Flight Safety Information August 30, 2016 - No. 170 In This Issue Search underway after Swiss Air Force jet goes missing Passenger tries to open jet door; Seattle-bound flight makes emergency landing Crews Respond In Oven, Mobile-Phone Smoke Incidents FAA manager would have problem flying most of country's helicopters FAA Expects 600,000 Commercial Drones In The Air Within A Year The $30,000-A-Night Jet that Flies Empty Japan's First Jet to Meet 2018 Delivery, Mitsubishi Says NEW GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY ISASI 2016, Reykjavik, Iceland...17 to 20 October, 2016 (ISASI) DFW Regional Chapter (DFRC) Summer Meeting, September 8, 2016 Search underway after Swiss Air Force jet goes missing ZURICH - The Swiss military has launched a search for a pilot and his plane after a fighter aircraft belonging to the country's air force went missing during a training exercise on Monday. The plane, a one-seater F/A-18C, disappeared near Susten in central Switzerland on Monday afternoon, the Swiss defense ministry said. The suspected accident site in the mountainous Alpine region was difficult to access, with bad weather and darkness hampering the search efforts, it added. Swiss Air Force commander Aldo Schellenberg told a media conference he was deeply shocked by the incident. When asked about the survival chances of the pilot, he said: "We hope and pray," Swiss news agency SDA reported. The incident began when the aircraft took off from the air base at Meiringen as the second plane in a training exercise. Radio contact with the base was lost minutes later, and the plane was logged as missing. A search mission was launched with helicopters, but was later abandoned due to bad weather. Two ground-based search teams have also begun looking for the pilot and the aircraft, while an investigation into the suspected crash is now underway. Family members of the pilot, who has not been named, have been informed and were being cared for by the military. The incident is the third time the Swiss Air Force has lost one of its F/A 18 jets in the last three years. A pilot was injured when an aircraft crashed in October 2015 in southeast France, while another F/A 18 crashed in 2013. Earlier this year a Swiss F-5E air demonstration fighter jet collided with another plane and crashed into a pond in the northern Netherlands ahead of an air show. https://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/30/news/world-news/search-underway-after- swiss-air-force-jet-goes-missing/ Back to Top Passenger tries to open jet door; Seattle-bound flight makes emergency landing Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737-900ER (extended range) passenger jet. Photo courtesy: ALASKA AIRLINES MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- A Seattle-bound Alaska Airlines jet made an emergency landing at the Minneapolis St Paul Airport on Monday morning after a passenger tried to open a door in mid-flight. The passenger became unruly, then tried to open a door at the rear of the 737, said Alaska spokeswoman Halley Knigge. She said it is not possible to open the door in flight because of air pressure differences between inside and outside the plane. The crew tried to calm him, then decided to divert to Minneapolis. He was arrested after the 737 landed at Minneapolis about 9:45 a.m. Central time. Flight 7 originated at 7:15 Eastern time from JFK Airport in New York. The flight took off for Seattle at 11:08 a.m. Central time with 180 passengers on the plane. It landed in Seattle just before 1 p.m. Pacific time. http://komonews.com/news/local/passenger-tries-to-open-jet-door-seattle-bound-flight- makes-emergency-landing Back to Top Crews Respond In Oven, Mobile-Phone Smoke Incidents WASHINGTON-Separate inflight smoke incidents in April and May turned out to be relatively innocuous, but demonstrated superior crew responses, according to new investigative reports by the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB). In the first incident, a United AirlinesBoeing 787-900 (registered as N36962) that had just departed Sydney for San Francisco on April 17 returned to Sydney after flight crew reported a "short burst of smoke" from two aft-cabin ovens that had been turned on during departure. The smoke, which the crew said had a "strong chemical odor and an electrical smell as well as a blue haze," set off a fire alarm in a nearby lavatory. Although the crew shut down power to the aft galley and the smoke dissipated, the captain ultimately decided to return to Sydney after discussing the issue with United's ground-based technical operations maintenance controller over a satellite phone. "It could not be confidently ascertained that the ovens were the sole source of the problem," the ATSB said, adding that "all emergency procedures were carried out efficiently and effectively" and that the captain had involved all relevant crew members and the maintenance controller in making the decision to divert. A follow-up investigation revealed that the smoke came from a blown fuse in the oven, an issue caused by an above-normal motor temperature that had been a known fault addressed by a new oven-software release. "Boeing reported that the oven manufacturer is working with United Airlines to update the software in all relevant ovens in