Flight Safety Information August 26, 2016 - No. 168 In This Issue Canadian Carriers Appear Set to Join U.S. Voluntary Air-Safety Program NATCA president: FAA falling behind on ATC technology Experts searching for MH370 will float replica wing parts into the Indian Ocean Omaha Suspect Crashes Into Southwest Airlines Jet After Scaling Fence Emergency Landing For Regional Jet In Rochester Co-pilot arrested at Traverse City airport, suspected of being drunk Mental Health Rules for European Pilots to Be 'Strengthened' NTSB: Loss of fuel pumps may have caused deadly Tuscaloosa County plane crash Air India asked to ban unauthorised entry into cockpit, change in pilot roster Aviation safety record is 'inspiration' to other transport modes How Safety Management Systems Can Make Aviation Safer Runway Collision Concern Spurs NTSB Special Investigation Wifi to be allowed on Indian Civilian aircraft in 10 days New Stall, Upset Training Puts Alaska Airlines On Cutting Edge 787 Engine Checks Cause ANA Cancellations How JetBlue is filling demand for pilots FAA Begins Accepting sUAS Applications Next Week FAA Warms To Easier SE-IFR Helo Certification GAO: Dumping the A-10 jet could cost the military in missions besides close-air support Northrop T-X Makes First Flight Flexjet Takes Deliveries for the Embraer Legacy 450 Business Jet Spaceflight Billionaires Bucking A Half-Century Of Experience GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY (1) GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY (2) GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY (3) ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 (ISASI) DFW Regional Chapter (DFRC) Summer Meeting, September 8, 2016 Canadian Carriers Appear Set to Join U.S. Voluntary Air-Safety Program * No foreign data has ever been incorporated into the signature Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing system If the talks succeed, incident reports from Air Canada and two other large Canadian carriers would be incorporated into the signature U.S. safety-data collection and analysis effort known as the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing system. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS By ANDY PASZTOR WASHINGTON-U.S. airlines and aviation regulators are poised to break new ground by expanding voluntary safety-reporting efforts to include data from Canadian carriers, according to people familiar with the discussions. If the talks succeed, these people said, incident reports from Air Canada and two other large Canadian carriers would begin to be combined with extensive voluntary safety reports already being collected from U.S. pilots, cabin crews, air-traffic controllers, mechanics and other domestic sources. No foreign data has ever been incorporated into the signature U.S. safety-data collection and analysis effort, which is known by the acronym Asias, for Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing system. The goal, according to these people and other industry experts, is to reveal new air-safety threats or operational risks by assembling a more complete picture of incipient hazards and potentially dangerous trends spanning both sides of the border. Launched in the late 1990s, such joint industry-government initiatives are the principal building blocks of record U.S. airline safety statistics that have avoided any passenger fatalities since early 2009. "That is an amazing accomplishment," Peggy Gilligan, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's top safety official, told a safety conference here Wednesday, adding that Asias is a big reason. A final decision on Canadian involvement hasn't been made, and the initiative to incorporate data from Air Canada, along with carriers WestJet Airlines Ltd. and Jazz Aviation LP, still could falter. But active discussions among all sides are under way, according to several people familiar with the details, and within the past year Canadian regulators wrote a letter to the FAA supporting the concept. Prospective cross-border cooperation was a topic of public and private discussion during the pilot union-sponsored conference that ended Thursday. After on-again, off-again talks during the past year or two, a Canadian agreement could come together as soon as several weeks from now, according to people involved in the process. Others predicted it's likely to take months. One major issue still awaiting resolution, however, deals with legal protections for U.S. data under Canada's legal and regulatory systems. In the U.S. voluntary safety data is protected from disclosure to the press, can't be used as part of civil lawsuits and is kept even from federal safety inspectors who might use it in enforcement cases. More than 40 U.S. airlines currently participate in the industrywide Asias program, along with more than two dozen corporate and fractional-jet operators. But proponents have long felt that incorporating data from the three big Canadian carriers-which would encompass some hub airports and busy North Atlantic routes-could broaden the program's scope and possibly reveal dangers or patterns that may have been missed or somehow overlooked. In the past, a few European carriers have tried to join Asias but ultimately failed to clear the logistical and legal hurdles. There are roughly 70 million flight annually in U.S. airspace, a total that includes airlines, business aircraft and private planes. The comparable figure is about 12 million for Canada, which is responsible for providing safe navigation and various other services to pilots across the second-largest chunk of controller-supervised airspace in the world, after the U.S. The same trend is evident in other parts of the world. European air-safety regulators and many of the airlines they oversee are moving to set up their own regional data-sharing program, patterned largely after Asias. Separately, Singapore government officials and the nonprofit advocacy group Flight Safety Foundation, in conjunction with Mitre Corp., a federally funded research organization, have taken steps to set up a data analysis program serving that part of the globe. Asias started with just four U.S. carriers but expanded dramatically as airline officials recognized its value, and increasingly trusted the FAA and Mitre, the agency's contractor, to maintain the confidentiality of the information. It is now the world's largest repository of air-safety data. Today, the Asias database includes detailed records of some 20 million flights across U.S. airspace; roughly 200,000 incident reports voluntarily submitted by pilots; and roughly 100,000 voluntary reports from traffic controllers. On average, pilots file about 4,300 fresh reports each month. Analyzing such a high volume of information can pose challenges, including delays in uncovering underlying patterns. But the potential benefits are equally large, safety experts said, because the technique provides the best chance to identify needed safety enhancements before accidents occur. Corrections & Amplifications: U.S. airline safety statistics have avoided any passenger fatalities since early 2009. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated there haven't been any passenger fatalities since early 2008. http://www.wsj.com/articles/canadian-carriers-appear-set-to-join-u-s-voluntary-air- safety-program-1472158722 Back to Top NATCA president: FAA falling behind on ATC technology NATCA president Paul Rinaldi FAA is stuck in "a vicious cycle" of deploying new air traffic control (ATC) technology so slowly that it becomes outdated by the time the technology is actually in use, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) president Paul Rinaldi said Aug. 24. "The status quo, as we sit [here] today, is completely unacceptable," Rinaldi, head of the union representing 14,000 US air traffic controllers, told the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Air Safety Forum in Washington DC. An "archaic, bureaucratic-laden procurement process" and federal budget constraints mean the FAA is "stuck in the early 2000s" in terms of ATC technology, he said. Despite the US government spending hundreds of millions of dollars deploying the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) computer system at the FAA's 20 enroute ATC centers across the US, "we still have to do 2.4 million manual handoffs a year with Canada," Rinaldi said. He explained that the flight handoffs are "in essence, a phone call- we get on the line [and] the controller in Canada gets on the line." NAV Canada has the technology to do automated, digital flight handoffs; "They're just waiting on us," Rinaldi said. Rinaldi added that it is "kind of mind boggling" that, unlike NAV Canada and other Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) around the world, the FAA is not investing in space- based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. "We could actually have surveillance over the oceans and give the pilots the ability to vector around some pretty severe weather," he said. "I don't get it ... [The FAA's] budget is so tight they can't find money to spend on this ... If [air traffic] growth is really going to happen, especially in the [transpacific] market, we need the best technology." NATCA earlier this year backed a proposed FAA reauthorization bill sponsored by US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania) that would have separated ATC operations from the FAA. The bill would have created an independent US air-traffic management entity modeled after NAV Canada. But the legislation stalled in the face of complaints that it amounted to the privatization of US ATC, and Congress in July instead passed a temporary extension of the FAA's authorization through Sept. 30, 2017. "The word 'privatization' is a very ugly word, at least for some people," Rinaldi said, but he emphasized that Shuster's plan did not call for a "for-profit" ATC system. Under the current setup, in which Congress must allocate funds to the ATC system on an annual basis, high-profile political issues "have gotten in the way of aviation safety," Rinaldi said, adding, "We have to find a way that [ATC is] separated from the partisanship, the fighting that keeps going on," in Congress. Under the current arrangement, decisions are made by the FAA "to meet the budget" rather than the agency determining what is best for the ATC system, he said. "We need to assure a dedicated funding stream for our aviation system ... When you look at what most of the other civilized countries have done, they have pulled out the [air traffic organization from government control] and they're thriving ... If we stay in status quo, we're going to struggle in the future," he said. http://atwonline.com/associations/natca-president-faa-falling-behind-atc-technology Back to Top Experts searching for MH370 will float replica wing parts into the Indian Ocean to try to track the path of debris from the missing airliner * Replica flaperons been built to help track debris from MH370 * Flaperons help stabilise a plane during and after take-off * Australia CSIRO and ATSB have fitted the replicas with location transmitters Experts hunting for missing flight MH370 plan to float replica plane wing parts across the Indian Ocean in their latest efforts to find the airliner. Scientists from Australia's government-funded science and research organisation the CSIRO and search experts from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau have made copies of the missing plane's flaperon. A flaperon from the plane was found off the coast of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean on July 29, 2015, but the discovery did not lead to lead back to the main fuselage. The team made is making six replica flaperons which have been fitted with transmitters and will be set out to sea with buoys off the coast of Australia's island state of Tasmania, according to The Australian. Australian Transport Safety Bureau director of Flight 370 search operations Peter Foley standing beside the replica wing flaps Authorities from Reunion Island carry a