Flight Safety Information November 22, 2016 - No. 232 In This Issue Facebook's Drone Crash Prompts Safety Investigation FAA Outlines Safety Initiative for Caribbean GAO Reviews FAA's NextGen Modernization Program Pakistan's Serene Air adds maiden aircraft, a B737-800 Japan to train Philippine naval pilots to fly aircraft to be leased Pilots Association Wants SCOTUS Review Of Airplane Product Liability Issue TransAsia Airways Closes Down TransAsia demise leaves one customer for A330-800 Boeing Taps GE Executive to Lead Aircraft Arm Graduate Research Survey Research Survey Facebook's Drone Crash Prompts Safety Investigation Giant drone, called Aquila, experienced a "structural failure" during a test flight on June 28, according to the NTSB Aquila, an unmanned aerial vehicle designed by Facebook, on the runway in Yuma, Arizona, in June. According to Facebook, Aquila is a solar-powered airplane that can be used to bring internet to millions of people in the hardest-to-reach places. ENLARGE A U.S. air-safety watchdog is investigating an accident during the first flight of a Facebook Inc. drone designed to extend internet access. The giant drone, called Aquila, experienced a "structural failure" while approaching Yuma, Ariz. during a test flight on June 28, according to a spokesman for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. There were no injuries, but the drone was "substantially damaged" and the damage "compromised the airworthiness of the aircraft," the spokesman said. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to share details about the damage or cause of the failure ahead of the NTSB's report. A spokeswoman said Facebook viewed the Aquila test flight a success. "We have already learned a lot from the results of this flight test and will continue to learn from all the future flight tests we plan to run," she said. The NTSB, whose primary function is to probe accidents, plans to release a more detailed report on the accident within the next two months. Bloomberg first reported on the accident Monday. The incident is the latest snag in Facebook's broader push to boost global internet availability through its Internet.org initiative. In September, a Facebook satellite was destroyed on the launchpad during a t est of the Falcon 9 rocket designed by Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX. In February, India's telecommunications regulator banned a Facebook service that offered unlimited access to a limited number of websites. Eventually, Facebook hopes to build a fleet of high-altitude, solar-powered Aquila drones that can beam broadband access to the 1.6 billion people that live in areas that don't have access to a mobile network today. The Aquila drone weighs less than a 1,000 pounds and has a 138-foot wingspan, larger than a Boeing 737 single-aisle plane. Facebook expects the drone to stay aloft for 90 days at a time. Facebook previously said that Aquila's flight lasted 96 minutes, more than an hour longer than planned. The accident occurred at 7:43 a.m. local time, according to the NTSB. Facebook previously flagged the structural failure in a July 21 blog post. It said engineers were analyzing the results of the test, including "a structural failure we experienced just before landing." The Federal Aviation Administration authorizes such experimental drones to fly only in specific designated areas, isolated from manned aircraft. The agency is currently working on regulations addressing commercial uses of small drones, 55 pounds or less, at altitudes below 400 feet. Rules covering larger drones weighing hundreds of pounds or more -- and designed to operate at much higher altitudes -- are years away despite strong industry pressure for faster federal action. http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-drone-crash-prompts-safety-investigation- 1479779971 Back to Top FAA Outlines Safety Initiative for Caribbean The FAA is working with its counterparts in the Caribbean on a multi-pronged initiative to increase safety and efficiency in the region. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta last week outlined the initiative, noting that air traffic there is expected to grow faster than in any other region in the world, except the Middle East. "The Caribbean is of critical importance to the U.S.," 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." The initiative includes collaboration to improve airport safety, increase certification in the area, improve air traffic flow management through collaborative decision-making and support the implementation of International Civil Aviation Organization standards throughout the Caribbean. In addition, the FAA has already hosted airport certification workshops in Kingston, Jamaica, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and is offering a general aviation seminar in Cuba. It also is conducting an airspace study of the region and a review of area navigation routes. Further, the FAA is working to share best practices, including collaborative decision-making tools, and has partnered with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago in bilateral exchanges of traffic-flow data. Also, the FAA is hoping to help implement System Wide Information Management Services (SWIM), the NextGen technology that will provide improved access to real-time flight-data, weather information, airport operations and special-use airspace status. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-11-14/faa-outlines- safety-initiative-caribbean Back to Top GAO Reviews FAA's NextGen Modernization Program A new government audit says the Federal Aviation Administration has received an estimated $7.4 billion for activities to implement a program designed to transform current radar-based air transportation systems into one product that will utilize automated aircraft position reporting, digital communications and satellite navigation. FAA has received funds for the Next Generation Air Transportation System program from fiscal years 2004 through FY 2016 as well as other air traffic control modernization programs, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday. GAO noted FAA officials have also identified six NextGen activities previously slated for completion in 2025 which have been deferred until beyond 2030 because of a change in operational needs or infeasibility of the activity. The auditor added FAA's 2016 business case estimate projected costs of NextGen activities to reach $20.6 billion with $15.1 billion as the current projection of costs for the aviation industry. Congress has asked GAO to examine FAA's cost estimates, expenditures and time frames for NextGen completion and the report worked to discover how much the aviation agency has invested in the program since FY 2004 and when projects will be accomplished. http://www.executivegov.com/2016/11/gao-reviews-faas-nextgen-modernization- program/ Back to Top Pakistan's Serene Air adds maiden aircraft, a B737-800 Illustration of Serene Air Boeing 737-800 Illustration of Serene Air Boeing 737-800 © Serene Air Serene Air (SEP, Islamabad) has taken delivery of its maiden aircraft, a B737-800, following a handover ceremony at Seattle Boeing Field this past weekend. AP-BNA (msn 61356) is one of three B737-800s the start-up plans to use when it launches domestic operations next month. It is expected to be ferried to Pakistan later this week in time for the airline to secure its AOC from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PkCAA). http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/51022-pakistans-serene-air-adds-maiden- aircraft-a-b737-800 Back to Top Japan to train Philippine naval pilots to fly aircraft to be leased TOKYO - Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force said Monday it will start training Philippine naval pilots next week to fly TC-90 aircraft to be leased to the Southeast Asian country from March for maritime patrol and other purposes. The first trainees -- two lieutenant commanders -- will undergo training from next Monday through March 24 at the MSDF's Tokushima Air Base in Tokushima Prefecture. A total of six Philippine pilots will be trained through November next year, the MSDF said in a press release. Japan agreed with the Philippines in May to lease up to five TC-90 aircraft used by the MSDF for pilot training. For the first time, Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft are to be leased to another country. Tokyo apparently hopes that assisting the Philippines' efforts to bolster its maritime patrolling capabilities will be beneficial in countering China's assertiveness in the South China Sea. The TC-90 aircraft has a flight range of about 2,000 kilometers, double that of current Philippine Navy aircraft. A total of five TC-90 aircraft will be leased to the Philippines, with the first two scheduled to be transferred there around March. The aircraft is also expected to be used for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief activities. http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/22/16/japan-to-train-philippine-naval-pilots-to-fly- aircraft-to-be-leased Back to Top Pilots Association Wants SCOTUS Review Of Airplane Product Liability Issue An aircraft pilots association is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that allowed states to impose their own safety standards in place of federal law. An amicus brief from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) asks the court to overturn a previous decision that provided for states to apply their own standards of care to the field of aviation product liability. AOPA is asking the high court to rule that the Federal Aviation Administration should have sole authority to regulate such standards of care, not states. AOPA aligned with aviation manufacturers to make its case. Outside this case, AOPA's alignment might seem counter-intuitive, Robert Bowman, an attorney at Cozen O'Connor, pointed out. "I found this AOPA brief interesting, because they help and support pilots, but in this case they came out in favor of manufacturers," Wallace said. "You would think they would support the pilot who died, but they supported the manufacturers in this instance due to the nature of the claims and the considerations for regulation within the industry. I think the Supreme Court will take note of that. "Another reason is the circuit split. That also makes it more likely for the Supreme Court to grant review." The case dates back to the early to mid-2000s. In Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., the