Flight Safety Information November 14, 2016 - No. 226 In This Issue Ethiopian Airlines B787 Inflight Engine Shutdown Thomson reinforces go-around training after 757 incident London-bound plane makes emergency landing after hitting '50 storks' on take- off First woman to fly China's J-10 jet dies in crash Russian military to perform observation flight over US FAA Will Evaluate 'Counter-UAS' Technology at Denver Airport FAA Administrator Focus on the Caribbean (Learn More) Airlines to Trump: Block rivals and privatize air traffic control Trump And Aviation: Wait And See China Eastern Airlines seeks govt approval to become investment firm Nigeria: Arik Air Blames Emergency Landing On 'Noisy Engine' Could Donald Trump presidency change how people travel to Cuba? Etihad Airways on the lookout for new pilots in Europe Pilots prepare for head-on collision with aviation safety regulator (India) Passengers stranded after El Al pilots don't show up Boom's supersonic jets will pick up where the Concorde left off Honda plans to produce 80 business jets annually by March 2019 Boeing's Chinese jet orders are 'vulnerable' under Trump WFW adds to aviation finance offering with new Dubai hire Get ready for the biggest 'supermoon' in almost seven decades Ethiopian Airlines B787 Inflight Engine Shutdown Date: 13-NOV-2016 Time: 03:40 Type: Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Owner/operator: Ethiopian Airlines Registration: ET-ATL C/n / msn: 34505/12 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: over Crete - Greece Phase: En route Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Addis Ababa Airport (ADD) Destination airport: Rome-Fiumicino Airport (FCO) Narrative: Ethiopian Airlines flight ET702 diverted to Athens Interational Airport, Greece after the in flight shut down of an engine (RR Trent 1000) over Crete. The flight crew issued a 'Pan Pan' call and diverted to Athens, were a safe landing was made on runway 21R at Athens at 02:16 UTC (04:16 LT). https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=191327 Back to Top Thomson reinforces go-around training after 757 incident Thomson Airways has modified its Boeing 757 pilot-training programme to include a refresher on all-engine go-around following a missed approach incident at Bristol. The aircraft (G-OOBE) entered an increasingly steep climb - pitching almost 31° nose-up at one point - during a go-around in gusting winds, during which its airspeed bled away from around 160kt to a minimum of 110kt. UK investigators state that the 757's flight directors had commanded a high nose-up attitude as a result of the speed at which the go-around was initiated. The aircraft entered a high rate of climb, says the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, with an "ever increasing" nose-up attitude owing to the combination of wind speeds, turbulence and full go-around thrust. This pitch attitude exceeded that indicated by the flight director. As the 757 closed on the missed approach altitude of 3,000ft its automatic flight-control system reduced thrust as it tried to level the aircraft. Investigators found that, although the captain had noticed the declining airspeed and encouraged the first officer to lower the nose, this was ineffective because the captain was unaware that the first officer had engaged the autopilot. Despite the airspeed bleed and high attitude, the aircraft's stick-shaker did not activate. Investigators determined that the crew had been "startled" and suffered degraded situational awareness during the high workload of the go-around. The probe into the incident, on 1 February 2016, adds that the winds had been "challenging" and that the first officer, at the time, had been undertaking his first line-training flight after a near half-year absence on medical grounds. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top London-bound plane makes emergency landing after hitting '50 storks' on take- off The aircraft was splattered in blood when it turned back to Banjul (Picture: Kayleigh Loveridge) A passenger plane on its way to London was forced to make an emergency landing after colliding with '50 storks'. The Thomas Cook Airbus A321 had just taken off from Banjul airport in Gambia when it flew into the path of the flock of birds. At least 13 of the birds were sucked into the engines. The blades were bent and the aircraft was splattered in blood when it turned back to Banjul following the collision. Berkshire-based flight attendant Kayleigh Loveridge wrote about the incident on Facebook, and said that the pilot had to shut down one of the engines in order to make the safe landing. A bird was pictured in the wheel following the collision (Picture: Kayleigh Loveridge) She said: 'Tuesday 8th November was not "a typical day in the office", we took off, and on our climb we went through a flock of approximately 50 storks, causing a bird strike to both engines. 'Meaning that both engines were damaged and not functioning the way they should have. 'We heard big bangs, felt the entire aircraft shake, shortly followed by one of our emergency commands from the flight deck.' A Thomas Cook spokesperson said: 'The pilots and cabin crew responded extremely professionally according to their training and the aircraft returned safely to Banjul. 'The customers were accommodated overnight and flown home on a different plane the following morning, while the damaged aircraft was repaired and arrived back in the UK last night.' http://metro.co.uk/2016/11/13/london-bound-plane-makes-emergency-landing-after- hitting-50-storks-on-take-off-6255744/#ixzz4Pz6rDgrS Back to Top First woman to fly China's J-10 jet dies in crash She was one of only four women who could fly the domestically-made fighter jet According to China Daily, Xu was killed when she hit the wing of another jet while ejecting from her own during a training exercise in the northern province of Hebei. Her male co- pilot was able to eject safely. (Facebook) The first woman to fly China's the J-10 fighter jet died in a crash Saturday, the South China Morning Post reported. Yu Xu was one of 4 female pilots who could fly the domestically-made fighter jet. According to China Daily, she was killed when she hit the wing of another jet while ejecting from her own during a training exercise in the northern province of Hebei. Media reports said Xu was flying with a male co-pilot, who managed to eject safely. Yu Xu, 30, was a member of the Chinese air force's "August 1st" aerobatic display team. "As one of only four female pilots in the country capable of flying domestically made fighter jets, her death comes as a tremendous loss to the Chinese air force," the Global Times newspaper said. Yu applied to become a pilot in the air force in 2005 and, four years later, became one of China's first 16 female pilots of fighter jets, according to Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua quoted Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke as saying all its personnel were "deeply regretful and mournful" at her "unfortunate death". http://www.wionews.com/world/first-woman-to-fly-chinas-j-10-jet-dies-in-crash-8763 Back to Top Russian military to perform observation flight over US At the same time US experts will make a flight over Russia MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. A group of Russian military experts will perform an observation flight over the United States while U.S. military experts will perform an observation flight over Russia, Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of Russia's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, said on Sunday. "Under the international Open Skies Treaty, Russian inspectors plan to make an observation flight onboard a Russian Tu-154MLk-1 plane over the U.S. territory," he said. The flight