two-metre long piece of debris that appears to be a wing found on July 29, 2015 Flaperons are located on the wing, close to the body of the plane and help stabalise a plane during and after taking off, creating lift and drag of a wing, according to WSJ. The team will track the replica wings course and speed to compare the movement and behaviour from 30 years of data from American buoys. The scientists will collect the information and add the new data to the patterns of the buoys. The search for the missing MH370 has focused over the Indian Ocean towards Western Australia and towards Africa They believe debris is likely to have drifted to the southern coast of Western Australia, towards Tasmania or across the Indian Ocean towards Africa. MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3759317/MH370-replica-flaperons-built-CSIRO- ATSB-missing-plane.html#ixzz4IQfKMmmE Back to Top Omaha Suspect Crashes Into Southwest Airlines Jet After Scaling Fence: Cops A man in Nebraska managed to scale an airport fence, strip down to his boxer shorts, steal a pickup truck and crash it into the nose of an airliner, officials and eyewitnesses said. Authorities are now investigating how the suspect allegedly managed to get onto the runway of Omaha's Eppley International Airport on Thursday night and ram the Southwest Airlines aircraft at high speed. Tim Conahan, chief of police at the Omaha Airport Authority, said the suspect's behavior possibly indicated "some type of drug overdose or that he has mental issues." A Southwest Airlines jet sits on the tarmac of Eppley International Airport, in Omaha, after a suspect alleged crashed a pickup truck into the jet. David Postier / Twitter Conahan said that an officer first noticed the suspect " acting in a bizarre manner" and saying "someone was trying to kill him" at around 9:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. ET). The man bolted through a parking garage and into bushes on the perimeter of the airport - before scaling a barbed-wire fence - according to the officer. He then found a pickup truck owned by Southwest Airlines that had its engine running and climbed in. After police cut him off as he was going under a jet bridge used to board the aircraft, the suspect crashed the truck into the plane's nosecone, Conahan said. The aircraft was about to take off for Denver and had 18 passengers on board at the time, according to a statement from Southwest Airlines. Passengers Beth and Tom Lantry - who were flying to Denver - said they felt "a big jolt." David Postier, a 23-year-old from Littleton, Colorado, said he heard a "loud boom and crash." Police said the pilot suffered a slight knee injury and a flight attendant bumped an elbow. The suspect was taken into police custody, according to the airline's statement. Police chief Conahan said the FBI had been notified and the NTSB were also flying out Friday to investigate. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/omaha-suspect-crashes-southwest-airlines-jet- after-scaling-fence-cops-n638141 Back to Top Emergency Landing For Regional Jet In Rochester A regional jet traveling from Newark to Toronto had to make an emergency landing in Rochester on Thursday. Officials say the pilot of a United Express Jet flight reported smoke in the cockpit. The plane landed without any major problems, and there were no injuries. Reportedly the passengers on that flight had already been on two other planes. They say the jet they started out on in New Jersey had mechanical problems; they were put on another plane, but that jet also did not make the trip, and the passengers boarded the third plane, the Embraer jet, which had the smoke issue. http://wxxinews.org/post/emergency-landing-regional-jet-rochester Back to Top Co-pilot arrested at Traverse City airport, suspected of being drunk TRAVERSE CITY - A co-pilot on a charter plane in Traverse City was arrested Thursday morning after a colleague suspected that he was drunk. Traverse City police Capt. Kevin Dunklow said a breath test Thursday showed a blood- alcohol level of 0.30, nearly four times the legal threshold for drunken driving. The pilot flies for Talon Air, which in a statement to the Free Press applauded one of its pilots for discovering that the suspect was drunk. "We are very proud of Captain Manny Ramirez' immediate action in detecting the co- pilot's condition and removing him from his position," Talon Air said. "This is yet another example of Talon Air's safety procedures working effectively on behalf of our clients and for airport safety." According to Talon, the co-pilot was "immediately terminated" following the incident. His name has not been released by police or the company. The plane did not leave Cherry Capital Airport. The incident comes months after an American Airlines flight was grounded at Detroit Metro airport in March after it was discovered a co-pilot was drunk. John Maguire was placed on probation earlier this week during a court appearance in Romulus Wednesday after he pleaded no contest. Maguire, 50, was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol. Maguire, from Chadds Ford, Penn., was removed from a Detroit-to-Philadelphia flight before takeoff on March 26. Authorities say his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit. He has since sought treatment at a facility in California. Defense attorney Frank J. Manley said earlier this week that Maguire "accepts responsibility" for what happened and hopes to fly again. The Wayne County prosecutor's office said in a news release Wednesday that he will be on probation for 12 months. Maguire also has to complete alcohol assessment and treatment, and perform 48 hours of community service. http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/08/25/pilot-arrest-alcohol- traverse-city/89340588/ Back to Top Mental Health Rules for European Pilots to Be 'Strengthened' The rules governing the mental health checks on pilots flying in Europe are set to be strengthened following publication of a series of proposed changes to the current rules by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The proposed changes to the rules concerning pilots' medical fitness were initiated following the Germanwings Flight 9525 disaster on March 24, 2015, in which copilot Andreas Lubitz, who had a history of severe depression and had received treatment for suicidal tendencies, deliberately crashed the plane. After publication of the initial findings of the technical investigation by the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses, the EASA established a task force in May 2015 to examine the adequacy of European air safety and security rules. The subsequent recommendations were formulated into an action plan last October, which was then submitted for consultation following expert feedback provided at EASA workshops. The current proposed changes were published online August 15 by the EASA. The aim is to strengthen both initial and follow-up medical examinations of pilots to include drug and alcohol screening, a comprehensive mental health assessment, and improved follow-up of individuals with a history of psychiatric conditions. There will also be improved training, oversight, and assessment of aeromedical examiners and a requirement that aeromedical centers and examiners report all incomplete medical assessments to the authorities to prevent pilots from concealing mental health problems. A spokesman for the EASA told Medscape Medical News that pilots face a lot of stressful events both in and out of the cockpit, such as irregular work hours, difficult weather conditions, operational needs to reduce costs, and family needs, all of which can affect their well-being. Moreover, pilots, who can earn up to six-figure salaries, fear being grounded and losing their license. "They stand to lose the ability to earn that salary the minute a doctor says: 'Well, I'm sorry, but you're not healthy now,' " the spokesman said. "It can be for things like diabetes...or it could be that they might be going through depression, and then they're also scared. What are they going to do? Are you going to go to your doctor and say: 'I just went through this divorce,' or 'I lost a first-degree relative, or a partner, and I am depressed and I cannot fly?' " The current system merely requires that a pilot's physician or general practitioner ask a few general questions and then decide whether there is a problem that merits a referral to a psychologist. Describing that process as "relatively thin," the spokesman said that the update to the regulations aims to "reinforce and strengthen" these checks, adding that "another very important point that the regulations talk about is the support that should be given to pilots," which "today does not exist." Specifically, the EASA wants to create an environment in which pilots can talk about their professional or personal problems in a confidential manner and in which "they can receive advice on how to deal with those problems from fellow pilots that understand the workload, the environment, and how that affects their entire life." The proposed changes were published as an opinion piece by the EASA on how Part-MED of Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1178/2011, which covers the medical side of air safety, should be updated. They specify general medical requirements for pilots to obtain a medical certificate as well as requirements pertaining to mental health; the cardiovascular, respiratory, hematologic, neurologic, visual, and hearing systems; and pregnancy. The changes will also indicate requirements for aeromedical examiners. The nature of the support that will be offered to pilots will be spelled out in more detail in the next set of proposed changes, called Part-OPs. This document, which will be published in October, will focus on the operational aspects of air safety. The spokesman explained that it will be "much more extensive" than the Part-MED document and will contain many more procedural changes, "because this is about how you operate an airline in Europe." Together, the updates will form the basis of proposed legislation by the European Commission toward the end of 2016. To support this, the EASA has developed draft guidance, called the Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material, which will be published in its final form once the legislation has been accepted by the Commission. Crucially, the EASA does not anticipate that there will be any resistance to the changes from within the airline industry, as the proposals were made in consultation "with all the stakeholders, including pilot representatives, and it was understood that the changes improve flight safety," the spokesman emphasized. EASA. Opinion No. 09/2016. Full text http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/867945 Back to Top NTSB: Loss of fuel pumps may have caused deadly Tuscaloosa County plane crash Northport Police and other agencies work the scene of a plane crash, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, near the Tuscaloosa airport in Northport, Ala. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, Ala. - The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on an airplane crash that killed six people. It happened Sunday, August 14 in Northport. The report says the pilot first reported a fuel pump failure and requested a diversion to the nearest airport at 11:11 a.m. A short time later, the pilot then reported the airplane lost the other fuel pump. The airplane hit some trees approximately 1,650 feet before the approach to the end of the runway. Federal Aviation Administration records show the pilot held a private pilot certification for single-engine land, multiengine land, and instrument airplanes. A flight log shows he had accumulated 48.7 hours of flight time in that airplane since march 2016. The aircraft had last been inspected in November of 2015. Jason Farese and Lea Farese; dentist Michael Perry and his wife, Kim Perry, a nurse practitioner at the University of Mississippi; and dentist Austin Poole and his wife, Angie Poole all died in the crash. They left behind a total of 11 children. The complete preliminary report reads in full: NTSB Identification: ERA16FA289 14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Sunday, August 14, 2016 in Northport, AL Aircraft: PIPER PA 31-325, registration: N447SA Injuries: 6 Fatal. This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report. On August 14, 2016, about 1120 central daylight time, a Piper PA-31-325, N447SA, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain near Northport, Alabama, while diverting to Tuscaloosa Regional Airport (TCL), Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The private pilot and five passengers were fatally injured. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The flight departed Kissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM), Orlando, Florida, around 0855, with an intended destination of Oxford University Airport (UOX), Oxford, Mississippi. According to fuel receipts, the airplane's fuel tanks were "topped off" with 134 gallons of fuel prior to departing ISM. According to preliminary air traffic control data, the pilot reported a failure of a fuel pump and requested a diversion to the nearest airport around 1111. The controller the provided radar vectors toward runway 30 at TCL. When the airplane was approximately 10 miles from TCL, the pilot reported that the airplane lost "the other fuel pump." The airplane continued to descend until it impacted trees approximately 1,650 feet prior to the approach end of runway 30. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, the pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land, multiengine land, and instrument airplane. His most recent third-class medical certificate was issued in August 2014. According to a flight log found in the airplane, the pilot had accumulated 48.7 hours of flight time in the accident airplane since March 2016. According to FAA records, the airplane was manufactured in 1984, and issued an airworthiness certificate in 1998. It was equipped with two Lycoming TIO-540-series, 350- horsepower, engines. It was also equipped with two 4-bladed Hartzell controllable pitch propellers. The most recent annual inspection was performed on November 13, 2015, and at that time the airplane had accumulated 3,260.8 total hours of time in service. The airplane impacted trees, the ground, and came to rest in an upright position. The wreckage was oriented on a 011 degree magnetic heading, the debris path was oriented on a 300 degree magnetic heading, and was approximately 250 feet in length. All major components of the airplane were accounted for at the scene. The fuselage was separated prior to the aft bulkhead and was heavily damaged by impact and a post impact fire. Flight control continuity was confirmed from all flight control surfaces to the cockpit through multiple overload fractures. Examination of the cockpit and cabin areas revealed that both control yokes were attached to their respective columns at the time of impact and that the throttle, mixture, and propeller levers were intact in the throttle quadrant, and in the full forward position. The left engine was separated from the nacelle and remained attached to the engine mounts. The left engine turbocharger was removed from the engine and examined. The turbocharger vanes rotated without resistance. There was no rotational scoring on the housing unit. The left propeller remained attached to the left engine, was in the unfeathered position, and was rotated by hand. Crankshaft continuity was confirmed from the propeller to the accessory section of the engine. Thumb compression and suction were observed on all cylinders when the propeller was rotated. The right engine remained attached to all engine mounts but was separated from the right nacelle. All major components remained attached to the engine. The right engine turbocharger was removed and examined. The right turbocharger vanes rotated without resistance. There was no rotational scoring on the housing unit. The right propeller remained attached to the right engine, in the unfeathered position, and was rotated by hand. Crankshaft continuity was confirmed from the propeller to the accessory section of the engine. Thumb compression and suction were observed on Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 6, cylinders. The No. 5 cylinder was impact damaged. The No. 3 cylinder was removed from the engine and no anomalies were noted with the cylinder, piston, or piston rings. An engine data monitor and fuel flow meter gauge were found in the main wreckage area, retained for further examination. The left engine gear driven fuel pump, the right engine gear driven fuel pump, the right boost pump, and the right emergency pump were also retained for further examination. The 1121 recorded weather observation at TCL included wind from 170 at 10 knots, gusting to 14 knots, visibility 10 miles, scattered clouds at 2,600 feet above ground level, broken clouds at 3,600 feet above ground level, temperature 30 degrees C, dew point 25 degrees C, and a barometric altimeter setting of 30.09 inches of mercury. http://whnt.com/2016/08/25/ntsb-loss-of-fuel-pumps-may-have-caused-tuscaloosa- county-plane-crash/ Back to Top Air India asked to ban unauthorised entry into cockpit, change in pilot roster Lessons from the December 16, 2015 accident: The probe committee has asked Air India to ban entry of unauthorized persons in the cockpit, change its rostering system to ensure pilots reach the aircraft well before a flight and stop off-duty pilots taking flight clearance. (AP) The high-level committee that probed the Mumbai airport accident where an Air India (AI) technician died after being sucked inside the aircraft has directed the airline to ban entry of unauthorized persons in the cockpit, change its rostering system to ensure pilots reach the aircraft well before a flight and stop off-duty pilots taking flight clearance. HT had first reported the investigation report on August 24 which blamed rostering lapses and pilot error for the December 16, 2015 accident. And as lessons from the accident, the committee has asked AI to take strict measures to ensure no repeat of the accident. In a serious breach of aviation rules and regulations, an off-duty AI pilot travelling as a passenger to Hyderabad had obtained flight clearance from the Mumbai air traffic control. This was done as pilots who were to actually operate the Mumbai-Hyderabad flight had not reached the aircraft and, in fact, were still operating their previous Rajkot-Mumbai flight. This was among the many lapses that occurred on the fateful evening of December 16. "ATC clearances have to be obtained by pilots who are flying and not by a passenger, even if he is a qualified pilot, as the pilots who are going to fly have to understand the clearances. In fact, an off-duty pilot cannot be even allowed inside the cockpit," said an official "AI to issue circular to stop staff-on-duty pilots obtaining flight clearances. AI to instruct cabin crew not to allow entry of unauthorized persons in the cockpit," the committee said in its safety recommendations. It has also asked the airline to issue guidelines that "crew must board aircraft 20 minutes prior to actual departure and minimum 30 minutes of time gap should be there in case of change of aircraft between two consecutive flights" and avoid "last minute changes in crew rostering". Pilots were late for the Hyderabad flight, scheduled to depart at 7.30 pm, by over an hour. The Rajkot flight was scheduled to arrive only at 8.10 pm and due to a delay arrived only at 8.35 pm. "There was a change of plane also. Pilots operated the Rajkot flight on an A320 aircraft while it was an A319 aircraft for the flight to Hyderabad," the official said. "Things were done in a hurried manner. After landing in Mumbai from Rajkot, pilots should have done a post flight inspection and fill the pilot's sector and defect reports. On the Hyderabad-bound flight, pilots should have had time to prepare the cockpit, do an external inspection, conduct a pre-flight briefing, obtain ATC clearance and then start the engines. This would have taken 30-40 minutes," said another official. http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/air-india-asked-to-ban-unauthorised- entry-into-cockpit-change-in-pilot-roster/story-dnTAO2Z03xgkVodQbP0M6J.html Back to Top Aviation safety record is 'inspiration' to other transport modes: FSF The fact that three-quarters of all fatalities in commercial-aviation crashes in 2015 arose from two intentional events rather than accidents shows aviation is so safe it has become an "inspiration" for the safety goals of other forms of transportation, according to a senior Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) executive. Commenting on the findings of ICAO's latest Safety Report (pdf), Mark Millam, Flight Safety Foundation's VP Technical, notes that although it indicates 2015 saw a total 474 fatalities in crashes involving aircraft with certificated maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of more than 5,700kg, 374 of the fatalities were a result of two events that were intentional acts, not accidents. The ICAO report, which discusses commercial-aviation safety performance in 2015, identifies six fatal crashes in all. However, two - the Germanwings Airbus A320 crash in France on 24 March which killed 150 people and the Metrojet A321 crash in the Sinai Desert on 31 October in which 224 died, were intentional acts. This means that in both 2014 and 2015 ICAO has reported there being more commercial- aviation fatalities resulting from intentional acts than accidents, according to Millam. kontron newestICAO's safety reporting doesn't recognize intentional acts, but puts them instead into accident-causation categories such as "Unknown" (Metrojet) and "Other" (Germanwings), which it lists under the Global Safety Information Exchange (GSIE) Harmonized Accident Categories that ICAO established in 2010 with various other bodies. Millam says 2014 and 2015 were "somewhat anomalous" in their seeing more intentionally caused commercial-aviation fatalities than accidental ones. Nevertheless, the lack of accidental fatalities during the period shows "the industry really has improved itself to the point where it is an inspiration to other transport" modes. ICAO's annual safety reports from 2013 through 2016 show that in the years 2012 to 2015, there were respectively 99, 90, 97 and 92 commercial-aviation crashes/accidents recognized by ICAO in those years. They included two probably intentional events in 2014 (the crashes of Malaysia Airlines MH370 and MH17) and 2015. "This might start to suggest there is a little bit of plateauing going on" in the commercial- aviation accident rate, says Millam. However, he acknowledges that more commercial flights are operating each year and so the effective accident rate continues to edge down. According to ICAO's Safety Report, the accident rate for commercial aircraft with MTOW over 5,700kg in 2015 declined 5 percent compared with 2014. The accident rate for scheduled operations fell 7 percent year-on-year, from 3.0 to 2.8 accidents per million departures. Characterizing ICAO's annual Safety Report as "one of the industry's key sources of safety analysis", Millam says, "I hope many players in the industry are taking a very serious look at" the 2016 edition. This is because "ICAO is doing the right thing in analyzing high-risk events". These fall into three accident high risk categories (HRCs): controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) and runway safety (RS). These "are three good areas to target in terms of traditionally how the business works", says Millam. "They are all good focus areas for individual airline training programs, checklist procedures, manufacturers and regulators," to seek improvements. I continue to say the high-risk accident categories continue to need ... paid attention to." ICAO's analysis of 2015 accidents shows 57 percent involved HRCs and one or more HRC was involved in 50 percent of