Flight Safety Information April 12, 2017 - No. 074 Incident: Alaska B739 near Portland on Apr 10th 2017, cabin pressure problems Incident: Delta B712 near Chattanooga on Apr 11th 2017, gear problem Incident: Suramericanas B722 at Bogota on Apr 10th 2017, rejected takeoff results in runway overrun Gulfstream G450 Nose Gear Collapse (Austria) Expert: Probe of Vegas Jet Fire Points to Compressor Issue Transport Canada defends loosening rules for aircraft pilots Riverside-native named Forest Service fire-aviation leader Cuts will not affect Cathay Pacific's aviation safety and services, say its chief executive DFW Airport spending $1 million to keep passengers plugged in 500th Eurofighter aircraft delivered to Italian air force Russian Military Plane Will Fly Over the U.S. to Take Pictures-and That's Totally OK Hainan Airlines to induct 96 aircraft in 2017 Boeing delivers 32 Dreamliners in 1Q, as North Charleston-made jet steals spotlight Videos of a Man Being Dragged Off a United Plane Ignites a Public Relations Crisis Which Airline Kicks Off the Most Passengers? Asia's biggest business jet show opens in Shanghai Graduate Research Survey Request SAFE Encourages Pilot Input on GA Runway Incursions (Survey) Research Survey Incident: Alaska B739 near Portland on Apr 10th 2017, cabin pressure problems An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900, registration N305AS performing flight AS-930 from Seattle,WA to Las Vegas,NV (USA), was climbing out of Seattle when the crew stopped the climb at FL250 due to problems with the cabin pressure but continued the flight into the direction of Las Vegas. About 17 minutes later the crew initiated an emergency descent to 10,000 feet due to the loss of cabin pressure and diverted to Portland,OR (USA) for a safe landing about one hour after leaving FL250. A passenger reported the aircraft performed an emergency descent due to the "loss of compression" and diverted to Portland. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA930/history/20170410/1640Z/KSEA/KLAS http://avherald.com/h?article=4a77fbd3&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Delta B712 near Chattanooga on Apr 11th 2017, gear problem A Delta Airlines Boeing 717-200, registration N989AT performing flight DL-1066 from Atlanta,GA to Nashville,TN (USA), was climbing out of Atlanta when the crew stopped the climb at FL210 due to a gear indication and diverted to Chattanooga,TN (USA) for an approach to runway 20. On final approach the aircraft went around however, the crew requested delay vectors to read some checklists, then requested emergency services on stand by. About 25 minutes after the go around the aircraft landed safely on runway 20. A replacement Airbus A321-200 registration N318DX is currently positioning to Chattanooga as flight DL-9941 and is estimated to reach Nashville with a delay of 5.5 hours. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1066/history/20170411/1338Z/KATL/KBNA http://avherald.com/h?article=4a77df2f&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Suramericanas B722 at Bogota on Apr 10th 2017, rejected takeoff results in runway overrun A Lineas Aereas Suramericanas Boeing 727-200 freighter, registration HK-1271 performing a charter freight flight from Bogota to Pasto (Colombia) with 4 crew and a cargo of food, was accelerating for takeoff from Bogota's runway 13R at about 12:50L (17:50Z) when the crew needed to reject takeoff at high speed but were unable to stop the aircraft before the end of the runway. The aircraft went off the paved surface and came to a stop about 170 meters/570 feet past the end of the runway. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained minor if any damage. Colombia's Aerocivil (Civil Aviation Authority) reported the runway was closed until 15:00L, then was re-opened with 3100 of 3600 meters length available. Aerocivil have opened an investigation into the occurrence. http://avherald.com/h?article=4a77b651&opt=0 Back to Top Gulfstream G450 Nose Gear Collapse (Austria) Date: 11-APR-2017 Time: 10.30 LT Type: Gulfstream G450 Owner/operator: H&S Air LLC Registration: N667HS C/n / msn: 4131 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Salzburg Airport (LOWS) - Austria Phase: Standing Nature: Executive Departure airport: Salzburg Airport (LOWS) Destination airport: Maine (USA) Narrative: After declearing PAN a N667HS returned 10 minutes after takeoff to Salzburg Airport. After landing and inspecting trough emergency services the aircraft taxied to apron. There the nose gear collapesed. A structural damage (front section) is visible. Occupants were not injured. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=194753 Back to Top Expert: Probe of Vegas Jet Fire Points to Compressor Issue An expert says an ongoing investigation into a fire on a British Airways jet that was damaged during an aborted takeoff in Las Vegas points to a failure in an engine compressor. LAS VEGAS (AP) - An ongoing investigation into a fire on a British Airways jet that was damaged during an aborted takeoff in Las Vegas points to a failure in an engine compressor, an expert who reviewed a preliminary federal report on the mishap said Tuesday. Several documents were released by the National Transportation Safety Board detailing its investigation of the fire that forced the evacuation of the Boeing 777, but it did not list a cause of the 2015 incident at McCarran International Airport. A final report including a cause is expected in the coming months. The files include summaries of interviews with flight crew members, data from the flight recorder, copies of checklists that British Airways personnel must follow during emergencies, and a video showing the aircraft on fire on the runway, among several others. "It looks like a compressor part came unglued in the engine and caused some serious damage, and then, some flammable fluids ignited in process," Don Knutson, an aircraft accident investigator in Wichita, Kansas, told The Associated Press. He is not involved in the investigation. Investigators must determine whether the problem was then result of a manufacturing or maintenance issue, he added. The NTSB declined comment on the documents. The aircraft was moments from takeoff on Sept. 8, 2015, when its left engine burst into flames sending smoke billowing and passengers fleeing. There were no fatalities or serious injuries among the 157 passengers and 13 crew members. The aircraft was built in 1998 and registered to British Airways a year later. In its 14 years of service, it flew nearly 77,000 hours, according to the British Civil Aviation Authority. One of the documents released Tuesday details the examination of a spool assembly of the high-pressure engine compressor. The spool helps give the plane power, making it a key part of the engine. The NTSB reported it had a detached and fractured disk. The document also says several fragments of the spool assembly were recovered on the runway and analyzed. Knutson said the metallurgical examination allows officials to gauge the nature of fatigue and other factors that can help them estimate when the crack began to spread. "Metal has a fatigue life based on operation conditions on the engine," Knutson said. "There was a component or components that they found fatigue cracking, and they went right to the source of the catastrophic damage within the compressor section." https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nevada/articles/2017-04-11/probe-of-british-airways-jet-fire- points-to-compressor-issue Back to Top Transport Canada defends loosening rules for aircraft pilots An Air Canada aircraft flies near Ottawa's Macdonald-Cartier International Airport on April 10, 2017. Photo by Alex Tétreault Transport Canada is defending a recent decision to loosen its regulations for pilots, despite criticism that the nation is headed for a disastrous aviation accident. The department says it recently changed its flying program to allow for more training on flight simulators, and has not compromised safety in the process. It says that these flight simulators can result in better training for licensed pilots than time flying an actual aircraft. Pilot inspectors and investigators have warned that the department has taken the wrong approach when it comes to safety oversight. A recent survey of Canadian Federal Pilots Association members showed a large majority felt departmental budget cuts had increased the risk of a major aviation accident to the point where a disaster is now "likely" in the near future. Only 16 per cent of those asked in the survey felt that pilots maintaining their license just by using a simulator would increase aviation safety. But departmental officials sought to downplay any safety risk posed by the use of simulators during testimony Tuesday at the House of Commons transport committee. "You can actually get better training with a simulator," said Transport Canada's director general for civil aviation, Aaron McCrorie. McCrorie told the committee that simulators can test pilots on a much wider range of simulations. The department, he said, has found that there have been "better, more efficient pilots coming out of the simulator stream." Denis Guindon, director general for aviation safety oversight and transformation, said Montreal-based flight simulator manufacturer CAE Inc. provides simulations that are "replicating everything down to the last two feet." He said some aspects of pilot training-like what to do if engines shut down mid-fight-would be dangerous if carried out in a live setting. The only way to replicate everything, he said, is through a simulator. It was a solution other countries also use, he added. In response to questions last week about airline safety oversight, the department said in a statement to National Observer that it had "revised its flying program" for Canadian pilots to take advantage of "the latest simulator technology." In the statement, Transport Canada said it had come up with "alternative means of compliance" with an existing rule that required training inside the aircraft. Department spokeswoman Natasha Gauthier explained that this "exemption" to the rules "maintains a high standard of aviation safety." This practice conforms to international requirements, she added. http://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/04/11/news/transport-canada-defends-loosening-rules-aircraft- pilots