Flight Safety Information November 28, 2016 - No. 236 In This Issue Mil Mi-171 Helicopter Crash into the Caspian Sea Beechcraft 1900 Runway Excursion (Kenya) FAA Investigating Plane Crash Landing Near Moorhead Flight Restrictions Over Standing Rock: Is The FAA Effectively Taking Sides In Pipeline Dispute? American Airlines flight loses engine mid-air, lands in ABQ 'Unruly passenger' on Chicago-to-Hong Kong flight to blame for flight diversion DGCA back-pedals on proposed rule to punish pilots feigning illness (India) Worries remain on air safety (Hong Kong Air Traffic Control) Excerpt from 'The Crash Detectives,' by Christine Negroni Air navigation providers sign pact on safety (Africa) Markets Succeed Where Regulators Fail EU gives Zambia...5.6 million grant to improve aviation sector Delta pilots oppose big regional jets, could be issue for Embraer, Mitsubishi India Took a Shocking 33 Years to Develop a Jet Fighter (And It's Still Not Ready for Combat) Airbus' Biggest A350 Jet Makes Its First Flight An airline pilot reveals why a plane Boeing discarded 12 years ago is the one they desperately need Scientists just discovered a huge body of ice on Mars Research Survey p Mil Mi-171 Helicopter Crash into the Caspian Sea. Date: 27-NOV-2016 Time: Type: Mil Mi-171 Owner/operator: Yas Air Registration: EP-HRB * C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Caspian Sea, off Behshahr, Mazandaran province - Iran Phase: Take off Nature: Ambulance Departure airport: Iran Amir Kabir, Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Destination airport: Neka heliport Narrative: The helicopter crashed into the sea during an offshore take off on an early morning night- time medevac. All five occupants, a patient (who had suffered a heart attack), a medic and three flight crew members, died in the crash. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=191735 Back to Top Beechcraft 1900 Runway Excursion (Kenya) Date: 27-NOV-2016 Time: 16:55 LT Type: Beechcraft 1900C Owner/operator: Reliance Air Charters Registration: 5Y-BSI C/n / msn: UC-172 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (HKJK) - Kenya Phase: Landing Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Somalia Destination airport: Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (HKJK) Narrative: A Beechcraft 1900C, arriving from Somalia, suffered a runway excursion on landing at Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya. The aircraft came to rest on the grass next to runway 06/24 with the left wing resting on the ground. https://aviation-safety.net/graphics/ICAOtype/B190.gif Back to Top FAA Investigating Plane Crash Landing Near Moorhead MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of an airplane crash landing near the Moorhead airport. The twin engine turboprop was approaching the airport Wednesday evening when it ended up in a farm field a short distance from the runway. Clay County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Empting says there were seven people aboard the plane, including the pilot. He says some of the passengers were treated at the scene for minor injuries. The pilot was taken to a Fargo, North Dakota, hospital with minor injuries. Empting tells KFGO radio that it was foggy at the time but it's too early to speculate on what happened. http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/11/25/faa-investigating-plane-crash-landing-near- moorhead/ Back to Top Flight Restrictions Over Standing Rock: Is The FAA Effectively Taking Sides In Pipeline Dispute? By: John Goglia , CONTRIBUTOR I write about the airline industry and aviation safety. Keeping the media from documenting law enforcement actions is not part of the FAA's mission. Nor is it a legal basis for issuing flight restrictions. Although that's exactly what it was caught doing during the violent protests that followed the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. Transcripts on a recorded air traffic control line show that the air traffic control center responsible for issuing the temporary flight restriction - or TFR - knew that the restrictions were requested to keep media out and actively assisted in wording the flight restrictions to keep media out. If you don't believe me, read the transcripts obtained by the Associated Press, and quoted in a recent post by Peter Sachs writing in the Drone Law Journal. Mr. Sachs, a well-known authority on drone law, raises the question whether the TFR issued over the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota was issued for the same reason as the Ferguson TFR: to prevent journalists, specifically photojournalists using drones, from flying over the protest site and documenting the events. Because of the FAA's flight restrictions, "neither the mainstream media, nor citizen journalists, nor activist hobbyists may fly in that area to document what law enforcement is doing." According to Rhianna Lakin (a drone photojournalist best known for her photos of an erupting volcano in Indonesia) who has been in Standing Rock for more than two weeks over the last month, drones have been used to document the North Dakota pipeline's progress, expose "violations by the oil company," document law enforcement and security actions against protesters and expose "environmental atrocities." Ms. Lakin has not been flying the drones herself but has been providing technical assistance to Native American drone journalists. Because of the TFR, journalists have been forced to fly "rogue" in order to capture what many see as excessive use of force against demonstrators - including a video of law enforcement using water hoses in sub-freezing weather against what appear to be peaceful protesters. As Mr. Sachs points out in his article, the FAA has to follow specific regulations in establishing airspace flight restrictions. In this case, the FAA has to determine that the flight restrictions are necessary "to protect persons and property on the surface or in the air from a hazard associated with an incident on the surface." Here, the flight restrictions are based on "law enforcement operation" and only aircraft "in support of the law enforcement activity under the direction of the North Dakota Tactical Operation Center" and aircraft approved by air traffic control are authorized. In this case, Mr. Sachs argues that the danger to aircraft and persons on the ground has been created by law enforcement - specifically shooting down drones used to record their activities (yes, he provides