Flight Safety Information January 3, 2017 - No. 003 In This Issue Airline Pilot, Believed to Be Drunk, Is Pulled From Cockpit in Canada United Airlines employee is found trapped in a plane's baggage hold China probes former top aviation official for graft Garmin® introduces G1000® NXi, the next generation integrated flight deck Widow of Pilot Killed in Washington Crash Files Suit against Aircraft Companies Social media amplifies every glitch in the air. Air New Zealand scores well in safety survey Pilots call for total ban on high-power lasers From IoT pilots to AI platforms, Emirates talks tech evolution President offers Britain top secret jet fighter...in 1986 Call for Abstracts of Technical Papers...ISASI 2017, San Diego CA ESASI SEMINAR 2017 - LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship Airline Pilot, Believed to Be Drunk, Is Pulled From Cockpit in Canada OTTAWA - It was 7 a.m., and 99 passengers and six crew members were aboard a 737 on the tarmac at Calgary International Airport, bound for a sunny holiday in Cancun, Mexico. There was one problem, however. The flight's captain was passed out in the cockpit, apparently from drinking. The police in Calgary, Alberta, arrested the pilot, Miroslav Gronych, 37, on Saturday and have charged him with two alcohol-related offenses. "This is a new one, and obviously this had a very significant potential to cause great harm had the pilot actually been allowed to fly this plane," Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey of the Calgary Police Service said at a news conference. "There's just so many checks and balances, it just doesn't surprise me that he got caught before this plane was able to leave the gate." Nevertheless, Inspector Ken Thrower, the commander of the Calgary Police Service's traffic and airport unit, said his officers, along with airport officials and inspectors from Transport Canada, the aviation regulator, will begin trying to figure out how the pilot managed to pass through several checkpoints, including airport security, while obviously inebriated. Mr. Gronych was charged with two criminal offenses: having care and control of an aircraft while impaired, and having care and control of an aircraft while testing for more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. "He was pretty high," Sergeant Stacey said, adding that it was inconceivable that the pilot had followed Transport Canada regulations that bar drinking or drug use by pilots within eight hours of a flight. The aircraft was operated by Sunwing Airlines, a low-cost carrier based in Toronto. Sunwing's gate agents found the pilot's behavior to be unusual and alerted the co-pilot. The co-pilot then discovered the pilot slumped in the captain's seat and "severely impaired by alcohol," Sergeant Stacey said. Transport Canada, which did not respond to requests for comment, is conducting a separate investigation, which is likely to result in additional charges, the police said. Inspector Thrower said Mr. Gronych is from Slovenia and is in Canada on a work visa. He will appear in court again on Thursday. After some delay, the flight did take off with a new crew. Sunwing did not respond to requests for comment. Janine Massey, a spokeswoman, told The Associated Press that the carrier was "very apologetic for any upset that this has caused and would like to assure our customers that safety remains our utmost priority." http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/world/americas/canada-pilot-drunk-sunwing-airlines.html?_r=0 Back to Top United Airlines employee is found trapped in a plane's baggage hold after a flight from North Carolina to Virginia * United Airlines employee found in baggage compartment of plane on Sunday * Baggage handler was in cargo when plane flew from North Carolina to Virginia * Employee was found unharmed when the plane landed at Washington D.C. * United Airlines says it is investigating the incident A baggage handler spent an hour trapped in the baggage compartment of a United Airlines plane as it flew from North Carolina to Virginia. The employee was found in the cargo department of the United Express Flight 6060 on Sunday afternoon when the plane landed at Washington Dulles International Airport. United Airlines said the vendor employee was found unharmed following the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina. A United Airlines baggage handler was found in the cargo department of a plan on Sunday afternoon when the plane landed at Washington Dulles International Airport (file photo) The airline said the flight operated by Mesa Airlines landed safely at Dulles on Sunday. It said once at the gate, an employee of the airline's ground handling staff was found in the cargo area. The employee has not been identified. United Airlines says it is investigating the incident. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority would not comment and directed questions to United Airlines. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4082730/United-investigates-worker-spends-flight-cargo- hold.html#ixzz4UgQcoDky Back to Top China probes former top aviation official for graft A plane flies over the setting sun in the sky at Beijing International Airport, China, March 2, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo - RTX2RA0J China's corruption watchdog is investigating a former vice-minister of the aviation regulator for disciplinary violations, saying he had paid below market price for property during his tenure. The official concerned, Xia Xinghua, who had worked in the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) from 2009 to 2014, has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on Tuesday. Xia, who often represented the CAAC in meeting with foreign executives and regulators, also took holidays in the guise of work trips and played illegally in golf games others had paid for, the watchdog said. "As a leading party cadre, Xia had a weak concept of discipline and violated party regulations," it said in a statement on its website, employing the usual euphemism for graft. Xia went on to become the chairman of the China Civil Airports Association (CCAA), which represents more than 100 airports, in April 2014, after leaving the aviation regulator, the airport body says on its website. An official of the airport body declined to comment, and officials of the aviation regulator did not respond to telephone calls. Reuters was unable to reach Xia for comment. China's far-reaching crackdown on graft has swept through several industries and led to the arrest and jailing of senior politicians and executives. In 2015, the watchdog announced a probe into the deputy head of the aviation regulator. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-corruption-aviation-idUSKBN14N0NX Back to Top Garmin® introduces G1000® NXi, the next generation integrated flight deck Certified on King Air 200 aircraft as part of an aftermarket STC upgrade; King Air 300/350 expected soon OLATHE, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), today announced its successor to the ever-popular G1000 integrated flight deck, the G1000 NXi. Boasting a modernized flight display design with significant performance enhancements, the G1000 NXi incorporates innovative capabilities into a state-of-the-art avionics platform. Features such as wireless cockpit connectivity, including wireless aviation database updates using Garmin Flight Stream, enhanced situational awareness with SurfaceWatch™, visual approaches, map overlay on the HSI and more, are all available with the G1000 NXi. Deliveries are expected to begin in February as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval for the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck in the King Air 200 and expects approval for the King Air 300/350 aircraft models within the coming weeks. "As innovators in the avionics industry, we're excited to introduce the G1000 NXi - the next generation G1000 integrated flight deck" Tweet this "As innovators in the avionics industry, we're excited to introduce the G1000 NXi - the next generation G1000 integrated flight deck," said Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation marketing and sales. "Garmin's co- founders Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao had a vision to develop an intuitive and highly advanced integrated avionics system for general aviation aircraft, which became the G1000 integrated flight deck and today, over 16,000 of these systems are flying worldwide. Building on its success, we're excited to introduce the G1000 NXi, a faster, modernized and lighter avionics suite with a superior feature set that will carry on the lineage and achieved level of distinction that pilots and aircraft owners have come to associate with a Garmin integrated flight deck." G1000 NXi on the surface: physical enhancements and display advancements The G1000 NXi system incorporates modern processing power that supports faster map rendering and smoother panning throughout the displays. Saving valuable time in the cockpit, the displays initialize within seconds after start-up, providing immediate access to frequencies, flight plan data and more. The G1000 NXi system also incorporates contemporary animations, modernized design for improved readability and new LED back-lighting, offering increased display brightness and clarity, reduced power consumption, as well as improved dimming performance. G1000 NXi for the next generation Connext® wireless cockpit connectivity unlocks more capabilities from within the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck. Available as an option, Flight Stream 510 enables Database Concierge, the wireless transfer of aviation databases from the Garmin Pilot™ app on a mobile device to the G1000 NXi system. Flight Stream 510 also supports two-way flight plan transfer, the sharing of traffic, weather, GPS information, back-up attitude information and more, between the G1000 NXi and compatible mobile devices running Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight mobile. The D2™ Bravo and D2 Bravo Titanium aviator watches also sync with the Garmin Pilot app to ensure flight plan data matches throughout the cockpit. Visual approaches integrated within the G1000 NXi system offer pilots safety-enhancing guidance in visual flight conditions based on a three-degree glideslope from the threshold of the runway. Pilots can select the runway for which they have been cleared to land, set customized minimums, select vectors or straight-in for the final approach intercept and fly a visual approach coupled with the autopilot. By utilizing visual approaches within the G1000 NXi, pilots are provided a more stable decent and precise flight path throughout the approach and landing phases of flight in visual conditions. Geographical map overlay within the HSI is available on the primary flight display (PFD), which also supports the display of NEXRAD, FIS-B weather, weather radar, SafeTaxi® airport diagrams, traffic, terrain and more. For example, pilots can display SafeTaxi on the HSI map while preparing flight plan information on the multi-function display (MFD) or simultaneously display NEXRAD radar and traffic on the HSI map and view a variety of other SiriusXM aviation weather products on the MFD such as lightning, storm cells and more. Aiding in situational awareness, optional SurfaceWatch runway