Flight Safety Information July 15, 2016 - No. 138 In This Issue Flight MH370 Update: Authorities Ignoring Debris, Say Victims' Families FAA, Industry Aim To Mitigate GA Crashes With Tech, Human Factors Singapore finishes draft report on JAL 767 taxiway mishap DHS Wants Air Marshals On Cuba Flights Third-Class Medical Reform Heads to the White House Aviation Weather Center Experiments with Color-Coded TAF System Air Canada ordered to fix hundreds of baggage trucks after fatality Congress passes Pilot's Bill of Rights 6 IndiGo Pilots Took Photos With Family In Cockpit: Report IATA Signs MoU with African Union to boost aviation growth in the continent The US Air Force Is Short 700 Fighter Pilots. Here's Our Plan to Fix That The Air Force needs to replace its ancient jet trainer FAA dispersing Charlotte Douglas departures to scatter jet noise Qatar Airways to buy 49% stake in Italy's No. 2 carrier Southwest Airlines suffers reservation system malfunction as summer travel heats up Mothballed by Air Force, Cargo Planes Find New Life with Coast Guard Companies Planning For Commercial Space Stations ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 Flight MH370 Update: Authorities Ignoring Debris, Say Victims' Families The families of those on board missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 have expressed their anger over what has been perceived as the authorities ignoring the possible plane debris found over the last few months. Australian authorities have identified five debris pieces that are "almost certainly" from the Boeing 777-200. Malaysian authorities, who are in charge of coordinating the examination of any debris found, have cancelled two trips to collect the pieces found by an independent searcher, BBC reported Friday. The next of kin of the victims have complained that potential clues have been ignored for weeks despite the underwater search yielding no concrete direction on what may have happened to the jet, which went off radar on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. "Credible evidence is turning up, why are they not investigating it?" Grace Subathirai Nathan told the BBC. "From day one we've had the notion they want an end to it, to sweep it under the rug. How can potential evidence be unattended for a month? It's becoming a farce." Nathan's mother Anne Daisy, was on Flight MH370 when it disappeared two years ago. American Blaine Gibson, who has been independently searching for MH370 debris, sold the family home to fund his search. Gibson found the piece of debris in Mozambique that investigators say is linked to the missing jet. He later travelled to Madagascar where he discovered more potential evidence. Gibson told BBC that Malaysian investigators were scheduled to fly to Madagascar to collect the debris on June 16. They later changed the date to June 21, following which they cancelled the trip at the last minute. He also said Malaysian authorities turned down his offer to hand over the debris to them by himself. "Australia is leading the underwater search for MH370 but it is Malaysia, as the investigating body, that retains authority for coordinating the examination of debris," the Australian Transport Safety Board told the BBC. The multimillion-dollar search for the plane in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean, where the jet is believed to have gone down, has been ongoing for more than two years. So far, more than 42,471 square miles area of a total 46,332 square miles area has been scoured by search vessels. The search was set to conclude in July but bad weather conditions have delayed the operation for six to eight weeks. http://www.ibtimes.com/flight-mh370-update-authorities-ignoring-debris-say-victims- families-2391840 Back to Top FAA, Industry Aim To Mitigate GA Crashes With Tech, Human Factors Chronic GA fatality rate drives FAA, industry action Saving Private Pilots The NTSB's cadre of 53 air safety investigators can practically plan their annual workload based on a stubbornly persistent statistic: Each year there will be about 225 fatal fixed- wing general aviation accidents. All too often, even before arriving on a crash scene investigators can guess the cause-loss of control (LOC), the culprit in nearly half of the fatal accidents every year for more than a decade. The problem is so persistent that the NTSB has put it on its Most Wanted list of safety improvements for two years running. While U.S. air carriers have driven their fatal accident rates down to 0.01 or fewer per 100,000 flight hours in the past decade, the rate for fixed-wing personal aviation, covering approximately 150,000 aircraft flown largely for pleasure, is more than 200 times greater (more than two fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours) and increasing, according to the NTSB. The broader general aviation (GA) fatality rate is fairing much better at approximately one per 100,000 flight hours, thanks to the significantly lower accident rates for business, corporate and instructional flying. The NTSB said the pilot of this Kitfox light sport aircraft in Florida likely entered a stall on the base-to-final turn, a familiar fatal accident scenario for general aviation. Credit: NTSB The dubious distinction for personal aviation has galvanized government and industry to unify and launch a broad slate of interventions and strategies to tackle the issues, particularly LOC. Included are efforts to improve pilot performance-in training, medical fitness and with aircraft human-machine interfaces-and safety technologies for the existing fleet and new builds. "This is the first time I can recall seeing the Experimental Aircraft Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, National Business Aviation Association and flight instruction community all lining up to work on LOC as the No. 1 issue," says NTSB board member Earl Weener. "That's 45% or so of our fatal accidents." Weener, a pilot and aerospace engineer who worked at Boeing for more than two decades before joining the NTSB, has spearheaded several industry gatherings to address GA safety, including a "Humans and Hardware" symposium in October and an LOC safety seminar in May. The GA community is focusing on interventions that are based on forensic data following the playbook created by the government and industry Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST), which deployed interventions that helped the U.S. airline industry cut its fatal accident rate by almost 80% between 1998 and 2008. The GA CAST is managed by a government and industry group, the GA joint steering committee (JSC), that adopted the CAST process in 2011 and by 2015 had issued 33 safety enhancements to tackle the biggest problems. The process involves teams that analyze the forensic data and propose solutions, teams that implement the most promising interventions, and teams that evaluate the results of those upgrades. The steering committee's goal is to drop the overall GA fatal accident rate per 100,000 flight hours to one or fewer by 2018, a 10% reduction from 2009. A similar CAST process adopted by the helicopter community in 2005 is showing promising results in the U.S., with fatal accident rates down to 0.57 per 100,000 flight hours in 2015, well below the FAA's target rate of about 1.0. For commercial aviation, a new CAST program is underway to halve the 2011 fatal accident rate by 