Flight Safety Information March 6, 2017 - No. 047 Smoke seen coming from Cathay Dragon aircraft Allegiant Air flight aborts takeoff at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport Bryan Smith Receives 2017 BLR Aerospace Safety Award TSA Warns Local Police About Its New Airport Pat-Downs EU pilot fatigue rules miss required effect M1 closed near East Midlands Airport after aircraft 'fuel box problem' MH370 families aim to privately fund search for missing aircraft Alaska Airlines to hire for 2,300 frontline jobs in 2017 Boeing sounds out Indian carriers on 737 MAX-10 aircraft Experimental planes becoming safer, officials say Iridium® Safety Voice Communications Installs Surge Past 500 Aircraft All nine crew members aboard crashed Nagano rescue helicopter confirmed dead Watch: 2 female pilots fly Emirates A380 for International Women's Day Lack of instructor pilots hinders operations Chief pilot retires after 40-year career at flight school Virgin Orbit seen as boost for Long Beach after aircraft plants close Smoke seen coming from Cathay Dragon aircraft No one was injured as all passengers and attendants had left the plane, which had flown in from Wuhan Smoke was seen coming from the rear of an empty Cathay Dragon aircraft, which had just landed at Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday afternoon. At 2:23pm, smoke was seen from the aircraft of KA853 that landed in Hong Kong from Wuhan in Central China an hour earlier, Headline Daily reported. No one was injured as all passengers and crew had already left the plane, firemen said. The fire alarm ended 30 minutes later. A Cathay Pacific spokesman was quoted as saying in an Apple Daily report that the smoke came from an auxiliary power system, which was out-of-order during a test. An Airport Authority spokeswoman said the incident did not affect the operation of the airport. http://www.atimes.com/article/smoke-seen-coming-cathay-dragon-aircraft/ Back to Top Allegiant Air flight aborts takeoff at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport Passengers board a Allegiant Airlines flight to Lexington, Ky., at the St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport. [JAMES BORCHUCK, Times file] A runway at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport was closed for an hour Saturday morning after an Allegiant Air flight aborted takeoff because of a mechanical problem that left behind debris from the aircraft. The pilot of Flight 890 bound for Fort Wayne, Ind., initially reported to the tower that he thought he had blown a tire during takeoff shortly after 8 a.m., according to a recording of tower communications reviewed by the Tampa Bay Times. But rescue personnel called out to inspect the aircraft said the plane's tires were fine. Allegiant Air confirmed the aborted takeoff and said the debris may have been related to an "internal failure" of one of the plane's engines. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 "experienced a maintenance issue during pre-takeoff roll," Allegiant said in a statement emailed to the Times. "The pilot aborted the takeoff and the aircraft returned to the gate where passengers deplaned. ... Our maintenance team is inspecting the aircraft to determine the cause." The flight was delayed about four hours before passengers were able to depart, apparently on a different aircraft. Passengers were given a meal voucher and provided a $100 voucher for future travel on the airline. Yvette Aehle, a spokeswoman for the airport, said it was unclear what kind of debris was left on the runway. But she said an hour's runway closure does not necessarily indicate a lot of debris on a runway that is over a mile long. "It takes a long time to inspect it," she said. Las Vegas-based Allegiant, which is responsible for 95 percent of passenger traffic at the Pinellas County airport, has been moving aggressively to replace and retire its fleet of aging MD-80 series aircraft. While the airline says the MD- 80s are absolutely safe with proper maintenance, it has acknowledged they are prone to more mechanical difficulties that cause schedule delays. The airline is in the process of buying 12 new Airbus aircraft in a deal that could be worth close to $1 billion as it addresses the reliability of its fleet of about 85 aircraft. Allegiant had previously always bought used aircraft at bargain prices, a key part of the low-cost airline business model. But the carrier has suffered a series of public relations bruises in the past two years related to emergency landings and questions about its maintenance practices. A Times analysis published in November found that Allegiant's planes were four times as likely to fail during flight as those operated by other major U.S. airlines in 2015. Allegiant did not dispute the findings, though the airline said it had made strong improvements to address the reliability of its fleet. Among the steps it took was replacing its management at the St. Pete-Clearwater airport after the airline's CEO, Maurice Gallagher Jr., said the company suffered a "bad summer" of 2015 with emergency landings and operational issues there. http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/airlines/allegiant-air-flight-aborts-takeoff-at-st-pete-clearwater- international/2315367 Back to Top Bryan Smith Receives 2017 BLR Aerospace Safety Award Here at Heli-Expo 2016, Bryan Smith will receive the 2017 BLR Aerospace Safety Award. Smith is a pilot and safety program manager for the Airborne Law Enforcement Association (ALEA). He has also spent time as an instructor pilot for the Seminole County sheriff's office and chair of the Safety Management System (SMS) Working Group. The award, which will be presented at the Heli-Expo Salute to Excellence Awards dinner on March 8 at the Hilton Anatole Dallas, recognizes individuals or organizations that have promoted safety in the helicopter industry. Smith has spent his career developing and implementing safety solutions for operators and pilots since 1992. As an instructor pilot for the Seminole County sheriff's office in Florida, he flies rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. He has 11 years of experience in law enforcement aviation and eight years of experience flight instructing at aviation events around the world. He works as an instructor in law enforcement tactics; aviation safety; accident response planning; flight training and unit management; and marketing strategies. Smith currently serves as the ALEA safety program manager. Created in 1976, the organization values and supports safety and education training as well as networking, integrity, public service, professionalism and ethics. ALEA also offers awards, scholarships and citations to deserving individuals who have proven their excellence in aviation. Since 2012, Smith has supported safety outreach and education, development of risk management tools and resources and ALEA members' safety management and program development efforts. The pilot's work doesn't stop there, and Smith also participates with the United States Helicopter Safety Team and chaired the SMS Working Group. During this time, he led a volunteer team of industry experts to help reduce accident rates around the world and implement SMS. He published various articles in industry trade publications, including "The Real World SMS" in Air Beat Magazine, Law Officer, Vertical 911 and Rotor Magazine. Besides working as a flight instructor, Smith also gives safety presentations and leads safety courses worldwide. Last year, the BLR Aerospace Safety Award went to Boston MedFlight, a nonprofit organization that provides hospital transportation to patients who may not be able to afford it. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2017-03-02/bryan-smith-receives-2017-blr-aerospace- safety-award Back to Top TSA Warns Local Police About Its New Airport Pat-Downs A universal "comprehensive" search may prompt passenger complaints to law enforcement. