Flight Safety Information February 28, 2017 - No. 043 Incident: United B763 near Shannon on Feb 27th 2017, cracked windshield Cessna 310Q Fatal Impact With Ground on Takeoff (California) Cabin smoke forces Korean Air jet to land at Naia Jet makes emergency landing in Denver after severe turbulence Air Peace Aircraft Suffers Burst Tyre while Preparing for Take-off at Lagos Airport Hawaiian Airlines joins international climate change study Thai Air Law Boosts Safety Regs, Opens Door to Foreign Ownership The worst airline in America is Want to Be a Better Learner? Consider How Pilots Train to Fly a Plane Training the world's future pilots at SDSU, amid large shortage 7 Billion Gallons of Jet Fuel Saved / 74 Million Tons of Carbon Dioxide Eliminated Bangkok Airways recertified to international standards by CAA Thailand, supported by the UK CAA Incident: Avianca Brasil A320 near Sao Paulo on Feb 23rd 2017, smoke in cockpit Incident: United B763 near Shannon on Feb 27th 2017, cracked windshield A United Boeing 767-300, registration N674UA performing flight UA-56 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Newark,NJ (USA), was enroute at FL320 over the Irish Sea about 200nm east of Shannon (Ireland) when the crew reported the first officer's windshield cracked, descended the aircraft to FL140 and diverted to Shannon for a safe landing on Shannon's runway 24 about 45 minutes later. A replacement Boeing 767-300 registration N652UA departed Shannon about 8 hours after landing and is estimated to reach Newark with a delay of 8 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4a58336d&opt=0 Back to Top Cessna 310Q Fatal Impact With Ground on Takeoff (California) Date: 27-FEB-2017 Time: 16:41 Type: Cessna T310Q Owner/operator: Private Registration: N1246G C/n / msn: 310Q10 Fatalities: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: NE of Riverside Municipal Airport (KRAL), Riverside, CA - United States of America Phase: Take off Nature: Private Departure airport: Riverside Muni (KRAL) Destination airport: San Jose Int'l (KSJC) Narrative: Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft impacted two residential structures northeast of Riverside Municipal Airport (KRAL) in Riverside, California. The airplane was destroyed by the impact and post-impact fire. Three of the five occupants onboard the aircraft were fatally injured and two occupants received serious injuries, according to local news sources. Two residences were also destroyed. One individual on the ground was seriously injured. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=193867 Back to Top Cabin smoke forces Korean Air jet to land at Naia A Korea-bound Boeing 777 aircraft landed safely early Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after encountering a problem mid-flight. According to a report from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Korean Air flight from Singapore immediately radioed in to the Manila control tower for an emergency landing after smoke was detected in its cabin at around 1:30 am. MIAA immediately deployed firetrucks and medical teams to await the aircraft which landed safely and unloaded its 285 passengers to ensure their safety. Korean Air maintenance personnel immediately inspected the aircraft and declared it safe to continue the flight at 4 am. Sung Suk Jae of Korean Air clarified that the flight did not have smoke in the cabin but the crew "sensed a burning smell coming out from a seat." "After a maintenance check it was figured the origin of the smell was the AVOD (audio/video on demand) unit that was malfunctioning. The unit's power supply was cut (as) a safety measure and continued the flight," he said. The aircraft, with its 285 passengers, resumed its flight to Incheon taking off from the Naia past 5 am. CBB/JE http://globalnation.inquirer.net/152936/cabin-smoke-forces-korean-air-jet-to-land-at- naia Back to Top Jet makes emergency landing in Denver after severe turbulence A Boeing 737 was diverted and landed in Denver on Monday evening after encountering severe turbulence over the Rockies. American Airlines Flight 1296, from San Diego to Chicago, touched down at Denver International Airport at 5:36 p.m., according to Josh Freed, an airlines spokesman. There were 148 passengers and six crew members aboard the plane, which landed without incident. Medical workers greeted the plane, and a maintenance crew is checking over the Boeing jet. Freed said the "fasten-seat-belt warning" was on when the plane encountered severe turbulence. As of 7:15 p.m., American Airlines workers were trying to determine whether the plane would continue the route or whether other arrangements would be necessary. http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/27/jet-makes-emergency-landing-in-denver-after- severe-turbulence/ Back to Top Air Peace Aircraft Suffers Burst Tyre while Preparing for Take-off at Lagos Airport A Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to Air Peace on Monday suffered a burst tyre while preparing for take-off at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. The incident occurred at about 11am forcing the pilot to abort the flight. The aircraft was to convey 105 passengers from Lagos to Abuja. The airline's spokesman, Christian Iwarah who confirmed the incident, said no serious damage was done to the aircraft and no passenger was injured. He said:"The incident happened around 11am as the aircraft was about to take off. The pilot immediately turned around and the passengers were disembarked. "Another aircraft was provided for them and I can confirm to you that they arrived in Abuja safely a few hours ago." Reacting to the incident, the General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye, said he was yet to confirm if the incident had been filed