Flight Safety Information August 2, 2016 - No. 150 In This Issue Missing IAF AN-32 aircraft did not have underwater locator beacon Pilot In Fatal Hot Air Balloon Crash Had Drunk Driving, Drug Convictions Texas Balloon Crash: FAA and NTSB Clash Over Pilots' Disclosure Rules Unrecognised bounce led to 767 nose-gear strike Sri Lanka president says aviation safety country's top priority Six ways you can get booted from your airplane seat Israeli tech enables pilots to see through fog Private Pilots, NASA Wants Your Help Southwest Airlines' pilots and mechanics unions call for ouster of CEO Gary Kelly US government releases federal alternative jet fuels R&D strategy Virgin Galactic gets operating licence from U.S. aviation authority ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 (ISASI) DFW Regional Chapter (DFRC) Summer Meeting, September 8, 2016 Graduate Research Survey Request Missing IAF AN-32 aircraft did not have underwater locator beacon In the absence of a ULB, the search teams are now looking for clues of any wreckage, oil slick of aviation turbine fuel or any other visual clue in the area. Coast Guard IG Rajan Bargotra addressing a press conference on the search operations of missing IAF AN-32 aircraft. PTI photo The AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which went missing over the Bay of Bengal on July 22, had no underwater locator beacon (ULB) on it. Lack of this basic safety device is making the work of search teams more difficult. The ULB usually remains integrated with Flight Data Recorder in the cockpit. Once an aircraft goes underwater, the device starts transmitting signals at ultra-low level frequencies which can travel through water. These can be tracked by submarines and other underwater vessels for over a month, which is the battery life of a ULB. Most modern aircraft, including those in the IAF inventory and commercial aeroplanes, have the device fitted on them. In the absence of a ULB, the search teams are now looking for clues of any wreckage, oil slick of aviation turbine fuel or any other visual clue in the area. Moreover, they will be using sonar signals, which reflect off a metallic surface underwater. But undertaking these activities over an area of 4.5 lakh sq km is a time-consuming and gruelling task, which can go on for months without any success. The missing AN-32 had two Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) - one in the tail fin and the other in the cockpit. The battery life of these two devices, unlike a ULB, does not exceed 72 hours. Moreover, unlike a ULB, the ELT does not function underwater because of the ultra high frequencies signal transmitted by it. Besides ELTs, sources said, the Soviet-made plane had four life rafts, each fitted with a Personal Locator Beacon which transmits signals on coming in contact with water. Like the ELTs, these systems only operate on the surface of the sea and have a very limited battery life. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/missing-an-32-did-not-have- underwater-locator-beacon-2948880/ Back to Top Pilot In Fatal Hot Air Balloon Crash Had Drunk Driving, Drug Convictions The balloon's basket caught fire after hitting power lines and killed 16 people in the crash. The pilot killed along with 15 other people in the crash of a hot air balloon in central Texas on Saturday had numerous convictions for drunk driving and at least one drug-related charge dating back to 1990, according to online records. The balloon, flown by Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides chief pilot and owner Alfred "Skip" Nichols, hit a power line, setting its basket on fire, and plummeted into a pasture near Lockhart, about 30 miles (50 km) south of the state capital Austin, killing all aboard. Authorities have not yet issued findings of their investigation into the cause of the crash. Online records in Missouri's St. Louis County show Nichols pleaded guilty to drunk driving charges at least three times between 1990 and 2010, as well as several other vehicular charges. Authorities investigate the site in Maxwell, Texas where a hot air balloon crash killed 16 people on July 30, 2016. The pilot of that crash had convictions for drunk driving and drugs. In 2000, he also pleaded guilty to a drug-related charge and spent time in prison, according to criminal records. Following his 2010 conviction for drunk driving, Nichols was sentenced to seven years in prison and was released on parole in January 2012 after less than a year and a half. In a statement on its Facebook page, the company expressed its condolences to those killed in the crash. "There are simply no words to express our profound sadness at this event that has taken away so many of our loved ones," it said in a Facebook post. The company said it has not been in contact with the relatives of those killed in the crash as it is being probed by U.S. investigators. It could not be reached for further comment. The names of the passengers killed have not been officially released but social media posts and local media reports indicate the victims included a couple celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary with a balloon ride at sunrise. Aerial television footage showed flattened remnants of the red, white and blue balloon, adorned with a yellow smiley face wearing sunglasses. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board two years ago recommended greater oversight of the hot air balloon industry, said Robert Sumwalt, who is heading the federal agency's investigation of the accident. It was the deadliest crash involving a hot air balloon in the Western Hemisphere, according to the Balloon Federation of North America. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pilot-in-fatal-hot-air-balloon-crash-had-drunk- driving-drug-convictions_us_579fc7f1e4b08a8e8b5f1ff7?section=& Back to Top Texas Balloon Crash: FAA and NTSB Clash Over Pilots' Disclosure Rules PlayTexas Hot Air Balloon Struck Power Lines Before Crash: NTSB Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed Texas Hot Air Balloon Struck Power Lines Before Crash: NTSB 1:40 Federal regulations don't appear to have required the pilot of the hot air balloon that crashed in Texas, killing all 16 people aboard, to disclose his past substance abuse issues - an apparent loophole that the lead investigator of the crash called "unacceptable" on Monday. "You need a medical certificate before flying solo in an airplane, helicopter, gyroplane or airship," the Federal Aviation Administration says in its medical regulations for would-be pilots. That certificate must disclose any conditions "that would prevent you from becoming a pilot." But if you're going to pilot a balloon or glider, "you don't need a medical certificate," according to the regulations, which specify: "All you need to do is write a statement certifying that you have no medical defect that would make you unable to pilot a balloon or glider." Investigators at the site where a hot air balloon crashed Sunday west of Lockhart, Texas, killing 16 people. Tamir Kalifa / Redux Pictures The FAA told NBC News that it had no record of any action against the pilot in Saturday's crash, Alfred G. "Skip" Nichols IV, 49, or against his company, Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Missouri court records show, however, that Nichols had an extensive record of driving while impaired and other driving violations dating to 1997, some of them felonies. He had so many violations that while he was licensed to pilot a balloon, at least one court decided he was ineligible to drive a car until June 2020. And Nichols' court file includes a 2013 letter from the FAA itself saying it was investigating his latest DWI case and asking for copies of the paperwork. A spokesman for the FAA told NBC News that some records are expunged after a couple of years. Wendy Bartch of Ballwin, Mo., a close friend for almost 30 years, told NBC News that Nichols struggled with substance abuse for many years, but Bartch said he'd straightened out his life and was "100 percent sober." That makes it unclear whether his alcohol problems in the past made him "unable to pilot" now, and whether he still needed to report them. Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, wouldn't speculate on a cause of Saturday's crash, including the possibility of pilot error. But the lack of equal medical disclosure "goes back to the issue of oversight of commercial balloon pilots," Sumwalt said, asking, "Should they be held to a higher standard?" To Sumwalt, the answer is yes - and the NTSB told the FAA two years ago, only to be turned down. According to the April 2014 recommendations, "the NTSB believes that air tour balloon operators should be subject to greater regulatory oversight." "The NTSB concludes that passengers who hire air tour balloon operators should have the benefit of a similar level of safety oversight as passengers of air tour airplane and helicopter operations," the agency said. And some within the FAA agree. According to an internal FAA report obtained Monday by NBC News, 29 hot air balloon accidents were reported from March 2010 through August 2012. More than half of them - 16 - "appear to have been commercial tour operations involving multiple passengers," the report said, adding: "[t]his data provides ample justification for enhanced FAA oversight." Detail from an internal Federal Aviation Administration report urging stronger regulation of hot air balloon pilots. "In comparison to other forms of aviating, hot air ballooning is the most volatile," according to the report. And yet, "there is no requirement under the Federal Aviation Regulations" that require tour balloon pilots to submit to drug or alcohol testing, or even to annual training, it said. "Considering that commercial balloon pilots fly up to two dozen passengers (depending upon balloon size), these airmen should be subject to the same requirements imposed on airplane and helicopter air tour pilots," it said. Sumwalt said Monday: "We do see this discontinuity, this disparity, in this level of oversight requirements. We do not feel that the FAA's response to our oversight recommendation was acceptable." Nichols and 15 passengers were killed when the balloon crashed into a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, apparently after having struck power lines, NTSB investigators said. A fire broke out, but it remains unclear whether it erupted before or after the balloon hit the wires. The initial investigation has indicated no existing problems that might have led to the crash, Sumwalt said. Nichols had obtained a proper weather report, which showed clear skies with patchy fog, and the weight load on the balloon appeared to be within its safe flying limits, he said. A maintenance log for the balloon ends in September 2015, Sumwalt said. Current logs were likely aboard the balloon and were destroyed when it crashed, he said. Sumwalt said 14 cellphones were recovered from the scene and were being examined in Washington, D.C., for any clues to what might have happened, while the wreckage itself is being examined in Texas. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-balloon-crash-faa-ntsb-clash-over-pilots- disclosure-rules-n621286 Back to Top Unrecognised bounce led to 767 nose-gear strike Japanese investigators believe an All Nippon Airways Boeing 767-300 sustained damage in a hard landing because the crew did not realise the aircraft had bounced on touchdown. The twinjet (JA610A) had been approaching Tokyo Narita's runway 16R in crosswind conditions on 20 June 2012. Air traffic control had cautioned about windshear on the parallel runway 16L. Although there was no similar alert for 16R, the 767 crew was prepared for possible turbulence. Japan Transport Safety Board investigators state that the aircraft underwent large pitch, roll and speed fluctuations as a result of changing wind speeds, presenting a "difficult" task to keep the aircraft's attitude stable. The inquiry says the 767 was in a nose-down attitude at 20-30ft above ground, and that its descent rate of some 400-600ft/min "could not be sufficiently reduced" during the flare. "When the pitch significantly decreased after the aircraft passed the runway threshold, it should [have been] recognised that [an] appropriate landing operation would not be possible and the landing should not be continued," it states. The captain, who was flying, noticed a shortened interval between automatic height call- outs, and felt the aircraft rapidly descend, and attempted to increase nose-up pitch. But the aircraft landed on its right-hand main gear, with an impact of 1.58g, before bouncing. Thinking that the main gear was in contact with the runway, the captain reasoned that an early touchdown with the nose-gear - to maintain heading in the crosswind - would be the safest option, and pushed forward on the control column to force the nose down. This led the 767 to strike the ground on its nose-gear, just before the main gear made second contact with a 1.72g impact. The nose-gear rebounded, before touching down again at 1.82g. While the captain "momentarily" considered executing a go-around, says the inquiry, he recalled a tail-strike involving an ANA Airbus A320 at Sendai, four months previously, and chose instead to recover the landing. Four cabin attendants received minor injuries during the incident. The 767 suffered substantial damage including creased upper-crown fuselage panels, cracks to a frame and stringers, and deformation of the nose-gear structure. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top Sri Lanka president says aviation safety country's top priority Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena said today that aviation safety remains the country's top priority. He was addressing the 53rd Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation of Asia and Pacific States, in Colombo. "My government is committed without any reservations to upgrade, develop and maintain the domestic aviation industry in conformity with applicable international standards," he said, adding,"All possible measures will be taken for their effective implementation to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and economy." The president called on international aviation players like the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to focus on planning and developing human resources, to face future needs of the aviation industry. "I believe the needs of countries like ours have to get priority in such exercises," he said. "In addition, integrating business development is another area, which will benefit us and I wish you would focus on it too," he said. The president also said Sri Lanka needs to improve the safety and security management systems, noting that his country has a relatively good safety maintenance record, with no major incidents to be concerned with. "Nevertheless, aviation safety remains our top priority. We regularly review and update our policies on safety and enhance technology usage," he said. The president also reiterated Sri Lanka's commitment to advance the development of international civil aviation according to principles and objectives declared in the Convention on International Civil Aviation. http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=2016/08/01/local/89176 Back to Top Six ways you can get booted from your airplane seat When you buy an airfare, airlines do not "guarantee" a particular seat, schedule or flight.