Flight Safety Information December 7, 2016 - No. 243 In This Issue Bolivia Detains Airline's President as Chapecoense Crash Probe Advances Aircraft damaged after ground contact Pillsbury: Global, Top-Ranked, Non-Stop Service Justice Department approves Alaska Airlines' acquisition of Virgin America Mamata Banerjee flight row: Pilots' suspension grossly unfair, only mollifies West Bengal CM (India) China Needs 5,550 New Pilots a Year as Travel Soars, Boeing Says Boeing expects business jet sales to recover in next two years Trump interjects himself in Air Force One, business deals An Afghan Woman Goes From Refugee to Military Pilot Graduate Research Survey Bolivia Detains Airline's President as Chapecoense Crash Probe Advances COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - The head of the charter airline whose plane crashed in the Andes last week was detained by Bolivian prosecutors for questioning Tuesday as authorities look into whether the tragedy that killed 71 people stemmed from negligence. Gustavo Vargas, a retired Bolivian air force general, was picked up in Santa Cruz along with a mechanic and secretary who worked for him at LaMia airline. All are being questioned about their roles in letting a British-built short-range jet attempt a more than four-hour flight from Santa Cruz to Medellin, Colombia, for which it barely had enough fuel in violation of aviation norms. Prosecutors said the interrogation was expected to last eight hours and afterward they would decide whether any of the three would be formally arrested. Earlier, authorities raided the airline's offices as well as those of the agency that oversees air traffic in Bolivia. Authorities are also looking into whether LaMia, which received permission to fly only earlier this year, was favored by Vargas' son, who headed the office responsible for licensing aircraft in Bolivia's civil aviation agency. After the crash, LaMia had its license revoked and several aviation officials, including Vargas' son, were suspended. The plane was carrying a Brazilian soccer team to the opening match in the Copa Sudamericana tournament's finals when it crashed outside Medellin on Nov. 28. Image: Officials registers the offices of the Bolivian flight control agency and the airline Lamia Members of the Bolivian Public Prosecutor's Office and the Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics with a vehicle of evidence boxes at the offices of the country's flight control agency and the airline LaMia in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Dec. 6, 2016. STRINGER / EPA Prosecutors from Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia are expected to meet Wednesday in Santa Cruz to combine efforts in determining the causes of the crash. They also are studying how the airline, which despite a dodgy history amassed an impressive list of clients from among South America's top soccer clubs, was ever allowed to operate. One of the six survivors of the crash said Tuesday that he had been reassured by the airline before takeoff that the plane would make a refueling stop in the Bolivian town of Cobija, as it had on previous flights north. "I don't know if it was a fuel problem - the investigation will determine that," Erwin Tumiri told The Associated Press during an interview from his modest home in Cochabamba, where he is recovering from the crash. "But every time we flew we went first to Cobija and returned the same way to refuel. On this occasion they said we'd do the same." Meanwhile, an employee in Bolivia's aviation agency turned up Tuesday in Brazil seeking asylum. In a document widely circulating in Bolivian media, the worker, Celia Castedo, appears to have pointed out a number of irregularities in the aircraft's flight plan, including not having enough fuel, to LaMia's dispatcher, who was killed in the crash. The authenticity of the document couldn't be immediately verified. Brazilian federal police said Castedo applied for refugee status upon crossing the border by land. In Bolivia, a top government official said Castedo, who was among officials suspended following the crash, was potentially evading justice and should be immediately deported. "What she has done is very serious," Government minister Carlos Romero told reporters, denying that Castedo faced any persecution in Bolivia. "It's a way of escaping the judicial system." Messages sent to various social media accounts apparently belonging to Castedo were not immediately returned. Reached by the AP via Facebook, Castedo's son, Sebastian Castedo, said that the truth would "come later by authorities other than those in Bolivia." He said he did not know his mother's whereabouts. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/bolivia-detains-airline-s-president-chapecoense- crash-probe-advances-n692886 Back to Top Aircraft damaged after ground contact Engineers are assessing the damage to two Virgin Australia passenger planes after a run- in at Hobart Airport. One plane bound for Sydney was taxiing out of the terminal when its tail clipped the wing of another aircraft which was in the process of boarding passengers for a flight to Melbourne. An aircraft spokesman confirmed the planes made "light contact" in the incident which airport management said happened about 10.30am on Wednesday. "There was no safety risk during this time and engineers are currently inspecting the aircraft," the spokesman said. "We apologise for the delay to passengers and are working hard to have them on their way as quickly as possible." There have been no injuries