credible leads, coordinated between multiple field offices to conduct searches, collected all available evidence, and interviewed all identified witnesses," the statement says, referring to the phrase "Northwest hijacking." "Over the years, the FBI has applied numerous new and innovative investigative techniques, as well as examined countless items at the FBI Laboratory." "Evidence obtained during the course of the investigation will now be preserved for historical purposes at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.," the statement adds. The case began on the afternoon of Nov. 24, 1971, when a man who went by the name D.B. Cooper used cash to buy a one-way ticket on Flight 305, leaving Portland, Ore., bound for Seattle, according to an FBI statement. By the end of the night, Cooper would vanish into thin air 10,000 feet above dense Washington State forestland with $200,000 in cash, appearing to pull off a heist so daring that he would eventually be considered the most notorious hijacker in American history. The FBI describes Cooper as a "quiet man" in his mid-40s who wore a business suit with a black tie and white shirt. After ordering a bourbon and soda, he passed a note to a stewardess that explained he had a bomb in his briefcase. "The stunned stewardess did as she was told," the FBI statement notes. "Opening a cheap attaché case, Cooper showed her a glimpse of a mass of wires and red colored sticks and demanded that she write down what he told her. Soon, she was walking a new note to the captain of the plane that demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills." A hijacked Northwest Airlines jetliner is seen in this Nov. 25, 1971, photo as it sits on a runway for refueling at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. (AP) After landing in Seattle, Cooper allowed 36 passengers to leave the plane in exchange for cash and several parachutes. He instructed the pilot to take off again and head for Mexico City. A little after 8 p.m., between Seattle and Reno, Nev., according to the FBI, Cooper launched himself from the back of the plane with his money in hand. He was never seen again. Originally, FBI investigators believed Cooper must have been an experienced skydiver, possibly with military experience. "We concluded after a few years this was simply not true," Special Agent Larry Carr said in 2007. "No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a 200-mile-an-hour wind in his face, wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky. He also missed that his reserve chute was only for training and had been sewn shut - something a skilled skydiver would have checked." In Gorney's 1980 profile of Ralph Himmelsbach - the FBI's lead investigator on the case at the time - the aging lawman disputed the romantic idea that Cooper was a Robinhood-esque figure who gamed the system by pulling off an exquisite victimless crime. " 'Sleazy' is the word he uses, actually. A sleazy, rotten criminal." (Himmelsbach turns downright eloquent when he gets going on this subject.) "Nothing heroic about him, nothing glamorous, nothing admirable at all. He jeopardized the lives of 40 people and I have no admiration at all. He was a stupid selfish man. . . ." At the time, Gorney noted, Himmelsbach was fielding calls from all over the country and responding to mail from as far away as Germany and investigating just about everything in between, including examining pants "found slung on Washington treetops (hoax)," and chasing "after men too short and men too young and men whose alibis place them firmly far away from the Northwest skies that night." "Well over a thousand," he told The Post, tallying up his Cooper suspects to date. "Real, real good ones; real, real poor ones. A lot of both. And many in between." Nearly four decades and countless suspects later, not much has changed. Despite some tantalizing clues discovered over the years - such as a rotting package full of $5,800 in twenty-dollar bills with serial numbers that matched the ransom money - many investigators believe Cooper never survived his plummet to the Earth. Cooper's parachute wasn't steerable and he would've landed in the wilderness wearing a suit and dress shoes in the winter time, at night. Gorney described the area where the jump is thought to have occurred as "a God-forsaken swath of rugged Washington forest country." "If there's any place around you wouldn't want to jump into, that'd be it," an FBI investigator told her. Years later, Carr agreed: "Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open." At the time, in 2008, the Seattle Times reported, Carr was renewing his plea for new information in the case, possibly with the help of technology. While publicly brainstorming, he said he was hoping a clever hydrologist using satellite technology might find a way to trace the Cooper cash found on the Columbia River in 1980 back to the creek in which it originated. At the end, he noted, a body might be waiting. Perhaps, he said, somebody might remember something about an odd uncle. Almost a decade later, the robber remains at large. "Although the FBI appreciated the immense number of tips provided by members of the public, none to date have resulted in a definitive identification of the hijacker," the FBI's latest statement says. "The tips have conveyed plausible theories, descriptive information about individuals potentially matching the hijacker, and anecdotes - to include accounts of sudden, unexplained wealth." "Every time the FBI assesses additional tips for the NORJAK case, investigative resources and manpower are diverted from programs that more urgently need attention," the statement adds. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/12/the-d-b-cooper-case-has-baffled-the- fbi-for-45-years-now-it-may-never-be-solved/?utm_term=.4e106ea9344b Back to Top East-west asymmetry of jet lag recovery due to oscillation of brain cells Source: American Institute of Physics Summary: Travelers frequently report experiencing a significantly slower jet lag recovery after an eastward vs. westward flight. While some are quick to dismiss this complaint as being 'all in their head,' new research suggests it may be caused by the oscillation of a certain type of brain cells. Researchers explored the east-west asymmetry of jet lag recovery. Travelers frequently report experiencing a significantly slower jet lag recovery after an eastward vs. westward flight. While some are quick to dismiss this complaint as being "all in their head," new research suggests it may be caused by the oscillation of a certain type of brain cells. Circadian rhythms, which govern jet lag recovery, are controlled by the synchronization of many neuronal oscillators within the brain. Brain cells within the hypothalamus -- the region of the brain that governs circadian rhythms -- undergo daily cycles of activity. But after a rapid time zone shift, the brain's oscillatory circadian pacemaker cells are incapable of instantly adjusting to a rhythm appropriate to the new time zone. So a team of University of Maryland researchers decided to explore whether the east-west asymmetry of jet lag could be understood via mathematical models of these oscillations of cells within the brain, and made some interesting discoveries about the dynamics involved, which they report in the journal Chaos, from AIP Publishing. Akin to cars racing around a circular track, some of the brain's "circadian pacemaker cells" could complete the circuit faster on their own than others. But due to their mutual interactions sharing the track, these cells tend to form a traffic clump and travel around the track as a group. "In the absence of a controlling influence, say 'a man with a yellow flag,' the clump of cells completes the circuit within a period of time that may not correspond exactly to one day," explained Michelle Girvan, an associate professor of physics at the University of Maryland's Institute for Physical Science and Technology. Studies have shown that without daily variations of sunlight acting as that "man with the yellow flag," or traffic controller, the brain's circadian pacemaker cells complete their cycle in a time slightly longer than a day. "Our mathematical model is based on this type of picture," Girvan said. "We start by explicitly modeling the dynamics of a large number of cells, and then use a novel method for simplifying this very large system to a single equation that can be easily analyzed." What did they discover? While an average person's natural circadian rhythm is believed to slightly exceed 24 hours, the team's model indicated that this small amount of time -- on the order of 30 minutes -- is significant and can explain the rather large east-west asymmetry for jet lag recovery, which can equate to days when traveling across several times zones. Their model also explains how individuals can experience a differing severity in response to rapid cross- time-zone travel. Since the neuronal oscillator cells of different individuals may have different properties, in the absence of regulation by the diurnal pattern of sunlight, "some people may have a natural circadian rhythm with a period of 24.5 hours, while others may have longer or shorter natural rhythms," Girvan elaborated. "Our model suggests that the difference between a person's natural period and 24 hours controls how they experience jet lag." The team hopes that the mechanistic insights provided by their simplified model "can serve as a guide for developing more in-depth qualitative approaches, as well as strategies to combat circadian rhythm disruptions due to rapid cross-time-zone travel, shift work, or blindness," Girvan said. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712115332.htm Back to Top ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, 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 will 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. Registration and details of the main seminar, tutorial and companion programmes are available at www.esasi.eu/isasi-2016. We look forward to seeing you in Iceland Curt Lewis