Flight Safety Information July 22, 2016 - No. 143 In This Issue Search For Malaysian MH370 Aircraft To Be Suspended Indian Air Force Plane Missing Live Updates: Antonov AN-32 Plane Goes Off Radar Over Bay Of Bengal Jet deploys slides after fuel leak at PBIA Allegiant Air Review by FAA Finds 'Minor' Safety Deviations Hainan Airlines takes 23% stake in TAP Portugal Facebook's Internet-Beaming Airplane Just Had its First Flight Where Will Flight Technology Go Next? ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 (ISASI) DFW Regional Chapter (DFRC) Summer Meeting, September 8, 2016 Graduate Research Request Graduate Research Survey Search For Malaysian MH370 Aircraft To Be Suspended The plane, with 239 aboard, disappeared in March 2014. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be suspended if the plane is not found in the current search area, Malaysia, China and Australia said in a joint statement on Friday. The aircraft, with 239 aboard, disappeared in March 2014 during a flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing. Almost A$180 million ($135 million) has been spent since on an underwater search spanning 120,000 square kilometres (46,332 square miles) in the southern Indian Ocean. Squadron leader Brett McKenzie of the Royal New Zealand Air Force helps in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. "In the absence of new credible evidence, Malaysia, Australia and China have collectively agreed to suspend the search upon completion of the 120,000-km search," Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said. "I must emphasize that this does mean we are giving up on the search for MH370," he added, in a statement read out to the media. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/missing-malaysian-plane-search- ends_us_5791d99ee4b00c9876ceeed6?section= Back to Top Indian Air Force Plane Missing Live Updates: Antonov AN-32 Plane Goes Off Radar Over Bay Of Bengal, 29 People On Board IAF plane An Indian Air Force AN-32 plane has gone missing over the Bay of Bengal. In this photo, parked Indian Air Force's transport aircrafts Antonov An-32 and Dornier Do 228 are seen from the air traffic control on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, Sept. 23, 2015. An Indian Air Force plane, traveling from the southern Indian city of Chennai to the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, went missing early Friday. According to local reports, 29 people were on board the Antonov AN-32 plane. The plane reportedly took off from Tambaram, a suburb in Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, at 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. EDT Thursday). The aircraft, which was en route to the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands - a union territory of India situated in the Bay of Bengal - was reportedly on courier duty. Authorities said that the plane, with six crew members on board, was scheduled to land in Port Blair at 11:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT), local news network NDTV reported. A massive search operation is reportedly being conducted by the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy, and the coast guard. The Indian Air force has more than 100 AN-32s in service, and the aircraft can fly for up to four hours without refueling. http://www.ibtimes.com/indian-air-force-plane-missing-live-updates-antonov-32-plane- goes-radar-over-bay-2393940 Back to Top Jet deploys slides after fuel leak at PBIA Jet Deploys Slides After Fuel Leak At Palm Beach International Airport. An incident with an American Airlines flight 1822 is being investigated at Palm Beach International Airport. Passengers at PBIA evacuated their plane before even leaving the ground. Airport officials say a hydraulic fuel leak forced them off. While some are dealing with the effects from the fuel, others are nursing other injuries that's left them in the hospital tonight. Alissa Comeford of Port Saint Lucie says her mother Linda is in the hospital with a sling and multiple burns. "She fell when she was getting off the plane and she slipped on all the fuel and fell down and hit her arm and her side." She was one of 138 passengers aboard the plane headed to Philadelphia. A spokesperson with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says they treated 24 people for symptoms such as itchy skin, burning eyes, and trouble breathing. "People were going down the chutes and were able to get some of the hydraulic fluid on them as they were exiting the aircraft," says Nigel Baker with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. Baker says everyone is expected to be okay, however Alissa says she's worried her mother's injuries may not be so minor. "In my opinion, being told you have to go see an orthopedic surgeon when you get home, I think that's more than a minor injury." http://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/jet-deploys-slides-after-fuel- leak-at-palm-beach-international-airport Back to Top Allegiant Air Review by FAA Finds 'Minor' Safety Deviations Alan Levin * Agency calls violations 'non-systemic' and won't seek penalty * Evaluation followed incidents at the carrier last year Allegiant Air used incorrect pilot training materials, its flight manuals were missing information and forms weren't properly completed, a U.S. government review of the airline found. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration concluded the issues it uncovered in its evaluation were "minor" and "non-systemic," according to a letter to the carrier posted on Allegiant's website Thursday. The FAA won't pursue any penalties or enforcement action, the agency said in an e-mailed statement. The Las Vegas-based company has already begun addressing the matters raised in the FAA review, known as a Certificate Holder Evaluation Process, it said in a statement posted on its website. Allegiant had faced more than a year of stories about diverted flights and unusual events, including an aborted high-speed takeoff after a key flight control surface failed. "We welcome the FAA's review and view the CHEP process as an opportunity to further enhance our safety and operational reliability for the future," Jude Bricker, Allegiant's chief operating officer, said in the statement. Safety Audit The FAA's review, essentially an audit of safety at the airline, found issues in multiple areas of the company, from pilot training to how it calculates the weight of passengers, cargo and fuel on flights. None of the findings suggested inherent safety issues or were done intentionally, the FAA said. Allegiant came under government scrutiny last year after a mechanical failure caused the nose of one of its Boeing Co. MD-83s to rise off the ground before it was moving fast enough for takeoff, despite the crew's attempts to push it down. Pilots were forced to abruptly halt their takeoff roll at 138 miles an hour to regain control of the plane in the Aug. 17 incident, the FAA said at the time. Allegiant later discovered that a critical piece of equipment in the tail of the aircraft had come loose. When the airline inspected all its MD-80s afterward, it found three other jets with bolts that weren't properly secured to aircraft control systems, according to repair logs obtained by Bloomberg News. Emergency Landing The agency also opened an investigation at Allegiant after a July 2015 incident in which a pilot declared he was so low on fuel he needed to make an emergency landing. The incident occurred after Hector International Airport in Fargo, North Dakota, had been closed for a pre-air show rehearsal by the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels aerobatics team. Jetliners are required to carry enough fuel to fly well beyond their destination. The Allegiant pilot told Hector officials he didn't have enough fuel to wait to land or proceed to another airport about 70 miles away. Officials of the carrier, a unit of Allegiant Travel Co., said in April it had increased spending on safety management, training facilities and newer planes to improve operations. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-21/allegiant-air-review-by-faa-finds- minor-safety-deviations Back to Top Hainan Airlines takes 23% stake in TAP Portugal China's Hainan Airlines plans to take a 23% shareholding in TAP Portugal, with a bond buy from Azul Brazilian Airlines, in a €30 million ($33 million) transaction. According to a statement from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Haikou-based Hainan Airlines intends to buy the stake in TAP through the purchase of 25% convertible bonds from the Brazilian low-cost carrier. Azul bought $100 million of bonds from TAP in March 2016, giving it a 40% potential interest in the Portuguese flag carrier. This latest move bolsters the Chinese carrier's presence in both the European and South American markets, following the purchase of a 23.7% stake in Azul for $450 million in November 2015, and a 7% stake in the Atlantic Gateway consortium-a part-owner of TAP. Hainan's latest investment in TAP gives it a 13.06% economic interest in TAP, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange statement, along with voting power on the TAP board from a seat on the 12-person director's list. http://atwonline.com/airline-financials/hainan-airlines-takes-23-stake-tap-portugal Back to Top Facebook's Internet-Beaming Airplane Just Had its First Flight Facebook flew a full-scale version of its Internet-beaming drone for more than 90 minutes Facebook's solar-powered drone has taken its first flight, the company announced Thursday. The aircraft, called Aquila, is part of the Menlo Park, Calif. firm's plans to bring Internet connectivity to underserved areas. Aquila flew for more than 90 minutes during its first test, which the company says was three times longer than planned. Facebook has been flying a one-fifth scale version of the aircraft for months, but this is the first time it has tested the full-size flyer. Facebook says Aquila will be able to fly for up to three months at a time, beaming Internet signals to the ground from as high as 60,000 feet. Before Facebook can achieve that feat, it says it will have to break the world record for the longest unmanned solar- powered flight, which currently stands at two weeks. "We're encouraged by this first successful flight, but we have a lot of work ahead of us," Jay Parikh, Facebook's global head of engineering and infrastructure, wrote in a blog post announcing the achievement. Google parent company Alphabet has a similar program in the works called Project Loon, which aims to broadcast Internet signals with a network of high-flying balloons. Aquila is part of the Facebook's larger mission to bring Internet access to underserved areas through an initiative called Internet.org. (Facebook often promotes its connectivity efforts through the lens of philanthropy, but it would also stand to benefit from having more potential users in the world.) Among Internet.org's other efforts is a plan that offers free Internet access to those using basic smartphones in countries like India and Egypt. That initiative, called Free Basics, has been criticized by those who believe it favors Facebook's own services over rival offerings. http://time.com/4417369/facebook-aquila-flight-2016/ Back to Top Where Will Flight Technology Go Next? British Airways Concorde A common complaint about technological progress over the last few decades is summed up in the phrase "we were promised flying cars and got 140 characters". There is certainly an element of truth in that view - after all, the Concorde aircraft started flying at supersonic speeds in 1976 with flight times between New York and London of 3.5 hours. Fast forward 40 years and not only are flights from JFK to Heathrow not faster than 3.5 hours, but they are in fact slower and the Concorde is no longer in service. Yet there is hope for the future of flight and it presents opportunities in the long-term for energy investors. The Concorde in some respects was ahead of its time. The plane suffered from high costs of operations and serious fuel consumption, which led to extremely pricey plane tickets and limited its ability for mass adoption. Add