Flight Safety Information December 1, 2016 - No. 239 In This Issue Pilot told Colombia controllers he had 'no fuel' before crashing Colombian jet crash: What went wrong on doomed flight? 'Get-home-itis' and macho pride is a lethal mix for pilots Cranfield University...air safety...expert reveals how to survive plane Wing tips of two aircraft brush against each other South Africa: Decomposed Stowaway Found On Arik Plane At Johannesburg Airport Hawaiian Airlines flight diverted due to disruptive passenger. FAA should examine near-space vehicles, GAO says TransAsia unable to repay $80m debt...Defunct.. NBAA Recognizes Six Members for 50 Years of Safe Flying Ready for takeoff: Blues skies thinking to improve aircraft safety. Iran, Russia Inching Closer to Su-30 Fighter Jet Deal Cirrus One Step Closer to Launching Its First Jet Aircraft United to review $12.5 bln Airbus jet order No Ego's, Lots of Sun! (2017 SMS/QA Symposium) Pilot told Colombia controllers he had 'no fuel' before crashing Rescue workers at the site of an airplane crash in Colombia on Tuesday. MEDELLIN, Colombia - The pilot of the chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team told air traffic controllers he had run out of fuel and desperately pleaded for permission to land before crashing into the Andes, according to a leaked recording of the final minutes of the doomed flight. In the sometimes chaotic exchange with the air traffic tower, the pilot of the British-built jet could be heard repeatedly requesting authorization to land. ''Complete electrical failure, without fuel,'' he said in the tense final seconds before the plane set off on a four-minute death spiral that ended with it slamming into a mountainside Monday night. A female controller could be heard giving instructions as the aircraft lost speed and altitude about eight miles from Medellin's international airport. Just before going silent the pilot said he was flying at an altitude of 9,000 feet and made a final plea for a landing code: ''Vectors, senorita. Landing vectors.'' The recording, obtained Wednesday by Colombian media, appeared to confirm the accounts of a surviving flight attendant and a pilot flying nearby who overheard the frantic exchange. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, point to a rare case of fuel running out as a cause of the crash of the jetliner, which was flying at its maximum range. For now, authorities are avoiding singling out any one cause of the crash, which killed all but six of the 77 people on board, including members of Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team traveling to Medellin for the Copa Sudamericana finals - the culmination a fairy tale season that had electrified soccer-crazed Brazil. The aircraft was carrying the Brazilian side Chapecoense. Twenty-one journalists also were on board. A full investigation is expected to take months and will review everything from the 17-year-old aircraft's flight and maintenance history to the voice and instruments data in the black boxes recovered Tuesday at the crash site on a muddy hillside. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was taking part in the investigation because the plane's engines were made by an American manufacturer. As the probe continued, mourning soccer fans in Medellin and the southern Brazilian town of Chapeco, where the team is from, were converging on the two cities' soccer stadiums for simultaneous candlelight vigils. The six survivors were recovering in hospitals, with three in critical but stable condition, while forensic specialists worked to identify the victims so they could be transferred to a waiting cargo plane sent by the Brazilian air force to repatriate the bodies. Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Colombia's aviation agency, said that while evidence initially pointed to an electrical problem, the possibility the crash was caused by lack of fuel has not been ruled out. Planes need to have enough extra fuel on board to fly at least 30 to 45 minutes to another airport in the case of an emergency, and rarely fly in a straight line because of turbulence or other reasons. Before being taken offline, the website of LaMia, the Bolivian-based charter company, said the BAE 146 Avro RJ85 jetliner's maximum range was 1,600 nautical miles - just under the distance between Medellin and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the flight originated carrying close to its full passenger capacity. ''If this is confirmed by the investigators it would be a very painful because it stems from negligence,'' Bocanegra told Caracol Radio on Wednesday when asked whether the plane should not have attempted such a long haul. One key piece to unlocking the mystery could come from Ximena Sanchez, a Bolivian flight attendant who survived the crash and told rescuers the plane had run out of fuel moments before the crash. Investigators were expected to interview her Wednesday at the clinic near Medellin where she is recovering. '''We ran out of fuel. The airplane turned off,''' rescuer Arquimedes Mejia quoted Sanchez as saying as he pulled her from the wreckage. ''That was the only thing she told me,'' he told The Associated Press. Investigators also want to speak to Juan Sebastian Upegui, the co-pilot of an Avianca commercial flight who was in contact with air traffic controllers near Medellin's Jose Maria Cordova airport at the time the chartered plane went down. In a four-minute recording circulated on social media, Upegui described how he heard the flight's pilot request priority to land because he was out of fuel. Growing ever