Flight Safety Information August 17, 2016 - No. 161 In This Issue Cessna 550 takeoff accident (Venezuela) Private Airplane rolls off runway at Farmington airport (New Mexico) Missing plane: What happened to the Indian military aircraft? USAIG Adds Two General Aviation Food Safety Professionals Online Courses to Performance Vector Program Ready for takeoff: USU aviation program goes forward after student death AOPA Nall Report Reveals General Aviation Safety Milestone Panasonic turns to airplane tracking Inflight Wi-Fi Service Providers Making Gains NASA astronauts will install a new dock to the International Space Station this Friday GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Watch..."The Crash Detectives Book Trailer"...on YouTube ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 (ISASI) DFW Regional Chapter (DFRC) Summer Meeting, September 8, 2016 Cessna 550 takeoff accident (Venezuela) Status: Date: Tuesday 16 August 2016 Time: 15:40 Type: Cessna 550 Citation II Operator: Unknown Registration: YV3051 C/n / msn: 550-0070 First flight: 1979 Crew: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Airplane damage: Destroyed Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Charallave-Óscar Machado Zuloaga Airport ( Venezuela) Phase: Initial climb (ICL) Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Charallave-Óscar Machado Zuloaga Airport (SVCS), Venezuela Destination airport: ? Narrative: A Cessna 550 Citation II, YV3051, was destroyed in an accident near Charallave-Óscar Machado Zuloaga Airport in Venezuela. Both pilots were killed. The aircraft came down immediately after takeoff and impacted a rocky gully in a wooded area near the threshold of runway 28. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20160816-0 Back to Top Private Airplane rolls off runway at Farmington airport (New Mexico) FARMINGTON - A small private airplane ended up in the dirt after rolling off the runway at Four Corners Regional Airport on Monday evening. Airport Manager Mike Lewis said the plane was taxing to a take-off position when the brakes and steering failed. The incident happened at about 5:45 p.m., Lewis said. Three people - an instructor and two student pilots, all three from California - were on board, and no one was hurt. The plane is slated for a mechanical inspection later this week, Lewis said. http://www.daily-times.com/story/news/local/farmington/2016/08/16/private-jet-rolls- off-runway-farmington-airport/88831574/ Back to Top Missing plane: What happened to the Indian military aircraft? Mystery surrounds the fate of the plane carrying 29 passengers over the Bay of Bengal in July Indian aviation experts appear no closer to solving the mystery of a military aircraft that disappeared over the Bay of Bengal last month with 29 people on board. What happened? The plane vanished shortly after take-off from the southern city of Chennai on 22 July. The Russian-built Antonov AN-32 military transport plane was making a routine courier service to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, with 23 service personnel and six crew members on board. Contact with air traffic control was lost just 15 minutes into the flight, with a source in the Indian Air Force (IAF) saying the plane made a sharp left turn before quickly losing altitude. "It just disappeared - no SOS, no transmission at any frequency," said defence minister Manohar Parrikar. "That is the worrying part." However, he added that there was little evidence the plane had been sabotaged. The search operation Officials told the BBC that the ongoing hunt for the missing aircraft is possibly "the biggest and most arduous" in India's aviation history. "It is like searching for a needle in a haystack. We are still hoping for a miracle," one source said. Military and coast guard planes have covered 360 nautical miles in search of debris, but no wreckage has so far been located. Dozens of ships and submarines are also involved in a deep sea search, scouring 430 square kilometres of ocean. The Indian government has also been in touch with officials in the US, requesting satellite information that could be helpful in the search. "We may never know what really happened aboard the missing aircraft," Bikram Vohra writes for the Indian First Post. He points to the unreliability of the aircraft in question, citing 77 incidents that have occurred with the AN 32 since 1986. "In some ways these are the worst of aviation crashes because not only is life lost but no one knows why and sometimes there is no closure," he says. Vohra adds: "Even if we find the wreckage, recovering the black boxes will be very difficult. We can second guess the combination of bad weather and structural collapse all we like but this flight has probably taken its secret with it forever." http://www.theweek.co.uk/75610/missing-plane-what-happened-to-the-indian-military- aircraft Back to Top USAIG Adds Two General Aviation Food Safety Professionals Online Courses to Performance Vector Program New York, NY (August 16, 2016)...Operators of turbine-powered aircraft have differing needs and goals for safety training and services based on the resources they have and unique aspects of their operations. That's why USAIG's Performance Vector initiative offers a comprehensive portfolio of services that policyholders can use to reinforce their existing safety programs specifically and strategically. USAIG, one