will be performed in a period from November 14 to November 19 from the Travis Air Force Base in California. The maximum range of the flight will be 4,250 kilometers. The U.S. military will perform an observation flight over Russia in a period from November 14 to 18. The flight will be performed onboard an OC-135b plane from an airfield in Russia's Far Eastern Khabarovsk, he said, adding Russian specialists will be on board the U.S. plane to monitor compliance with the provisions of the treaty. Correspondingly, U.S. specialists will be onboard the Russian plane. The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992 and came into force in 2002. It currently has 34 member states. The treaty establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants. Observation flights are made over the territories of the United States, Canada, European countries, and Russia. The main purposes of the open skies regime are to develop transparency, render assistance in monitoring compliance with the existing or future arms control agreements, broaden possibilities for preventing crises and managing crisis situations within the scope of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and other relevant international organizations. Subsequently, it is contemplated to apply the open skies regime to new fields, such as environmental protection. http://tass.com/defense/912030 Back to Top FAA Will Evaluate 'Counter-UAS' Technology at Denver Airport Components of Gryphon Sensors' Skylight drone detection system stand on display at the UTM conference in Syracuse. (Photo: Bill Carey) The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will test technologies for detecting small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at Denver International Airport on November 15 and 16 as part of its ongoing research into systems that could safeguard airports from rogue drones. It plans another test next spring, likely at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Marke "Hoot" Gibson, FAA senior advisor on UAS integration, announced the Denver test during the recent UTM 2016 convention in Syracuse, N.Y., a gathering focused on the NASA-led effort to develop a low-altitude UAS traffic management, or UTM, system capable of organizing dense drone traffic. The identification and authentication of properly registered aircraft via a UTM system would offer the initial layer of protection around airports; a "counter-UAS" system would provide the next layer of defense against unauthorized drones, Gibson said. "We're looking to several techniques, radar being one of them," to detect and track small drones, Gibson said. These include "bistatic passive" radars that sense radio frequency emissions and acoustic and optical systems. "Geofencing" software that manufacturers install in their drones provides still another means of protection by containing where the aircraft can fly in the airspace. In October 2015, the FAA entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRDA) with defense contractor CACI International to test the latter's "SkyTracker" system, which it evaluated over five days in January and February at Atlantic City International Airport-the first drone detection research at a U.S. commercial airport. In May, the agency signed CRDAs with Gryphon Sensors, Liteye Systems and Sensofusion to evaluate their respective prototype systems. Also that month, the FAA said it tested an unspecified system with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other government, industry and university partners at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations legislation that Congress approved in December requires the FAA to continue research into counter UAS systems, the agency says. And the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act that became law in July authorized spending $6 million to conduct a pilot program over 18 months for "airspace hazard mitigation at airports and other critical infrastructure using unmanned aircraft detection systems." The authorization bill directed the FAA to consult on technologies with the departments of defense and homeland security and other federal agencies. Two FAA-designated UAS test sites-the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems based in Las Vegas and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site in North Dakota-will operate about a dozen small fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones during the ground detection system testing in Denver, said Chris Walach, director of operations with the Nevada organization. "Our mission is to fly the scenarios per the test cards, as an airport would see [drones] intruding in the airspace," said Walach, who spoke separately at the UTM conference. Operators have prepared by flying profiles for night and day operations, he added. The FAA aims to produce a concept of operations [conops] for airport use of counter-UAS systems by next year, said Gibson. "The thought is by this time next fall that we will have learned some minimum performance standards [and] we will have a useful conops on how to deploy these systems," he said. "Then we'll begin the long debate [over] cost and how we might go about providing some level of protection in and around manned aviation." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2016-11-09/faa-will-evaluate- counter-uas-technology-denver-airport Back to Top FAA Administrator Focus on the Caribbean (Learn More) Michael Huerta, FAA Administrator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta has outlined the agency's Caribbean Initiative with media and international stakeholders. "The Caribbean region is of critical importance to the United States," Administrator Huerta said. "By working together, we are building a foundation of increased cooperation that will allow us to enhance safety and efficiency throughout a region that serves as a destination for so many travelers." Air traffic in the Caribbean is expected to grow rapidly - as much as five to six percent over the next two decades. The region is second only to the Middle East in terms of aviation growth. More than 17 percent of international flights departing from the United States are headed for destinations in the Caribbean. Many more flights transit Caribbean airspace between North and South America. This represents millions of passengers from all over the region and the world. ICAO Through its Caribbean Initiative, the FAA's technical experts work with their Caribbean partners and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to increase airport safety and certification in the region and to improve air traffic flow management through collaborative decision-making. The initiative also supports the region's implementation of ICAO. The FAA is working with its Caribbean partners to share best practices for air traffic flow management and collaborative decision making. These efforts should improve air traffic performance and efficiency in the region. This year, the FAA has worked with ICAO, industry, and civil aviation authorities in the region to host aerodrome certification workshops in Kingston, Jamaica and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The workshop in Jamaica was held in English and involved 44 participants from eight countries. The workshop in the Dominican Republic was held in Spanish and involved 53 participants from six countries. (Experience a flight across the country that explains the benefits of the next generation of air travel. Courtesy of Federal Aviation Administration and YouTube) This week, FAA representatives will participate in the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) Airline Leaders Forum in Mexico City. They will emphasize the importance of international cooperation to keep pace with aviation