Flight Safety Information December 9, 2016 - No. 245 In This Issue All-American John Glenn: Astronaut, fighter pilot, senator USMC F/A-18 Fatal Accident (Japan) Pillsbury: Global, Top-Ranked, Non-Stop Service Pilots fined as probe into LIAT continues Chapecoense crash: Bolivia official accuses bosses of cover-up EU removes all Kazakh airlines from its Air Safety List Tauranga airline grounded over imminent risk to public safety (New Zealand) IG Faults FAA Oversight of Commercial Drone Exemptions FAA Suspends Atlanta Technical College's Air Agency Certificate US mulls rules for airlines that plan in-flight Wi-Fi voice calls US to sell $7bn worth of military aircraft, missiles to four Arab states Graduate Research Survey All-American John Glenn: Astronaut, fighter pilot, senator Former astronaut John Glenn dies at age 95 WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Glenn was the ultimate all-American hero. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, a war hero fighter pilot, a record-setting test pilot, a longtime senator, a presidential candidate and a man who defied age and gravity to go back into space at 77. But those were just his accomplishments. What made John Glenn was more his persona: He was a combat veteran with boy next door looks, a strong marriage and nerves of steel. Schools were named after him. Children were named after him. His life story of striving hard, succeeding, suffering setbacks and high- flying redemption was as American as it gets. Add to that unflagging devotion to a wife he has known since childhood and unerring service to his country. His life lived up to the famous send-off that fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter gave to him that February 1962 day, just before he became the first American to circle Earth in space: "Godspeed, John Glenn." John Herschel Glenn Jr. died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, said Hank Wilson, communications director for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. He was 95. "We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves," Glenn said at his keynote address at Ohio State University's commencement in 2009. Glenn was echoing something he said 50 years earlier, in the NASA press conference introducing him and the other Mercury 7 astronauts to the public after their selection: "We are placed here with certain talents and capabilities. It is up to each of us to use those talents and capabilities as best you can," Glenn said on April 9, 1959. "If you do that, I think there is a power greater than any of us that will place the opportunities in our way, and if we use our talents properly, we will be living the kind of life we should live." John Glenn lived that kind of life. For a generation weaned on the space race, few were bigger than John Glenn. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, but he was not the celebrity that John Glenn was. The green-eyed, telegenic Glenn even won $25,000 on the game show "Name That Tune" with a 10-year-old partner, and flew in combat with baseball superstar Ted Williams - all before he was chosen to be an astronaut. Even though he wasn't the first American to launch into space - Alan Shepard was - Glenn's distinction as the first American in orbit seemed to rocket him past the other original Mercury 7 astronauts, what he called "a group dedicated to trying things never tried before." And that's what John Glenn did on Feb. 20, 1962, thundering off a Cape Canaveral launch pad in an Atlas rocket that had never carried humans before to a place America had never been. His cramped capsule's name - Friendship 7 - fit his personality. With the all-business phrase, "Roger, the clock is operating, we're underway," Glenn started his 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds in space. Years later, he explained that he said that because he didn't feel like he had lifted off and the clock was the only way he knew he had launched. During the flight, Glenn uttered a phrase that he would repeat frequently throughout life: "Zero G and I feel fine." "It still seems so vivid to me," Glenn said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press on the 50th anniversary of that flight. "I still can sort of pseudo feel some of those same sensations I had back in those days during launch and all." Glenn said that he often got asked if he was afraid. His answer: "If you are talking about fear that overcomes what you are supposed to do, no. You've trained very hard for those flights." The end of the flight was a nail-biter. Mission control had indications that the heat shield didn't seem to be holding. They worried that Glenn would burn up re-entering Earth atmosphere. Instead, he returned to Earth a living national legend. At that time John Glenn was only 40 years old. Risking his life was nothing new for John Glenn. He was a fighter pilot in World War II and Korea who flew low, got his plane riddled with bullets during 149 combat missions for the Naval Air Corps and Marines. During World War II, he flew 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots. A war later, in Korea, his 90 combat flights earned him the nickname "MiG-Mad Marine" (or "Old Magnet A--," which he paraphrased as "Old Magnet Tail".) "I was the one who went in low and got them," Glenn said, explaining that he often landed with huge holes