with the regulatory authority. He, however, noted that the pilot acted according to the Standards and Recommended Practices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. https://www.bellanaija.com/2017/02/air-peace-aircraft-suffers-burst-tyre-while- preparing-for-take-off-at-lagos-airport/ Back to Top Hawaiian Airlines joins international climate change study HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaiian Airlines says it has become the first U.S. airline to join an international research project on climate change and air quality. The airline said Monday technicians recently installed equipment on one of its Airbus A330 airplanes that will collect atmospheric air samples from takeoff to landing and record key high-altitude greenhouse gas measurements. The project is run by an international not-for-profit organization based in Belgium called In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System. Members include research organizations, universities and weather services from Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The data are used by about 200 universities in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America, India and China. Scientists expect Hawaiian to produce valuable metrics thanks to its central Pacific location and non-stop flights around the Pacific and U.S. http://www.stltoday.com/business/hawaiian-airlines-joins-international-climate-change- study/article_eb2c0a11-99e6-554a-ad7d-4840d22256c3.html Back to Top Thai Air Law Boosts Safety Regs, Opens Door to Foreign Ownership Bangkok Airways has achieved re-certification to ICAO standards through a process supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. [Photo: UK CAA] A new law covering the regulation of the aviation sector in Thailand is set to go into effect around August or September. The law, which was approved by the Thai cabinet on Febuary 21 and is now being considered by the country's parliament, is intended to strengthen safety regulation while also allowing foreign investment in Thai aviation companies. The legislation will replace the outdated 1954 Civil Aviation Act and, significantly, it will give greater impetus to the implementation of international safety standards by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT). "It's going to help us speed up the implementation of ICAO standards," CAAT director general Dr. Chula Sukmanop told AIN on Monday, explaining that the agency would have the power to directly issue ICAO-based regulations rather than having to submit each one for parliamentary approval. One of the key provisions of the new law is to establish a committee of delegates from several government departments to consider applications for air operators certificates (AOCs), rather than leaving this entirely at the discretion of the Thai transport minister. A shortage of skilled personnel has resulted in a temporary moratorium on issuing new AOCs. The new aviation law also will remove the requirement for all Thai air transport operators and service companies to be at least 51 percent owned by Thai nationals. Among other issues, this may prove to be significant in attracting foreign investment in areas such as maintenance, repair and overhaul providers. "We can entertain majority ownership by foreigners, Kobsak Pootrakool, a vice minister in the Thai prime minister's office told AIN. "There will be no specification in terms of the percentage [a foreign investor] can own or how the share structure works." Meanwhile, on Monday, CAAT announced that Bangkok Airways has completed re- certification to ICAO standards through a joint program conducted with support from the UK Civil Aviation Authority's CAA International (CAAi) directorate. "Bangkok Airways is the first out of nine airlines that are expected to be granted AOCs as they are in the initial group," said Sukmanop. "The remaining eight are still in the process, because each airline's inspection period depends on the complexity of the organization, the size of aircraft fleet and the company's [operational complexity]." For several years, Thailand has struggled to meet ICAO standards. In 2015 it was flagged with a Significant Safety Concern (SSC) label by the UN-backed body for shortcomings over its approach to maintaining safety standards. Later this year, ICAO is set to re-audit CAAT to evaluate whether it meets the eight "critical elements" covered by the SSC. CAAi has provided assistance to CAAT in its efforts to prepare for this re-audit. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2017-02-27/thai-air-law-boosts- safety-regs-opens-door-foreign-ownership Back to Top The worst airline in America is... A new study crunches numbers to score companies on customer satisfaction Americans are happier than ever to travel by air - even if we don't show it. Though we love to complain about airlines, 85% percent of people who traveled by air in 2016 said they were "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their air travel experience, up from 80% in 2015, according to a new study released Tuesday from trade organization Airlines for America.The increasingly positive view of air travel can be attributed to enhancements in on-board food and entertainment and expedited security screening at airports, John Heimlich, chief economist for the company that conducted the survey, Ipsos Public Affairs. Still, most regular passengers have had at least some negative experiences on a trip or two, and in 2016 airlines ranked seventh-to-last out of 43 industries in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. So what airline was the worst? The answer is Spirit, according to another study released by travel and rewards website The Points Guy on Monday. The report analyzed data on the ten largest domestic airlines in the