links to that, too) - and the FAA has laid out "in essence, a 'giant tarp'...over the site, allowing law enforcement to act with impunity and without any witnesses." I reached out to the FAA for more specific information on why the TFR was issued, including whether it was issued because of the reports of drones being shot down. I also requested information on whether drone journalists could get permission to fly through the TFR and, if so, how. Lastly, I asked what the FAA was doing to investigate and prosecute the 8 or more instances of drones being shot down as the agency confirmed to me several months ago that shooting down drones was a felony. The FAA indicated that it would respond tomorrow. I will provide an update when it does. http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2016/11/27/flight-restrictions-over-standing- rock-is-the-faa-effectively-taking-sides-in-pipeline-dispute/#45ad05e628e0 Back to Top American Airlines flight loses engine mid-air, lands in ABQ Flight was from Dallas to Vegas An American Airlines flight has landed safely at the Albuquerque International Sunport, after losing one of its engines in mid-air. According to Sunport officials, American Airlines 1693 was en route from Dallas to Las Vegas when it reported engine failure and requested an emergency landing. The plane landed just before 9 p.m. according to Sunport officials. It's not clear what caused the engine failure or if passengers would be stuck overnight. No injuries were reported. http://www.koat.com/article/american-airlines-flight-loses-engine-mid-air-lands-in- abq/8370654 Back to Top 'Unruly passenger' on Chicago-to-Hong Kong flight to blame for flight diversion A flight from Chicago O'Hare International Airport bound for China was diverted to Japan after 12 hours in the air because of an "unruly passenger," a United Airlines representative said Sunday. United's Flight 895 left Chicago for Hong Kong just after 2 p.m. Saturday, according to airline tracking website FlightAware. The Boeing 777 instead landed in Tokyo about 6:30 p.m. local time, United spokesman Charles Hobart said. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused. The safety of our customers and employees is our top priority," Hobart wrote in an email. He said 241 passengers and 15 crew were aboard the plane. Hobart did not immediately answer questions about what the "unruly passenger" is accused of doing but said the flight eventually headed to Hong Kong. No one was reported injured, Hobart said. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-unruly-passenger-on-chicago-to- hong-kong-flight-to-blame-for-flight-diversion-20161127-story.html Back to Top DGCA back-pedals on proposed rule to punish pilots feigning illness (India) The proposal, which appeared on the DGCA website on November 7, threatened to send doctors to the homes of pilots calling in sick and ground them for life if they were found to be lying. India's aviation safety regulator might have to eat its own words, just weeks after it warned pilots that they would be punished for feigning illness. Sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told HT that the 'draconian' draft might be put on the back-burner. "It was meant to be a stern warning, but I think it wasn't conveyed properly," said a senior DGCA official. He added that the proposed draft is unlikely to become a rule. The proposal, which appeared on the DGCA website on November 7, threatened to send doctors to the homes of pilots calling in sick and ground them for life if they were found to be lying. It cited the widespread disruption of Jet Airways flights - in which more than a 100 flights were delayed or cancelled owing to pilots calling in sick - during the Diwali weekend as a case in point. Pilots reacted to the move with concern and anger. Last week, at least three pilots' unions comprising more than 3,000 pilots from Air India and Jet Airways sent angry feedback, calling the move a ploy to hide India's chronic shortage of pilots. It also stated that 98% Jet pilots were on duty during Diwali. On November 24, the group also sent a legal notice asking the regulator to drop the draft. DGCA chief BS Bhullar did not respond to HT's calls. http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/dgca-back-pedals-on-proposed-rule-to- punish-pilots-feigning-illness/story-779XpMZWpyaYNZHdn8gSNJ.html Back to Top Worries remain on air safety (Hong Kong Air Traffic Control) The new air traffic control system is 100 percent safe, Director-General of Civil Aviation Simon Li Tin-chui reiterated yesterday, amid growing worries over the system's reliability. Lawmaker and commercial pilot Jeremy Tam Man-ho, who exposed glitches including "ghost planes" and double images on the new system, said concerns over the new system remains. More glitches could occur, Tam said, and he fears the new system could face a "total breakdown." The number of flights the US-made Raytheon AutoTrac III system handles has increased to about 2,000 flights daily from 1,800. The number of flights was reduced in the past month by 8 percent, or about 2,500 flights, for a smooth transition and returned to normal yesterday. Glitches including flight disappearances, double images and ghost planes appearing on the radar screen do not compromise flight safety and are "not related to the system itself," Li said, adding it would take "more or less one year" for the HK$1.5 billion new system to fire on all cylinders. Li admitted the new system, which was fully launched on November 14, could cause more traffic delays, but insisted air traffic controllers told him they were "very confident" with it. "I've been to the control center over the past two weeks to listen to front-line controllers' opinions. They have become more confident in using the new system every day," Li said. As for Tam's earlier claim that a flight disappeared from the system's radar for two minutes after departure, Li did not directly respond to the case, but admitted glitches do occur occasionally. Li said more flights during Christmas peak season could "put pressure" on air traffic controllers, but he is confident they will be able to cope. The Civil Aviation Department has allocated more controllers during the period to handle more flights, he said. Tam, in response, said yesterday front-line controllers have continued to expresse concerns over the new system's reliability as he worries more glitches could arise. He said New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, which uses the same air traffic control system, suffered a breakdown for hours as flights vanished from the radar screen last month. "The frequency of glitches has been disturbing," Tam said. "Where did [Li] find his confidence?" The old system is being kept for six months in "cold standby" mode, but it takes two hours to activate it if switching back to it is needed. Li and Niall Greenwood, Asia- Pacific managing director of National Air Traffic Services, will attend the Legislative Council's economic development panel meeting today to follow up on issues on the new system. The new air traffic control system, which had faced a four-year delay, encountered a series of glitches after it entered into operation in June to replace the old system in phases. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=176797 Back to Top Excerpt from 'The Crash Detectives,' by Christine Negroni This I can say about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: There is little to suggest the pilots were involved in hijacking or crashing the plane they were flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. One need only look at the shocking, intentional crash of a GermanWings flight one year later to see how quickly, and how many, clues emerge when a pilot plots to bring down an airliner. My theory about what happened to MH-370 began to form within a week of arriving in Malaysia to help ABC News cover the story. When I first heard about the missing flight, I was at sea in Vietnam's Gulf of Tonkin. The fact that the news reached me in such a remote place was a new high in communications technology. That years later we do not know what happened to the airliner and its passengers demonstrates the shallows. Time To Stop Obsessing About MH370's Missing Black Boxes By Christine Negroni After 31 months of uncertainty and more than $120 million dollars spent in the search for the wreckage of Malaysia 370, it is long past time for investigators to broaden the focus of their search. Since March 8, 2014 when the plane made an inexplicable change of course and flew into the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board, air safety investigators have pinned their hopes on finding the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. The Malaysians have gone so far as to say that without the boxes, they will never know what happened to the jetliner. This has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What's notable, however, is that the most promising information has come not from the sea but from good old fashioned detective work. It was the enterprising engineers at the satellite data company Inmarsat who examined signals transmitted from the airplane and realized it had not crashed immediately after disappearing from radar. Most recently, those satellite signals helped them determine that at the end of the flight, the airplane was in such a high-speed descent it could have broken apart in the air, raining down into the sea in pieces. Another significant clue came from a piece of the airplane's right wing called a flaperon that washed up on a beach. Damage to this part appears to rule out the popular theory the Malaysian pilots tried to make a controlled landing in the sea in an act of murder/suicide or terrorism. These shards of significant information show that fixating on the black boxes can distract investigators from obvious clues. Here's an example. In July 15, 2015, I contacted Martin Dolan, the then chairman of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau asking why, in light of all the money being spent in the sea, the ATSB had not also tried an aerial search of the shoreline where debris might be expected to wash up. Mr. Dolan replied that local authorities were responsible for that. Relying on the attentiveness and current affairs awareness of residents in some of the world's most remote communities, seemed a lethargic approach but more puzzling was Mr. Dolan's statement that debris would offer little of value. Two weeks after our email correspondence, though, the flaperon which revealed so much was found by a beachcomber. Who knows how long it had been there waiting discovery. The official probe favors Rube Goldberg-like solutions over basic Sherlock Holmes. From my home office, I spent two years working a theory about what might have happened to MH-370 which I write about in my book, The Crash Detectives. Using known and inferred details and previous similar events, I conclude that the Boeing 777 lost pressurization while at cruise altitude and that the crew emergency masks did not provide the pilots with sufficient oxygen under pressure affecting their ability to think properly. They steered the plane back towards Malaysia until they passed out. Then the airplane flew on auto pilot until running out of fuel. This theory is based on the repair records of the airplane and known maintenance issues with the crew oxygen system and prior events. On a 737 flight from Cyprus to Athens in 2005, the pilots did not respond correctly to an unpressurized cabin. With the pilots unconscious, the plane flew until it ran out of fuel. On a flight from Chicago to Florida in 1999, two of three pilots and a flight attendant fell unconscious after mishandling a pressurization problem. The sole pilot wearing an oxygen mask made an emergency landing, saving the flight from catastrophe. Pressurization problems on smaller airplanes killed American golfer Payne Stewart in in 1999, the pilots of a German charter jet in 1983 and private pilot Laurence Glazer and his wife on a flight from Rochester to Florida in 2015. Whether the scenario I describe is exactly what happened isn't the point. Air safety investigations are preventative. They have value even when they can go no farther than identifying possibilities. This was the case in the fifties when three of the world's first jetliner, the de Havilland Comet came apart in flight. Before discovering the cause - flaws in the plane's structural design - more than eighty fixes were applied to the airplane because they might have contributed. Nothing similar has happened in MH370, because the Malaysians have essentially thrown up their hands and the Australians are wedded to the high-priced sea search over all else, including examining clues in their own files. Around the time that things started to go wrong on MH-370, there was a loss of satellite communication that lasted for an hour or more. The most likely cause is a total loss