in the side of his aircraft because he didn't like to shoot from high altitudes. But the challenges of combat seemed to pale compared to the challenges of doctors and engineers who worried about what would happen to men in space. Glenn's life changed on Apr. 6, 1959, when he was selected as one of the Mercury 7 astronauts and instantly started attracting more than his share of the spotlight. In later years, he would regale crowds with stories of NASA's testing of would-be astronauts, from psychological tests (come up with 20 answers to the open-ended question "I am") to surviving spinning that pushed 16 times normal gravity against his body and popped blood vessels all over. But it wasn't nearly as bad as when the newly picked astronauts went to Cape Canaveral to watch their first unmanned rocket test. "We're watching this thing go up and up and up ... and all at once it blew up right over us and that was our introduction to the Atlas (the rocket he flew on)," Glenn said in 2011. "We looked at each other and wanted to have a meeting with the engineers in the morning." So why risk his life? Writing for Life magazine in 1959, Glenn explained: "Space travel is at the frontier of my profession. It is going to be accomplished and I want to be in on it. There is also an element of simple duty involved. I am convinced that I have something to give this project." Glenn said his Friendship 7 flight in 1962 came at the right time because the Soviet Union was far ahead in space and America needed to show it could catch up. "I think people really felt that we really were on the way back," Glenn said. "It was sort of a turning point in the national psyche." That sense of duty was instilled at an early age. Glenn was born July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, and grew up in New Concord, Ohio, with the nickname "Bud." He joined the town band as a trumpeter at age 10 and accompanied his father one Memorial Day in an echoing version of "Taps." In his 1999 memoir, Glenn wrote "that feeling sums up my childhood. It formed my beliefs and my sense of responsibility. Everything that came after that just came naturally." His love of flight was lifelong; John Glenn Sr. spoke of the many summer evenings he arrived home to find his son running around the yard with outstretched arms, pretending he was piloting a plane. Last June, at a ceremony renaming the Columbus airport for him, Glenn recalled imploring his parents to take him to that airport to look at planes whenever they passed through the city: "It was something I was fascinated with." He piloted his own private plane until age 90. Glenn's goal of becoming a commercial pilot was changed by World War II. He left Muskingum College to join the Naval Air Corps and soon after, the Marines. He became a successful fighter pilot who ran 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots. A war later, in Korea, he earned the nickname "MiG-Mad Marine" (or "Old Magnet A - ," which he sometimes paraphrased as "Old Magnet Tail.") "I was the one who went in low and got them," Glenn said, explaining that he often landed with huge holes in the side of his aircraft because he didn't like to shoot from high altitudes. Glenn's public life began when he broke the transcontinental airspeed record, bursting from Los Angeles to New York City in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds. With his Crusader averaging 725 mph, the 1957 flight proved the jet could endure stress when pushed to maximum speeds over long distances. In New York, he got a hero's welcome - his first tickertape parade. He got another after his flight on Friendship 7. That mission also introduced Glenn to politics. He addressed a joint session of Congress, and dined at the White House. He became friends with President Kennedy and ally and friend of his brother, Robert. The Kennedys urged him to enter politics, and after a difficult few starts he did. Glenn spent 24 years in the U.S. Senate, representing Ohio longer than any other senator in the state's history. He announced his impending retirement in 1997, 35 years to the day after he became the first American in orbit, saying "there is still no cure for the common birthday." Glenn's returned to space in a long-awaited second flight in 1998 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He got to move around aboard the shuttle for far longer - nine days compared with just under five hours in 1962 - as well as sleep and experiment with bubbles in weightlessness. In a news conference from space, Glenn said "to look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible." NASA tailored a series of geriatric-reaction experiments to create a scientific purpose for Glenn's mission, but there was more to it than that: a revival of the excitement of the earliest days of the space race, a public relations bonanza and the gift of a lifetime. "America owed John Glenn a second flight," NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said. Glenn would later write that when he mentioned the idea of going back into space to his wife, Annie, she responded: "Over my dead body." Glenn and his crewmates flew 3.6 million miles, compared with 75,000 miles aboard Friendship 7. Shortly before he ran for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination, a new generation was introduced to astronaut Glenn with the