U.S. based for weighted categories including price, convenience, headaches like lost baggage and extras like lounges and frequent flyer programs. This categories included airfare (25%), bag and change fees (10%), route networks (15%), on-time arrivals (10%), cabin comfort (10%), customer satisfaction (10%), lost baggage (5%), involuntary bumps (2%), frequent flyer programs (10%), and lounges (3%). Spirit finished last in four criteria categories: on-time arrivals, customer satisfaction, cabin comfort, and its frequent flyer program, but topped the list for cheap airfares. Spirit started programs targeting on-time performance beginning last Spring and has seen a 64% reduction in complaints year over year, a Spirit spokesman told MarketWatch. "We're confident that we'll have a much better showing in the 2017 study," he said. Don't miss: Here are the safest airlines to fly in 2017 Frontier came in right behind Spirit at No. 9. A spokesman for Frontier told MarketWatch it has implemented new procedures to cope with snow events and other issues affecting its on-time performance, and has added automation processes to the bag room in Denver where its largest operation resides. It has received significantly fewer customer complaints in February than it did in January after introducing these measures, he said. The best-ranked airline? Alaska Air, winning top rankings in airfare, on-time arrivals, lost baggage, customer satisfaction, and its frequent flyer program. "The staff at Alaska Air is the most helpful and genuine I've encountered," said George Hobica, founder of airfare comparison site AirfareWatchdog.com. "We're grateful to be recognized for providing guests with a quality product at an affordable price together with a loyalty program that punches above its weight class," a spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines told MarketWatch. Here's the full ranking: 1. Alaska Airlines 2. United Airlines 3. Virgin America 4. JetBlue Airways 5. American Airlines 6. Southwest Airlines 7. Delta Air Lines 8. Hawaiian Airlines 9. Frontier Airlines 10. Spirit Airlines United came in second place, followed by Virgin America VA, -0.03% and JetBlue Airways JBLU, +2.04% Neither airline responded to request for comment from MarketWatch. American Airlines AAL, +0.09% was No. 5 with the largest route network of all 10 airlines but low scores on lost baggage and customer satisfaction. The company is investing more than $3 million in products like in-air connectivity, entertainment and dining choices, and upgrading its fleet with new aircrafts, an American Airlines spokesman told MarketWatch. "In 2017, we will continue to improve our operational reliability," he said. The survey comes as more companies strip down the flight experience and offer "basic economy class" - which gives travelers the option to pay less money to not have a carry- on bag or the ability to choose their seats. Hobica expects this to continue until all airlines offer a similar package. What's more, more people are flying now than ever before, Airlines for America found, with 49% of respondents saying they flew at least once in 2016, which is an increase of 4% from 2015 and nearly double what it was in 1971 (21%). There's a reason why consumer satisfaction with air travel is on the rise, along with the number of Americans flying, Hobica said, and the survey for Airlines for America, which obviously has a vested interest in people flying, found travelers are looking forward to traveling more in 2017. "Airlines are now paying more attention to the quality," Hobica said. "They are putting some of the profits back into the product, and it shows." Many recent surveys have shown they have better timekeeping, have fewer dumped passengers, fewer lost bags and higher customer satisfaction, he said. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-worst-airline-in-america-is-2017-02-28 Back to Top Want to Be a Better Learner? Consider How Pilots Train to Fly a Plane Research shows it's possible to improve even the most elusive skills through targeted training and a focused process. CREDIT: Getty Images In his book, Learn Better: Mastering the Skills for Success in Life, Business, and School, or, How to Become an Expert in Just About Anything, Ulrich Boser discusses methods for learning how to learn. This edited excerpt tells the story of how a grad student developed a program to help airline pilots learn a key skill to avoid deadly errors after a Northwest crash in Detroit killed nearly 150 people. At the time of the Northwest accident, Mica Endsley was living in Los Angeles. She was studying for her PhD. in systems engineering at the University of Southern California. The Detroit crash occurred late on a Sunday night, and Endsley would have heard about the incident on the news, with accounts like "Life or Death Turned on Twists of Fate" continuing in the papers for days. In her graduate school work, Endsley had been thinking a lot about the causes of airline crashes, and she believed that something called "situational awareness"--a type of ambient perception--might be the root cause of the issue. As a skill, situational awareness has a good amount of history, and at least since World War I, pilots have been debating the true nature of the skill and its role in flying. At the time of the crash, situational awareness was still a vague concept, often understood as something innate, a roll of the DNA lottery. Endsley found, for instance, that just about every pilot could misread a problem if they didn't have sufficient background knowledge. She also found that skills like awareness and metacognition were crucial, and pilots without these skills were more likely to make major mistakes. For the first time, she also demonstrated that situational awareness required