innovation and growth in the Latin American and Caribbean regions. For example, NextGen technologies are improving safety and efficiency and are reducing aviation's impact on the environment. Controllers have been using a foundational NextGen technology known as ADS-B since 2010 to safely separate and manage aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico. Air traffic controllers can now handle ten times the amount of air traffic over the Gulf as they could previously. FAA The FAA is transforming how it prioritizes and targets resources to engage with the international aviation community to improve safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability through regulatory harmonization and partnerships. The FAA works through the world's international safety organization, ICAO, to make flying safer. https://americansecuritytoday.com/faa-administrator-focus-caribbean-learn/ Back to Top Airlines to Trump: Block rivals and privatize air traffic control (Bloomberg)-Donald Trump, a hotelier and former airline executive, has said plenty about immigrants, borders, and free trade. But he hasn't said much about the multibillion-dollar aviation industry. This huge segment of the American economy has some priorities and complaints that have gone essentially nowhere during the Obama administration, due in part to political gridlock. With Republicans running both houses of Congress and the White House next year, airlines are now ready to push their case on several issues they hold dear. Most aviation experts say it's hard to gauge how Trump's administration might respond, given that it doesn't owe the industry any favors. "This is probably not the kind of pro-business Republican administration you might expect," said Seth Kaplan, managing partner at Airline Weekly, an industry journal, as Trump isn't tied firmly to a particular ideology and "doesn't really have any core beliefs. He's said certain things in the campaign that he had to, to bring himself in line with the Republican Party a little bit, but it's not like there's a history with anything." It's also not clear that the Trump administration would see regulating aviation as a priority, said Bob Rivkin, a Chicago attorney who formerly worked for Delta Air Lines Inc. and at the U.S. Department of Transportation. "It becomes a question of priorities and capacity to push through Congress laws invalidating regulations when you've got a whole lot of other things going on," Rivkin said. "In transportation, there are number of things that could be affected, but I think they're going to be down the list of priorities." Also, there's the populist sentiment that may not mix well with favors to industry. "The people who voted for him seem to feel that they've gotten the raw end of the deal with big business," Kaplan said. Nevertheless, here are some of the legislative issues facing airlines: AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL U.S. carriers, with the notable exception of Delta, are pressing for Congress to transfer air traffic control from the Federal Aviation Administration to a new not-for-profit entity similar to the model used in Canada to control airspace. Large carriers such as American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. argue that the FAA's structure and funding are unable to complete a long-delayed airspace modernization program and that the new organization would be more efficient and financially stable. Congress has declined to pursue the issue. But there could be a new movement from the House, especially since the airlines' leading champion in Congress, Representative Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), won reelection. Shuster is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and has close personal ties to Airlines for America, the industry's trade group. INTERNATIONAL RIVALS The industry-including its labor unions-is seeking to curb further expansion in North America by a trio of Middle Eastern carriers, Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways Ltd. The U.S. industry has been pressing the current administration for two years to open talks with those airlines' governments over what they allege are tens of billions of dollars in unfair subsidies to the three airlines. Trump, 70, has vehemently attacked U.S. trade deals he says disadvantage Americans, and airlines are saying the same regarding these competitors. "We look forward to briefing President-elect Donald Trump and his new administration on the massive, unfair subsidies that the UAE and Qatar give to their state-owned Gulf carriers," said Jill Zuckman, chief spokesperson for the airline lobby group, Partnership for Open & Fair Skies, in a statement Wednesday. "Trump would be inclined to not allow subsidized state-owned foreign airlines to compete unfairly against market-driven public companies from the U.S.," Rivkin said. For now, the Obama administration has been at a "sort of impasse" over the Middle East controversy, said Brian Havel, director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University in Chicago. The same coalition of airlines and unions is also battling efforts by Norwegian Air Shuttle AS to expand internationally with more U.S. service. The airline has been seeking a permit for its Irish subsidiary to serve U.S. destinations. Norwegian's request to the Department of Transportation has been pending for almost three years. CUBA Airlines have begun flying there, but it's a tiny business and not one likely to be profitable in the near future. And while Trump may not reverse the Obama policy on more open relations with the Castro government, he could slow any further diplomatic relations, said Charlie Leocha, president of Travelers United, which lobbies on consumer travel issues. Efforts in Congress to quash the 54-year-old U.S. embargo of the island-and tourism ban- may falter. "We remain hopeful that Mr. Trump, who has previously supported engagement with Cuba as a businessman and a politician, will continue to normalize relations that will benefit both the American and Cuban people," Engage Cuba, a group of U.S. companies working to end the embargo, said in a statement. But the issue is also complicated because Trump has potential business interests in the island nation, with executives from his company traveling there in 2012 or 2013 to scout golf opportunities, Bloomberg Businessweek reported in July. PASSENGER RULES Lighter regulation from a billionaire businessman in the White House could mean a Transportation Department that is friendlier to airlines, with fewer rules and fees the carriers had criticized under Obama. Trump is also a former airline executive, having operated the Trump Shuttle (Eastern's former shuttle service) with flights from New York to Boston and Washington, D.C., for about two years before it shut down in 1992. One reason: Trump opted for a relatively lavish service on short flights, at a time of high fuel prices, and couldn't recover his costs. Whether his experience then will affect how carriers do business in the next four years is unclear. "I don't think aviation policy is going to soar to the top of his inbox," Havel said. "I think we'll see a sort of default continuity into what we've had with the Obama administration." http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20161110/NEWS10/161119995/airlines-to- trump-block-rivals-and-privatize-air-traffic-control Back to Top Trump And Aviation: Wait And See Like everything else surrounding the future Donald Trump presidency, the predicted impact on aviation is as varied and as, well, unpredictable as the campaign that led the country to this point. Depending on who is being asked, the predictions range from doom and gloom, through cautious optimism to somewhat less cautious optimism. We