Flight Safety Information April 5, 2017 - No. 069 Incident: Envoy E145 near Little Rock on Apr 2nd 2017, electrical odour in cabin A330 Ground Collision with Jet Bridge Air Force: Fighter jet makes emergency landing at Ohio base Norwegian Air to Expand to Argentina With 10 Aircraft, Says CEO Envoy to Expand Pilot Training Staff to Meet Demand AIR FORCE PILOTS CAN NOW MOONLIGHT ON COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS Airbus Happy To Squeeze Another 80 Seats Into World's Largest Jet This tiny electric jet startup thinks it can reinvent regional air travel Want to Buy an Old CIA Rendition Jet? NTSB Modernizes Stakeholder Engagement Platform, Suspends Listserve Service SAFE Encourages Pilot Input on GA Runway Incursions (Survey) Research Survey Incident: Envoy E145 near Little Rock on Apr 2nd 2017, electrical odour in cabin An Envoy Embraer ERJ-145, registration N649PP performing flight MQ-3339/AA-3339 from Fort Walton Beach,FL to Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) with 52 people, was enroute at FL320 about 50nm east of Little Rock,AR (USA) when the crew reported an electrical odour in the cabin and decided to divert to Little Rock, where the aircraft landed safely about 30 minutes later and taxied to the gate. The remainder of the flight was cancelled, the passengers were rebooked onto other flights. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 18.5 hours, then positioned to Dallas Ft. Worth, remained on the ground for another 4 hours, then resumed service. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL3339/history/20170402/2009Z/KVPS/KDFW http://avherald.com/h?article=4a72d9cb&opt=0 Back to Top A330 Ground Collision with Jet Bridge Date: 04-APR-2017 Time: 06:18 Type: Airbus A330-302 Owner/operator: Qatar Airways Registration: A7-AEI C/n / msn: 813 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Warszawa-Frédéric Chopin Airport (WAW/EPWA) - Poland Phase: Taxi Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Doha International Airport (DOH/OTBD) Destination airport: Warszawa-Frédéric Chopin Airport (WAW/EPWA) Narrative: Qatar Airways flight QR263 from Doha, Qatar, sustained damage in a ground incident at Warsaw's Frédéric Chopin Airport in Poland. The aircraft land at 06:07 LT and taxied to the terminal. Upon parking the left hand wing leading edge contacted a jet bridge, causing minor damage to the wing. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=194551 Back to Top Air Force: Fighter jet makes emergency landing at Ohio base An Air Force base spokesman says an F-16C fighter jet had to make an emergency landing in Ohio because of a hydraulic leak. The Dayton Daily News reports the jet landed safely Tuesday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. Base spokesman Bryan Ripple told the newspaper that the jet was one of two from the Toledo-based 180th Fighter Wing that landed at the base shortly after 10 a.m. Firefighters were standing by near the main runway as a precaution when the jet landed. Ripple said that is the normal procedure for any in-flight emergency declared by a pilot. The fighter wing is a unit of the Ohio Air National Guard. http://www.10tv.com/article/air-force-fighter-jet-makes-emergency-landing-ohio-base Back to Top Norwegian Air to Expand to Argentina With 10 Aircraft, Says CEO Skift Take Bjørn Kjos, the founder and CEO of Norwegian Air Shuttle, said at Skift Forum Europe that his discount carrier plans to enter Argentina by year-end. We're hoping for $66 flights to and from the U.S. Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA will establish a unit in Argentina with 10 Boeing Co. 737 narrow-body jets by the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer Bjorn Kjos said. The carrier has applied for an air-operating certificate from authorities in the South American country and is now seeking rights to serve domestic routes there, Kjos said in an interview. The network would link up with planned flights to Buenos Aires from cities such as London, Paris, Barcelona, Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm using Boeing 787 wide-bodies. "We have delivered the papers and we have also applied for the routes," Kjos said Tuesday in London. "We're looking to serve a lot of cities domestically, but it depends on the concessions." The Skift Daily newsletter puts you ahead of everyone about the future of travel, subscribe. Norwegian Air formed an operating company at the beginning of 2017 to found a network in Argentina after earlier extending its discount model from European short-haul flights into North Atlantic operations. It has also been considering options for a second base in Asia with services from London and Paris to complement its Bangkok hub. The airline plans to expand capacity to the U.S. next winter by allocating some of its short-haul operating slots at London's Gatwick airport to intercontinental operations, and will also start flights to smaller airports in North America using 737 Max aircraft this summer. Kjos spoke at the Skift Global