Flight Safety Information June 16, 2017 - No. 121 Incident: France A388 at Mexico City on Jun 14th 2017, three tyres deflated on landing Incident: Philippines AirAsia A320 near Manila on Jun 15th 2017, engine shut down in flight Incident: Ural A320 at Ekaterinburg on Jun 15th 2017, overran runway on landing Blimp - Inflight Fire Pilots fight for better fatigue management for sake of air safety Upset Prevention Training Offers Huge Safety Gains ICAO welcomes recent aviation safety progress in Georgia Proposed Texas Bullet Train Will Give Airlines Serious Competition Bell Helicopter announces delivery of 3 Bell 505 Jet Ranger X aircraft to Canadian customers U.S. Navy Can't Figure Out Why F-18 Pilots Are Running Short of Oxygen Airbus says future aircraft might support multiple IFC satellite antennas at once Safeskies 2017 Conference Graduate Research Survey Request Incident: France A388 at Mexico City on Jun 14th 2017, three tyres deflated on landing An Air France Airbus A380-800, registration F-HPJA performing flight AF-178 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Mexico City (Mexico), landed safely on Mexico City's runway 05R. While vacating the runway brakes overheated causing three tyres to deflate. The aircraft was unable to depart for its return flight and is still on the ground in Mexico City about 24 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4aa5fad4&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Philippines AirAsia A320 near Manila on Jun 15th 2017, engine shut down in flight A Philippines AirAsia Airbus A320-200, registration RP-C8993 performing flight Z2-612 from Davao to Manila (Philippines) with 159 passengers and 6 crew, had been enroute at FL360 and was descending towards Manila when the crew reported the right hand engine (V2527) had overheated and needed to be shut down. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Manila's runway 24 about 15 minutes later. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Manila about 16 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4aa5f772&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Ural A320 at Ekaterinburg on Jun 15th 2017, overran runway on landing An Ural Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration VQ-BAG performing flight U6-261 from Moscow Domodedovo to Ekaterinburg (Russia) with 81 people on board, landed on Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport's runway 26R in heavy rain at 14:16L (09:16Z) but overran the end of the runway by about 50 meters coming to a stop with all gear on soft ground. No injuries are being reported, the aircraft received minor if any damage. The airport needed to be closed until the aircraft could be moved onto the apron. The airline reported the aircraft lost friction while landing in heavy rain. There were no injuries, the aircraft did not receive damage. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Ekaterinburg about 8 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4aa5e41e&opt=0 Back to Top Blimp - Inflight Fire Date: 15-JUN-2017 Time: 13:15 Type: Blimp Owner/operator: Airsign Inc Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Washington County, Erin, WI - United States of America Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) Nature: Demo/Airshow/Display Departure airport: Erin Aero (WN75) Destination airport: Erin Aero (WN75) Narrative: The aircraft experienced an inflight fire and subsequent impact with open rolling hill terrain in northwest Erin, Wisconsin. The hot air airship was partially consumed by the fire and the sole pilot onboard was seriously injured. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=196155 Back to Top Pilots fight for better fatigue management for sake of air safety INADEQUATE pilot fatigue regulations have led to a situation where the same pilots are being used to fly from Sydney to Perth and back again in less than a day. The Australian Federation of Air Pilots is leading the charge to improve conditions, and has urged the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to get tough on the issue. Despite introducing new regulations for pilot fatigue in 2013, the implementation by existing operators has been held up by a pending external review. AFAP president David Booth said delaying the new guidelines was "bad news for air safety, bad news for the travelling public and bad news for pilots". "The only way to manage pilot fatigue is by providing pilots with decent rosters that are not unduly fatiguing," said Captain Booth. "Safe rosters cost money. Many airlines are run by business professionals who do not understand pilot fatigue but do understand cost control." Passengers count on pilots being very much awake and alert when on the job. Picture: Thinkstock The AFAP is currently surveying pilots in partnership with the University of New South Wales to get a true picture of the situation in Australia. One captain responded that one of the toughest rosters involved flying Sydney to Perth from 9.50pm (AEST) to 2.25am (AEST), then returning to depart Perth at 4am (AEST) for an 8.15am arrival in Sydney. "No (fatigue management) strategies used by the company other than "fly fast to stay within the exemption prescriptive limits"," said the captain who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The company is supposed to monitor the controlled rest taken but doesn't." Those flying from Cairns to Perth and back worked a similar shift from 6.55pm to 6.05am the next morning. Sydney-Darwin return was another route undertaken by the one flight crew, as was Bangkok to Melbourne with a total flight duty period (including pre and post flight paperwork) of 14 hours and 40-minutes. No one wants to think their pilots are struggling to stay awake on the job. Picture: Thinkstock Under current pilot fatigue rules, pilots can be expected to perform 14-hour shifts, although this may be extended to 16-hours in certain circumstances. In comparison, heavy vehicle drivers are restricted to 12 to 14-hours in a 24-hour period. New regulations would require airlines to develop fatigue risk management strategies for pilots, limit flying hours in some cases and identify ways to improve the quality of rest breaks. The main opponent to the new rules is the Regional Aviation Association of Australia, which has 92 ordinary and affiliate members. In a submission to CASE, RAAA chairman Jim Davis said there was "no need for Australia to have such punitive regulations". "(There is) not sufficient evidence to justify such changes," wrote Mr Davis. CASE spokeswoman Amanda Palmer said feedback from industry had delayed the new rules, although some operators had chosen to adopt them. "The fatigue changes seek to align Australia with international standards, improve safety, and address known risks," said Ms Palmer. "We recently announced our intention to extend the transition period by a further six months to enable sufficient time for an independent review of the fatigue rules to be carried out and recommendations to be considered." http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/travel/travel-news/pilots-fight-for-better-fatigue- management-for-sake-of-air-safety/news-story/9727a3b5ceecf6c86510d6fd3e210659 Back to Top Upset Prevention Training Offers Huge Safety Gains "We can lower the number of loss of control accidents by 50 percent," claims John Cox, who told AIN this can be done by applying a combination of academics, simulator and in- aircraft training. Capt. Cox is CEO of Washington, DC-based Safety Operating Systems and a veteran pilot for a major airline, as well as of corporate and general aviation aircraft. He has notched more than 14,000 flight hours. Cox recently flew an S211 Marchetti swept-wing jet trainer, doing stalls at 32,000 feet and wake encounters as part of a high-altitude upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) course offered by Advanced Performance Solutions (APS) in Mesa, Arizona-similar to that done by new AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber last year. "Pilots don't understand that what we taught for 30 years was horribly flawed, because you can't power out of a stall or even a high angle-of-attack condition in a jet at high altitude," Cox, who flew with APS President Paul 'B.J.' Ransbury, said. "We wanted to take the Marchetti up high and prove it." Cox has been involved in efforts to mitigate loss-of-control-inflight (LOC-I) accidents since US Airways Flight 427 in 1994, and American Airlines Flight 587 in 2001, highlighted deficiencies in traditional pilot training. The LOC-I problem persists, as evidenced by Air France 447, Colgan 3407, Air Asia Flight 8501 and, more recently, the wake turbulence event over the Arabian Sea that seriously damaged a German-owned Bombardier Challenger 604. "The fact that we are still having a significant number of loss-of-control events that have a high number of fatalities, and 50 percent of those are stall related, says to me that the training we're getting is not fully adequate," noted Cox. "It is better, but it is not yet good enough." As UPRT is made mandatory by more aviation authorities (April 2018 for all EASA licensing training courses, 2019 for FAA Part 121 carriers), providers and programs are proliferating. Cox cautioned, however: "There are still providers out there, particularly using the in-aircraft environment, that are basically teaching aerobatics, and that can very easily transition to be negative training. "The fundamental difference is that an upset is an unexpected event where you're trying to drive the airplane back into the heart of the envelope; an aerobatic manoeuver is precision-flown to the edge of the envelope. From a fundamental standpoint, they are exactly the opposite. The training needs to be geared toward an upset recovery so you have experience in unusual attitude recognition." Prevention Foremost In February, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) issued the third revision of its seminal guide on the topic, inserting for the