Back to Top Riverside-native named Forest Service fire-aviation leader The U.S. Forest Service has named Riverside-native Robert Baird as the new regional director of fire and aviation management for the Pacific Southwest Region, including California, according to a news release. Baird had been the forest supervisor for the Los Padres National Forest for three years. Previously he was deputy national fire director for operations, aviation and risk management in Washington, D.C. He also served a special assignment as acting associate deputy director of Cal Fire, where he fostered cooperation with the Forest Service in California. He was a leader in the transition that began more than five years ago to so-called next-generation air tankers, jet-powered aircraft to replace Korean and Vietnam war-ear planes. Baird served in the U.S. Marines for 24 years before he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2012. http://www.pe.com/2017/04/11/riverside-native-named-forest-service-fire-aviation-leader/ Back to Top Cuts will not affect Cathay Pacific's aviation safety and services, say its chief executive Cockpit and cabin crew are expected to be spared the axe as Hong Kong airline aims to cut 30 per cent in management staff costs The chief executive of Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has pledged that aviation safety and services will not be compromised as the airline aims to cut 30 per cent in management staff costs in a bid to revive its ailing business. While admitting that some layoffs will be "unavoidable" in what he described as the airline's biggest restructuring in 20 years, Ivan Chu Kwok-leung said those who have performed well would be retained. Cockpit and cabin crew are expected to be spared the axe, with Chu saying the airline will in fact recruit more of such employees as it explores new destinations and increases frequencies of flights on popular routes. "We definitely will not cut any costs that concern aviation safety and customer services. In fact, we have plans to improve our in-flight food and beverage services, especially for the business class," Chu said in a Metro Broadcast radio programme yesterday. "We will be increasing the flight frequencies on many routes. That is very important for our competitiveness." Chu did not make clear how many management employees would be laid off, and how many would see smaller pay cheques. Cathay Pacific reported a loss of HK$575 million for last year, with revenue falling 9 per cent to HK$92.75 billion. It posted HK$13 billion in fuel hedging losses over the 18 months to June 30 last year. The airline unveiled a three-year plan in January to revive its business, investing in technology and a fuel- efficient fleet to save costs, and redeploying its staff. Cathay Pacific hits out at pilots' union after it ups stakes in Hong Kong industrial dispute Chu said that cargo and passenger demands had been weak, as a result of the economic situation on the mainland as well as the depreciation of the yuan. Additionally, more mainland airlines are now flying to foreign destinations such as Europe and the US, Chu said, making the competition tougher. Cathay had already been forced to reduce its fares, he added. The airline would explore adding more direct flights to different destinations, he said, as passengers would be willing to pay more to avoid the hassles from transit. He said he is optimistic about cargo demands in the future, but passenger demands will be "grim". According to Dora Lai Yuk-sim, chairwoman of the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union, airline management said in a recent town hall meeting with staff that management personnel would be sacked first. She said that the management would let go of non-management level office staff if the first move was not sufficient to cut costs. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2086450/cuts-will-not-affect-cathay-pacifics- aviation-safety-and Back to Top DFW Airport spending $1 million to keep passengers plugged in Travelers at DFW International Airport in need of a charge will soon have three times as many places to plug in their phones, laptops or tablets. The airport board's concessions and commercial development committee approved a $1 million contract on Tuesday with Canada-based Arconas Corp. to install about 2,750 electrical outlets at gate seating areas across all five terminals at the nation's fourth busiest airport. The contract needs routine final approval from the full board on Thursday, after which it will work to install the outlets as quickly as possible, said Kevin Smith, the airport's assistant vice president of customer experience. "We're ready to go," Smith said. "I don't think you'll have a problem finding a power outlet once these are installed." Smith said more power outlets is one of the top three requested items in daily customer surveys conducted at the airport. DFW now has power outlets installed at 10 to 15 percent of its seats, Smith said. After the new outlets are added, that number will jump to between 40 and 50 percent. The percentage of passengers with access to power should be even higher, Smith said, because each of the new outlets includes two sockets