Forum in the U.K. capital. https://skift.com/2017/04/05/norwegian-air-to-expand-to-argentina-with-10-aircraft-says-ceo/ Back to Top Envoy to Expand Pilot Training Staff to Meet Demand Envoy Air is immediately seeking qualified pilots to augment its Flight Training staff, to assist with training the increased number of pilots joining Envoy. "We're experiencing a significant increase in the number of new hire pilots arriving for training," said Captain Ric Wilson, Vice President Flight Operations. "It's a great position to be in, and it demonstrates the rapid career progression you can expect when you start your career with Envoy. But it also requires additional training resources, and we're acting quickly to ensure we have those in place." To ensure Envoy is able to quickly accommodate all of its new hire pilots in training, the carrier will be hiring seasoned, professional pilots to perform a portion of the classroom and simulator instruction. To be considered, applicant pilots must possess an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate, and previous airline experience is preferred. "We'll still rely on our existing Flight Training team and Check Airmen to maintain the highest level of safety and proficiency," added Captain Allen Hill, Managing Director Air Operations Training. "But by augmenting our existing staff with additional experienced pilots, we'll be able to enhance and expand our training program without having to remove active line pilots from their schedules to help train new hires. This allows Envoy to perform more flying on behalf of American and its customers." http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/north-america/envoy-expand-pilot-training-staff-meet- demand/ Back to Top AIR FORCE PILOTS CAN NOW MOONLIGHT ON COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS 'Intermission' program revealed to encourage long-term commitment to Armed Forces It may not be long before the pilot on your commercial airline flight is a pilot for the U.S. Air Force, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. It's a strategy to address a shortage of more than 1,500 pilots in the military. Raising the retention bonus to $35,000 is another way to try to keep as many as possible in uniform. The steps were revealed by Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso, the deputy chief of staff for the Air Force for manpower, personnel and services. Speaking recently to Congress, she said that at the end of 2016, the active duty, reserve and guard pilot corps were short of full staffing by 1,555. She noted the commercial industry's demand for pilots, its ability to pay more than the military and the "high operational tempo" of the military. One response by the Air Force is to raise the aviation retention bonus to $35,000 a year, the first time in 18 years it's seen a boost. The Air Force confirmed it intends to review plans to let pilots work for commercial airlines under a Career Intermission Program that allows them to take a break in service "to meet personal or professional needs." "We are also starting to look at, can we allow aviators to fly part time on their own," Grosso said. "I think those are just two ideas, and there are many more." http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/air-force-pilots-can-now-moonlight-on-commercial- flights/#z9o0yLfa4DKT7fqg.99 Back to Top Airbus Happy To Squeeze Another 80 Seats Into World's Largest Jet A380 AIRBUS FILLING THE SEATS PLANE SEATING PLANES SUPER-JUMBO JETS The Airbus A380 is already the largest passenger plane in the world, holding around 550 passengers in its typical configuration, but Airbus says it can make this "superjumbo" jet even more jumbo by reconfiguring it to squeeze in another 80 seats. Bloomberg Technology reports that Airbus is pitching airlines on the idea of rearranging the A380 layout to make room for the additional passengers. Instead of a spiral staircase from one level of seating to the other, airlines can gain a total of 20 seats in both classes with a straight staircase. Airlines could also add more passengers by configuring seats differently, with eleven across in economy class and nine across in the second-class section. Other changes would be invisible to passengers: Airbus can move one of the staircases to a different location to make room for more seats, or combine the rest area for pilots with the rest area for the rest of the crew. "We are adapting the aircraft to meet evolving market needs," a company executive vice president explained in a statement to the media. Airbus is pitching a plane that carries more passengers as a solution to congested airports and increasing demand for air travel in the coming decades. Emirates is the biggest buyer of superjumbo planes, and even it won't order any new A380 jets until the plane gets a new engine. Emirates has configured some of its planes of that model to accommodate as many as 600 passengers, or cut back on the number of passengers to add amenities like in-flight showers, bars, and if its