more desperate, the pilot eventually declared a ''total electrical failure,'' Upegui said, before the plane quickly began to lose speed and altitude. ''I remember I was pulling really hard for them, saying 'Make it, make it, make it, make it,''' Upeqgui says in the recording. ''Then it stopped. ... The controller's voice starts to break up and she sounds really sad. We're in the plane and start to cry.'' No traces of fuel have been found at the crash site and the plane did not explode on impact, one of the reasons there were six survivors. John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Florida-based Safety Operating Systems, said the aircraft's amount of fuel deserves a careful look. ''The airplane was being flight-planned right to its maximum. Right there it says that even if everything goes well they are not going to have a large amount of fuel when they arrive,'' said Cox. ''I don't understand how they could do the flight nonstop with the fuel requirements that the regulations stipulate.'' http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2016/11/30/pilot-told-colombia-controllers-had-fuel-before- crashing/3BcgRj7dwJ8i1g11yCTGkN/story.html Back to Top Colombian Officials Say Crashed Plane Ran Out of Fuel Flight trajectory at limit of Avro RJ85's listed range Rescue workers on Tuesday transferred bodies of the victims of the plane crash near La Unión, Colombia. Colombian authorities said the charter plane that crashed outside Medellín carrying a Brazilian soccer team ran out of fuel as it tried to complete the long flight from Bolivia to Colombia. "We can clearly affirm that the plane did not have fuel at the moment of impact," Freddy Bonilla, Colombia's secretary of air security, told reporters Wednesday evening. Mr. Bonilla said the plane, owned by the small, Bolivia-based LaMia airlines, had been in violation of international and local regulations that require planes to carry reserve fuel between airports. Investigators will "establish the reason why the crew, and the offices of the airline, allowed the plane to have an insufficient amount of fuel," he said. Accident investigators in Colombia are also looking into the use of the relatively short-range aircraft to make the transcontinental trip between Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and Medellín. The distance between the two airports, according to the website Great Circle Mapper, is 1,839 miles. The Avro RJ85's maximum range with a full tank of fuel is 1,842 miles, according to a fact sheet on Airliners.net. Aviation experts say the range of a plane can be influenced by several factors, including winds aloft and the weight it is carrying. The flight went down Monday night carrying its crew, journalists, and the Associação Chapecoense de Futebol, which was traveling to the finals of the Copa Sudamericana. The accident all but wiped out the soccer team, a scrappy underdog that rose to victory and was on its way to compete in its first international finals match. It was scheduled to play against Atlético Nacional of Medellín on Wednesday evening. Rescue workers pulled six survivors from the wreckage, including three Chapecoense players. The remaining 71 passengers perished. The survivors were in stable condition Wednesday, health authorities said. Mr. Bonilla and the head of Colombia's civil aviation authority, Alfredo Bocanegra, said the flight plan of the doomed airliner-which was approved by Bolivian authorities-was direct and didn't include a stop to refuel. Bolivia's civil aviation director of operations, Miguel Patino, said that Aasana, Bolivia's airport authority, is responsible for approving flight plans. An Aasana spokesman couldn't be reached Wednesday. Multiple calls were placed to LaMia's offices in Santa Cruz with no answer. As the doomed flight neared Medellín's José María Cordova International Airport Monday night, it was placed in a holding pattern to await clearance to land after two other commercial flights. "This was an absolutely normal process," said Mr. Bonilla, noting that weather conditions were fine. At 9:49 p.m. the LaMia plane said it needed priority because of a problem with fuel, investigators said. The control tower asked the crew to elaborate on the problem but gave them immediate authorization to approach, Mr. Bonilla said. Less than three minutes later, officials said, the LaMia plane declared a fuel emergency. Air-traffic controllers again told the plane it had landing priority. At 9:57 p.m., the plane reported a total electrical failure and its pilot pleaded for the most direct route to the airport. At that point it was flying low, at 9,000 feet, in an area where planes are required to maintain a minimum altitude of 10,000 feet, investigators said. The tower lost contact with the airline moments later, officials said. The crew's apparent delay in explicitly warning controllers about an emergency harks back to an infamous 1989 crash of an Avianca jetliner that ran out of fuel while approaching to land at New York's Kennedy International Airport. Bad weather prompted controllers to put the four-engine Boeing 707 into three separate holding patterns, totaling more than 70 minutes, and at the end the crew reported there was fuel remaining for only five minutes of flight. The jet went down some 16 miles from the field, killing 73 of 158 people on board. Investigators determined that the crew's mistake in failing to promptly inform controllers about the extent of their fuel problem and to formally declare an emergency helped cause the crash. There are 24 investigators working to determine the official cause of Monday's crash in Colombia, including a British expert on U.K.