first time the word 'prevention' in the title: Airplane Upset Prevention and Recovery Training Aid. The revision expanded the scope to include transport category straight-wing turboprops and regional jet airplanes. It also simplified the terminology of an upset as "anytime an airplane is diverging from what the pilots are intending it to do," rather than the previous technical definition of exceeding pitch beyond +25 or -10 degrees, bank angles greater than 45 degrees or speed inappropriate for the conditions. The document's executive summary states, "It is the OEM's intent to emphasize that training within the entire operational flight envelope...is needed to develop pilots' awareness and handling skills, both in manual and automated flight. Training outside the operational flight envelope should not be necessary for awareness and skill development." Some industry experts were dismayed at being excluded from the revision discussions- which were limited to aircraft manufacturers Airbus (Static C4), ATR (Static B2), Boeing (Chalet 332), Bombardier (Chalet 282) and Embraer (Chalet 314)-unlike the first two editions of the document which drew upon a broad range of stakeholders. One critic told AIN the committee composition was "a control issue, pure and simple. They wanted to eliminate dissent." The group with the least exposure to UPRT training is current airline pilots. Capt. Richard Ward, who flies for a major UK airline, said, "I don't know of anybody in the UK airline environment that has done any of these 'Gucci version' upset and prevention recovery courses, flying Skyhawks and military trainers. It isn't on our radar." "If you're in the recovery phase, you've already failed," Ward noted. "We need to take one step back and go to the root of the problem, which is hand-flying skills, and that's quite a boring topic. If you've got a 25-year-old coming through, we need to focus on getting the feel of the aircraft he's operating-for example, hand fly from 10,000 feet, decelerate from 320 knots all the way back to 140 knots, and change the configuration. Feel how the aircraft handles as the center of pressure moves and the pitch attitudes change. That's really important stuff. But it's hard to argue for that kind of exercise when you are constrained by time and cost." Two Schools of Thought Commercial airline pilot UPRT training is largely confined to classroom and simulators, many of which are in the process of being upgraded to provide extended envelope training. In business aviation, APS offers the combination of academic-simulator-aircraft training, including partnerships with CAE (Chalet 62) and Bombardier. FlightSafety International's UPRT curriculum mimics the airline's academics-plus-sim approach. Randy Brooks, vice president of training and business development for APS, said, "Everybody agrees that it's better to prevent an upset in the first place. The divergence of opinion in some camps is that if we just did a better job of prevention, we wouldn't need to teach recovery. "There are certain techniques a pilot needs to use, once a situation has progressed to where recovery is required, that are counterintuitive to a pilot who has spent their career in the normal envelope...different skills that need to be called upon in a matter of seconds," Brooks explained. "If you haven't been provided with the concepts, techniques and skills in advance, you aren't going to figure it out in the seconds you have available. In upset recovery, the rules change in terms of flight dynamics and the way we use the controls." Brooks said APS's experience in training airline instructors to teach UPRT has required a bit of relearning. "The level-flight, two-dimensional flying mindset has proven to be a little more resistant to change than we thought." APS has grown to a dozen instructors at locations in Arizona, Texas, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Army's fixed-wing training school in Dothan, Alabama, as UPRT gains increasing acceptance with regulators, insurers and (especially) business aircraft operators. "Many people are beginning to embrace the concept," said Brooks, "but it's certainly not mainstream yet. The majority of pilots worldwide are not yet getting it." http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2017-06-16/upset-prevention-training-offers-huge-safety-gains Back to Top ICAO welcomes recent aviation safety progress in Georgia The FINANCIAL -- The President of the ICAO Council, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, expressed the UN agency's deep appreciation for the proactive actions being taken by the Government of Georgia to mitigate recent safety concerns identified under the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). "Today the overall situation in Georgia is more stable, with positive trends prevailing," Dr. Aliu commented. "In order to sustain this momentum, ICAO encourages Georgia to continue working closely with our European and North Atlantic Regional Office and to strengthen its Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which is a priority for ICAO throughout this Region." During his mission to Georgia, which took place from 25 to 27 May 2017, Dr. Aliu held discussions with Georgia's Prime Minister, Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili, where he underlined how the State's commitments to ICAO compliance would be instrumental to the socio- economic benefits which Georgia could look forward to due to enhanced global connectivity. Dr. Aliu also met with the country's Minister and Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Mr. Giorgi Gakharia and Mr. Giorgi Cherkezishvili, respectively, and the Director of the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency, Mr. Guram Jalaghonia. He was further introduced to the most recently appointed Permanent Representative of Georgia to ICAO, Mr. Konstantin Kavtaradze. Dr. Aliu highlighted in the course of these discussions the progress which Georgia has made toward enhancing its compliance with ICAO's standards and recommended practices, notably with the support of ICAO's Europe and North Atlantic (EURNAT) Regional Office. While accompanied by the ICAO EURNAT Regional Director, Mr. Luis Fonseca de Almeida, Dr. Aliu furthermore assured the country's leadership that ICAO is deeply committed to its "No Country Left Behind" initiative, and to providing further assistance to Georgia as its progress continues. The Georgian PM and Ministers acknowledged the aviation sector's role as a catalyst for broader socio-economic development, and noted the need for greater investment in infrastructure and better aligned national and aviation development planning. These are particularly important concerns for Georgia given the State's ambitions in terms of air navigation services provision and its desire to become a transit hub, as well as the significant opportunities expected due to the forecast increase in global air traffic volumes and Georgia's liberalization of its air transport policies. "Georgia is poised to achieve even greater progress towards the development of its capacity within the global civil aviation network, and ICAO is ready to provide all support necessary to help it along that path," Dr. Aliu summarized. https://www.finchannel.com/world/georgia/65322-icao-welcomes-recent-aviation-safety- progress-in-georgia Back to Top Proposed Texas Bullet Train Will Give Airlines Serious Competition Everyone knows that the US lags far behind most other countries in terms of rail travel offerings, and for many decades, the answer to increased travel demand has been to widen highways or increase flight frequencies. However, a privately funded rail company now aims to grab a piece of the pie when it comes to intra-Texas travel, which could affect the three US airlines that have a huge presence in the state. Texas Central is planning to build a bullet train route that will cut between Dallas and Houston, trimming about 2 hours off the average driving time, and saving over an hour compared to air travel. The approximately 240-mile high-speed rail line will offer a total travel time of less than 90 minutes, with departures every 30 minutes during peak periods each day and every hour during off-peak periods - with 6 hours reserved each night for system maintenance and inspection. Texas Central plans to deploy Central Japan Railway Company's (JRC) "N700-I Bullet" high-speed rail system based on the "Shinkansen" system. Could a Proposed Texas Bullet Train Threaten Airlines? Looking at flights between Dallas (both DAL and DFW) and Houston (both HOU and IAH), American flies nine daily round-trips from DFW to IAH and six to HOU, while United flies nine round-trips each weekday between DFW and IAH. Southwest flies twenty round-trips each weekday between DAL and HOU. The DAL-HOU route has been a bread and butter route for Southwest since the day it started service in 1971. I reached out to American, Southwest and United to get their opinions on whether the train could hurt business by absorbing some of their commuting customers. American replied, saying it has no position on it. Southwest's response was typically colorful. Spokesperson Chris Mainz told me Southwest didn't really have any feelings on the matter but that, "Texas already enjoys a very robust 'high speed' transportation system and it departs Dallas Love Field 20 times a day for Houston [Hobby Airport (HOU)]." It's also important to note that Southwest is an entirely different airline than when it objected to the first proposal decades ago. Its size has nearly doubled, and it's added dozens of destinations, so if a tiny fraction of its passengers on one route defect to the train, it won't badly hurt the airline. United did not respond to our request for comment. One can easily see the appeal for business travelers seeking to avoid the hassle of airports and cramped airplane seats with tiny tray tables. Texas Central estimates the need for each train to hold about 400 passengers, which would amount to