(Photo: Maxim Petrichuk, Getty Images/Hemera) It's in their contracts of carriage: When you buy an airfare, airlines do not "guarantee" a particular seat, schedule or flight. And airlines can be pretty persnickety about who they fly and where they seat them. Back when I used to work for Eastern Air Lines, an employee flying on a company ticket had to wear a suit and tie in order to be accepted for transportation. We always flew in first class if there were seats, but one day I showed up at the check-in desk with a nice suit but no tie and I was bumped back to economy. "The way you're dressed, you don't deserve to fly at all!" sniped the ticket agent. But it happens to paying passengers, too, and for sometimes unpredictable reasons. Actor Andie MacDowell was booted back to "tourist class" recently because she carried a pet pooch on board but was sitting in the first-class bulkhead row, which meant there was no under-seat area for the dog and its carrier (this is typical of most bulkhead rows). Why the Four Weddings and a Funeral actress was sitting in that row while transporting an animal isn't clear, since she let the airline know she was bringing a pet on board, but she was ignominiously sent back to an economy-class seat and she wasn't having it on Twitter. "@AmericanAir HELP I paid for first class & they put me in tourist because of my dog that I pre-booked & paid for," she tweeted. But it's not just airline employee dress codes and pets that can get you booted back to coach - or off the plane entirely. 1. The air marshal needs your seat These guys still fly to protect you, and they're sometimes seated without prior warning. If one of them shows up and needs your seat, you'll either be bumped off the flight entirely or reassigned. And you won't even get an explanation (obviously, the authorities don't want you to blab that there's an air marshal on board). 2. You messed with a crewmember When Bobby Abtahi, a Dallas attorney, was rushing through one of those large revolving doors at New York's LaGuardia Airport, he supposedly "cut off" a Virgin America flight attendant who was attempting to enter at the same time. Abtahi was booted off his flight after the flight attendant complained to the captain flying his plane. At least Virgin later apologized for the "misunderstanding" and refunded his fare. 3. You - or your child - won't listen to crewmember instructions Actually, if you do anything to annoy cabin crew or fail to obey their instructions and ignore lighted placard signs, you risk being booted. When singer Sarah Blackwood of Walk Off the Earth couldn't get her toddler to sit down and fasten his seat belt just before takeoff, her United Airlines flight returned to the gate and both were invited to deplane. "That's how babies are," she reportedly said. 4. The airline oversells or double-books a seat Even in this era of sophisticated computer systems - or perhaps because of them - airlines oversell flights and even, on rare occasions, sell the same seat to two people. You're now entitled to up to $1,350 in cash compensation if you're "bumped" (do not accept a travel voucher!) depending on the reason for the bump, the length of any delay caused and the price of your ticket. In 2013, Delta was fined $750,000 for, among other bumping violations, not informing passengers that they're entitled to cash compensation rather than a travel voucher, and last year American paid a fine for similar infractions. 5. You're not properly dressed Again, this is up to cabin crew, but if you wear a T-shirt with offensive wording, are exposing too much flesh, or are otherwise provocatively dressed, flight attendants and cockpit crew have been known to kick people off the plane or refuse boarding. Spirit Airlines once deplaned a passenger for refusing to pull up his baggy, underwear-revealing pants, and Southwest has been known to refuse passage to passengers whose clothes reveal too much cleavage or other body parts. Thankfully, airlines no longer require employees to wear suits and ties when flying on company passes, but they'll take it out on you if they don't approve of your fashion sense. 6. You've been over-served If you're obviously inebriated or otherwise impaired, don't expect to fly. You won't be breathalyzed so it's entirely up to crew member discretion. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/hobica/2016/08/02/bumped-from- airplane-seat/87922222/ Back to Top Israeli tech enables pilots to see through fogSpecial cameras and goggles work together to filter out obstructive weather Elbit's wearable heads-up display Civilian airline pilots flying through fog or other limited visibility conditions will soon be able to benefit from an optical system designed by Israeli defense industry leader Elbit Systems, according to a report on Channel 2 news. Normally, when flying through fog or smoke, pilots must rely on instruments alone as vision is severely reduced. Elbit's new system uses special cameras to analyze various wavelengths of light, then chooses and combines them with "synthetic vision" based on databases of terrain and infrastructure, into an image that will give the pilot the best visibility of the way ahead. The image is then projected directly over the pilot's eyes on a wearable heads-up display - basically a set of fancy goggles - allowing the pilots to fly the plane as if they