monitoring technology provides visual and aural cues to help prevent pilots from taking off and landing on a taxiway, on a runway that is too short or on the wrong runway based on performance data entered during preflight. Visual and audible runway distance remaining annunciations are also available, which provides aural callouts beginning at 5,000 feet through 500 feet. Equipped to meet future airspace modernization initiatives, G1000 NXi equipped-aircraft are rule-compliant to meet FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) requirements. The G1000 NXi also supports the display of various ADS-B In benefits, including traffic and subscription-free weather. FIS-B weather products include: NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, PIREPs, winds and temperatures aloft, NOTAMs, AIRMETs and SIGMETs. Exclusive traffic features such as Garmin's patented TargetTrend™ and TerminalTraffic™ further enhance the traffic picture. TargetTrend provides pilots with a more intuitive method of judging target trajectories and closure rates, while TerminalTraffic displays a comprehensive picture of ADS-B-equipped aircraft and ground vehicles throughout the airport environment. These ADS-B In benefits combine to give pilots superior situational awareness tools throughout the terminal and enroute environments. The G1000 NXi integrated flight deck also supports additional features: Advanced Doppler weather radar capabilities, including ground clutter suppression and turbulence detection as options. COMM frequency identification displays the station ID, as well as frequency type. Display of sectional charts, as well as IFR low/high enroute charts on the MFD. NEXRAD weather radar imagery can be overlaid on the moving map and animated on the MFD, as well as the HSI map. Vertical Situation Display (VSD) incorporates terrain profile view on the MFD, taking into consideration the active flight plan, altitude constraints and winds aloft. Pilots can preview departure and arrival procedures on the MFD prior to loading and activating the procedures. Pilots can optionally overlay European Visual Reporting Points (VRPs) on the moving map, as VRPs are standard within the navigation database. Three-color terrain shading incorporates green, yellow and red contouring, which depicts the aircraft is 2,000, 1,000 and 100 feet above ground level (AGL) respectively. Aircraft maintenance personnel experience faster system software upgrades and streamlined equipment replacement. Simple path to upgrade or transition from G1000 to G1000 NXi for King Air aircraft For new installations, the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck is estimated to provide a weight savings of 250 pounds or more in King Air aircraft, allowing additional baggage, passenger and/or fuel load flexibility. New G1000 NXi installations also utilize a new, fully integrated and lightweight air data and attitude heading reference system (ADAHRS), streamlining the upgrade process. King Air owners and operators with an existing G1000 integrated flight deck can easily upgrade to the G1000 NXi with minimal aircraft down time and disruption of the panel as the displays preserve the same footprint and connector so panel modifications are not required. The FAA has granted STC approval for the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck in the King Air 200 and approval for the King Air 300/350 is expected within the coming weeks, which will be available in February from select Garmin Authorized Dealers. EASA approval is expected later in 2017. New G1000 NXi installations and display upgrades all come with a two-year warranty, which is supported by Garmin's award-winning avionics product support team. For additional information regarding the G1000 NXi upgrade for the King Air, contact Scott Frye at 913-440-2412 or scott.frye@garmin.com. For additional details, visit: www.garmin.com/kingair. Garmin's aviation business segment is a leading provider of solutions to OEM, aftermarket, military and government customers. Garmin's portfolio includes navigation, communication, flight control, hazard avoidance, an expansive suite of ADS-B solutions and other products and services that are known for innovation, reliability, and value. For more information about Garmin's full line of avionics, go to www.garmin.com/aviation. For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary business units, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin's virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom, contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garmin, or youtube.com/garmin. About Garmin Garmin International Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq:GRMN). Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Garmin, G1000, SafeTaxi and Connext are registered trademarks and Garmin Pilot, D2, SurfaceWatch, TerminalTraffic and TargetTrend are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170103005306/en/Garmin%C2%AE-introduces- G1000%C2%AE-NXi-generation-integrated-flight Back to Top Widow of Pilot Killed in Washington Crash Files Suit against Aircraft Companies The wife of one of the men who died after a plane crashed into Washington's Spokane River has filed a lawsuit against the companies that built and maintained the aircraft. The Spokesman-Review reported that 60-year-old Lyndon Amestoy and the 64-year-old pilot, Richard Runyon, were killed in May 2015 shortly after taking off. Both men had been taking the Piper PA-46 350P on a post-inspection test flight after repairs had been made on the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the plane's cables that controlled banking and turning were improperly installed. LawsuitThe