eight train cars. In comparison, between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan Railway Company operates 16-car trains. A BETTER ALTERNATIVE As a native Texan who has lived in both Dallas and Houston for 10-plus years, I've driven and flown between Dallas and Houston dozens of times, and there's really not much for scenery, except during the spring when the wildflowers are blooming. The trip takes almost four hours by car on a good day, but a bad wreck on Interstate 45 can easily add two hours to that. The company says ticket prices will be competitive with the costs of air and car travel. Plus, the train is guaranteed to give you a smooth, stress-free ride, with the opportunity to get an hour and a half of work done, without having to worry about storing your laptop and tray table at certain times. The train is also much less susceptible to weather issues than when traveling by air or car. It will have Wi-Fi, so you'll be able to work or entertain yourself during the ride. Could a Proposed Texas Bullet Train Threaten Airlines? The whole project is being funded by investors, rather than state taxes and subsidies. That alone makes it so much more appealing to Texans. The construction start date will depend on permitting. Federal Railroad Administration is currently wrapping up the Environmental Impact Study. Construction could begin in late 2018 depending on the federal regulations. The overall project cost is estimated to be $12 billion, but is expected to bring a $36 billion economic benefit in its first 25 years of service. A ridership study performed by Texas Central found that 71% of those surveyed who had traveled between Dallas and Houston within the past twelve months would "definitely" take the train, and that 90% currently choose to drive because flying saves little to no time. The study also predicted travel within the Dallas-Houston corridor to increase 2% annually between now and 2050. https://futurism.com/proposed-texas-bullet-train-will-give-airlines-serious-competition/ Back to Top Bell Helicopter announces delivery of 3 Bell 505 Jet Ranger X aircraft to Canadian customers Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, has announced the delivery of three Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopters to customers located in Canada. The Bell 505 Jet Ranger X program team members recently gathered to celebrate the deliveries.Bell Photo The three Canadian customers accepted delivery of their aircraft last week at Bell Helicopter's facility in Mirabel, Quebec. The aircraft are configured for corporate and utility missions to support the business operations of the customers. "It has been a particularly significant week for Bell Helicopter as three Bell 505s built in Canada take flight with these first Canadian customers," said Cynthia Garneau, president, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. "The Bell 505 symbolizes our return to the short-light- single market, a segment that Bell Helicopter defined 50 years ago. For Bell Helicopter, our employees and our customer base, there's a lot to be excited about with this aircraft." The successful deliveries follow type certification from Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) in December and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in June. "The Bell 505 Jet Ranger X is a very economical and highly versatile machine," said Jason Moir, regional sales manager, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. "It has found a niche among a large base of customers who want an aircraft capable of meeting their various lifestyle needs. Its adaptability makes it the ideal aircraft for private owners looking at it as a multi-purpose tool and is the perfect mix of luxury, utility and recreation." With a speed of 125 knots (232 kilometers per hour) and useful load of 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms), the Bell 505 is designed to be safe and easy to fly while providing significant value to the operator. The customer-driven design of the aircraft places safety, performance and affordability at the forefront, blending proven systems with advanced technology and a sleek, modern design. https://www.verticalmag.com/press-releases/bell-helicopter-announces-delivery-3-bell- 505-jet-ranger-x-aircraft-canadian-customers/#sthash.J47oqRID.dpuf Back to Top U.S. Navy Can't Figure Out Why F-18 Pilots Are Running Short of Oxygen * In new report, Navy commander calls problem 'elusive' * Navy makes problem No.1 safety issue, according to report F18 Super Hornet Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images The U.S. Navy has yet to figure out how to fix oxygen deprivation and cabin pressure loss in its Boeing Co. F-18 aircraft -- a problem the service called "elusive" in a report released Thursday. For more than a year, the Navy has been grappling with pilots suffering the potentially dangerous problems in the fighter jets. All F-18 models, including the Super Hornet that President Donald Trump has championed, have