of the world's leading aviation-specific insurance providers, continually updates its Performance Vector suite of safety programs to keep pace with changes and improvements in aviation safety protocols. The forward-looking Performance Vector portfolio offers insights, strategies and specific practical steps for USAIG-insured operators of turbine aircraft. Eligible policyholders can choose annually from a range of safety-enhancing programs and services delivered by the industry's leading providers. New to Performance Vector are two General Aviation Food Safety Professionals online courses created by Jean Dible, president and founder of GA Food Safety Professionals: * General Aviation Food Safety Professionals Flight Attendant's Online Course: The Flight Attendant's online course is written for professionals who plan and manage inflight food service activities of a sophisticated nature that go beyond basic distribution, to include galley operations with onboard food preparation, presentation, and food storage exceeding 12 hours. * General Aviation Food Safety Professionals Pilot & Flight Technician's Online Course: The Pilot/Flight Technicians course is written for operators that fly without flight attendants, yet still carry limited food selections onboard for service to passengers and crew. The science-based curriculum is written in general aviation terms and a user-friendly style that takes pilots or other crewmembers who handle food, through the necessary safety principles. The course spans the entire process; from ordering food, to proper storage and serving practices, through safe disposition of leftover food. "GA Food Safety Professionals is honored to be a part of USAIG's Performance Vector program," said Jean Dible. "These two courses have the How To answers for minimizing foodborne illness from the time catered food is ordered, to when it is served aboard an aircraft. The curriculum addresses dealing with caterers as well as the security of food and how to minimize the risk of deliberate contamination of food destined for in-flight meals." "These courses are optimal for the GA professional - a perfect blend of topical depth, expert information and delivered in a business-aviation friendly format. We are thrilled to integrate GA Food Safety Professionals into the Performance Vector program," said Dave McKay, USAIG Chairman and CEO. Contact: Joan Mirabile, Senior Vice President/ Marketing Communications Director Joan.Mirabile@usaig.com 212-952-0100 https://www.usau.com/ Back to Top Ready for takeoff: USU aviation program goes forward after student death Instructor Christopher Gibbs, left, and his student Abdul Othman go through a preflight check before taking off at the Logan-Cache Airport on Tuesday. usu flight program secondary Abdul Othman pushes a plane out of the hangar before taking it on a flight on Tuesday. The Utah State University Aviation Technology Program is ready to soar again this coming school year after coming to grips with a summer plane crash that resulted in a student's death - a first for the program. Various program officials said the aviation program resumed after a two-day "stand- down" following the death of 21-year-old Frank Marino de Leon Compres. This coming fall semester, USU expects to see about 270 students in the Aviation Technology Program. "There's a hole in our hearts because we lost a pilot in the fleet," said Aaron Dyches, the program's chief flight instructor. "The nature of aviation is progress - all of us understand that. Frank loved flying just as much as anyone else that we know, so we're pushing forward to both honor Frank and to carry on with the great tradition of flying and safety that we have." De Leon Compres, originally from the Dominican Republic, was a senior in the Aviation Technology program and was working on solo flight hours for his commercial pilot's license when his single-engine plane crashed near Hyrum on July 18. Andreas Wesemann, a USU professor and coordinator of the professional pilot aspect of the program, said the Aviation Technology program is going forward, but the mood among instructors and students doesn't seem the same as it was before de Leon Compres' death. "I wouldn't say life is normal; I don't think it will ever be normal again for some of these people," Wesemann said. That's certainly the feeling for at least one USU aviation student, Brad Ferguson, a senior, who just took his first flight at the Logan-Cache Airport on Tuesday after returning from vacation in Europe. Ferguson was in Hungary when de Leon Compres died. "It kind of opens up your eyes to how much of a reality it is that a crash can actually happen," said Ferguson, who recalled getting a late-night phone call from his mom about the crash. "It made me really go through my safety flow again. With that flow, you want to make sure you double check everything." When it comes to actually flying one of the USU aircraft, Ferguson said his mentality has changed as well. "I'm always looking for a place to land," he said. Dyches said getting ready to fly is about more than just pre-flight checks and briefings. "Everyone goes through that self-awareness type of a test: 'Am I doing what I should be doing?'" Dyches said. "That's another reason why we did the stand-down, is to make sure we're all mentally in the game." The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the crash, but Dyches