film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff." He was portrayed as the ultimate straight arrow amid a group of hard-partying astronauts. Glenn said in 2011: "I don't think any of us cared for the movie 'The Right Stuff'; I know I didn't." Glenn was unable to capitalize on the publicity, though, and his poorly organized campaign was short- lived. He dropped out of the race with his campaign $2.5 million in the red - a debt that lingered even after he retired from the Senate in 1999. He later joked that except for going into debt, humiliating his family and gaining 16 pounds, running for president was a good experience. Glenn generally steered clear of campaigns after that, saying he didn't want to mix politics with his second space flight. He sat out the Senate race to succeed him - he was hundreds of miles above Earth on Election Day - and largely was quiet in the 2000 presidential race. He first ran for the Senate in 1964 but left the race when he suffered a concussion after slipping in the bathroom and hit his head on the tub. He tried again in 1970 but was defeated in the primary by Howard Metzenbaum, who later lost the general election to Robert Taft Jr. It was the start of a complex relationship with Metzenbaum, whom he later joined in the Senate. For the next four years, Glenn devoted his attention to business and investments that made him a multimillionaire. He had joined the board of Royal Crown Cola after the aborted 1964 campaign, and was president of Royal Crown International from 1967 to 1969. In the early 1970s, he remained with Royal Crown and invested in a chain of Holiday Inns. In 1974, Glenn ran against Metzenbaum in what turned into a bitter primary and won the election. He eventually made peace with Metzenbaum, who won election to the Senate in 1976. Glenn set a record in 1980 by winning re-election with a 1.6-million vote margin. He became an expert on nuclear weaponry and was the Senate's most dogged advocate of non- proliferation. He was the leading supporter of the B-1 bomber when many in Congress doubted the need for it. As chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, he turned a microscope on waste and fraud in the federal bureaucracy. Glenn said the lowest point of his life was 1990, when he and four other senators came under scrutiny for their connections to Charles Keating, the notorious financier who eventually served prison time for his role in the costly savings and loan failure of the 1980s. The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Glenn of serious wrongdoing but said he "exercised poor judgment." The episode was the only brush with scandal in his long public career and didn't diminish his popularity in Ohio. Glenn joked that the only astronaut he was envious of was his fellow Ohioan: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. "I've been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I'm thankful for them," he said in 2012. In 1943, Glenn married his childhood sweetheart, Anna Margaret Castor. They met when they were toddlers, and when she had mumps as a teenager he came to her house, cut a hole in her bedroom window screen, and passed her a radio to keep her company, a friend recounted. "I don't remember the first time I told Annie I loved her, or the first time she told me," Glenn would write in his memoir. "It was just something we both knew." He bought her a diamond engagement ring in 1942 for $125. It's never been replaced. When he was introduced with his fellow Mercury 7 astronauts in 1959, he talked about the support of his family: "My wife's attitude toward this has been the same as it has been all along through all my flying. If it is what I want to do, she is behind it and the kids are too, 100 percent." They had two children, Carolyn and John David. He and his wife, Annie, split their later years between Washington and Columbus. Both served as trustees at their alma mater, Muskingum College. Glenn spent time promoting the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, which also houses an archive of his private papers and photographs. ___ Online: http://www.osu.edu/glenninstitute http://johnglennhome.org/ https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-john-glenn-astronaut-fighter-pilot-senator-054801572.html Back to Top USMC F/A-18 Fatal Accident (Japan) Date: 07-DEC-2016 Time: 06:40 p.m. Type: McDonnel Douglas F/A-18C Hornet Owner/operator: USMC Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: 100km east-southeast of cape Ashizuri, Kochi Prefecture - Pacific Ocean Phase: En route Nature: Military Departure airport: Iwakuni base, Yamaguchi prefecture (IWK/RJOI) Destination airport: Iwakuni base, Yamaguchi prefecture (IWK/RJOI) Narrative: The military plane crashed after a technical malfunction. The pilot was found and recovered by ShinMaywa US-2 of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force at 3:05 p.m. next day, and delivered to Iwakuni base of USMC at 4:50 p.m., however, he had not survived the accident. The accident happened to one of two Hornet jets performing a formation training mission. The second Hornet returned safely. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=191898 Back to Top Back to Top Pilots fined as probe into LIAT continues Antigua Observer:-The Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) has fined two senior Liat pilots who flew an aircraft in contravention of aviation regulations in September. Chief Training Captain Christopher Cameron was fined EC$5000, while his co-accused, Chief Pilot Wayne Austin McDonald was fined EC$3000, a source with knowledge of the probe confirmed. The Leeward Islands Airline Pilots' Association (LIALPA) did not comment on the development, but our source confirmed that the men paid the fines since mid-November. They were being investigated by ECCAA for breaches to their license agreement, which places a barrier on the age of a pilot and a co-pilot in a single cockpit. The two pilots, both over the age of 60, were allegedly scheduled to fly the same plane. According to our source, Liat is also being investigated for its role in this saga and is "likely" to be fined. The two senior pilots could not be reached for comment. ECCAA said it could not give any information about the case and Liat did not provide a comment yesterday. https://stluciatimes.com/2016/12/09/pilots-fined-probe-liat-continues Back to Top Chapecoense crash: Bolivia official accuses bosses of cover-up The aftermath of a plane crash in ColombiaImage The crash killed 71 people and wiped out most of a Brazilian football team A Bolivian aviation official says she was pressured by her bosses into changing a flight report she made for the plane that crashed last week with Brazilian team Chapocoense on board. Celia Castedo told Bolivian media said she had warned that the plane had barely enough fuel to reach the destination in Colombia. Ms Castedo is in Brazil where she is seeking asylum. The crash killed 71 people, including most of the Chapecoense football team. The plane was taking the team to Colombia for the final of a regional tournament when it ran out of fuel, plunging into a mountainside near the city of Medellin. In a leaked tape, the pilot, Miguel Quiroga, can be heard warning of a "total electric failure" and "lack of fuel". What we know A team torn apart In her letter (in Spanish) published in the Bolivian media, Ms Castedo, who worked in air traffic control, said she had no authority to stop the doomed flight, saying that was with Bolivia's civil aviation agency. She said that instead of authorising the flight, she had tried to stop it, accusing unnamed superiors of a cover-up. "I was subjected to harassment and pressure from my superiors... who ordered me to change the content of the report which hours earlier [before the flight] I had presented," she wrote. Bolivian charter airline LaMia director Gustavo Vargas Gamboa (R) reacts as he attends a hearing in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Image caption Gustavo Vargas (R), the boss of the flight's operator LaMia, has been arrested "Based on a careful examination, I had made five observations, one of the most important of which referred to the fuel economy of the flight, which happened to be equal to the flight time." Bolivia's Public Works Minister, Milton Claros, dismissed Ms Castedo's allegations. "There were no observations made to the flight plan,'' Associated Press quoted him as saying, with the minister accusing Castedo of fabricating the document after the crash to cover-up her own errors. Other Bolivian officials have urged the Brazilian authorities to return her, with one saying Ms Castedo was trying to escape justice. Map of aircraft's route The head of the flight's operator, Gustavo Vargas, has been arrested over the crash. Just six people survived. One of them, crew member Erwin Tumuri, said an initial stop for refuelling in the northern Bolivian city of Cobija had been dropped by the pilot. There was no warning to the crew or the passengers that the plane was facing electrical or fuel problems, Mr Tumuri told Brazil's Globo TV. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38261584 Back to Top EU removes all Kazakh airlines from its Air Safety List AKIPRESS.COM - The European Commission updated on December 8 the EU Air Safety List, the list of airlines that do not meet international safety standards, and are therefore subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union. Following today's update, all airlines certified in Kazakhstan are cleared from the list, following further improvements to the aviation safety situation in that country, European Commission said in a release. On the other hand, Iran Aseman Airlines was added to the list due to unaddressed deficiencies. The EU Air Safety List seeks to ensure the highest level of air safety for European citizens, which is a top priority of the Aviation Strategy adopted in December 2015. Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said: "The EU Air Safety list is one of our main instruments to continuously offer the highest level of air safety to Europeans. I am particularly glad that after years of work and European technical assistance, we are today able to clear all Kazakh air carriers. This also is a positive signal for all the countries that remain on the list. It shows that work and cooperation pay off. The Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency are ready to assist." The EU Air Safety List not only helps to maintain high levels of safety in the EU, but it also helps affected countries to improve their levels of safety, in order for them to eventually be taken off the list. In addition, the EU Air Safety List has become a major preventive tool, as it motivates countries with safety problems to act upon them before a ban under the EU Air Safety List would become necessary. Following today's update, a total of 193 airlines are banned from EU skies: - 190 airlines certified in 18 states, due to a lack of safety oversight by the aviation authorities from these states. - 3 individual airlines, based on safety concerns: Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran), Iraqi Airways (Iraq) and Blue Wing Airlines (Suriname). An additional six airlines are subject to operational restrictions and can only fly to the EU with specific aircraft types: Afrijet and Nouvelle Air Affaires SN2AG (Gabon), Air Koryo (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Air Service Comores (the Comoros), Iran Air (Iran) and TAAG Angola Airlines (Angola). http://akipress.com/news:586272/ Back to Top Tauranga airline grounded over imminent risk to public safety (New Zealand) Sunair Aviation has been grounded after a Civil Aviation Authority raised serious concerns to public safety. Photo/file A Tauranga airline has been grounded because of serious concerns for people's safety. The Civil Aviation Authority has this week suspended Sunair Aviation's Air Operator Certificate, citing an imminent risk to public safety. The airline has been grounded for at least 10 days as the authority investigates. Authority spokesman Mike Richards said there were ''serious concerns about the safety of Sunair's operation" and the suspension could be extended. ''However, it remains in force if the safety issues are not addressed to the satisfaction of the director of Civil Aviation.'' "The Sunair Air Operator Certificate has been suspended under section 17 of the Civil Aviation Act because this operator poses an imminent and unacceptable risk to public safety.'' An ongoing investigation found "key areas of concern", Mr Richards said, and the operator now had to address those concerns. ''The suspension will result in disruption to public travel but other flight options are available on the main routes flown by Sunair. ''Travel to places such as Motiti Island may be affected in the short term, but it is possible another operator may fly these routes in future.'' Richards said the authority would not comment further while an investigation was under way. The airline was still advertising daily flights to Whitianga and on-call flights to Motiti Island yesterday. Motiti Island resident Aubrey Hoete was stunned to learn he would not be able to fly with Sunair next week, when he had an appointment in Tauranga. ''I'm totally surprised. It's totally new to me,'' he said. Hoete said he has always and would always fly with the airline ''because they make me feel comfortable and they always land in the paddock I want them to land in''. ''They've been providing me with good service for years. I have no problems with them at all.'' Sunair owner Bev Power said the suspension was an "over-reaction". ''The proficiency of the company's flight crew and the airworthiness of the aeroplane fleet is not in question. ''It is our hope that our airline operation will be back flying shortly.'' However, she said the airline was working with the authority and having meetings in Wellington today. Power declined to comment further. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11763694 Back to Top IG Faults FAA Oversight of Commercial Drone Exemptions Shown is the Project Wing prototype drone developed by the X laboratory of Alphabet, formerly Google. (Photo: Project Wing) The FAA did not confirm that the recipients of some 5,500 exemptions it issued for the commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) understood or followed the conditions of those approvals, the Department of Transportation inspector general found in an audit report released this month. Fines for improper drone operations have been limited, the IG said, in part because the FAA has emphasized education over enforcement of the rules. Released on December 1, the IG report focused on commercial exemptions the FAA granted under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization Act of 2012-before the agency released its Part 107 regulation for commercial drones weighing less than 55 pounds in June. That rule became effective on August 29. After the small UAS regulation became effective, Section 333 exemption holders had the option of continuing to fly under the conditions of their exemption or of reapplying under Part 107, which is "generally more permissive," the IG said. The exemption process still applies to applicants seeking to fly drones weighing more than 55 pounds, the office noted. As of December 2, the FAA had processed 22,048 applications for remote pilot certificates to fly drones for business purposes under Part 107, the agency said in response to an AIN inquiry. It also reported that 571,192 people had registered through an online site to operate one or more small drones for recreation. When Congress granted the FAA authority to issue exemptions in the 2012 legislation, the agency "initially adopted a conservative, time-sensitive approach to reviewing applications that took as long as 215 days," the IG said. But as the number of applications proliferated, the FAA expedited its approval process using contractor support. It issued the first Section 