shown steady annual increases in what the Navy calls "physiological episodes," or PE. Incidents of oxygen deprivation and cabin decompression have escalated in the last year, Navy data show. Officials have yet to determine the root cause of the in- flight problems. "To date, finding a solution to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps' high performance jet aircraft PE challenge has proved elusive," according to the report led by Admiral Scott Swift, Pacific Fleet commander. "The complexity of aircraft human-machine interfaces and the unforgiving environment in which aircrew operate will continue to generate PEs whenever systems do not operate as intended or human physiology is a factor." The Navy isn't the only service dealing with the vexing issue of oxygen deprivation, known as hypoxia, and the F-18 isn't the only fighter jet affected. Luke Air Force Base in Arizona last week grounded all of its F-35 planes because pilots there experienced hypoxia. Calling the number and severity of F-18 physiological events "unacceptable," the report said the Navy views this problem as its No. 1 safety priority. As a result, the report recommended that the Navy create a single organization dedicated to the problem. Other recommendations include redesigning aircraft systems to meet oxygen generation technical requirements and improving the reliability of the entire environmental control system including components, inspections and training. The integration of the on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS) in the FA-18 fighter and the T-45 training aircraft "is inadequate to consistently provide high quality breathing air," according to the report. "To varying degrees, neither aircraft is equipped to continuously provide clean, dry air" to the oxygen generation system, resulting in contaminants entering the crew's breathing air and potentially inducing hypoxia. Hypoxia is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the body's tissues. Cobham Plc. builds the concentrator, which generates breathable oxygen for the pilots. It's part of the planes' environmental control system. That system is plagued by "aging parts, inadequate testing methodologies and numerous other factors" that can cause decompression sickness, according to the report. Decompression sickness occurs due to cockpit depressurization at altitude and the resulting formation of nitrogen bubbles in the body's venous system and other organs. "Root causes remain unidentified" for the physiological events which result from "multiple interrelated potential causal factors," according to the report. "While the increased number and severity are concerning, aircrew expressed confidence in the safety of the aircraft and in the efforts being pursued to prevent future PEs," the report said. High-performance U.S. military aircraft that fly at high altitudes have run into such episodes before. In 2012, the Air Force had to track down a mystery after at least a dozen pilots flying Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-22 Raptor fighters became dizzy and disoriented. The service eventually determined a valve that regulated oxygen flow into the Raptor pilot's pressure vest was too weak to prevent the vest from inflating unnecessarily and restricting the pilot's ability to breathe. The newest versions of the F-18 -- the Super Hornet and the Growler, which is tailored to jam an adversary's electronics --"appear to have challenges in regards to hypoxia," according to a memo on the problem written by the staff of the House Armed Services committee. Older versions of the plane, the A through D models, have problems with cabin pressure. The rate of reported occurrences of the physiological episodes per 100,000 flight hours almost doubled in the year ended Oct. 31 from the previous year on older F-18 models. They doubled on the newest Growlers and increased 11 percent for the newer Super Hornet. That resulted in 45 instances for the Super Hornet versus 39 the previous year, according to Navy statistics obtained by Bloomberg. The trend continued in the three months since Nov. 1, with nine incidents reported by Jan. 31 during 28,600 hours of flying. https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-15/u-s-navy-can-t-find-why-f-18- pilots-are-running-short-of-oxygen Back to Top Airbus says future aircraft might support multiple IFC satellite antennas at once Airbus A350-1000 aircraft Airbus's envisions connected aircraft in the future might field multiple satellite antennas at once. Photo depicts an A350-1000 under construction. Credit: Airbus WASHINGTON - Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is considering ways to add multiple antennas to planes in order to let different satellite inflight connectivity providers serve the same aircraft simultaneously. Mark Rich, vice president of Airbus' connected fleet division, told SpaceNews June 9 at the Global Connected Aircraft Summit that one of the company's big concerns with inflight connectivity is