said information from the FAA and NTSB helped them make a decision about lifting the stand-down - evaluating the program's 15 aircraft - and resuming the program. "Once information came back that it was not a fleet issue or training issue, we started resuming flights," Dyches said. There are some things the program can evaluate without the NTSB's complete findings, according to Wesemann. "We may talk about little bit more about solo guidance, what things can be done solo," Wesemann said. "It's not as if there's anything wrong or broken with the program; there are just couple things I think we should emphasize." Ferguson said the NTSB's finding may be "the final closure" of the tragic plane crash for instructors and students with the USU Aviation technology Program. The tragic Cache Valley crash hasn't gone unnoticed by other schools, either, Wesemann said. "Other schools I know of have been affected by this; they're taking time to talk to their students and instructors," Wesemann said. Bruce Miller, head of the department of applied sciences, technology and education within the college, said students and instructors in the Aviation Technology program have handled de Leon Compres' death well, considering. "They're aware that career choices have risks, and it appears the students are doing well and the flight instructors are doing as well as they could during any recovery," Miller said. Miller said the program has fielded concerned phone calls from parents and prospective students over the safety of the program. "We don't know if it will have an impact on the program; we wouldn't be surprised if there is," Miller said. "If your son or daughter were coming as a freshman to be in flight training, you'd want to confirm what happened, what were the conditions. They're doing their due-diligence as parents." Miller said USU can point to its FAA record and rating throughout the history of the program to reassure people. But USU's reassurances to students and parents, in particular, go beyond the numbers. "It is a fairly dangerous career choice, and accidents occur," Miller said. Based in USU's College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, aviation technology is an undergraduate program that offers a bachelor's of science in aviation technology, with an option in maintenance management or aviation technology. Miller said de Leon Compres was completing both options at the time of his death, working on completing a commercial pilot's license. Last month, memorials at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Hyrum and at USU were held in his honor. A scholarship for aviation students in de Leon Compres' name has also started. "Frank was an outstanding student and a role model for other students in the Aviation Technology-Maintenance Management program. He was well-liked and respected by his peers," Miller said. http://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/ready-for-takeoff-usu-aviation-program-goes-forward- after-student/article_b6d9b0c0-342e-5efe-b4cd-3ec559a69c4a.html Back to Top AOPA Nall Report Reveals General Aviation Safety Milestone For the first time in the report's 25 year history, the fatal accident rate for noncommercial, fixed-wing aircraft has dropped below 1 fatal accident per every 100,000 flight hours. The latest AOPA Nall report, a comprehensive analysis of GA safety statistics, has just been released. And it reveals solid progress, including the reaching of an important general aviation safety milestone. For the first time in the report's 25 year history, the fatal accident rate for noncommercial, fixed-wing aircraft has dropped below 1 fatal accident per every 100,000 flight hours. AOPA says that it remains to be seen whether this decline will sustain, as recent preliminary accident data indicates a small increase in the fatal accident rate. However, according to AOPA, the rate still remains among the three lowest on record, and is well below the moving average for the last 10 years. The report also revealed that though fatal accidents are declining, the overall accident rate (5.73 accidents per 100,000 hours) has not changed significantly. More Details On the AOPA Nall Report The latest edition of the Nall Report provides analysis of data through 2013. This is the most recent year that finalized data is available from NTSB probable cause findings, aviation activity surveys and other relevant data sources. The report analyses all general aviation activity in the US, excluding only "scheduled airline flights" and "uniformed military service flight activity." AOPA officials say that GA accident rates aren't easy to calculate with precision, especially given the variability in response rates to aviation activity surveys. However, through the strong efforts of many different groups working with the FAA to promote pilot participation in surveys, they say that the response rate has improved in recent years. And though some uncertainty remains, George Perry, Senior VP of AOPA's Air Safety Institute, is encouraged by the report's findings. "Whether it's regulatory reform with the long-awaited FAR Part 23 rewrite, programs like NORSEE that allow safety innovations into the cockpit, or the FAA's updated compliance philosophy, I can't recall a time where industry, government, and associations have been so well aligned to help improve general aviation safety. The AOPA Air Safety Institute