didn't find any jubilation among the dozens of aviation reaction stories but the overall theme seemed to reflect a generally positive response with a healthy dose of wait-and-see. Perhaps the most curious, and quickest, reaction came from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). NATCA had a fractious relationship with the Republican administration of George W. Bush but wasted no time welcoming Trump and that could be a reflection of the general belief that Trump will back privatization of the air traffic organization. "We look forward to working with the new Administration to secure a stable, predictable funding stream for the NAS," NATCA President Paul Rinaldi and VP Trish Gilbert said in a joint statement. "This will be essential to protecting the system and the workforce that safeguards it, while also implementing modernization efforts and providing air travelers the safety and professionalism they deserve." That mirrors NATCA's sentiment when it supported a privatization bid contained in an early version of the current FAA reauthorization but with the House and Senate now both controlled by the Republicans, the kind of legislative gridlock that hampered FAA operations at times in the previous eight years shouldn't be as much of an issue. But the pro-privatization lobby that surfaced earlier this year seems to have been re-energized by the Trump victory. Rep. Bill Shuster, who championed privatization, won reelection last week and is still the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He seemed to be saying there will be another kick at that can with the Trump administration in that the FAA reauthorization expires next September. "Congress must pass an FAA reauthorization bill that modernizes our aging air traffic control system and significantly improves the efficiency of our aviation system," Shuster said last week. The well-organized airline lobby is ready to advance the idea again. "We want to see a reliable ATC funding model - funded by the system users, not political gamesmanship - so that we can plan for the long-term capital improvements the system needs to grow," Airlines For America (A4A) said in a news release last week. There seems to be widespread hope that airports and other aviation services will get a slice of the trillion dollars Trump has said will be spent on infrastructure improvements. There never seems to be enough money for all the safety and service improvements that airports and associated organizations want to make, but Trump's pledge was to fund projects to "rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals" in his first 100 days in office. What the priorities will be for that funding is anyone's guess. On the manufacturing side, Trump's often-stated protectionist bent is a concern but his desire to increase military spending is a plus. China was often a target for Trump's protectionist speeches during the campaign and it's also Boeing's biggest offshore market. It's been less attractive for general aviation manufacturers but there remains hope that a huge market could emerge if and when China embraces Western-style aviation. Trump's protectionism could also manifest in support for U.S. airlines' opposition to the rapid expansion of state-sponsored airlines from the Middle East. International carriers like American, United and Delta have long argued against increased access to American airports by Qatar and Emirates Airlines in particular, saying the carriers are syphoning off customers on lucrative long-haul routes in violation of international standards. Trump's call for a larger military will likely mean more security for big programs like the new B-21 stealth bomber, the P-8 Poseidon program and new tanker contracts but it could also reach down to innovative initiatives like the Textron Airland light attack Scorpion and armed versions of the T-6 Texan II. Much has been made of Trump's existing ownership of four private aircraft, the Boeing 757 that crisscrossed the U.S. during the campaign, a Cessna Citation X and two Sikorsky S-76B helicopters. But there's no evidence that the ownership has inspired any particular fondness for private aviation. The 757 is lavishly laid out as an executive aircraft but Trump rarely acknowledges its value as a campaign or business tool. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Trump-And-Aviation-Wait-And-See-228027- 1.html Back to Top China Eastern Airlines seeks govt approval to become investment firm Nov 14 China Eastern Airlines said it has applied for government permission to operate as an investment firm - a move that would allow it to reduce its reliance on ticket sales and diversify into other businesses. Wang Haitao, vice-president of China Eastern's strategic development unit, told financial magazine Yicai its airline business would remain its core business but the change would allow it to explore investment opportunities across the aviation sector. A spokesman for the airline confirmed the remarks as reported by Yicai. China's travel boom has brought in large profits for its state-owned airlines but revenue per passenger has begun to fall due to fierce competition and slowing growth in traveller numbers. China Eastern and rivals, Air China Ltd and China Southern Airlines , also face competition at home from a fast-growing high-speed rail network. State-owned China Eastern last year sold a 3.55 percent stake to Delta Air Lines Inc, which became the first U.S. carrier to own part of a Chinese airline. http://www.reuters.com/article/china-eastern-strategy-idUSL8N1DF07N Back to Top Nigeria: Arik Air Blames Emergency Landing On 'Noisy Engine' The management of Arik Air has said the emergency landing on Friday of its Boeing 737 aircraft flying from Lagos to Jos was due to a noise in one of the engines. The aircraft, with registration number 5N-MJD, reportedly lost one of its two engines mid- air with over 100 passengers on board. SaharaReporters, quoting an unnamed source, said the aircraft was already 60 miles away from Lagos when the incident occurred. Immediately after the pilot discovered the problem, he contacted the Lagos control tower, which granted him emergency landing status, the online news site added. But Adebanji Ola, the Arik Air Spokesperson, said the aircraft did not lose an engine. "It was not an engine loss," he said in a text message response to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday. "The captain heard a noise and as a safety precaution, he made an air return. This is a standard operating procedure." http://allafrica.com/stories/201611130176.html Back to Top Could Donald Trump presidency change how people travel to Cuba? Does Donald Trump's election mean you should put your 2017 plans to visit Cuba back on ice? It's too soon to tell what effect a Trump presidency could have on how U.S. airlines operate to and from Cuba, a federal official cautioned Thursday. Jenny Rosenberg, acting assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, said in a conference call with reporters that it's too soon to "speculate on the current agreement that we have." Both Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, have emphasized that they would work to undo President Barack Obama's efforts to normalize relations between the two countries, a process started in 2014. "We will cancel Obama's one-sided Cuban deal, made by executive order, if we do not get the deal that we want, and the deal that people living in Cuba and here deserve, including protecting religious and political freedom," Trump said at a campaign rally in Miami just days before the election. Air travel between the U.S. and Cuba had been limited to charter flights until earlier this year when, as part of Obama's plan, the DOT approved several airlines to provide regular commercial air service. The first scheduled flight to Cuba in more than 50 years, a JetBlue plane packed with officials and tourists, departed Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for Santa Clara on Aug. 31 - a moment touted by the federal government as a landmark. It also came just months after DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx and Department of State Assistant Secretary Charles Rivkin signed an arrangement to revive regular flights. Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta said in the conference call - which was scheduled to discuss recent steps taken by the FAA to launch partnerships in the Caribbean to boost air safety there - that the U.S. and Cuba have a "technical and safety relationship" that predates the most recent agreement. "Cuba's airspace is directly adjacent to ours," he said. "We have to have a technical relationship, a relationship that works efficiently." Scheduled air service to Cuba "has been called for for a long time by the aviation industry and the business community in general," he added, noting that "there's tremendous opportunity to expand" existing operations. Rosenberg said that charter flights between the U.S. and Cuba have been ongoing, even when regular air service was not. "I don't expect that would change under a new administration," she said. Cuba's airspace is the third-largest for air traffic handoffs, underscoring the importance of the FAA's new Caribbean Initiative to improve air safety, Huerta said. The FAA projects air traffic in the Caribbean could grow by 5 percent or 6 percent over the next 20 years, with more than 17 percent of international flights that leave the U.S. heading to the region. Adolfo Garcia, a corporate attorney and part-time Palm Beach resident who advises and represents companies hoping to do business in Cuba, has a personal connection to the issue: He's a Cuban exile, who came to the U.S. at age 12 in February 1961. He voted for Trump, and said that although the president-elect moved further right in his position on Cuba from the beginning of the campaign to the end, Garcia sees hope that the businessman-turned-politician will continue working with Cuba. "I would like to think that he will, in effect, be very pragmatic," Garcia said. In a letter sent to Trump on Thursday, Garcia called for him to "accept the fact that one of President Obama's best decisions" was to begin changing U.S. policy to allow more business to be done with Cuba. "No matter how horrible the Castro Regime was to my parents and many others, including me, this is late 2016 and life must go on," Garcia wrote. "It is time from the US side to open fully with Cuba and change US law and end the Embargo." Garcia hopes that Trump will buck the "traditional, Republican, red, very-conservative" view that the U.S. needs to hold onto the embargo. To look at the election strictly from the perspective of someone who wants to do business in Cuba, Hillary Clinton would have been preferred, Garcia said. But as a small- government Republican, Garcia said he had to look at the bigger picture first. "The world today is very different, and when you look at our international agreements and trade agreements ... I think we need a fresh approach," Garcia said. The next step in the process is for Trump to work with Congress to end the embargo - "life all restrictions on regarding doing business with Cuba," Garcia said. http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/transportation/could-donald-trump- presidency-change-how-people-tr/ns6tn/ Back to Top Etihad Airways on the lookout for new pilots in Europe If you know your way around the flight deck of the world's biggest passenger plane, among others, Etihad Airways would probably like to hear from you. The national airline of the UAE has announced it will shortly launch a pilot recruitment drive across Europe. It is the first major push for new flyers in two years with the airline looking for aviators to join both its Airbus and Boeing fleets. The search will be focused on posts for First Officers. The airline operates a range of aircraft including Boeing 777s, B787s, Airbus 330s and the world's largest passenger jet the A380, with further deliveries of the latter two types occurring in 2017. The carrier is looking for more experienced flyers as it eyes the expansion of its stable of aircraft. "2017 will see further additions to our fleet as we continue our growth," said Richard Hill, the chief operations officer for Etihad Airways. "We are seeking to recruit highly motivated, skilled and qualified pilots to come and join our team. "It is exciting to be joining an airline that is growing rapidly and while we will recruit experienced pilots, we also put great focus on continued training and excellence in operational standards. This significant growth also creates opportunities for our existing pilots." The airline has a current fleet of 123 aircraft and, between 2016 and 2025, that is expected to increase to a total of 179 planes, presenting further opportunities for potential new joiners. Ten aircraft have joined the fleet during 2016 and Etihad's fleet remains one of the youngest in the world. The airline's search for new pilots starts at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bucharest, Romania on November 13. A Radisson property is also the venue for the next recruitment day on November 15, in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Boscolo Marriott provides the setting for the third day, on November 17, in Budapest, Hungary, while Radisson steps into the breach again for the November 19 recruitment day in Vilnius, Lithuania. On November 28, potential Ethihad flyers are invited to attend the Hilton in Athens, Greece, while the Marriott, in Warsaw, Poland is the venue of the following recruitment day on November 30. The Brussels Renaissance Hotel hosts a recruitment day for aviators in Beligium on December 2, while the final event of the year will be held on December 4 at the Marriott in Lisbon, Portugal. http://www.thenational.ae/business/aviation/etihad-airways-on-the-lookout-for-new- pilots-in-europe Back to Top Pilots prepare for head-on collision with aviation safety regulator (India) Email exchanges between at least four pilots' groups that HT accessed, indicate an industry-wide protest against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) draft policy issued last week. (HT File Photo) Pilots in India are preparing for a head-on collision with the aviation safety regulator in the wake of an upcoming policy which threatens to ground aviators for feigning illness. Email exchanges between at least four pilots' groups that HT accessed, indicate an industry-wide protest against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) draft policy issued last week. The bodies include pilots' unions from domestic airlines and the Indian chapter of an international pilots' lobby. In addition to reporting the matter to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN-appointed aviation watchdog, pilots are moving court. "This policy alone is enough for a downgrade by the ICAO," said a senior pilot, hinting at the downgrade in India's air safety ratings by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2014. The issue stems from the Diwali weekend, when more than 100 Jet Airway flights were delayed or cancelled allegedly because many pilots called in sick. While the airline accused pilots of reporting sick during festivals and weekends, the pilots said it was a protest against an automated rostering software that failed to measure flight fatigue properly. "When 30 to 35 pilots out of 1,500 call in sick, how is that a mass sick protest?" asked one of the pilots' groups, adding that operations might have been hit owing to poor rostering and