all fatal accidents - but these only resulted in 10 percent of all fatalities. CFIT was not involved in any 2015 accidents, according to the report. LOC-I was involved in 3 percent of accidents, 33 percent of fatal accidents and 9 percent of fatalities. However, runway safety was involved in 53 percent of accidents and 17 percent of fatal accidents, though it only resulted in 0.2 percent of total fatalities. Millam says this squares with the continuing introduction of technological improvements that give pilots more situational awareness of terrain and provide more information on the attitude, altitude, position, speed and other critical parameters of their aircraft while in flight, allowing pilots to respond accordingly. Improvements in flight-data sensors are particularly important, he says. "We have to have warning systems that give extra redundancy so pilots don't get fooled by the first failure mode," which created accidents such as the AF447 crash in 2009. RS - which includes runway excursions and runway incursions alike - "hasn't come down ... as much as the other events," notes the Flight Safety Foundation VP. Pilots still require better information on runway conditions, airport weather and whether they are performing an appropriate approach profile. Also, they need to learn to use "all available braking and slowing technology" for RS to improve. Millam lauds ICAO for mandating in 2013, in Annex 19 to the Chicago Convention, the adoption of safety management systems (SMSs) by all aviation-related organizations. SMSs provide pathways for the aviation industry "to use information from [individual] safety programs to look for the highest risks and deal with these things well before they become accidents. We have got to be smarter how we share that information." Of particular value is the need to disseminate data from "precursor" events which don't necessarily result either in damage to an aircraft or injuries among those on board. Such precursors include events such as landings on taxiways and pilots having to take avoiding action following TCAS resolution advisories. Formal reports are typically filed on some precursor events, but much information - such as TCAS-advised pilot actions - ends up being seen only by an aircraft's operator. SMSs offer a potential solution for such safety information to be shared and acted upon to make aviation safer. https://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/2016/08/24/icao-safety-report-shows-aviation-is- an-inspiration-to-other-transport-modes-fsf/ Back to Top How Safety Management Systems Can Make Aviation Safer Adoption of safety management systems by service providers throughout the air transport industry is an important step in improving commercial aviation's already outstanding safety record, Chris Kjelgaard learns. In a discussion I had earlier this week on the findings of the recently published 2016 edition of the annual ICAO Safety Report with a senior executive of the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF), the executive - FSF's VP Technical, Mark Millam - introduced the topic of safety management systems into our conversation. Commercial aviation already has a safety record of which every other mode of public transport would be vastly proud. In both 2014 and 2015, according to the past two annual editions of the annual ICAO Safety Report, events which probably or certainly stemmed from intentional acts resulted in more fatalities in crashes of commercial aircraft with certificated maximum take-off weights of more than 5,700kg (12,566lb) than did accidents. Meanwhile, the rate of accidents - fatal and non-fatal alike - in 2015 involving scheduled operations of such aircraft decreased 7 per cent from 2014, from 3.0 to 2.8 accidents per million departures. In all likelihood this was the lowest annual accident rate ever for commercial aviation. ICAO's tallies of commercial-aircraft accidents each year over the past four years suggests that some "plateauing" of the accident rate might be happening, Millam suggests. This is because, ever since a notable drop in total accident numbers from 125 in 2011 to 99 in 2012, the numbers of accidents in the following three years has stayed largely static: 90 in 2013, 97 in 2014 and 92 in 2015 (though in both 2014 and 2014, two events listed as accidents by ICAO may have been or were intentional acts). However, the numbers of scheduled and unscheduled flights of commercial aircraft continue to increase each year, so the plateauing in safety performance suggested by Millam may be slightly illusory in that each year greater numbers of flights are basically producing a standstill in the total numbers of accidents. Nevertheless, under its Global Safety Information Project (GSIP, which Millam manages), part of FSF's mandate is to work closely with the FAA "to understand the world of aviation safety information, how it is collected, analysed and exchanged" - and how the collection, dissemination and analysis of safety data can be improved to reduce accident rates for all types of aviation. According to Millam, a key tool in attempting to achieve this goal has been the mandating and structural description by ICAO, in Annex 19 to the Chicago Convention, of safety management systems (SMSs), which all aviation product and service providers must adopt. Providers which must adopt SMSs include not only aircraft operators, manufacturers, airports/aerodromes and maintenance companies, but also the many types of company which perform functions in and around an aircraft when it is on the ground. Such providers include aircraft fuellers, caterers, baggage-handlers and other aviation ground- handling companies. SMSs are of key importance because they work in four ways to manage aviation safety and its improvement. First they establish organisational structures by which aviation organisations can establish safety policies and accountability - including creating formal safety management-oversight roles and appointing qualified, experienced personnel to fill them. Second, SMSs formalise the management of safety risks by providing procedures and processes for identifying potential and actual hazards, assessing safety risks and then mitigating them. Mitigation is performed by reporting of safety risks and taking active or passive measures to reduce each risk to a reasonable level and potentially removing risks entirely. The third role of SMSs is to provide assurance that safety is being maintained. Each aviation organisation's SMS does this by establishing benchmarks of safety measurement and monitoring the organisation's safety performance to ensure its safety performance continues to meet these benchmarks. If its safety performance doesn't continue to meet the organisation's established benchmarks, then previously established formal procedures are put into effect to bring the organisation's safety performance back up to the required standards. Also inherent within each SMS's safety-assurance role are mechanisms to provide management of change - changes in an organisation's safety circumstances may occur in a wide variety of ways - and also pathways to allow continuous improvement of the SMS. Last but not least, every aviation organisation's SMS should provide for the promotion of safety throughout every level of the organisation. It does so by establishing safety training and education programmes for the organisation's employees and its mandate includes re-training of staff where necessary following a safety-related incident, or delays in finding and identifying a serious safety hazard. Safety communication - by means of classes, posters, videos, newsletters, signs, social media channels and other forms of communication - represents an integral part of the SMS's safety-promotion function. As the FAA notes in its online SMS briefing materials, an SMS provides both to a certificate holder (each being an aviation product or service provider) and to the FAA itself: a structured means of safety-risk management decision-making; a means of demonstrating safety-management capability before system failures occur; increased confidence in risk controls though structured safety-assurance processes; an effective interface for knowledge-sharing between regulator and certificate holder; and a safety- promotion framework to support a sound safety culture. So, in practice, how can SMSs be useful to organisations such as FSF and the FAA in improving the flow of aviation safety information, analysing this flow better and making sure the information and analysis is disseminated as widely as possible? According to Millam, if SMSs are structured properly and provided with the right regulatory reporting requirements, information on safety hazards, risks, benchmarks, measurements, management of change and safety promotion can be used to identify those safety risks which require the most urgent attention - and then to provide that attention. Organisations such as the FAA and FSF "can use information from safety [management] programmes to look for the highest risks and deal with these things well before they become accidents," says Millam. "Our programmes say we have got to be smarter in how we share that information." The FAA and FSF are particularly interested in identifying "precursor" risks which might not in themselves generate either any injuries or fatalities among people, nor even potentially any damage to aircraft. Nevertheless, such precursor risks and incidents can provide significant indications that aviation safety is in serious risk of being compromised. Serious risks and incidents - such as an aircraft accidentally landing on a taxiway or pilots having to take action to avoid their aircraft colliding with another following a TCAS resolution advisory - usually require an aircraft's pilots having to file a mandatory incident report with the operator. Sometimes, operators have to do likewise with their regulators, but often incident reports stay within operators' internal safety-reporting systems, according to Millam. Additionally, regulators do not always publish reports on such incidents for widespread distribution within the industry. However, according to Millam, if information on important safety-risking precursor incidents were to be made more widely and generally available, organisations such as FSF could learn much more about the causation factors behind those risks. Were they able to do so and then communicate their findings effectively to the aviation industry as a whole, today's already extremely safe commercial-aviation environment could become even safer still - and the accident rate would continue to decline. http://mro-network.com/opinion/2016/08/how-safety-management-systems-can-make- aviation-safer/14521 Back to Top Runway Collision Concern Spurs NTSB Special Investigation WASHINGTON-Alarmed by a rising number of the most severe types of runway incursions, the U.S. NTSB has launched a one-year special investigation report in cooperation with the FAA, unions and industry. Dan Bartlett, a senior transportation specialist with the NTSB, said the agency will include the FAA, controllers and pilots unions. as well as other industry participants. to help identify "some of the deeper causes and effects" of the incursions. Those are defined as a loss of separation between two aircraft, or an aircraft and a ground vehicle or pedestrian. "The list of participants is getting longer and longer," Bartlett said, speaking Aug. 24 at the Air Line Pilots Association's annual safety meeting here. "I'm excited about the potential discoveries that may help us fix this." Bartlett said the NTSB launched the investigation several months ago. The "fix" is needed in large part because of the rising number of Category A incursions, a trend that appears to have started in 2014 and continued in 2015. The FAA categorizes incursions with severity levels A through D-with "A" meaning a collision was narrowly avoided and "D" meaning the incident had no immediate safety consequences-and separates the incidents into operational incidents (the fault of