333 exemptions to six Hollywood-affiliated film and production companies in September 2014; the following April it announced a "summary grant" process of approving batches of exemptions in cases that were similar to previous approvals. According to the IG: "At the time of our review, the FAA...did not verify that the over 5,500 approved operators thoroughly understood the conditions for operating UAS technology within the limitations of their exemption, such as by conducting knowledge tests," which is a requirement of Part 107. "While FAA employees and contractors review the information within the exemption, we identified examples of operators who claimed they did not understand certain exemption provisions, such as prohibited night operations, or flying too close to people not participating in the operation." Once applicants received a commercial exemption, they also received a blanket certificate of authorization allowing them to fly anywhere within the U.S. at or below 400 feet, except near airports. The FAA did not track exemption holders by their operating locations, the IG said. "This is problematic because exemption applicants often use attorneys to prepare and file their exemption requests. In that case, the FAA has only the address of the attorney who filed the request, not the UAS operator's address," the office stated. "[A]s a result, the agency has limited knowledge of where UAS operate, and limited means to oversee those operators following a granted exemption." The number of incident reports of rogue drones has risen dramatically, mostly involving other-than- commercial aircraft. Seventy-one percent of reported sightings occurred at altitudes at or above 400 feet, according to an IG analysis of 1,411 incidents reported between November 2014 and January 2016. But as of this April, the FAA had initiated just 30 enforcement actions against violators, of which 12 remained open, the IG said. It had collected $22,805 in fines. The IG attributed the limited number of enforcement actions to the FAA's "current oversight philosophy," which prioritizes operator education over enforcement. Compared to the 30 enforcement actions the FAA had initiated as of April, the agency had issued 625 education letters, the office said. In the audit report, the IG recommends that the FAA adopt a more proactive, "risk-based" approach to overseeing drones that includes improved training of aviation safety inspectors, better use of data sources to facilitate data mining and safety analysis and periodic inspections of UAS operators to ensure their compliance with the rules. The "FAA is currently restricted to a reactive approach to UAS oversight, rather than proactively identifying and mitigating risks with a rapidly advancing technology," the office stated. "Unless the FAA can adopt a more proactive approach to civil UAS oversight, the agency cannot ensure that approved UAS are operating safely in our airspace." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-12-08/ig-faults-faa-oversight- commercial-drone-exemptions Back to Top FAA Suspends Atlanta Technical College's Air Agency Certificate ATC has not enrolled any students or held any classes in their AVMY program since May 2014, and the FAA rescinded the college's approved curriculum the following month. The college's Air Agency Certificate is being suspended after the FAA says they failed to maintain the necessary reporting for their courses. (Earlier this week on Tuesday, December 6, the FAA issued a statement that they had revoked the college's certificate. Today, they have released a revised statement clarifying that they didn't revoke the certificate, but instead suspended it.) The FAA has issued an order that suspends the Air Agency Certificate of Atlanta Technical College, located in Atlanta, GA. According to the agency, ATC failed to maintain approved grade, attendance, and make-up reports and records for students that were enrolled in numerous courses in the college's Aviation Maintenance Technology program. More Details on the ATC Air Agency Certificate Suspension The agency says that student grade records were either not maintained or were complete, and they were not signed by instructors. In addition, the FAA says several students who had not made up work missed during absences were still allowed to continue on to the next area of instruction. ATC has not enrolled any students or held any classes in their AVMY program since May 2014, and the FAA rescinded the college's approved curriculum the following month. The agency is saying that despite this, ATC has continued administering exit examinations and issuing certificates of completion to former students, knowing that they were no longer authorized to do so. In a related note, the agency says that they requested but that ATC never provided them with either copies of the certificates of completion or a detailed analysis of how the students received the certificates given that they no longer had an FAA-approved curriculum. In light of this, the FAA is saying that ATC has surrendered their Air Agency Certificate to them. https://disciplesofflight.com/faa-suspends-atc-air-agency-certificate/ Back to Top US mulls rules for airlines that plan in-flight Wi-Fi voice calls Airlines and ticket agents will have to disclose the policy on calls before ticket purchases The U.S. Department of