Flight Safety Information August 10, 2016 - No. 156 In This Issue Emirates Jet Failed to Abort Landing Prior to Dubai Crash The $432,000 bonus? Air Force may nearly double fighter pilot retention pay Questions raised over air safety in Nepal Delta outage strands 1,000 overnight at Tokyo's Narita airport Marines to add flight simulators to recruiting offices to attract more aviators ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 (ISASI) DFW Regional Chapter (DFRC) Summer Meeting, September 8, 2016 Emirates Jet Failed to Abort Landing Prior to Dubai Crash An Emirates jetliner was attempting to abort its landing at Dubai's airport shortly before the plane hit the runway and burst into flames Wednesday, causing the worst aircraft loss in the airline's 30-year history. All passengers and crew escaped from the Boeing Co. 777-300 following the 12:45 p.m. explosion on Flight 521 from Thiruvananthapuram, India. A firefighter was killed trying to extinguish the blaze, Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said at an evening news conference in Dubai. The trouble with the flight was "operational," he said, adding he didn't believe there was any security issue. The pilot might have attempted a so-called go-around - that is, aborting the landing - to avoid wind shear, but that hadn't been verified, Sheikh Ahmed said. The airport had issued a wind-shear warning for all runways before the accident, according to the AviationSafetyNetwork website. The condition occurs when wind direction changes abruptly. In extreme cases, it can be severe enough that a plane will lose lift and plunge. "It's difficult to speculate about what happened in the last few minutes of the flight, but I want to thank the crew for their professionalism and evacuating the plane in a short time," Sheikh Ahmed said. The pilot and co-pilot had logged more than 7,000 of flying hours each, he said. Cockpit Instructions Flight 521 had been cleared to land at Dubai, according to a transcript of an air-traffic control recording obtained by LiveATC.net. About a minute and a-half later, the tower gave a new instruction. "Emirates 521 climb straight ahead to 4,000 feet" (1,200 meters), a controller said, a command acknowledged by the pilot. The reason for the order wasn't known. Typically, such instructions are issued after pilots request to abort touchdowns. Television footage and newswire photos showed that the aircraft slid to a halt on its belly, with one of its huge Rolls-Royce engines detached. The jet then quickly became engulfed in smoke and fire, which gutted the length of the fuselage and burned off the roof. The jumbo jet carried 282 passengers and 18 crew members, according to Emirates, the world's biggest carrier by international traffic. Emergency services sprayed down the plane to put out the fire. Passengers and crew hurried to safety down inflatable slides. Thirteen people were hospitalized with minor injuries, Sheikh Ahmed said. Dubai airport, the world's third-busiest by passenger numbers, shut down shortly after the crash and reopened at 6:30 p.m. on a restricted basis, giving priority to arriving flights. Investigation Teams The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is sending a five-person team to assist with the investigation, a spokesman said. Under a United Nations treaty, the government from where the plane was manufactured is invited to participate in a probe. Despite the reported winds, the pilots should have been able to land the plane - or climb to safety if they were uncomfortable with the situation, said John Cox, president of Safety Operating Systems and a former airline pilot. "Professional pilots deal with high winds and gusty winds on a regular basis," Cox said in an interview. "It's like cruise-ship captains. You are going to have to learn to dock that thing when it's calm or when winds are at 40 knots." At this point, investigators won't rule anything out, looking at weather conditions, possible pilot missteps and potential failures of aircraft systems, he said. The aircraft involved entered service in 2003 and was current for regular maintenance and inspections, Sheikh Ahmed. 'Belly Flop' John Nance, a former commercial and U.S. Air Force pilot who has flown a 777, said videos from the scene indicate that the landing gear may not have been fully deployed when Flight 521 touched down. "This is a situation where it looks very much like the aircraft was landing with gear up. It does appear this was a belly flop," he said. "Why is a good question, especially if the aircraft was ordered to go around." Boeing's 777 model is the largest twin-engine airliner in production and the most used wide-body. Emirates is the biggest operator of the plane as well as of Airbus Group SE's A380 double-decker. The Boeing aircraft is also one of the safest, with only a handful suffering irreparable damage since the model's introduction two decades ago, including incidents caused by war or pilot error, according to Aviation Safety Network. Rolls-Royce Engine Boeing is standing by with a technical team to help U.S. authorities investigating the accident, the U.S. planemaker said on its website. Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, which made the jet's Trent 800 engines, also said it was ready to take part in the probe. Wednesday's 3 1/2-hour flight started midmorning from Thiruvananthapuram on India's southwest coast. Emirates serves the region mainly to ferry Indian workers to jobs in the Middle East. The carrier has built its business on exploiting the Persian Gulf's position at the heart of intercontinental flight paths and the region's oil industry, building Dubai into an airport that served 78 million passengers last year, making the hub the world's biggest by international traffic. The carrier's success has put pressure on earnings at European network airlines including Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2016/08/09/422759.htm Back to Top The $432,000 bonus? Air Force may nearly double fighter pilot retention pay The Air Force wants to nearly double pilots' retention bonuses to $48,000 per year - and this means some pilots could net themselves a whopping $432,000 if they stay in the service. The Air Force has previously said it wants to increase its Aviator Retention Pay, which has been capped at $25,000 per year since 1999, to help stave off an exodus of its best fighter pilots for better-paying jobs at private airlines. In an Aug. 3 interview with Air Force Times, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the service has asked Congress for permission to offer almost twice that. "On the fighter side, we already have a shortage," James said. "We believe it's going to get worse unless action is taken, and we know that the civilian airlines are projected to hire a lot in the next several years." Several different types of pilots are already eligible for retention bonuses of anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 for each year they extend their contracts - anywhere from five years to nine years. That means pilots can get $50,000 to $225,000 to remain in uniform today. But 17 years of inflation has dulled the effectiveness of the retention bonus, James and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said in a July 14 op-ed posted on Defense One. The so-called "take rate" of pilots accepting the bonuses shows not as many are interested as the Air Force would like. According to statistics provided to Air Force Times, the Air Force usually hopes to have 65 percent of all eligible pilots take the retention bonus. But in fiscal 2015, the Air Force recorded an overall pilot take rate of 55 percent. And as of Aug. 1, with two months left in fiscal 2016, the Air Force had a take rate of 42.9 percent. Among fighter pilots, the take rate is even lower. Last year, 47.8 percent of 11F fighter pilots took the bonus. And in the first 10 months of 2016, 34.4 percent of fighter pilots had signed up for at least five more years. James said the House version of the proposed 2017 defense authorization bill would go even further than the Air Force, and authorize up to $60,000 for pilot retention bonuses. The Senate version of the bill does not address the bonus issue, James said, so the Air Force hopes a House-Senate conference committee, which will meet later this year to iron out differences between the two bills, will agree on a $48,000 bonus. "Money is not everything, but money is an element that we need to get right," James said in the interview. "The key thing is to raise that benefit, which has not been raised since the year 1999, particularly as we're facing a wave of civilian airline hiring." James discussed the expanded pilot bonus as a way to hold on to fighter pilots. But in a follow-up email, the Air Force said it could use the expanded bonuses to manage its entire rated force - not only all manned aircraft pilots, but also some combat systems officers, which can include navigators; electronic warfare officers and weapons systems officers; air battle managers; and remotely piloted aircraft pilots. In the Defense One op-ed, James and Goldfein said the shortage of fighter pilots is expected to grow from 500 to 700 by the end of the year, leaving the service with "a 21 percent gap between what we have and what we need to meet the requirements of our commanders around the world. The problem is growing especially acute as airlines see more and more of their Vietnam- era pilots retire. Those airline pilots must be replaced with pilots who have at least 1,500 flight hours, which makes the military fertile recruiting ground for commercial airlines - who can offer much larger paychecks than the military. The proposed hefty increase in Aviator Retention Pay is the Air Force's attempt to balance the scales and hold on to its pilots. "Make no mistake, this is a quiet crisis that will almost certainly get worse before it gets better," James and Goldfein said in the Defense One op-ed. http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2016/08/09/432000-bonus-air-force-may- nearly-double-fighter-pilot-retention-pay/88464154/ Back to Top Questions raised over air safety in Nepal Nepal witnessed six air accidents involving domestic airlines in the last one year, raising question over its air safety standards, aviation experts and airline operators said. In the latest incident, a helicopter of Fishtail Air crashed into a cliff at Nuwakot district in central Nepal on Monday, killing all seven passengers and crew members on board including a newly-born baby, Xinhua news agency reported. "Although air safety in Nepal is challenging due to difficult terrain and ever changing climatic condition, there is not a proper safety management system in the country," Rajesh Raj Dali, former director general of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said. Since the accident of Mountain Helicopter on June 2, 2015, the country witnessed six accidents involving domestic airlines which killed 36 passengers and crew members. Four of those accidents were of the helicopters. Such accidents are taking place at a time when the Himalayan nation is under the significant safety concern list of International Civil Aviation Organisation and the European Commission has banned Nepali airlines to fly over the sky of the EU, showing deficiency in air safety. "There are not enough infrastructures on ground to mitigate the risk of tough terrain and weather as well," Dali said, who headed a probe committee of Tara Air crash in February. "No action has been taken against the airline company whose aircraft has met accidents frequently," said Rameshwor Thapa, former president of Airline Operators Association of Nepal, who is also owner of Simrik Air. Bhim Raj Rai, who oversees media relations at Yeti Airlines, one of the largest domestic airline companies, said they have increased the monitoring on the daily activities of their pilots while also providing