Flight Safety Information October 31, 2016 - No. 215 In This Issue Experience NBAA-BACE in Orlando, and Online (Video) NTSB: Engine disk failed, sending pieces flying from plane at O'Hare Unusual Failure in American Airlines' Jet Engine Prompts Investigation Drone halts traffic at Dubai airport, third incident in five months Mike Pence's Jet Had Faulty Device Passenger jet lands in Houston after electrical emergency Rules tightened over foreign pilots in Indonesia Pilots, air traffic controllers raise safety concerns over plan to axe 900 jobs FSF Highlights Need for Safety Data Sharing in BizAv Cargo plane with four crew members reported missing over Indonesia's Papua region American Airlines flight headed for Toronto diverted to DIA because of mechanical problem Swearingen Metro 23 Runway Excursion (Colombia) Hong Kong A333 at Hong Kong on Oct 30th 2016, rejected takeoff due to engine failure ATR unveils cadet pilot programme with France's ENAC Private-Jet Forecast Cut by 600 Planes as Slow Growth Zaps Sales NASA's New 'Intruder Alert' System Spots An Incoming Asteroid GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Experience NBAA-BACE in Orlando, and Online Back to Top NTSB: Engine disk failed, sending pieces flying from plane at O'Hare A disk in an engine turbine on a Boeing 767 failed before the American Airlines plane caught fire Friday at O'Hare International Airport, with pieces flying through the roof of a UPS warehouse and elsewhere a third of a mile from the plane, officials said Saturday. American Flight 383 to Miami caught fire as it was preparing to take off on Runway 28R at 2:35 p.m., resulting in an aborted takeoff and the evacuation of 161 passengers and nine crew members, according to authorities. At least 20 people were taken to area hospitals for treatment of minor injuries related to escaping the plane on inflatable slide chutes, officials said. Those injured were released from hospitals Saturday, officials said. Additional testing will be conducted to determine the exact cause of the plane fire, and the plane was moved from the runway to another location Saturday at O'Hare for further examination, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday. Examination of the engine revealed that the stage two disk of a high-pressure turbine failed, Lorenda Ward, a senior investigator for the NTSB, said in a news conference late Saturday afternoon at O'Hare. The fire started when "as a result of the uncontrolled engine failure, a fuel pool fire erupted under the right wing," Ward said. The danger of such a rare and serious failure is that engine pieces effectively become shrapnel - as happened Friday - and can cause extensive damage to the aircraft. One piece of the disk was found in a UPS warehouse 2,920 feet south of the plane and another piece was found about 0.3 miles north of the plane on airport property. About 90 percent of the disk has been found. The disk pieces will be sent to Washington, D.C., for testing, officials said. The right engine - the one involved in Friday's accident - was made by General Electric. It will be removed, sent to GE and dismantled. Maintenance records will be reviewed as part of the investigation, Ward said. Fire damage to the airplane's fuselage was limited to windows and cosmetic interior. There was no fire in the interior cabin but there was smoke, Ward said. The runway where the plane came to rest was still closed Saturday evening so the pavement could be cleaned and was scheduled to re-open at 7 a.m. Sunday, said Karen Pride, a city aviation department spokeswoman. After the fire was discovered Friday, the plane's 161 passengers and nine crew members scrambled down emergency chutes on the left side of the plane while flames flared and thick black smoke billowed from the wing on the right side, according to the airline and video from the scene. Twenty people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, mostly bruises and ankle problems, according to fire Chief Juan Hernandez, head of emergency medical services at the airport. Passengers and crew leave the area where an American Airlines plane stopped when its right wing caught fire Oct. 28, 2016, at O'Hare International Airport. (Photo courtesy of Alan Lemery) Video of the scene shows passengers sliding down chutes. Many of the passengers can be seen running across a median of grass, some lugging their bags. Some passengers gathered a distance away and watched as firetrucks circled the plane. "Crazy, man," one passenger is heard saying. "I'm never f------ flying again." People around him can be heard laughing. It took fire crews only a few minutes to control the fire and a few more minutes to extinguish it, officials said. As the smoke cleared, the blackened right wing could be seen sagging and touching the tarmac. The FAA at first said it was believed the problem started with a blown tire, but American said the takeoff was aborted "due to an engine-related mechanical issue." The turbine disk smashed through the roof of the UPS facility on the airport grounds and bounced off the floor, according to an airport worker. "It looks like a piece of a turbine disk from a jet engine," the worker said, adding it was too hot to touch. Few people were inside the building at the time and no injuries were reported. The facility is filled with workers at night. Police secured the scene and turned it over to the NTSB, which was investigating the incident. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-ohare-plane-fire-engine-disk- failed-20161029-story.html Back to Top Unusual Failure in American Airlines' Jet Engine Prompts Investigation Disc violently broke apart inside engine, hurling one fragment more than half a mile Firefighters check the scene after a fire started outside an American Airlines plane on Friday at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. By SUSAN CAREY and ANDY PASZTOR A 19-year-old disc violently broke apart inside the engine of an American Airlines Group Inc. jetliner taking off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday, sparking a fire and touching off a wide-ranging probe into certain General Electric Co. engines, according to investigators and others familiar with the matter. The accident, which hurled one fragment of the disc onto the roof of a United Parcel Service Inc. facility more than half a mile away, started a fire in a pool of fuel under the Boeing Co. 767's right wing, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Lorenda Ward said at a briefing over the weekend. Of the 170 people on board, 21 received medical treatment for injuries sustained in using emergency slides to leave the plane, but all were released from hospitals by Saturday. The accident was unusual because modern jet turbines are designed to prevent such high- energy parts from being spewed outside the engines. According to one person familiar with the details, the engine-turbine disc had no history of performance problems, failures or mandatory safety fixes. However, at least four other planes powered by the same GE family of engines have experienced serious engine malfunctions since 2000, including a pair of single-engine failures while airborne. The fire started in a pool of fuel under the Boeing Co. 767's right wing on Friday. The twin-aisle jetliner, American Flight 383, was bound for Miami when the pilots aborted takeoff before the plane lifted off the runway. It came to a stop about 6,000 feet down the strip and the Chicago Fire Department responded, as plumes of black smoke erupted and the right wing sagged down to the tarmac. There was no fire in the cabin, only smoke. The safety board said a "stage 2 disc in a high-pressure turbine" inside a variant of the General Electric CF6 engine failed. The NTSB will investigate further, likely delving into both manufacturing issues and maintenance practices with the cooperation of the engine maker. Most of the disc had been recovered by Sunday, according to the person familiar with the details. The plane was built in 2003 and is one of 45 American had in its fleet at the end of 2015. According to the FlightGlobal database, the aircraft had flown 49,000 hours and made more than 8,000 flights as of August. Over the weekend, General Electric said its workhorse CF6 family of engines, with more than 4,000 currently in service, has powered seven wide-body commercial jet models and accumulated more than 400 million flight hours. Portions of the CF6-80 engine family have been subject to voluntary service bulletins, stepped-up maintenance and various federal safety mandates over the years, which isn't unusual for widely used engines types due to the scrutiny incidents, accidents and operating histories receive from regulators, airlines, government investigators and engine experts. But violent disintegration of some internal parts leading to explosive failures have dogged certain older CF6-80 model engines since 2000. One engine of a US Airways Boeing 767 experienced what is called "an uncontained failure" during ground tests that year, with no passengers aboard. In June 2006, the safety board looked into a similar ground-test accident at Los Angeles International Airport in which a disintegrating CF6-80 engine damaged an American Airlines 767. As mechanics repeatedly revved up the jet's engines to maximum power, one of them failed and shot out chunks of metal that penetrated the fuselage and went inside the other engine, according to an NTSB report at the time. The debris punctured the wing and spilled some 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, investigators determined. The leaking fuel started a fire that badly damaged the plane. The NTSB also discovered metal parts as far as 3,000 feet away. By August 2006, federal regulators moved to significantly tighten mandatory checks of certain CF6-80 engines, with the oldest ones subjected to a 70% reduction in the interval between inspections and repairs. After Friday's accident, American said it brought in a fresh airplane and transported the passengers to Miami. The Fort Worth, Texas carrier, the nation's largest by traffic, said it is cooperating with the NTSB's investigation and had no further comment. http://www.wsj.com/articles/disc-in-engine-turbine-failed-on-american-airlines-jetliner- 1477864909 Back to Top Drone halts traffic at Dubai airport, third incident in five months Dubai (AFP) - A drone forced Dubai international airport, one of the world's busiest, to halt air traffic for an hour and a half Saturday evening, the third such incident in less than five months. Air space around the airport was closed from 7:25 pm to 8:49 pm (1525-1649 GMT) "due to unauthorised drone activity resulting in flight diversions", said operator Dubai Airports. The General Civil Aviation Authority said the airport at Sharjah, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) away, was closed for a similar period of time as a precaution because of the same drone. Dubai Airports stressed in a tweet that safety was its top priority and reminded drone operators that it is forbidden to fly them within five kilometres (three miles) of any airport. On September 28 the airport was shut for about half an hour because of an unauthorised drone while on June 12 it was forced to close for more than an hour for the same reason. UAE authorities have announced their intention to tighten the rules on the purchase and use of drones and the penalties for violating them. Around 100 airlines fly to more than 260 destinations from Dubai, which is also home to major carrier Emirates. More than 78 million passengers travelled through the airport last year. https://www.yahoo.com/news/drone-halts-traffic-dubai-airport-third-incident-five- 093204589.html Back to Top Mike Pence's Jet Had Faulty Device NTSB says device that automatically slows aircraft upon landing wasn't working when plane skidded off runway at La Guardia Airport National Transportation Safety Board investigators were checking Mike Pence's campaign plane Friday. The plane slid off a runway at La Guardia Airport Thursday night, but no one was injured. A device