2020. Based on an FAA forensic analysis that identified LOC as a factor in 40.2% of fatal GA accidents in 2001-10, the JSC launched 29 interventions for LOC directed at two different phases of flight: approach and landing and "other phases." An additional four safety enhancements cover engine failures, the second most frequent cause of personal GA fatal accidents behind LOC. "LOC at its core is a human performance issue," says Weener. "Although problems may arise, these aircraft remain flyable; it's the pilot's lack of familiarity with the aircraft, medical or substance impairment, distraction, insufficient training or failure to act swiftly that in the end causes the crash." Included in the 33 safety enhancements are measures to bolster flight training (tackling over-reliance on automation and poor aeronautical decision making, and introducing safety culture and risk-based flight reviews); efforts to make it easier and cheaper to introduce technologies to help recognize and respond to energy state issues (putting angle-of-attack, autopilot, weather and engine-monitoring technologies onto the flight deck) and initiatives to educate pilots about the effects of over-the-counter and other medications that can have dangerous effects. When the JSC considered its first batch of LOC safety enhancements, the top-ranked intervention was for pilots to install angle-of-attack (AOA) systems, wing-mounted sensors and cockpit displays that provide visual, auditory or tactile feedback on the aircraft's AOA in all flight regimes. The devices provide pilots an optimal target AOA to fly at low airspeeds in the traffic pattern, as well as cautions when the aircraft is nearing its critical AOA, beyond which the wing will stall and the aircraft will drop. At low altitude in the traffic pattern, a stall is often not recoverable, particularly if the aircraft is in uncoordinated flight and a spin develops. While many light aircraft have on-off stall "horns" that light up or produce a tone when the wing nears the stall AOA, the devices only activate near the stall and may not provide enough warning time. "We went through 90 accident reports in each of two [LOC] working groups. We evaluated what went wrong, as well as contributors and possible interventions," said JSC member David Oord at the October NTSB event. The potential interventions were ranked in terms of feasibility and cost, with the highest-ranking actions grouped into safety enhancements to be implemented. "AOA scored the highest because it was relatively inexpensive and could be done quickly," said Oord, the manager of regulatory affairs for AOPA. "Relatively inexpensive" was a truism for the experimental and homebuilt aircraft sector- for which equipment does not have to be FAA-certified or installed under a supplemental type certificate (STC)-but not so much for the Part 23 light aircraft sector, which accounts for most GA aircraft. The pilot of an experimental aircraft could install an AOA system for about $1,500, but an equivalent system on a certified aircraft would cost $10,000, plus installation. The same is true of autopilot systems, which for experimental aircraft can include passive and active envelope protection, functions the JSC determined would help prevent LOC accidents. But whereas an autopilot can be installed in a homebuilt aircraft for about $2,500, the same system for a Part 23 aircraft can cost $10,000-15,000. In response, the FAA developed a process to weigh benefits versus risk that ultimately allowed aircraft owners to install the AOA systems as "minor" rather than more expensive "major" modifications. The agency then updated its policies to make it easier and less costly to install other "non-required" safety-enhancing equipment as well, including terrain advisory systems, attitude indicators, energy-absorbing seats, monitoring systems and autopilots. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) has launched its own effort to seek out safety technologies for the experimental and homebuilt community. At the annual AirVenture gathering this year, EAA and Airbus will award the inaugural Founder's Innovation Prize of $25,000 to the best intervention designed to reduce LOC accidents in the sector by 25% in five years and 50% in 10 years. The top five finalists will compete in a "Shark Tank" format at AirVenture, with industry icons acting as judges. While the FAA policy changes are an ad hoc means of allowing certified light aircraft to begin using safety equipment widely available to the experimental market, an overhaul of the Part 23 light-aircraft certification rules is expected to codify a paradigm shift to risk- based approvals of equipment designed to consensus standards for the next generation of light aircraft. The FAA is evaluating public input on the draft rule, published in March, but has not said when a final rule might be published. Lessons learned from the nascent AOA experience shed some light on what problems could be caused by an onslaught of new gadgets into the cockpit. While not widely adopted, owners who have installed AOA systems are finding a wide variety of displays on the market, some of which are "opposite to stereotypes," says Dennis Beringer, senior scientist for flight crew performance research at the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). An opposite stereotype could be a display that shows a lower angle of attack higher up on a vertical scale, a counterintuitive design from the pilot's perspective. "Preliminary data supports that stereotypes do matter and make a difference in performance," he said at the NTSB forum in October, adding that testing at CAMI showed that pilots felt a "wing-shaped display" was the most intuitive. Jim Higgins, an associate professor in the University of North Dakota's (UND) aviation department and member of the working group that recommended AOA systems, said the college last year installed AOA devices made by three different vendors in three aircraft. Based on flight data, the university found that aircraft with AOA systems on average were flown with a 0.7 deg. lower nose angle in the 90-deg. turns from the base leg to the final leg of a traffic pattern, a location where many stall-spin LOC accidents occur. Higgins, speaking at the NTSB's October forum, said the results could suggest that pilots of aircraft with AOA systems may be flying with a larger buffer from stall. Regardless, Higgins said, instructors and students "universally panned" the AOAs. "Some of it was the design, some was the performance differences [between the different devices]," he said. The feedback led to some changes by the manufacturers but also pointed to the need for standards for information display on the systems and training information about using the devices. "What happens when airspeed contradicts AoA?" said Higgins. He added that UND was developing a training curriculum and best practices for the AOA systems to be installed in a couple dozen aircraft at its Phoenix location. "I'm not trying to throw the LOC working group under the bus, because I was a member of it, but the safety enhancement at the time didn't really talk a lot about the training part," said Higgins. "We just slapped this equipment on according to the regulatory requirements and naturalistically looked at how people would fly differently with it." The FAA in June published a 20-min. video discussing the operating differences between AOA systems built by three vendors. Not all interventions will require new devices. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is working with UND's aviation department to test a circular landing pattern used by the military, an operational modification officials think can reduce the stall-spin problems occurring in the rectangular landing patterns taught to and used by virtually all GA pilots. George Perry, senior vice president of the AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI), says the circular pattern, which he used as a U.S. Navy pilot, is "easier, more stabilized and allows the pilot to more easily identify the precursors of an impending stall" than the traditional rectangular pattern. "The only pilots who do the crazy box pattern are the GA pilots," he says. The study, which started in June, will "get hard data to show whether it is a better way to fly a pattern based on workload and standardization," says Perry. A preliminary study with 13 pilots flying a wide variety of aircraft (Cessna 140 to Cessna Citation) at AOPA's headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, showed that the pattern "works for a full spectrum of GA aircraft," says Perry. If the results of the UND study are positive, Perry says, ASI will work with the FAA to introduce the concept to pilots in training and testing materials. "My goal is that in 3-5 years, the square pattern will [have gone] the way of the Dodo bird." ASI is also working with the EAA, FAA and National Association of Flight Instructors on an accident-prevention and accident-awareness-based curriculum for flight instructors, potentially with financial incentives for pilots who use these instructors for their FAA- required biennial reviews. www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Singapore finishes draft report on JAL 767 taxiway mishap Singapore safety officials have completed their draft final report into a 12 July 2015 incident in which a Boeing 767-300ER operated by Japan Airlines nearly took off on a taxiway. The investigation team now awaits comments from interested parties, says the country's transport ministry in a statement. The statement adds that that the control tower instructed the crew to follow the to follow the green taxiway centerline lights to taxi to Runway 20C for departure. "The flight crew was instructed to take off from Runway 20C, but instead they lined up the aircraft on Taxiway EP and began the take-off roll," says the statement. "The runway controller, seeing that the aircraft was gathering speed, immediately instructed the flight crew to stop. At about the same time, the flight crew realised that they were not on Runway 20C." They retarded the throttles and the aircraft stopped "smoothly." The aircraft was subsequently directed to the runway and departed without further incident. There were 10 crew and 198 passengers aboard. The carrier only learned of the incident ten days subsequently when it was contacted by Singapore authorities, and suspended the crew involved. The aircraft involved is registered JA-606J. Flight Fleets database shows that the aircraft was delivered in 2003 and is powered by General Electric CF6 engines. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top DHS Wants Air Marshals On Cuba Flights Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson wants to have agreements in place with the Cuban government to allow U.S. federal air marshals (FAM) to travel on flights into the U.S. from 10 Cuban airports, preferably before services start this fall. "I've told the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] that I want them to get with the Cuban government and put in place agreements ... for [FAMs] and hopefully [to] make that happen before we start commercial flights," Johnson told U.S. House lawmakers during a hearing July 13. "What I've told the TSA is that I want to have assurances that any 'last-point-of-departure' airport in Cuba satisfies our U.S. screening standards, not just international standards." The Transportation Department on July 7 tentatively approved eight U.S. airlines for scheduled service between Havana and various U.S. cities (Aviation Daily, July 8), and in June tentatively approved six U.S. airlines for scheduled service to the nine other Cuban international airports (Aviation Daily, June 11). Services will likely start this fall. Security protocols at the Cuban airports are an unknown. The Castro government recently denied visas to a U.S. congressional delegation, including Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and John Katko, R-N.Y., chairman of the committee's Transportation Security Subcommittee, to inspect the airports. Pressure from the Department of Homeland Security did not help. "The chairman asked me if I could assist in that matter," said Johnson during the House hearing. "We tried and we were unable to make that happen." At the hearing, Katko said there are uncertainties about what types of screening equipment and processes Cuban airports use. "Cuba just last year [2015] was taken off the list of terrorist countries, and one of their best buddies is still North Korea," he said. Katko introduced a bill which would prevent commercial air service from starting until the TSA certifies the passenger-screening security measures at the 10 Cuban airports. A broader measure in the new FAA reauthorization, which awaits signature by President Barack Obama. It would require the TSA within six months to conduct a "comprehensive security risk assessment" of all last-point-of-departure airports with nonstop flights to the U.S. Asked if failure to secure the FAM agreement would be a "deal killer" for the Cuba service, Johnson was noncommittal. "I would have to assess it at that time," he said. "We don't have [agreements] with every single last point-of-departure country. We have a number of them now and we're expanding on that list." Along with the air-marshal discussions, Johnson said he "wants to see" a senior-level TSA official "personally go down to Cuba" to take a look at airport security. "We are very focused on last-point-of-departure airports, particularly in the Middle East region-I think we have some challenges there," said Johnson. "Since the [Metrojet Flight 9268] crash last fall [in Egypt], I've asked our people to focus on airports in that region. We're not going to take our eye off the rest of the world, however." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Third-Class Medical Reform Heads to the White House President Obama expected to sign FAA extension measure into law by tomorrow. An FAA reauthorization bill that includes third-class medical reform is expected to be signed into law by the president this week. Just two days before the FAA's current extension expires, the Senate passed the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016, a measure that will authorize FAA operations through September 2017. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law ahead of the FAA's July 15 cutoff. A huge win for general aviation, the bill includes third-class medical reform language. Under the new provisions, pilot self-certification and recurrent online aeromedical training will replace medical exams. "This is the most significant legislative victory for general aviation in decades," said AOPA President Mark Baker. "These reforms will provide relief to hundreds of thousands of pilots from an outdated, costly and unnecessarily burdensome system. This legislation will strengthen the private pilot-private-physician relationship and improve awareness of medical issues throughout our community. It will help pilots save time, money and frustration." Once the bill is signed into law, the FAA would have one year to iron out the new third- class medical provisions before they take effect, though aviation industry insiders predict the FAA will adopt the new standards sooner, perhaps within six months. Under the new provisions, pilots holding current driver's licenses and third-class medicals would never need to see an AME again. Instead, they would be required to visit their personal physician once every four years and make a notation in their logbook, as well as complete an online aeromedical factors test every two years and medically self-certify their fitness before each flight. Pilots will be allowed to operate airplanes weighing up to 6,000 pounds and having up to five passenger seats, plus the pilot in command, at altitudes below 18,000 feet msl and at speeds of up to 250 knots. Pilots, if appropriately rated, can fly VFR or IFR but not for compensation or hire. Pilots whose medicals or special issuances have expired less than 10 years before the legislation's enactment will also be permitted to fly without seeing an AME. If it's been longer than 10 years since you've held a valid medical, or if you've never held a medical, you will need to see an AME once for a medical, after which you can adhere to the new rules. http://www.flyingmag.com/third-class-medical-reform-heads-to-white-house Back to Top Aviation Weather Center Experiments with Color-Coded TAF System The new approach seeks to make changing weather dynamics instantly recognizable. AWC TAF testbed. The U.S. Weather Service's Aviation Weather Center (AWC) is experimenting with a new color-coded system to instantly identify the impact of weather through its terminal area forecasts (TAF). The AWC believes the new system will not only improve operational decision-making but also significantly improve situational awareness for any operational system player. The experimental system will debut at some 30 major U.S. airports, where TAFs are organized on a simple white grid by hour of the day. If pilots or dispatchers pull up the weather for KDEN, for example, and see only the white grid boxes, they'll instantly realize there's no significant weather expected to impact that location that day. If, however, during a particular six-hour block, pilots notice boxes colored yellow, orange or red, they'll quickly know some weather phenomenon is expected to occur, even if they don't know what element exactly. Also, if a portion of the day's TAF is coded yellow, then becomes orange and red even later, a crewmember or dispatcher will know the weather will continually worsen over the highlighted time period. The NBAA's project manager for weather, John Kosak, explained the thresholds for TAF periods highlighted in red. "These would include visibility less than half a statute mile, a ceiling of 200 feet or less, wind speeds greater than 30 knots or gusts of more than 35 knots. Red would also highlight snow, freezing rain, freezing drizzle, ice pellets and thunderstorms." Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, traffic managers and anyone else with a need to quickly decode the dynamics of changing weather are asked to submit their comments on the experiment directly to the AWC prior to July 27. http://www.flyingmag.com/aviation-weather-center-experiments-with-color-coded-taf- system Back to Top Air Canada ordered to fix hundreds of baggage trucks after fatality Family wants answers and compensation after breadwinner son killed on the job Federal investigators have yet to release final conclusions on how an Air Canada baggage worker died on April 22 at Toronto's Pearson airport when his vehicle flipped over. Pearson Airport worker thrown from luggage cart in workplace fatality Air Canada has been ordered to fix hundreds of baggage handling trucks at airports across the country following the death of an airline employee in Toronto this spring. Baggage handler Ian Henrey Pervez, 24, was killed April 22 at Pearson Airport when the enclosed truck he was driving flipped over and ejected him onto the tarmac. Investigators have still not declared what they believe caused the crash. Labour Canada has given the airline until Nov. 15 to complete the safety upgrades. However, CBC News has obtained an internal Air Canada bulletin to staff dated April 30, one week after the accident, which confirms the vehicle involved was found to have had "mechanical failures" and has been "quarantined." A second memo reveals that federal labour investigators in early May also directed the airline to install seatbelts on all "ramp and baggage tractors, belt loaders and other motorized material handling equipment." Air Canada told CBC News the order affects 950 of the airline's 2,200 ground vehicles across the country which were not manufactured with seatbelts. Air Canada memo citing mechanical failures Air Canada memo citing seatbelt order Family wants answers The dead man's father says he was unaware of the internal Air Canada memos and says he has been provided very little information about what caused his son's death. The agency leading the federal workplace investigation, Employment and Social Development Canada, would not discuss its findings. Nor would ESDC discuss the "directions" issued to Air Canada. In a statement, an ESDC media spokesperson told CBC News those safety instructions to the airline, and the final investigators' report will only be accessible to the public through a formal Access To Information request. The company also says that immediately after the fatal accident it conducted inspections of all 2,200 of its baggage handling vehicles nationwide. "There were no unusual findings," Fitzpatrick said, acknowledging an unspecified number of vehicles were found to have issues such as broken tail lights. Air Canada says the federal order to install seatbelts applies to 950 older model baggage tractors that were never equipped with the safety harnesses. Air Canada is retrofitting those vehicles, with some 630 still awaiting a fix. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-baggage-worker-death-1.3677291 Back to Top 6 IndiGo Pilots Took Photos With Family In Cockpit: Report IndiGo says the Aeronautical Information Circular doesn't bar passengers to take pictures inside aircraft * The alleged incident took place last year. * Family members of IndiGo pilots posed for photos inside the cockpit * 'Unauthorised access to cockpit' violates safety norms, regulators say Half a dozen pilots for IndiGo are being investigated after they allegedly invited relatives into the cockpit of a plane and took photos with them. Civil aviation regulator DGCA is handling the inquiry ,the result of a complaint filed by a man naed Alok Narula from Bengaluru. The photos were reportedly taken last year. The cockpit is meant to be strictly off-limits to passengers or anyone other than flight crew. "We have learned that our flight crew have been probed against a case of cockpit access violation by the regulator, said an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement according to the Press Trust of India. She reportedly said that rules do not "specifically bar bonafide passengers to take pictures inside the aircraft." http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/6-indigo-pilots-under-aviation-regulator-lens-for- clicking-pics-in-cockpit-1431585 Back to Top Birds Putting Randolph Air Force Base Pilots At Risk JBSA Randolph tackles bird problem UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas -- Randolph Air Force Base pilots collide with birds 70 times a year. "I haven't hit one at Randolph. It's just a matter of time before I do," said Major Jason Powell. He has hit birds at other bases, so he knows first hand the dangers these collisions pose. "We've lost aircraft at other bases," said Powell. "The T-38 has crashed at other bases due to bird ingestion into the engine and also going through the canopy and striking the crew member." Powell's part of a team at Randolph tasked with keeping birds away from planes. Every morning the team fires off 'screamers' and 'bangers' as flocks approach the roadway. "Pyrotechnics, basically, like fireworks that go off at the same altitude as the birds are flying," he said. The base has been studying this problem for more than a year. They've learned that habitat has a lot to do with why the problem is so pronounced at Randolph. "We're reducing tress, we're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove trees and bushes and shrubs," stated Powell. Before the base existed, the lush canopy covering much of its residential section didn't exist either. T They can't take down all the trees, so before his team lines up on the runway, Powell fires paint balls into trees to scare birds out of their roosts. Another problem is the wet spring Bexar County just went through. That led to a boom in insects, and in turn, a boom in insect-eating birds. Randolph is working with the United States Department of Agriculture to develop a list of voluntary landscape plans developers and homeowners moving into the area can use to reduce the bird population near the base. As of right now Powell says bird strikes are still the number one safety risk at Randolph. http://www.kens5.com/news/local/birds-putting-randolph-air-force-base-pilots-at- risk/273210442 Back to Top IATA Signs MoU with African Union to boost aviation growth in the continent The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the African Union Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand strategic cooperation and to further the continent's economic and social development with the benefits of safe, efficient and sustainable air transport in Africa. The MOU - signed by Tony Tyler, IATA's Director General and CEO and AU's Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Dr. Elham Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim - will seek to improving the safety and security of air transport in Africa by reducing airline crashes and promote joint decision making in the management of air transport. "Africa is set to be one of the fastest-growing aviation regions with 5% annual growth forecast over the next 20 years. Achieving this potential will not happen by chance; strong partnerships are key. This MoU will help ensure that global standards and best practices form the backbone of Africa's growth as well as position the continent's 54 nations to promote economic and social development by unleashing the full power of aviation," said Tyler. Africa is set to be one of the fastest-growing aviation regions with 5% annual growth forecast over the next 20 years. Achieving this potential will not happen by chance; strong partnerships are key. The aviation industry already supports 6.8 million jobs and generates $72.5 billion of economic activity on the continent. "IATA is a strategic partner in the growth of African aviation. This MoU will commit our two organizations to even closer cooperation on the priorities for African aviation. In particular, we count on IATA to partner with us by providing the requisite technical support in the establishment of the Single African Air Transport Market as part of our long-term vision in the context of the AU Agenda 2063. We are, indeed, dedicated to global best practice as a fundamental for sustained growth in aviation in Africa," said Dr. Ibrahim. The latest statistics from the International Air Transport Association classify Africa, as the second fastest region in terms of passenger traffic with a growth rate of 9.5%, just behind the middle East that recorded a growth of 11%. http://www.africanews.com/2016/07/14/iata-signs-mou-with-the-african-union-to- enhance-air-safety-in-the-continent/ Back to Top The US Air Force Is Short 700 Fighter Pilots. Here's Our Plan to Fix That. At Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon "Triple Nickel" aircraft pilot assigned to the 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from Aviano Air Base, Italy, awaits weapons check, July 14, 2015. Busier but smaller than ever, the Air Force needs higher bonuses and more family time to help compete with commercial airlines and the economy. In our time in various leadership positions at the Pentagon, we've learned many important lessons. One of those might not seem so obvious: What is good for the U.S. economy sometimes creates very real challenges for our all-volunteer military. Low unemployment and hiring booms, while beneficial to the country, often make it very difficult for the armed services to recruit and retain talent. A case in point is the growing shortage of fighter pilots. That shortfall is expected to grow from 500 to more than 700 pilots by the end of this fiscal year, a 21-percent gap between what we have and what we need to meet the requirements of our commanders around the world. It is a significant deficit and one that has gotten our closest attention. And the Air Force is not alone. The Navy and Marine Corps are facing parallel challenges as the commercial airline industry embarks on a prolonged hiring wave fueled by many of its senior pilots hitting mandatory retirement age. Add to that a recent change in requirements that new commercial airline pilots have 1,500 flight hours under their belts, and suddenly military-trained pilots become even more attractive than usual. Aside from an airline hiring surge, there are other reasons for the Air Force's pilot shortfall, from dramatically reduced flying hours for the high-end fight as a result of Pentagon budget cuts to a perceived falloff in quality of life when they return from deployments overseas. Make no mistake, this is a quiet crisis that will almost certainly get worse before it gets better. Our charge as leaders is to meet this challenge head on, with practical, common sense solutions that attack the root causes and give our Airmen compelling reasons to stay. Our military pilots, just like their commercial aviation counterparts, are essential to ensuring that our nation's defense and commerce stay strong. The Air Force has faced fighter pilot shortages before - often related to cyclical hiring peaks in the private sector - but this one has the potential to be more damaging. After 25 years of continuous combat, the Air Force is as busy as we have ever been, but we are also smaller than we have ever been. Consequently, we have less margin for error when it comes to filling our cockpits and addressing personnel shortages. Unlike many