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has declined to say exactly where-and how-employees will be touching air travelers as part of the more invasive physical pat-down procedure it recently ordered. But the agency does expect some passengers to consider the examination unusual. In fact, the TSA decided to inform local police just in case anyone calls to report an "abnormal" federal frisking, according to a memo from an airport trade association obtained by Bloomberg News. The physical search, for those selected to have one, is what the agency described as a more "comprehensive" screening, replacing five separate kinds of pat-downs it previously used. The decision to alert local and airport police raises a question of just how intimate the agency's employees may get. On its website, the TSA says employees "use the back of the hands for pat-downs over sensitive areas of the body. In limited cases, additional screening involving a sensitive area pat-down with the front of the hand may be needed to determine that a threat does not exist." Now, security screeners will use the front of their hands on a passenger in a private screening area if one of the prior screening methods indicates the presence of explosives, according to a "security notice" Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) sent its U.S. members following a March 1 conference call with TSA officials. 1 "Due to this change, TSA asked FSDs [field security directors] to contact airport law enforcement and brief them on the procedures in case they are notified that a passenger believes a [TSA employee] has subjected them to an abnormal screening practice," ACI wrote. 2 The TSA screens about 2 million people daily at U.S. airports. The agency said it doesn't track how many passengers are subject to pat-down searches. These searches typically occur when an imaging scanner detects one or more unknown objects on a person or if a traveler declines to walk through the machine and opts for the physical screening. "Passengers who have not previously experienced the now standardized pat-down screening may not realize that they did in fact receive the correct procedure, and may ask our partners, including law enforcement at the airport, about the procedure," TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson wrote March 3 in an email, describing why the agency notified police. The pat-down change, first reported Friday by Bloomberg News, is "intended to reduce the cognitive burden on [employees] who previously had to choose from various pat-down procedures depending on the type of screening lane," ACI-NA wrote in its notice. Physical screening has long been one of the public's strongest dislikes regarding airport security protocols. The TSA has all pat-downs conducted by an employee of the same gender as the traveler, and allows a passenger to request a private area for the screening, as well as to have a witness present. Likewise, the traveler can request that the pat-down occur in public view. The TSA won't reveal specific procedures on how its pat-downs are conducted beyond the general information on its web site. "Knowing our specific procedures could aid those who wish to do travelers harm in evading our measures," Anderson said. The TSA's calls to police were an effort to provide local law enforcement "situational awareness" about the new pat- down method, Christopher Bidwell, ACI-NA's vice president of security, said in an interview Saturday. U.S. airports have not expressed any reservations or concerns about the pat-down change, the association said. "We appreciate our partner, the TSA, providing us information about these universal pat-downs and the standardization," Bidwell said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-06/tsa-warns-local-police-about-its-new-airport-pat-downs Back to Top EU pilot fatigue rules miss required effect Last month marked one year of European airlines flying under the new EU Flight Time Limitations (FTL) rules - which were introduced to prevent pilot fatigue from endangering flight safety. However, the European Cockpit Association (ECA) has issued a statement condeming the complexity of the new EU FTL rules that results in them being "widely mis-interpreted and incorrectly implemented". The ECA says that there are different interpretations of the rules, a lack of official guidance on correct implementation, immature fatigue risk management systems in the airlines and persistent fatigue problems. It is calling on aviation stakeholder to address these issues. "Particularly at risk are night flight duties of 10 hrs or more, extended flights of 14 hours, and standby-flight combinations with pilots being awake for more than 18 hours - but being expected to land their aircraft and passengers safely after such duties," says ECA President Capt. Dirk Polloczek. "Although we have new rules, the old problem persists: many fatigued pilots in Europe's cockpits." In a report published two months ago by the London School of Economics, it was highlighted that fatigue is an issue for six out of ten European pilots, but only two out of ten pilots think that fatigue is taken seriously by their airline. "These findings are serious enough to serve as a wake-up call for European and national aviation authorities," continues Polloczek. "But the problem is that many national authorities have insufficient resources and knowhow to properly oversee the new rules and their correct application." The ECA is calling on the European Aviation Safety Agency to guide the work on clarifying interpretation and implementation. The ECA also argues that proactive Fatigue Risk Management (FRM) systems need to play a more prominent role in airlines' efforts to reduce crew fatigue. FRM is, in its essence, complementary to the prescriptive FTL rules, allowing airlines to 'customise' some aspects of the regulation. Those two components taken together were supposed to reconcile adequate fatigue protection and flexibility for airlines to operate efficiently. "In reality, however, Fatigue Risk Management remains either misunderstood, poorly handled, inadequately overseen or simply used as a smokescreen to cover ongoing malpractice," says Philip von Schöppenthau, ECA Secretary General. "Our own benchmarking among almost 30 airlines shows that too few operators have actually implemented a functional and effective system to manage their crews' fatigue risk. "It is therefore crucial that EASA and the NAAs invest more in training and auditing of the operators. Otherwise, FRM risks remaining a paper-tiger exercise with no real effect on fatigue." A scientific review of Europe's FTL rules is underway, with a final report expected in February 2019. "This review is crucial." says von Schöppenthau, "Several years ago leading scientific fatigue experts had warned that the new FTL rules would be insufficient to counter the safety risks associated with pilot fatigue. "We therefore welcome this study and hope it will help EU regulators to finally close the safety lacunae of today's rules." http://www.shponline.co.uk/eu-pilot-fatigue-rules-miss-required-effect/ Back to Top M1 closed near East Midlands Airport after aircraft 'fuel box problem' The incident which closed the M1 involved a Jet2 passenger flight from Gran Canaria A stretch of the M1 was closed near East Midlands Airport after an 'aircraft emergency' involving a Jet2 passenger flight from Gran Canaria. The motorway was shut in both directions just before junction 23a just after 9.30pm yesterday. Police reopened the road around 20 minutes later. Highways England, which manages the motorways and major roads in England, said the incident passed with the aircraft landing safely. A passenger on board the flight contacted the Post to say he saw a number of emergency services vehicles surround the aeroplane. A spokeswoman for East Midlands Airport said: "It was a Jet2 aircraft - the pilot