of power on the airplane, but why? In my research, I came across a Qantas Boeing 747 that lost power on a flight to Bangkok in 2008, a scary episode that ended well. The problem was attributed to water leaking from the galley into the plane's electronics bay directly below. It had happened on at least five other airplanes. The galley on Malaysia 370 is also located above the electronics bay so its curious that the Australians did not compare the Qantas flight to the puzzling loss of power on MH370. People often ask me if Malaysia 370 will ever be found and I remind them, twenty pieces of the plane have already washed ashore. The question isn't whether the plane will be found but rather when investigators will stop being so distracted by the black boxes they cannot find and start examining the clues they have. Copyright Penguin Books Christine Negroni is an aviation writer and air safety specialist. She writes for The New York Times, Air & Space and ABC News. "The Crash Detectives" recently was published by Penguin in North America and Murdock Books in Australia. (Atlantic Books in the UK in 2017) http://www.ctpost.com/living/article/Excerpt-from-The-Crash-Detectives-by- 10633783.php# Back to Top Air navigation providers sign pact on safety (Africa) Civil Air Navigation Services Organisations (CANSO) in Africa has signed a pact to implement joint initiative to improve safety in air traffic management. The companies endorsed a declaration to address critical safety issues in air traffic management in Africa as part of efforts to raise the bar in safety, which has been in the burner for many years. It was learnt that the Declaration on the Africa ATM Safety Peer Review Initiative will commit air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to form teams to conduct peer reviews of each other's safety management systems. The peer review mechanism will be carried out with CANSO coordinating the initiative and providing expert guidance. In an interview, CANSO Director-General Jeff Poole said the body was committed to air safety improvement in Africa. Poole said: "Safety is our number one priority and the Africa ATM Safety Peer Review Initiative will further enhance safety in air traffic management in the region. This initiative is a significant milestone and a great example of partnership in action as ANSPs work with each other, as well as aviation industry partners, to implement effective safety management systems." He said ANSPs will form teams and visit each team member to conduct peer reviews as well as evaluate the implementation of safety management systems (SMS) by each county ANSP based on the CANSO Standard of Excellence in Safety Management Systems. The evaluation will also be carried out based on other safety materials produced by CANSO and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) with a view to identifying specific areas for improvement. He said: "The initiative will enable participating ANSPs to standardise the elements of their safety management systems, thus facilitating enhanced data analysis, safety risk management and performance measurement, which are key enablers for higher overall levels of safety performance. "The results will allow ANSPs to determine the maturity levels of their safety management systems and communicate these to the satisfaction of ICAO and ANSP regulators, in turn reducing the need for regulator assessments and/or ICAO audits." Poole added: "All parts of the aviation industry are working hard to improve safety in Africa. This initiative will support continuous overall improvement in ATM and aviation safety in Africa in a consistent, measurable and sustainable manner. I am delighted that CANSO Members in Africa have signed this declaration, and I urge all ANSPs in Africa to embrace the initiative and make Africa's skies safer." http://thenationonlineng.net/air-navigation-providers-sign-pact-safety/ Back to Top Markets Succeed Where Regulators Fail In a victory for free markets, if not aviation safety, the traveling public did what regulators failed to do: ground Taiwan's oldest civilian airline.Flying a mix of ATR turboprops and Airbus jets on domestic and short-haul international flights, TransAsia Airways Corp. came to international prominence in July 2014 when a flight hit trees and crashed into buildings on Taiwan's outlying Penghu islands, killing 48 people.Within days of the accident it became apparent to investigators that pilots hadn't followed procedures, though it would be months before the final report was handed down. Steep Descent TransAsia shares declined after successive fatal crashes Even before that fatal day, Taiwan Aviation Safety Council records showed a string of other incidents where transgressions occurred. Eventually, months after the July crash, the Civil Aeronautics Administration became so concerned about the risks from pilots rushing through safety checks that it took the unprecedented step of imposing minimum waiting times specifically for TransAsia and its ATR pilots, to take effect January 2015. TransAsia pleaded for a delay of implementation and the CAA acquiesced.Five weeks later, on Feb. 4, a further 43 people died after, once again, factors including poor training and the failure to observe standard practices led to a second ATR hitting an elevated freeway and crashing into a Taipei river. The pilots wouldn't have met the new minimum wait period. It's impossible to know whether more time would have helped them be better prepared for the engine failure that happened minutes later.Even after that February crash, the regulator didn't pull TransAsia's license, instead ordering the airline to send its pilots for more training.Conversations that Bloomberg reporters had with travelers after that second disaster found that while most were wary, passengers on some routes had no choice but to use TransAsia. Often it was one of just two carriers to ply under-served domestic routes and flights sold out quickly. Yet the second crash cemented one fact in the minds of passengers and the airline: While they may not have had much say in which carrier to take, they could simply decide to fly less.That's exactly what they did, with 379,000 fewer passengers buying tickets in the June quarter of 2015 compared with a year earlier, a 39 percent drop. That sealed TransAsia's fate. Airline profits are derived from a fine balance of elements including supply and demand for tickets, as well as available space on planes and a carrier's