will continue to do its part by working cooperatively with the government, industry, and other associations and by providing free safety education to hundreds of thousands of pilots each year," Perry writes in the Publisher's View section of the report. Additional GA Accident Findings From the AOPA Nall Report According to the Nall report, there were 1,185 GA accidents in 2013, which involved a total of 1,194 individual aircraft. Of those accidents, 205 were fatal, claiming the lives of 363 individuals, which is a 4% drop from last year. Further, the report reveals that there were 50 fewer noncommercial fixed-wing accident fatalities. This represents a 15% drop versus last year. This figure was offset in part by an increase in fatalities related to noncommercial helicopter accidents, commercial fixed-wing flights; and commercial helicopter operations. And while the FAA estimates the total number of noncommercial flight hours declined in 2013 (7% for fixed-wing and 10% for helicopters), the report shows the number of accidents declined at a greater rate (18% for fixed-wing, and 17% for helicopters.) In addition to noncommercial fixed-wing fatalities dropping below the 1 per 100,000 flight hours mark for the first time, noncommercial fixed-wing aircraft also recorded their lowest accident rate in the report's history, 5.79 accidents per 100,000 flight hours. https://disciplesofflight.com/aopa-nall-report-general-aviation-safety/ Back to Top Panasonic turns to airplane tracking Jeff Rex, director of Panasonic Avionics, describing the functions of FlightLink, the company's system for monitoring the location and functioning of aircraft. Panasonic Corp., maker of CD players and television sets, is offering a solution to finding commercial jets lost at sea, such as Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. That flight disappeared over the Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014, with more than 230 people on board, and the black box and the bulk of the aircraft have not been recovered. If that flight had been equipped with Panasonic's FlightLink tracking system when it crashed, "we would have known where the aircraft's position was," Jeff Rex, director of California-based Panasonic Avionics, said at a news conference Tuesday at Panasonic's U.S. headquarters in Newark, where aviation reporters received an update on Panasonic's flight tracking and in-flight entertainment products. The Malaysia Airlines flight, along with Air France Flight 447 - which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 with the black box recovered nearly two years later - brought attention to the need for better flight-tracking technology. However, the systems being brought to market by Panasonic and other companies also address airlines' more routine needs, such as providing automated, and more cost-efficient, aircraft condition monitoring. Panasonic's FlightLink, rolled out last year, uses GPS technology to track an airplane's location, even way out over the ocean. It also can monitor a plane's speed and altitude, do in-flight weather observations and alert pilots to approaching storms. The product is already on 300 commercial aircraft with commitments for installations on about 150 more, Rex said. In a deal announced in September, AirAsia agreed to have FlightLink installed on 90 Airbus A320 aircraft, and Peninsular Airways, a regional carrier in Alaska, agreed to use FlightLink on 21 planes. Panasonic has provided more than a dozen airline partners with FlightLink. With the rollout of FlightLink, Panasonic is leveraging its market-leading position in back- of-the-seat in-flight entertainment, said Mary Kirby, founder, editor and publisher of Runway Girl Network, a multimedia provider of airline industry news, who attended the conference. "Panasonic is a real dominant force in in-flight entertainment and connectivity," Kirby said. "They have relationships with 300 airlines," she said. According to Kirby, part of the reason for Panasonic's success is its systems are built to fit into Boeing's aircraft assembly process. That gives Panasonic an advantage over its main in-flight entertainment rival GoGo, which does not yet have that capability, she said. Airlines must take their aircraft out of service for retrofitting when they install the GoGo system. London-based Inmarsut Plc also is a player in that evolving multibillion-dollar market, Kirby said. It was about a decade ago when Panasonic switched its focus from consumer electronics, where it was losing ground to new competition, to business-to-business electronics. The non-consumer businesses today account for more than 80 percent of North American sales, said Jim Reilly, vice president-corporate communications for Panasonic. Reilly said the company does not break out sales by division. The avionics business is now one of the electronics maker's fastest-growing divisions, Reilly said. http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/panasonic-pitches-aircraft-tracking-gains- 1.1646129 Back to Top Inflight Wi-Fi Service Providers Making Gains Gogo The thousand-piece puzzle of bringing inflight Wi-Fi to the world's airline passengers is coming together, as hardware and service providers acquire type certifications from air safety regulators, secure contracts with airlines and begin the laborious process of installing hardware, aircraft by aircraft. After a summer