the reliability of the service, and one way Airbus might boost reliability on future aircraft is by enabling several antenna systems at once. "From a reliability perspective, it may actually make sense to have multiple antennas on an aircraft so we can have multiple simultaneous connections with multiple different satellites with different services, and move the management of connectivity into the aircraft," he said. Airbus works with providers of inflight connectivity to bolt antenna systems onto planes, a process that can take an aircraft out of service for several days, costing airlines revenue. Suppliers of those systems - such as Gogo, Global Eagle, Panasonic, ViaSat and others - are striving to reduce the amount of time needed to complete those installations. Rich said Airbus is interested in changing aircraft architectures to "have more of a common data signal processing capability that can connect to any satellite system." "Airline choice is a fundamental change in the architecture, so we are looking at how can we encourage or implement that," he said. Rich said Airbus is well aware that sporting multiple antennas and protective radomes on a single aircraft would add considerable weight and drag, requiring more fuel and making flight operations more expensive. "That's where we need new antenna technology," he said, highlighting Kymeta, Phasor and Satixfy, three rising flat-panel antenna companies with lighter antennas that can conform more smoothly to an aircraft's surface. Rich acknowledged that there are still lots of challenges to having aircraft with more than one antenna system. His job, he said, is to look out five to 10 years forward at where connectivity will be, and try to make that vision a reality for Airbus. "If you take a narrowbody aircraft, the impact of adding today's satellite antenna system to that is like adding a free-loading passenger on every single flight of that aircraft, because of just the weight and the drag," he said. "You are carrying around an additional passenger and paying for the fuel every time. We have to get past that, we have to reduce these things down to much less weight, drag and dollar impact, and then we can afford to put on more than one antenna to deal with this redundancy of systems." http://spacenews.com/airbus-says-future-aircraft-might-support-multiple-ifc-satellite- antennas-at-once/#sthash.51zRqlOg.dpuf Back to Top Safeskies 2017 Conference The thirteenth biennial Safeskies aviation safety conference, Safeskies 2017, will be held from October 3 to 5, at the National Convention Centre, Canberra, Australia. Visit www.SafeskiesAustralia.org for details of program and registration. Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Request Dear Participants, I am writing to you in connection with my final thesis that is part of a masters degree Air Transport Management at City University London (School of Engineering and Mathematical Studies). The topic of the thesis is "Flight Crew Engagement". I am asking pilots to take part in a survey (10 minutes only). The general definition of engagement taken into account for this study evolves around the state of mind we have in our jobs as pilots; in other words, the amount of energy we feel we can put into, how dedicated we are to it and finally how much capacity we have to absorb and take into account all the different facets and frustrations of our day to day job. The way a company deals with staff in general (company DNA) and the pilot population in particular, influences (positive and negative) this engagement level and thus our daily lives and the company performance. The main aim of the study is to define engagement in the context of our job as pilots. The key results of this definition should clearly specify what drives pilots to be engaged. Where I understand that FRMS has to focus on sleep and work patterns; the energy that we as pilots can bring to the job, does not just depend on how much we sleep but also very much on our state of mind. Finally, the airline industry has been sub-marginal for the last 25 years and will remain so for the coming decades. The airlines that can ultimately survive will be the ones that can pull all of the business levers, instead of only one, such as only cost side improvements, only government subsidies or only cheap fuel. Flight Crew Engagement is something I am exploring in this thesis, which I hope will be of benefit to us all and give airlines another tool to holistically optimise the business model. For this study I am soliciting your help: validating assumptions and conclusions are an integral part of an academic study. This validation is done by means of a survey, determining exactly what the perceptions and engagement levels are of Pilots. This survey is completely anonymous (has been approved by the ethics commission of City University London) and confidential. Following is the link. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pilotsengagementS Best regards, Hendrik van Griethuysen Curt Lewis