and two USB ports. Airlines like American have also installed their own charging stations at gates throughout the airport. "If everybody is sitting in each seat, we should see a lot more than 40 percent," Smith said. "What you normally see is people will skip seats in order not to sit next to each other." Gate-side electrical outlets are becoming an increasingly expected part of the travel experience and their presence can have a measurable impact on customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power. DFW Airport was recently honored for having the best passenger satisfaction of any large airport in North America by Airports Council International. The airport received kudos for its use of technology, as well as its dining and shopping options, its cleanliness and staff friendliness. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/dfw-airport/2017/04/11/dfw-airport-spending-1-million-keep- passengers-plugged Back to Top 500th Eurofighter aircraft delivered to Italian air force The industrial team behind the Eurofighter marked a milestone with its 500th delivery. Photo courtesy of Leonardo April 11 (UPI) -- The 500th operational Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet was handed over to the Italian air force during a ceremony held at Leonardo's facility in Turin, Italy. The event was attended by various military and security industry representatives, including leaders from Leonardo, NETMA, and Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug. Officials said the delivery marked an important milestone for the program. "The 500-strong Eurofighter Typhoon fleet represents one of the largest and most capable fighter fleets in the western hemisphere, and will be the backbone of European airpower for decades to come," Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug CEO Volker Paltzo said during the ceremony. Leonardo Aircraft Division managing director Filippo Bagnato echoed Paltzo's sentiments, noting the Eurofighter Typhoon is the largest industrial program throughout the continent. "We are now fully committed to completing deliveries to the Italian Air Force, to develop the capabilities of the aircraft, and to the activities envisaged by Kuwait's contract, while continuing to pursue a number of significant market opportunities around the world," he said. European armed forces have been operating the Typhoon since 2003, when the first completed jet was delivered to Britain's Royal Air Force. The service also received the 100th plane in September 2006. Germany's air force accepted the delivery of the 400th jet in 2013. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a collaboration of three major European defense contractors, including Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. Customers include armed forces in Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria and Saudi Arabia. The aircraft itself is designed for multirole combat operations, and features a weapon bay capable of carrying up to six bombs as well as six missiles at a time. It is also equipped with a cannon and targeting pod for increased accuracy on the battlefield. http://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2017/04/11/500th-Eurofighter-aircraft-delivered-to-Italian-air- force/9131491937068/ Back to Top Russian Military Plane Will Fly Over the U.S. to Take Pictures-and That's Totally OK The Open Skies Treaty also allows US and Canadians to overfly Russia. A modified Russian military passenger jet will overfly the United States next week, taking photographs of the ground below and monitoring U.S. government activities. It's basically spying but it's all completely legal, thanks to the Open Skies Treaty of 1992 that allows the Russians to overfly the United States and Canada-and vice versa. The Russian aircraft will overfly the United States on April 10 to 15, and overfly Canada (part of the North American Air Defense Command) April 18 to 22. The aircraft will be looking for signs the United States is violating nuclear arms agreements, such as the New START Treaty and Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. At the same time, U.S. and Canadian specialists will overfly Russia in their own aircraft. The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 by then-president George H.W. Bush. Designed to boost confidence in arms control agreements, the treaty allows participants to fly over any part of any territory of other participants to make sure everyone is adhering to treaties limiting the numbers and types of weapons. U.S. Air Force OC-135B Open Skies aircraft. Department of Defense photo. Member states are allowed to fly unarmed aircraft equipped with a variety of sensors to identify objects on the ground. The United States, for example, flies a U.S. Air Force OC-135B transport, while the Russian Aerospace Forces use a similar-sized Tupolev Tu-154ON transport and a smaller Antonov An-30. Other countries use smaller, shorter range aircraft to get the job done. Technicians and other specialists from the country being overflown are allowed onboard to ensure that the surveillance equipment is being used properly. Open Skies aircraft carry a variety of electro-optical sensors to do