suit filed this month alleges Piper Aircraft and Spokane-based JetProp LLC should've known the design of the airplane was flawed. The two companies didn't respond to requests for comment. http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2016/12/28/436746.htm Back to Top Social media amplifies every glitch in the air A plane's engine allegedly caught fire as it was coming to land in Perth Cobam Aviation. Pictures from Brad McCoy, passenger on board. Screengrab from video via Facebook. Image: A plane's engine allegedly caught fire as it was coming to land in Perth Cobam Aviation. Pictures from Brad McCoy, passenger on board. Screengrab from video via Facebook. The rise of social media is fuelling the public's perception that flying is not safe. Thanks to mobiles, Facebook and other platforms, all aircraft problems, even the most insignificant, are broadcast to the world. Yet last year the airline industry had the second safest year on record. Every airline passenger or visitor to an airport is now a photojournalist or commentator. Last year more than two trillion digital photos were taken, 85 per cent of them on mobile phones. Putting that number in perspective, in the history of print film only 2.5 trillion photos were taken, which means that almost as many photos were taken last year than in the entire history of the analogue camera business. And if it's not a photo, it's a video with 300 hours uploaded to YouTube every minute and 5 billion videos watched each day. The last few seconds of the FlyDubai Boeing 737 crash in Russia in May captured on CCTV and the chaotic Emirates 777 passenger evacuation videos from August have been watched millions of times. According to German airline Lufthansa's research, up to 70 per cent of passengers have a degree of fear of flying, and for more than 30 per cent of travellers an airline's safety record is the major consideration when booking. But the industry's numbers for 2016 are amazing. Only 19 fatal accidents involving 325 deaths when the industry carried 3.7 billion passengers on 36 million flights, according to the International Air Transport Association estimates. Flashback 52 years ago, there were a staggering 87 crashes killing 1597 globally when airlines carried only 141 million passengers - just under 4 per cent of today's number. There is no question flying is safer and one of the reasons is the International Air Transport Association's Operational Safety Audit introduced in 2003. Since 2003, 409 airlines have completed the comprehensive audit and those airlines' crash rate is 77 per cent lower than airlines that do not do the audit. Completing IOSA every two years is a condition of joining IATA, the leading industry body. An IOSA audit examines every aspect of an airline's safety - on the ground and in the air - and ensures it has industry best practice with a continuous expert safety review process. It also ensures the airline has the systems to keep up with the latest safety developments. https://thewest.com.au/travel/air-aviation/social-media-amplifies-every-glitch-in-the-air-ng-b88343583z Back to Top Air New Zealand scores well in safety survey Air New Zealand has scored second in a list of airlines with the best safety record in 2016. Cathay Pacific retained its spot as the carrier with the best safety record, according to the study by the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, carried out for air industry magazine Aero International. Air New Zealand is second, Hainan Airlines third and Qatar Airways fourth Calculations are based on an airline's record, cross-referenced with the number of accidents and total losses, over the span of 30 years. http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/air-new-zealand-scores-well-in-safety-survey/ Back to Top Pilots call for total ban on high-power lasers The Air Line Pilots' Association is calling for a total ban on high-powered lasers after reports one was aimed at a plane leaving Wellington. Police received a call from a member of the public last night, who reported seeing what looked like a laser being pointed from the south-east end of the city's airport. A member of a Wellington planespotters' forum said they saw the laser being pointed at the Singapore Airlines flight to Canberra. The member's post said it was endangering the lives of people on board and urged planespotters to report any similar sightings. The Air Line Pilot's Association said it was worrying that laser strikes on planes were continuing to happen. President Tim Robinson said it was disappointing, and the capability of the type of lasers being used was among the strongest. "They can cause confusion to the pilots, they can actually cause temporary blindness if it's directed straight at the pilot's eyes. They can cause headaches and they can clearly disrupt the flow of the pilot during this critical phase of flight, and that's why it's such a serious issue for us." According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the number of reported laser strikes increased from 104 in 2015 to 128 last year. In December, a Christchurch man was jailed for pointing a laser pointer at several aircraft at the city's airport earlier in the year. Laser pointers are not banned in New Zealand but, in 2013, the government introduced regulations restricting the importation, sale and acquisition of lasers with an output of more than one milliwatt. Mr Robinson said the pilots' association wanted a total ban on the lasers. "There is a current law that prevents the importation and sale of these high-powered lasers unless there is a specific reason for their use," he said. "But we see that the danger outweighs the utility of them and we would like to see a complete ban." The frequency of laser strikes was really starting to alarm its members, he said. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/321656/pilots-call-for-total-ban-on-high-power-lasers Back to Top From IoT pilots to AI platforms, Emirates talks tech evolution Runway Girl Network recently sat down with Emirates SVP IT Strategic Services Neetan Chopra to discuss the evolution of the company's technology portfolio and the various data mining solutions being explored by an airline that moves nearly 52 million passengers annually. In the second part of our two-part series, Chopra speaks about the evolution of Passenger Service Systems (PSS) to meet the needs of modern data exchange, and the airline's block-chain and IoT work. Back-office systems covering everything from loyalty to maintenance will be impacted by these evolving platforms and Emirates is putting them into play in a major way, as well as mulling new approaches like creating an AI platform to aggregate artificial intelligence data. One of the things you talked about in your presentation is how technology stacks are evolving, especially for end users. Unfortunately, we're still on the legacy global distribution system (GDS) platforms for the most part, but how consumers interact is changing. The underlying GDS technology isn't necessarily ready to catch up. Given the fact that you're still dependent on GDS interoperability with everybody else, is there anything you can do? NC: I think the wonderful bit there from a technology perspective is Emirates has its own PSS. We're one of the few airlines which, for our core commercial and operational arenas, built our own systems. We develop our own systems. I think the stacks are changing fairly significantly right from the bottom, whether it's the end of Moore's law in 2020 people project, because it's got down to the atom size - you can't squeeze it any further - to quantum computing and neuromorphic computing. And right at the top of the stack where today everybody carries a smartphone [rather than using a traditional computer]. The whole stack and maybe computing between is changing. Does that impact the way that you can deal with the external parties was the other question. I'm not too sure that's an issue to be very honest. Of course, if you are tied up in a time horizon then that has an impact. But in terms of exchange of data, I think with the API economy you can abstract out what you are doing significantly enough to be able to integrate with another third party. Both from the world of asynchronous messaging, as well as the API economy, I think these two really facilitate integrating with these external parties. Even if somebody is in a bit more of a legacy environment, if they structured it out to an API layer, the API layers can talk to each other. I must, however, say that eventually all organizations need to have a plan for the legacy. You can't just leave it there forever. Passenger counts were, for a brief period of time, rising exponentially but traffic is now much more linear even for Emirates. Are you able to differentiate between the idea of exponential growth in app adoption and the much slower rate of growth in passenger count? You still have to move bags, you still have to move people. How much of what you're doing with app development really changes because passenger counts, even in the best case, is not exponential growth anymore? NC: That's a valid observation that you make. My kind of pitch says it is not just limited to what is happening in terms of growth of the market per se. My thinking there is to learn from how digital natives operate in an exponential world and how we can include some of that internally. I view exponential potential in a lot of our business areas, such as operations. There's so much optimization potential in operations. I think if you see it from that lens, you will find areas for exponential impact, whether it be cost, customer service, or sometimes even revenue. Exponential impact on your business in your business model - I think that's what I was more alluding to. I think companies need to start looking at their businesses from their exponential potential and learn from these [startup] guys who are already doing it. You're part of the Emirates Innovation Lab, helping run that group as well. Other than project Helix (mentioned here), what other cool projects do you have going on there that you're allowed to talk about? NC: There are a lot of things are going on. One is Helix that we've already covered. Another one, as I said, we are working with this set of startups with two hypotheses: one is about what is the next level of personalization in real time. That's one and we're working with a start-up out of MIT, another one out of Singapore. We are working on those. The second hypothesis that we are asking is, "Can we create that AI platform which allows humanity's artificial intelligence to be aggregated for Emirates in real time? Can we create a platform?" We've called a number of startups as well as new companies. IBM, Watson, GE, we're experimenting with that. That's another very interesting part. I think the third hypothesis, as I said is around block-chain. We got one big pilot which is the loyalty pilot. We are saying, "Can we orchestrate a partnership ecosystem using block-chain and eventually getting to peer to peer?" These are hypothesis. These are business experiments, and when I say business experiments we put them in front of our customers in a curated manner. That's going on. There are a couple of other loyalty, other block-chain pilots which are ongoing, and still in a more conceptual stage around logistics and management of