-built Avro RJ85 planes. The plane's data recorders, retrieved from the accident site on Tuesday, are likely to be sent to the U.S. or the U.K. for analysis, Mr. Bonilla said. "The news of the accident really hit me hard," said Manuel Cortes, 61, who had a ticket for Wednesday's match, but instead was on his way to join tens of thousands of fans in a tribute ceremony for the lost players. "In soccer, we are all brothers." http://www.wsj.com/articles/planes-fuel-capacity-questioned-as-colombia-identifies-crash-victims- 1480524540 Back to Top 'Get-home-itis' and macho pride is a lethal mix for pilots A photograph from the cockpit of this week's doomed flight, which was carrying players from Brazilian football club Chapecoense. Picture: Twitter Flying on fumes, as pilots call it, may sound impossible in the modern age but running out of fuel still happens. The cause is usually psychological. Pressure to reach a destination, known in the industry as "get-home-itis," can lead to flight planning that cuts corners and introduces risk. Every year dozens of small aircraft fall victim to wishful thinking by pilots who gamble on stretching range to the maximum. Unexpected headwinds and air traffic delays quickly eat up reserves. The fate of turning into a glider only very rarely befalls airliners, which are governed by strict regulations on reserves and benefit from computerised monitoring of fuel burn. In a case eerily similar to this week's crash, an Avianca Boeing 707 came down near John F Kennedy airport in New York in 1990. The crew of the Colombian airliner was reluctant to declare an emergency when they were put into a holding pattern while low on fuel. After flying from Medellin to New York, they told controllers that they were concerned about fuel but failed to make the distress call that would have given them immediate priority to land. Seventy-three people were killed and 85 survived. The crew's failure was put down to language problems plus the reluctance of all pilots to declare an emergency that was likely to damage their pride and land them in trouble. Pilots explained the fate of the LaMia airliner this week as the likely result of risk-taking under pressure. Miguel Quiroga, the captain, was intent on landing the football team in Medellin, a difficult mountain- ringed airport, in time for them to sleep and prepare for a match. He was not only pilot-in-command but also co-owner of the small Bolivian charter airline that is struggling to make its name. Rescue teams at the scene of the Colombia plane crash. The pilots told the controllers only that they had a "fuel problem" when it was almost too late and even then failed to utter the magic word "emergency" that could have saved them, according to other pilots on the frequency. Gustavo Vargas, the airline's managing director, was at a loss to explain why Captain Quiroga, a former military pilot, decided to forgo a fuel stop in Bogota and head straight to Medellin. According to the rules he was required to have enough fuel to fly back to Bogota if he met unexpected delays once he had arrived over Medellin. Unless there was a physical explanation such as a fuel leak or a feed problem, the crew was breaking the rules. Pilots who operate in South America were astounded that a crew would cut margins so fine in a mountainous area prone to unpredictable weather. Pilots are trained intensively on the danger of bad decision-making under the pressure of "macho" pride and external factors. Commercial pressures on airlines have in recent decades led to the cutting of fuel margins on busy routes. Aircraft sometimes land to refuel short of their destination, but the decision is closely regulated. That does not seem to have been the case at Medellin. The Times http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/gethomeitis-and-macho-pride-is-a-lethal-mix-for- pilots/news-story/2b302a67fd42e91d24f7cc7cf0d06149 Back to Top Cranfield University air safety expert reveals how to survive plane * Count the rows to the exits and keep your shoes on: After six survive the Colombia disaster an air safety expert reveals how to increase your chances of walking away from a plane crash * A plane crash in Colombia has killed 75 people, leaving just six survivors * Air safety expert from Cranfield University explains how to survive a crash * EU Transport Safety Council says 90% of plane crashes are survivable By Graham Braithwaite For The Conversation A plane crash in Colombia has killed at least 75 people including most of one of Brazil's top football teams, leaving just six survivors. While the investigation may take some time to reveal the factors behind the accident, the distressingly high - but not total - number of fatalities raises the question of how some people are able to survive such a devastating disaster. Here Graham Braithwaite, Director of Transport Systems, Professor of Safety and Accident Investigation, Cranfield University, writing in The Conversation, explains how some people live to tell the tale. Graham Braithwaite, Professor of Safety and Accident Investigation, Cranfield University, explains how people walk away from major air disasters, such as the one that happened in Colombia (pictured) Aircraft accidents, especially those involving jet aircraft, are increasingly rare. According to the International Air Transport Association, 2015 saw one accident for every 3.1million flights. That's a spectacular achievement for an industry that is not much more than a century old and which involves transporting people at