their job. Permissible surveillance systems include "video cameras and panoramic and framing cameras for daylight photography; infra-red line scanning systems, which can operate by day and night; and synthetic aperture radar, which can operate day and night in any weather". All equipment is inspected to ensure that it is allowed under the treaty. For example, installing gear that records radio and radar transmissions as the aircraft flies over a military base is a no-no. Czech observers aboard a U.S. Air Force OC-135B aircraft in 2007. Defense Threat Reduction Agency photo. The treaty stipulates that aircraft are allowed to carry surveillance equipment to carry out their task. Not the most sophisticated spy equipment, but enough to tell a truck from a tank. That satisfied the requirements of most participants from Europe, who had a conventional arms control agreement limiting tanks and other weaponry with Russia-before Russia pulled out of the treaty in 2015. Any data gathered by any treaty member is accessible to any other treaty member, so long as they pay for the cost of copying it. In the United States, Russian Aerospace Force aircraft participating in Open Skies must enter the country through Dulles International Airport on the East Coast and Travis Air Force Base on the West Coast. They may operate from Travis AFB, Dulles, Elemendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, and Lincoln Municipal Airport in Nebraska. They may refuel at air bases and airports in Hawaii, Wisconsin, Montana, Arizona, and Tennessee. Likewise, American planes operating over Belarus and Russia operate under similar restrictions. Danish F-16 fighters escorting a Russian An-30 Open Skies aircraft. OSCE photo. Open Skies flights can apparently be undertaken everywhere, at any time, but participants generally announce the flights ahead of time as a courtesy. The only real restriction is the number of flights a participant can undertake, a number that varies due to the size of the country. The United States and Russia are each granted 42 flights a year, while France gets 12 and Portugal gets two. The April flights will be the ninth and tenth Russian Open Skies flights of 2017. Is Open Skies invasive? Sure, it's a little disconcerting that Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft can fly over our most sensitive military installations-indeed, any point over America. But at the same time, we can do the same to them. And without these flights, all parties would be a lot more suspicious that others have something to hide. http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/news/a26026/russian-military-plane-overfly-us- canada/ Back to Top Hainan Airlines to induct 96 aircraft in 2017 Hainan Airlines is expecting to induct 96 aircraft into its fleet during 2017. These comprise of 41 Boeing 737-800s, one 737-700, 21 Embraer 190s, 16 Airbus A320s, nine 787-9s, four A330-200s, three A330-300s and a single A350. The information was disclosed in a stock exchange statement. Some of these aircraft are expected to go to subsidiaries under the HNA Group. The carrier is forecasting a 66.3% jump in passenger numbers this year to 78.2 million, and for aircraft movements to double to 613,800. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that Hainan has a fleet of 175 aircraft in service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Beb5nyRrg Back to Top Boeing delivers 32 Dreamliners in 1Q, as North Charleston-made jet steals spotlight Boeing South Carolina flew its first 787-10 Dreamliner for the first time on March 31, the last day of the quarter. The plane is built exclusively at the North Charleston campus. File/Brad Nettles/Staff Boeing delivers 32 Dreamliners in 1Q, as 787-10 steals spotlight Boeing Co.'s Seattle-area factory shouldered the 787 production burden in the first quarter, but it was its South Carolina plant that grabbed most of the glory. The aerospace giant said it handed over 32 Dreamliners to customers during the January-March period, when much of the work shifted to Everett, Wash., to allow the North Charleston site to focus on integrating the new 787-10 into the assembly line. The deliveries were among 169 commercial planes Boeing released in the first three months of the year. The venerable 737 made up the bulk of those, with 113 customers taking possession of Boeing's top seller. The 787-9 accounted for 24 of the Dreamliner deliveries, with the smaller 787-8 making up the rest, according to production statistics compiled by analyst Uresh Sheth on the All Things 787 website. Sheth said the North Charleston campus delivered 10 of the twin-aisle wide-bodies compared to 22 from Everett. Numbers aside, the first-quarter highlight involved a Dreamliner that won't be ready for delivery until next year. The 787-10, the longest of the three versions and the only one to be made exclusively in North Charleston, completed its first flight March 31. Boeing showcased the local event live via webcast. Last week, a crew took the first "Dash 10" cross country for more testing. Boeing will have three of the jets in the Everett-based flight certification program, a process that's expected to last about a year. The second 787-10 