reported. Christopher Lawrence was boarding the Melbourne-bound flight when the crash occurred. "People were quietly coming on board when we suddenly felt an almighty shudder," he told the ABC. "(It) visibly knocked the plane. People were almost knocked off their feet." An airport statement says services at Hobart Airport are continuing, but warned of changes to some aircraft operations and slight delays to some flights. http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/12/07/13/47/two-passenger-planes-clip-wings- in-hobart#Pslow8q8vwbE8VSI.99 Back to Top Back to Top Justice Department approves Alaska Airlines' acquisition of Virgin America A Virgin America plane taxis past an Alaska Airlines plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The Department of Justice has given Alaska final permission to complete the acquisition of Virgin America. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press) The Justice Department on Tuesday cleared the parent company of Alaska Airlines to buy Virgin America, but imposed some route-sharing conditions. The $2.6-billion purchase of Burlingame, Calif.-based Virgin America by Alaska Air Group, which will create the nation's fifth largest domestic carrier, is the latest of a series of airline combinations that have put more than 80% of all domestic flights under control of four major carriers, American, United, Delta and Southwest. With the acquisition, Alaska Air Group will account for 6% of the nation's domestic flights, moving it ahead of JetBlue Airways Corp., which lost the bidding war for Virgin. Alaska officials have yet to say whether they will operate the two airlines separately or combine them under the Alaska Airlines name. Before clearing the purchase of Virgin America, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division required Alaska to slim down its code-sharing agreement with American Airlines, the world's largest carrier. Code-sharing agreements allow airlines to sell tickets to its customers on flights operated by rival airlines. Alaska Airlines and American Airlines have code-sharing agreements to sell tickets on about 250 routes. But Virgin America has competed strongly with American Airlines, particularly on transcontinental flights. To ensure that American Airlines continues to face competition, Alaska Airlines agreed to end its code-sharing agreement with American on those flights that complete with Virgin America, including routes out of Los Angeles International Airport. "Today's settlement ensures that Alaska has the incentive to take the fight to American and use Virgin's assets to grow its network in ways that benefit competition and consumers," Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. Renata Hesse said.. The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "With this combination now cleared for takeoff, we're thrilled to bring these two companies together and start delivering our low fares and great service to an even larger group of customers," said Brad Tilden, chairman and chief executive of Alaska Air Group. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-alaska-virgin-20161206-story.html Back to Top Mamata Banerjee flight row: Pilots' suspension grossly unfair, only mollifies West Bengal CM (India) The suspension of six pilots, two each from indigo, Spicejet and Air India for allegedly endangering their flights as they hovered over Kolkata waiting for landing clearance makes no sense. Spurred by the accusations of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was on one of them and believes this whole exercise was designed to have her killed, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) decided to investigate the issue.With ana alacrity it seldom displays. On the face of it all three aircrafts were low on fuel and had asked for clearance or else they were to prepare to move to an alternate airport. There is a fixed protocol in every commercial or scheduled flight. You go from point A to point B with thirty minutes 'go around' or 'hover' fuel over point B and enough fuel after that to reach your alternate airport (in this case, Bhubaneshwar) and hover there for thirty minutes. If any of these parameters have been broken, then by all means charge the pilots and the ground crew and the dispatch for negligence. But if they have not been broken and the fuel was sufficient to get to the alternative with enough to spare then becoming all holier than thou because a chief minister gets paranoid borders on the ridiculous. Mamata Banerjee. We have to understand that when you make the pilot community jittery and take punitive action like this you are more likely to compromise air safety that if you go off half-cocked into an investigation that requires a probe of what went on between the three flights and the ATC where there might have been a possible misunderstanding but you do not create such a furor and take these unilateral actions when there is no evidence of the rules being broken. At no stage were the aircrafts in danger or passenger safety compromised and it seems that all this controversy is predicated to the Banerjee's impatience of her flight landing being delayed. In fact she should be asked why she would scare 170 passengers and why an airline should be maligned by her causing distress and concern to future passengers. When you accuse airlines of negligence, it has far reaching effects. Add to that a finger pointing at the pilots for not carrying out their duty and the carrier is literally placed in the dock. You cannot seriously imagine that