lull in installations due to heavy demand on commercial passenger jets, service providers such as Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE), Gogo and Panasonic Avionics Corp. are expected to renew the process in earnest this fall. Rival Service Providers See Strong Growth Gogo expects up to 100 aircraft equipped with 2Ku Wi-Fi by year-end GEE exploring mobile broadband constellation in Middle East ViaSat to supply internet connectivity to Air Force One Gogo, for example, says its 2Ku inflight connectivity kit is now fitted to 10 aircraft from three airlines-AeroMexico, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic-with plans to grow that number. In the first half of 2016 the company grew its 2Ku backlog to more than 1,200 with awards from Delta, International Airlines Group and American Airlines, and the FAA has approved six supplemental type certificates (STC) needed to install 2Ku hardware on various aircraft types. "Now that we have some key STCs in hand, and with the summer travel season nearing an end, we will start to see installs pick up," Gogo President and CEO Michael Small told investors in August. "We expect to end the year with 75-100 2Ku installs. We plan to have an additional 350-450 2Ku installs in 2017." Inflight Wi-Fi service provider Gogo continues to invest in the rollout of its 2Ku service with new kit installations, line-fit activities and added satellite capacity. Credit: Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi service provider Gogo continues to invest in the rollout of its 2Ku service with new kit installations, line-fit activities and added satellite capacity. Credit: Gogo Small said Gogo is building its supply chain capacity to install kits on at least 750 aircraft per year. So far the company has received STCs to install 2Ku on narrowbody AirbusA319s and Boeing 737-800s, and widebody Airbus A330s and A340s. In addition, July marked the first factory retrofit of a 2Ku system installed on the Airbus A350. "We have now flown over 3,500 flights with 2Ku," Small said, noting that AeroMexico recently began offering passengers free Netflix streaming on 2Ku flights. "As we deliver more and more bandwidth, we expect that we will continue to see a whole new range of opportunities from our airline partners," he said, adding that one of the benefits of 2Ku is that it can be upgraded remotely without taking an aircraft out of service. Gogo began as an air-to-ground connectivity service provider with a network of towers in the U.S. The company gradually moved to satellite-based broadband to deliver higher throughput and lower costs per bit. But when it encountered capacity issues, competitors such as GEE and Panasonic Aviation as well as satellite fleet operators Inmarsat and ViaSat Inc. began offering a mix of connectivity solutions in various regions. Like Gogo, GEE has been making headway in completing aircraft installations, gaining STC approvals and lining up airline contracts. In the second quarter of this year, the company installed its Airconnect system on 30 aircraft, "the highest number of installs since the formation of GEE, bringing our total to nearly 750 installed airplanes," GEE CEO Dave Davis told investors in August, adding that he expects an even greater install rate in the second half. "We continue to see solid growth rates in the aviation market with the inflight connectivity market growing in the 20% range, and content in the 8-10% range annually." The company recently signed an agreement to provide connectivity services to Avianca Brasil, using spectrum already in place over South America that GEE acquired with the recent purchase of Emerging Markets Communications, a provider to the maritime and land mobility markets. Partner airline Avianca has been a GEE content customer since June 2015. GEE says it is now investing in Ku-band capacity from a variety of fleet operators while expanding plans to incorporate Ka-band capacity, notably with the Hughes Network Systems grid and the Jupiter-2 satellite slated to launch in November. "We have also been adding a Ka aperture to a new antenna program and expect to certify our Ka antenna in early 2017," says Josh Marks, executive vice president of aviation at GEE, adding that the company is in the process of offering the Ka-band option to new customers. In the meantime, rival Panasonic Aviation, with its eXConnect service, has been using a global Ku-band satellite network to deliver broadband connectivity to aircraft flying all over the world. Panasonic recently announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with United Arab Emirates-based Yahsat to explore new ways to offer broadband connectivity to mobile markets in the Middle East within the next 3-5 years. In addition, the MOU allows both parties to explore the launch of a Yahsat satellite constellation that would serve Panasonic's general mobility needs in aviation, maritime and ground transportation, while giving Yahsat the ability to use Panasonic communication technologies and services. Under the terms of the MOU, the companies will consider the type of frequency to be used, coverage and capacity needed to serve flight routes in the region, the type of antenna and radome, and certification requirements. In July Panasonic announced an increase in its commitment from China Eastern Airlines for global broadband connectivity, growing to 84 aircraft from