such high speeds in what can be challenging environments. But when an accident does occur, what is it that determines that some passengers survive when many others on the same flight do not? The first factor is whether an accident is deemed 'survivable' at all. While it may seem like a simple definition, there are actually 'unsurvivable' accidents where people beat the odds. Unsurvivable accidents tend to be those where there is either a catastrophic loss of control or where the impact is at high velocity. The Air France aircraft that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 was a 'loss of control in flight' accident which no one could have survived because of the heavy impact with the sea. In contrast, while the loss of all hydraulic systems aboard a United Airlines DC10 in 1989 should have resulted in the total loss of the aircraft, the heroic actions of the crew to steer the aircraft using only the thrust of the engines led to 185 survivors out of the 296 on board. Accidents that happen in the cruise phase of flight, such as those involving a 'controlled flight into terrain' tend to be less survivable. Such accidents happen without the crew being aware of a problem, so occur at high speed and without the cabin or its passengers being prepared for an accident. In these cases, survivors tend to be rare and the reasons behind their survival can be as random as whether they were thrown clear or were perhaps caught by a tree. This was the case when there were only four survivors of a 1985 accident involving a JAL Boeing 747, which killed 520 other people when the plane hit a mountainside following the separation of the aircraft's tail. Accidents that happen in the cruise phase of flight, such as those involving a 'controlled flight into terrain' tend to be less survivable, says Professor Braithwaite Rescue teams search for survivors after Colombia plane crash The European Transport Safety Council estimates that 90 per cent of aircraft accidents are survivable - something that does not necessarily match public expectation. Such a high rate of survival is due to improvements in crashworthiness (the science of making structures better able to cope with impact), the cabin environment, and crew training. The materials we use now are less flammable. The seats better able to withstand impact forces. The exit routes are more clearly marked. The fire suppression systems are more effective and the space around exits is better designed to allow the fast flow of evacuating passengers. Those who listen to the safety announcement and who take notice of their nearest exit - for example, by counting the rows of seats in front or behind them - are more likely to get off an aircraft that is on fire or filled with smoke Each of these developments has been based on the investigation of previous accidents and the actions of safety regulators and manufacturers to improve standards. Yet the factors that affect survivability are many and varied. In accidents where a problem has been identified beforehand, the use of seatbelts, fastened tight and low, along with adopting a suitable brace position, is known to have a tangible effect on whether you survive. Those who listen to the safety announcement and who take notice of their nearest exit - for example, by counting the rows of seats in front or behind them - are more likely to get off an aircraft that is on fire or filled with smoke. Their chances are also increased by clear, assertive instructions by the cabin crew - safety is the main reason they are there after all. Sitting close to an exit also helps, although those who do sit here need to be ready to act swiftly to avoid being crushed by fellow passengers trying to reach the exit. External factors help, too. There are strict planning rules around airports to remove obstacles and to ensure that the airport fire service can reach any part of an aerodrome within three minutes of an accident. This has helped to greatly increase the number of survivors who may once have survived the impact but not a subsequent fire because they could not evacuate from the aircraft. Above all, passengers should remain vigilant. According to Boeing, between 2006 and 2015, 66 per cent of fatal aircraft accidents occurred as the aircraft was on the ground - during take-off or during final approach and landing. It is worth keeping your shoes on and wearing suitable clothing. Use the time to listen to the cabin crew's briefing. The most likely result is that they will reward you with more attentive service, but if something does go wrong, it may well make all the difference - and even save your life. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3985788/Count-rows-exits-shoes-six-survive- Colombia-disaster-air-safety-expert-reveals-increase-chances-walking-away-plane- crash.html#ixzz4Ra37vhCh Back to Top Wing tips of two aircraft brush against each other In an incident on the taxi way, the wing tips of two aircraft brushed against each other at the airport here on Wednesday, causing inconvenience to passengers. Both aircraft sustained minor damage and have been grounded. No passenger was injured. The incident occurred at 5.45 a.m. when an A330 wide-body aircraft of Kuwait Airways was taxiing towards the parking stand and an IndiGo A-320 with flight no 6E 207 was taxiing to depart for Jaipur. They were on Taxiway 'N' and 'W' respectively (Letters N and W connote the address of taxiway). A Mumbai airport spokesperson said flight operations were normal after the incident and both aircraft were grounded for inspection by engineers and airworthiness clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The matter is being investigated by the DGCA. IndiGo said its safety department is supporting the investigation. Officials of Kuwait Airways could not be reached for comment. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Wing-tips-of-two-aircraft-brush-against-each- other/article16731941.ece Back to Top South Africa: Decomposed Stowaway Found On Arik Plane At Johannesburg Airport Arik Air. The decomposing body of about a 30-year-old man was yesterday found in the wheel-well of Arik Air flight, A330-200 at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. According to statement from the airline, the aircraft operated the scheduled Lagos-Johannesburg flight that departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 3:55p.m. on November 29, 2016 and arrived Johannesburg shortly before 11p.m. Arik said it was engineers of South African Airways Technical facility at the airport where the aircraft was scheduled for a routine maintenance check that discovered the body of the stowaway during inspection. THISDAY authoritatively learnt that the body had decomposed to a third degree before it was discovered and inside source disclosed that the deceased might have hidden himself in the aircraft on Sunday when the aircraft departed from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos to JFK Airport in New York and died of cold when the aircraft gained altitude to a freezing level. http://allafrica.com/stories/201612010161.html Back to Top Hawaiian Airlines flight diverted due to disruptive passenger HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A New York-bound Hawaiian Airlines flight was forced to return to Honolulu on Tuesday night because of a disruptive passenger. Flight HA 50 was nearly halfway to the John F. Kennedy International Airport when pilots turned around because of a drunk man who was causing problems, passengers said. An airline spokesperson said there was a disruptive passenger on board, but could not confirm if he was intoxicated. The spokesperson added the plane was over the ocean, and if it's less than halfway out, pilots will turn it back. HA 50 originally departed at about 4:30 p.m. Hawaii time. It took off again around 1 a.m. Wednesday. http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/33825520/new-york-bound-hawaiian-airlines-flight-diverted-due- to-disruptive-passenger Back to Top FAA should examine near-space vehicles, GAO says The Government Accountability Office is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate how it might regulate vehicles that aren't quite spacecraft and aren't quite aircraft but touch both environments. In a report released on Nov. 25, GAO told the Transportation Department that the FAA should take a closer look at whether its rules can handle the growing number of "space support vehicles" traversing the Earth's atmosphere, pushing spacecraft into orbit or performing other extreme-altitude work. Specifically, auditors said the FAA administrator should investigate whether the agency's current regulatory framework, which focuses on aircraft, is appropriate for a variety of airborne vehicles that include high-performance jets, balloons and the aircraft portion of hybrid systems that also contain a rocket-powered launch vehicle. The FAA should suggest legislation, regulatory changes or both as needed to help the U.S. foster commercial development of such technologies, GAO said. Companies that are pursuing privatized space travel and research told GAO officials that the FAA's current regulatory approach presents a market challenge because they cannot get the necessary approval for aircraft to carry passengers or cargo for pay, which limits their ability to operate in the developing commercial space travel market. In addition to officials at the FAA and NASA, auditors interviewed 37 legal experts and representatives of industry organizations, launch companies, space support companies and spaceports. Although the size of the growing commercial market for those kinds of aircraft and facilities is unclear, GAO said companies were performing research and development work in other countries because of regulatory difficulties in the U.S. Auditors concluded that the U.S. has lengthy, time-consuming permitting processes and other rules governing the vehicles' use in U.S. airspace. For instance, FAA regulations do not allow companies with aircraft operating under experimental certificates to be compensated for carrying people or property. Other rules are aimed specifically at space vehicles, not near-space support vehicles. Furthermore, the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation is only authorized to regulate commercial space activities, such as launches, and it focuses on the safety of third parties. Some company officials told GAO that they would like to use high-performance jet aircraft to train future spaceflight participants by exposing them to physiological and psychological conditions similar to actual spaceflight. Others would like to use space support vehicles to see how objects or people react in reduced- gravity environments. However, GAO auditors said it is difficult to know the size of the market for spaceflight training and research because they could find no relevant studies. Nevertheless, new rules governing commercial spaceflight have moved through Congress. In September, the House voted unanimously to encourage the FAA to investigate what role it might play in directing commercial and foreign space traffic in U.S. airspace. The Senate approved the measure on Nov. 16, and it