scheduling of flights. Flight operations got back to normal after two days, following talks between the airline's pilots' union and management, but less than a week later the DGCA put out its draft policy against 'sick pilots'. It stated that a pilot could be grounded for good if found faking illness. "Airlines could use this clause to target pilots. Even those under the weather could be forced to operate flights," read another observation. http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/pilots-prepare-for-head-on-collision-with- aviation-safety-regulator/story-WQK3CyT8z5GRK6tl1DXxJK.html Back to Top Passengers stranded after El Al pilots don't show up El Al says pilots skipped flight because of sanctions; pilots claim El Al is lying. Hundreds of El Al passengers were stranded Sunday night after their pilots failed to show up and the flight was canceled. The pilots' absence is apparently connected to a disagreement over how much they should be paid on their return flights to Israel, during which they fly as passengers in business class. Monday night's return flight from Newark to Tel Aviv is also canceled. In a post on their Facebook page, El Al wrote, "As a result of the pilots' sanctions and their insistence on flying one way only, tonight's flight 027 to Newark has been canceled, as well as tomorrow's return flight to Tel Aviv. The company will refund all of the passengers' tickets. "The pilots' sanctions have been hurting the company for several months already. The sanctions are expressed in the fact that the pilots refuse to answer to anyone, and in their refusal to fly back and forth as active pilots, instead insisting on flying one way only. "We apologize for the inconvenience to our passengers, but we have no choice but to return order to our company's activities," the post concluded. The pilots' committee insists El Al is not telling the truth. The pilots' sanctions, they claim, are a result of the disagreement between the pilots and El Al's management. According to the pilots, the company must pay them full wages even during their trip back home as passengers. However, El Al claims that since the pilots are sitting in business class and not actually flying the plane, there is no reason to pay them a full salary for those hours. In the coming days, El Al pilots are expected to announce an official 'work dispute' with the company, a move which, according to Israel's labor laws, will allow them to call an organized strike as long as they give 14 days warning. In the meantime, several flights were canceled over the last few months due to the pilots' sanctions, with El Al being forced to hire pilots who get paid by the hour to fly their passengers. El Al claims the pilots' sanctions caused the company to be ranked last in terms of punctuality. In the past several months, the pilots have done sev several things to avoid flying. In some cases, they claimed to be slightly sick, or that they drank alcoholic beverages in the hours prior to the flight. It is absolutely forbidden to fly a plane after drinking alcoholic beverages, so every complaint of this type left the company stranded. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/220245 Back to Top Boom's supersonic jets will pick up where the Concorde left off Soon, you might be able to fly from New York to London in half the time. Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl wants passengers to break the sound barrier. Since the demise of the supersonic Concorde passenger jet, commercial airlines haven't offered a quicker alternative to fly from point A to point B. The Boom team wants to resurrect the speed of the failed Concorde without the issues that eventually doomed the plane. The aircraft used an incredible amount of fuel, was extremely loud even before it hit the speed of sound and it was prohibitively expensive costing $10,400 (£8,292) for a single round-trip ticket between New York and London. We chatted with Scholl about his company, the working prototype it's building and how you'll be able to fly from New York to London and back in the same day. This interview has been edited and condensed. Tell me a little bit about Boom, about your plan for supersonic jets. So the backdrop on this is 60 years after the dawn of the jet age we're still living in the jet age. We haven't improved travel for like half a century. It's kind of embarrassing. Our phones are getting better, computers are getting better, and we're about to get self- driving cars. Sure our airplanes have gotten safer and they've gotten more efficient, but they haven't gotten any better at their basic job of making the world and easier place to access. If you look back in history, we had supersonic travel with Concorde, yet we never took it mainstream. It was too expensive to be affordable to most people. What we're doing, in essence, is taking that last 50 years of fundamental progress with aerodynamics, materials and propulsion and building and aircraft that's more efficient than Concorde so that supersonic travel can become routine for a lot more people. I know one of the issues with Concorde was... It might as well have ran on coal. It was burning through so much fuel because it was supersonic flight. Will Boom use less fuel or use fuel more efficiently. We're using fuel way more efficiently. Concorde was the best technology of the 50's and 60's. The engines had afterburners on them which is literally like dumping raw fuel into jet exhaust to get a bit more thrust. The afterburners look cool, but they're loud and they use 50 percent more fuel for 20 percent more thrust. Today we have a very different jet engine technology called turbofan, it's what's on every major commercial airliner today, it's significantly more fuel efficient and also quieter. It's a similar story with aerodynamics and materials that are of a lighter weight. That all adds up to dramatically more fuel efficiency. On the other hand, once you make enough profit in fuel efficiency you can get the ticket prices down to the point where a lot more people can afford to fly. At Concorde there were only ever a dozen built planes. It was a finished product with no economy to scale. But when you make tickets more affordable then you get economy to scale and it's a virtuous cycle instead of a vicious cycle. You're going to launch something in late 2017. What will that be? They way we're approaching this is that we've done the high level design for the first passenger aircraft. It's a 45 seat airplane, that goes mach 2.2. It's a 2.2 times the speed of sound that's two and a half times faster than anything else out there today. But the first thing we're actually building we call the XP1, the supersonic demonstrator. That's what we're officially unveiling on November 15. It's a 1/3 scale version of the whole airplane that proves out all of the key technology to make this practical. The full scale, taking passengers airplane, is a few more years out. Tell me a bit about Richard Branson's involvement. The back story there is Richard has been passionate about improvements in air travel for decades. He tried to buy Concordes for Virgin I think on two or three separate occasions and couldn't get those. Part of the motivation for Virgin Galactic is he wants to see higher speed point-to-point travel. So we were able to get in touch with him and his team and said, "hey, we have a way to do this. It's not decades off, it's zero breakthroughs away from being practical and it's more efficient and economical than Concorde ever was." Of course he was very excited by that. Where will the November 15 event be held? At our hangar just south of Denver at Centennial Airport. My roots are Silicon Valley. But, Silicon Valley is not specifically the best place to build a new airplane company so we moved