Transportation is considering making it mandatory for airlines to inform passengers before purchasing tickets if they will allow voice calls using mobile wireless devices on board their aircraft, thus hoping to placate customers who could object to having co-passengers talking away on their phones in an enclosed space. An alternative measure would be to ban all voice calls on domestic and international flights to or from the U.S., the DOT said in a proposal for which it has asked for comments within 60 days of publication of the notice on the Federal Register. The Federal Communications Commission already bans the use of mobile devices on certain radio frequencies on board aircraft, including for voice calls, but it has not prohibited calls using the Wi-Fi network or other means, according to the DOT. "Consumers deserve to have clear and accurate information about whether an airline permits voice calls before they purchase a ticket and board the aircraft," said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx in a statement Thursday. Although a number of U.S. carriers currently have the capability of allowing their passengers to make and receive voice calls in-flight over Wi-Fi, the DOT said it is not aware of any U.S. carrier currently permitting voice calls. "Airlines and their Wi-Fi providers typically do not offer voice service," it said. The reason is quite apparent. After the FCC's proposed rule in December 2013, that if adopted would make it possible for aircraft operators to permit passengers to make or receive mobile calls onboard, the DOT floated in 2014 an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding the use of mobile wireless devices for voice calls on board. The proposal was shot down by 96 percent of commenters, including passengers and cabin crew, who viewed voice calls as disturbing, more so in the closed confines of an aircraft, likely leading to conflicts among passengers and intruding on privacy, DOT said. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said Thursday it would continue to press for a complete ban of inflight voice calls. Anything short of banning voice calls is reckless, threatens aviation security and increases the likelihood of conflict in the skies, AFA added. The advanced notice to passengers from airlines about voice calls will not apply to small U.S. and foreign air carriers that provide air transportation only with aircraft having a designed seating capacity of less than 60 seats, according to the DOT. To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. http://www.pcworld.com/article/3148661/mobile/us-mulls-rules-for-airlines-that-plan-in-flight-wi-fi-voice- calls.html Back to Top US to sell $7bn worth of military aircraft, missiles to four Arab states The file photo of a US Army CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopter The Pentagon has given the go-ahead for the sale of $7 billion worth of military aircraft and missiles to four Arab states, the bulk of which is to head to Saudi Arabia. It announced the approval on Thursday of a $3.51-billion contract to sell 48 CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters with spare engines and machineguns to the kingdom. Another deal envisages the transfer of $3.5-billion in 27 AH-64E Apache helicopter gunships and support equipment to the United Arab Emirates. Washington and Riyadh maintain a controversially-close alliance, with the US turning a deaf ear to stop arms sales to the kingdom due to its tattered human rights record and its 2015-present bloodletting against Yemen. Saudi Arabia initiated the bombing campaign in March 2015 to reinstall Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a dedicated Riyadh ally, who had resigned earlier and fled to the Saudi capital. The offensive has killed thousands and displaced millions across the impoverished nation. The UAE has also been lending lavish support to the campaign at Riyadh's behest. The US approved more than $20 billion in military sales to the kingdom in 2015 alone. Pentagon has even been providing advisory and other sorts of support to the bombardment. Yemenis inspect the damage in an area near the communications tower hit by Saudi airstrikes, in the port city of Hudaidah, November 27, 2016. (Photo by AFP) On Thursday, Human Rights Watch called for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia over its war on Yemen, saying the United States could be held accountable for the "atrocities" being perpetrated against war- stricken Yemenis. Last week, the New York-based rights body had called for Washington to "immediately" halt arms sales to the Saudi regime and review the participation of US forces in Riyadh's "unlawful" air raids against Yemen. HRW said Washington has been withholding clarification on reports that US forces were providing aerial refueling, tactical intelligence, or other support to the deadly campaign. Also on the list of US arms recipients as per the recently-announced contracts are Qatar, which has requested eight C-17 military cargo jets and spare engines in a pair of contracts totaling $781 million, and Morocco, which is slated to take delivery of 1,200 TOW 2A anti-tank missiles for $108 million. http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/12/09/497084/US-Saudi-Arabia-UAE-Yemen-Qatar-Morocco 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