controllers), pilot deviations, vehicle or pedestrian deviations, or "other." Category A incursions increased from two in fiscal year 2013 to five in 2014 and 11 in 2015, according to the FAA's Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing database. So far this year there have been six Category A incursions. Category B incursions, defined as incidents that have a "significant potential for collision," have been more level, with nine in 2013, nine in 2014, four in 2015 and nine so far this year. The number of all types of incursions has also been relatively constant over the past two years, with 1,458 in fiscal year 2015 and 1,320 so far this year. Concerned about the trends, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta convened a second government and industry Runway Safety Call to Action safety summit in June 2015 (the first Call to Action safety summit took place in 2007). Following interventions put in place after the first safety summit, Category A and B incidents decreased by 44%, before rising again. Interventions from the second summit fall into three categories-visual recognition, communications, and procedures and awareness-with a variety of delivery dates for individual mitigations, procedures and technologies through 2019. Although Bartlett is aware of the FAA's actions, the NTSB's investigation will make a broader and independent assessment of the problem, considering not only best practices from U.S. airports, but potentially foreign airports as well. "We have done some work with Dutch [officials] and they are asking some very good questions," he said of the Dutch Safety Board, which is studying certain U.S. airports as part of an airport Amsterdam Schiphol runway-safety analysis. "The questions aren't right or wrong, but are causing us to step back and take a look at the things we do and why we do them." He conceded that the NTSB study, which will be completed next year, could conclude: "We're going down the right path." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Wifi to be allowed on Indian Civilian aircraft in 10 days Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Ram Vilas Paswan and Smriti Irani at the APAI Silver Jubilee Celebrations in New Delhi on Wednesday | shekhar yadav NEW DELHI: Passengers on civilian aircraft are all set to enjoy the benefits of long elusive WiFi on board aircraft flying in and out of India, as the Home, Telecom and Aviation ministries have reached on a consensus on the issue, said a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official on Wednesday. "We will soon, within 10 days, be allowed to allow wifi on board aircraft flying in and out of the country," civil aviation secretary R N Choubey said at the Air Passenger Association of India's (APAI) silver jubilee celebrations. He was replying to a question on how soon the government would be able to permit wifi on board aircraft in India. Choubey went on to point out that there was a security issue and the ministries of home, telecommunications and aviation ministries have almost achieved consensus on the issue. The celebrations were attended by several Union Ministers including Ram Vilas Paswan, Consumer Affairs Minister, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani. APAI founder D Sudhakar Reddy said that they have travelled a long way during this period and made significant contributions in protecting the interests of passengers. Hailing all stakeholders for their unstinted support in making APAI a success, he said that the organisation was successful on many fronts to ensure consumer rights. "Because of our hard lobbying, compensation for wounded passengers were raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh and air taxes were reduced for handicapped and disabled passengers." Speaking on the occasion, Smriti Irani, textile minister hailed the achievements of APAI and felicitated Nidhi Chaphekar who is recuperating at a Mumbai hospital. A crew of Jet Airways, she suffered injuries during the Brussels terror attacks. She also fondly remembered her struggling days when she approached Jet Airways for a job in cabin crew and in a lighter vein said that her candidature was rejected as she lacked the personality. During the event, Indigo was conferred the Best domestic low fare airline award and best full service airline domestic was awarded to Jet Airways. The best new entrant award was conferred on Vistara. The best metro airport award went to Mumbai airport and operator GVK group, while Kochi airport was chosen as the best non- metro airport. http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/news/Wifi-to-be-allowed-on-Indian-Civilian- aircraft-in-10-days/2016/08/25/article3595588.ece Back to Top New Stall, Upset Training Puts Alaska Airlines On Cutting Edge Alaska Airlines readies upset prevention and recovery simulator experience New pilot hires at Alaska Airlines soon will undergo a mandatory simulator training session that could very well save their lives and those of hundreds of others in their care. The "extended envelope" training session, complete with the use of a flight simulator that offers full stall capability, will be a 4-hr. immersion into the edges of the large swept-wing transport aircraft envelope, a realm that continues to lead to the deadliest commercial airline loss-of-control (LOC) accidents, but one in which virtually all pilots, until now, have had no realistic hands-on experience. Alaska earlier this year became the first airline training provider to gain FAA National Simulator Program validation for the use of an extended aerodynamic envelope, stall- capable full-motion Boeing 737-800 simulator. The approval followed a similar nod in June 2015 to FlightSafety International for a Gulfstream G550 simulator for the business aviation sector. That LOC is a problem is irrefutable, based on accident statistics for over a decade. The International Air Transport Association lists LOC as its top risk in 2015 statistics, with more than twice the fatality rate of the next highest threat: controlled flight into terrain. While the airline industry is devising preventative measures-including providing FAA- mandated and associated required upgrades to flight simulators-carriers are on the lookout for gaps in understanding that could cause a pilot to respond to an upset incorrectly, a common theme in high-profile accidents. Highlights of Alaska Airlines' UPRT program: Teaches pilots to handle unreliable airspeed events Providing instruction in the aerodynamic fundamentals during a new hire's three months of ground school Giving its pilots stall training every year Making pilots proficient in using the cues on the 737's primary flight display "In the past, airlines would assume that since you arrived with an Air Transport Pilot (ATP) license, that you had really good academics, including high-altitude academics," says Bryan Burks, an Alaska captain and the content developer for its upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT). "We can't make that assumption anymore." Alaska will provide instruction in the necessary aerodynamic fundamentals-including the difference in aircraft manual handling at low-versus-high altitude-during a new hire's three months of ground school, which will be followed starting in 2018 by the initial 4-hr. simulator session. Other airlines are following Alaska's lead in advance of an FAA mandate that takes effect in March 2019 for extended-envelope training, generically known as UPRT. Included are: Full-stall and stick-pusher maneuvers (for equipped aircraft). UPRT maneuvers, including nose-high and now-low upsets. Maneuvers in icing conditions. Takeoffs and landings in gusting crosswinds. Bounced-landing recoveries. All are based on forensics of actual accidents and incidents. The rule requires all U.S. airline pilots to undergo the specialized training initially by March 2020. Alaska invited Aviation Week to Seattle in early July to experience the training session in an L-3-built 737-800 simulator augmented with the FAA-validated extended aerodynamic model and monitoring tool, called StallBox, built by Virginia-based Bihrle Applied Research. The FAA is requiring recurrent training for most of the maneuvers every two years, but only every three years for bounced landings. Alaska, which plans to have all of its simulators equipped with the extended model and its instructors trained by 2018, will give its pilots stall training every year, alternating between low- and high-altitude stalls year to year. The carrier will use a mix of Bihrle and Boeing extended aerodynamic models in five 737 simulators, with Bihrle as "bolt-on" augmentation and Boeing modeling built into CAE simulators. Alaska is not equipping its 737-400 simulator, as that fleet is expected to be phased out by the end of 2017. While airline pilots already have been training for upsets and approach-to-stall (prior to the critical angle-of-attack, where the 737's stick-shaker system activates) for years, the advent of extended simulator models that accurately cover stall and post-stall behavior now will allow the vast majority of pilots to experience the cues and handling of large swept-wing aircraft beyond the stall angle-of-attack, and the peculiarities of recovering. Without the extended model, simulators tend to generate benign post-stall characteristics, leading to potential negative training if angle-of-attack thresholds are crossed. Under the new rules, the simulator must also generate angle-of-attack versus sideslip, aircraft operational limits and cockpit control positions at the instructor's console, tools that verify the proper recovery technique were used and the training scenario remains within the capability of the simulator and the aircraft. Alaska Airlines in 2018 will begin putting new pilots through a 4-hr. upset recovery and prevention indoctrination that includes overbanks and stalls. Credit: John Croft/AW&ST I met with Burks and Alaska's director of flight operations and training, Scott Day, early on July 13 at the carrier's flight operations and training center near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The pilots set the scene for my role in the simulator: a new hire having my first flight experience with a swept-wing jet in low and high-altitude operations. I would have already gained the academic knowledge for the simulator ride in my three months of ground school, but this would be the first hands-on opportunity to apply the knowledge to the 737-800. The carrier has a customized training program under the FAA's Advanced Qualification Program. Burks is no stranger to UPRT, having been the co-chairman for the training and regulations arm of the International Committee for Aviation Training in Extended Envelopes (Icatee) working group, which was set up in 2009 to investigate better ways to use flight simulation and training to help pilots handle the edge-of-the-envelope situations-including upsets-that were proving so fatal. Cementing the team's resolve to improve safety was the Air France Flight 447 accident, later attributed to LOC, that occurred during the first day of its first meeting. Icatee was also part of a broader International Civil Aviation Organization group, known as the Loss of Control and Recovery Training initiative, which provided the foundational recommendations that the FAA used for its new UPRT flight-training rules. Based on Burks's work with Icatee, Alaska began analyzing and making changes to its pilot training starting in 2011, first by identifying any "negative" training-situations where a pilot can learn an improper response through a faulty or unrealistic simulator setup or scenario-and developing an UPRT program. While a believer in on-aircraft UPRT training in addition to simulators, Burks says it is not viable to send all airline pilots through on- aircraft programs from both cost and vendor-capacity standpoints. His plan at Alaska is to send a subset of simulator instructors to on-aircraft training, a path other airlines-such as South African, KLM and Delta-have followed. "The primary