to Denver. We got a hangar with a long test runway and direct access to test airspace and that's where we're building and flying the first airplane. In Denver, because of that test airspace, do you have access to the talent that's going to help you bring this together or were you pulling a lot of people from Silicon Valley? People have come from all around the country to be a part of this. That's actually one of the things I'm most proud of. We've put together a really fantastic team that has the chops to go out and build this. Our chief engineer, Joe Wilding is certified for multiple passenger aircraft with the FAA. Our head of propulsion owned the front half of the engine in the joint strike fighter, and that's a supersonic engine design. Our ergonomists came from Gulf Stream where he owned their entire supersonic aero program. We just hired a systems guy from SpaceX who previously owned the entire second phase of the Falcon 9 and contributed to the key technology for making it possible to have the first stage of the rocket. I could keep going like this, it's an all star team. One of the great things about working on an ambitious mission is you can attract the best minds on the planet to come help you make it real. In a way that makes it a harder thing and actually easier. When you first approached these people, did you have to talk them into joining Boom? There was a critical moment early in formation of the company where we had half a dozen candidates for the first couple roles in the company. We flew them all out to Silicon Valley and some VC friends gave us some conference tables and a room for a couple days. We had in the room; the inventor of the first personal jet, the chief engineer from the Virgin Galactic Spaceship 1 and Spaceship 2, the chief engineer for Adam Aircraft, I could keep going. It was a really good room of people and we sat down and said, "let's tear this apart and let's figure out is this really possible." The conclusion that we came to was what we're talking about doing is feasible with technology that's already been proven on other aircraft. There's no, well we have to go get unobtanium or we have to get something out of the lab. What we're basically doing is taking the best technology, the state of the art technology and bringing it to a new design that gives it a really different capability for travel. The comments during the session were things like, "airplane ideas from internet guys usually aren't any good but this one actually makes sense." So you brought the team together and hashed it out, make sure that it was a viable plan? Yeah, we tore it apart. You could tell from sitting in a room with a bunch of really bright accomplished people who really, really knows their stuff who you want to work with. We hired two people out of that room, they became our chief engineer and our CPO. Is there any concern about finding passengers who want this sort of service? I haven't meet a single passenger who wouldn't like to get there in half the time. It's a tremendous amount of passenger excitement for a better travel experience and more being there and less getting there. To give you some concrete examples, this isn't just about, "oh let me save an hour here or an hour there." This is about what you can do in a day. From New York to London is three hours and 15 minutes instead of seven. So if you're on the first flight of the day you get to London in time to make a late afternoon meeting. You can go out to dinner, hit the pub and catch a return flight and be home in time to tuck your kids into bed. So we're saving you at least an entire day. It's saving you a night in a hotel. It's saving you having to sleep on an airplane which sucks https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/11/booms-supersonic-jets-will-pick-up-where-the- concorde-left-off/ Back to Top Honda plans to produce 80 business jets annually by March 2019 Honda Motor Co (7267.T) expects to ramp up production of business jets as part of its plan to expand in the growing industry, the head of the Japanese automaker's aircraft operations said in the United States. The firm hoped to produce 80 business jets annually by March 2019, from up to 36 currently, Honda Aircraft Company CEO Michimasa Fujino told reporters at its plant in Greensboro, North Carolina. "By the end of the 2018 financial year (in March 2019), we'd like to be near full production of around 80 units," he said. The company began deliveries of its $4.5 million jets in December and says it has received around 100 orders so far, mainly from customers in North America and Europe. Honda is Japan's first automaker to develop and market aircraft globally. Its luxury jets seat up to seven people and have engines mounted above the wings, enabling roomier cabins, reduced noise and higher fuel efficiency. The jet competes with similar-sized aircraft produced by Cessna (TXT.N), Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) and Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA). Honda Aero Inc, which jointly developed the jet's HF 120 engine with General Electric Co (GE.N), currently procures all of its parts from outside suppliers, but company President Atsukuni Waragai said it would begin producing a number of parts in-house from next March. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-honda-airplane-idUSKBN13802Y Back to Top Boeing's Chinese jet orders are 'vulnerable' under Trump, Morningstar analysts say Boeing faces turbulent skies under a Donald Trump administration because of his anti- trade rhetoric and criticism of China, according to a new report by investment research firm Morningstar. President-elect Trump's international trade criticism and tough talk on China could "ding" the commercial aerospace sector, Morningstar said in a report published Friday. Especially at risk is the industry's leading player, Boeing (NYSE: BA). "We're concerned about the impact of slowing trade and air travel hitting transports, aerospace manufacturers, and airlines," Morningstar analysts Keith Schoonmaker and Chris Higgins wrote. The pair pointed to critical remarks Trump made during his campaign about Boeing's plans to open a Chinese 737 jet completion center and potentially shift more jobs to China. "We think Boeing's Chinese orders - China accounts for an estimated 20 percent of the company's commercial aircraft backlog in units - may be vulnerable," they wrote. Boeing executives blasted Trump during the campaign, saying the Chicago-based company benefits far more from its dealings in China than do the Chinese. Since Trump's stunning election win, however, Boeing has gone dark, saying little except to congratulate him and his fellow Republicans. Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman Paul Bergman in Seattle declined to comment on the Morningstar report or any of the scenarios it outlines. "We're a bit concerned that Trump's tough trade rhetoric might translate into action and create headwinds for global trade and air travel demand," the analysts said. "This could crimp new aircraft orders and potentially lead to deferrals or cancellations." "Wide-body planes like the B787, B777, and A350, which were already facing a soft market, could suffer disproportionately, in our view," they added. The Morningstar analysts said it would be "nearly impossible" for the Chinese to satisfy its growing demand for jets solely through the government-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), which produces the narrow-body C919 passenger aircraft and proposed making a wide-body with Russia. "Nonetheless we could envision a scenario where the Chinese react to tougher U.S. trade policies by funneling more narrow-body orders to COMAC, China's national champion, and favoring Airbus' aircraft over Boeing's." Plans to sell aircraft to Iran "will surely be subject to increased scrutiny," they added, not just for Boeing but also Airbus, because the European manufacturer uses aircraft parts made in the U.S. that require U.S. approval. Other aerospace suppliers like airplane structures manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR), air systems and engines maker United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), aerospace components maker TransDigm (NYSE: TDG) and avionics and cabin interiors firm Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) could also be buffeted by the same winds as Boeing and Airbus if Trump persists with his anti-trade rhetoric and China criticism. http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/11/11/boeing-chinese-jet-orders-donald- trump-trade.html Back to Top WFW adds to aviation finance offering with new Dubai hire International law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has announced that aviation finance partner Oliver Tebbit has joined the firm's Dubai office. He was previously a Partner at Clyde & Co. Oliver has over 15 years' experience advising on asset finance transactions and is noted for his expertise in the fields of commercial aviation and business jets. He has been actively involved in high profile transactions in Dubai and the wider Middle East region since 2001. Also joining WFW from Clyde & Co's Dubai office to work alongside Oliver is Senior Associate Dhruv Paul. Dhruv, a corporate lawyer with a particular focus on aviation and aviation finance transactions, has extensive experience working on transactions in the Middle East and India. WFW Head of Dubai, Andrew Baird, said, "Oliver is a terrific addition to our Dubai team. His experience and expertise will significantly enhance our regional aviation offering and enable our continued successful growth in the Middle East". Partner Rex Rosales, Global Head of the firm's Transport Sector Group said, "Oliver is a great boost to our worldwide aviation offering and I'm delighted to welcome him to WFW. The addition of Oliver, following closely on that of fellow aviation finance expert Samuel Kolehmainen in Singapore this October, clearly demonstrates WFW's standing as one of the most dynamic and successful international law firms in the aviation sector worldwide." http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/38176/wfw-adds-to-aviation-finance-offering-with- new-dubai-hire Back to Top Get ready for the biggest 'supermoon' in almost seven decades At around 1:30pm (GMT) this afternoon, the Earth, sun and moon will be almost perfectly in a line (an effect known as a 'syzygy'), with the moon directly opposite the sun The ConversationThe biggest "supermoon" since 1948 will grace the sky today (14 November). But what makes it so super? Well, not much more than the fact that it'll be a bit bigger than normal, but that's absolutely no reason not to go outside and look at it anyway. If you miss it, you'll have to wait to around 25 November 2034 for another chance. The occurrence of a supermoon, or to give it its proper name, a "super perigee full moon", is not particularly uncommon. It is the result of two regular astronomical events happening at about the same time. As the moon orbits the Earth it moves around the sky relative to the sun. This means we see different proportions illuminated from one night to the next - an effect known as the phases of the moon. Once per orbit the moon is opposite the sun in the sky, meaning that the side facing the Earth is fully illuminated. This happens about once a month, so hopefully isn't that unfamiliar to most people. The other regular event requires little explaining: it is simply the moon's "perigee", or closest approach to the Earth. Although the moon orbits the Earth once every 27 days or so (actually about 27 days and eight hours), it doesn't go round in a perfect circle. Instead it traces out an ellipse or oval shape, getting slightly closer and further from the Earth over the course of its orbit. At its closest the moon is just under 360,000km away, while at its furthest it is at a distance of around 405,000km. The closer an object like the moon is to Earth the larger it appears in the sky. At around 1:30pm (GMT) this afternoon, the Earth, sun and moon will be almost perfectly in a line (an effect known as a "syzygy"), with the moon directly opposite the sun. A couple of hours earlier, at about 11:30am, it will also have reached its closest point to Earth - perigee - at a distance of 356,500km. It will then begin moving further away very slowly - but by the time the sun sets and the moon rises in the UK, it will only be about 50km further away, which isn't much in the grand scheme of things. Both of these effects happen about once a month, so you might think that there's no reason why every full moon shouldn't be the same. However, there's another effect that means they get out of sync - the fact that the Earth is orbiting the sun. This means that the moon's closest approach can occur at any point in its orbit around the Earth. To see why, fast forward to when the moon will once again be back at the same point in its orbit - in about 27 days. But over those 27 days the Earth has moved round the sun a bit, so the moon has to "catch up" over the course of a couple of days to get back to being opposite the sun, by which point it's not at perigee anymore. This "catching up" is why the moon orbits the Earth in 27.3 days, but there are between 29 and 30 days between full moons. Over time, the perigee and full moon get more and more out of sync, but after a year or two they get more or less back in sync again. The reason this perigee full moon is quite so "super" is because perigee and full moon happen at almost exactly the same time, so the moon is at its closest possible when it's also at its fullest. There are a number of other subtle effects that cause the moon's orbit to vary slightly in size and shape, but this one pips the last few decades' worth of super perigee full moons by a few hundred kilometres. In 2034, when we'll have a similarly big supermoon, it will occur within a few minutes of its closest approach, and even then it will be just 100km closer than this month's full moon. These differences are pretty small, and with the moon rising so high in the sky, as it does in the winter months, it'll be quite hard to notice any difference without comparing photographs. But regardless of how big and bright it looks, the moon really is a beautiful object to look at. Of course, it might be cloudy on Monday night - though it can be rather atmospheric to see the bright, full moon through thin cloud. Even if it's completely overcast, there are plenty of other chances to see the moon as it gradually moves past its full phase over the next few nights so don't be disheartened. It rises at different times of day and night as it orbits the Earth, so isn't always up at the same time, but it's not going anywhere! The lunar phases will continue unabated, and a few weeks after the full moon the crescent moon will be in the evening skies again (and will also be visible in the daytime) so go and have a look again, and see how it compares. When it's not full, the terminator (the line between the light and dark parts of the moon) can look amazing through binoculars, as the angle of the sun's light picks out the shadows of the craters and mountains and gives it a jagged, three-dimensional look. So if you've never really looked at the moon - I mean really looked at it - make this your excuse to go outside and look up. This article originally appeared on The Conversation. Chris North is a lecturer of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/get-ready-for-the-biggest-supermoon-in-almost- seven-decades-a7413461.html Curt Lewis