intended to automatically help slow aircraft upon landing wasn't operating when a jet carrying vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence skidded off a La Guardia Airport runway Thursday night, federal investigators said. The pilots had to manually deploy panels that pop up on top of the wings, called spoilers, delaying by some seconds their effectiveness, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday. Under federal rules and safety procedures, aircraft can operate temporarily without the devices' automated feature, said Robert Sumwalt, the safety board's vice chairman. It wasn't clear if the spoilers issue contributed to the skidding but, Mr. Sumwalt said, "normally, they should work." Automatic deployment of the spoilers takes about a second while the manual process Thursday night took four seconds, Mr. Sumwalt said. Investigators checking the plane Friday. The malfunctioning device was among the NTSB's preliminary information in the incident. He said his agency hadn't yet determined a cause. No one was injured when the Eastern Air Lines Boeing 737 jet slid about 200 feet past the runway. Mr. Pence's chartered jet ran into a patch of materials intended to stop aircraft if they slide off the end of the runway. The NTSB said it is still analyzing if that safeguard worked correctly. Also, the agency has recovered recording devices from the jet. Flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders are expected to provide specifics about the plane's touchdown point. Investigators are trying to determine whether the plane touched farther down the runway that is typical or considered safe, according to a person familiar with the details. Such accidents often occur when crews land too fast or planes float above runways and touch down too far from the beginning of the strip, making it harder to stop safely La Guardia has had similar incidents. Last year, a Delta Air Lines jet skidded off a snowy runway at La Guardia; the NTSB eventually faulted the pilot. A Southwest Airlines jet crash-landed on the runway in 2013 and skidded; the NTSB said the captain had broken safety rules. http://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-pences-jet-had-faulty-device-1477701580 Back to Top Passenger jet lands in Houston after electrical emergency A small jet landed in Houston Saturday after declaring an emergency due to electrical issues, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. Flight 52, a Learjet LJ55, flying from Fort Worth to Houston Hobby International Airport reported the emergency and it was relayed to the Houston Fire Department at 3:51 p.m. A half dozen fire engines met the aircraft on the tarmac. An airport spokesperson said the aircraft landed safely and no fire was found. No further information was available. http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Samll-passenger-jet-lands-in-Houstonh-after- 10422468.php Back to Top Rules tightened over foreign pilots in Indonesia A pilot demonstrates how a tablet inflight controls the Aurora Flight Sciences' Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automantion System (ALIAS), which is mounted in a Cessena Caravan aircraft at Manassas Airport in Manassas, Va., Monday, Oct. 17, 2016. (AP/Cliff Owen) Foreign pilots are facing fresh restrictions on flying in Indonesia as the government has issued a regulation banning them from working for more than two years so that airlines must recruit unemployed local pilots. The regulation, issued recently in the form of an official letter from the Transportation Ministry's Directorate General for Air Transportation, became effective on Sept. 23. It made exceptions for foreign pilots with special skills, such as instructors, helicopter pilots and pilots operating in remote areas. "We have a lot of unemployed local pilots. There is a large aspect of nationalism in this as it is about utilizing our own human resources," the ministry's airworthiness and operations director Mohammad Alwi said recently, although foreign pilots only account for 10 percent of the total number of pilots working in Indonesia. More than 500 local pilots produced by the country's 21 flying schools, two of which are operated by the government, can take positions currently filled by foreign pilots, he argued. The schools graduate 100 to 150 fresh pilots every year. As of September this year, 455 foreign pilots had active validation to operate in the country, less than the 513 pilots last year, ministry data shows. Meanwhile, 128 foreign pilots were issued new validations so far this year, compared with 190 pilots last year. The regulation emerged since the number of flights into and out of Indonesia has grown exponentially in recent years, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expecting the country to be the sixth largest market for air travel by 2034 with 270 million annual passengers. That has made airlines jack up flight frequencies, which has led to more pilots being required in the business. The Deraya Flying School said competition with foreign pilots was not the only problem that hinders local graduate pilots from joining the workforces of airlines. The core issue, the school said, may be that they had to pay for licenses on their own, which can cost US$3,000 to $4,000 each, on top of the Rp 700 million to Rp 800 million flying school tuition fees. "It's difficult for the graduates," Deraya Flying School public relations Eka Ariani Clausen said, referring to the license the pilot has to have to fly certain types of aircraft. The flying schools generally do not equip graduates with the type of rating that allows them to fly aircraft like the Boeing 737, which is widely operated by airlines, as pilots are required to have more flying hours and experience before operating jets. "I think we can't just blame foreign pilots. Airlines also need to prioritize having local pilots work for them," Eka said. Edward Sirait, the president director of Lion Air, Indonesia's largest private low-cost carrier, said his company recruited foreign pilots