planning as well as a type of relational knowledge that allowed pilots to solve problems during stressful moments. Endsley soon developed a training initiative, taking her research to airlines and flight schools, helping them develop better educational programs. In her teaching, Endsley encouraged pilots to ask themselves "what if" questions to help them develop a more systemic understanding of flying: What if this didn't work? What if this didn't happen? What if the engines stopped functioning? Endsley also pushed for the direct application of the skill of situational awareness, of learning as mental doing, and she and her staff would often sit with pilots in a flight simulator, helping them develop a more concrete sense of how situational awareness works. At the same time, Endsley underscored the value of thinking about thinking, and she recommended that pilots engage in self-talk, explaining situations to themselves, examining their patterns of reasoning. Today, many programs--from Air Force basic training to medical school programs--teach Endsley's approach, and while there's no clear way to track the impact of her work, there's little question that her efforts have helped stave off airline accidents. By giving the pilots a learning process, she helped them gain a skill that they clearly needed. Or just consider that at the time of the Northwest wreck, 2,000 people would die every year in plane crashes. Now it's less than 500. Math or reading, biochemistry or gaming, playing the piano or knitting a sweater, there are proven ways to improve our skills and knowledge, and even something that seems as vague and ill-defined as situational awareness can be developed. The key, it turns out, is to make learning a dedicated process, to use a targeted approach that relies on focus, practice, and reflection. For her part, Endsley has mapped out three stages of situational awareness--perception, comprehension, and projection. Here are the steps for learning that you can use to strive for mastery: Value. It's impossible to learn if we don't want to learn. To gain expertise, we have to see the skills and knowledge as valuable. What's more, we have to create meaning. Learning is a matter of making sense of something. Target. In the early part of gaining mastery, focus is key. We need to figure out what exactly we want to learn and set goals and targets. Develop. Some forms of practice make people more perfect than others. In this stage of learning, people need to hone their skills and take dedicated steps to improve performance. Extend. At this point, we want to go beyond the basics and apply what we know. We want to flesh out our skills and knowledge and create more meaningful forms of understanding. Relate. This is the phase where we see how it all fits together. After all, we don't want to know just a single detail or procedure--we want to know how that detail or procedure interacts with other facts and procedures. Rethink. When it comes to learning, it's easy to make mistakes, to be overconfident, and we need to review our knowledge, to reconsider our understanding, and learn from our learning. These steps don't always occur sequentially. Sometimes we need to simply hone our skills. On other occasions, motivation is plain. If you're studying for an exam--or checking your flaps--the rethinking stage is always going to be central. At the same time, we often get ahead of ourselves. One reason that hands-on learning doesn't work in many schools and colleges is because it's introduced too early. Same with practice: Too often, people try to develop their skills without knowing what exactly they're developing, without any sort of goals or targets. This brings us to again to the idea that learning is a process, a method, a system, and in the end, people can get better at gaining any sort of expertise. http://www.inc.com/ulrich-boser/how-to-learn-anything-better.html Back to Top Training the world's future pilots at SDSU, amid large shortage Training future pilots amid shortage They have survived a number of problems including terrorism, bankruptcy and consolidation. Now, the largest U.S. airlines face a new problem: they could start running out of pilots soon. As KSFY News learned, programs nationwide are working to fill that gap with top-notch training. Courtney Collen learned how they're training the world's future pilots. "You get this rush where instead of sitting in a chem lab, you're up flying a plane which not a lot of people can do. It's pretty cool what I'm doing for class," SDSU Senior Madison Yueill said. Madison Yueill is a second-year Aviation Education student hoping to someday fly an international commercial airliner. "I think there's only 7-10% of pilots are women so it's not very common. It's fun to be one of a few girls in our class," Yueill said. Luke Yueill, Caitlin Bute is also a second-year student. They are both from Minnesota. "My dad is a pilot for Southwest Airlines and I'm very proud of that. He's been my inspiration and motivation for a very long time," Caitlin Bute said These women are among the 73 undergraduates in SDSU Aviation. Program coordinator, former airline pilot captain Dr. Cody Christensen says this is a smaller but safe and effective program. It's also the only accredited program in South Dakota. "Our students make our job worthwhile. We can make a lot more money flying the line, as we call it. We have a passion for teaching, the program. We want to see students to succeed. We love when they come back and fly in their corporate jets, airlines, might call us up on the radio. It's a great environment to be in," Dr. Christensen said. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), a pilot organization representing general aviation, a shortage of pilots is very real. "In the next 20 years, we will need 112,000 new pilots and 118,000 new technicians in North America alone. There's a definite need," AOPA Representative Cindy Hasselbring said. "Right now, there's a lot of pilots at a certain age who will retire in a few years. We want to be mindful and be ready for the future to replace them." Dr. Christensen says his students are well aware of that need. "What we're seeing is a lot of our flight instructors or senior level students are being pulled to a regional airline level or being pulled to a corporate fleet where five years ago that wasn't even the case," Dr. Christensen said. It's not just affecting North America. "Looking internationally. There's a huge demand for pilots. They're offering double the salaries for airlines. We're seeing a big need in the domestic market when we look at regional airline. They're all hiring right now," he said. Even though the job market looks good, SDSU is not about to compromise safety just to get students into the cockpit. "Every single time we have an airline accident, or any type of incident, we all pay the cost in lives, property damage and lost resources. We have to make sure safety is paramount to what we do," Dr. Christensen said. Until then, students will use every moment of learning on the ground or in the air to their advantage. "Everytime I go up, I see something different. It's beautiful, it's fun, it's quiet. You can do anything. Makes you feel like you can do anything," Bute said. "When I meet people, they ask 'what's your major?' and I say 'I'm in aviation' and they're surprised. It's not very common. It's a funny reaction to see people when I tell them," Yueill said. Yueill and Bute will work towards a commercial pilots' license. Yueill is looking at a summer internship and gaining flight time hours at SDSU in the fall. SDSU's program has a 100% graduation rate and 100% job placement. "It's nice to have that opportunity to know you have a little job security once you get through training. It's the perfect moment to get into the industry so I'm very thankful for that," Yueill said. Yueill and Bute will work towards more flight hours, internships, FAA ratings and a commercial pilots license. According to a recent study by Boeing, the Asia-Pacific region will continue to lead with the most new jobs generated. But North America and Europe are also large generators of new airline jobs, largely because of an upcoming wave of retirements. For more information about South Dakota State University Aviation or the AOPA, visit the link in the 'related links' section of this page. http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Fixing-the-pilot-shortage-414819953.html Back to Top 7 Billion Gallons of Jet Fuel Saved / 74 Million Tons of Carbon Dioxide Eliminated SEATTLE, Feb. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aviation Partners, Inc. (API) and Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) announced today that its unique Blended Winglet and Split Scimitar Winglet technologies have now saved the world's commercial and business jet operators an estimated 7 billion gallons of jet fuel, resulting in a corresponding global reduction of 74 million tons of CO2 emissions. Blended Winglets are additions to the airplane wing that are significantly more efficient than standard wing tips. These winglets reduce the drag caused by wingtip vortices, the twin tornados formed by the difference between the pressure on the upper surface of an airplane's wing and that on the lower surface. By reducing drag, Blended Winglets increase fuel efficiency and boost range. The Blended Winglets, which feature a large radius and smooth chord variation in the wing-to-winglet transition area, have demonstrated more than 60 percent greater effectiveness over conventional winglets with an angular transition. Aviation Partners' latest winglet design, the Split Scimitar® Winglet, uses existing Blended Winglet technology, but adds new aerodynamic Scimitar tips and a large ventral strake, further increasing the efficiency of the airplane. Blended Winglets have now been installed on over 8,000 aircraft; including, in chronological order of FAA certification, the: Gulfstream II, 737-BBJ, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-300, Hawker 800, Boeing 757-200, Boeing 737-500, Boeing 737-900, Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 767-300ER/F, Dassault Falcon 2000, Boeing 757-300, Dassault Falcon 900, and Dassault Falcon 50. Split Scimitar Winglets are now installed on nearly 900 aircraft; including, in chronological order of FAA certification, the: Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737-BBJ, Boeing 737-700, and Boeing 737-900. APB and API expect the cumulative fuel savings from their technology to exceed 10 billion gallons by 2019. "We are very proud of being a leader of fuel conservation and emission reductions in the commercial airline industry and in private aviation," said Joe Clark, founder and chief executive officer of API, and chairman of APB. "We are always looking for ways to both adapt our current products and develop new technologies toward improving the efficiency and performance of commercial and private aircraft." We are doing our part in a changing world; for more information and to see a fuel savings counter in real time, fly to: www.aviationpartners.com or www.aviationpartnersboeing.com Seattle, Washington based Aviation Partners, Inc. is the world leader in advanced winglet technology. Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) is a joint venture between Aviation Partners, Inc. and The Boeing Company. SOURCE Aviation Partners Boeing http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/7-billion-gallons-of-jet-fuel-saved--74- million-tons-of-carbon-dioxide-eliminated-300414494.html Curt Lewis