the 20 aircraft announced last November. The extended agreement includes 35 line-fit aircraft, with an extensive retrofit program covering an additional 49. London-based mobile communications services provider Inmarsat is also seeing gains in its aeronautical connectivity business. The fleet operator built its business on its legacy L- band mobile communications segment, and recently expanded with the new Ka-band Global Xpress network, with three satellites currently in orbit. ViaSat Inc. is preparing to launch ViaSat-2, the world's highest-capacity communications satellite, with commercial services slated to begin next year. Credit: ViaSat ViaSat Inc. is preparing to launch ViaSat-2, the world's highest-capacity communications satellite, with commercial services slated to begin next year. Credit: ViaSat Inmarsat is also building an air-to-ground system in Europe, a move it says is driven by the density of air traffic there, which is too high to be handled by satellites alone. As part of this effort, the company is building a complementary ground component with Deutsche Telekom to support a space-based system with a satellite that is expected to launch next year. Citing the continued uptake of aviation connectivity services among the world's airlines, Inmarsat CFO Tony Bates says there are "2,800 aircraft now at the [request for information] stage," or beyond. "There's an awful lot of potential revenue out there, and this is grinding through fairly slowly, but it is still grinding through," he says. Between Global Xpress and the planned European air-to-ground network, CEO Rupert Pearce says Inmarsat is positioned to remain competitive in Europe against rivals, notably ViaSat, which already has one massive high-throughput Ka-band satellite in orbit and another slated to launch later this year. Carlsbad, California-based ViaSat is also planning a new network, dubbed ViaSat-3, that is expected to deliver a global high-speed Ka-band broadband service by the end of the decade. In an August conference call with investors, Pearce said that while ViaSat-3 is "no longer a mythical beast," the constellation is still in development. "It isn't funded. It isn't designed. It isn't built. It certainly isn't launched. So we are tilting at windmills a little bit here," he said. "But from what we know about ViaSat-3 today . . . we will be fully competitive in Europe like-for-like." ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg says his company's inflight connectivity business continues to grow, with its Exede service deployed on 509 commercial aircraft as of the end of June. "New aeronautical services contracts with American Airlines and the U.S. government highlight the unique and compelling competitive advantages of affordable, high-bandwidth mobility services," Dankberg told investors in August. ViaSat was recently awarded a sole-source contract to provide global inflight connectivity service to Air Force One and other U.S. government senior leader aircraft. The company says its government mobile broadband internet service is deployed on more than 400 government platforms. On the commercial side, American Airlines selected ViaSat's high-speed inflight internet service for the new Boeing 737 MAX fleet, with service availability planned for September 2017. ViaSat also recently received a series of STC approvals from the FAA covering hybrid Ku/Ka-band satellite antennas for the Airbus A320-family aircraft, primarily deployed on Virgin America. The company also has a partnership with Paris-based fleet operator Eutelsat that has introduced inflight internet service in Europe, with El Al Israel Airlines. It is currently in customer trials and is expected to enter full retail service before year-end. "There are number of airlines-especially the long-haul international ones-that are saying we just want the best one," Dankberg said, referring to current inflight connectivity service offerings. "I think there is a lot more acknowledgment that it is us. And so, that is one of the reasons we've been so busy in the STC space, and then working with airframers on the widebody, offering line fits and factory retrofits." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top NASA astronauts will install a new dock to the International Space Station this Friday The new International Docking Adapter will allow future US spacecraft to dock with the station After being cooped up inside the International Space Station for many weeks and months, respectively, NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams will get to stretch their legs during a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk this Friday. The outing won't be a leisurely stroll through space, though. Rubins and Williams will spend all their time installing a new international docking adapter - or IDA - to the outside of the ISS. NASA plans to live stream the whole thing starting at 6:30AM ET. THE IDA IS A KEY ELEMENT OF NASA'S COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM The IDA is a key element of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. That's the initiative in which private companies create "space taxis" for NASA, to ferry the agency's astronauts to and from the space station. For the program, SpaceX is building a crewed version of its Dragon cargo capsule, called Crew Dragon, and Boeing is building a brand-new crew capsule called the CST-100 