was sent to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature. The bill would authorize a study of the impact such a shift might have. Currently, the Defense Department is responsible for alerting satellite operators about potential collisions, and Congress would need to approve a change in authority. https://fcw.com/articles/2016/11/28/rockwell-gao-faa-near-space-vehicles.aspx Back to Top TransAsia unable to repay $80m debt Defunct TransAsia Airways has disclosed that it is unable to pay about $80 million worth of debt. In a stock exchange statement, the Taiwanese airline says a financier has withdrawn $75 million in credit after it defaulted on payment. It is unclear what the borrowings relate to, and TransAsia could not be reached for clarification. In a separate disclosure, the airline adds that it is also unable to pay NT$180.4 million ($5.6 million) in corporate bonds, similarly due to a lack of funds. Following months of financial struggle following two fatal turboprop crashes, TransAsia announced on 22 November that it will cease operations with immediate effect. Before the carrier's shutdown, it was operating a fleet of 19 aircraft - six Airbus A320s, five A321s and eight ATR 72s. It also had four Airbus A330s, one A321 and one A320 in storage. Flight Fleets Analyzer indicates that TransAsia had outstanding finance terms on two A330s and one ATR 72-600. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top NBAA Recognizes Six Members for 50 Years of Safe Flying NBAA recently honored six member companies with its 50 Year Safe Flying Achievement Award and acknowledged hundreds of others for safe flying achievements. The flying achievement awards were presented earlier this month at NBAA 2016 as part of the association's Flying Safety Award program. "By following safety best practices and achieving accident-free operations, these member companies have proven to be exemplary safety standard-bearers for the business aviation industry," said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. The most recent 50 Year Safe Flying Achievement Award recipients are Cargill, Caterpillar, Hess Corp., Eli Lilly & Co., Red Wing Shoe and Corning. NBAA noted that Corning has marked more than 60 years of safe flying. The awards recognized milestones reached by the end of last year. NBAA also presented a number of other awards to companies and individuals for safety achievements. These included the Corporate Business Flying Safety Award, which was given to 230 companies that had collectively accrued 9,548,085 safe hours. NBAA also presented the Commercial Business Flying Safety Award to 35 companies that have compiled 1,199,723 safe hours. In addition, 426 pilots who have flown 3,196,566 safe hours received either the ATP or Commercial Pilot Safety Award; 98 companies qualified for the Aviation Maintenance Department Safety Award; 261 technicians received the Maintenance/Avionics Technician Safety Award; 215 support personnel were recipients of the Aviation Support Services Safety Award; and 111 schedulers and licensed dispatchers were honored with the Schedulers & Licensed Dispatchers Award. The most recent recipients joined thousands of NBAA member companies and individuals recognized since the Flying Safety Awards program was established in 1953. The program recognizes companies for "exceptional achievement in maintaining safety flying operations." The awards, the association said, have brought worldwide attention to the business aviation safety record and "serve as testimony to the high degree of professionalism inherent in business aircraft operations, and as tribute to the skill of a company's management, maintenance, pilot and support personnel teams." The awards also were presented as NBAA established a new policy to underscore its commitment to promoting safety as a key part of its mission. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-11-29/nbaa-recognizes-six-members- 50-years-safe-flying Back to Top Ready for takeoff: Blues skies thinking to improve aircraft safety Summary: Nervous flyers and crew alike would prefer jet airliners not to vibrate so much at take off. Research points to blue skies thinking that might explain the phenomenon and find ways to reduce the safety and image problems associated with this troubling aircraft noise. A gas flow simulation can model the oscillations of the air around a wing during aircraft takeoff and reveal potentially damaging low, infrasound vibrations. Credit: Inderscience Publishers Nervous flyers and crew alike would prefer jet airliners not to vibrate so much at take off. Research published in the International Journal of Aerodynamics points to blue skies thinking that might explain the phenomenon and find ways to reduce the safety and image problems associated with this troubling aircraft noise. Engineer Stanislaw Raczynski of the Universidad Panamericana, in Mexico City, Mexico, has used a gas flow simulation tool to follow the way in which low acoustic oscillations develop on the underside of an aircraft's wings as it gains speed ready for takeoff. Aside from being noisy and worrying to some passengers, there is a serious engineering issue that can arise if the oscillations match the resonant frequency of the wings or fuselage. Raczynski's simulations point to specific vibration patterns, their amplitude and frequency, that arise under certain conditions. Perhaps of greatest concern is that he has identified several low, sub-acoustic frequencies (so-called infrasound as opposed to ultrasound which is above the audible frequency range). Such oscillations can