goal [of the simulator UPRT] is prevention," explains Burks. "We use the simulator to show and feel the negative consequences of poor strategy and see it on flight display." UPRT instructors will have new tools to verify that maneuvers do not exceed a simulator's valid operational range. Credit: John Croft/AW&ST Even without the on-aircraft G-cues and in situ stress that complicate startle and upset situations-a formula for disaster with large swept-wing aircraft-I found the simulator session extremely valuable, and a powerful prevention aid and confidence builder. Included in the 4 hr. were more than a dozen "maneuvers" and scenarios, including: A hand-flown instrument departure to emphasize how to manage angle-of-attack with elevator control. Low-altitude maneuvers (10,000-15,000 ft.) demonstrating the handling, power reserve- approximately 35% margin remains above cruise thrust-and snappy response of the engines in the relatively thick air. High-altitude performance, or lack thereof, at 35,000-37,000 ft. where the thrust reserve is much smaller (less than 10% margin) and stick-shaker activations or upsets generally will require the pilot to descend to gain speed. Nose-high and nose-low upsets, overbank upsets (roll angle greater than 90 deg.), equipment failures, over-speed events, wind-shear incidents on landing, unstable go- arounds and full stalls at both low and high altitudes. With Day in the left seat, I flew from the first officer side while Burks manned the flight instructor station, in which the Bihrle StallBox monitor is a key feature. Whereas instructors at the rear of the cockpit in the past typically would not know what the pilots were doing with the controls, with the StallBox the instructor sees control movements as well as a "V-n" diagram showing airspeed versus G-loading, with envelopes showing the regions where the simulator aerodynamic is valid. When outside of the valid region, data points are plotted in red, alerting the instructor to end the maneuver. The envelope for the extended model is significantly larger than for the standard model, including at least 10 deg. past the stall angle-of-attack in pitch. Key to Alaska's UPRT program is making pilots proficient in using cues already available on the 737's primary flight display (PFD), including flight path vector, low- and high-speed warnings on the airspeed tape, and the acceleration caret, a trend indicator that shows whether airspeed is decreasing or increasing. On the airspeed tape, the 737 has an amber band, within which the pilot has "maneuver protection" above the stick-shaker for banks up to 40 deg. and a red "zipper" band, whose top corresponds to the stick shaker activation that occurs just prior to the aircraft's critical angle-of-attack. There is also a high-speed warning band for over-speed, a visual cue accompanied by a loud "clacker" sound. While in early-generation jets over-speed could lead to LOC from Mach "tuck" issues, today's jets are largely free of that problem. However, pilots must make a logbook entry. As for recovering from upsets and stalls, Alaska's typical protocol matches Boeing and FAA guidance: First turn off the autopilot and autothrottle. Unload the wing by decreasing the pitch angle and hence the angle-of-attack. Adjust the thrust (based on speed trends, possibly including application of speed brakes). Roll the wings level (the ailerons/spoilers are more effective with the wings unloaded). Recover in pitch when able. Starting with the first maneuver, the pilot is shown the connection between the dynamically changing energy state symbology on the PFD and manual control of the elevators, as well as approximating the aircraft's angle-of-attack based on the angle between the flight path vector and the pitch reference. Familiarity with those aids helps later, when executing recovery procedures, most of which start with unloading the wing (reducing angle-of-attack) once the automation is turned off (autopilot and autothrottle). While I have substantial experience in actual stalls of light aircraft at low altitude, what was the most eye-opening was the dramatic difference in performance by large swept- wing aircraft at high altitudes. In one approach-to-stall maneuver, the recovery from onset of the stick-shaker to the beginning of the level-out (after dropping the nose and losing significant altitude to regain speed and watching the airspeed and acceleration trends on the PFD) took 31 sec. Attempts to raise the nose too early are met with the stick-shaker, indicating an imminent secondary stall. Handling at high altitudes is also counterintuitive-while the wing is flying relatively close to stall speed during cruise, the elevator control is highly sensitive, inviting over-control (and possible injuries to passengers and damage to the airframe) for the uninitiated. Also eye-opening was the realization that stalls continue to occur despite numerous warnings, highlighting the potency of distractions and task saturation to divert a pilot's attention. Along with the various energy state cues on the PFD, the 737-800 has an "Airspeed!, Airspeed!" aural warning and a very noticeable buffet, or rumble, as airflow begins to separate on the wing in advance of the stall, as well as marked increase in negative vertical speed (sink rate). Despite the advanced warnings, too often in LOC accidents pilots will prioritize a futile attempt to level the wings rather than reducing the pitch angle to unload the wing before trying to exit the stall. If all else fails, Burks says he wants pilots to remember and act on three words: "Unload, unload, unload." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top 787 Engine Checks Cause ANA Cancellations AUCKLAND-All Nippon Airways (ANA) canceled nine domestic flights on Aug. 25 amid checks for potential damage to some of its Boeing 787 engines. "We have learned of a possible issue with a component in the Rolls-Royce engines on a limited number of Boeing 787 aircraft," ANA said in a statement. "Safety is our top priority, so we are communicating closely with Rolls-Royce and Boeing, and performing inspections and maintenance on the aircraft involved." More flight cancellations will be required-possibly about 10 per day, at least through the end of September. The inspections are linked to engine problems that occurred during a February ANA 787 flight from Kuala Lumpur, and a Hanoi flight in March. ANA said the latest problem is not linked to an aborted 787 takeoff Aug. 14 at Tokyo Narita Airport. www.aviationweek.com Back to Top How JetBlue is filling demand for pilots A US airline launches program to create its own supply of pilots from scratch Given pilot shortage forecasts, a new ab initio hiring program launched by a US airline is going to be watched closely. New York-based JetBlue Airways' Gateway Select program inducted its first class of cadets late this summer. One of seven dedicated pipelines leading to the JetBlue cockpit, Gateway Select is the first modern example of a zero-time, trainee-to-airline-pilot program by a US carrier, despite the practice being established in Europe and Asia for some time. The issues that made ab initio popular in other parts of the world-a dearth of indigenous pilots from general aviation and the military-are expected to spread to North America as a bubble of retirements hitting mainline airlines over the next decade combines with fewer pilots entering the profession because of the costs and time required. The supply-demand imbalance is further exacerbated by the record numbers of new aircraft deliveries by Airbus and Boeing. Airbus' most recent forecast shows a demand for 32,428 airliners to be delivered globally through 2035. Dominating the deliveries will be Asia-Pacific, with 41% of the total, followed by Europe with 21% and North America with 17%. Boeing's 2016 pilot and technician outlook (see table, page 32), published in July, forecasts a need for 617,000 new airline pilots through 2035, a 10% increase over the 2015 outlook. Of that number, Boeing predicts 248,000 pilots will be needed in the Asia- Pacific region, 112,000 in North America and 104,000 in Europe. "The Asia-Pacific region comprises 41% percent of the global need due to the growth in the single-aisle market which is driven by low-cost carriers, while North America is the result of new markets opening in Cuba and Mexico, and demand in Europe has increased as a response to a strong intra-European Union market," the Boeing report states. On top of this growing requirement for pilots will come the impact in the US of a surge of mandatory age-65 retirements that are expected to peak in the late 2020s. For the US regional carriers, there is a double hit. They are struggling to fill seats from college programs, the military and general aviation, a task complicated by a 2013 congressionally mandated first officer flight time rule that requires first officers to have an Airline Transport Pilot certificate. This typically means a pilot must have logged 1,500 flight hours before being able to fly a commercial airliner; previously pilots could qualify with a minimum of 250 hours and a Commercial Pilot Certificate. This combination of factors has put additional pressure on US airlines to invest more money and be more creative to keep cockpits staffed in the near term and to build pilot pipelines for the future. It's neither an inexpensive nor a short-term solution. Five-year investment "When you consider the path of ab initio, you're looking at investing about five years or more before that pilot is capable of being considered for a captain position," Michael Johnson, president and CEO of Paramount Aviation, a flight crew procurement agency based in Virginia, noted. "I think the number of programs is growing and will be a key factor in the long-term need for producing pilots." While there is no guarantee that a cadet will make it through the program, when an airline takes control of its pilot pipeline from the beginning, it gets the chance to screen prospective employees from the start, then to customize flight training through both schooling and initial operations in the fleet. This can yield benefits. "There are several advantages for the airline-they can train the pilot exactly how they want the pilot to perform and do not have to un-train the peculiarities or unfavorable habits of an experienced pilot," Johnson said. "They develop a life-long relationship with the cadet pilot, which has the long-term advantage of lower attrition for the airline." Johnson acknowledged there can be downsides. "The airline assumes the risk that even after investing such capital into the pilot, they may not successfully complete the program," he said. For JetBlue, the benefits outweigh the potential downsides. JetBlue SVP-safety, security and training Warren Christie said the carrier had been thinking about an ab initio program for a couple of years. "What was attractive about the ab initio was the ability to structure it so that every phase of training was designed to prepare the pilot to be a future airline pilot," Christie said. "You could ensure ... consistency through every phase of a pilot's training." Christie said he first considered the idea of creating an ab initio program after hearing Dieter Harms speak at a conference. Harms is the former head of the Lufthansa Pilot School and was a key player in the design of the multi-crew pilot license (MPL) program. JetBlue worked with Canada-based training provider CAE to pull out the "best attributes" of an MPL program and combine it with FAA flight training requirements for the Gateway Select program, Christie explained. CAE operates formal ab initio programs for 10 airlines and MPL schools for five, including Asia low-cost carrier (LCC) group AirAsia, UK LCC easyJet and Lufthansa. MPL programs train pilots to fly in a crewed environment from the start. CAE announced in June that it had signed a new ab initio contract with India LCC IndiGo to produce more than 200 pilots through 2018 at locations in India and Australia. The company trains approximately 