called for emergency services because of a problem with the fuel box. Emergency services were called as a precaution. "The plane landed at 9.45pm. Fire services were on standby to ensure it was nothing serious. It was a standard procedure. "The fire service made a quick check of the aircraft before it was able to taxi to the stand, and passengers were allowed to disembark in the normal way. "There was no impact on other aircraft or services as a result of the incident." A spokesman for Jet2 said: "Flight LS670 from Gran Canaria called for assistance on approach into East Midlands Airport as a precautionary measure, due to a fault indication. "The aircraft landed safely and then taxied to the gate after inspection." A spokesman for Leicestershire Police confirmed an aircraft emergency had been logged with them last night, but was unable to provide any further details. http://www.nottinghampost.com/m1-closed-near-east-midlands-airport-after-aircraft-fuel-box-problem/story- 30181108-detail/story.html Back to Top MH370 families aim to privately fund search for missing aircraft The families of passengers and crew onboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have launched a campaign to raise money for a search for the plane. A years-long operation by three governments has failed to locate it. Relatives of those who went missing onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 announced on Saturday that they planned to raise millions to fund a search for the aircraft, which vanished nearly three years ago. Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane, said the families hoped to raise around $15 million (14.1 million euros) as a start. She said the money would be used to finance a search north of the region of the southern Indian Ocean that was jointly scoured for nearly three years by Australia, Malaysia and China without success. However, Nathan said no money would be gathered until it was sure the three governments had definitely ceased their efforts to find the plane. "We won't start fundraising until we're sure that the governments are not going to resume the search and until the current data has been fully reviewed and analyzed," she said at a MH370 memorial event in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 THE MYSTERY OF FLIGHT MH370 Takeoff On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 bound for Beijing takes off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m., with 239 people on board. However, 26 minutes after departure, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which transmits key information on the plane's mechanical condition, is switched off. 'Must not remain a mystery' The three governments, who suspended their search operations on January 17, have said they will relaunch the search if credible evidence as to the plane's location were to emerge. Another MH370 relative, Jacquita Gomes, whose husband was a flight attendant on the plane, said families were being forced to take action on their own behalf. The disappearance "should not go down in history books as a mystery," she said. MH370 families have often expressed frustration at the way the official search has been carried out. Debris discoveries MH370 vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, in what is one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time. Last year, international experts assisted Voice 370, a MH370 support group, to carry out a private search along the coast of East Africa, where some debris from the plane has been discovered. Two new pieces of potential wreckage were found in South Africa just two weeks ago, according to the Malaysian transport minister. http://www.dw.com/en/mh370-families-aim-to-privately-fund-search-for-missing-aircraft/a-37808237 Back to Top Alaska Airlines to hire for 2,300 frontline jobs in 2017: Why you should apply today Alaska's frontline employees A forecasted more than 2,300 frontline jobs will be up for grabs at Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air throughout 2017. The growing airlines are looking for candidates to fill hundreds of flight attendant, pilot, reservations and customer service jobs throughout the airlines' route network. Jobs will be posted to alaskaair.jobs and horizonair.jobs throughout the year. More than 2,000 of the positions do not require previous airline experience. "This is an exciting time for our airlines - we are growing and that means more new job opportunities in the communities we serve." says Laura Fowler, Managing Director Talent Acquisition & Inclusion. "Our team is on the lookout for people who want to be a part of a great culture and help create an airline people love." Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air 2017 hiring forecast: 300 pilots 900 flight attendants 540 customer, ground and passenger service agents 600 reservations agents (call center and work-from-home positions) At least 250 of the jobs are earmarked for the Seattle area, with about 150 based in Boise, Idaho and another 100 in Phoenix, Arizona. The rest are spread throughout Alaska's route network. In addition to frontline and customer-facing roles, the growth of the company will require us to grow our corporate and support teams as well. Look for opportunities this year in information technology, revenue management, human resources, finance and other corporate roles. 4 reasons why you should apply to work at Alaska Airlines this year Generous bonuses: Last month $100 million was distributed to nearly 16,000 employees throughout Alaska's route network for meeting or exceeding company-wide goals for safety, customer satisfaction, cost control and profit. For most employees, this equated to about an additional month's pay, and is in addition to $15 million in quarterly bonuses paid for achieving monthly on-time and customer satisfaction goals. Flight privileges: Alaska employees enjoy unlimited standby travel for themselves, as well as their spouses, parents and dependents. Culture: When Alaska's and Horizon's recruiters set out to fill positions, they're looking for people who are passionate about creating remarkable experiences for our guests by going beyond expectations and doing the right thing. Since acquiring Virgin America in December 2016, Alaska has adopted the younger airline's purpose statement: Creating an airline people love. It's also an airline that people love working for. See for yourself by browsing the hashtag #iamalaska. Growth: 2017 is an exciting year for Alaska Air Group. The recent acquisition of San Francisco-based Virgin America, the new Embraer E175 jets that will be delivered to Horizon beginning this spring and Alaska's new flights to Havana, Cuba are just a few of the major developments creating new opportunities in 2017. There has never been a more exciting time to join the team. https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/people/2017-hiring-forecast/ Back to Top Boeing sounds out Indian carriers on 737 MAX-10 aircraft The logo of Boeing (BA) is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo Boeing Co (BA.N) has approached India's SpiceJet Ltd (SPJT.BO) and Jet Airways Ltd (JET.NS) as it gauges airlines' interest in its 737 MAX-10 aircraft, the stretched version of the yet-to-be-delivered 737 MAX narrow-body jetliner, a senior executive said. Indian carriers are rapidly expanding to meet demand in the world's fastest-growing aviation market, with most of the growth involving flights into and out of the country's biggest cities. "We have presented it to both the airlines what the airplane looks like, and it's in a very preliminary stage," Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and India sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told Reuters. "If you are flying to the metros this (737 MAX-10) will be a perfect airplane, because runways are long, demand is there, frequency is already there." Airplane makers typically line up orders before deciding whether to formally undertake building a new aircraft. SpiceJet and Jet Airways have the option to substitute some of their existing orders of MAX planes with the MAX-10, Keskar said. In January, budget airline SpiceJet agreed to buy 100 new 737 MAXs aircraft with an option for 50 more, while Jet Airways had 75 orders for the 737 MAX through January 2017. SpiceJet and Jet Airways did not respond to requests for comment. Boeing is creating up to five versions of MAX, which will replace the current 737 "NG" introduced in 1997 and offer greater fuel efficiency. The company has been looking at the feasibility of the 737 MAX-10 - the biggest aircraft in the MAX family - to take on rival Airbus (AIR.PA), which has had strong sales of its A321neo, its largest single-aisle aircraft. The first MAX model in production, the MAX-8, is on track to reach customers by mid-year. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces capture al-Hurriya bridge in Mosul, spokesman says The A321neo competes with Boeing's MAX-9, which carries a list price of $116.6 million and seats as many as 220 passengers. The A321neo seats as many as 236 and has a list price of $127 million. Keskar said the incremental cost to operate the MAX-10 is going to be very little and airlines may face slightly higher costs on fuel, food and an extra cabin attendant. "But your potential gain in the revenue will be phenomenal," he said. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-airplane-india-idUSKBN16A1LO Back to Top Experimental planes becoming safer, officials say TIM JEAN/Staff photo. Roger Pascoe talks about a part from the factory for his RV-8 home-built kit aircraft. The part is computer designed and has pre-drilled rivet holes Amateur-built aircraft like the one that crashed through the roof of a Methuen condominium building on Tuesday have faced increasing scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration in recent years as interest in these types of planes has taken off. The experimental Sonex plane fell from the sky as it was approaching Lawrence Municipal Airport for landing early Tuesday afternoon -- killing the pilot, former Newburyport Mayor Alan Lavender. The crash has raised concerns from the community about the safety of home-built planes and the experience pilots need to fly them. In addition to referring to unproven designs, the term "experimental" in aviation is used as a designation for home- built aircraft, even those based on well established designs. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) air safety investigator Aaron McCarter said "it's very common" for pilots to build their own planes. The FAA documented 27,922 active aircraft across its various experimental airplane categories in 2015. Of those, 21,195 are classified as amateur, making home-built airplanes just more than 10 percent of the 210,030 general aviation and air taxi craft in service that year. But with experimental planes come safety concerns. Amateur-built and other experimental aircraft were involved in more than 25 percent of fatal general aviation accidents in the United States over the past five years, while only accounting for an estimated 5 percent of total general aviation fleet hours, according to the FAA. "General aviation" refers to all civil aviation operations other than scheduled air services and air transport operations for hire. It includes private planes, gliders, corporate jets and other such flights. A 2012 NTSB study into experimental amateur-built aircraft said the planes accounted for a "disproportionate number of total accidents and an even more disproportionate number of fatal accidents," when compared with similar non-home-built aircraft doing similar flight operations. That study resulted in several recommendations from the NTSB related to aircraft certification, flight testing and pilot training. However, with an increased focus on safety and education efforts in the years following that study, the number of fatal accidents for experimental planes has decreased in recent years, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). "What we've seen from that emphasis in safety over the past five years is a significant drop in the number of fatal accidents in amateur-built aircraft," said EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski. He added, "This is a safe pursuit to begin with, but in a safety sense one (fatality) is always too many, so you always want to make sure you can get that number down." 'It was well built' Lavender's 2016 Sonex airplane was one of 16 experimental aircraft based at Lawrence Municipal Airport, according to airport manager Michael Miller. There are 215 aircraft based at the airport, though not all of them are airworthy, he said. The former Newburyport mayor built the plane himself over the course of about three-and-a-half years, said Bob Di Meo, vice president of EAA Chapter 106, which is based at the airport and serves the greater Boston area. Di Meo had been involved with Lavender's build, advising him over the last eight months or so of the plane's construction. The last time he had any direct involvement with the Sonex was when Lavender asked him to look over the plane just before its official inspection. Di Meo said he "spent several hours climbing over the aircraft," asking questions and looking at the plane's construction plans. While he hasn't built a Sonex aircraft, Di Meo constructed his own Van's RV-8 aircraft and serves as a technical counselor for his EAA chapter. He told Lavender the plane "looks pretty good to me," and the Newburyport man had the inspector come. That inspector "found nothing," Di Meo said. "That made me feel really good because that means I didn't miss anything and really that was the last time I looked at the aircraft," he said. "To me it was well built, it was sound, the engine, the wiring, the instrumentation all looked like I would do it." Extensive inspection process To qualify as an experimental amateur-built aircraft, builders must construct at least 51 percent of their plane, according to the FAA. Many of these airplanes come from kits made by manufacturers, including from Sonex and Van's -- one of the more popular models in the country -- that are designed to meet that requirement. The build and certification process for these planes is extensive. Di Meo, of Bedford, New Hampshire, said it took him about eight years to construct his RV-8 plane. He ordered the first piece of his kit in 1998 and finished the project in 2005. He built the wings and tail in his basement; the fuselage, engine and instrumentation work in his garage; then took it to the airport and spent another year assembling the plane for flight. "The FAA actually says that part of the experimental aircraft reason is to be that it's educational and its recreational. That's the premise that we build our aircraft on, to learn and enjoy ourselves," he said. The kit planes come with construction materials, instructions and blueprints. "Every little thing including all the rivets and the screws and nuts and washers is specifically spelled out," said Roger Pascoe, of Salem, New Hampshire, who owns and operates a home-built plane. While Pascoe didn't build the Van's RV-8 he now owns, he does the maintenance work and has a thick stack of blueprints and a binder-full of instructions for the plane in his hangar at Lawrence Municipal Airport. Lavender's Sonex aircraft would have had similar materials, he said. Pascoe noted that manufacturer's website also provide updates to the instruction materials based on feedback from the field. Before it can fly, a plane must be deemed airworthy by either an FAA official or a designated airworthiness representative (DAR). "They go through a very intensive inspection of the aircraft to make sure as much as possible that the aircraft has been built reasonably well and that it can operate as an airworthy aircraft," Di Meo said. Once the