cost structure. When load factor -- the percentage of seats occupied by paying passengers -- drops too low, a plane becomes unable to cover its operating costs with ticket revenue.TRANSASIA TRAFFIC DECLINE IN JUNE QUARTER 201539%In theory, carriers can cut prices to drive demand and fill up remaining seats, but only to the point where operating costs are covered. With most airlines operating on single-digit margins, there's little scope for emergency discounting. Voting With Their Feet TransAsia's load factor -- the percentage of seats filled on flights -- slumped after two fatal crashes in seven months TransAsia's load factors fell off a cliff at the same time as its passenger revenue, and never really recovered to the 70 percent-and-above range that these days is considered the minimum healthy territory for airlines.Indeed, of 78 airlines worldwide for which Bloomberg has load factor data, just three leave a larger proportion of seats unsold -- Tunisia's Syphax Airlines, which suspended flights last year amid financial difficulties, and U.S. and Australian regional carriers Great Lakes Aviation Ltd. and Regional Express Holdings Ltd. Elsewhere, Ryanair Plc, Easyjet Plc and Spicejet Ltd., the whip-smart budget carriers that dominate in Europe and India, all achieve load factors above 90 percent.For TransAsia, the result of that falling traffic and declining load factor was the same as for any company facing a cash crisis: an inability to service its debts. At a press conference Tuesday, after earlier announcing a single-day suspension of operations, the company said it couldn't repay convertible bonds due next week and thus its board decided to dissolve the company.In the end, safety-conscience passengers did what regulators wouldn't, but it took two fatal crashes and more than 90 deaths to get there. https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-11-22/transasia-closed-by-market- forces-after-taiwan-regulators-fail Back to Top EU gives Zambia €5.6 million grant to improve aviation sector The European Union (EU) on Tuesday gave Zambia a 5.6 million Euros grant to help the southern African nation improve its aviation sector. The funds will help Zambia address regulatory and capacity challenges and facilitate improvements to the institutional framework to ensure conformity with the operational requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The expected results include a strengthened air safety and security oversight system, air traffic management services brought up to international standards and capacity building for key stakeholders in the sector. "In June of this year we were all very pleased that in recognition of safety improvements Zambia was removed from the EU's air safety list-so that from now onwards air carriers registered in Zambia have access to and can operate in the European skies. We look forward to other positive results induced by this new support program," EU Ambassador to Zambia Alessandro Mariani said after the signing ceremony. The grant is financed from the 11th European Development Fund and the program builds on the achievements of the previous assistance from the EU during the period 2012 to 2015, he added. Fredson Yamba, Zambia's Secretary to the Treasury said the support was welcome as it comes at a time when the country was trying to diversify its economy. He said the importance of the aviation sector could not be underestimated as it has ripple effects on other sectors. In 2009, Zambian registered planes were banned from flying over European skies due to safety concerns but this was lifted this year. Enditem Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh https://www.newsghana.com.gh/eu-gives-zambia-e5-6-million-grant-to-improve- aviation-sector/ Back to Top Delta pilots oppose big regional jets, could be issue for Embraer, Mitsubishi MONTREAL, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc pilots are expected to keep existing rules in their new labor contract that prevent the U.S. No. 2 carrier from flying aircraft above a certain weight on regional routes, in a blow to Embraer SA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd , whose latest models exceed that limit. The pilots' new labor contract will keep what is known as a "scope clause," which restricts planes heavier than 86,000 pounds and with more than 76 seats from being flown on regional routes, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Voting results on the new contract are expected on Dec. 1. The clause effectively protects well-paid pilot jobs at major airlines, as it prevents the carrier from using bigger planes on outsourced regional routes, which generally pay less well and have inferior working conditions. When planemakers such as Brazil's Embraer and Japan's Mitsubishi designed their latest regional jets, with heavier but more fuel-efficient engines, they expected the scope clause to have loosened, but unions have managed to hold on to it. Delta's vote will follow similar decisions by unions at American Airlines Group Inc and United Continental Holdings Inc earlier this year and in 2015. Pilots' opposition to relaxing scope clauses is a problem for Embraer's E175-E2 regional aircraft that is to be delivered in 2020, and Mitsubishi's MRJ90 jet, slated for delivery in mid-2018, which both exceed the weight limit. UBS downgraded Embraer to a 'sell' rating this week after it resumed coverage, citing risks from the scope clause pushback at American, Delta and United. Analyst Darryl Genovesi said it was unlikely the carriers would fly the E2 on only mainline routes, due to higher costs. "This puts the viability of the E175-E2 at risk since most of the demand for it originates at those three airlines," Genovesi wrote in a note to clients. MORE EFFICIENT Regional carrier SkyWest Inc, which operates flights for Delta, among others, is the launch customer for the E175-E2, with 100 firm orders. In a statement, Embraer said its existing E-175 dominates the 70-seat market where it holds 84 percent of market share and the Brazilian planemaker would continue to sell that jet past 2020 if scope clauses do not change. However, the statement said: "Embraer believes scope clauses will eventually be relaxed in the future as fuel prices increase and airlines look for more efficient products." A Mitsubishi spokesman was not available for comment, outside normal business hours in Japan. In September, the company said it is working with customers to address weight issues for