because local pilots lacked the specific aircraft rating required. "New aircraft are coming in to meet passengers' demand. Should we stop the aircraft from being delivered just because there are no qualified pilots?" he asked. Lion Air reached a $1 billion deal in 2014 with French turboprop manufacturer ATR for the purchase of 40 ATR 72-600 aircraft to be delivered from 2017 to 2019. Fifty-three of Lion Air's 700 pilots are foreigners, who are all captains, but some also serve as flight instructors. "Foreign pilots are more expensive and have more complicated hiring procedure. If we could get local pilots, why would we not hire them?" Edward said. The rate of passenger growth on domestic flights in Southeast Asia's largest economy reached 16.77 percent, for a total of 52.6 million, from January to August this year, compared with the same period a year ago, according to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data. International flight passengers grew by 5.66 percent to 9.7 million. "The inflow of new aircraft is also massive, but then preparing pilots takes a long time. Meanwhile, the airlines just focus on the target of getting 10 to 15 percent passenger growth," said aviation expert Chappy Hakim, who calls the regulation as temporary because more measures to manage the pilots and their capabilities are required. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/31/rules-tightened-over-foreign-pilots-in- indonesia.html Back to Top Pilots, air traffic controllers raise safety concerns over plan to axe 900 jobs Serious air traffic safety concerns have been raised by aviation workers over plans to axe 900 jobs at Airservices Australia, the organisation controlling skies at the country's major airports. Key points: * The cuts would reduce Airservices' workforce by almost a quarter * Aviation experts say their concerns have fallen on deaf ears * Airservices insists the cuts will only affect back room support staff * The concerns have been raised by air traffic controllers employed by Airservices, as well as pilots. Unions representing the workers who are likely to be affected are seeking an urgent Fair Work Commission hearing to stop the job cuts. Lawyers from the CPSU, ETU and Professionals Australia are requesting an immediate suspension of the Accelerate program, which will see a reduction of Airservices' workforce by almost a quarter over the next year. Airservices, the government-owned organisation responsible for air traffic control, airway navigation and emergency services for airports, insists the cuts will only affect back room support staff. However, the ABC has spoken to several Airservices insiders and aviation experts who claim that despite repeated attempts for clarification about how the Accelerate program will affect the security of the nation's skies, their concerns have fallen on deaf ears. "We haven't seen any of the safety work that's being done to justify this being a safe course of action" said Melbourne-based air traffic controller Tom McRoberts. "Airservices say they've done it all but we haven't seen any." Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au Mr McRoberts, who has more than a decade's experience working as an air traffic controller and is also president of Civil Air, fears the engineers responsible for keeping aeronautical equipment in working order could be among those facing redundancies. "[They are] taking guys away from being able to fix my radar if the radar falls over. I'm yet to see any documentation to say that's a good thing," Mr McRoberts said. Cuts only affect back office, technical staff: Airservices But a spokeswoman for Airservices said that it had engaged in comprehensive consultation with the industry prior to announcing the job cuts, which would only affect back office and technical staff. "We are not reducing the size of our operational and rostered air traffic control or aviation rescue firefighting staffing," the spokeswoman added. Earlier this year, an ABC investigation revealed serious malfunctions in radar systems operated by Airservices Australia which led to some planes briefly disappearing from Sydney Airport's tracking system. The CPSU is one of the unions calling for an urgent meeting in Canberra to address employees' concerns. "When you get multiple faults happening that's where you get into trouble. So being able to fix faults as quickly as possible is really important," said CPSU president Alistair Waters. "That's why those highly skilled technical staff are just so critical. "One of the reasons why you absolutely need to have very high standards and low risk margins in aviation is because when you're talking about aviation risk, you're talking about catastrophic risk." Some pilots have also approached the ABC, expressing outrage at Airservices for their lack of consultation about the Accelerate program and what it will mean for Australia's air traffic network. Pilots group brands planned cuts 'utterly disgraceful' The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia (AOPA), which represents over 3,000 general aviation pilots, is calling for the resignation of Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield. "It's utterly disgraceful ... I find it almost incomprehensible that the senior executive team of this billion-dollar organisation have not been able to secure the futures of these people who they are now asking to leave," AOPA's executive director Ben Morgan said. "The people that are going to feel this the most are the low end. This is going to be another exercise in the top end of the organisation band-aiding their problems and their mistakes by asking the people at the bottom end of the chain to sacrifice their day-to-day work." The unions' dispute was lodged with the Fair Work Commission last Friday. They are claiming that up to 40 workers are being pressured to move from enterprise agreements to individual contracts, or else face involuntary redundancies. During a combative Senate Estimates hearing on October 17, Mr Harfield told the committee that some workers would be moved into leadership positions as a result of the restructure and these roles were typically covered by individual contracts. An Airservices spokeswoman told the ABC that every application for a voluntary redundancy, or consideration of an involuntary redundancy, would be assessed individually to determine "any potential impact on the safety of our air traffic control or aviation rescue fire fighting operations". "Appropriate actions have been taken to ensure that the implementation of the Accelerate program is managed in a way that assures operational safety is considered throughout the life of the change program," the Airservices spokeswoman said. Airservices began providing routine safety assurance reports to the aviation regulator CASA regarding the progress of Accelerate program last May. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-30/pilots-air-traffic-controllers-raise-concerns- over-job-cuts/7976138 Back to Top FSF Highlights Need for Safety Data Sharing in BizAv The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF), continuing its effort to expand the practice of developing and sharing safety data globally, is beginning to develop "tool kits" to enable countries to establish such data-sharing programs in a non-punitive environment. The tool kits are part of the foundation's three-year Global Safety Information Project (GSIP) that has focused on use of safety data primarily in the Asia-Pacific and Pan-America regions. FSF is now nearing the end of the second year of GSIP, and FSF president and CEO Jon Beatty said the organization has "a lot of heavy deliverables" heading into the next several months with the year-two report and the beginnings of the tool kits ahead. Beatty, who noted that more than 50 percent of the foundation's members are involved in business aviation, stressed the importance for business aviation operators to participate in such safety data sharing programs alongside air transport operators. "If you want to continue to see the levels of improvement that we've seen over the years in both air transport and business aviation," Beatty said, then "we've got to find a way to learn from each other. We've got to find a way to begin sharing data...in a non-punitive [environment]." He added that while GSIP has attracted the attention of more air transport operators, "this project crosses both air transport and business aviation because they face a lot of the same challenges." He noted that business aviation faces unique challenges because most of the operators are much smaller than the airlines. "Statistically, when you take airlines, you have enough flights...and have enough locations that you can start to put together a package of data where you can see what has transpired and identify areas of risk." Business aviation has smaller fleets and more diverse operations. "Unless you are willing to partner and share with other people, you don't have the statistical population of data that you can learn from." By participating in larger programs, the population of data becomes more usable, he said. Business aviation also can learn from the air transport programs, Beatty added, noting that over 80 percent of what is found on the air transport side is "very consistent and relevant to the business aviation community." The recent NBAA report on non-compliance with pre-takeoff flight checks underscores how participation in programs such as Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) or voluntary safety reporting can unearth potential problems, added Frank Jackman, v-p of communications for FSF. "You would not be able to pick that out of any single operation. That's the value of compiling and analyzing data and sharing." "The value of data is well known," added Greg Marshall, v-p of global programs for the FSF. "With every tragedy, there is fundamentally underlying data that could have pointed to the facts that relate to that accident. The more we can draw that out and share it, we can improve safety." Many business aviation operators must be educated that the technology exists and programs exist for all sizes of operations, whether through FOQA or voluntary reporting, Marshall said. Non-compliance is on the forefront of issues confronting FSF's Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which is focused on issues specifically related to the business aviation community. The BAC, which has been outlining key topics for its next Business Aviation Safety Summit that will be held May 4-5 in Phoenix, Ariz., is focusing on the need for strong safety systems and leadership to ward off intentional noncompliance, Marshall said. "Some of the large and more mature organizations have not only very good safety systems in place, but we see the safety culture fairly well embedded...at all levels of the organizations. In a number of other organizations safety leadership is lacking either at the top or throughout the organization." The BAC further is focused on leadership to ensure that commercial imperatives do not take over safety imperatives. "In order to do the right things by the clients, you find business aviation activities occur [without] due regard to the threats that exist in the operating environment," Marshall said. "One of the big challenges to industry is to support and enhance safety leaderships with those organizations." Another area of focus of the BAC is the increased pressure on corporate flight department management to balance rosters as aircraft become longer-range and more sophisticated, he said. Crews are flying longer, and the larger aircraft typically take extra pilots. This places more pressure to ensure adequate rest periods, Marshall said. "There is a wealth of guidance...in relation to fatigue management, duty periods and rest periods," he said. "[But] it is still a challenge within the industry. I think there's more work that can be done." Some of the foundation's members have been facing recruitment challenges as they try to manage the roster issues, and they have had to make difficult decisions on whether they can make a trip or send their executives on commercial flights. Marshall noted this balance of rosters and recruitment is common throughout aviation. "No sector of the industry comes away completely unscathed, and business aviation is certainly one of those areas affected." In addition to its activities with BAC, FSF will be active at NBAA 2016, participating on panels and meeting with the community at its booth (3365). Beatty, emphasizing the importance of the business aviation community to the foundation, said, "We're looking forward to heading to [the show]." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-10-30/fsf-highlights- need-safety-data-sharing-bizav Back to Top Cargo plane with four crew members reported missing over Indonesia's Papua region The Caribou aircraft had sent out an emergency signal at a region between two mountain passes, close to where it was supposed to land. A cargo plane with four crew members on board has been reported missing in Indonesia. Officials said the aircraft went off the radar in the mountainous region of its easternmost province of Papua, AFP reported. According to the Transport Ministry, the Caribou plane lost contact with air traffic control during what was supposed to be a 30-minute flight. It was operated by logistics and transport company Alfa Trans but owned by local authorities. A search has been launched to locate the flight, the ministry said. The aircraft had taken off from Timika city at 7.57 am (local time) and was heading to Ilaga, a farming valley in Papua. The flight had contacted air traffic control in Ilaga at 8.23 am to say that it was due to land soon, but it never arrived. It had sent out an emergency signal from a region between two mountain passes, according to officials. Indonesia has a poor record in aviation safety. Bad weather and the mountainous terrain of Papua also makes the region difficult to fly in. http://scroll.in/latest/820373/cargo-plane-with-four-crew-members-reported-missing- over-indonesias-papua-region ****************** Status: Preliminary Date: Monday 31 October 2016 Type: de Havilland Canada DHC-4T Caribou Operator: Alfa Indonesia Registration: PK-SWW C/n / msn: 303 First flight: 1972 Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67T Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: 4 Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: / Occupants: 4 Airplane damage: Missing Airplane fate: Presumed damaged beyond repair Location: between Ilaga and Timika ( Indonesia) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Ilaga Airport (ILA/WABL), Indonesia Destination airport: Timika-Moses Kilangin (Tembagapura) Airport (TIM/WABP), Indonesia Narrative: A de Havilland Canada DHC-4T Caribou cargo plane is reported missing on a flight from Ilaga to Timika, Papua, Indonesia with four crew members on board. The aircraft took off from Ilaga at 07:57. Last radio contact was at 08:23 when the flight reported at the Ilaga Pass, expecting arrival at Timika at 09:23. The aircraft failed to arrive and an ELT signal was detected at S 04 07 46 E 137 38 11, which is 40-45 NM from the 060 radial of the TMK VOR. The Tubro Caribou had been delivered to Indonesia in May 2016. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20161031-0 Back to Top American Airlines flight headed for Toronto diverted to DIA because of mechanical problem An American Airlines flight headed from Los Angeles to Toronto landed safely at Denver International Airport on Sunday after the flight was diverted because an odor was noticed, according to the airline company.airport spokeswoman Daria Serna said. American Airlines flight 569 arrived in Denver at about 11:48 a.m. One hundred passengers, and five crew members were aboard. "American Airlines flight 569 from Los Angeles to Toronto, an Airbus 319 aircraft, diverted to Denver due to reports of an odor onboard," the company said in a release. The aircraft landed safely at 11:48 a.m.and taxied to the gate without further incident. "Our maintenance personnel are investigating the cause of the odor at this time," the release said. We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers and are working to get our customers to their destination as safely and quickly as possible." http://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/30/american-airlines-flight-diverted-dia/ Back to Top Swearingen Metro 23 Runway Excursion (Colombia) Status: Preliminary Date: Friday 28 October 2016 Time: 20:07 Type: Swearingen SA227-DC Metro 23 (C-26B) Operator: Servicio Aéreo de Policia Registration: PNC-0226 C/n / msn: DC-811M First flight: 1995 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 11 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Bogotá-Eldorado Airport (BOG) ( Colombia) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Military Departure airport: Pereira Airport (PEI/SKPE), Colombia Destination airport: Bogotá-Eldorado Airport (BOG/SKBO), Colombia Narrative: A Swearingen Metro 23, operated by Colombia's National Police, suffered a runway excursion accident upon landing on runway 13L at Bogotá-Eldorado Airport, Colombia. Initial reports say the aircraft bounced three times on landing after which it went off the runway. The nose landing gear collapsed in the accident sequence and the aircraft sustained damage to the nose land propeller blades as a result. Colombia's Minister of Internal Affairs, Juan Fernando Cristo, was on board. Runway 13L is asphalt runway with a Landing Distance Available (LDA) of 3800 m (12467 ft). https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20161028-0 Back to Top Hong Kong A333 at Hong Kong on Oct 30th 2016, rejected takeoff due to engine failure A Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration B-LNP performing flight HX-707 from Hong Kong (China) to Denpasar (Indonesia), was accelerating for takeoff from Hong Kong when the left hand engine (Trent 772) emitted a loud bang prompting the crew to reject takeoff at low speed. The aircraft returned to the apron. A replacement Airbus A330-200 registration