commercials are accurate, in-flight baby-sitting services from Jennifer Aniston. https://consumerist.com/2017/04/04/airbus-happy-to-squeeze-another-80-seats-into-worlds- largest-jet/ Back to Top This tiny electric jet startup thinks it can reinvent regional air travel Zunum Aero, the hummingbird of the skies Zunum Aero Flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles can be a huge pain in the ass. You can expect to spend over $200 on your plane ticket, plus another five hours of traveling door-to-door thanks to traffic, security, and other headaches. This is the type of hassle-rich trip - short but overly expensive and overly complicated - that a new startup called Zunum Aero is aiming to reinvent. The Kirkland, Washington-based company, which came out of stealth mode today, plans to build a fleet of hybrid electric jets to sell to major carriers for service on densely traveled regional routes like San Francisco to Los Angeles or Boston to Washington, DC. The company has received backing from Boeing and JetBlue Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of JetBlue Airways. Lower operating costs (i.e., no fueling) will allow carriers to reduce fares by 40 to 80 percent, they predict. And by flying a smaller aircraft that would be subject to fewer TSA regulations, Zunum claims it will take less time to go through security before boarding one of its planes. SF TO LA IN HALF THE TIME AND HALF THE COST Zunum aims to build several models of hybrid-electric propulsion jets. At launch, its first class of aircraft will be tiny, in the 10-15 foot range, with a 10-passenger capacity and a range of up to 700 miles on a single charge. (Think San Francisco to Portland or Atlanta to DC.) Those planes can be expected to roll off the assembly line by the early 2020s, the company's CEO Ashish Kumar told The Verge. By the 2030s, as electric battery technology improves, Zunum hopes to build larger aircraft that can carry up to 50 passengers and travel up to 1,000 miles on a single charge. (Think Seattle to LA or Boston to Jacksonville, Florida.) "We're entering the golden era where we'll have high-speed links to every community on the backs of quiet, sustainable hybrid-electric technology," Kumar said. "And that's going to happen really fast." Zunum has been in the works for three years. Kumar is a veteran of Silicon Valley, having worked at Google, Microsoft, Dell, and McKinsey. His co-founders are Matt Knapp, an engineer who has helped build jets and rockets, and Kiruba Haran, a University of Illinois professor who leads a NASA-funded program to develop electric airliners. The regions in which Zunum Aero sees its short-haul flights operating. Image: Zunum Aero Zunum's aircraft will feature hybrid electric motors with the capacity to accept recharging power from a variety of sources. Because airplanes are typically kept in service for up to 30 years, Kumar says its important for Zunum's aircraft to be future proof. That means designing them to be compatible with future battery designs and range-extending generators, with an eye toward ultimately switching from hybrid propulsion to fully electric motors once the technology catches up. While more and more electric cars are introduced onto the road, electric-powered aviation is still in its infancy. Tougher demands such as battery weight, in addition to regulatory requirements, have resulted in far fewer strides in electric aviation, experts say. An all-electric plane in Germany recently broke a record, flying 211 mph over a distance of under two miles. Airbus has been developing its own electric plane prototype called the E-Fan concept, which became the first electric plane to fly across the English Channel in 2015. Having just completed work on its powertrain and preliminary design of its aircraft, Zunum says its now in the "build phase." Still, the startup has a ways to go if it's to meet its projections. Zunum is about as small as they come, with under 10 employees right now, but Kumar says the plan is to ramp up aggressively. He wouldn't reveal the amount of funding he's received from Boeing and JetBlue, nor the total amount of money raised. What Kumar would disclose, however, is the origin of his company's name. "Zunum" is a derivation of "tzunuum," the Mayan word for hummingbird. Think small, fast, and quiet. http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/5/15177374/zunum-aero-electric-jet-startup-stealth-boeing- jetblue Back to Top Want to Buy an Old CIA Rendition Jet? Only $27.5 million for a fancy plane with low mileage-and a dark history. A Boeing 737 with registration number N313P takes off in Spain in March 2004. Toni Marimon/AP For $27.5 million you can own a valuable memento of a dark period of recent American history. The jet above is currently for sale in Dallas, Texas. The Boeing 737 business jet seats up to 16 passengers and includes one queen and two single beds, a lounge bar, and three built-in 42-inch TV screens. The jet's listing does not mention, however, that in its former career, it was part of the Central Intelligence Agency's extraordinary rendition program, transporting "high-value" terrorism detainees around the globe to "black sites" where they faced "enhanced" interrogation techniques. The jet's history can be pieced together from news clippings, human rights reports, and Federal Aviation Administration documents. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported on a specially modified 737 with the tail number N313P, which had been observed flying between the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. The paper linked the jet back to the CIA through a series of front companies around Washington, D.C. One of those companies was Premier Executive Transport Services, which had taken ownership of the new plane in May 2002. The Washington Post found that the names of 325 people ostensibly affiliated with this shadowy company could be traced back to five Beltway-area P.O. boxes. When reporters searched for some of those names in public databases, what little they could turn up was a bit spooky: "Although most names were attached to dates of birth in the 1940s, '50s or '60s, all were given Social Security numbers between 1998 and 2003." During its time with CIA-linked companies, N313P flew all around the world, landing in spots like Morocco, Afghanistan, Libya, Uzbekistan, and Guantanamo Bay. In September 2003, it touched down at a remote airport in Poland. As the Tribune later suggested, this trip may have had something to do with the Polish intelligence complex in Stare Kiejkuty, which the European Court of Human Rights later found housed a secret CIA site. Before the release of the Senate intelligence committee's 2014 report on the CIA's post-9/11 detention and interrogation program, the Washington Post reported that American intelligence officers had probably abused and tortured detainees at the black site at Stare Kiejkuty. N313P landed near Stare Kiejkuty at least once. "It doesn't have a heart and soul," says a representative of the company brokering the sale. "It's just a really beautiful piece of equipment." In 2004, the aircraft carried the "shackled and hooded" Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian who was held in Guantanamo from 2004 until 2009. A few days later, the jet is also believed to have transported Khaled al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German citizen who was held in an American-run prison in Afghanistan for five months. Al-Masri, who claims he was shackled, drugged, and beaten in captivity, was released after his captors told him they'd gotten the wrong man. That same year, as reported by the Guardian, Fatima Bouchar and her husband, Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, were abducted by three Americans in Bangkok, Thailand, forced aboard the aircraft. The couple had fought against Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi during the 1980s and 1990s, and according to a Human Rights Watch investigation, their rendition back to Libya had been brokered in a deal between the CIA, British intelligence, and the Qaddafi regime for "mutual benefit." During the 17-hour journey to Tripoli, Bouchar, who was four months pregnant, was bound to a stretcher and wrapped head-to-foot in tape. Belhaj was shackled in a painful stress position for the flight's duration. Bouchar spent four months in detention in Libya. Belhaj remained in prison there until 2010. The jet flew for the CIA for more than four years. Its time with The Company ended in 2006 when, according to FAA records, it was sold to MGM Mirage Resorts with a new tail number. (Premier Executive Transport Services disincorporated in 2008.) MGM Mirage operated the aircraft out of Las Vegas until last December, when it was sold to Embraer Executive Aircraft, a private jet manufacturer. In addition to its executive trappings, the aircraft has a nifty seven-tank auxiliary fuel system- perfect for transatlantic flights from, say, Morocco to Cuba. With just 5,942 hours of flight time logged to date, this jet is practically new. (Commercial jets typically fly approximately 3,500 hours annually.) A representative of the company brokering the aircraft's sale was reluctant to speak but conceded that potential buyers would probably be aware of the jet's history. "Everybody knows," she said. Yet none of that should have any bearing on its value, she asserted. "It doesn't have a heart and soul. It's just a really beautiful piece of equipment." Until a buyer is found, the certified pre-owned CIA rendition plane is available for viewing by appointment. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/cia-rendition-plane-for-sale Back to Top NTSB Modernizes Stakeholder Engagement Platform, Suspends Listserve Service Dear Subscriber, The National Transportation Safety Board is modernizing its stakeholder communications and is ending its use of the agency's listserve. To serve you better the NTSB will expand its use of Constant Contact, a service that has proven reliable for the agency and will provide greater flexibility in the way we provide you with information you want and need. You received this notice because we need you to confirm your wish to continue to receive updates from the NTSB and to register for those updates from our Constant Contact service. Please visit https://goo.gl/Akwt0t and subscribe to the list(s) that meet your interests. Know that your information is not shared with any other Constant Contact client or any other third party. Please register for the Constant Contact service by April 10 as we plan to make the transition from the listserve to Constant Contact on that date. Our listserve will cease operations April 10 and will no longer accept new subscribers and all stakeholder updates will be managed via our Constant Contact service. In addition to the Constant Contact updates, you can also keep up with us on: * Twitter by following @NTSB_Newsroom and @NTSB, * Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NTSBgov/, * LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/35048/. * YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/NTSBgov, * Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ntsbgov/ and on * Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ntsb. * The NTSB website www.ntsb.gov. * The NTSB blog 'Safety Compass' at http://safetycompass.wordpress.com/ * The NTSB Advocacy Spotlight newsletter at https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/Pages/spotlight.aspx Be sure to visit our 50th Anniversary timeline at NTSB.gov/ntsb50 for an interactive look at our history -- a timeline that we will update throughout the commemorative year. We regret any inconvenience our transition in services may cause you and we deeply appreciate your continued interest in the National Transportation Safety Board. Back to Top SAFE Encourages Pilot Input on GA Runway Incursions (Survey) Active general aviation (GA) pilots are being asked to help an ongoing study of GA runway incursions by completing a new online questionnaire. The FAA has said that runway incursions - a vehicle or aircraft on the ground endangering aircraft landing or taking off - average three per day and are a "serious safety concern." GA pilots are involved in about 80 percent of runway incursions. "The question is, what are GA pilots doing, or not doing, that results in so many runway incursions?" said Professor Donna F. Wilt of the Florida Institute of Technology College of Aeronautics. "By analyzing such occurrences we can help mitigate those dangerous situations." The study is being conducted by the FIT College of Aeronautics, Hampton University Department of Aviation and Purdue University Department of Aviation Technology. It is funded through the Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability (PEGASAS), and the FAA Center of Excellence for GA. SAFE is a partner of PEGASAS. The questionnaire will be available from April 1 through April 30, 2017. To take the new questionnaire, click here or click on or copy and past the URL below. The questionnaire is also available on the SAFE web site at www.SAFEPilots.org and will be available at the SAFE booth at Sun 'n Fun. SAFE is encouraging its members to participate in the project. Direct Link URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiJFFh52kh_afnEN7qoBRoliQvqLSUhksMQAGDGbO- EcDweg/viewform?usp=sf_link For more information, contact the project's Principal Investigator, Dr. Scott Winter. SAFE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting aviation education at all levels of learning. SAFE is a recognized leader in pilot training reform, safety education, and the mentoring of aviation educators. For information on free resource materials and membership, go to www.safepilots.org. Scott Winter Assistant Professor of Aviation Science College of Aeronautics, Florida Institute of Technology 321-674-7639 (Office) 218-269-9376 (Cell) Back to Top Research Survey Dear Aviation Colleague, my name is Arjun Rao. I am research associate at the Center for Aviation Studies at the Ohio State University. My colleagues and I would greatly appreciate your response to a short survey to better understand pilots's use of weather information products during flight. Participation in this survey is voluntary. All answers reported in the analysis will not bear any connection to you or any response that you might provide. Thank you very much in advance for your participation on this survey. Your responses are greatly appreciated and will help our efforts to improve GA safety. The link to the survey is : https://osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3yJ3oNLMYh4lO17 Please let me know if you have any questions/would like me to provide additional information. Once again, we appreciate your help. Regards, Arjun ************************************************** Arjun H. Rao, Ph.D. Research Specialist The Ohio State University Center for Aviation Studies Room 125, 140 West 19th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 614-688-2634 rao.119@osu.edu https://aviation.osu.edu/ Curt Lewis