the MRJ90, which is about 600 kilograms (1323 lbs) too heavy. U.S. pilot unions have taken an increasingly hard line on higher salary demands and are making fewer concessions to U.S. carriers. Their current stance against changing scope clauses could, however, be a boon for Embraer's Canadian rival Bombardier Inc , which sees it as an opportunity to boost sales of its CRJ-900, which fits current weight limits, one of the sources said. Mesa Air Group Inc Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein said he will not purchase new planes that do not comply with existing scope clauses as he does not believe the current limits will be changed in the near future. Instead, the Arizona-based regional carrier will buy more current generation E-175s, along with additional CRJ900s to replace 38 regional jets being phased out over the next four years. "I don't think there's any chance the pilots will change their weight requirements. Zero," Ornstein said. http://www.businessinsider.com/r-update-1-delta-pilots-oppose-big-regional-jets-could- be-issue-for-embraer-mitsubishi-2016-11 Back to Top India Took a Shocking 33 Years to Develop a Jet Fighter (And It's Still Not Ready for Combat) The Indian government is proposing to export its Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Tejas light combat aircraft to other Asian nations. New Delhi hopes that the indigenously developed fighter's relatively simple design and potentially low maintenance costs will be a selling point for the jet. But India's prospects for selling the its "new" fighter are highly dubious. "The government proposes to export the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas to other countries. In this connection preliminary discussions have been held with a few friendly countries," reads a statement from Indian defense minister Shri Manohar Parrikar. "Presently, HAL has established facilities for manufacturing and delivery of 8 LCA per annum. There is a plan to ramp up the production rate from 8 to 16 Aircraft per annum progressively by 2019-20." It's unclear which potential customers might be interested in the Tejas, though New Delhi has been trying to market the jet overseas with an appearance at the Bahrain air show earlier this year. But given that India has been trying to develop the Tejas since the 1980s without delivering a viable combat aircraft, it is highly doubtful that any of New Delhi's allies would be willing to purchase such a fighter. Moreover, even after more than 33 years of development, the Tejas continues to be plagued with problems-though developers believe that they can resolve outstanding issues with the aircraft within a year. "I told them that all shortcomings should be fulfilled and the plane should be ready in a year," Parrikar told the Hindustan Times on Nov. 20. Nonetheless, New Delhi continues to assert that the Tejas offers performance comparable to France's Dassault Rafale. "This is a plane which is completely indigenously manufactured and can compete with any other fighter plane in the world. It is as capable as the Rafale. Only this is a light combat aircraft (LCA)," Parrikar told the Hindustan Times. "Only a 3.5 ton missile can be carried on it, Rafale on the other hand can carry a nine ton (payload). This plane can fly at the rate of 450Kms, Rafale can run 900Kms because it has twin engines." Despite, India's bold claims, the generally unimpressive Tejas is not in the same league as other comparable aircraft in the export fighter market. The Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen and even upgraded older model F-16s and F/A-18s generally offer superior performance for comparable and sometimes even lower prices. Moreover, the Tejas-with a hodgepodge of technologies drawn from Israel, France, Russia and the United States, among others- would be a nightmare to clear for export. Despite being billed as an indigenous aircraft, roughly 25 percent of the current Mk-1 version of the aircraft is built from imported components. While that might seem fairly low, those components are the core of what makes a fighter a fighter. Imported systems on the Tejas include the Israel Aerospace Industries/ELTA EL/M-2032 radar, an Elbit helmet-mounted cueing system, a British-made Martin Baker ejection seat and an American General Electric F404 afterburning turbofan. Additionally, many of the jet's weapons-such as the GSh-23 23 mm cannon-are of Russian origin. Indeed, the very fact that the Tejas is equipped with a U.S. engine means that Washington has a veto on which nations New Delhi can offer the aircraft to for sale. Thus, a potential customer might be better served to simply purchase a used F-16 or F/A-18-which are far better jets with a far more attractive package of weapons (not to mention political clout). Meanwhile, India recently ordered 83 more Tejas Mk-1A jets, a slightly refined version of the current Mk-1 aircraft, of which 20 are on order. The Tejas Mk-1A will replace the current mechanically-scanned radar with a new Israel Aerospace Industries/ELTA EL/M- 2052 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a new electronic warfare pod and a Cobham in-flight refueling probe. There are also a host of other improvements to correct the deficiencies found on the original Mk-1. New Delhi is continuing to refine the aging Tejas design with the Mk-II version, which is set to make its debut in 2025. The new version of the jet will be equipped with the 22,000-pound thrust class General Electric F414 engine, which was originally developed for the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. However, the Indians are attempting to revive the failed Kaveri indigenous engine that was originally slated to power the Tejas before it became glaringly apparent that it was not up to the task. The France's Snecma is working with the Indians to certify the Kaveri engine for the flight of a Tejas light combat aircraft prototype in 2018. "Once the engine houses make it a flightworthy engine, we have numerous programs coming up and there is more than one place for it to be fitted. The question is whether we will be able to fit it into only the LCA or will we be able to get it into the (GE) 414 with the higher power is a point that we are raising," C.P. Ramanarayanan, DRDO's Director General for Aeronautics told India's Business Standard. Given India's abysmal track record in developing indigenous combat aircraft, there is little reason to be optimistic about New Delhi's prospects for