is sitting on the North Charleston flight line, and the third is in final assembly. Boeing has 149 orders from nine customers for the new plane. Singapore Airlines is scheduled to take the first delivery during the first half of 2018. United Airlines will be the first U.S. customer to get a 787-10, later next year. http://www.postandcourier.com/business/grapevine-boeing-delivers-dreamliners-in-q-as-north- charleston-made/article_036e62c0-1801-11e7-97b4-0f47e8ba3a76.html Back to Top Videos of a Man Being Dragged Off a United Plane Ignites a Public Relations Crisis United Criticized Over Passenger Dragged From Plane After facing a backlash, the airline apologized for its treatment of the passenger. United Airlines on Tuesday faced a spiraling crisis from videos showing a passenger being dragged off an airplane, as consumers threatened a boycott of the airline and lawmakers called for an investigation. By the afternoon, after more than a day of changing statements, United's chief executive apologized and promised a review of its policies. "No one should ever be mistreated this way," Oscar Munoz, the company's chief executive, said in a statement. But the videos had already cast an unwelcome light not just on United, but on the airline industry's efforts to maximize profits. As companies push to make money from baggage fees, seat reservations and other services that were once included with a basic plane ticket, the videos added the potential for an even harsher indignity: sitting in a seat with a ticket and getting physically ejected from the airplane. The passenger, Dr. David Dao, was identified late Tuesday in a statement from his lawyers, who said he was undergoing treatment in a Chicago-area hospital for his injuries. Some videos had showed him with a bloody face. On social media, the firestorm swept around the world. Chinese social media users accused United, which does a lot of business in the country, of racism by targeting Dr. Dao, who appeared to be Asian. In the United States, customers showed pictures of their United loyalty or credit cards cut into pieces. And lawmakers called for an investigation. "The last thing a paying airline passenger should expect is a physical altercation with law enforcement personnel after boarding, especially one that could likely have been avoided," the four top leaders of the Senate commerce committee said in a letter on Tuesday to Mr. Munoz. The disturbing images of a passenger being violently ejected from an airplane by security officers rippled across a consolidating industry. Today, four major airlines account for about 80 percent of domestic air travel. In recent years, as the consolidation has increased, passengers have been forced into a host of policies that ding their wallet and their comfort. But social media has proved to be a powerful outlet for complaints. United drew quick criticism for its initial response to the Sunday evening incident, with many people calling it tone deaf. On Monday, when Mr. Munoz apologized for having to "re-accomodate these customers," the internet saw that as a joke. "Nice to know 're-accomodate' on United now means 'drag you violently out of your seat,'" one woman posted on Twitter. SOCIAL MEDIA REACTION Outrage reached a fever pitch on Monday, according to numbers from ListenFirst, a firm that analyzes social media for brands. @United got 1.2 million mentions on Twitter.That is at least 11 times as many mentions as March 26, when two girls were barred from a United flight for wearing leggings. United got about 135,000 interactions on Facebook.The company's page had just 700 a day earlier, and 4,100 the day of the leggings incident. Interactions include likes, shares and comments on United's posts, likes of United's page and usage of hashtags referencing the event. A few hours later, United seemed to go on the offensive when it circulated a letter in which Mr. Munoz appeared to blame Dr. Dao, saying he "defied" the officers. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, the airline changed course again, with Mr. Munoz saying that United would take "full responsibility" for the situation. "Better late than never, but the sentiment certainly rings a bit hollow when it follows two previous failures and 36 hours of intense public pressure," said Jeremy Robinson-Leon, a principal at the corporate public relations firm Group Gordon. "The back-against-the-wall, through-gritted-teeth apology isn't generally a winning strategy." For United and Mr. Munoz, who just last month was named Communicator of the Year by PR Week, a trade publication, the videos have turned into a crisis. They come on the heels of another incident about two weeks ago in which the airline was forced to defend itself about what some saw as a sexist policy after it barred two teenage girls wearing leggings from a flight. "It's fair to say that if PR Week was choosing its Communicator of the Year now, we would not be awarding it to Oscar Munoz," the trade publication said on Tuesday. After tumbling during the day, United's stock ended Tuesday down 1.13 percent. Perhaps more than anything, the videos hit a nerve because they highlighted the ability of airlines to remove paying customers