B-LNC reached Denpasar with a delay of 3 hours. A passenger reported there was a loud noise (bang) from the left hand side a few seconds after the engines spooled up and reached full thrust. The crew immediately applied brakes and returned the aircraft to the apron. http://avherald.com/h?article=4a01213c&opt=0 Back to Top ATR unveils cadet pilot programme with France's ENAC ATR is commencing a new cadet pilot-training programme which will be conducted under a partnership with French national civil aviation school ENAC. The turboprop manufacturer says the tie-up follows a tentative pact signed in June last year. It states that the two sides have been developing a cadet scheme featuring modular training courses aimed at preparing crews for type rating on ATRs. The training programme stretches to 24 months and will be compliant with European Aviation Safety Agency regulations. "With the worldwide growth in air traffic expected over the next 20 years, there is a need to recruit a large number of qualified and competent personnel to ensure the effective and safe development of air transport," says the airframer. It says its programme will take advantage of "new synergies" between initial and advanced training to "effectively" meet market requirements, especially those from rapidly-growing areas. ENAC trains around 900 pilots annually and has programmes in China, India and Indonesia as well as France. Its deputy director, Philippe Crebassa, says the two partners will "deploy together new tools" to provide better training. ATR adds: "This new offer is intended for long-standing ATR operators looking for a comprehensive solution and new emerging operators in search of qualified pilots." www.fliightglobaal.com Back to Top Private-Jet Forecast Cut by 600 Planes as Slow Growth Zaps Sales About 8,600 planes are expected to be delivered through 2026 Sales of new aircraft to total $255 billion, Honeywell says Business-jet deliveries are dropping and won't rebound before 2018, according to a benchmark forecast of corporate aircraft demand over the next decade. Honeywell International Inc. lowered its annual long-term forecast for private jets by 7 percent, or 600 aircraft, as emerging markets suffer from low commodity prices and the U.S. economy limps along at a slow pace. As many as 8,600 new planes are expected to be delivered from 2016 through 2026, down from 9,200 in last year's outlook, according to a survey of more than 1,500 business-jet operators worldwide. Sales of those aircraft are estimated at $255 billion, down from $270 billion in the previous study. "We have a fair amount of uncertainty and instability in the economy and political environment around the world right now," said Charles Park, director of market analysis at Honeywell's aerospace unit. The number of used jets for sale that are less than five years old has increased and prices continue to drop, which drags on demand for new aircraft, Park said. The introduction of new models from manufacturers such as Gulfstream and Bombardier Inc. in 2018 should stimulate sales, he said. Cutting Back Those planemakers have announced production cuts for some models that eventually will help stem supply in the market and reduce the drop in used-jet prices, said Shawn Vick, chairman of Global Jet Capital, which finances aircraft purchases and is backed by Blackstone Group, Franklin Square Capital Partners and the Carlyle Group. Although it will take time for the lower output to affect the market, Vick said he's starting to see some pockets of "value stabilization." "We're clearly in an environment where there has been oversupply," said Vick, whose company agreed last year to buy General Electric Co.'s corporate-jet-financing business and expects to underwrite $500 million of aircraft purchases this year. "It's the right course of action." Over the next five years, North America is expected to garner 65 percent of jet purchases, up from 61 percent in last year's survey, while Europe's share is set to remain unchanged at 14 percent, Honeywell said. Asia's share will increase to as much as 6 percent from 4 percent and the Middle East will be less than 4 percent, falling short of its historical range of 4 percent to 7 percent. Latin America's estimated share over the next five years will fall to 12 percent from 18 percent last year as sales cool in Mexico and Venezuela, Park said. Pent-up demand in Brazil will boost purchases in that country over the period, Park said. 2018 Rebound Worldwide business-jet deliveries will decline to 645 this year and to 625 next year before rebounding back to 645 in 2018, according to a report by Seth Seifman, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Deliveries had increased in 2014 to 689 and remained the same last year. They hit an all-time high of 1,136 in 2008. Not everyone sees gloom in the private-jet market. Business for Directional Aviation, which owns the fractional operator Flexjet, is up about 15 percent from last year and profit will increase more than that. "People are flying," said Kenn Ricci, principal of Directional. "Excuse me for not commiserating with my manufacturer friends, but that helps us because we get better deals on airplanes." Flexjet increased its order for Bombardier Challenger 350s to 40 last year. A year earlier, the company agreed to purchase 50 Gulfstream jets manufactured by General Dynamics Corp., including a G650 that will be delivered this year. It also is taking deliveries of Legacy 450s made by Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA. In the end, it will take faster economic growth to rev up sales of new business jets. The need for flying privately increases when companies are growing quickly and executives must travel to multiple cities in a hurry, Vick said. "People are going to be very, very certain that marketplaces are there before they double- down and expand rapidly," Vick said. "That's the mode that everybody is in and I think it's appropriate." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-30/private-jet-forecast-cut-by-600- planes-as-slow-growth-zaps-sales Back to Top NASA's New 'Intruder Alert' System Spots An Incoming Asteroid Asteroids regularly pass by Earth, as depicted here. A new NASA system called Scout aims to identify the ones that will come closest to the planet. A large space rock is going to come fairly close to Earth later tonight. Fortunately, it's not going to hit Earth, something astronomers are sure of thanks in part to a new tool NASA is developing for detecting potentially dangerous asteroids. The tool is a computer program called Scout, and it's being tested at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Think of Scout as a celestial intruder alert system. It's constantly scanning data from telescopes to see if there are any reports of so-called Near Earth Objects. If it finds one, it makes a quick calculation of whether Earth is at risk, and instructs other telescopes to make follow-up observations to see if any risk is real. NASA pays for several telescopes around the planet to scan the skies on a nightly basis, looking for these objects. "The NASA surveys are finding something like at least five asteroids every night," says astronomer Paul Chodas of JPL. But then the trick is to figure out which new objects might hit Earth. "When a telescope first finds a moving object, all you know is it's just a dot, moving on the sky," says Chodas. "You have no information about how far away it is. "The more telescopes you get pointed at an object, the more data you get, and the more you're sure you are how big it is and which way it's headed. But sometimes you don't have a lot of time to make those observations. "Objects can come close to the Earth shortly after discovery, sometimes one day, two days, even hours in some cases," says JPL's Davide Farnocchia. "The main goal of Scout is to speed up the confirmation process." The rock whizzing past Earth tonight was discovered on the night of Oct. 25-26 by the NASA-funded Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on Maui, Hawaii. Within a few hours, preliminary details about the object appeared on a web page maintained by the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Scout did a quick analysis of the preliminary details and determined that the object was headed for Earth, but would miss us by about 310,000 miles. A telescope in Hawaii first spotted an errant rock headed toward Earth. The Scout program quickly flagged it for follow-up observations. Additional observations by three telescopes, one operated by the Steward Observatory, another called Spacewatch, and a third at the Tenagra Observatories, confirmed the object would miss Earth by a comfortable margin. Astronomers were also able to estimate the size of the object: somewhere between 5 meters and 25 meters across. In case you're interested, full details about the object's trajectory can be found here. Scout is still in the testing phase. It should become fully operational later this year. Now Scout is mainly dealing with smallish, very nearby objects. Complementing Scout is another system which is already operational called Sentry. Sentry's job is to identify objects large enough to wipe out a major city that might hit Earth in the next hundred years. "Our goal right now is to find 90 percent of the 140 meter asteroids and larger," says Chodas, but right now he estimates they're only able to find 25-30 percent of the estimated population of objects that size. That number should get better when a new telescope being built in Chile called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope comes on line. NASA is also considering a space telescope devoted to searching for asteroids. OK, so let's say you find one of these monster rocks heading for Earth. What then? Astronomer Ed Lu says there is something you can do. He's CEO of an organization called B612. It's devoted to dealing with asteroid threats. "If you know well in advance, and by well in advance I mean 10 years, 20 years, 30 years in advance which is something we can do, " says Lu, "then you can divert such an asteroid by just giving it a tiny nudge when it's many billions of miles from hitting the Earth." NASA and the European Space Agency are developing a mission to practice doing just that. Lu says in the last decade people who should worry about such things have begun to make concrete plans for dealing with dangerous asteroids. "I believe in the next 10 to 15 years we'll actually be at the point where we as humans can say, 'Hey, we're safe from this danger of large asteroids hitting the Earth,' " he says. In the meantime, we'll just have to hope that luck is on our side. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/30/499751470/nasas-new-intruder- alert-system-spots-an-incoming-asteroid Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY SURVEY FOR UNIVERSITY PROJECT My name is Eleonora Orlandi, I spent the past 12 years in the sky initially as an airline pilot and then as a corporate pilot. At the moment I am working on the final project for completing a Msc in Aviation Safety Management with City University of London. The provisional title for my project is "RISK MITIGATION MANAGEMENT IN THE AVIATION INDUSTRY AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM". As we all know Risk management is a substantial factor in aviation safety and various variants of risk management models exist. The risk model proposed by the university during the course of my study has been developedwithout using observations from animal behavior related torisk and risk mitigation. Can this model be complemented byunderstanding how certain animals manage risk? And if yeshow and to what extend? As part of the research I have developed a very short survey (it takes max 2 minutes). I would love to hear opinions of professional pilots from everywhere in world. If you have been flying as an airline, corporate or cargo pilot for more than one year, can you please spare two minutes of your time and complete the following survey https://it.surveymonkey.com/r/YZY375S Thank you for your help! Curt Lewis