the Tejas. Frankly, the Indian Air Force would be better served by relegating the Tejas to being technology demonstrator and simply buying a genuine combat aircraft from one of its allies. http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/india-took-shocking-33-years-develop-jet- fighter-its-still-18505?page=1 Back to Top Airbus' Biggest A350 Jet Makes Its First Flight The Airbus A350-1000 made its maiden flight November 24, 2016 from Airbus' base in Toulouse, France. Airbus The ascendance of twin-jets like the Airbus A350-1000 doesn't mean four-engine wide- bodies will see their retirement anytime soon. The price of fuel will have a lot to say about the viability of the biggest planes. The biggest version of Airbus Group SE's A350 wide-body jet made its first flight Thursday, swelling the twin-engine model's capacity as the four-turbine Boeing Co. 747 and the European manufacturer's own A380 superjumbo struggle to find buyers. The A350-1000, which departed Airbus's base in Toulouse, France, at 10:42 a.m. local time, seats 366 people in three classes. That's just 44 fewer than the latest version of the 747, and with a vastly improved fuel burn thanks to the new aircraft's two engines and composite construction. So-called twinjet planes have become the mainstay of inter-continental travel, with the A350, the baseline version of which had its first commercial flight in 2015, following on from the slightly smaller Boeing 787. Both models have built on inroads made by the U.S. company's 777, which began eating into markets previously restricted to four-jet models fully two decades ago and seats 364 people in three classes with No. 1 operator Emirates of Dubai. Zafar Khan, an analyst at Societe Generale in London, said the price of crude oil would need to drop "much lower" than $50 a barrel for four-engine planes to have a chance of a renaissance. "As long as fuel prices remain at elevated levels then two-engine jets will clearly prevail," he said. Before the advent of the so-called "big twin" aircraft, older two-engine wide-bodies such as the 767 and A330 were limited to medium-haul markets such as the north Atlantic, partly because of practical limits on how far they could fly in the event of one turbine failing. The 777 cast off those shackles by winning certification for flights as far as three hours from the nearest airport. The standard A350-900 has U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval for up to five hours or 2,000 nautical miles of diversionary flying on a single engine, making possible trips from Southeast Asia and Australia to the U.S. In a denser configuration the new - 1000 will be able to carry 440 people, less than 100 short of the A380's standard 525- passenger payload, though the double-decker could accommodate as many as 800 seats in a single class. The airline industry's appetite for bigger twin-engine planes was revealed when Airbus scrapped a shrunken A350-800 variant, which was deemed too small at 280 seats, and opted instead to upgrade the A330 for shorter routes. With the A350-1000 attracting fewer than 200 orders, versus about 600 for the baseline - 900, airlines appear to be holding out for something still bigger, though Francois Caudron, Airbus's senior vice president for marketing, said in Toulouse it's not yet ready to commit to a double-stretch of the plane, dubbed the A350-2000. The -1000 already addresses a sweet-spot in the market and is 20 tons lighter and 25 percent more fuel efficient than Boeing's 777-300ER, he said. BIGGER BOEINGS Boeing, though, is adding more seats to its best-selling wide-body, with new slimline berths taking the total to 396 while still retaining three classes. Twinjet capacity will increase still further from 2020, when the U.S. company introduces the 777X upgrade, the largest version of which will seat as many as 425 people in three classes. A bigger version is under consideration able to take upwards of 450 travelers, making it a true jumbo in its own right. All told, the A350, 787 and 777 have unfilled orders totaling more than 1,950 planes, versus just 29 for the 747 and 121 for the A380. The four-engine Airbus A340, which emerged around the time of the 777, is already out of production. The A350-1000's debut flight means Airbus has met its goal of getting the model into the air before the end of 2016, with Qatar Airways Ltd. scheduled to be the first carrier to deploy the aircraft next year. The manufacturer is still racing to deliver the 50 A350-900s promised this year amid delays in the supply of interior fittings from suppliers including Paris-based Safran SA. Sandy Morris, an analyst at a Jefferies International in London, said he's not convinced the four-engine wide-body is on its way out just yet, and that while twinjets may prevail over the next decade, projected passenger growth after that could favor true behemoths such as the A380. "The last thing you want to do is abandon that product and segment of market only to discover in a relatively short time frame that you need to come back into it," he said. Airbus has said it will slow superjumbo output to one plane a month from 2018, eking out production and sustaining the program pending a hoped-for revival in demand. https://skift.com/2016/11/26/airbus-biggest-a350-jet-makes-its-first-flight/ Back to Top An airline pilot reveals why a plane Boeing discarded 12 years ago is the one they desperately need Boeing 757 American Airlines (American Airlines Boeing 757.Flickr/Aero Icarus) Twelve years after Boeing discontinued the 757, the long-time 'tweener in the company's lineup is still popular among U.S. airlines. American, Delta, and United all operate large fleets of the airplane. Even though the Renton, Washington-based plane maker booked more than 1,000 orders for the jets over its two decades in production, it was never a hot seller. By the early 2000's, sales of the 757 had all but dried up, and Boeing put the plane out to pasture in 2004. Although many of the planes are pushing 25 years of service, airlines are hanging onto their 757s. For instance, Delta, who has spent big bucks on a fleet of new jets, recently refurbished the cabins of its aging 757s instead of replacing them with newer planes. So why are its customer's so loyal? Is the 757 that good? To get some answers, Business Insider recently spoke with author and Boeing 757 pilot Patrick Smith about the plane. "There's no denying the 757 is an old plane that was designed in the late 1970s, but