when the companies overbook flights. Tina Stringer, a first-time United customer from Chicago, was in New Orleans on vacation when the video surfaced. Before boarding her return flight on Tuesday, she said, "I was just praying that nothing bad would happen." Happily, her flight back to O'Hare International Airport was uneventful. But the video made an impression - so much so that she pulled up news coverage of the incident on her cellphone while waiting for her cousin to pick her up. "I think it was kind of scary," said Ms. Stringer, 45, "because innocent people are just trying to get where they want." Ken Lewandowski, 63, of Crystal Lake, Ill., who had just flown home from Florida on United, had also seen the video. "There was a better way to do it," he said. United, on Tuesday, appeared to backtrack from prior statements that the flight with Dr. Dao aboard - heading from O'Hare in Chicago to Louisville, Ky. - was overbooked. Instead, Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for United, said the flight was full and then crew members, who were scheduled to operate a flight Monday morning from Louisville to Newark, N.J., needed seats on the plane. If the crew members had not been allowed to board, Ms. McCarthy said, the Monday morning flight would have been canceled. Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Still, it is not uncommon for airlines to overbook, or sell more tickets than they have seats. At that point, they try to get people to voluntarily change their plans - or, if there are no takers, force them to change. The odds of actually being booted from a flight involuntarily are quite low. Last year, airlines involuntarily bumped about 40,600 people, a fraction of the roughly 660 million passengers who flew, according to data from the Department of Transportation. About 434,000 people voluntarily gave their seats up for compensation. Airlines have oversold flights for decades, expecting several people not to show up for a flight. It is a strategy that ensures a full plane and maximizes profits for airlines. Typically, airlines begin bargaining with passengers at the gate, offering travel vouchers of $400 to $600. In the United States, compensation maxes out at $1,350, but experts say the reward offers rarely get that high. While the Transportation Department said it was investigating whether the airline complied with rules regarding overbooking, it noted that each airline sets its own system and procedures for deciding whom to bump. United said it would review its overbooking policies. Many politicians also called for the rules to be reviewed. In addition to their letter to Mr. Munoz, leaders of the Senate's commerce committee, John Thune, Bill Nelson, Roy Blunt and Maria Cantwell, also demanded a full accounting of the incident from the Chicago Department of Aviation. Some airlines choose to bump the passengers who paid the lowest fares, while some choose the last passengers to check in. The Department of Transportation requires airlines to give involuntarily bumped passengers "a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn't," according to its consumer guide. Although most airlines do not like to discuss how many involuntary customers they bump, Gil West, the chief operating officer of Delta, did just that in a December 2015 presentation to investors and analysts. "This is probably the most painful customer experience you could ever have, right?" Mr. West said. "You paid for your ticket, you show up at the gate," and the airline says you cannot fly. United's website says that when the airline cannot find volunteers, it will "deny boarding to passengers in accordance with our written policy on boarding priority." Ms. McCarthy would not share the written policy. She said its agents follow a protocol for determining who will be selected, aiming to avoid families traveling together and unaccompanied minors. United also tends to protect people with connecting flights, those with mileage status through frequent flier or credit card programs, fare buckets and "a whole number of things," she said. Ms. McCarthy said the protocol was followed on Dr. Dao's flight. Three passengers got off the plane. But Dr. Dao did not give up his seat, and he was forcibly removed - dragged down the airplane aisle, his glasses askew, face bloodied - by several security officers. One of the officers has been placed on leave, according to the authorities. Crisis communications experts criticized United's initial response to the event. There are "countless metrics you could look at to justify the cost of a higher compensation offer for those passengers on that plane," said Mr. Robinson-Leon, pointing to the price of crisis management, the loss in stock value, the potential for lost business and even the time of Mr. Munoz, who makes at least $1.2 million a year. Other corporations also chimed in. Emirates posted a short video to Twitter, criticizing Mr. Munoz for a snide remark he had made about Emirates and pointing out its customer satisfaction accolades. The Twitter account for Merriam-Webster said on Monday night that "volunteer" means "someone who does something without being forced to do it." "We recognize that our response yesterday did not reflect the gravity of the situation," Ms. McCarthy said. "And for that we also apologize. Our focus now is looking ahead and making this right." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/business/united-airline-passenger-overbooked-flights.html?_r=0 Back to Top Which Airline Kicks Off the Most Passengers? With "involuntary deplanings" in the news, Nate Silver points us to some data that's oddly intriguing. Here's how often passengers are kicked off flights on the Big Four airlines in the United States. It comes via the Department of Transportation's latest monthly report: Delta overbooks at a higher rate than any other airline. However, it uses an innovative Coasian auction system during check-in to persuade passengers on overbooked flights to give up their seats for cash payouts. As a result, it has by far the lowest rate of forcing people off of flights even when they don't want to go. By contrast, Southwest-which has been taunting United over the Dr. Dao incident-has an average rate of overbooking, but apparently a pretty crappy system for handling overbooked flights. This gives them highest rate of forced deplanings. United, ironically, isn't bad on this score. Their overbooking rate is about average, and their "involuntary deplanings" rate is quite low. Depending on how you feel about things, Delta would probably be your first choice on the overbooking front, but United is a solid second. Like it or not, about 40,000 people a year are kicked off planes against their will. Some of them were standby passengers who knew this might happen. Some weren't. Given those numbers, the interesting thing isn't that United had to remove one of these folks by force. The interesting thing is that apparently it's never happened before.1 1It hasn't happened while cell phones were recording the whole thing, anyway. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/04/which-airline-kicks-most-passengers Back to Top Asia's biggest business jet show opens in Shanghai On the opening day of Asia's biggest business jet show, Bombardier said Tuesday that it delivered a Global 6000 business jet to charter operator Zetta Jet. The delivery represents an option exercised by Zetta Jet from a December 2015 firm and optional order for up to six Global 6000s, a large-cabin, long-range jet priced at $69 million. Zetta's fleet includes four Global 6000s, two Global 5000s, two older Global XRS and Express jets, and one Challenger 650. Bombardier, the parent of Wichita's Learjet, made the announcement on the first day of the three-day Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exposition in Shanghai, China. Exhibitors at the show include Textron Aviation, which has a Cessna Citation XLS+ business jet and Grand Caravan EX turboprop on static display at the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. Textron Aviation and AVIC General operate a joint venture in China called Cessna-AVIC Co. Ltd., which does completions on the Wichita-built XLS+ - paint, interior installation, flight testing and delivery - for Chinese customers. http://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article143923609.html#storylink=cpy Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Request My name is Mohamed Sheryenna. I'm a student at the University of South wales (UK), MSc. Aircraft Maintenance System. I'm conducting this research about Importance of Implementation SMS to Aircraft Maintenance: For reducing accidents. This study would look to understand the approaches and benefits of implementation SMS in Aircraft maintenance organization to reduce risk of accidents or at least mitigate it by identify and manage risks in predictive phase. Moreover, the study sought to determine the influence of the organizational culture and its effective on maintenance. In addition, to assess some tools used by SMS to support maintenance and engineering to obtain optimal aircraft maintenance. Ultimately, the effectiveness of an SMS implementation means the organization can manage the complexity of these mechanisms to defend against risk incubation. All the information will be treated confidentially and reported in the aggregate. The resultant data will be analyzed as part of my master degree's thesis. I will strictly respect the confidentiality of all participants' input. If you are a participant, and if you desire, I will provide you with a copy of the outcomes of my study. Please return the survey with your business card or contact information to indicate your interest in receiving a copy of the results. I would greatly appreciate your input to my survey. I realize that you are very busy; and completion of the survey should require not more than 10 minutes of your time. These questionnaires are intended to explore SMS in Aircraft maintenance and are purely for academic purpose. Your participation in this research will be highly appreciated. please click the link below to go through the survey http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/8YYUA/ Thank you very much for your cooperation. Sincerely yours, Mohamed Sheryenna 15050033@students.southwales.ac.uk Tel. 00447459876975 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