were seeing through the inclement weather. Projecting information directly over the pilots' eyes allows users to turn their heads and get real time pictures to their left and right. More traditional heads-up display technologies project an image on a visor or windshield and can be more restrictive. The system was originally developed for military purposes, but is now being converted for use by civilian aviation. http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-tech-enables-pilots-to-see-through-fog/ Back to Top Private Pilots, NASA Wants Your Help The space agency is looking for general aviation pilots to help track harmful algal blooms. Rafat Ansari of NASA Glenn (right) helps attach a camera to a volunteer pilot's aircraft. (NASA) Ever wanted to fly for NASA, but lack test pilot experience? That's ok! If you own a general aviation airplane and don't mind flying over water, NASA wants to speak with you. The agency, along with its research partners in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and universities, are looking for a way to track harmful algal blooms. You can fly whenever and wherever you like, so long as it's over water. The only catch: It's all on your personal dime. Algae is a catchall term for a variety of microscopic, photosynthetic plants and bacteria that float on or near the surface of the water, using chlorophyll to absorb energy from the sun. In the right conditions (warm, still water) they reproduce exponentially, forming what usually looks like a green or reddish floating blob-think pond scum-called an algal bloom. These blooms are natural, and small ones can be found nearly any place with relatively still water; they produce oxygen like other plants, and can make great meals for a wide variety of sea life. Algal blooms thrive on nutrients like phosphates, one of the primary ingredients in fertilizers that are spread on farms by the ton. The runoff from farms makes its way into local waterways, eventually concentrating into drainage basins, causing blooms far larger and more frequent than would occur naturally. Algal blooms are generally harmless in natural quantities, but big, sustained blooms cause big problems. All those algae dying and decomposing (they have very short lives) brings bacteria that consume oxygen, leading to hypoxic 'dead zones' where virtually no life can survive. Blue-green algae also produce a waste substance called microcystin, which is toxic to people and animals. Forecasting exactly when, where and how these Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) will begin and grow is still a problem. That's where general aviation comes in. An algal bloom amidst river runoff near Toledo, Ohio "We know a great deal about the dynamics of HABs-how they respond to changes in nutrient concentrations, waves, sunlight, temperature, etc," says Rafat Ansari, a scientist at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and principal investigator of this citizen- science project. "But there is much that we do not yet know about how these factors interact to produce an HAB or the HAB life cycle. Nor do we understand in a bloom of Microcystis, the most serious HAB species for fresh-water ecosystems, the conditions that lead to a bloom becoming toxic." Finding and tracking HABs is mostly done via satellites, which deliver impressive images but have their downsides. Their images are infrequent, and the data takes a long time to deliver and analyze. The satellites can't see through clouds, can't move around to track the blooms, and of course are very expensive. General aviation airplanes, on the other hand, can fly low, underneath many of the clouds that block a satellite's view, and they're far more flexible. So NASA and others have enlisted volunteer pilots to overfly waterways with cameras mounted to the wings, automatically taking geolocated pictures. Many private pilots look for excuses to fly (popping over to another airport for lunch is commonly called a "$100 hamburger" flight), so why not gather some useful data while they're up there? "There are about 600,000 private pilots in the U.S. and over 200,000 GA aircraft," says Ansari. "A fraction of this untapped resource can be used to study scientific issues in the nation's waterways....GA pilots are more knowledgeable of the communities they live in, and are therefore aware of the water-quality issues near them. As citizens, they love to help their communities." It's all done on a purely volunteer basis: NASA pays for neither fuel, nor time, nor the camera, but they also don't ask much in return. The agency prefers pilots who routinely repeat the same flight paths, at altitudes between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, and at times of day when there isn't much sun glare. But for practical purposes, pilots are free to choose their own timing, flight paths, and cameras. That's not ideal for scientists, who usually need standardized data in order to compare results, but for basic HAB-tracking and - forecasting it's good enough. "My desire and dream is to have a network of pilots around the country, covering affected waterways from coast to coast and lakes and reservoirs," says Ansari. But he may have to wait a