the import, export process. We probably will look at Dubai and do something. The other is provenance. It started from the diamond industry where people wanted to know where this diamond is actually, where it has gone, the like, like a timeline, like a Facebook timeline. Similar kinds of patterns exist in our spare parts. You want to build a provenance of this spare part. We might do a pilot in that stage. Block-chain, the artificial intelligence data, and then on the edges the guys are very eager to look at all sorts of technology. We have a lot of IoT pilots. We took a whole hangar in engineering and did a pilot on smart hangar, tracking and tracing various stuff that moves through the hangar... That's another one. Then, natural user interfaces, we created a wall, a simple wall like this which becomes smart. It becomes like the smart interface. Some of these things we expanding. How's the IoT hangar process going? NC: There's lot of investment, a lot of vendors are interested. It's a very, very active field. As part of the pilot we wanted to trial different kinds of sensors to see what is the best use case. That is now done. Of course, once the innovation pilot gets over, then we go into the proper execution phase where we look at vendors in all their dimensions and evaluate the right partner to work with. This first part that you've completed was mostly just about understanding how the different sensors work in the environment? NC: Yeah, but one of the things we did in the innovation lab is not just do a pilot like a POC, you know, tech pilot. We actually take up business areas and we implement it at least for a period of time and then after that then we go live from a different process. https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2017/01/02/from-iot-pilots-to-ai-platforms-emirates-talks-tech-evolution/ Back to Top President offers Britain top secret jet fighter...in 1986 Recently declassified documents show that U.S. President Ronald Reagan offered UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher access to the American stealth technology. Recently declassified documents from the British National Archives have exposed something interesting: back in 1986, the then President of the United States Ronald Reagan offered British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher a chance for transatlantic cooperation on Stealth technology. As reported by the Guardian, under the name "Project Moonflower," the former POTUS offered Downing Street a briefing on the Black Project and the opportunity for the U.S. and the UK to work together on it. "Dear Margaret," a 1986 US telegram obtained by the Guardian recorded, "I am delighted to hear that you will be able to see Cap [Casapar Weinberger, the US defense secretary] to discuss the special program I wrote you about ... I look forward to receiving your reaction. Sincerely, Ron." But the UK turned down the chance to work with the U.S. stealth technology and acquire F-117 stealth jets, that had made their first flight in 1981 and would continue to secretly operate until they were revealed to the public in 1988, a couple of years before becoming famous during Desert Storm in Iraq. Keep in touch. Subscribe to Ameriforce's FREE digital editions. Focus topics include: Military News Spouses Deployment Finance Relocation Veterans Health & Benefits Indeed, an MoD letter in December 1986 to Charles Powell, the prime minister's foreign affairs adviser, informed him that "Mr Weinberger has offered us a chance to purchase the current US aircraft but we have replied that we would not wish to actually buy hardware while the program remains strictly black [secret]. After the first offer was rejected a modified version of the baseline F-117 was reportedly offered to the UK's Royal Air Force in 1995. Believed to be dubbed F-117C, the British variant, was planned to be equipped with "B-2 type intakes, a F- 22 type clear-view canopy, British avionics, F414 or EJ200 engines, plus a number of BAE structural components or sub-assemblies." The aircraft, also referred to as the F-117A+ or F-117B (B for "British") was being offered as a replacement for the Tornado GR4 and it is believed that this was the reason why some RAF pilots eventually flew the Nighthawk stealth jet before it was (somehow) retired in 2008. Even though the stealth technology that made the F-117 invisible to radars was cutting edge back in the mid-80s, the Tornado GR4 has been a pretty successful weapon system that the Royal Air Force has extensively used in combat in all the conflicts and crisis support operations it has taken part in the last 20 years. Meanwhile, the first UK's stealth has eventually arrived in the form of a much controversial Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. http://ameriforce.net/president-offers-britain-top-secret-jet-fighter-1986/ Back to Top Call for Abstracts of Technical Papers ISASI 2017, San Diego CA August 22 - 24. 