their fleet," the ATSB said. It is not clear if oven software was the issue in another United 787 oven-smoke diversion in June. The ATSB said the aircraft (N35953) experienced an electrical odor in the mid-B galley and returned to Melbourne after dumping fuel. Maintainers determined that an oven fuse had blown and replaced the oven. ATSB The second smoke event, on a QantasAirbusA380 (VH-OQD) flying from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth, was caused by a mobile phone that had been crushed inside a business-class seat. The ATSB said it has received 17 notifications of similar incidents of lithium battery "thermal events" in aircraft over the past six years. The A380 was approximately 2 hr. from landing when a passenger alerted cabin crew about the smoke; the crew "then initiated the basic fire drill procedure," the ATSB said. While two cabin crewmembers headed to the upper deck with fire extinguishers, the customer service manager (CSM) made an "all stations" emergency call on the aircraft interphone to alert the flight crew. The crew removed the seat cushions from seat 19F while the CSM turned off the power to the center column of seats. "When the seat was further dismantled, the crew found a crushed personal electronic device [later found to have a lithium-ion battery] wedged tightly in the seat mechanism," the ATSB said. The crew was able to free the device from the seat, and although it was no longer smoking, placed it in a jug of water, which was then put inside a metal box and monitored for the remainder of the flight. "This incident provides an excellent example of an effective response to an emergency situation," the ATSB said. "The crew was quickly able to implement the basic fire-drill procedure, which defined the roles and responsibilities of the responding crew. This enabled a rapid and coordinated response to the smoke event, using all available resources." www.aviationweek.com Back to Top FAA manager would have problem flying most of country's helicopters OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN - As the Federal Aviation Administration struggles to come up with better standards for the vulnerable fuel systems onboard most of the country's civilian helicopter fleet, a high-level manager with the FAA tells 9Wants to Know he won't pilot a helicopter that doesn't have a crash-resistant fuel system. The statement effectively means Jim Viola, the manager of FAA's Flight Standards Service, would refuse to fly nearly 5,000 helicopters in use today. "I don't want to look like a fool when I catch a [helicopter] skid, roll the helicopter and it catches fire," he told 9Wants to Know investigative reporter Chris Vanderveen. Yet when it comes to the thousands of pilots and passengers who fly - many of them unwittingly - in those same helicopters, Viola says helicopter manufacturers need to shoulder much, if not all, of the responsibility. "We try not to hamper growth," Viola said bluntly. The statement takes on added significance one year after a Flight for Life helicopter erupted into a wall of flames shortly after hitting a parking lot outside of St. Anthony Summit Medical Center. Surveillance video of the crash, exclusively obtained by 9NEWS, shows fuel pouring out of the Airbus AS-350B3e seconds after impact. Flight nurse Dave Repsher spent more than a year in the hospital trying to recover from burns on more than 90 percent of his body. 9NEWS has found more than 170 other post-crash fires involving helicopters since 1994. Recently, 9Wants to Know reporter Chris Vanderveen traveled to OshKosh, Wisconsin, to try to finally get an on-camera interview with the FAA on its inability to work on the problem despite four decades of warnings. The FAA had repeatedly denied any of Vanderveen's requests for an on-camera interview. "This is something we are actually very focused on," said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta when asked by Vanderveen how much more time the FAA would need to try to come up with a solution. "I don't have a specific answer in terms of when," he added. With the use of bladder tanks and breakaway fuel valves, the military essentially eliminated the problem before the first Reagan presidency. The National Transportation Safety Board formally notified the FAA of the problem with vulnerable fuel systems in 1980. In 1985, it repeated its call for the FAA to consider upping the standards for crash-resistant fuel systems. In 1994, the FAA changed the rules, but it simultaneously allowed a massive loophole that allowed manufacturers to continue to build helicopters with fuel systems prone to rupture after otherwise survivable crashes. It's that loophole that a pair of Colorado congressmen are trying to close after reviewing the results of the 9Wants to Know investigation. While in Wisconsin, Vanderveen also spoke with Viola. It was during that interview, Viola told Vanderveen of his wariness of helicopters without crashworthy fuel systems. Beverly Rector's son died last year in a fiery helicopter crash in St. Louis, Missouri. Ronald Rector was piloting a medical helicopter when he lost control while trying to land at St. Louis University Hospital. The resulting crash, shown on a surveillance video recently released by the NTSB, shows a fireball immediately after