the crew colluded to endanger a flight complement of 170 passengers and place their lives at risk as an part of a conspiracy to eliminate Banerjee. The more incredible part is how protected these politicians are that they can make such outrageous statements and get away with it. Any other normal passenger making such claims would either be taken away in a straitjacket or be placed into custody pending an inquiry. Once having said it, Banerjee should be asked to explain exactly how and why she has arrived at this conclusion based on the flimsy perception that her flight was slightly delayed. Imagine, if you will, if all of us on delayed flights were to see the a hand in glove plot what utter chaos there would be in the skies. Seeing that no pilot on any of these flights called an emergency, hit the transponder 7700 code or said anything more than alerting ground control to facts on the fuel situation suspension for doing their job seems untenable. After all, they had enough fuel to break the parameters and hover over Kolkata for another ninety minutes. http://www.firstpost.com/india/mamata-banerjee-flight-row-pilots-suspension-grossly- unfair-only-mollifies-west-bengal-cm-3143626.html Back to Top China Needs 5,550 New Pilots a Year as Travel Soars, Boeing Says * China needs more pilots than anywhere in Asia Pacific region * Nation on course to pass N. America as largest aviation market An Air China aircraft at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Airlines in China need to hire 5,550 pilots a year for the next two decades as new plane orders and demand for air travel surges, according to Boeing Co. With the nation on course to eclipse North America as the world's largest travel market, China will need 111,000 new aviators through 2035, Boeing said in a forecast released on Wednesday. That's more than anywhere else in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for 40 percent of the global pilot requirement, the Chicago-based plane maker said. Aviation is booming in China, where the number of airlines has increased 28 percent to 55 in the past five years. Air traffic over China is set to almost quadruple in the next two decades, making it the world's busiest market, according to rival Airbus Group SE. "We are continuing to see a significant need for new pilots and maintenance technicians in the Asia-Pacific region and across the globe," Sherry Carbary, vice president of Boeing Flight Services, said in a statement. As China endures a pilot shortage, local airlines are dangling lucrative pay packages at foreigners with cockpit experience, according to recruiters. Foreign aviators can earn as much as $26,000 a month in net pay in China. The Asian country also needs 119,000 flight technicians over the next two decades, while Southeast Asia requires 62,000 pilots and 67,000 technicians, Boeing said. In a global forecast in July, the aircraft maker said airlines worldwide will need to recruit and train about 617,000 pilots to fly 39,620 planes, valued at $5.9 trillion, that are expected to be added through 2035. The Asia-Pacific region will need 15,130 new aircraft valued at $2.35 trillion in the next two decades, according to Boeing. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-07/china-needs-5-550-new-pilots-a- year-as-travel-soars-boeing-says Back to Top Boeing expects business jet sales to recover in next two years Boeing's logo is seen during Japan Aerospace 2016 air show in Tokyo, Japan, October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Boeing (BA.N) sees sales of its business jets rebounding over the next two years after a "tough" 2016, Boeing Business Jet President David Longridge said at a press conference in Dubai on Tuesday. Boeing Business Jets (BBJ), which sells variants of Boeing aircraft for the corporate jet market, blames a more than halving of sales this year on the uncertainty created by Britain's Brexit vote and U.S. Presidential election. In 2016, Boeing has booked sales for three business jets, all narrow body aircraft, compared to 10 in 2015, including four wide-bodies, and 14 jets in 2014, BBJ Vice President Jeff Dunn told Reuters. "Now the elections are over and Brexit is decided we're starting to see things pick up," Longridge said. "I think over the next two years we'll go back to the kind of six to eight airplanes that we saw more regularly in the past four years," he said. Boeing has campaigns open for three to four business jets though is unlikely to close those deals before Dec. 31, Longridge said. He later told Reuters 2016 was likely to be the low point for BBJ in terms of sales since the 2009 global financial crisis. Boeing's business jet division, which competes with Airbus Corporate Jets (AIR.PA), makes up a fraction of the company's total aircraft sales and deliveries. It delivered four dedicated models of narrow-body BBJ jets plus an unspecified number of wide-body jets for private customers in 2015, out of 762 total jetliner deliveries that year. Longridge on Tuesday announced Asia-Pacific-based Orient Global Aviation as the first customer of the recently announced BBJ 737 MAX 7 aircraft. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-business-jets-idUSKBN13V23T Back to Top Trump interjects himself in Air Force One, business deals Military personnel salute as Air Force One, with President Barack Obama aboard, departs Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - President-elect Donald Trump, a political newcomer who touts his corporate skills, turned businessman-in-chief Tuesday, first demanding the government cancel a multibillion-dollar order for new presidential planes and then hailing a Japanese company's commitment to invest billions in the U.S. "We will defend American jobs. We have to look at it almost like a war," Trump thundered in North Carolina, vowing to keep companies from moving overseas during the second stop of his "thank you" tour to salute his supporters. "We want the next generation of innovation and production to happen right here in America." Trump was far less bombastic than during the tour's kickoff in Ohio last week, striking more of the healing notes traditionally delivered by a president-to-be in the weeks after a bruising election. He will travel to Ohio State University on Thursday to meet with some of the victims of the recent car-and-knife attack that left 11 people injured, according to a person familiar with the plans but not authorized to discuss them before they are announced. "We will heal our divisions and unify our country. When Americans are unified there is nothing we cannot do - nothing!" he told the crowd in Fayetteville. "I'm asking you to dream big again as Americans. I'm asking you to believe in yourselves." The Republican businessman largely stuck to the script Tuesday - and, in a change, even stopped the crowd when it started to boo the media - and avoided some of the score- settling and scorched-earth rhetoric that defined his campaign and was present again last week in Cincinnati. He also repeated his vow to fortify the nation's military and brought Marine Gen. James Mattis on stage, officially naming his choice to be Defense Secretary after teasing it last week. Earlier in the day, Trump plainly telegraphed that when he takes office in six weeks he'll take an interventionist role in the nation's economy - as well as play showman when he sees a chance. The celebrity businessman's declaration about Air Force One caused manufacturer Boeing's stock to drop temporarily and raised fresh questions about how his administration - not to mention his Twitter volleys - could affect the economy. "The plane is totally out of control," Trump told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower. "I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money." Earlier he had tweeted that the deal's costs were "out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!" Not long after his first appearance, Trump returned to the lobby with Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, a massive telecommunications company that counts Sprint among its holdings. Trump pointed proudly to Son's commitment to invest $50 billion in the United States, which Trump said could create 50,000 jobs. Trump - who also tweeted the deal - shook Son's hand and posed for photos, reveling as he had last week when he toured a Carrier plant in Indiana where he said he had instigated an agreement that will preserve about 1,000 jobs the appliance maker had planned to move to Mexico. Details of the deal were scarce and it was unclear if the money was part of a fund of up to $100 billion in global technology investments that SoftBank and the government of Saudi Arabia announced in October. As for Air Force One, the government has agreed that Boeing will build two new planes, which would go into service around 2024. That means Trump might never fly on the aircraft, which carry U.S. presidents around the globe. The Air Force has pressed for a faster schedule, saying the aging current Boeing 747s are becoming too expensive to repair and keep in good flying shape. The overall deal for researching, developing and building new planes was to be about $3 billion, but costs have been reported to be rising. The General Accountability Office estimated in March that about $2 billion of the total - for work between 2010 and 2020 - was for research and development on complex systems, not for building the actual aircraft. The inflated $4 billion figure Trump cited appears to include operation and maintenance as well. Boeing responded to Trump Tuesday in a statement: "We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the president of the United States. We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program allowing us to deliver the best planes for the president at the best value for the American taxpayer." The $170 million figure is just for a portion of the research and development efforts. Trump began his onslaught against Boeing at 8:52 a.m., tweeting "Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!" That tweet came 22 minutes after The Chicago Tribune posted a story in which the Boeing CEO voiced concerns about Trump's views on trade. The president-elect then descended to the lobby of the Manhattan skyscraper that bears his name to reiterate his case. Trump had tweeted in 2013 that he owned Boeing stock, but a spokesman said Tuesday he sold all of his stock holdings in June. That sale was not publicized by the campaign at the time, and aides did not reveal how much cash it might have generated. If Trump had held onto his stock portfolio, he would have been required to repeatedly file reports with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. A 2012 update of the Ethics in Government Act obliges presidents and other senior government officials to report such transactions. Trump now uses his own plane, a Boeing 757, which he has outfitted with white leather and gold, a large flat-screen television and a bedroom. But as president it is expected that he would travel aboard the Air Force jet, which is equipped with special safety, defensive