to that the fact that the jet created a sonic boom that vastly annoyed residents living under the flight path near its takeoff destination, and the plane was always going to face an uphill battle. Up to 45 percent of residents in DC suburbs reported being "very annoyed" by the cupboard rattling thunder of the Concorde when it took off from nearby Dulles Airport. For future supersonic transportation to have a role in mass transportation, it needs to avoid the problems of the Concorde. None of that means that the planes of the future can't be faster than the planes of today. The Concorde's final flight in 2003 was not the end of the desire of humans to spend less time going from place to place. Boeing has developed the X-51A Waverider for instance. The vehicle relies on "riding" its own shockwaves for compression lift and set a record in 2013 for longest air-breathing propelled flight at hypersonic speed. Over time, Boeing hopes to use that tech to develop a mass market space plane. Related: China Cleaning Up Its Air With Natural Gas Vehicles Similarly, Boeing competitor Airbus filed patents last year to support the invention of a commercial aircraft that would travel at Mach 4.5, getting passengers from New York to London in just an hour, though it is unclear at this point how Airbus plans to ameliorate the issue of sonic booms associated with the plane's launch. Even NASA is getting into the act, working on a Quiet Supersonic Technology project which is designed to "take the sonic boom and turn it into something more like a sonic thump" according to Peter Coen who is the NASA project manager for the technology project in Langley, VA. This is accomplished in NASA's design by modifying the shape of the plane to cancel out the highest pressure sound waves that come off of the aircraft as it accelerates. The NASA design will fly at around Mach 1.4 - slower than the Concorde's Mach 2, but with potentially a less intrusive impact on residents in the area of the flight path. The planes of the future will probably also look a lot like Boeing's Dreamliner - composite materials, greater fuel efficiency, and of course modern amenities for passengers. Still energy investors should not be worried about the obsolescence of jet fuel anytime soon. The reality is that for all of the advances of battery technology, energy storage density is still extremely impractical for powering aircraft at this stage. Hydrogen fuel presents an alternative option - hydrogen was the fuel specified in Airbus' Mach 4.5 aircraft patent filing - but hydrogen fuel is highly volatile and combustible. Biofuels offer some potential but the capital expenditure costs associated with making large amounts of biofuel are astronomical, meaning that large upfront contracts would have to be arranged with major airlines long before any fuel was ever developed or the facilities themselves were ever built. For the next few decades then, it seems that at least one area of the plane will remain decidedly old-school - the use of Jet Fuel A. http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Where-Will-Flight-Technology-Go-Next.html 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 Back to Top RSVP by contacting Erin Carroll, DFRC President by September 1 Email: erin.carroll@wnco.com or Telephone: (214) 792-5089 Back to Top Graduate Research Request You are being invited to consider taking part in a research survey on the influence of the psychological contract (the unwritten expectations between an employee and their employer) on a pilot's safety behaviours. I am seeking to understand if this part of the employment relationship has an influence on the safety behaviours of pilots. My focus is primarily on the European aviation environment. This survey is being undertaken as part of my Master of Science (MSc) in Air Safety Management at City University, London. I am undertaking this research in a purely independent capacity for my own personally funded studies. The results of this survey will only be used to support my dissertation. All data will be kept anonymous. No personally identifiable information will be collected. All answers reported in the analysis of the survey will be made without any connection to you. If you have experience working as a pilot, preferably for a European commercial air transport operator, and wish to take part please click on the link below. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/pilotspsycon Thank you for your support Kathryn Jones Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Helicopter Pilot Trust in Automation Study My name is Nick Currie and I am a helicopter pilot currently working towards my Masters of Aviation Safety at Florida Institute of Technology. Part of my program requires me to research a topic related to my field of expertise in order to satisfy the requirements of a Master's level thesis. My thesis is focused on the topic of trust in automation. More specifically, how much helicopter pilots trust two types of Enhanced Flight Vision Systems(EFVS): Enhanced Vision Systems (EVS) and Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS). The most common type of EVS technology is Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR), and the most common type of SVS technology is a 3D moving map display. I am interested in gathering responses from any helicopter pilot regarding their trust in each of these system's capabilities. If you have used one, both, or neither of the systems, I am still very interested in gaining your input in this study. Ultimately, by completing this research, I hope to develop a list of recommendations to improve EFVS automation to aid the pilot in accomplishing their primary tasks. The survey (see link below) takes no more than 10 minutes, and it asks a series of 12 questions on each display. Please consider taking a few minutes of your time to help improve this growing field of cockpit automation. Thank you for your time and consideration. Survey Link - https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2788023/Enhanced-Flight-Vision- Systems Nick Currie Curt Lewis