impact. The NTSB concluded the fire, and not the crash, killed Ronald Rector. "Good people have to get off their rear ends and do something," said Beverly Rector during a recent visit to Colorado. "We have to speak up, or we're not going to make any progress," she said. Viola said antiquated fuel systems remain a concern. As for a fix, he said, "We absolutely want to get there." What would you say to people like Dave Repsher who would like to see the FAA settle on a solution sooner rather than later? "A change could happen. I mean, right now industry can stop producing aircraft that don't have crashworthy tanks," he said. http://www.9news.com/news/investigations/fueling-the-fire/faa-manager-would-have- problem-flying-most-of-countrys-helicopters/310674923 Back to Top FAA Expects 600,000 Commercial Drones In The Air Within A Year Drones are flown at a training class in Las Vegas in anticipation of new regulations allowing their commercial use. Ethan Miller/Getty Images We are in "one of the most dramatic periods of change in the history of transportation," says Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. He was talking about all of it: the self-driving cars, the smart-city movement, the maritime innovations. But the staggering prediction of the day goes to the drone industry: The Federal Aviation Administration expects some 600,000 drones to be used commercially within a year. For context, the FAA says that 20,000 drones are currently registered for commercial use. What's expected to produce a 30-fold increase in a matter of months is a new rule that went into effect Monday and makes it easier to become a commercial drone operator. "The FAA forecasts there could be as many as 600,000 unmanned aircraft used commercially during the first year after this rule is in place," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a press conference. "Drones are helping to create a whole new means of realizing the American dream," he added later. Drone Taxis? Nevada To Allow Testing Of Passenger Drone THE TWO-WAY Drone Taxis? Nevada To Allow Testing Of Passenger Drone Broadly, the new rules change the process of becoming a commercial drone pilot: Instead of having to acquire a traditional pilot's license and getting a special case-by-case permission from the regulators, drone operators now need to pass a new certification test and abide by various flying restrictions (and, well, be older than 16). Huerta says more than 3,000 people preregistered to take the certification test Monday - the first day of the new regime. The rest of the drone safety rules still apply: No flights beyond line-of-sight, over people, at night, above 400 feet in the air or faster than 100 miles an hour. Drones also can't be heavier than 55 pounds, and all unmanned aircraft have to be registered. (Some locations, such as Washington, D.C., prohibit drones altogether.) Businesses, however, may get special waivers to skip some of the restrictions if they can prove they can do so safely. Huerta said Monday that the FAA has approved almost 80 waiver applications; the vast majority sought permission to operate at night. CNN was one applicant that received permission to fly over people, Huerta said. So far, the top uses of commercial drones have included aerial photography, real estate, various inspections, agriculture and filmmaking, according to an analysis by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the industry trade group. Foxx and Huerta also cited firefighting, search and rescue, conservation and academic research as potential beneficiaries. The drone association expects the industry will create more than 100,000 jobs and generate more than $82 billion for the economy in the first 10 years of being integrated into the national airspace. "If the federal government continues to embrace drone technology policy that balances safety and innovation, by 2025 our country will reach one million drone flights per day," Douglas Johnson, vice president for technology policy at the Consumer Technology Association, said in a statement. The FAA is also working on new rules that eventually will allow drone flights over people and beyond line of sight. Huerta said the FAA expects to propose rules on flights over people by the end of 2016. The agency will also be issuing new privacy guidance to local and state government, he said, and will include privacy education in the pilot certification process. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/29/491818988/faa-expects-600-000- commercial-drones-in-the-air-within-a-year Back to Top The $30,000-A-Night Jet that Flies Empty Density of operations: FedEx's hub in Memphis, Tennessee is the largest in its network. (Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg) Every night in the US, an Airbus A300 aircraft takes off from Denver, Colorado bound for Memphis, Tennessee. Nobody is on board except for the pilots and often the flight starts and completes its route with an empty hold. Eagle-eyed planespotters have also wondered in internet posts why it sometimes heads the wrong way for 200 miles. The cost of this exercise comes in at some $30,000 a night. Sounds crazy? Maybe. But this is how FedEx Express , the world's largest cargo airline, aims to cover most eventualities across this stretch of the