2017 The International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) will hold their 48th annual seminar at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina from August 22 - 24, 2017. This year's theme is: "Investigations - Do They Really Make a Difference?" Abstracts of Technical papers are invited to address the theme in conjunction with other contemporary matters on aviation safety investigation, including recent case studies, new investigation methods and aviation safety trends or developments. For those interested in presenting a paper, submissions of abstracts are due by March 15, 2017. Abstracts should include a title and up to 300-word summary of the main points of the proposed paper. Please also include your name(s), affiliation, position, and a brief resume. Submissions, or any inquiries regarding submissions, are to be sent to: isasi2017abstracts@gmail.com The panel reviewing the submitted abstracts will consider criteria such as the quality of the paper for relevance to the seminar theme and air safety investigation. They will also endeavour to ensure that a broad range of topics are covered during the seminar. Decisions on the selected abstracts will be made by the April 15, 2017 and details on the required format of the final presentations will be issued at that time. Presenters will be required to submit their papers by July 15, 2017. Up to date information on ISASI 2017 can be found at www.isasi.org Back to Top ESASI SEMINAR 2017 - LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA The European Society of Air Safety Investigators (ESASI) will hold their annual seminar in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the 19 and 20 April 2017. Further details, and previous seminar programmes, can be found at www.esasi.eu . ESASI would welcome proposals for presentations to be given during the 2017 seminar, which should last a maximum of 25 minutes with a further 5 minutes for questions. Presentations should address issues relating to air safety investigations; particular areas of interest are: * challenges faced by air safety investigators, * the environment, and culture, that air safety investigators operate in, * practical experience of applying investigation techniques, * new techniques to aid the investigation, * topical case studies. Details of proposed presentations should be sent to Brian McDermid, by 31 January 2017, at presentations@esasi.eu. The ESASI committee will select the presentations in early February 2017. Back to Top RESEARCH STUDY SURVEY Hello, I'm Dr. Tim Holt and I'm currently the Program Chair for Aeronautics and an Associate Professor with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ. In this position I'm responsible for faculty, curriculum, course updates, course alignment, etc... Furthermore, I teach undergraduate courses in aeronautics, safety, unmanned systems, and airport management for the Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics program. To this day, there are no reported statistics of general aviation pilots that have survived hypoxia during normal flight operations. More often than not there are tales of pilots getting themselves into a hypoxic situation and not surviving; rarely do people hear of those that survive. This leaves the aviation community unsure of the common circumstances that these pilots find themselves that create a hypoxic state, as well as whether or not that reported the occurrence to the proper establishments. The data collected from this survey issued to general aviation pilots, will hopefully give insight as to how best to prevent these occurrences from happening, as well as promote a healthy safety culture to report these events. It is with this in mind that we decided to embark on this research study. This survey is completely anonymous and individual responses will not be recorded. It should only take 5- 10 minutes to complete. The link to the survey will provide you the Informed Consent and contact information of the researchers involved in the study. Thank you in advance, it's truly appreciated. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GAHYPOXIA Back to Top Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship The Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship was established by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to shape the next generation of aviation researchers, honoring the late Najeeb Elias Halaby, an eminent aviator and administrator, for his vision and more than five decades of extraordinary contributions to aviation (http://www.ral.ucar.edu/halabyfellowship.pdf). The Fellowship The recipient of a Najeeb E. Halaby Graduate Student Fellowship will spend three months (in 2017 or early 2018) in residence with NCAR's Aviation Weather Research Program, which Mr. Halaby was instrumental in establishing in the 1980s. As the nation's leader in addressing aviation weather research, NCAR plays a unique role in meeting user needs by transferring research results to operations through its Research Application Laboratory (http://www.ral.ucar.edu/). The Fellow will conduct research broadly aimed at improving the integration of weather into decision support tools for enhanced mitigation of weather sensitivities (e.g., weather impact avoidance) and management of air traffic. The Fellowship will provide: * a monthly stipend for three months, including temporary living expenses * round-trip travel expenses to and from Boulder, CO * travel to a conference to present results * page charges for one publication of key results Eligibility and Application The Halaby Fellowship targets graduate students (late Masters or early PhD level) enrolled in an aviation- relevant department or program of a domestic or international university. Interested candidates should have advanced research skills, far-reaching vision, and dedication to get things accomplished. Consideration for this Fellowship will be given to candidates based on the following submitted material: * Curriculum vitae * Proposal (maximum five pages) presenting the research to be conducted at NCAR, the anticipated outcome of that, and how the proposed effort ties into the candidate's ongoing graduate research project(s) * Contact information for three references (one of which should be the student's primary advisor) NCAR will accept applications for the Halaby Fellowship each year. Email Applications by February 28, 2017 to halabyfellowship@ucar.edu Curt Lewis