plane is approved, the inspector gives the pilot a set of operating limitations, parameters within which to test the plane during its initial hours in flight. For instance, the plane must be flown between 25 and 40 hours over "unpopulated areas" before the pilot is allowed to carry passengers, pilots said. The planes are then inspected every year or 100 hours of flight time, whichever comes first, Knapinski said. Along with certifying the plane, pilots must also be appropriately licensed. "Pilots need the same kind of training and recurring training as (they would to operate) the small Cessnas you might see at a local airport," he said, referring to a line of factory-made planes. Lavender's plane received its certification in 2016, and records show he is listed as the manufacturer of the plane. Studying safety What caused Lavender's plane to crash into Building 7 at the Prides Crossing condominium development early Tuesday afternoon while approaching Lawrence Municipal Airport for landing remains unclear, and will for some time. A preliminary report into the crash is expect this week, while a full report could take up to a year, and a final report could take up to a year and a half to materialize. Di Meo doesn't know what went wrong in Lavender's last flight. "It was like nine months, 10 months ago that he made his first flight and he was flying it fairly regularly," Di Meo said of Lavender. "It sounds to me that he had gone over the hump of the highest risk part of it." According to accident analyses from its 2012 study, system failures and in-flight loss of control were among the most common types of accidents for experimental amateur-built aircraft. The NTSB undertook the study in part due to safety concerns about these types of aircraft and the lack of "contemporary and definitive analysis" of their safety. The EAA provided information for the study. The study showed that fatal accident rates were generally higher for home-built aircraft over their counterparts, which include all single-engine piston-powered airplanes and helicopters, balloons and gliders that were not certified in that category. For instance, the accident rate per 100,000 flight hours - time spent in the air - for the experimental aircraft was between 2.5 to 3 times higher than that of their counterparts between 2001 and 2010. The fatal accident rate averaged about 4 times greater, the study said. Based on its findings, the NTSB issued 12 recommendations to the FAA and four to the EAA. That included expanding documentation requirements for initial aircraft airworthiness certification, verifying the completion of the first phase of flight testing and improving pilot access to transition training efforts. It also encouraged the use of recorded data during flight testing and made recommendations about proper documentation and aircraft identification in registry records. Making improvements Following that study, Knapinski said the EAA undertook several efforts to enhance safety, including participating in the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee, a public-private partnership to improve general aviation safety. The FAA has also since approved the optional Additional Pilot Program where a second licensed pilot can be in an experimental aircraft during the first phase of test flying "to help monitor the critical systems and make sure everything's working properly," Knapinski said. In July of 2016, the FAA reported that loss of control remained the leading cause of fatal accidents for this type of airplane. However, with the help of these education efforts and updated safety materials, experimental planes were "showing improvement," the agency said. Data provided by Knapinski and the EAA showed a drop in fatal accidents over the past few years. Between October 2015 and September 2016, there were 33 fatal accidents reported in home-built aircraft, down from 40 fatal accidents in the previous reporting year and 51 in the year prior to that. "The fact that you have probably twice as many airplanes as you did 25 years ago, but the total number of accidents is dropping, it speaks to the safety of people who build and own these aircraft," Knapinski said. The two pilots, Di Meo and Pascoe, have also noticed the trend of increased education and safety efforts. Pascoe has been flying since he was a teenager. He's flown about two dozen different types of aircraft and prefers experimental planes for their enhanced performance features like aerobatics and speed. As the home-build field grows, oversight and outreach efforts increase as well, he said. "The EAA has really mushroomed out and has training classes now and has promoted local chapters in doing the same," he said. "Builders, when they buy kits, are encouraged to contact local chapters and get in touch with people building similar airplanes." Di Meo also serves as a flight adviser, helping plane builders better learn the characteristics of their airplanes and how the nuances of how they fly. "To us it's become a pretty safe endeavor as long as (pilots) approach it carefully," he said. http://www.eagletribune.com/news/merrimack_valley/experimental-planes-becoming-safer-officials- say/article_eee3c192-53a5-554b-84ac-927e17609719.html Back to Top Iridium® Safety Voice Communications Installs Surge Past 500 Aircraft Airlines seek to replace high frequency (HF) radios with the safety, security and efficiency of Iridium Satellite Communications MCLEAN, Va., March 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:IRDM) today announced that its Safety Voice service, which is used for air traffic communications, has been adopted by more than 500 aircraft as of February 2017. The Iridium Safety Voice service provides aircraft operators with an alternative to existing HF radio systems, replacing them with a secure satellite-based option for long-range communications. In August of 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) distributed an 'Information for Operators' (InFO) notice, alerting aircraft operators of the modifications required to comply with Policy Letter-106 which outlines how aircraft may operate with one HF radio and one satellite communications (SATCOM) platform over the West Atlantic Routing System (WATRS). The Iridium Safety Voice service features a dialing system requiring multiple user authentication steps for in-flight communications in addition to a call priority system, ensuring urgent communications are not interrupted. Over the past few years Iridium has seen substantial adoption of its aviation services with more than a 100 percent increase in active airframes using the Safety Voice service between 2015 and 2017. The ability to add a satellite system using the Iridium network as an alternative to a second HF system has several benefits, including lower power requirements, lighter-weight equipment, and better quality and coverage, resulting in increased efficiency and fuel economy. "With more than 500 active air transport aircraft around the globe having already adopted Iridium's Safety Voice service, we know that the industry is hungry for this technology," said Brian Pemberton, vice president and general manager, aviation at Iridium. "With the launch of Iridium NEXT and Iridium CertusSM products, aircraft operators will soon have access to high quality, global and cost-effective satcom solutions, with unparalleled performance, that will positively impact their bottom lines." Pemberton continued, "The Iridium Safety Voice service adds elements of safety, security and efficiency that are not available with traditional, high-frequency systems. Adding Safety Voice to the existing FANS 1/A data capability enables a full suite of long-range flightdeck safety communications for efficient and cost-effective air traffic control. The rapid adoption we're seeing by the industry is a testament to its value." Iridium is currently launching Iridium NEXT, the company's next-generation global satellite constellation. All existing Iridium aviation services, including the Safety Voice service are compatible with the new constellation. The first 10 Iridium NEXT satellites were launched into low-Earth-orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 14, 2017. Seven additional SpaceX launches are scheduled to take place over the next 12 to 15 months, delivering a total of 75 Iridium NEXT satellites to orbit, including the second launch now targeted for mid- June 2017. In total, the operational Iridium NEXT constellation will consist of 66 satelliteswith nine satellites serving as on-orbit spares. The InFO can be read in its entirety at: www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/info/all_infos/media/2015/InFO15008.pdf For more information about Iridium, visit: www.Iridium.com About Iridium Communications Inc. Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables connections between people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications. The company has begun launching its next-generation network - Iridium NEXT. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium products, services and partner solutions, visit www.iridium.com. https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/03/06/931816/0/en/Iridium-Safety-Voice-Communications-Installs- Surge-Past-500-Aircraft.html Back to Top All nine crew members aboard crashed Nagano rescue helicopter confirmed dead KYODO NAGANO - All nine members of a rescue squad aboard a helicopter that crashed during a drill in Nagano Prefecture over the weekend have died, it was confirmed Monday. The final six members of the team, found Monday morning, were confirmed dead later in the day. Three members were confirmed dead soon after the helicopter crashed Sunday on a snowy mountain in Nagano Prefecture. The nine victims were identified by local police as pilot Masaji Iwata, 56, mechanic Ryota Shimizu, 45, and firefighters Tadahiro Takizawa, 47, Naoto Ikuma, 35, Michiaki Koda, 40, Wataru Ito, 35, Noritoshi Takashima, 37, Masaharu Daikuhara, 42, and Hiroshi Oguchi, 42. Iwata, who joined the Nagano Disaster Prevention Air Corps in 1997, was a veteran pilot with over 5,100 hours of flight time. Rescuers resumed searching for survivors at around 8 a.m. Monday and recovered the bodies of two other crew members who had been seen Sunday trapped in the wreckage. They found the bodies of four more underneath the aircraft. A team of about 100 people were deployed by police, firefighters and the Self-Defense Forces to take part in the effort. The Bell 412EP helicopter, operated by the Nagano Prefectural Government, was carrying seven firefighters, a pilot and a mechanic, all male, officials said. They were scheduled to conduct a drill for rescuing mountain climbers, with members of the team descending from the helicopter on ropes. Investigators from the Transport Safety Board, an arm of the transport ministry, will look into the cause of the crash after conducting an on-site inspection. The helicopter took off from Matsumoto Airport in Nagano Prefecture at around 1:30 p.m. Sunday and, according to a flight plan filed with the ministry, was scheduled to land at a heliport on the Takabochi plateau in Shiojiri at 1:53 p.m. The helicopter failed to make radio contact as scheduled upon landing, prompting the prefectural government to request a police search at around 2:37 p.m. The helicopter was found crashed around 3:10 p.m. Sunday near 1,929-meter Mount Hachibuse, which straddles the cities of Matsumoto and Okaya. A local weather office said conditions at the time did not appear to have affected the flight. The helicopter took off with sufficient fuel to continue flying for around 90 minutes, and no signs of abnormality in the aircraft were detected before takeoff, according to the transport ministry and the prefecture. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/06/national/nine-crew-members-aboard-crashed-nagano-rescue- helicopter-confirmed-dead/#.WL1iMW_yuUk Back to Top Watch: 2 female pilots fly Emirates A380 for International Women's Day Women makeup close to 44 per cent of Emirates' workforce. As we ring in the International Women's Day this week, Dubai-based carrier Emirates gave wings to two female pilots to fly the iconic Emirates Airbus A380. On board to fly from Dubai to Veinna were Captain Nevin Darwish from Egypt and First Officer Alia Al Muhairi from the UAE. While Darwish is the first woman of Arab origin to have captained the Airbus A380, Muhairi is currently the youngest Emirati female pilot operating the aircraft. Women have been making their mark in the aviation space with many embarking on the journey to be pilots. They makeup close to 44 per cent of the airline's workforce and have been an integral part of the success story of Emirates over the last 31 years. The airline currently employs more than 29,000 women from over 150 nationalities. Over 18,000 work as cabin crew, while the rest are represented across technical as well as in professional and leadership roles. Close to 2.5 per cent of the total female staff occupy managerial positions in the airline. Early this week, Air India aimed for a world record with an all-female crew on Boeing 777-200LR. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/watch-2-female-pilots-fly-emirates-a380-for-international-womens-day Back to Top Lack of instructor pilots hinders operations Mar 6, 2017- The House Public Accounts Committee has asked Nepal Airlines to explain why it has not been flying its Chinese-made Y12e aircraft to mountain airfields. The 17-seater Y12e was brought to serve mountain airfields, but it is currently serving the Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Simara routes even though flying small aircraft on these sectors is not financially feasible. The tourism minister told lawmakers that the Y12e has not been flown to remote mountain airfields due to lack of instructor pilots. "However, the issue will be resolved soon." The first Y12e arrived in Kathmandu in 2014 and was intended to serve remote mountain airfields like Lukla, Jomsom, Manang, Simikot, Rara, Jumla and Dolpa. But its regulatory limit meant that it could only fly to airports with a maximum grade of up to 2 percent or about 1.2 degrees of slope. Most of the short take-off and landing (STOL) airfields in Nepal including Lukla in Khumbu are above the regulatory limit. According to the performance analysis report of the Y12e aircraft submitted to the Tourism Ministry in 2015, it flies well in very cold weather, with performance falling with a rise in temperature and altitude. The Y12e can carry 16 passengers in all-weather conditions from Lukla to Kathmandu; but from Kathmandu to Lukla, the passenger load has to be reduced to 13, according to the report. The Y12e is totally unsuitable for the Pokhara-Manang sector, according to the report. The aircraft can carry 12 passengers in all-weather conditions from Biratnagar to Taplejung. Likewise, on the Jomsom-Pokhara route, it can fly with 16 passengers in all-weather conditions; but on the return flight, the passenger load has to be reduced to 14, the report said. (PR) http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2017-03-06/lack-of-instructor-pilots-hinders-operations.html Back to Top Chief pilot retires after 40-year career at flight school David Smith spent four decades as the chief pilot of Maine Instrument Flight and even in retirement still flies several times per week. David Smith, who recently retired as chief pilot, poses for a photo in a Beechcraft Sky King last week at Maine Instrument Flight in Augusta. Smith said that he still flies several charters a week but is done with administrative duties the chief's job entailed. AUGUSTA - David Smith has more than 26,000 hours of flight time in his 40 years as a pilot. But he says that's not nearly enough. Smith, 66, retired Dec. 31 as the chief pilot at Maine Instrument Flight at