and communications equipment. Air Force One also has seating for reporters; Trump generally does not allow the press on his own plane. Later this week, Trump will use that plane to travel to rallies in Iowa and Michigan, And on Saturday, Trump will attend the 117th annual Army-Navy football game. The game between the two military academies often draws the commander in chief; both Barack Obama and George W. Bush have attended in recent years. http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/trump-cancel-boeing-order-for-new-air-force-one-jets- over-costs/ Back to Top An Afghan Woman Goes From Refugee to Military Pilot KABUL, Afghanistan - From a childhood as a refugee, Capt. Safia Ferozi is now flying a transport plane for Afghanistan's air force as the country's second female pilot, a sign of the efforts to bring more women into the armed forces. Along the way, the 26-year-old Ferozi also married another pilot, who flies in the same unit supporting army ground forces. They are part of a small Afghan air force that is trying to take a greater role in fighting the Taliban insurgency. "When I wear military uniform, I really, really feel proud of myself as a woman," Ferozi said while preparing for a flight at the air force base in the capital, Kabul. She flies a C- 208, a turboprop plane used as transport for the armed forces. Nearly 16 years since the collapse of the militant Taliban regime after the US-led invasion in 2001, Afghan women are taking steps to increase their presence in society, including in parliament, government and the military. Still, they face resistance in a deeply conservative society where women are largely expected to stay in the home and where violence against women remains a widespread problem. When she was a child, Ferozi's family fled from their home in Kabul in the 1990s, during the civil war among Afghanistan's warlords. They took refuge in Pakistan, returning only after the fall of the Taliban. In high school in post-Taliban Afghanistan, Ferozi saw a TV commercial urging women to join the military. So after graduation she enrolled in the military academy, studying to become a communication officer. Then it was announced at the academy that the air force was looking for women to become pilots. Ferozi and 12 other women applied, and she was the only one who passed the tests to enter training. While she was training at an airfield in the western province of Herat, she first met Capt. Mohammad Jawad Najafi, the pilot who would later become her husband. They married nearly two years ago, and he has since backed her ambitions. She graduated from training in 2015. She gave birth to their first child, daughter Nergis, now nearly 8 months old, and is back flying missions. Ferozi is one of only two female pilots in the Afghan air force, but five other women are currently going through training. In 2013, Capt. Niloofar Rahmani became the country's first woman pilot in more than 30 years and the first to pilot fixed-wing aircraft - there were a few female helicopter pilots during Soviet-backed rule in the 1980s. She is now in the United States training on the far larger C-130 military transport craft. Ferozi says she hopes to inspire other women. "As a woman you face many challenges, but you have to deal somehow with all those problems," she said. There are around 1,800 women serving in Afghanistan's 195,000-member military, according to Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, deputy Defense Ministry spokesman. The military, which is heavily backed by the U.S. and NATO, is working to bring the number up to 10 percent of its ranks over the next seven years, he said. Afghanistan's small air force - just over 100 aircraft - received little attention for years, but in 2015 NATO and the U.S. began focusing on building it up with increased training and equipment. The force has attack helicopters and light attack planes that have been flying combat missions this year, though NATO militaries carry out the vast majority of strikes in the fight against insurgents. The other major role for the air force is in emergency humanitarian missions, helping those hit by flooding, avalanches, landslides or other disasters. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/12/07/world/asia/ap-as-afghanistan-female- pilot-.html?_r=0 Back to Top Graduate Research Survey HI! My name is Amber L. Hulsey, A.B.D. and I am currently working on my dissertation for my Ph.D. entitled, "Human Trafficking: Flying Under the Radar." My dissertation examines the extent to which human trafficking occurs by air as a mode of transportation compared to land and sea. Additionally, the study examines the actions that can be taken to combat human trafficking into and within the United States. The theoretical lens to which this study uses is Human Security Theory. This survey is completely anonymous, has undergone Institutional Review Board and has been approved. If you have any questions or would like to contact me for any reason, please email me at amber.hulsey@usm.edu. The survey will be open from December 7- December 21st. Please share this on all social media accounts, with your friends, family, and with your colleagues. Upon completion of this study, I will share the findings with various government and NGO's to aid in eradicating human trafficking. Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HTinUSA Thank you so much for taking the time to complete this survey and more importantly, for helping aid in the research to combat human trafficking by air. Curt Lewis