Starliner. Those spacecraft are slated to carry astronauts to the ISS for the first time in late 2017 and early 2018, respectively. And when they arrive at the station, they'll dock with the IDA. The docking adapter just got to the space station on July 20th, after launching on one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets. It didn't travel inside SpaceX's pressurized Dragon capsule, though, which usually houses all the cargo bound for the station. Instead, the adapter was transported inside the Dragon's trunk - the unpressurized structure attached to the end of the capsule that provides support and houses the vehicle's solar panels. The IDA has remained in the trunk since its arrival, but it will eventually be freed on Wednesday, August 17th. That's when the station's robotic arm will remove the IDA from the trunk and place the adapter about three feet away from the port it will be connected to. It'll stay like that up until the spacewalk. Then on Friday, the astronauts will get started on the installation bright and early. At around 8:05AM ET, Rubins and Williams will exit the ISS and go through the complex process of hooking up the the IDA to its port. Fortunately, lots of preparations have already been made to help the installation run smoothly. In four previous spacewalks, astronauts positioned all the necessary cables that Rubins and Williams will attach to the docking adapter to give it power and connectivity. Additionally, the two astronauts will have help from Takuya Onishi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, who will remain inside the ISS during the spacewalk. After helping them to suit up, Onishi will manage a control panel inside the station that will help to physically connect the IDA to its port. "There's a very coordinated interplay between the external crew outside, Tak on the outside, and the ground doing the commanding," said Zeb Scoville, the spacewalk flight director, during a NASA briefing. THIS WILL BE THE FOURTH SPACEWALK FOR WILLIAMS AND THE FIRST FOR RUBINS This will be the fourth spacewalk for Williams, who has been traveling to space since 2000. For Rubins, the spacewalk will be her first, though she has been training for this particular mission for years on the ground, according to Scoville. During the installation, the astronauts will be able to drink water from a 36-ounce drink bag, but neither will have any food to eat. This is also the first spacewalk NASA has done since January. During that outing, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency replaced a failed voltage regulator that had cut off one of the station's power channels. However, that spacewalk didn't go exactly according to plan. The walk ended two hours early after Kopra noticed a small water bubble had formed inside his helmet. NASA was worried about the same issue happening for this spacewalk, but the agency thinks they know what went wrong. The problem may have had to do with blockage in the spacesuit's sublimator, along with some operational procedures that may have produced too much condensation. NASA has taken steps to make sure this doesn't happen again during Friday's installation, according to Kenneth Todd, an ISS program representative. Originally, the first IDA installation was supposed to have taken place last summer. An adapter was set to arrive at the station in June of 2015, but it was destroyed when the Falcon 9 rocket that was carrying it disintegrated during launch. If that launch had been successful, the IDA that is now at the ISS would have been the second adapter and the station would have two functioning docking ports ready before the first Commercial Crew flights got underway. Now, NASA may only have one ready before those flights happen, which the space agency is prepared for. Another IDA is currently being built by Boeing and will likely go up on another SpaceX launch in early 2018, according to NASA. http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/16/12490008/nasa-iss-new-international-docking- adapter-watch-live Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear Colleagues, My name is Hamed Aljahwari, and I am a student from City University London. I would like to take few minutes of your time to answer the following questions. The survey is addressing helicopter Engineers and helicopter Operators in the Middle East. This survey is approved by the Ethics Committee of City University London and is only intended to support my research. Please follow the link below to complete the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/72GN8RM The impacts of operating helicopters in harsh environment Survey www.surveymonkey.com Thank you, Hamed Aljahwari Back to Top Watch "The Crash Detectives Book Trailer" on YouTube http://christinenegroni.com/books/the-crash-detectives/ Back to Top The International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) will hold their 47th annual seminar at the Grand Hotel Reykjavik, Iceland, from October 17- 20, 2016 Up to date program details, links to the registration program and the hotel can be found at www.esasi.eu/isasi-2016 or www.isasi.org Dates to Remember Cut off date for the seminar rate at the hotel is September 10, 2016. Reservations made after that date will not be guaranteed the seminar rate. Cut off date for the early registration fee is September 25, 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