the Augusta State Airport. He spent the past four decades overseeing the company's charter pilot operation, instructing pilots and serving as one of the chief charter pilots. He's still a part-time employee and on-call pilot who flies a couple of times a week. David Smith, who recently retired as chief pilot, poses for a photo in a hangar last week at Maine Instrument Flight in Augusta. Smith said that he still flies several charters a week but is done with administrative duties the chief's job entailed. Staff photo by Joe Phelan "I love flying, and it's something you just can't give up," said Smith during an afternoon tour of the Augusta airport off Western Avenue. "It's just like walking to me." He got his start almost by accident in 1970 while a student at the University of Maine at Augusta. He said he used to come to the airport with his roommate to hang out and relax and listen to the pilots and watch the planes. Maine Instrument Flight's founder, William L. Perry, used to conduct business in public view and would often receive suggestions from people, Smith said. "One day I had the nerve to suggest something about advertising, I think, and the next week, I got my first paycheck," he recalled. During the next 40 years, Smith worked with experienced flight instructors and students hoping to become commercial pilots for either commuter or major airlines. He said the demographics of his students hasn't changed much in the last four decades. "The students are definitely a little older than they used to be," he said. "But we have people from all different walks of life, and there's no real pattern that I can detect." It doesn't necessarily take advanced understanding of computers or mathematics to be a successful pilot, Smith said. He said he's not good at math, but he excels at spatial awareness, which has helped him throughout his career. "What other people do with math and formulas, I can just picture, which I think is how most other pilots are too," he said. "We always know where we are in three dimensions." One thing about the industry that has changed, Smith said, is that the operation has had to become more cost- conscious in the last several years. When he first started, Smith said he could fly into just about any airport, borrow a car, go get lunch and bring it back with a full tank of gas before flying out. "That doesn't happen much anymore, and even the smaller airports, including this one in Augusta, charge fees to land," he said. "There are still airports out there where you can fly in and get a comfortable, homey atmosphere, but you'll have to do your research. Smith is designated by the Federal Aviation Administration to do check rides, which are essentially flight tests given to pilots every six months to make sure the pilots are keeping up with their skills and knowledge. He said despite the advancement in technology and how computerized flying has become, there are still aspects about flying that are difficult to teach. "Don't crash," he said. "But the hardest part to teach is to land the airplane. The pilot has to do that, and it's just not that easy." FAA regulations and regulatory requirements placed on pilots and the aviation industry have become too oppressive, Smith said, and last summer he decided he just couldn't deal with it anymore and didn't have to. "You don't forget how to fly, but you still need to stay sharp and do continuing training," he said. "The pilots came to me to develop more skills and experience, but they already knew how to fly, which made teaching them easier." Pilots in popular culture, especially in movies and on TV, are depicted as being larger-than-life figures with people following them through the airport or staring as they walk with flight attendants on either side. Smith said that was always overblown and joked that he never had women throwing themselves at him just because he was a pilot. "But a pilot in uniform does have a presence," he said. "It's inspiring to everyone, but you have to work at it." Throughout his career, Smith has been to places all over the world and has fond memories of airports big and small, planes with one engine or two, a single propeller or a turbo prop. His favorite airport is the one in Islesboro, where the owner of the airport's Beechcraft King Air C90 plane has a home. "It has a very, very short runway, so I love going in and out of there," he said. "It's quite the challenge." He also enjoys going to the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and also mentioned Logan International Airport in Boston as a favorite. Being a pilot hasn't changed his experience when flying on a plane he isn't in control of. He said he knows what's going on all the time, so when he hears people on the plane talking and saying something, he has to tell himself not to interject. "Though on occasion, I have helped people on planes who've gotten a little worked up," he said. "I've helped calm people down." He has never had any dangerous situations during his career, but he admitted to having some flat tires and damaging part of the wings of an amphibious "flying boat" when flying to places "out in the boonies" because of the dense forests and trees and narrow landing areas. But he said there's never been any major problems. Maine Instrument Flight, one of the oldest flight schools in the country, celebrated its 70th anniversary and opened a new, state-of-the-art hangar last year. The partnership with UMA continues to meet the demand for trained pilots through a program where students can earn a bachelor of science degree in aviation. UMA aviation students work with a world-class flight simulator on campus, and they also spend several hours completing real-world flight training. And if they are spending a lot of time at the Augusta State Airport, there's a good chance they'll see Smith when he's not traveling with his wife as part of his retirement. "It truly is a love," he said with a wide grin as he climbed out of the captain's seat of the King Air C90. "I just love to fly." http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/03/05/chief-pilot-retires-after-40-year-career-at-flight-school/ Back to Top Virgin Orbit seen as boost for Long Beach after aircraft plants close A scale model of LauncherOne at Virgin Orbit in Long Beach on March 3, 2017. The company, formerly Virgin Galactic, focuses on small-satellite launch services that will be provided by LauncherOne and its Cosmic Girl carrier airplane, a modified Boeing 747 jet. Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG The break/meeting area at Virgin Orbit includes seats from its 747 launch airplane in Long Beach on March 3, 2017. The company, formerly Virgin Galactic, focuses on small-satellite launch services that will be provided by LauncherOne and its Cosmic Girl carrier airplane, a modified Boeing 747 jet.Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG Long Beach may still be a place where flying machines and other high-tech products are built, even if factories where thousands of workers assemble big jets are a relic of the past. That's the prospect after Thursday's announcement that a new company called Virgin Orbit would be formed to build rockets that officials hope will transform space launches into a relatively inexpensive venture. The company, however, is new in name only. The team, part of billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group, had already been active in Long Beach for about two years. Virgin Group now has three companies focused on different aspects of private spaceflight, an industry where high- profile billionaires such as Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are furthering the cause of space travel as being something private enterprises, not just superpower governments, can do. SPACE FOR TECH Long Beach had been home to assembly plants for such aircraft as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport jet and the Boeing 717 and Douglas DC-8 passenger jets. Earlier, Douglas Co. workers built B-17 bombers and the DC-3 passenger aircraft in Long Beach. Boeing's C-17 plant closed in late 2015 after the assembly of its 279th and final Globemaster III. Months prior to the plant's closure, a Wall Street Journal headline declared to the nation that Boeing's phase out of C-17 production signified the "end of Southern California's jet age." Reacting to Virgin Orbit's announcement last week, Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Randy Gordon said the company's doing business in Long Beach helps to fulfill former Mayor Beverly O'Neill's dream of the city becoming a place for trade, tourism and technology. "It will certainly bring new technology and prestigious names to Long Beach," Gordon said. Gordon pointed to document imagery company Laserfiche and Epson America as previous examples of tech companies settling in Long Beach. Virgin Orbit's headquarters is in Douglas Park, the northeast Long Beach cluster of new industrial and commercial developments on former Boeing Co. property. Mercedes-Benz USA opened its West Coast headquarters there in late 2015. And Shimadzu Precision Instruments moved its U.S. headquarters and assembly plant from Torrance to Douglas Park in the same year. Shimadzu Precision Instruments produces aircraft equipment and is the subsidiary of a Japanese firm. "I think it's really exciting that we're doing this in Long Beach, on top of an area that used to produce commercial aircraft," Galactic Ventures Chief Executive George T. Whitesides said. NEW MARKETS FOR NEW TECH California Employment Development Department data show Los Angeles County manufacturers employed an estimated 116,000 people in aerospace parts and product manufacturing in December 1991, the final month of the Soviet Union's existence. As of this past January, aerospace employment in the county was nowhere near the levels of the Cold War. Some 36,200 people working in Los Angeles County had jobs in the field. Nonetheless, Virgin Orbit vice president of special projects Will Pomerantz said the local availability of talent with aerospace expertise motivated company leaders to set up shop in Long Beach. At present, Virgin Orbit has about 250 people, mostly engineers and technicians, working in Long Beach. Virgin Orbit announced its existence two years and one day after Virgin Galactic moved into a 180,000-square-foot assembly plant in eastern Long Beach. Almost all of the new company's floor space is devoted to giving engineers and technicians a place to design, manufacture and assemble a new rocket that Virgin Orbit executives say has the potential to deliver a small payload into space at a relatively low price. "We're not trying to fly the biggest rockets," Pomerantz said while providing a tour of Virgin Orbit's facility. "We're trying to fly the most rockets, or the most affordable rockets." Virgin Orbit's rocket, LauncherOne, is designed to attach below the wing of a specially modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet named Cosmic Girl and to be fired like a missile into outer space while the jet is in midair at an altitude of roughly 35,000 feet. The rocket itself measures to nearly 70 feet long and can weigh some 55,000 pounds when carrying fuel and its satellite payload. Virgin Orbit's rocket designs for LauncherOne call for two-stage rockets to be assembled from carbon composite materials. Each stage has a single engine, and Pomerantz said the launchers need to be built to withstand the stresses occurring at velocities as fast as 25 times the speed of sound. LauncherOne's first launch into outer space may take place by year's end, Pomerantz said. If all goes according to plan, Virgin Orbit would eventually become capable of producing 24 launch vehicles annually. The cost for a customer who wants to hire Virgin Orbit to send a small satellite into space may be about $10 million to $12 million. That's why Pomerantz said Virgin Orbit engineers are employing proven technologies like RP-1 fuel - "it's got a fancy name, but it's kerosene and oxygen" - and cutting edge equipment such as a DMG Mori Lasertec 4300 3D, a machine that Pomerantz said can print 3-D rocket components that are themselves composed of various types of metal. "We are not counting on this for our first flight," he said. "This is a science project." Among Southern California's spaceflight companies, there's a lot of difference between what SpaceX and Virgin Orbit are seeking to do. Space X flies larger rockets than what Virgin Galactic aims to do with LauncherOne and has already delivered supplies to the International Space Station and made significant advances toward the development of reusable heavy rocket stages. Space X advertises a $62 million price for a customer who wants to hire a Falcon 9 to send a payload all the way into geosynchronous transfer orbit, a path through space from where it's possible for a satellite to enter a high-earth geosynchronous orbit. A geosynchronous orbit, according to NASA, is roughly 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface and sufficiently far enough into outer space that a communications or weather satellite can stick to a single line of longitude. In other words, the satellite's orbit is in sync with the Earth's rotation. Space X's Falcon 9 has nine first-stage engines and a single-second stage engine in order to carry 18,300 pounds of payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit Virgin Orbit's Launcher- One, by way of contrast, is designed to send a payload on the order of 1,100 pounds (and, per Pomerantz, about the size of a dishwasher or washing machine) about 124 miles above the planet's surface, into low-Earth orbit. Satellites in low-Earth orbit are moving relative to the Earth, but can still be employed to capture images of what's occurring on the planet's surface, Dan Hart, the newly named company's president, said. A large of number of satellites gathering scientific and weather data, such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, are in low-Earth orbit, according to NASA. A NEW FRONTIER FOR FUTURE ENGINEERS Virgin Orbit is privately held, Pomerantz said. Virgin Group and Aabar Investments, of the United Arab Emirates, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the company's development. Private spaceflight companies such as Virgin Orbit and SpaceX are in a situation that's analogous to aviation pioneers doing business in the first years of powered flight, said Forouzan Golshani, dean of the College of Engineering at Cal State Long Beach. "What these companies are doing is very important," he said. "These are the brave leaders of industry that will pave the way for spaceflight being like flying from L.A. to New York," he said. Cal State Long Beach has already established a relationship with Virgin Orbit. At least 25 graduates of the Long Beach campus work for Virgin, according to information provided by the campus. Three students interned with Virgin in summer 2016. Propulsion development engineer Nicole Lewis is among the young engineers working for Virgin Orbit. Lewis, a self- described "space nerd," said she obtained her employment after earning a bachelor's degree from Columbia University, where she studied mechanical engineering. She said she interned with United Launch Alliance, Boeing and Virgin before being hired in August 2015. A major aspect of her job working on the LauncherOne is helping engineers working in the propulsion, launch operations and structure groups solve design problems that require people with different areas of expertise to work together. The job involves a lot of pressure, but not in a way that gets people down, she said. "Yes, but in a way that people are able to respond to it and do a lot of good work," Lewis said. http://www.presstelegram.com/science/20170304/virgin-orbit-seen-as-boost-for-long-beach-after-aircraft-plants- close Curt Lewis