private- sector companies, which can fill vacancies by simply tapping an experienced and flexible labor pool, the military has to grow its own set of skilled specialists, and that can take years. With that in mind, we are moving aggressively to reverse the trends and improve pilot retention. We are ramping up the production of new pilots, working to get help for fighter squadrons burdened with time-consuming administrative duties and looking closely at additional compensation. Congress has heard the alarm bells and there is a proposal on Capitol Hill right now that would increase the annual bonus given to mid-career pilots who choose to remain in uniform. The current annual bonus offered to pilots of manned aircraft - $25,000 per year - has not changed since 1999 and its value has been impacted by inflation. We know from past experience that money isn't everything, but in those military career fields lured by private sector offers, targeted bonuses can make the difference between staying or going. Right now, too few of our pilots are taking the bonus money and the "take rate" is especially low for those men and women who fly fighter aircraft. We'd like the authority to raise the current bonus where it makes sense. We know from experience that military members are happiest when they have got the resources, funding and support they need to perform their missions at very high levels. That's why we are taking additional measures. We are giving squadrons returning from combat tours more quality time with their families and robustly funding a flying-hour program that will get our people back in the air for the training hours they need to progress in their careers. Part of the flying-hour challenge is making sure we have enough skilled mechanics to keep our jets flying. We are looking at a variety of personnel measures to ensure that aircraft are not sitting idle because we do not have enough people to maintain them. Because our pilots and maintenance personnel are coveted by the private sector, we are working with the airlines to best ensure that the nation's defense and commercial needs are met. And finally, it goes without saying that to stay on a healthy glide path we simply cannot afford to return to sequestration. Right now, we believe it is especially important to demonstrate to the pilot community that we are committed to fixing problems within our control. We cannot change the fact that the world remains dangerous for U.S. friends and allies, and that airpower, together with the joint force, is a tool of choice for bringing stability to so many parts of the world. And we should not lament the fact that our economy is creating great opportunities for many of our skilled people. Instead, it is our job to remind them why their service matters and give them compelling reasons to stay. Deborah Lee James is the secretary of the United States Air Force. Gen. Dave Goldfein is the Air Force chief of staff. http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/07/us-air-force-short-700-fighter-pilots-our- plan/129907/ Back to Top The Air Force needs to replace its ancient jet trainer Think tank argues the T-38 is a danger to pilot training to fly the F-35, F-22. The US Air Force is among the most advanced on the planet. The F-35 and F-22 are at the bleeding edge of development, and even older so-called "legacy" fighters, like the F/A-18 Super Hornet, are supremely capable in battle. But with such an impressive arsenal of fighters, the US Air Force is training new pilots on a jet that first flew in 1959. That jet, the T-38 Talon, has been on the radar for years. But the Air Force has routinely pushed its replacement, the T-X, back. The Air Force first started considering the program's objectives in 2003, but a full statement of requirements didn't come until March of last year. With a formal request for proposals not due until the end of this year, the T-38's replacement isn't due until 2024. That's a big problem. "Reliance on essentially an obsolete aircraft creates a maintenance nightmare, risks a catastrophic fleet failure that would halt all jet pilot training, and creates a potential skills gap as new pilots move to highly sophisticated aircraft such as the F-22 and F-35," writes Dr. Daniel Gouré of the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based conservative think tank, writes. Part of the delay is because the Air Force can't figure out what the heck the T-X is supposed to be. Is it a "non-developmental item?" A clean-sheet design? According to the Lexington Institute, the USAF may even want to develop an A-10 Warthog replacement from its new trainer. In general, it sounds like the many voices within the service aren't sure of what the T-38's successor should be. But there are bigger problems with the Air Force's approach to replacement trainers. "As any observer of the defense acquisition system knows, there are real dangers associated with unstable and ever increasing requirements. Costs go up, development times lengthen, risk increases and testing takes longer," Gouré writes. "The tendency with these one-every-half-century acquisition programs is to load them down with the requirement to respond to everything that might possibly be needed over the next 50 years. Such an approach is guaranteed to fail in the future as it has so often in the past." According to Gouré, the one thing aiding the Air Force is the sheer number of companies ready to throw their hats in the ring. Raytheon and Italy's Leonardo have the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 while Lockheed Martin is teaming with Korea Aerospace Industries to modify the South Korean Air Force's T-50 trainer. Northrop Grumman is readying a brand- new design, and Boeing is teaming with Saab for its own clean-sheet approach. None of these entries are safe from further budget issues, of course. And it's for that reason that Dr. Gouré and the Lexington Institute are calling on the Air Force to issue an RFP, stop piling on additional requirements, and award a manufacturer before beginning big defense expenditures, like the new B-21 bomber. http://www.autoblog.com/2016/07/14/air-force-replace-ancient-trainer/ Back to Top FAA dispersing Charlotte Douglas departures to scatter jet noise The city of Charlotte asked for change Residents who had avoided noise are now getting jets above them For planes taking off to the north, the FAA has dispersed jets. Here are flight paths at Charlotte Douglas before the FAA began dispersing planes in an effort to spread noise among more people. Most of the departures followed the dark blue band. Here are the new flight paths from Charlotte Douglas after the FAA began dispersing departures at the end of May. For planes taking off to the north, here are the old flight paths. For planes taking off to the north, the FAA has dispersed jets. Here are flight paths at Charlotte Douglas before the FAA began dispersing planes in an effort to spread noise among more people. Most of the departures followed the dark blue band. Here are flight paths at Charlotte Douglas before the FAA began dispersing planes in an effort to spread noise among more people. Most of the departures followed the dark blue band. Harrison, Steve Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration is nearing completion of a plan to disperse noise caused by departing jet airliners from Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The FAA's new satellite-based navigation system allows for jets to stay closer together, on narrow "rails," as the FAA calls them. But those paths focused noise on just a few homes. The city of Charlotte asked the FAA to send the departures on different paths after takeoff. That means more people will be exposed to noise, but fewer people are impacted by it repeatedly. "The city asked us to spread it out," said Dennis Roberts, a regional administrator with the FAA. All of the changes are part of the FAA's Metroplex plan, which is trying to make the airspace over the nation's busiest airports less congested. Charlotte Douglas is the nation's fifth busiest airport based on takeoffs and landings. The Metroplex plan will keep arriving planes at higher altitudes longer. The old system brought planes to Charlotte Douglas on a ladder approach, in that they would descend and then fly at a certain altitude before descending again. The FAA said having planes glide into the airport is more efficient and quieter. While arrivals cause some noise, the biggest source of complaints are takeoffs, when jets are near full power. The first phase of mitigating takeoff noise started in October 2015. Among the areas impacted were departures to the south for flights heading west. The older, more narrow flight path sent flight directly south before turning west, almost directly over the Yorkshire neighborhood off of South Tryon Street. Under the new plan, many flights will make their turn to the west sooner, around the time the planes cross Interstate 485. The changes sent more flights over Chapel Cove and the Sanctuary. Residents there have complained to the FAA. At the end of May, the FAA made additional changes to departures for planes taking off to the south that were flying to the northeast. The old departure "rail" sent planes flying directly over the Park Crossing neighborhood off Park Road. With the new plan, some planes will turn to the east much sooner, spreading noise over neighborhoods in SouthPark. Later this summer, the FAA will make additional changes for planes taking off to the south and flying south. For planes taking off to the north, the FAA made similar changes, dispersing flights over a larger area. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics- government/article89601182.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top Qatar Airways to buy 49% stake in Italy's No. 2 carrier Qatar Airways' first Airbus A350 is seen in the background as Akbar Al Baker, the airline's CEO, speaks during a delivery ceremony for the aircraft in Toulouse, France, on Dec. 22, 2014. (Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, special for USA TODAY) Qatar Airways made the announcement Thursday at the Farnborough Airshow near London. The move follows another announcement by Qatar Airways this week that it is seeking to buy up to 10% of LATAM Airlines, a oneworld frequent-flier partner that's also South America's biggest carrier. "This agreement sets the path to progress our work towards a strong resolution that benefits both the staff and passengers who travel with Meridiana," Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said in a statement. Qatar Airways already owns a 15% stake in IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. More broadly, the Meridiana deal follows a trend that has seen big global airlines try to expand their reach by taking equity stakes in the airlines of other nations. In fact, Qatar Airways' move with Meridiana isn't even the first foray into Italy by one of three big fast-growing Persian Gulf carriers. Rival Etihad bought a 49% stake in Alitalia in 2014, launching a "reboot" of the perennially struggling Italian flag carrier that Etihad hopes also will funnel connecting passengers into its own network. Etihad has been especially aggressive in seeking out so-called equity partnerships with other airlines. Air Berlin, Air Serbia, Jet Airways and Virgin Australia are among those Etihad has invested in as it faces competition from Gulf rivals Emirates of Dubai and Qatar Airways. It was just last month that Air Serbia began flights between Belgrade and New York JFK. That route, which restored a nonstop link between Serbia and the USA, came about after Etihad took a 49% stake in ailing state-owned JAT Airways and helped it relaunch under the new Air Serbia brand. In the United States, Delta has several such tie-ups, including in partners Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico, China Eastern and GOL of Brazil. As for Qatar Airways, it operates out of its Doha hub with a fleet of about 190 aircraft. In early 2017, the carrier plans to launch what will be the world's longest regularly scheduled flight with a new route from its Doha hub to Auckland, New Zealand. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2016/07/14/qatar-airways- buy-49-stake-italys-no-2-carrier/87075702/ Back to Top Southwest Airlines suffers reservation system malfunction as summer travel heats up It's just what Southwest Airlines didn't need. The low-fare behemoth last night apparently suffered a reservation system crash that affected customers' ability to make and retrieve reservations made with Rapid Rewards points from the carrier's frequent traveler program. Customers attempting to sign into Southwest's online reservations system also were denied access. The problem first surfaced, according to a Southwest spokesman, last night while the reservation system was undergoing maintenance. But the problem persisted until late morning today. By early afternoon, the Southwest spokesman insisted, the problem had been resolved. Southwest Airlines suffered a reservation system malfunction last night, but the company had little to say about what caused it or how it impacted the carrier. But calls to Southwest telephone customer service agents were difficult to make this morning as passengers tried to figure out what was happening. Callers were being requested to leave their phone numbers and names and wait 20 minutes or more for a return call. A Southwest telephone customer service agent reached late this morning said the system had been down since last night and that the company had not yet advised the customer service team when the problem would be fixed. The agent also said the customer service team had not been given any details about what caused the problem or the extent of it. The telephone agent offered to help make a booking. But typically Southwest's lowest fares are only available to customers booking online. Southwest's reservation system problem comes at the peak of the summer travel season and at a time when Southwest's efforts to improve on-time reliability have taken a big hit. The carrier fell to third place among the four major domestic carriers behind No. 1 Delta Air Lines and No. 2 United Airlines in the June on-time arrivals report released earlier this week. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), which has its largest hub at Chicago's Midway Airport, had showed improvement in its on-time arrivals performance until summer started to arrive. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly's push to wring every possible penny of revenue and profit out of the carrier during the busy summer months by putting more planes in the sky and scheduling more flights every day may have been factors in the airline's deteriorating on-time performance. The crush of summer travelers may have overtaxed the airline's reservation system as well. Southwest's June 2016 traffic report released this week shows the carrier flew 5.7 percent more passengers in June of this year than it did a year ago. The company's load factor, a reflection of the number of seats in every plane occupied by paying passengers, also jumped 1.2 percent year over year to 87.4 percent in June. http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2016/07/14/southwest-airlines-suffers- reservation-system.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo Back to Top Mothballed by Air Force, Cargo Planes Find New Life with Coast Guard An image of the C-27J Spartan (courtesy L-3 Platform Integration). FARNBOROUGH, England - It's a Cinderella story. Three years after getting sent to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, a freshly refurbished C-27J Spartan sported Coast Guard colors on the flight line at the Farnborough International Air Show this week. The Coast Guard activated its first four-plane squadron of the Leonardo-Finmeccanica aircraft this month at its Sacramento Air Station in California, culminating an effort to retrieve and re-purpose the aircraft that began with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014. Some 21 of the $50 million planes were bought new beginning in 2007, but sent directly to Davis-Monthan in the Tucson desert due to fiscal concerns exacerbated by 2012 "sequestration" defense cuts under the Budget Control Act. Now, the Coast Guard has 14 of the aircraft, seven of which have completed a six-week regeneration process that includes inspections and operational testing. Petty Officer 2nd Class, Ryan Jenkins, an aviation maintenance technician with the Coast Guard's C-27J Asset Project Office, a temporary unit built to oversee the aircraft's entry into service, said the planes were now being used for law enforcement missions, replacing aging Lockheed Martin HC-130H long-range surveillance and search-and-rescue aircraft. Some of those planes are headed to retirement, while others will find a new life conducting firefighting missions for the U.S. Forestry Service. "The engines are better. They're better performing and more reliable. Their props are better," Jenkins said of the new-to-the-Coast-Guard Spartans. "They're more efficient. This plane, we have half the fuel burn that an H-model does so it's definitely more fuel efficient." Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Allen, C4ISR program manager with the Coast Guard Office of Aviation Forces said it also helps that the Spartans are very similar to the HC-130J Hercules aircraft that are replacing H-models elsewhere in the service. Over the next decade, the Coast Guard will transition out all its H-models in favor of the Spartan and the HC-130J. "If we have a pilot that transfers from sacramento to a unit that flies HC-130Js the training time may be two weeks as opposed to an eight to 10 week transition that would happen if they came from a totally different aircraft," Allen said. "So there's cost savings, flight savings, time savings. All these things roll into a beneficial program for us." The Coast Guard's C-27J squadron in Sacramento will eventually receive two more Spartans, Allen said. A second squadron, tentatively set to be based in Clearwater, Florida, is expected to activate in 2019. http://www.dodbuzz.com/2016/07/14/mothballed-by-air-force-cargo-planes-find-new- life-with-coast-guard/ Back to Top Companies Planning For Commercial Space Stations Axiom Space SAN DIEGO-Private companies are beginning to develop concepts and business plans for commercial successors to the government-funded International Space Station (ISS), hoping to reap profits from the groundwork NASA and its partners are conducting in orbit today. Bigelow Aerospace expects to have two of its large B330 expandable habitats "ready to ship from Las Vegas in 2020," according to founder Robert Bigelow. Meanwhile, a former NASA ISS program manager is seeking customers for a small commercial station based on the current station design. That station would start as a private module attached to the existing space station soon after 2020, according to Mike Suffredini, president of Axiom Space, who oversaw completion of the ISS at NASA. That way the commercial activities just getting underway there now would be able to make a smooth transition to a purely commercial facility when the ISS is deorbited. The ISS is scheduled to operate through 2024, and is expected to continue after that. But Suffredini argued at the annual ISS R&D Conference here that once there is a growing commercial sector on the ISS, the government-subsidized operation should make way for the private sector. "As long as the ISS is around, there's a large piece of the market I can't get my hands on, and without getting my hands on that market I can't generate revenue, and without revenue I can't close a business case," said Suffredini, who is spinning the Axiom startup out of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT) a NASA support services contractor based in Greenbelt, Maryland, that generated $600 million in revenue last year. Suffredini left NASA a year ago to join SGT as president of its commercial space division. In the concept he sketched Thursday, a single aluminum module weighing up to 25 metric tons would launch to the ISS in its current 51.6 deg. inclination, and stay there as a docked commercial facility until a second module equipped with solar arrays and propulsion arrives to take it to an inclination better suited to support future exploration missions. More modules would expand the facility as needed (see illustration), but to get even the first one into space the company needs commitments from future customers to secure financing now. "They need a believable market," he said. "They need to know the market is there." Bigelow said the current ISS is acting as an "incubator" for that market with its subsidized access, in-space accommodation and crew time. Like Axiom, he would like to attach a B330 module to the ISS and later expand it into a free-flying station by adding other modules operating on their own. Astronauts are testing a subscale "Bigelow Expandable Activity Module" berthed to the station for performance, but during the test period it will be sealed off from the rest of the spacecraft most of the time for safety. Ultimately, Bigelow said, the expandable technology would be well suited for sovereign customers-nations that want a human presence in space but can't pay the cost of developing their own space assets-and for space-based manufacturing such as the experimental fiber optic fabrication device to be launched next year by Made in Space. NASA is planning what it will need in low Earth orbit (LEO) after the station is terminated, and asking whether private industry can provide the services available on the ISS, according to Sam Scimemi, ISS director at NASA headquarters. Among the questions he said the agency is asking is whether it will have research requirements in LEO after the ISS, and whether the international partnership that governs station operations today can be applied to a post-ISS regime that could extend into the space around the Moon. www.aviationweek.com 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