1,200 new pilots per year, with a capacity limit if 2,000 per year. Gateway pilot path Once admitted to JetBlue's Gateway Select, cadets will spend four weeks in a "foundation" course, followed by basic flight training at CAE's Oxford Academy in Phoenix, Arizona. That training will be followed by simulator time at JetBlue's facilities in Orlando and then a job as a certified flight instructor at CAE to build hours. The airline will induct the first six candidates in a class of 24 cadets selected from 1,400 applications received in a 2.5-week period in March. Another six cadets will start training with ab initio training provider CAE every three months, with all 24 expected to complete the program in approximately 3.5 years and transition into a six-week JetBlue training course to become Embraer E190 first officers. According to the Future and Active Pilot Advisors web site, JetBlue hired 289 pilots through its six pipelines in 2015, down from 420 in 2014. JetBlue has not said whether it will make a direct investment in the students in the program, which will cost $125,000 per cadet over the course of roughly 15 months. "We've been working with financial institutions to help get loans," Christie said. "We're committed to working with each of [the cadets] to make sure finances do not become a problem." He added the airline will evaluate the results of the effort before deciding whether to expand Gateway. While full control of the training program is one benefit of the ab initio program, so is a potential new source of pilots. "They're anticipating that the other gateways may start drying up, or become less pronounced in the future," Nick Leontidis, group president of civil aviation training solutions at CAE, said. "For sure, the trend we're seeing in this area is that there are more airlines looking at ab initio programs for pilots than what we've seen in the past," he said. "It's a mixed bag at the moment; historically Asian carriers have been more akin to sponsor people, and in the West there were enough people to be hired on the market to fill vacancies. In the US, you had the regional to mainline flow." He said CAE has seen "a lot more interest" from airlines that historically have not considered ab initio. "It's because the pool of what's available for people to hire is shrinking," Leontidis said. "And people are retiring and airlines are growing." He noted that professional ab initio programs "are still the exception," not the rule. "I think the airline industry as a whole needs to figure out how this part of the industry can be better utilized to produce pilots because it will become a more important source," he said. "This pathway or channel will become more important for everyone." http://atwonline.com/training/how-jetblue-filling-demand-pilots Back to Top FAA Begins Accepting sUAS Applications Next Week Drone operating requirements differ for FAA-licensed pilots. The FAA will soon begin accepting applications for the remote pilot certificate necessary to operate drones weighing more than half a pound. Operators of drones weighing more than half a pound need to earn an FAA remote pilot certificate. The only exception is recreational operators. The FAA begins accepting applications for the new Part 107 remote pilot certificate August 29. The agency's recreation versus commercial operator decision tree should get applicants headed in the right direction. Remote pilot applicants must pass an FAA knowledge test at an approved knowledge- testing center, where the cost is expected to run approximately $150. The agency has created a Remote Pilot Knowledge Test Guide to assist in passing the exam. Sample test questions are also available on the FAA website. At first glance, the sample knowledge test questions look pretty simple for anyone who already holds a pilot certificate. The sticking point is that operator applicants that already possess a pilot certificate are allowed to skip the knowledge exam. To someone new to aviation however, questions like this might not be quite so easy. Here are some sample questions and corresponding multiple choice answers. Q: When operating an unmanned airplane, the remote pilot should consider that the load factor on the wings may be increased anytime, "the CG is shifted rearward to the aft CG limit, or the airplane is subjected to maneuvers other than straight and level flight, or the gross weight is reduced. Q: When adapting crew resource management (CRM) concepts to the operation of a small UA, CRM must be integrated into, "the flight portion only, or all phases of the operation, or the communications only." Once applicants pass the knowledge test, they'll head to the FAA's Integrated Airmen Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) site. The agency publishes an IACRA guide that's worth reading before the somewhat vexing application process. Within 10 days following the IACRA application, the operator should receive instructions for printing out a temporary airman certificate, with the permanent certificate arriving in the mail after a background check. There are no details on the background check yet from the FAA, except that it's expected to be free. In order to continue using the new certificate, remote pilots will need to pass a recurrent knowledge test every two years. Remote pilot applicants who already hold a pilot certificate and have passed a flight review within the past 24 months may skip the knowledge test, but must complete the remote pilot training course. They'll also need to verify their identity through a FSDO or DPE before receiving their temporary certificate. http://www.flyingmag.com/faa-begins-accepting-suas-applications-next-week Back to Top FAA Warms To Easier SE-IFR Helo Certification The U.S. FAA appears poised to adopt industry recommendations drafted last year that are aimed at reducing the cost and complexity associated with single-engine helicopters meeting IFR certification requirements under FAR Part 27. The industry views this as key to increasing the number of IFR operations and improving safety. Led by the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA), American Helicopter Society International (AHS), General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and Helicopter Association International (HAI), the rotorcraft industry had submitted a whitepaper to the FAA detailing proposed alternative means of compliance for meeting these standards. Last month, FAA Rotorcraft Directorate manager Lance Gant wrote that the agency "has begun the process of adopting some of the concepts and recommendations of the whitepaper into a proposed Safety Continuum for Part 27 Systems and Equipment Policy Statement." Gant noted that the proposed policy statement, which the FAA expects to release for public comment by December, will create "classes" of Part 27 rotorcraft up to 7,000 pounds mtow based on factorssuch as weight and passenger capacity. "We are encouraged that the FAA not only appears to be supportive of the whitepaper, but is also adopting a much more tenable overall approach to leveraging advances in technology for safety and efficiency," said AHS executive director Mike Hirschberg. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-08-25/faa-warms- easier-se-ifr-helo-certification Back to Top GAO: Dumping the A-10 jet could cost the military in missions besides close-air support An A-10 Thunderbolt II with the 75th Fighter Squadron from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., takes off from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 21. (Sr. Airman Mozer O. Da Cunha/Air Force) The Government Accountability Office raised serious questions about the Air Force's plan to eliminate the A-10 attack plane in a new report, focusing in part on lesser-known missions for the aircraft while pointedly saying that the Defense Department should use "quality information" to make a decision. The report, released Wednesday, acknowledged the A-10 Thunderbolt II's role in close-air support (CAS), which has popularized the plane with ground troops and some members of Congress alike. The aircraft was fielded beginning in the 1970s specifically to carry out that mission, relying on a powerful 30mm Gatling gun cannon to strike enemies and a titanium armored "bathtub" that protects the pilot from ground fire. Nicknamed the Warthog, it has a snub-nose design and the ability to support ground troops more cheaply than its potential replacements. [The F-35 vs. the A-10 Warthog, head-to-head in close-air support. It's on.] But the A-10 also carries out other missions that are not as often connected to the long- running debate in the military and on Capitol Hill about whether the service should eliminate the plane to save money, the report noted. One of them is a specific kind of combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) mission known as "CSAR-Sandy," in which two A-10 pilots fly in tandem and coordinate the rescue of downed U.S. troops using helicopters and other planes while suppressing enemy forces. The GAO found that the Air Force is well suited to the role because it can loiter over a battlefield longer than quicker fighter jets, has forward-firing weapons and can fly low to the ground. "The Air Force assessed the feasibility of using F-16s or F-15Es for the CSAR-Sandy mission and concluded aircrews could not conduct both the training necessary for this mission and the training required for their existing missions," the GAO found. "The assessment, completed in September 2015, recommended that F-15Es or F-16s should not be tasked with the Sandy role without adequate training and also noted that the aircraft would require a number of upgrades for the CSAR-Sandy mission." This diagram from a Government Accountability Office report provides a visual representation of the combat search-and-rescue "Sandy" mission. (Government Accountability Office) Another mission carried out by the A-10 is Forward Air Controller (Airborne), or FAC(A). It calls for A-10 pilots to coordinate airstrikes from other planes while flying, especially when ground troops known as joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs), who call in airstrikes, are not available. The FAC(A) mission is carried out from various aircraft, but the GAO noted that Air Force training requirements for FAC(A) are higher for A-10 pilots than those flying other planes. "A-10 FAC(A)s are required to attain mission proficiency while F-16 FAC(A)s and future F- 35 are only required to have familiarity with the mission," the report said. "Further, the A- 10 community spends significantly more effort developing and retaining FAC(A) expertise." The GAO recommended that the Air Force "fully identify mission gaps, risks, and mitigation strategies" in assessing the future of the A-10. Service leaders at one time planned to retire all A-10s by 2018, but the effort was blocked by Congress for two years and the service ultimately shifted gears after the plane showed usefulness in carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a blunt response included with the GAO report that the service disagrees that it has not provided the necessary information to identify gaps in capability and capacity created by the retirement of the A-10. The report, she said, does not note that the Air Force studied the plan as a part of developing its 2015 budget and found that it was "the most acceptable strategy" given the variety of missions the Air Force must carry out. The service also detailed the close-air support mission in a report to Congress, she added. "The Air Force takes exception to the assertion that it made the decision to divest the A- 10 without knowledge or understanding of the associated risk and capability gaps," James wrote. Additional reasons are provided in a version of the GAO report that is classified, she added. Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that the GAO concluded "what we've been arguing for years: There is no justification for the Air Force to prematurely retire the A-10 fleet." Doing so, McCain said, will leave the military with a serious capability gap. "According to GAO, the Air Force has not adequately identified how such a divestment of the A-10 could impact our capability or capacity requirements, and has not developed sufficient strategies to address any potential risks," McCain said. "Moreover, GAO has concluded that the Air Force's cost savings estimates are not credible because it failed to follow best practices or consider important factors such as increasing the use of other systems in place of the A-10." View this infographic to learn how entrepreneurs can drive more growth with the right tools in hand. McCain added that the Senate version of the 2017 defense spending bill would again block the retirement of the A-10 and continue funding pilot training, maintenance and ammunition for it. Rep. Martha McSally, (R-Ariz.), a former A-10 pilot, said Wednesday that the Air Force's "flawed and shifting plan" to retire the A-10 is dangerous and will put lives in danger. She noted specifically that the GAO found the Air Force has no replacement planned yet to perform the combat search-and-rescue and airborne forward air control missions. "There's no replacement for the A-10's unique ability to carry out Close Air Support, including situations that require an ability to loiter, fly under weather, and visually identify friendly and enemy forces," McSally said. "GAO also confirmed the gaps that would occur under the Air Force's inconsistent replacement timeline, which would retire A-10 squadrons faster than they are replaced by other aircraft." McSally touted her role in prompting a "flyoff" between the A-10 and the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, in which the two planes will be tested head-to-head in 2018 to see which one better provides close-air support. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/25/gao-dumping-the-a- 10-jet-could-cost-the-military-in-missions-besides-close-air-support/ Back to Top Northrop T-X Makes First Flight LOS ANGELES-Northrop Grumman's contender for the U.S. Air Force's T-X next- generation trainer competition made its first flight at Mojave, California, on Aug 24. The aircraft, which was first seen publicly on Aug. 19 making high-speed taxi runs, is believed to have taken off at around 12:48 p.m. Pacific time and remained airborne for at least two hours. The aircraft, which was designed by Northrop's Scaled Composites special projects company, underwent basic handling and systems tests during the flight, which was conducted in a series of racetrack patterns over the northern Mojave Desert. Northrop Grumman declined to comment on the status of the aircraft or confirm if the first flight had occurred when contacted by Aviation Week. Preliminary data, however, indicate the aircraft spent the majority of the flight at around 10,000 ft. and at relatively slow speeds in the range of 140 to 160 kt. The flight also is believed to have included at least one touch-and-go at Mojave. The low-wing aircraft is powered by a single, non-afterburning General Electric F404-102D turbofan and configured with side-mounted inlets and a conventional horizontal and large vertical tail. Combining design features of the heritage T-38, which it is intended to replace, and Northrop's long-abandoned F-20 Tigershark, the Model 400 is competing against three alternatives. These range from another clean-sheet design that will be unveiled by Boeing and Saab in September, to an upgraded version of the T-50 Golden Eagle offered by Lockheed Martin and KAI of Korea. A Raytheon/Honeywell/CAE team is proposing the Leonardo-Alenia AermacchiM-346 Master, offered as the T-100. Northrop is partnered with BAE Systems and L-3 for its bid. www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Flexjet Takes Deliveries for the Embraer Legacy 450 Business Jet Embraer's Legacy 450 business jet Founded in 1995, Flexjet offers fractional private jet ownership and leasing options for those who want to take to the skies at a moment's notice. The company is now expanding its aviation footprint by taking deliveries of Embraer's Legacy 450 business jet, adding five to the Flexjet fleet by year's end. The midsize business jet, which features a 6-foot-tall cabin and sound-reducing design elements, has been recently FAA-approved for nonstop coast-to-coast flights and other extended-range routes, such as Los Angeles to Honolulu. Fully reclining seats (that convert to lie-flat beds) offer spacious club seating for up to eight guests. Powered by fuel-efficient, reduced-emissions Honeywell HTF7500E engines, the aircraft has a cruising speed of 536 mph and a cruising altitude of 45,000 feet. Flexjet-which is the first fractional fleet provider to offer the Legacy 450-will celebrate the milestone with a national tour this fall. (flexjet.com) http://robbreport.com/aviation/flexjet-takes-deliveries-embraer-legacy-450-business-jet Back to Top Spaceflight Billionaires Bucking A Half-Century Of Experience Aerojet Rocketdyne taking proven path to new engine Aerojet Rocketdyne Stennis Space Center-This sprawling NASA base on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a monument to the Cold War, starting with the neo-Bauhaus tower where Wernher von Braun and his engineers gathered to watch hot-fire tests of their space-launch handiwork. That included the Saturn V first stage, with its five massive F-1 engines shaking the ground across the 125,000 acres of swampland set aside as an acoustic buffer zone to help win the race to the Moon with the Soviet Union. Today, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJR), successor to the company that built the F-1, is applying the experience it gained during the ensuing 50 years to a new rocket engine designed to compete in what could be called Cold War II with Russia. It is also up against a new- engine development effort privately bankrolled by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in a competition that pits the "stodgy" traditional approach to rocket-engine development against so-called "New Space" upstarts like Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX. There are costs and benefits to both. Here at Stennis, where AJR also is upgrading surplus RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines for the first four flights of NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System, the bets are down for the tried-and-true approach. AJR plans to build its new AR-1 engine here, and already has started firing elements in Stennis test stands. For its part, Stennis will benefit from the new infrastructure ASR is installing for the AR-1 development work. Meanwhile, Blue Origin is developing its BE-4 engine in Kent, Washington, and at its test area in Van Horn, Texas. The company believes it is ahead in the race to test a full-scale engine. The AR-1 and BE-4 are both staged-combustion hydrocarbon-fueled rocket engines, intended to be powerful enough to lift the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan replacement for the company's Atlas V and Delta IV. At least one of them will give the U.S. a domestic replacement for Russia's RD-180, which has fallen out of congressional favor as the powerplant for ULA's workhorse Atlas V since Russia forced Ukraine out of the Crimean Peninsula. The Atlas V launches some of the most sensitive U.S. national-security payloads under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, and AJR engineers say the government should tread carefully before it entrusts those payloads to new, privately held providers like Blue Origin. Julie Van Kleeck, AJR vice president for its Advanced Space and Launch Business Unit, says, "Something may happen to them in their business, where they no longer have the resources or they're not able to conduct business. So the government takes on a whole different risk going down this path." U.S. companies have never built a staged-combustion-cycle hydrocarbon engine. Blue Origin has opted for liquefied natural gas as the fuel for BE-4, while AJR is designing the AR-1 to use rocket-grade kerosene. AJR is modifying the historic A-2 test stand at Stennis to handle kerosene in full-engine testing-with ground-storage tanks and other gear that will stay with NASA-and it is using the E-complex test stands for subscale and component- level hot-firings (see photo). To hold down costs on that engine, and on the AR-1, AJR is using 3-D printing for complex combustion parts, hot isostatic pressure (HIP) bonding for chamber and nozzle-wall cooling channels, and a new alloy called Mondaloy 200 to counteract the corrosive effects of oxygen-rich gases in place of the expensive coatings Russia uses in the RD-180. During a talk at the University of Colorado that got him fired for an excess of candor, then-ULA engineering Vice President Brett Tobey said that after Blue Origin "blew up" a test stand during power-pack testing, Bezos "just opened up his checkbook" and ordered a new one. AR-1 preburner testing at the Stennis E-complex will require pressures of 8,000 psi, a U.S. record, so as part of its public-private partnership with the Air Force the company is paying to uprate the plumbing to accommodate it. That infrastructure, too, will remain with NASA when the testing is complete. AJR also will fold the new manufacturing techniques, and the basic AR-1 design, into other products. "The neat thing is it really will take the U.S. to the next level of technology advancement," explains Van Kleeck. "That's not as true of some of the other competitors out there. They're still putting in place things that were developed decades ago." As a publicly traded company, Van Kleeck says AJR does not have the luxury of writing a check whenever it wants to buy something. "We invest where we see a reasonable probability they'll make the next step," she says. "The engine one, we'll have to see. I think next year it's going to look a lot different." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY (1) Dear Colleagues, I am a university student completing my master degree at the University of South Wales in the UK and I'm conducting a research for my dissertation on aircraft maintenance cost reduction. I would appreciate it if you could complete my survey below: survey link http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/837F5/ Thank you, Ali khlifa Abushhiwa Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY (2) 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 GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY (3) Manual Flying Skills Online Survey Dear fellow Aviators, I kindly ask you to take part in a short online survey concerning the topics of automation and manual flying skills. Besides flying Boeing 737s in Europe, I am enrolled in the MSc Air Safety Management part-time programme at City University London. At the moment, I am working on my thesis - topic: 'Manual Flying Skills - Airline Procedures and their Effect on Pilot Proficiency' - required for the award of the MSc degree next year. By means of this thesis, I intend to investigate the effects different policies or procedures regarding automation (and the resulting manual flying opportunities) can have on pilots' manual flying skills. Recent incidents and accidents involving manual flying deficiencies have brought this issue to wider attention, especially regarding loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) accidents. The survey displays a core element of my work as I would like to combine pilots' subjective views and experiences with current literature and scientific research. It addresses all pilots flying in a commercial environment world-wide and can be found at: https://de.surveymonkey.com/r/manualflyingskills It would be great if you could spare roughly 8-10 minutes of your valued time for this survey. Moreover, it would help me considerably if you could share the survey with friends flying around the world - in order to represent a wide range of different procedural environments in my research. Thank you very much in advance, highly appreciated! Moritz Hanusch 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