many facilities to them for their refreshment following the crash of Tara Air, a subsidiary company of Yeti Airlines. http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/questions-raised-over-air-safety-in- nepal-116080901456_1.html Back to Top Delta outage strands 1,000 overnight at Tokyo's Narita airport Delta's flight disruption from Monday's system outage was felt across the carrier's entire worldwide network. And that included Tokyo's Narita airport, where more than 1,000 travelers spent the night because of the outage. "What a nightmare," American Jeff Quigley said to The Associated Press. Quigley told the news agency he was able to get about two hours of sleep at Narita following the delay of his Monday afternoon flight to Manila. The flight was pushed to Tuesday morning. "I fly four to eight times a month, and this is the worst thing I've experienced so far," Quigley said to AP. Delta operates a hub at Tokyo Narita, serving a number of Asian destinations nonstop from there. The hub allows Delta to feed fliers arriving on its flights from the U.S. to connections in Asia via Narita. Delta, of course, was hit by an outage to its global reservation system Monday morning. Delta cited a power failure, but power provider Georgia Pacific said whatever the issue was appeared to originate within Delta's headquarters. Regardless of the cause, the snafu grounded 1,000 Delta flights and delayed 3,000 more. That meant nearly two-thirds of Delta's Monday schedule ended up being delayed or canceled. And problems lingered into Tuesday morning as the carrier worked to gets its crews and planes back into place. In Japan, AP says Monday's outage "stranded many passengers in Japan. Six flights were cancelled, affecting 1,733 travelers, (Delta spokeswoman Hiroko Okada) said. Another 15 flights were delayed. The shutdown happened Monday afternoon, so many of the delays stretched overnight, forcing many more to find a place to sleep." Narita airport spokesman Katsuaki Tomimura tells AP more than 1,000 passengers ended up spending the night in an arrival lobby at the airport. That came after Delta canceled flight two flights to Honolulu and one each to New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Atlanta, according to AP. Other flights - such as Quigley's Manila flight - were delayed. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2016/08/09/delta-outage- strands-1000-overnight-tokyos-narita-airport/88448928/ Back to Top Marines to add flight simulators to recruiting offices to attract more aviators F-35 training system, logistic system ready for operations Marine Corps Recruiting Command is looking to buy new state-of-the-art flight simulators in order to inspire young people to consider aviation careers. Marine leaders want to send 22 simulators to recruiting offices around the country that will put even the best gaming experience to shame. "The flight simulators will be used at recruiting engagements in order to generate awareness and interest for our Marine Corps aviation programs, and to encourage men and women to explore the opportunity of becoming a Marine Corps officer," said Jim Edwards, a Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesman. In an effort to get the best deal, Marine officials declined to answer questions about what they expect the simulators to cost or how much they're willing to pay for them. Recruiting command put out the request in early August, and companies have until the end of the month to respond. The Marine Corps plans to purchase five fully enclosed, 3-axis motion flight simulators, according to the solicitation. The fully enclosed simulators will replicate the cockpits of the F-35B joint strike fighter, F/A-18C Hornet, MV-22 Osprey and AH-1Z Viper. Programmers will be able to load any mission set or flight conditions - including emergency procedures. This purchase will enable the Corps to use mobile simulators at every recruiting district to support the Marine Corps Flight Orientation Program, Edwards said. Right now, only the 4th Marine Corps District in Pennsylvania uses flight simulators, he added. Each simulator will have a high-definition cockpit camera, recording capability, and a 70- inch LED Smart TV where friends and family can watch the mission unfold. They will closely simulate aircraft performance and maneuvering parameters, as well as weapons system displays and functionality, and can be linked to other simulators so the "pilots" can operate in the same simulated airspace. The electric simulators will mimic cockpit instruments configuration, down to the smallest details. That means a left throttle and stick between the legs for the Hornet and Osprey simulators, and left throttle with right stick for the F-35 and Viper. Rudder pedals are fully functional and adjustable forward and aft. Functional touch screen cockpit displays will show all pilot instrumentation and GPS. The Marine Corps wants three enclosed simulators that will mimic F-35B and Hornets. Those 1-ton can be housed in enclosed 8-foot trailers and take about 30 minutes to set up. The solicitation calls for at least 180-degree, but prefers a 220-degree wrap-around visual to give the rider a realistic flight experience. Hydraulics and electric motors will provide at least 50 degrees of pitch, 60 degrees of yaw and 40 degrees of roll. The remaining 17 sets will be unenclosed, two-axis motion flight simulators: five F-35Bs, six MV-22 Ospreys and six AH-1Z Vipers. Those 500-pound models will be easier to move from place to place and can be set up by two people in 15 minutes. The lack of hydraulics means those simulator's electric motors can only provide about 40 degrees of pitch and roll. Three 1080 pixel LED displays will provide a 120-degree field of view. http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2016/08/09/marines-add-flight- simulators-recruiting-offices-attract-more-aviators/88332732/ 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 Curt Lewis