the versatility of the plane is remarkable and unmatched," Smith, the author of the book Cockpit Confidential, told Business Insider in an interview."It's profitable on both short- haul domestic as well as trans-Atlantic routes." Boeing 757 Delta Airlines (Delta Boeing 757.REUTERS/Tami Chappell) During it's production life, the 757 was always a bit of an oddity - a 'tweener of sorts. It's larger and offers greater range than the average narrow body jet, but smaller and cheaper to operate than a wide-body. Boeing and its customers, for many years, didn't quite know how to take full advantage of the plane's capabilities. However, when they did figure it out, it became an integral part of the operators' fleets. Boeing is currently marketing a new stretched variant of its long-serving 737 - called the MAX 9 - as a potential replacement for the 757. Now, there's talk that Boeing may make the 737 even larger to get closer to the 757's capacity. "Boeing is trying to push the 737 as a viable 757 replacement," Smith said, "In some respects it can and in some respects it can't." For instance, the 737 simply isn't capable of the same kind of engine performance as the 757. According to Smith, the 737 falls way short of the 757 in terms of runway performance. The 737 requires a much higher takeoff speed and much more runway to get off the ground. "The 757 can be off the ground in 4,000 ft. and under 140 knots," he told us. However, Smith recounts being in the cockpit jump seat of a 737 as two other pilots were flying. During takeoff, the author noticed that the plane didn't lift off until 160 knots and used up much more runway. Furthermore, the 757 can comfortably climb straight to its cruising altitude. On the other hand, the 737 requires a step climb procedure that calls for the plane to climb to a certain altitude and burn off some fuel to lighten the load before climbing to a higher altitude. Runway performance matters. Especially when it comes to the type of flying the 757 and the 737 are asked to perform - trans-continental or oceanic flights with a full payload from smaller secondary airports. Boeing 737 MAX 9 (Boeing 737 MAX 9.Boeing) "The 737 falls short when you're trying fly it longer haul, coast to coast. It can do it, but not by much," Smith said. In addition, when it comes to flying across the Atlantic, "there's concern in the winter, when there are ferocious head winds, the 737 may need to stop for fuel." The reality is that Smith believes the Boeing 737 is a good plane, but is being asked to take on a mission the design wasn't meant to perform. "The Boeing 737 was essentially conceived as a small regional jet nearly five decades ago," Smith told us. "It's an extremely popular plane, but it's being asked to perform missions it wasn't designed for." As a result, Boeing is simply not in a position to bolt bigger engines onto the 737. Since its introduction in the 1960s, Boeing has been installing larger and larger engines on the 737 as the size of the plane grew. Unfortunately, the amount of room underneath the wing hasn't changed. Thus, Boeing has all but maxed out on the size of the engines it can mount on the 737 without completely redesigning the plane's under carriage. Instead of a stretched 737, Smith believes Boeing should have gone for an updated version of the 757 at some point during its production run. "Somewhere along the way, had Being just re-engined the 757 with a new cockpit and new internal systems, it could have been a big hit," Smith told us. In a statement to Business Insider, a Boeing spokesperson wrote: "The 737 MAX will extend the Next-Generation 737 range advantage with the capability to fly more than 3,500 nautical miles. That's an increase of 340-570 nmi over the 737NG which gives our customers the flexibility to open up new markets." Icelandair Boeing 757-200 (Icelandair Boeing 757.Flickr/Eric Salard) With that said, the 757 isn't a perfect plane. "It's a 6-across (seating) narrow body that's long and thin," Smith said. "And for passengers, it can take a long time to board and disembark." In addition, the 757's cockpit is pretty old-fashioned when compared to modern airliners such as the 737 MAX. The controls of the 757 are also much heavier for pilots than its sibling - the Boeing 767. The 757 and 767 were developed at the same time and feature virtually identical cockpits. Finally, the Boeing 757 generates a massive amount of wake turbulence as it flies - forcing air traffic controllers to keep other planes far away from passing 757s. "No one really knows why, but the 757 has really strong wake turbulence," Smith told us. "The early 757s had worse wake turbulence than the 747." Although Smith added that the addition of winglets on later 757s have greatly decreased the wake turbulence. The Boeing 757 is an aircraft that's come and gone. It served its tour of duty with honor and distinction. Now, it's time for Boeing to find a replacement worthy of stepping into its shoes. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airline-pilot-reveals-why-plane-143700998.html Back to Top Scientists just discovered a huge body of ice on Mars For years, scientists have been researching Mars, sending rovers (with more to come) onto the planet to explore our second-closest planetary neighbor. While Venus is technically closer, it's upon Mars that mankind has placed its future planet habitation hopes. And now, a new NASA report unveils a new ice deposit on the planet that's about as big as Lake Superior - 2,900 cubic miles of the essence of life on Earth. For decades, science educators drilled the following image into the population's minds: That Mars is a red planet with a large ice cap. But in recent years, researchers have found more and more evidence of water structures, like rivers and rivulets, on the planet's surface. Though water in its liquid form can't exist on Mars anymore, the "Utopia" deposit - as NASA calls this new discovery - is close enough to the surface to serve a specific purpose. In all sci-fi speculations about living on Mars, water plays a key role. The Utopia ice could be a future resource for astronauts exploring the planet, or even one day colonizing it. (Yes, the future is now.) And while Mars isn't currently crawling with the Martians of yore, it makes you wonder: With that much water on the planet, what used to be there? https://www.yahoo.com/style/scientists-just-discovered-huge-body-202127430.html 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