Third Circuit held that state design standards could be applied to determining aviation product liability, whether or not the FAA already approved and certified the design. http://www.forbes.com/sites/legalnewsline/2016/11/21/pilots-association-wants-scotus-review-of-airplane-product-liability- issue/#31b50c92ba68 Back to Top TransAsia Airways Closes Down Struggling Taiwanese airline suspends all flights A car drives pass a grounded TransAsia airbus plane at the Sungshan Airport in Taipei on November 22, 2016. TransAsia Airways Corp., the struggling Taiwanese airline that has suffered two deadly crashes since 2014, is closing down. An emergency board meeting concluded that the island's No. 3 carrier should be shut down, company representatives said at a news conference on Tuesday, after the company failed to restore confidence in the wake of the fatal incidents. All of the carrier's 84 flights on Tuesday were canceled, stranding around 5,000 passengers according to Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration. TransAsia's shares on the Taipei exchange were suspended. The Taipei-based airline said it was not able to repay convertible bonds due Nov. 29. TransAsia had been profitable until it suffered two crashes in the space of seven months. In the first incident, in July 2014, 48 people died when a ATR-72 turboprop crashed on the island of Penghu when attempting to land in bad weather. In February 2015, another ATR-72 operated by the airline plunged into Taipei's Keelung River after clipping an elevated highway, with the loss of 43 lives. A June 2016 report into the Taipei disaster attributed the crash to pilot error, finding that the pilot had cut power to the wrong engine after the plane's other engine developed mechanical problems on takeoff. In the days following the incident, TransAsia ordered all 68 of its pilots to retrain: 10 of them failed the first stage of the Civil Aeronautics Administration's qualification process. These safety concerns led to TransAsia reporting a $36.3 million loss for 2015. Those losses widened to about $70 million for the first three quarters of 2016. Compounding the damage done to TransAsia's reputation caused by the twin disasters has been a recent decline in cross-strait traffic triggered by the election of President Tsai Ing-wen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has angered Beijing in the past by advocating Taiwanese independence. Mainland visitor numbers fell by more than a quarter in the five months following Ms. Tsai's inauguration in May, according to the island's tourism authority. Fourteen of TransAsia's 27 destinations outside Taiwan were on the Chinese mainland. However, a weak business plan damaged the airline as much as these other mishaps, said Will Horton, senior analyst at CAPA-Center for Aviation. TransAsia's "strategy was shaky", Mr. Horton said, pointing to the launch of a low-cost carrier, V Air, in 2014, despite TransAsia's own lack of scale; and then the closure of V Air last month. The island is also served by the significantly larger China Airlines and EVA Air. "Three premium, full-service carriers for Taiwan is too much," Mr. Horton said. In a statement on Monday, after the airline had announced the cancellation of Tuesday's flights, Taiwan's government criticized the carrier for giving passengers such short notice. It also said it would investigate possible insider trading of TransAsia's shares, noting a spike in trading activity in the hours before Monday's announcement prefiguring the airline's closure. http://www.wsj.com/articles/transasia-airways-closes-down-1479799620 Back to Top TransAsia demise leaves one customer for A330-800 TransAsia Airways' collapse marks a small setback for the re-engined Airbus A330neo programme, for which the airline was a customer. The carrier was one of only two customers for the A330-800 which was launched alongside the larger A330-900. Airbus has secured orders for 10 of the -800 variant in total. TransAsia accounted for four of them, following a deal originally disclosed in mid- 2014. Hawaiian Airlines subsequently revealed that it was taking six A330-800s. The A330neo is to be powered exclusively by the Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engine. Airbus has gained orders for 186 A330neos in total, with eight customers taking the -900 variant. Russian operator Transaero had been a tentative A330neo customer, having reached a preliminary deal for 12 before the airline ceased operations last year. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top Boeing Taps GE Executive to Lead Aircraft Arm Kevin McAllister to replace Ray Conner, who will stay on as vice chairman through 2017 Kevin McAllister, second from left, was named head of Boeing's commercial aircraft unit Monday. Boeing Co. made its latest change in top management Monday, hiring a General Electric Co. executive to run its commercial aircraft business, the company's biggest division. Kevin McAllister, who served as chief of GE Aviation Services, the support arm of its big aircraft engine business, is to take over the unit immediately and succeeds Ray Conner, who was its head for more than four years. Boeing's profit margins have been under pressure as it absorbed costs from developing new jets and competing with Airbus Group SE. Mr. McAllister takes on the challenge of boosting jet production and cutting costs as Boeing branches into more profitable areas such as selling spare parts. The company wants to triple service revenues to as much as $50 billion a year over the next decade, and Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said it had plenty of room to grow as its share of the commercial market is just 7%, and 9% for military business. "Today's action is a very concrete step in that direction," Mr. Muilenburg said on a call with reporters, noting Mr. McAllister, aged 53, arrives with "fresh ideas" as well as a long working relationship with Boeing. The company is also combining the service arms of its commercial and defense and space operations in a new Dallas-based business unit with 20,000 staff led by Stan Deal, a senior executive in its existing shared services support division. It is unusual for Boeing to reach outside the company for executives, and Mr. McAllister is the first outsider to head the commercial jet arm and the most senior external hire since Jim McNerney, another GE alumni, was hired from 3M Co. as CEO in 2005. Boeing has a backlog of more than 5,600 jets, more than half of them powered by GE engines, and Mr. McAllister will also oversee the development of upgraded models of its 737 single-aisle plane and 777 widebody. Mr. McAllister joined GE as a product engineer in 1980 and initially worked on developing commercial and military engines before moving into its customer support operation in 1998. GE is the exclusive engine provider for some Boeing jets, including the new 737 Max. Mr. McAllister's departure wasn't a surprise within GE Aviation, where the executive had previously served as a general manager for global sales and marketing, overseeing jet engine sales. Internally, Mr. McAllister had been considered a potential successor to GE Aviation CEO David Joyce, his mentor. When Mr. Joyce was named a vice chairman of GE in September, likely meaning he would remain in the position several more years, Mr. McAllister's departure became more likely, a person familiar with the matter said. Since Mr. Muilenburg took over as chief executive in July last year, the company has hired a new chief for Boeing's defense arm and new leaders for its military and commercial aircraft units. Mr. Conner, aged 61, had been president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes since June 2012, and oversees its main aircraft manufacturing facilities around Seattle. He joined the company in 1977 as a mechanic on its 727 jet program and rose through the ranks to lead its 747 and 777 jet lines. He will remain as Boeing's vice chairman before retiring at the end of 2017. http://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-names-kevin-mcallister-new-head-of-commercial- aircraft-unit-1479765888 Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Research Survey on Adverse Wind Landing Events Hello, my name is Paul Pillar, and I'm a PhD student at St. Louis University, with an interest area in human factors, especially error production, detection, and mitigation. I've been associated with aviation for 34 years in various roles, including 21 years in the USAF and 13 years as a civil flight tester, human factors engineer, and air safety investigator. I am currently conducting a mixed-methods research project for a PhD course and would like to ask for your support by completing a short and anonymous survey on adverse wind landing events. For the purpose of this survey, I am interested in factors related to downwind and crosswind landings that may result in a hazardous situation. Feel free to share the link as you deem appropriate with colleagues and friends. Thank you very much in advance! Survey Link: https://slu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7R4Tghy0i4ACoJL Back to Top RESEARCH SURVEY My name is Sherry Saehlenou and I have been in the field of aviation for over 38 years as a flight attendant, purser and cabin safety trainer and recently have started my own training/consulting company. I have been working, for a while now, to raise awareness in the aviation community about the need for training in recognizing and reporting instances of human trafficking around the globe. My focus started with training flight attendants but as I talk to my colleagues it became clear that all employee groups need to develop an awareness and a plan (pilots, ground agents, airport security personnel, ticket counter employees and airport officials, etc.). I have been asked to write an article for a prominent security magazine about what our industry is, or is not, doing to deal with the problem of human trafficking - as airlines are frequently the transport vehicle and airports are distribution hubs. To that end, I need data and input from the aviation community around the globe.This is an anonymous survey; however, you may leave your contact info at the end if you are interested in the results and/or would like more information on Human Trafficking. Please share this survey with your colleagues. I appreciate your help and thank you for your time! Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/htrafficking Curt Lewis