USA as part of the quest of its parent company FedEx FDX +0.13% to deliver parcels worldwide within one to two business days. "Flight 1311 departs every night of the year, though the number varies by the month," says Marcus Martinez, managing director of the company's global operations control at FedEx's sprawling 880-acre airfield at Memphis International Airport. "It's our flying spare, attempting to sweep up anything that our other aircraft don't pick up. "It costs $30,000 a night to fly that plane empty. But if it flies empty, it means that we don't have to recover volume from elsewhere in the network." http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewcave/2016/08/29/the-30000-a-night-jet-that-flies- empty/#5ac0be117995 Back to Top Japan's First Jet to Meet 2018 Delivery, Mitsubishi Says The Mitsubishi Regional Jet returns to Nagoya Airport on August 28. Photographer: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said it's sticking to the schedule of handing over its first plane in 2018 after issues with the jet's air conditioning ventilator this weekend grounded the plane from further test flights. Mitsubishi is working with United Technologies Corp., which makes the aircraft's air conditioning, to fix the problem, the Japanese company's spokesman Yuji Sawamura said by phone from Nagoya. ANA Holdings Ltd., operator of Japan's biggest airline, is the launch customer for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, also known as the MRJ. After two aborted test flights in as many days following the faulty air-conditioning system, Japan's first locally built passenger jet was sent back to the hangar for checks and fixes, the latest blow to a key aircraft-building program plagued by delays in its delivery schedule. Japan's first passenger plane in nearly half a century aims to compete with the dominance of Brazil's Embraer SA and Canada's Bombardier Inc. in the market for planes with less than 100 seats. "There is a delay in the U.S. test flight, but we are sure that we can still deliver the plane on time in 2018," Sawamura said. Mitsubishi also said it is considering changing the date of a scheduled function at a U.S. test flight center from the original Sept. 9. Mitsubishi Aircraft, a unit of Mitsubishi Heavy, is trying to break the regional-jet duopoly of Embraer and Bombardier. Mitsubishi's MRJ, which can seat as many as 92 people, is getting a boost as Bombardier focuses on building CSeries jets that will be able to carry as many as 160 passengers, rather than renew its lineup of planes with fewer than 100 seats. Last year, Bombardier sought help for its CSeries jet program, which is more than two years late and $2 billion over budget. Investments from the province of Quebec and recent orders have given a lift to the program, although discussions with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government aren't expected to reach an aid deal for the company before the fall, Bloomberg News reported in July, citing officials familiar with the talks. ANA expects to receive a complete and safe MRJ airplane by the due delivery date, spokesman Wataru Yoshioka said. The MRJ, which made its first flight in November last year, won its first order from a European company in February. Mitsubishi had 407 orders for its new aircraft, including options and purchase rights, as of the end of last year, and its two biggest customers are based in the U.S. Japan's last domestically produced commercial aircraft was the YS-11, a turboprop made by Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corp., a consortium that included Mitsubishi Heavy, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. Production was stopped in 1974 after 182 of the planes were sold. Mitsubishi Heavy shares rose 0.3 percent to close at 433.2 yen in Tokyo on Tuesday. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-30/japan-s-first-jet-will-meet-2018- delivery-plan-mitsubishi-says Back to Top NEW GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear colleague in the aircraft ground handling industry My name is Mario Pierobon and I am conducting a doctoral study on aircraft ground handling safety at Cranfield University. As part of my research I have developed a survey that requires you to consider 40 different hazards that are peculiar to the aircraft ground handling environment and for each of them perform two exercises. The first exercise is about assessing the level of control an aircraft ground handling company has over a given hazard. The second exercise concerns establishing a relationship between the hazard (a situation or a condition that can lead to an accident) and a predetermined series of accident outcomes in terms of which accident outcomes a given hazard is likely to be associated with. In order to participate to this survey you are requested to have a management role in the aircraft ground handling industry. The survey may be accessed at the following link https://cranfielduniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3abRtXF0f6D7oEJ Thank you in advance for your kind support, if you need any additional information you may reach me at m.pierobon@cranfield.ac.uk. Kind regards Mario Pierobon PhD Candidate (air safety), Cranfield University 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