while. Around 100 pilots responded to the first round of requests, but Ansari says the team doesn't have the resources to download that much high-quality data in a systematic way. Currently only six pilots are making regular HAB-reconnaissance flights over Lake Erie (in 2014 a HAB temporarily shut down Toledo, Ohio's water supply) the Mississippi River, and California coastline. So if your next $100 hamburger is somewhere across the lake or down the river, you can get more information and sign up on the project's website. http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/hunting-dangerous-plants-made-easy- 180959975/#fz5lbFMeOtrl9BRC.99 Back to Top Southwest Airlines' pilots and mechanics unions call for ouster of CEO Gary Kelly Members of Southwest Airlines' mechanics, flight attendants and pilots unions picketed last month for contract negotiations at the entrance to Dallas Love Field. Leaders of Southwest Airlines' pilots and mechanics unions have called for the ouster of the Dallas-based company's CEO, Gary Kelly, and chief operating officer Mike Van de Ven in a vote of no confidence, the unions said Monday. "As tenured employees and frontline leaders of this company, we can no longer sit idly by and watch poor decision after poor decision deeply affect our customers and Southwest Airlines," Capt. Jon Weaks, president of Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association, said in a written statement. "We believe that a change is needed for the best interests of Southwest Airlines and the loyal customers we serve." Weaks pointed to what he called "years of operational deficiencies, unprecedented labor strife and continued culture erosion" at Southwest as reasons for the no-confidence vote. Weaks and Louie Key, national director of Southwest's mechanics union, also criticized the company for the July 20 technical outage that led to the cancellation of 2,300 flights and caused widespread disruption for flight crews and employees over several days. Key, national director of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, called the technology failure "the last straw." "The current leadership has dragged out our contract negotiations for nearly four years, eroded the company culture that employees hold dear, and continued to put Band-Aids on its operational systems rather than invest in company upgrades," Key said in a statement. Southwest downplayed the no-confidence vote as a negotiating tactic and said the company is regularly recognized for its financial, operational and customer service performance. "This latest move by the new leaders of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association is designed to pressure the company to meet its demands," Southwest's vice president of labor relations Randy Babbitt said in a statement. "Their maneuvering is not about our leaders. It's not about 'IT infrastructure.' This is about the union's approach to contract discussions and its attempt to gain leverage in negotiations." Kelly, a 30-year Southwest employee, has served as CEO since 2004 and added the role of chairman and president in 2008. The no-confidence vote comes at a time of record profitability for Southwest - the company earned $820 million in the second quarter of 2016 - which has coincided with prolonged and increasingly contentious labor negotiations with several of its largest unions. Pilots, mechanics and flight attendants unions, which collectively represent about 23,000 Southwest employees, have each been negotiating new contract terms for nearly four years, with few recent signs of progress. In addition to pay increases and changes to retirement benefits, the unions and Southwest have been at a stalemate over contract language that affects job duties and protections. Under federal law, unionized airline employees are prohibited from going on strike in all but the most extreme circumstances and only after an exhaustive process of negotiation and mediation. Without the option of a strike, Southwest's unions are limited to things like pickets -- of which they've had at least four this year. The pilots union has also sued Southwest over new Boeing 737-Max planes scheduled to enter the fleet next year, which pilots say they won't fly without a new deal. The no-confidence vote -- which a pilots union spokesman said is the first in the organization's history -- is the latest escalation in the ongoing labor battle In his statement, Weaks employed an oft-used line of attack on Southwest, accusing the company's executives of putting financial performance and shareholder concerns ahead of its employees and customers. Union leaders have called the perceived shift in priorities an inversion of Southwest's long-standing customer- and employee-friendly corporate culture. Weaks also called out Southwest for failing to invest in modernizing "critically outdated" technology and flight operation systems. "These decisions have directly led to the operational failure at Midway Airport in January 2014, chaotic crew scheduling during the summers and holidays of 2014 to 2016, and our most recent 'meltdown' related to technological infrastructure this past month," he said. On Friday, CEO Kelly said the company's preliminary review indicated that the aging technology systems did not contribute to the outage. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20160801-southwest-airlines- pilots-and-mechanics-unions-call-for-ouster-of-ceo-gary-kelly.ece Back to Top US government releases federal alternative jet fuels R&D strategy On July 28, the White House released the Federal Alternative Jet Fuels Research and Development Strategy, mapping out a unified federal plan to advance R&D as well as science and technology solutions to support deployment of alternative jet fuels in civil and military aviation. The Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative was a key player in the development of the strategy by participating in the survey and review process and providing input to the strategy during the initial stakeholder discussions held in January 2014. It will continue to play a strong role moving forward serving as a key connection point between federal efforts and non-federal and industry stakeholders. The FAJFS prioritizes a list of R&D goals and objectives addressing specific scientific, technical, analytical and logistical challenges that hinder the development, production and wide-scale economic deployment of alternative jet fuels (AJFs). Upon the release of the strategy, the federal government hopes to accelerate the development of the AJF industry by minimizing technical uncertainty to encourage further private sector interest, facilitate the development and approval of new AJF pathways and reduce the cost of AJF production in the U.S. In late 2013, an Alternative Jet Fuel Interagency Working Group (AJF-IWG) was established under the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Aeronautics Science and Technology to develop the strategy with other key stakeholders. Going forward, AJF-IWG will lead implementation of the strategy, analyze ongoing federal efforts and collaborate with federal and non-federal stakeholders, including the CAAFI, in advancing four areas of the strategy, namely: feedstock development, production and logistics; fuel conversion and scale-up; fuel testing and evaluation; and integrated challenges such as sustainability. Goals and objectives were set in each of the four areas to be completed over near-term (less than 5 years), mid-term (5 to 10 years) and long- term (more than 10 years) time horizons. Agencies that have an R&D mission that aligns with a certain goal were identified in the FAJFS, and, in most cases, the goals and objectives are shared by multiple agencies, including R&D coordination efforts by the Biomass R&D Board, CAAFI, Farm to Fly 2.0 and more. In the category of feedstock development, production and logistics, R&D goals and objectives represent what individual regional supply chains could do to optimize their systems to reduce cost, technology uncertainty and risk, while increasing crop yields and improving harvesting, collection, storage, densification, pretreatment and transportation of biomass to the conversion facility. According to the report, a regional focus may help identify specific production opportunities and define cost competitiveness. Some considerations to keep in mind to develop a feedstock supply system are fuel use locations, regions likely to benefit most from AJF, regionally appropriate feedstocks, existent/emerging conversion platforms, industry/community interest and alternative uses/products potentially supported by the feedstock supply chain. The area of fuel conversion and scale-up focuses on reducing the cost of production for biochemical, thermochemical and hybrid conversion processes while increasing the conversion efficiency and volume of fuels produced. The report stated that conversion technologies that are relatively mature include 1) hydro treatment and upgrading of waste oils or plant-based oils to jet fuel and 2) gasification of biomass or MSW into a synthesis gas followed by Fischer-Tropsch conversion of the synthesis gas into jet fuel. However, R&D is needed for even these relatively mature technologies. According to the FAJFS, hydro-treatment of oils is dominated by the cost of the feedstock, which can account for 75 to 80 percent of the cost of the finished fuel; thus R&D could focus on new feedstocks that can be available at low costs to make the finished fuel cost competitive. One promising pathway included in the strategy is the production of a bio-crude from biomass or non-fossil feedstocks and coprocessing the bio-crude and fossil-based crude oil in existing refineries. The refinery would continue to produce a mix of products like jet fuel, diesel, gasoline and petrochemicals. Conversion technologies to target in the mid- term include ATJ, additional biochemical/catalytic conversion of sugars to hydrocarbons and pyrolysis. Long-term, conversion technologies identified include waste carbon dioxide into ethanol followed by ATJ conversion, processes involving algal and other microbial feedstocks and algae or other microbes capable of producing hydrocarbons. Evaluating and testing the fuel is said to focus on facilitating the approval of additional AJF pathways through advancement of certification and qualification process, and collection and analysis of