produce forces of up to several hundred kilograms per square meter of wing area. "The air movement around the wing produces several infrasound frequencies, explains Raczynski, "Those oscillations may not be strong enough to cause damage but these frequencies can enter into resonance with the fuselage andproduce quite strong effects." He adds, that, "During takeoff, such infrasound frequencies may also coincide with the natural frequency of the air column between the wing and the ground which could multiply the effect." While there are numerous design features in place in modern aircraft to reduce audible noise and some vibration, these low frequency oscillations are more worrying from a structural engineering point of view. "Model parameters used in simulations are always charged with some degree of uncertainty," adds Raczynski. "Perhaps, more useful is the qualitative outcome of the simulations, rather than the quantitative results given that the problem is closely connected to aircraft safety." He concludes that deeper investigations should be carried out to aid the design of new aircraft and avoid accidents. Journal Reference: Stanislaw Raczynski. Why a jetliner vibrates during takeoff: simulating air oscillations under the wing. International Journal of Aerodynamics, 2016; 5 (2): 125 DOI: 10.1504/IJAD.2016.10001540 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161129150622.htm Back to Top Iran, Russia Inching Closer to Su-30 Fighter Jet Deal Iran's defense minister recently announced that Moscow has accepted Tehran's conditions for a possible fighter jet deal. Iran and Russia are reportedly moving closer in concluding a possible contract for the co-production of an undisclosed number of Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighter aircraft, Iranian Defense Minister General Hossein Dehghan told local media over the weekend. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on November 26, the defense minister said that "the purchasing of the fighter jets is on the Defense Ministry's agenda," the Tehran Times reports. "Any sort of cooperation with the selling side should be conditioned upon technological partnership and joint investment," the minister further elaborated. Iran's Tasnim News Agency reports that Russia allegedly has agreed to the minister's terms. Russia's defense ministry has so far neither confirmed nor denied the Iranian minister's statement. In August 2016, Dehghan announced that both sided were holding consultations over a possible aircraft purchase. "We don't need other long-range air defense systems (in addition to the S-300 and Bavar-373); we no longer plan to purchase them. Therefore, the Iranian Defense Ministry's agenda includes consultations with Russia on the purchase of Sukhoi aircraft. We need to strengthen our Air Force," Dehghan said on Iranian TV at the time. Russia is currently in the process of delivering S-300PMU-2 Favorite long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries to Iran. Should the deal go through, Iran would be the second country after India to locally manufacture the Su- 30SM is a 4++ generation multipurpose fighter aircraft. Iran and Russia reportedly first deliberated over a possible Su-30 fighter jet deal in the summer of 2015 during the MAKS airshow, held near Moscow. Nevertheless, as I noted elsewhere (See: "Iran and Russia Negotiating $10 Billion Arms Deal"): [T]he United States has made clear that it will block any sales of offensive military weapons from Russia to Iran. In April, a senior U.S. official testified that Washington would block any sale of Russian fighter jets to Iran. "We would block the approval of fighter aircraft," Thomas Shannon, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said. "We've got a commitment ... from the Russians in terms of working to prohibit the transfer of technologies to Iran's ballistic missile program." Under the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an international agreement on the nuclear program of Iran signed in July 2015 that went into effect in January 2016, the UN arms embargo will be lifted by October 2020. Any offensive weapons deals with Iran prior to that date, including the sale of combat aircraft, will have to be approved by the UN Security Council. http://thediplomat.com/2016/12/iran-russia-inching-closer-to-su-30-fighter-jet-deal/ Back to Top Cirrus One Step Closer to Launching Its First Jet Aircraft Cirrus Aircraft's Vision Jet Cirrus Aircraft is well known for its high-tech single-engine airplanes, which come with a full-aircraft parachute as standard equipment, and now the company has achieved certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to start deliveries of its chute-equipped Vision Jet. The Vision (about $2 million) is the company's first jet aircraft, and has been in development for 10 years. It will also be the only single-engine jet in the U.S. market, and is designed to appeal to owner-operators stepping up from a piston plane. The cabin features expansive windows and seats up to five adults (including the pilot) and two children. The modular seats are easy to reposition for a variety of missions. The jet travels at speeds up to 345 mph for as far as 1,380 miles. A side yoke for the flight controls and a single-lever smart controller for the Williams International FJ33-5A jet engine keep the cockpit efficient and uncluttered. Cirrus Perspective avionics by Garmin fill the panel's dual touchscreens, and synthetic-vision technology helps pilots land safely even when it's dark or foggy. To make it an easy transition for piston pilots to learn to fly the jet, the company also plans to train all Vision pilots in-house, with an emphasis on safety. The Cirrus training program along with the parachute system have been credited with reducing accidents among the piston fleet. In 2014, almost 6,000 Cirrus piston aircraft logged more than 1 million flight hours, with just three fatal accidents. (cirrusaircraft.com) http://robbreport.com/aviation/cirrus-one-step-closer-launching-its-first-jet-aircraft Back to Top United to review $12.5 bln Airbus jet order Nov 30 (Reuters) - United Continental Holdings Inc said it was reviewing whether to alter an order of about $12.5 billion at list prices for Airbus Group SE's largest twin-engine jets, the A350-1000s, for smaller long-haul models. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that United, the No. 3 U.S. airline, may swap some orders of the Airbus A350-1000s for other wide-body jets such as the A350-900, which can fly longer routes, or the smaller A330. (http://bloom.bg/2fRL8mD) The airline is also considering converting some order of Boeing Co's 737 jets to 737 MAX 10X, a longer version of the airplanemaker's next-generation 737 MAX model, according to the Bloomberg report, which cited Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy. Earlier this month, United said it would convert orders for 61 Boeing 737-700 planes due to be delivered in the next two years into the newer 737 MAX model, but that it was still deciding on which size MAX planes to order. A United spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that the company had started a review of the orders, as an example of changes the airline's new CFO, Levy, was considering since joining in August. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/united-review-12-5-bln-204744436.html Back to Top No Ego's, Lots of Sun! (2017 SMS/QA Symposium) It's Symposium time and we are so proud to announce our 2017 lineup! You're getting this email because you are member of the DTI family, by either being a past Symposium attendee or a workshop attendee or just a nice person! We're going to offer you a special rate for being a loyal DTI client. Check it out below but first check out the program. First, we've checked our ego's at the door and have opened our program to 4 of the best Civil Aviation Consulting firms. Embry Riddle, Southern California Safety Institute (SCSI), Curt Lewis and Associates, and, of course, DTI will be here conducting workshops and available the entire 3 days for questions. As you know we always keep the attendance small to allow meaningful one on one interaction. This year we also have a special guest, Mikey McBryan, star of TV's Ice Pilots NWT and a key manager with the famed Buffalo Airways. He will bring his wit and experience in dealing with the everchanging government regulatory environment, along with operating in the other challenging environment of the far north of Canada. So, we're sending this to you before we begin our public promotions, so you may be able to secure your seats. Oh, I forgot, Dennis and I have decided to make this event a "Thank You" event, and with that in mind, since you have been with us for so long, we decided to offer you and everyone else you bring an incredible rate of $1,299/per attendee. The regular rate is $1999, early bird registration is $1,449, but for you its only $1,299! That's for the whole Symposium, including lodging, banquet meal, breakfast, airport transportation, my great presence (J) and more. This is not the rate that will be given to random attendees. Of course all the workshops over the three days are certificate workshops! What I do need from you is a commitment of how many people you will be sending as soon as possible. You can just give me a number right now and sometime in January we will put names to those places. We will also contact you in January to receive payment for the attendees. I'm going to give you my sales pitch below, not because I think you need it, but because I really hope your organization will show a presence at our event. Some Business Reasons to Come: * A chance to meet some great consultants from 4 great companies, in an intimate setting! * A chance to have you and some of your employees receive the latest training! * A rate that is less than our workshops alone, when we do them during the year and this includes lodging! * A chance to give some of your key people a chance to learn and relax at the same time! * What a great way to build company morale! Some Other Great Reasons to Come: * Rate includes Lodging and there is a special rate for your people if they wish to extend their stay up to 3 days before and 3 days after the Symposium! * Rate includes banquet reception for attendee and a guest! * Rate includes breakfast for workshop attendees! * Rate includes transportation from MCO to Disney's Coronado Springs resort on the grounds of Disney World! * Rate includes 2 adults & 2 children in a room, so bring the family * Free transportation all around the Disney World complex. * Special DTI discounts to Disney attractions for all in party. Workshop attendees can join their families in parks at even deeper discounts after sessions let out. At any rate, please let me know your thoughts, either way as soon as possible. This offer is going out to only a few people who have been our most ardent supporters over the years we've spent in Canada and the U.S.! Thank you and hope to see you in February! Click here for more details: http://www.dtiatlanta.com/symposium.html Sol Taboada Executive Training Coordinator DTI Training Consortium DTI Training Canada Curt Lewis