data, including those for combustion emissions. The fourth category of integrated challenges has the goals of improving environmental sustainability, validating a comprehensive systems model and promoting communication and best practices for AJF development. CAAFI will host several sessions on the FAJFS at the CAAFI biennial general meeting including discussions of execution strategy led by the federal agencies, the integration of ongoing and planned activities across the public-private-partnership spectrum to meet the strategy's objectives, and the providing of feedback on other objectives and activities that could be undertaken to fulfill the vision of the strategy. A table of the specific objectives under each goal can be downloaded here. http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/13537/us-government-releases-federal-alternative- jet-fuels-rd-strategy Back to Top Virgin Galactic gets operating licence from U.S. aviation authority Licence paves the way for space tourist flights once final safety tests completed Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, seen here flying over the Mojave Desert in California in April 2013, will carry the world's first paying space tourists, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted the company an operating licence on Aug. 1, 2016. Richard Branson's space company, Virgin Galactic, has been granted an operating licence to fly its passenger rocket ship with the world's first paying space tourists aboard once final safety tests are completed, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday. The unprecedented licence covers all operations of Virgin Galactic's six-passenger, two- pilot SpaceShipTwo vehicle, including commercial passenger service, which according to FAA spokesman Hank Price is contingent on "certain terms and conditions" being met first. Those requirements include verification of vehicle hardware and software "in an operational flight environment," the FAA wrote in an email. The FAA, which oversees U.S. airline service and general aviation, is also the chief regulatory body for commercial space flight in the United States. The new licence will be modified as Virgin Galactic supplies the FAA with additional data from the SpaceShipTwo flight test program, company spokeswoman Christine Choi said in an email. The company has not yet announced a date for the start of passenger flights but is selling tickets for a ride aboard SpaceShipTwo at $250,000 US a seat. Commercial service is not expected to debut before 2017. About 700 people have put down deposits for rides that will take them about 100 kilometres above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of Earth set against the blackness of space. Virgin Galactic's original SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart during an October 2014 test flight that killed the co-pilot and seriously injured the pilot, in an accident that was ultimately attributed to pilot error. Both were employees of Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Mojave, Calif.-based Northrop Grumman, which built the vehicle. The Spaceship Company, a Virgin Galactic sister firm also owned by Branson's London- based Virgin Group, built a new SpaceShipTwo, the second in a planned fleet of five, and took over the test flight program from Scaled. The new ship, dubbed Unity, was rolled out of its hanger on Monday for its first taxi test at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Virgin Galactic plans to fly from Spaceport America, near Las Cruces, New Mexico. SpaceShipTwo will be ferried to an altitude of about 15,000 metres by a carrier jet known as White Knight Two and then released for an independent rocket ride beyond the atmosphere. SpaceShipTwo is designed to glide back to the ground and land on a runway like a conventional airplane. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/virgin-galactic-gets-faa-licence-1.3703506 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 Survey Request I am Mohsen Berajeh, MSc student within an aircraft maintenance at the university of South Wales. I am conducting a research about outsourcing strategy in aircraft maintenance as a technique to improve safety, cost control and increase aircraft availability. However, part of my study contains a short survey questionnaire, this survey is just 10 questions and will not take more than 10 min. My study would look at the role of outsourcing in aircraft maintenance industry, where the maintenance market is heavily influencing the operating costs Therefore, the airlines implement the outsourcing as a successful approach for continuous improvement to face the world growing competition. Moreover, optimizing aircraft maintenance as a manner of strengthening their market share and confronting challenges in terms of a survival strategy. All operators, maintenance organisations, manufacturers, and owners are most welcome to participate in this questionnaire. Please click the link below to go to the survey. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CRNQGDZ Your participation in a questionnaire will be highly appreciated. Thank you for your time. Mohsen Berajeh 15002519@students.southwales.ac.uk Curt Lewis